State Traveler

Sorry – once again, MIA for an extended period of time.

Why, you may ask? Because I’ve approximately half my time this week in a car traversing the major cities of Texas. Within the span of seven days, I will officially have spent time in every major city in Texas. And, guys, this is a big state!

Christmas Eve – Work half a day, then drive six hours to my grandmother’s Christmas Eve. It was also, I am happy to say, a day late celebration for her 75th birthday. Love her and so happy to have her still in my life! 🙂

This is her picture from high school when she was a twirler – so adorable!

Then, Christmas Day with my parents – same town, so we had a reprieve from driving for a while. I had an excellent time with my sisters and my mom got some good pictures of all of us together in aprons (we always end up with at least one matching gift).

Sunday – drive to the Metroplex for my in-law’s Christmas celebration. Monday – back to the old SA. Copious napping was done by me, plus I made some food things and froze them to get the new year off to a good start.

Wednesday – H-town for the bowl game. The less said about that, the better. This car trip actually turned into 10 hours in the car. Why? Because we left the house around 10, drove almost to Houston, then realized, oh, neither of us decided to bring the tickets. And they were expensive. So, we went back to get them. Sigh.

Thursday – I worked, then we went to Austin to watch TWEETY CARTER play basketball (not for BU, on his D-League team, the Tulsa 66ers). Oh, how I love that man.

Today – blessed nothing. And some painting, of course. Because our house is STILL NOT DONE. My brother-in-law is coming to spend the weekend with us, so I intend to get him to help with the painting. Yay.

Tomorrow – more nothing. Hurray!!!

Sunday – drive to my favorite city for some college hoops.

I want to hear all about y’all’s weeks, too! I’ve missed everyone! 🙂

Undercover Reporter: Exposing Speciesism

I would like you all to know that I went totally undercover this morning to expose a serious issue facing our country.

Speciesism.

Basically, it’s racism, but toward animals, specifically, the cow.

This morning before work, I decided that I needed to get one more thing for my dad — his main gifts from my sisters and I are a couple of Polo shirts and money for a new cattle trough (so that we don’t have to pick one out, having become somewhat citified in and beyond our collegiate days).

I think it’s weird to give your parents money for Christmas, because I just hate giving people money or gift cards anyway. But, I didn’t want to purchase a trough and drive it six hours on I-35, so money is the only option.

Soooo….back to the species discrimination at hand. No one sells cows. They have Teacup Piggies (which, why does anyone want to put a pig in a cup? Really?):

They have Tatt’zoos (which I find pretty disturbing, promoting tattoos and gangster-ism to young kids):

But the Walmart near my office, which was a convenient place to stop on my drive in to work, is apparently a cow-free zone. I searched and searched, almost to no avail. I had several conversations with fellow shoppers who laughed at my bovine quest. 

Finally, I found a old school farm village set with some nice little Holsteins in it. It was the only one and it was just stacked on a pallet in the corner, as if to be discarded. So I bought those silly cow toys for $6 (highway robbery).

The lesson I provide to you today, friends, is this: Cows are very nice animals. Besides being very tasty animals when made into steaks, etc., they are friendly. They like to be petted and they really enjoy eating snacks from your hand. They should not be maligned and cast out from toy world in favor of teacup piggies.

Merry Christmas Eve, ya’ll. 😉

On Suspensions

No, this has nothing to do with law school, so don’t freak out. Ducks hasn’t violated the honor code or anything else crazy. But it does make me think I want to start a separate sports blog.

I do not understand the rationale of the NCAA. Today, I read about the K-State suspensions for basketball players receiving inappropriate benefits. Players are being suspended for several games (Jacob Pullen) or indefinitely (Curtis Kelly) because they received a “substantial discount” from a clothing store. Which, I guess, basically means that the store gave them the clothes for free or for a negligible amount.

I know the reason so many crazy detailed rules are in place is because of things like the SMU scandal (aka Pony Excess – watch this asap) and because cheating had gotten so out-of-control. However, it seems like things are super ticky-tack, to use a random word. Where’s the line? It’s not okay for Pullen to take clothes that a store offers him, but it’s okay for Cam Newton’s dad to ask for $200,000 as long as he lies through his teeth and says Cam never knew he was asking, OR as long as the school itself doesn’t say yes, and its boosters don’t say yes either? So, there’s no impetus for morality on the part of the players and their parents/family, just on the part of those who might want to help a college student out, or let them know that their contributions on behalf of the school are appreciated.

