Another Awesome Day In Texas- The Houston Area Edition

Dubbed 'The Gangster Granny', you have got to see this woman in action!  My favorite part is when she refers to her "strategy"!

Click on the link below to meet a real tough cookie that epitomizes the 'Don't Mess With Texas' attitude.

Gangster granny fights off burglar: 73-year old Margaret Jackson from Houston, Texas fended off a potential robber with only a BBQ fork and scissors.

And then there's this:

The Rocket Has Landed- in Sugar Land, Texas

Apparently, Roger Clemens is looking to play baseball for a crowd at least one more time.  He will pitch in Saturday nights game for the Sugar Land Skeeters, a minor league baseball team near Houston.  Looks like a fun opportunity to catch 'The Rocket' in action.  Anybody got tickets???

Do It NOW!!!

My husband and I belong to a really fun dance club.  Ours is the largest club of its kind in the area and they have many silly traditions that add to the enjoyment of belonging to the club.  One of the traditions that happens at almost every dance our club holds is: 'do it now'.

Basically what happens is that whatever is happening on the dance floor, when somebody yells out 'do it now!', then everybody immediately does one big giant spin- all together.  It's a pretty amazing moment to see and always adds a moment where you just can't help but smile.

This past weekend, as I was going about doing the little things that I have promised myself that I will do to get my house totally ship shape in case I might like to put it up for sale at any coming moment, I got to thinking about 'do it now'.  (I often do my best thinking while doing mundane tasks.  It's one of the reasons that I sometimes love mundane tasks.  That and you can usually see real progress real fast.  Anyway...)

I ended up thinking that 'do it now' should probably be initiated into just about every aspect of life.

I mean, who couldn't use a good reason to shake things up and put a smile on their face?!  Just for stopping for a moment and getting silly, like putting a fun little spin into your day- for really no reason at all...

And on top of that idea, there is always the literal translation of all those things we mean to do and plan on doing for way longer than it actually takes to do them.  And then when we finally do those things, we are amazed at how quick and easy they are and what a nice change ensues.  In other words, you can often get a lot of bang for your buck out of doing something easy and then stand back and admire your work and enjoy!

Like me:  this past weekend I dragged out one of those paint cans that we all keep around and did that touch up work on those scuffed walls that so many of us look at with disdain and swear to do something about when we get around to it.

Now my walls have gone from looking something like this:

Credit: scrumalliance.org

To a lot more like this:

Credit: hotpinkcombatboots.com

(Not pictures of my house, but you get the idea...)

Lovely, fresh and clean!  Sometimes a small change can make a huge difference.  So I say, DO IT NOW!!!

Thanks... And Still Working Hard

Many thanks to those of you who felt compelled to comment on my last post about coming out of the political closet, so to speak.  I really appreciate your honesty and willingness to 'put it out there'.  It does my heart good to know that I am not alone, even out here on the left coast...

Common sense must reign, I say!

I also wanted to give a bit of an update about my husband, concerning his abdominal rebuild that he had back in May. 

Never fear.  I am excited to say that there is no bad news at all!   

You may recall having seen these amazing pictures!  We still can't believe how much more 'normal' he looks!

As the months have gone by everything has gone as it should.  However, that doesn't mean that everything is easy for him.  This has been a long and strenuous road with still more to go.  He's about 90 days out and is now having to really stretch and learn to use the muscles with the way they have been changed and re-purposed because basically some of his oblique muscles were completely moved and integrated into his abdominals. 

Up to this point he has been in a binding garment almost 24/7 to protect the work that was done and allow for healing.  Now my husband has to start the process of letting his muscles relearn how to be strong for his core.  It is a tough and painful process leaving him feeling sore on most days.

But this is all just one more step in the process and we are grateful to be doing this work.  It will be worth it.  I see those commercials with the vets coming back from war severely injured and I can't help but think that this is really nothing compared to all that.  And yet, it is hard for me to watch my husband struggle through this process.

It all goes to show again that anything worth having takes a lot of hard work to get to.  It seems these days this poor guy is always working hard towards something- whether it's all those hours of study and testing to become an actuary or working super hard to just have a normally functioning body, this guy sure could use a break!  I am so looking forward to watching my husband transition from hard work to more wonderful results and I know it's going to happen for him!

I'll Be Even Braver This Time

Last election cycle I did more than I have ever done before when it comes to politics.  I did more than talk and I got involved in local races where I poured my heart and sweat into trying to make a difference. 

The campaign I helped the most with lost by 6,000 votes.  It really made me sad and sorry for the fact that each one of us involved believed that we might have done just a little bit more to have garnered some of those needed votes.

But the truth was I was still too scared to really come out of the political closet.  I did my level best at talking to strangers and friends who agreed with the candidates and ideals that I was working for, but I wasn't willing to cross over the threshold of letting everyone I know in on what and who I support. 

Honestly, it seemed too dangerous.

What if I ticked off somebody I work for?  What would my neighbors think? 

I was so used to just keeping my mouth shut and nodding so an not to tick off people with my politics, even if I never intend to attack them in any way for their own.  Even though I don't agree with many people's politics and yet have learned to always be respectful. 

