Going to see Blake and other stuff

I don't know what it is but, every time Friday I know we are leaving to go see our son Blake I want to revert back to the Little Rascals movie and sing, I got two pickles, I got two pickles, I got two pickles, hey, hey, hey, hey.  Except replace the I got two pickles part with I get to go see Blake.  Childish I know. But, it does tell you how excited I get to go see my son.  Yes,  I just resisted the eager to call him my baby boy.  I KNOW he will be 21 on December 2nd.  But if you could have seen him when he was new born. He was 18 days early and they were worried his lungs wouldn't be developed.  He was 5#'s 3oz's when he was born and came home at 4 #'s 14 oz's. He didn't hit 10 pounds until he was 3 months old.  Anyway, long story longer, I'm supper excited to see Blake. I think I did a birthday post when Blake turned 20 that shows some new born pictures.

On top of getting to see Blake, it's Friday, payday and it is cool outside. To top it all off I'm busy at work so this day should go by fast.

Michael and I went on a date on Tuesday night.  We went to see Taken 2 then had dinner at BJ's Bar and Grill.  Taken 2 was great!  It was action packed and had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I got so caught up the S word slipped out.  As in oh S#!&! Lucky for me there were no kids in the theater and the people around that heard laughed. Dinner was wonderful.  They serve so much food that I was able to have dinner the next evening. We really like eating there because there is a wide variety of food to chose from, the deserts are killer and they have brew their own beer. So there is also a wide variety of beer and other drinks. I don't drink beer at all so I get Dr. Pepper because I'm addicted to the stuff.  Michael will get a beer on occasion.

There really hasn't been that much excitement.  Construction is finished so now we are slowly putting things back in place as well as getting rid of stuff that is no longer needed. When we are finished it will beautifully organized.  I work with one other woman and the rest are men so, I don't expect it to stay nice and neat. 

I have a million things to do so I will close for now.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Jackie

Construction Work.... Good times!

We are having some construction done at the office so my hours have been nuts.  Friday I had to stay late because the flooring people were coming in again to wax the floors. They laid the flooring down about three weeks ago however, they didn't apply the wax like they were supposed to.  When they were finished it looked horrible.  There were huge gaps between the tiles and it was just an all around mess.  The head construction guy came in today and now they have to demo the entire work room and kitchen floors and start from scratch.  The upside is I get to pick a different tile because the original tile I picked ended up being way to much peach for any of our liking.

When I finally got home Friday night I packed and got ready for bed because we were supposed to get up really early to go to see one of our cousins play flag football.  Due to the rain that game got called off.  We did get to go to Derek's game but, it pored the entire time.  We were all soaked by the time the game finished.  It's a good thing we had a change of clothes because after we visited with Trish and Clint after the football game we headed on up to Durant, Oklahoma.  No, we didn't go there to gamble.  Blake was supposed to have a baseball game on Sunday.  Michael got a text message from Blake at 6:30 AM to say the game was called off. So our trip to Durant was for nothing.  On a positive note, the only room that was available had two twin beds.  We each got our own bed for the night and it was fantastic!  You know you have been married for over 20 years when you can say sleeping alone was fantastic.  I think it was because I knew it was for one night and he just a few feet over.  When he isn't home I don't sleep well at all!

It's now Monday night and I'm still stuck up at the office waiting on the construction workers to wrap up the installation of an electric screen. I had plans to go see my God daughter play volleyball tomorrow but, that plan is out the window because I will be stuck up at the office every night having to babysit the construction workers.  Don't get me wrong, I am VERY thankful for this job.  They are a wonderful group of people to work with.  I will try and take some picks of everything and show you the finished product.

Hope you have a good evening!

Jackie

The Go Go's Concert

We went to The Go Go's concert on Saturday night at Billy Bob's in Fort Worth, Texas.  It didn't start until 10:30PM.  You know you are old when your husband tells you the concert starts at 10:30 PM and you go "WHAT!????"  haha

Michael has loved The Go Go's as long as I can remember.  He has been in love with Belinda Carlisle for as long as I can remember as well. So, when we heard they were going to be at Billy Bob's I said go ahead and buy the tickets.  At the time I had no idea it was going to start so late.  But, if I really think about it, the headliners don't normally start until that late anyway so I guess it's no big deal.