I will personally say two things:

1) This is not a blog post in support of Kansas State. I despise them, just like I despise every other Big 12 team, and really every other team, period, except my own. (Whew – just had to say that…didn’t want you to think I was crushing on either Beard Man or the original Mr. Angry Eyes – aka Coach Martin. But here’s his picture, because I find him hilarious).

2) I personally feel that our college sports teams have truly enriched my life. I would love to be able to do something nice for these guys, because I think they are awesome. And morally upstanding. And fun to watch, or to talk to on Twitter (yay Twitter!).  But I will never be able to give them even a cookie. A cookie, people! On this point, I will say that perhaps Ducks did them a favor when he ruined my life by throwing away my cheesecake.

Basically, all this rambling to say that I am sad about these suspensions, even though I do believe in following the rules, even though I’m sure things could spiral out of control quickly, even though it’s affecting a school that I consider a strong competitor/conference rival/borderline enemy (but that’s probably just me, on the enemy part). Mostly because having their best player and a Player of the Year candidate out will hurt their RPI and make them less competitive in conference, which will then in turn hurt us.

So, basically, it’s all about me.

I’ve missed you guys! I resolve to be a better blogger in the near future – we have been SO busy with graduations, conferences, Christmas. More on all this later.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Cute story.

When I went to the med clinic on Friday, yes, I did end up walking around with the back of my dress tucked into my tights for a few moments. That’s not the point of this story (although I will say that I’m glad I was wearing a long jacket). Sigh.

This little girl who was also at the clinic was about 2 1/2 – 3 years old and ADORABLE. She had sweet little tiny braids and was walking around smiling at everyone, even though she looked like she didn’t feel well at all.

She found her little jacket on the chair next to her mom, picked it up and cuddled close to her mother’s chest. Then, she said, “Mommy, can you wrap me up like the baby Jesus?”

So freaking cute.

I hope when I have kids they are the kind who say and do hilarious things. My youngest sister, Amy, was that kind of kid when she was a baby. She would stand on top of anything – a stool, a book, a piece of paper and yell, “Lallie (that’s what she called me), save my life!” and she’d keep yelling it until I came over and picked her up from the precarious sheet of paper she was standing on, then she’d kiss me and say, “You’re my hero.” Again, so cute. She’s also the one who named my husband Ducks (actually, Ducky), because she met him when she was four (yes, she’s MUCH younger than me) and told him she wanted to call him Ducky because he was so cute.

Kids grow up too fast. She’s now almost 13 and wants perfume and earrings for Christmas gifts. Slow down!

Anyway, that’s a little rambly, but I just thought that little girl was too cute not to mention! 🙂

Freedom!

We are officially done with finals.

Free at last!

This weekend was so nice. I didn’t really fully realize what it was like to have the continual specter of studying hanging over our activities, but I felt like I actually got to be best friends with Ducks again. We watched some basketball and football; we went to Chris Madrid; we ran errands — and we did all of this together. One of the things I’ve missed the most during this past semester is that we haven’t gone to the grocery store together. Before law school, we would shop together so that we could spend that time enjoying each others’ company, but once school started, that wasn’t on the priority list anymore.

We drove downtown and walked on the Riverwalk and looked at Christmas lights — something that we hadn’t had a chance to do yet, because of the continual plague that was studying. It was just so fun and so peaceful because he wasn’t stressing out about class, or studying, or reviewing flashcards or writing memos. And I wasn’t stressing out about it either.

Just one pic - others didn't turn out well from my phone

We even ended up staying up late last night because we invented a new quiz game in which you must memorize the colleges that various professional basketball players attended (okay, I never said it was an EXCITING weekend, just a good one!).

And today, he’s back to work. We are really lucky that he has good, real salary-paying work for the break, instead of delivering pizza (which would be fine; he’s done it before in his adult life. I just think it’s speaks well for him that his previous job wants him back.).

So, anyway, hope everyone else emerges from the finals tunnel soon! It’s a lot more fun on the other side. How were your weekends?

Apologies and Birthday Questions

Sorry – I’ve been a really bad blogger lately! Miss you all – this week has just been very busy. This weekend, I’ll try to commandeer the computer and write some interesting stuff for the upcoming week.

In other news, Ducks’ birthday is on Sunday. So, once again, we are faced with the conundrum of what to do when a birthday is the so near the gift giving holiday. My in-laws have already bought him tickets to several basketball games he wants to attend, so that’s off the list. I have bought him one gift that I know he wants, but then I get all confused as to, ” What should I save for Christmas?” “How much should I spend?” etc. All I know is that we’re going to one of our city’s most famous burger places, Chris Madrid’s, on Saturday. It’s been on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and if you ever come to visit, I will be happy to take you there. It will probably be your only meal for the day because the burger is so huge. Oh, and that, since my husband “doesn’t like cake” but does like ice cream cake, we’ll be having ice cream cake. Suggestions on where to get it (usually I do Coldstone)?