Somehow I never learned to expect the same for myself.

I live in a place where if you are not a 'progressive liberal' type, then your views simply do not count.  You will be laughed out of any political discussion with a knowing look of feeling sorry for how stupid and small your silly ideas of more freedom and less government are. 

If you live somewhere other than the left coast, you may be thinking that there cannot be a place like that in America.  Come here and see.  I dare you.

So, this time I'm putting it out there.  All the way out there!  I might make some people mad.  People may not like me as much.  I won't be as safe.  I'll have to put up with being called names, yelled at, being flipped off.

That's OK.  I'll be true to myself and have no regrets this time.

 

A sign like this is going up in my front yard just as soon as I can get one.  

And I'm getting a bumper sticker too.

 

These are not perfect candidates.  And neither am I a perfect person.

But I'll be freer one just for the fact that this time I'm actually willing to put it out there for everyone to see.

Thanks Randy Travis; I Feel Much Better

Good Lord, there IS always a bright side, isn't there?!

At least my sister was wasn't neked as a jaybird when she was arrested on Friday... 

 

Randy Travis arrested for DWI; buck naked in car crash, threatened troopers: report 

Bust marks second alcohol-related arrest this year for country star Randy Travis

Grayson County Sheriff's Office

Randy Travis in his August mug shot.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/randy-travis-arrested-dwi-buck-naked-car-crash-threatened-troopers-report-article-1.1131533#ixzz22zDrfyqL

Helping A Friend Is Good For The Heart And Maybe Lucky For Small Destructive Critters

Last Friday I spent the day helping to clean out and pack up my good friends husbands house.  This was the house of my friend Donna who died one year ago today.  Now her husband is having to add insult to injury as he has lost the house to foreclosure after having no job for two years and not being able to refinance even though he was promised many times that he would be able to, under the it-turns-out-not-so-wonderful-new-government-refinance-program.  (Don't even get me started.)

The poor guy didn't even know where to begin.  He is still grieving (naturally) and he hadn't even touched many things that had belonged to his wife, such as her sewing stuff and personal collections, as he just couldn't bring himself to do it.  Several members of our shared dance club were helping out and he kept saying that he just didn't deserve all this help.  He kept reminding of us of what a gruff guy he had been for so many years while his Donna had been alive.  I know that he was always good to her, if not the most social guy in the room.  And I told him not any one of us is any better than any other and that we all loved him.  He openly cried several times.  I personally felt emotionally exhausted after only 5 hours of working, so I can't imagine how he felt.

As luck would have it, the rest of the weekend turned out to be more than a little irksome for me:  My sister is back in the clink- charges in 3 counties, including a parole violation.  Some evil intolerant person put a virus on the web pages that have information for write in republican candidates for our local election.  And a nasty little mole is wreaking havoc on my front yard. 

But I got to enjoy one of the most beautiful warm Seafair Sundays ever.

Credit: Flickriver.com

And I get to continue helping to make my friends husbands life a little easier by setting up an estate sale for him this week.  Which is much more productive than how much I would love to go all Caddyshack on that damn mole...

motleynew.net

 

Surviving The Crazy... And Seafair!

Lately around here, it's still a little bit crazy.

1)  We've settled into a routine of working especially hard to get my husband through his next actuarial exam by having him 'teach' his papers to me.  He missed passing the last one by 1/4 of a point!  So this new tactic has got to work- since either he needs to make sure he's a valuable enough employee to keep around after his company's coming shakeup or we'll need all the help we can get in selling him to somebody elses company in Texas.  Cuz' we sure won't be able to afford to be staying here if his company shows him the door.  Either way, we're going to be prepared!

2)  I recently survived a 20 year high school class reunion that entailed a strange trip down memory lane with a neighbor girl who was always my friend at home, but never at school.  She was a cheerleader and I the band geek.  I learned that she is now a lesbian who is super down to earth and still as sweet as I remember she could be and she learned that I am now a blond who it turns out had a secret life of competitive dancing and other things that prove I was never really that geeky at all.  Ahh, the lives we lead when we compartmentalize!  It's so much easier to be real and just one person...  And it wasn't half bad to be lumped into the new clique of those dubbed the 'non-agers' at the reunion.  Thank goodness the attendees were mostly different than those who came 10 years ago, so nobody said a word about how much fatter I was last time around!

3)  It's also that time of year when Seattleites go as nuts as any politically correct people can.  It's Seafair!

Credit: news-world.org

Tomorrow my husband will feel his office building shake as the Blue Angels arrive in town.  Many people will go bonkers, either complaining about all the unnecessary noise and hoopla or joining in.  It's really not summer in Seattle without Seafair- rain or shine, complete with people suddenly tearing off clothes to reveal especially bad tattoos and fishbelly white skin, the wonderfully intelligent combination of drunken boaters all tied together to a logboom and women who only pretend to be disgusted when the pirates drag them down the beach and haul them off at swordpoint.

Here's a sample of the raucousness for the out-of-towners to enjoy:  You really have to see it to believe it!