A Week in Review

Last week was Premiere Week, one of my favorite times of the year (yes, sad, I know). A week in review:

Monday: Dancing With the Stars- the Women. Holy cow! Cheetah Girl has some moves!
Two & A Half Men- funny as always, a little raunchy, but to be expected.
CSI: Miami. Don't ask why. I don't like David Caruso. But the crime... ahhhh... I love the crime.

Tuesday: Dancing With the Stars- the Men. Floyd Mayweather, I expected more. Wayne Newton, go home. Most of the guys had some good moves!
The Unit- Interesting storyline. I never know what's going to happen next. Good show you should watch!
Law & Order SVU- Mariska H. was awesome as usual. Not too fond of the haircut, but I'll get over it. And seriously, we all knew Munch couldn't be the Lieu for long.

Wednesday: Dancing With the Stars (I know! 3 nights in a row.... how awesome is that???). Skinny model with no muscle and no moves goes home. Not too sad about that.
Criminal Minds- This is only the second season I've been watching this show, but I love it! I could not believe they are going to get rid of Gideon!
Private Practice- Love it. Love the cast. I'm watching.
CSI:NY- Where do they come up with this stuff? Blood on the Statue of Liberty? As if. I still love it. Who doesn't like Gary Sinese?

Thursday: Ugly Betty- Guilty pleasure. So stupid, yet so funny.
CSI- This show rocks. It is absolutely captivating. They finally outed Sarah & Grissom.
Grey's Anatomy- I still don't like Izzy. Homewrecker.
Without a Trace- Thank goodness it's on a new night! I got so sick of missing half the episodes because I would set them to record and inevitably, a football game would go long and I'd only get a little bit of the show.
ER- I wish I could say I saw it. Stupid DVR.

Friday: Like I got to see anything. It was the Alameda Ladies Retreat- and it was awesome. Who needs sleep, anyway?

Saturday: OU Football. I needed sleep. I slept through the first 3 quarters on the couch. I woke up in time to see them LOSE. I won't even go there.

Sunday: Brothers & Sisters. I haven't gotten to watch it yet because I'm in here writing this. That reminds me... I need to go... the DVR awaits me. Later.

Good Times

So this weekend was the Revolve Tour in Dallas. I must say, I've gotta be an awesome sponsor. I got us all floor seats, so when the girls' favorite band, Hawk Nelson, came out, they all got to go up in front of the stage. Hawk Nelson actually saw one of our girls singing all the words to his songs and pulled her up on stage to sing with him. Talk about a dream come true for her! I really had a blast getting to know the teen girls of our church. I was surprised by the leadership qualities that were so evident, and also surprised by their taste in food. Dude, who likes What-A-Burger? We stopped there for dinner because we were in a hurry and that's the place the girls chose. Let's just say there was an incident with a bug in a burger. The manager came over and refunded Jenny J. her money, then turned around and told the cashier, "That's why I don't eat at this restaurant." We promptly threw away all of our food. Pizza at midnight, anyone? We now fondly (or not so fondly) refer to it as "What-a-bugger."

Today Luke came home all excited because his school was having a skate night and he really wanted to go. I had Coffee Talk, but Todd was able to take him, and he had a great time. He could actually get around on those skates without falling (Todd and Luke)! Todd also met some of Luke's buddies and their parents. It's so fun to learn about the kids your child has made friends with and watch them interact. I can't believe Luke and Payt are getting so big. It's funny how your kids age, but you stay in your 20s forever. :)

What to say???

It's been several days since my last post and I'm already getting ribbed for not writing more. Well, I don't have anything too interesting, so here's a little collection of what's going on in my life right now:

The curse continues. Broke the hubcap on my van today. On a mailbox. On Jenny's mailbox. I think it's fair to say I no longer like my van or mailboxes.

Sooner born, and Sooner bred. Today when I picked Payt up from school, his teacher told me that he and Kamden earlier in the day had scooted their chairs together as close as they could, then they were shouting "Go OU!" "Boomer Sooner!" The teachers asked what they were doing. Their reply? "Watching an OU football game." We're raising them right. Last week Payt and Kamden played catch with a football at recess. THEY ARE ONLY 2!!!

I think I might be certifiable (crazy, that is). I am one of three sponsors taking some of our teen girls at church down to Dallas for the Revolve Tour. Did I mention that I don't like drama? There's a reason God gave me boys. I do think that it will be a great time, though. I'm looking forward to getting to know the girls better and to going to this kickin' conference. Let the good times roll!

What's On Your iPod?

Somebody asked me the other day what I listen to on my iPod. I thought it would be kind of fun to share what I listen to, and see what all of you are listening to out there. Here it goes:

*Collective Soul
*Bon Jovi (the old stuff, you know, "You Give Love a Bad Name...")
*Live
*Def Leppard ("Pour Some Sugar On Me" is one of my all-time faves)
*Van Halen
*Bryan Adams
*Oasis (as in "Champagne Supernova," not our church Oasis CD)
*Counting Crows
*The Verve
*REO Speedwagon
*Phil Wickham
*Ben Folds Five
*Creed
*Bush
*The Temptations
*A few songs from "Dirty Dancing" and "Top Gun"

That's pretty much it. I hope to get some Pearl Jam on there soon and a few other things. What do you listen to?

Start 'em Early

Little Todd here had his second "race" at the beginning of this month. Last October he walked the Race for the Cure with me, but earlier this month he ran the kids' 50-yard Dash at a local race. He was a little unsure of what to do since it was his first time in a group running without us, but he was fast and he had a good time. Can you tell he doesn't like to have his picture taken? That part is just like his mom!