What do you all buy your significant others when their birthday fall near other gift-giving days?

Hope you guys are doing great on finals (or surviving as the significant other) or for those of you who are already done with school, hope you’re getting your holiday shopping done! 😉

A Ghost?

Okay, something very strange happened to me this morning.

I’m sure it wasn’t a ghost, but I don’t know what could have happened. Last night, I took out my contacts right before bed and put them in a case that had been in the bathroom cabinet. They were a new pair, so I just grabbed a different, older empty case, so I could keep the other case with the most recent lenses for backup.

This morning, I got up and began my usual getting ready routine. I went to the bathroom and put my contacts in and I couldn’t see anything! I thought this was really weird, so I took them out again and I could see perfectly. Without contacts. Or so I thought. Turns out that I already had contacts in. How did this happen? Did I sleepwalk and put in contacts in my sleep? Where did they come from? Since my other pair and my back up pair were still in the case, I am totally at a loss and freaked out. Eeek! What happened?!

Sleepwalking? But that would be some impressive sleepwalking to put contacts on in the night. Eeesh. I don’t know.

In other notes, I have promised my co-workers that I will go to the doctor if my cold doesn’t get well by Wednesday. I originally said Friday but then they revised the date for me, because apparently, I’ve been ill for three weeks (they tracked it on the calendar). And they’re tired of hearing me cough.

Good News!

No, finals are not over. Although, for Ducks, they’re technically 60 percent over.

The good – no, make that GREAT news – is that Ducks got a job during Christmas break.

I wanted him to just take a break and relax, but he said he would go too stir-crazy sitting at home every day for a month. So, instead, he got a job working with his former employer. It’s super exciting because — to be completely honest — he’s going to make a lot of money. Our goal for this year has been to pay one-third of his tuition and all of his books out-of-pocket instead of getting loans for it (all the remainder, of course, is loans…sigh). And, with the time he’ll be working this month, we should be able to cover our portion of the spring’s tuition payment.

Hallelujah!

Now, I’ll have to be really sweet to him all month because he’ll be the breadwinner again. Sigh – I guess we can’t have everything. 😉

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Troy Polamalu = Awesome

I noticed this today and just had to write a quick note.

1) Realized Troy Polamalu was on Twitter (Jamie, did you know this?!)

2) I saw this tweet that he posted that I thought was really cool.

Isn’t that awesome? Instead of basing it all around himself, like “tweet that you love Troy Polamalu” or “tweet Troy’s total number of tackles” or whatever, he’s activating social good. And, I think that’s amazing. I have long thought that he was great, not only because he’s Samoan and therefore probably related to me, but because he’s so devout and has a strong work ethic and is a good role model.

Anyway, that’s enough commentary. Just thought this was really wonderful and wanted to share.

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

This week, we received some very disgruntling and saddening news.

K, my co-worker, is leaving our office to stay at home with her sweet baby girl. She came back to work for several months after her maternity leave, so we were used to having her back again, and now she’s leaving us.

This is kind of awkward to write, perhaps, because K is my only co-worker and “real life” friend who knows about my blog, so she’ll read this, but we are all very sad. I cried and had to restrain myself from sobbing loudly and losing any semblance of dignity.

I think I’ve written about this before, but at work, there are four of us girls who are paired off into two “couples” — L and I are “work girlfriends” and H and K are work girlfriends. K is the maid of honor is H’s upcoming wedding and they’ve worked together for seven years. The four of us share an affinity for Vera Bradley and I especially love K because she shares my same sarcastic sense of humor and appreciates my comedic timing. I don’t know what I’ll do when she’s not around to appreciate my asides and my random comments. The guy with the desk next to me is, to all intents and purposes, deaf and his sense of humor runs more to knock-knock and Laffy Taffy jokes. K and L’s boss thinks it’s important not to show a sense of humor at work. H is in a different section of the building from us (because she’s muy important and has her own window office) and L gets really focused on her work and doesn’t hear my snarkiness.

Plus, she’s also just sweet, funny, an awesome cook and a fellow book lover who lends me all kinds of good reads. How could we let such a girl escape from our office?!

It’s  such a blessed thing to have so many lovely, lively co-workers, but K is going to leave an open spot in our office that will make her irreplaceable.

The one upside: since she’s going to be a stay-at-home-mom for a few months while she finishes her master’s, she’ll pretty much be required to bring her sweet daughter with her whenever she comes to hang out with us, right?