West Texas Mama

      So, the eldest offspring has entered the fine world of the public school system.  His Open House clued his teacher in that she had a challenge ahead as he confidently explained to her that he was, " a very secure boy" and did not need anyone to walk him in to the building.  Open House also clued his mama in that she might possibly be driven over the edge by the inefficiencies and inconsistencies of the system.       Dutifully, I had visited the LISD website and pulled the school supply list and gone and gotten everything on it.  I realized that his teacher would probably have some items to add to it, but I believed the school district when they said that these were items we would need.  We arrive at the school and meet the teacher and she looks puzzled when we ask where to put our supplies.  Apparently she only knew that Jake would be in her class a couple hours before the Open House.  Furthermor...

Our first family fishing trip was such a smashing success, we scheduled a second one not long thereafter. We arose at a similarly insane time, loaded the kids, rods, bait, etc. in the truck and took off for the fishing hole.   This time, our gracious host Mr. D was not available to go with us, but he let us venture up to the tank on our own.   The sun was up, a nice breeze was coming off the water, and we unloaded the truck.   El Hubbo got the boat motor and worked on attaching it to the boat.   I unloaded the “stuff” and ushered the kids into the boat.   Just before we got ready to untie and push off, I asked El Hubbo, “Should we take one of the paddles, just in case?”   He looked at me and rolled his eyes and shook his head no.   Trusting the fearless family leader, I dropped the subject. He navigated us out to the middle of the pond, and we got out the poles and baited them up.   Fifteen minutes later, Jake had snagged his line in underw...