West Texas Mama

As you know, I was in Nashville last week.  I had a wonderful opportunity to be a fellow at the Peabody Professional Institute at Vanderbilt University.  Definitely an honor to partcipate.  Many hours in a classroom with experts in the various aspects of Higher Education Management and Leadership would not sound like fun to most people, but it was for me.  But, since I know most of my readers fall in the category that would not like to spend their time that way, I will tell you about my brushes with fame that week. I had one night "off" to myself, and I elected to go to a place called the "Loveless Cafe".   I had to drive out to the outskirts of Nashville, and as I approached the cafe I saw a cameraman filming the sign.  This was not a local news camera, but a big, fancy camera.  I parked and saw several production assistants and more cameramen floating about.  As fascinating as this was, I was  here for the food, so I marched rig...

Summer is a never ending series of doctor appointments. The First Born was scheduled for a dentist appointment this afternoon. I had unfortunately forgotten about the appointment and scheduled a meeting at work at the exact time I would normally leave to go get the offspring and haul him to the doctor. So, running a little late, I pull into the lot of the swimming pool that the daycare sends the older kids to wear themselves out most days. Jake was excited to see me and despite my pleas that he hurry up, ran off and with a "Hey, mom, watch this!" jumped off the side of the pool. Since he can't really swim, my heart kept a little , but the life vest popped him back up where in I loudly told him to get his hiney out of that pool, much to his embarrassment and much to the delight of his friends who will no doubt tease him mercilessly later. (I don't just get mad, I get even!) We had forgotten to pack a towel that morning, and with no time to change I ordered h...

Travel seems to never be a smooth endeavor anymore. I was scheduled to leave for Nashville this past week, El Hubbo was headed for Borger, Tx, and the kids would be left to their own devices. Ok, not really. The kids would be packed off to their grandparents in Floydada. We'd arranged for Rocky to go to the kennel, Mab (the cat) and Soosie (the fish) really would be left to their own devices. See what I mean? This situation called for massive coordination similar to that of most covert military operations. The first sign that things were simply not going to go according to plan was Rocky. Having been kennel led the week before while we took a quick trip to Austin, he managed to get Kennel Cough. Despite having been vaccinated. Great. We could not now kennel him, do now what? El Hubbo begged his sister to come over and play nurse to Rocky. I wasn't sure that he was going to make that happen as my sister-in-law is not really much of an animal person, and is especial...

Our standard Friday night conversation begins like this: Me-Where do you want me to buy you dinner tonight? El Hubbo knows that by Friday, especially a Friday of a week he has been gone and left me without reinforcement in the continuing battle for domination with his offspring, I am in no mood to plan and prepare a dinner. Friday is a day to harken back to the time honored tradition of hunting or gathering our food at the nearest restaurant, take out, or delivery business available. El Hubbo's normal reply- I don't know. What are you in the mood for? Me-Hmmmm. Not Italian. Not Mexican. Not Chinese. At this point in tonight's Friday conversation, Jake pipes up. Jake- How about Texan? Me-Huh? What are you talking about? Jake-Texan! You know, hamburgers, hot dogs, cheese fries, chicken fried steak. It's good to know that we are raising a true Texan with grease and gravy flowing through his veins!

Jake made his first foray into running a business as part of the Lubbock Lemonade Day event on last Saturday.  How did we find out about this opportunity?  Well, it was hard to miss as the event was very highly marketed throughout the media. We attended the Lubbock Arts Festival, and Jake was attracted to the Lubbock Lemonade Day booth like his mama is to a purse display.  All the representatives were ready and waiting for him in their neon-yellow shirts.  He gave them the first degree about everything regarding lemonade and then came running back to find me to sign him up.  So, as you can see, I was not given much of a chance to consider the pros and cons involved in having a kindergartner who shows signs of being a criminal mastermind learn the finer points of running a business. Five minutes, five dollars for a t-shirt, and a Lemonade Day backpack later, we were committed.  And Jake immediately informed me he was "the boss", and I had to take orders ...

Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE FREE STUFF.  It doesn't matter what it is.  If it is free, I feel I need it.  I went to the Lubbock Business Expo, and by the time I walked out, I needed a five foot clearance radius due to the number of bags and paraphernalia I was hauling around.  Probably should have worn a back up beeper and had an escort vehicle.  I'm pretty sure I knocked a few people off their feet when I turned around and made a mad dash for the "spin-to-win" game at the Chick-Fil-A booth.  Needless to say, it's been years since I've bought office supplies.  And, as vendors get more and more creative, I should be fairly well stocked in some cleaning supplies as well.  Don't even get me started on how much this saves me on toys for the kids.  They love to color with hi-liters and play with light-up keychains!  Lest you doubt anything I've stated above as being absolutely factual, here is a listing of the "free s...

I've always heard that "beauty comes at a price".  Recent experiences have proven that statement true.  I was "given" a "free" facial.  Who could turn that down?  Great!  SIGN ME UP!  I agree to a time with the very kind lady who called, and then she told me to bring friends. My friends were all busy that night (and, perhaps a little quicker to pick up on the fact that nothing in life is "free") so, I went to the appointment by myself.  Doing things by myself is not that unusual for me, as many of my friends over the years can attest, however, it did seem to come as a disappointment to the kind facial lady.  We were placed in a little room, and we started my nice, quiet, self-applied facial.  (What do you expect for free?) My facial went well, but then before I knew it, the products were paraded in front of me, and I was purchasing, and my facial was no longer free.  The evil siren, pardon me, I mean kind facial lady, quickly ha...