Todd is training to run a half-marathon in November. It is unbelievable- he hadn't been running in a long time, but a friend asked if he wanted to run the race with him and Todd decided to start running again. He was a stellar cross country runner in high school, and if I'm not mistaken, he still holds a school record for something (don't ask me what, I don't know!). He has been really doing great... he ran over 7 miles the other night! So, keep up the good work, Todd (and Rusty)!

You Know You're a Redneck If...

...You take your grandparents to a gas station steakhouse karaoke joint for their 60th Wedding Anniversary.

This weekend I went with my mom to Arkansas to celebrate my grandparent's 60th anniversary. All I knew went I left was that all of my aunts and uncles had been planning a big party for the occasion. Little did I know they had planned to take them to a "steakhouse" that is actually adjoined to a gas station. A place you would never stop to eat if you were driving along the highway. Turns out the food was okay, but I don't know how I feel about spending $40 for my own meal at a gas station steakhouse. There was lively entertainment, though. Above is a picture of my aunt and my cousin singing karaoke (thank the good Lord you weren't there to hear it). Let's just say there was more than a fair amount of alcohol present. A guy that works there also serenaded my grandparents with a Clint Black song- he was pretty good. I must say, there's a lot of country music in Arkansas. And a lot of beer. I couldn't help but picture my grandparents looking around at our crew drinking up their buckets of beer (myself not included- I have standards) and thinking, "What have we done?"

We followed up the dinner with cake and champagne at my grandparents house. Below is a cute picture of them trying to figure out how to cross arms to drink their champagne.

Crazy as my family is, it was good to see them, and even better to be there as my grandparents celebrated such an important milestone. I am so proud that they have shared their life together for so long. These days you don't find many people who have been married 10 years, let alone 60. Congrats, Granny & Papa!

A Few of My Favorite Things...

On a happier note from the last post (I'm feeling better now, thank you), and in honor of Jessica's post on the same thing, here is a list of some of my favorite things:

*Hugs and kisses from my kids
*Laying on the couch with Todd watching movies
*Taking naps with my kids all snuggled up together
*Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas
*OU football
*Kirk Herbstreit
*Cold weather
*Sweatshirts
*Yummy homemade zucchini and pumpkin bread
*Historically accurate movies
*Starsky & Hutch, the movie (yes, I know, a departure from the line above, oh well)
*OU basketball
*Homecooked popcorn wth lots of salt and butter
*March Madness (aren't there still some people who owe me for winning this year's bracket?)
*My entire family
*My Alameda family
*Coffee Talk with the girls on Monday nights
*Being in a boat, on a jetski, swimming.... anything on or near water
*Watching my kids becoming best friends
*Snow
*Backpacking with Todd and friends
*Shopping
*Beating Todd at bowling, or for that matter, anything
*Witty comebacks
*A fire in the fireplace on a cold, dark night
*Victoria's fettuccini alfredo and cheese bread
*Sharing a bottle of wine and a picnic dinner with my hubby
*Days at work when Luke's school doesn't call to tell me he's injured himself (yes, this happened today- ANOTHER huge bump on his head, but he's ok)
*Doing, rather than saying
*Scrapbooking
*Shopping (did I already mention this?)
*Watching my children dance like rockstars
*Cookouts
*My iPod
*Listening to Granny Ruby talk (she's pretty sassy, can you guess if she's my mom's mom, or my dad's mom?)
*Game night with friends
*Doing the Race for the Cure in Plano and OKC
*Sitting on the porch at Granny & Papa Tyler's house
*Seeing Luke score goals in soccer
*Watching Payt practice with Luke's soccer team- he's pretty good
*The mother's ring Todd got me
*Tent camping in the Fall
*Reading a good book

Okay, so it's more than a few, but these are some of my favorite things!

Caving in.

I am not one to cave under stress. Often. But every now and then everything seems to just cave in on me. I am experiencing that tonight. The other night I was at the mall with some friends and we thought it would be fun to stop at the little blood pressure cuff machine and test all of our bp's (Yeah, we're old). Mine was a little on the high side... 124/91. Hmm. Weird. Later I was talking with Charlotte (a friend who is a PA) and I mention my high bp. "Are you stressed?" she asked. My reply, "No." Two days later my answer is totally different. I guess it just hit me.

In the last month my friend died from cancer, my son got stitches in his head, another friend's 6 month old baby might have to have surgery to correct a problem with his soft spots on his head, another friend is struggling because her friend, age 27, has just been diagnosed with colon cancer, three people connected to my church were murdered, my youngest son will soon have surgery to remove his tonsils and adnoids, good friends are struggling with fertility, and the list goes on.

In the midst of all of this, I am overwhelmed with what seems like 50 projects at church. I love most of them and wouldn't dream of giving them up... I enjoy the things I do there very much, but sometimes working with people can be very demanding and stressful. I lashed out a little tonight and I feel badly. I even took it out on Todd a little. I gave him the ice cold Bob Stoops stare (you know the one from Saturday, where he tripped over the ball boy, then stood up and gave the poor guy the look of death?) for saying I should "calm down." (Note to guys: never say this to your wife... it makes her even madder). I apologized soon after and now I'm venting here. My husband is so good to me, he knowsI was just stressed, and he let me get it out of my system. In fact, we hardly ever fight, and I am truly grateful and blessed to have him as my husband (love you, Todd).

So, if I've been short with you lately, I'm sorry. I need a break. If I had a passport I'd go to Mexico for a week's vacation. Scratch that- too many hurricanes there lately. Maybe Alaska. Or maybe I'll just try getting to bed at a decent hour.

Well, it's a new post, "A. Fan.," but it's not a fun one. Maybe tomorrow. :)