Saturday night we get cleaned up and head out what I new was going to be to early.  Michael it notorious for being early.  We parked over by Coopers BBQ which is directly across from Billy Bob's. Because we were so early we got to eat some BBQ.  Coopers has the best BBQ.  They also have live bands on the weekend.

After we ate we walked across the street, went to will call to get our tickets and hit up the gift shop.  We didn't buy anything but, it's always fun to walk through the gift shop to see the fun things they have.  We still had some time so we walked around looking at all of the had prints or boot prints mounted on the wall of the various groups/people that have preformed at Billy Bob's.  They had a small rodeo going on in another area.  At one point in time they had a mechanical bull.  I guess they have taken it out or I just never found it.  It was odd going into a country and western facility seeing people dressed up in 80's garb.  Some of the bartenders were dressed in 80's attire as well.  Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of people dressed in western attire. I guess I just wasn't thinking about pulling out the 80's stuff to fit in. Heck,  I couldn't fit in any of the 80's stuff I had back then if I tried!  They have a stuffed bull in a bucking pose that people climb on to get their picture taken.  Why someone with a mini skirt on would do this is beyond me but, it happened.

We finally made our way down to our seats.  We had fantastic seats. It was dead center of the stage.  We were in the "second" row.  Which sounds like you are right there but with the way they have things set up it's not quite as close as it sounds.  They have 2 6' tables in the front row space to walk then 2 6' tables for the second row. Etc.  They were still great seats.  The show started right at 10:30.  It was awesome!  A guy behind us apparently got kicked out for standing up and dancing.  Then at one point Belinda had some people from the crowd come on stage and had everyone in the crowd stand up and dance.  The majority of the folks sat back down after that but several groups stayed standing.  There is no way they could throw that many folks out.  It's almost impossible not to be dancing in your seat at the very least when The Go Go's are dancing around singing their songs and having a blast.  If they come to your town, I would strongly recommend you going if you like them.  We had a blast! That was Michael's second time to see them.  He saw them in 1985 the first time.  This was my first time seeing them.  They still look fantastic and they are in their 50's.  CRAZY!  We will for sure be going to see them again if they are in our neck of the woods.

Hope you had a great weekend and a wonderful Wednesday.

Jackie

Maverick

After we got back home from granny Howard's funeral it was time to get back to work. The boys had plans already in place to go out of town to visit some of Michael's family as well as go to an Astros game as well as several other fun stops along the way.

I had my best friend since I was 7yo, Stacy, coming in to visit.  Stacy wasn't able to be in town on Friday as originally planned so I ended up hanging out with my other best friend Amy and two of her three girls.  Jessie, the one that is the same age as Blake. Jessie is Amy's middle daughter.  Amy and I were pregnant for the Jessie and Blake when we met in May of 1991. Olivia my God daughter also came.  We had planned on  playing games but, somehow never made it to that.  We sat around talking and laughing like a bunch of school girls.  It was a lot of fun.

Stacy made it in Saturday.  We went and had a pedicure, ate at On the Boarder and then rented I don't know how many movies.  We didn't get through very many video's because we were to busy talking and laughing.  It was just the weekend I needed after losing someone I loved.  It makes you really appreciate the times you get to share with loved ones.

The boys didn't get back in town until Tuesday. Maverick hadn't be acting like herself and the day after the boys got home I notice blood on the hardwood  floors and had a bit of a melt down.  I had already lost my dad in January and my granny just over a week before.  Maverick is our baby girl and I couldn't stand the thought of losing her too.  Michael was off so he took her in to the vet.  She was one sick little girl.  Thankfully we caught whatever it was early.  We had to pick her up from one vet and take her to a different clinic that would have someone there until late at night then would be back early in the morning.  The next day we were sent home with 3 different bottle of medication as well as her having to be on RX food until the end of the year.  Maverick, I call her baby girl, is 11 1/2 yo.  She has been the best puppy we have ever had.  Heck, neither Michael nor I have ever had a dog that long.  We got her when Blake was just a little guy.  We let Blake name her.  It was either going to be Cobra or Maverick.  I'm so happy he chose Maverick.  It fits her perfectly!

The following weekend we had plans to go visit Michael's cousin Ty and his wife.  We had made arrangements with Jessie for her to watch Maverick that weekend.  The plans fell through so Maverick ended up coming with us.  It was the first time she had ever traveled with us.  Maverick did great!

We had a wonderful time visiting and of course got our days and nights mixed up.  But, that's the best part of a visit.  Not wanting to stop talking long enough to get the sleep you need to carry on the conversation the next day.

