Sunday, June 26, 2011

Woo hoo!

It's been a terrific weekend.  Virgil, Brenda, and Stephanie were in town, coinciding with Tammy's son Robert being home on leave after returning from Afghanistan in May.  Several of us got together Friday nite to see the Rangers play at the Ballpark in Arlington, then added a few more to the mix on Saturday when we gathered at Nolene's to eat and visit.

The Rangers played a heck-of-a game, winning 8-1.  It was almost a sell-out game, and nice to see the Ballpark so full.  I already want to go back.  :)




Good thing you don't have to hear what's going on too much, we had some people in the row behind us who were so full of themselves that they drowned everything else out.  I told Brenda I was curious to see what they looked like, but didn't want to turn around and be obvious...so camera to the rescue!



The guy in the yellow on the left, and the gal in the maroon on the right were quite busy loudly impressing each other and everyone around them with who they knew, where they'd been, and how educated they were (she's a lawyer, he's a professional student from the sounds of it), and the poor fellow in the middle is her dad the doctor.  Amazing how much you can learn without being a part of the conversation.   But enough about them!

I rode over with Virgil and his family, and Tammy and her family came from Denton.  Unfortunately we got our tickets too late to all be together, but were in the same section.  I think it was called the All You Can Eat Front Porch, or something like that.  Our tickets got us into an air conditioned buffet, no extra charge, with hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled chicken, nachos, soft drinks, popcorn, peanuts, and who knows what else.  I got a good pic of Virgil, Brenda, and Stephanie, but unfortunately I was looking into the light for Tammy's group.  That's ok, we got pics of them at Nolene's cookout.

As I said, the Rangers won 8-1.  Watch out World Series, here we come again!
Yesterday we made it to Nolene's house to eat and visit.  Same group, adding several more people.  So good to have Tammy's Robert back, and he came from his Washington state base with one of his buddies from Oklahoma, Robert G.   They just got back from their deployment in May, so his first trip home since then.









Welcome home, Robert.  Glad you're back on U.S. soil, and especially for the time you're in Texas!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

second half of June already!

It's been a busy week, considering it's summer and I'm not watching Elise 4 days a week. 

I decided I wanted to change out my shower curtain and go to a beach theme.  Of course I decided this after I got back from vacation, not when I'm on the coast where there would be all sorts of fun decorative items.  Anyway, I got the shower curtain, rug, rod, hanging rings, and new towels, and decided to take the popcorn off the ceiling before putting everything out.  You would think I learned my lesson last year when I de-popcorned the master bath.  After several hours of contorting my body to get above the bathtub, commode, and vanity, it was finally scraped, primed, and painted.  (The ceiling, not my body.)  And of course I touched up paint where the walls meet the ceiling.  Then I decided I wanted a new light fixture, and David told me he'd be glad to put it up for me.  Well, that led to getting a new faucet.  I probably made at least 3 trips to Lowes and Home Depot buying and returning one of each, but I've got my choices purchased and waiting till tomorrow for David to work his magic.  Still a few more things that could be done in there, but will probably hold off a few weeks.  Ah well.

I've done a bit of embroidery work.  This first one is a wall hanging I'm making for my Birthday Secret Sister, and it just needs the binding and the hanging sleeve on the back.  This swap only involves a birthday package, and we'll know who gave it upon receiving it (as opposed to the Secret Sisters where there are packages throughout the year and I wouldn't post a picture here until the end of the year).  Anyway, I like this little girl doing her handwork, and made one for myself several years ago though I just framed it.  I like this well enough that I may take mine down and put on some borders for a similar wall hanging.  The border is cute, kind of a plum-y purple with little scissors on it.

While on vacation, I worked on these fashionable ladies.  I've got four stamped on the fabric, and am working on the second one.  They will also be wall hangings, though I don't have a particular final resting spot for them at this time.  Who knows, maybe they'll end up in a craft show.  Eh, we'll see.  We all know you don't get anything near what they deserve for the number of hours work in them.  But, I make them for the enjoyment of doing it, so money isn't a driving force.



I'm meeting friends Monica and Karen today for lunch.  Monica had a birthday while I was out of town, so we're celebrating a couple of weeks late, but celebrating none-the-less.  Happy birthday, Monica!

Guess that's it for now.  Have a good week.  Oh, and Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

back from the coast

I got back yesterday from a trip to Corpus Christi/Padre Island with Elizabeth and her family.  Had a great time, of course.  

 We broke up the drive a bit both coming and going by stopping at the outlet mall in San Marcos and doing some walking around.  It's probably about a 7 hour drive.  A couple of times yesterday afternoon, Elise started wiggling around saying "I stuck!"   She was ready to get out of that car seat!

We played on the beach a bit...



And relaxed in and around the pool...

We went to the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus, and enjoyed looking around there.  Along with the great exhibit of dolphins and sea life, they also had a splash area for the kids.  Lily enjoyed spending some time there.




I also discovered some new food.  Well, new to me at least.  David had some fried jalopeno strips, I think from Sonic, and they were yummo.  And he cooked up some chicken one night that was real tasty...chicken strips wrapped in bacon, then topped with bbq sauce when they were close to finished.  He baked these in the oven, though the grill is his preferred method.  The condo we were staying in didn't have a grill.

Then it was time to come home, and what do I find but no air conditioner!  That's ok, I'll go have a sip of my slimmed down version frozen strawberry daquiri.