West Texas Mama

Imagine my surprise when the pediatrician told me I really needed to have Jake's eyes checked.  It couldn't be that his DNA is full of mostly blind, glasses-wearing ancestors?  Being the best mom ever, I decided to wait a few months, but then the child started complaining at church that the words on the screen behind the preacher were blurry.  Since he had decided to alert the entire congregation to this fact in a very loud "stage whisper", and I could see several ladies turn and give me disapproving looks, I decided to give in and make an appointment. Prior to arriving at the doctor's office, Jake and I have several discussions about how we need to answer the doctor's questions honestly and not be silly. We arrive, and he is called back for the initial tests.  As the technician explained everything to Jake and had him start the process of going from machine to machine, Jake eagerly stuck his head up to the first one.  He was sitting in a swivel chair and ...

I work hard.  My desk is always covered with stacks of things that someone, somewhere on this campus needs me to attend to.  It's good to be needed.  However, there are times that I must ignore everyone IMing and emailing and calling and sending smoke signals to tend to the cleanliness of my workspace.  Today was that day. Fortunately, I had one good conference call, that thanks to the technological wonder that is the wireless head mic, I could multi-task and dust while listening.  This task, however, brought a few things to mind - the most important question being, "When do you know it is time to dust your office?"   The custodial representatives here will not touch your desk or bookshelves if you have anything on them.  Apparently there are liability issues.  The biggest liability issue I see is that the mountain of paperwork I huddle behind may fall like an avalanche if they breathe on it too heavy.  But, that's a topic for another day...

Jake was quietly coloring and working in his activity book during the church service recently.  This was quite an accomplishment as this child has been hauled out kicking and screaming and causing a general ruckus on more than one occasion.  El Hubbo and I were enjoying not having to issue whispered threats to the child.  The sermon was moving along nicely, and the preacher was discussing how children question everything.  He mentioned we are often tempted to reply to questions of "why?" with "Because I told you so."   My darling eldest child looked up from his book, pointed at his father and I, and said (too loudly in my opinion), "Y'all do that."  You gotta love being called out by your six year old at church. Like any parent who may or may not be guilty of the accusation, we said, "hush!" Jake returned to working in his book.  The preacher then began to talk about how our actions and choices can show what we care most about.  He used...

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!