Maverick is still on RX food.  Other than that she is back to herself.

I'm missing you Granny Howard

Early Saturday morning on July 21, 2012 my Uncle Leon calls me to let me know my granny had pasted away.  Granny is my dad's mom.  She turned 91 on April 22, 2012.  All of my life I have thought she looked like a movie star.  Granny's daddy passed when she was 3 years old.  I just found and reread a letter when she told me about that.  This is the reason I save all of the letters and cards I receive.  So I can look back and re-read their words once they pass.  I'm so thankful granny and I wrote back and forth my entire life.  She wasn't able to speak on the phone due to her hearing aids.  So I always wrote her letters.  Granny would encourage us to write letters when we were little by writing back and having a $1 in the letter.  I'm going to do the same for my grandkids.  Of course, we might have to change it up quite a bit since it's already 45cents to mail a letter.  Maybe a quarter an email or skype view? I don't know.  I hope not to know for a while.  Blake needs to graduate first!

Granny was one of the sweetest grandmothers you could have.  She would play games with us until we didn't want to play anymore.  I can just picture her shrugging her shoulders, smiling and saying Okay, in her sweet sing song voice.  Granny would cook our favorite things and sew for us.  There was always a side salad for dinner. Not sure what made it so good other than it was made with her loving hands.

When I was little i remember her showing me how to make slippers.  She had made me a pair that I loved.  I remember them as a teal green or aqua blue with blowers pained on the top and when they heard hurricane Allen was on his way we had to get out of McAllen quick and I forgot to get the slippers I loved so dearly. Granny was always painting, sewing or doing some kind of craft.  She is the one that taught me about needle point.  I still have a little pillow case she had sewn and painted for me as a child.  I would cuddle with that thing every single night until I was married.

I wish we had lived closer to all the ones we loved before they passed away.  It's September and each time I see a picture of daddy or granny while I'm at home I cry.  At work, I think I have been crazy busy working nutty hours.  I will go into detail about that in another post.  After losing someone I love I always seem to go into myself for a while.

I wanted to post my favorite picture of her but, I am in Oklahoma with Blake right now and want to get this post out since promised it over a month ago.  The only reason I was able to finish this post is they are watching the Texas Longhorn game right now.

I plan on getting another post up letting you know what's been going on soon.  In the mean time, I will leave you with a picture of daddy and granny.

Here is a picture of Dad and Granny before my mom passed away.

You can really see how much they look alike.

Have a blessed day!

Jackie

Where has the time gone?

My husband keeps asking me why I have not written on my blog in a while.  Michael knows we have had so much going on in the last month  that we don't know which way is up.  At least that is how I feel. I told Michael I didn't know where to begin. I have been trying to wrap my head around all that has happened. I will write about it. Well, let me say I will write about it this week that way I put a deadline on myself and I will not keep putting it off.

Hope you have been doing well.

Jackie

Happy Surprise 50th Birthday T!!

We went to a surprise 50th birthday party on Saturday for a dear friend of ours. I didn't take my camera because I wasn't sure how large the party would be and I only knew T and her partner and B and his wife.

As soon as we got to the party we sat and visited with B and his wife.  We met P and in our conversation we found out that he worked with Michael's Aunt C.  What a small world.  He was a lot of fun to chat with.  As soon as we found out that T arrived we hid.  When she first came in she only saw a few people that were in the front part of the house.  She was completely shocked. Then as she came in further we yelled surprise!  Her mouth was literally hanging open. She is normally an up beat person but she was on cloud nine.

D, one of the hosts, made the majority of the food. He made mashed potato's that were out of this world.  He told us what all was in it but, I do not recall what he said.  He served them in these champagne glasses and added candied bacon, fresh cut chives and cheddar cheese. The candied bacon took 4 hours to make. D made little cob salads, bar b que chicken pizza,  gourmet sandwiches, 3 different deserts he hand made and put in little glasses. As well as pintafors. There was a full bar. As well as a birthday cake.  I don't recall what else was served.  There was just way to much  to choose from.

The food was great but the people were fantastic.  From the time we walked in her friends accepted us.  They were so much fun.  At one point T's partner was getting the picture montage hooked up to the TV and was having problems.  One of the ladies got up and sang and danced for us all.  Then others joined in.  We laughed from the time we got there until we left.