I'm So Giddy

When I arrived at college, I was moving into the dorms, the very first thing I remember was this loud girl screaming and carrying a floor lamp. She had short hair with a thick bleached blonde streak at the front wearing Laguna flip flops. That was Heather. I remember some girls that were already tired of their parents helping them move in and wanted to go eat at 'The Jap Tree.' I couldn't afford to go eat anywhere. I didn't have parents helping me move in. I had one of my friends helping me. That was Micah.  They all had nice cars, I didn't even have a car. These girls had cell phones. I had a calling card I bought at Sam's. I was out of my elements. I was scared. I was scared at what college had in store for me, the two-a-days I had starting the next day, and if I would ever really fit in with these people.


Little did I know.


You talk about a crazy 5 years of college. If I could go back and do it all over again, I would in a heart beat! We partied, crammed for exams, went to practice, partied even harder, played our games and earned that scholarship, and partied hard! I'm not gonna lie, we were club rats. The difference in Panola and MSU was that at Panola we were country pumpkins that would go muddin' and completely make our own fun every night.

It never crossed my mind back then when I became friends with all my volleyball teammates that we would one day all be going back to where we came from. I mean it makes sense. We are all being recruited across the US to play volleyball. Not everybody lives in Fort Worth Texas, Brandi! My Kelli would be going back to Austin, get married, and live in Oklahoma.  Heather would marry, join the air force, and live in Japan. Erin would marry a pilot in the air force and become a nomad like Heather. Amanda would go back to Chicago and start her coaching/writing career. I did have one of my teammates stay here in Fort Worth, Amber.  We are the Hazbinz.


One of my dearest friends, Amanda, will be visiting me in less than two weeks to party and float the Guadalupe River with me. I can't wait to pick her up at the airport and bring her back to The Blackyard and talk and laugh. Don't get me wrong, I still stay in touch with all my old teammates, but when I get to see one AND party with them, I get really giddy.

Here's to RT'11...it's gonna be a good one!

Time is Money!

I slept in 'til 6:00am this morning! I made Jerry's lunch. I piddled around on the computer until Bailey woke up. I vacuumed the house. I started the dishwasher. I got laundry going. I swept the garage. Now I'm deciding what's the next productive thing I can do.  

I'm going to blame my early birdness on my Dad. I don't think I ever slept past 8:00am growing up before he would open the door and crow like a rooster and I don't mean the sweet 'kakadoodledo' sound. "Time to get up, roll over laundry" was the most common phrase he would wake me with. Jerry looked at me funny the first time I said 'roll over laundry.' Apparently that's not a term used by all. Back in my middle school days, I worked with my Dad a few summers laying glass block. 1.) I like being busy 2.) I hated being home 3.) I liked hanging with my Dad and trying to impress him with my mad mortar making skills 4.) I liked making money.  I made $5 bucks a day. It added up over the summer. I would make my Dad sign my little book each day where I would write the date, how many hours it took us, what we did that day, and had him initial under the $5. Apparently I didn't trust my Dad. We got up at 6:00am each morning, sometimes earlier, and we would be at the shop by 6:45 loading block, mortar, scaffold if needed, shims, spacers, plastic, wheel barrow, and other tools to get the job done. We never made a trip back to the shop, so we always took plenty of everything. On special occasions my Dad would swing by the donut shop. I would make our lunches and force him to take a break to eat his lunch. We would be at the job site before 7:30am, no matter what job or how far it was. I'm not kidding, sometimes we would get to the job before daylight. I remember those summers being hot and a lot of hard work. The loading and unloading 50lb bags of mortar, carrying boxes of glass block, mixing mortar until my arms felt like they were going to fall off, cleaning glass block until I had sores on the tips of my fingers made me a mentally and physically stronger person. I didn't know it back then, but now, I appreciate the work ethic my father instilled in me.

Which leads me to this, we have people fixing our fence and we are approaching 10am now. I think a good time to start a days work is no later than 8:00am, especially people that can control their own hours. I understand people that have no control. I worked at Home Depot for two years and my hours were 12-9pm all the time, partly because the scheduler hated me, but I was just buying my time. However,  if you do have control over your job, don't you want to hit it early, get the day over with, get the job done in a timely manner, and get paid quicker?  Hmm. Just a thought.

Time to roll over laundry.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Everybody collects something or has a hobby. Or at least I hope so. I couldn't imagine not wanting something all the time or figuring out my next purchase. Ever since we moved in this house, I have been slowly finding stuff for my Blackyard here and there. I can't afford to get it all at once, nor can I find it all at once. I have made a list so I don't forget. I finally scratched the pot belly pig and Shetland Pony off that list.  Apparently, I was the only one who thought that would be a good idea. I have a rustic/cowboy/ranch theme going on.  Sadly, I enjoy decorating my Blackyard more than the inside of my house. I have a great time finding all these good finds. It's like a never ending mission for me. I feel accomplished each time I can scratch something off 'Momma's Want List.'

I will never forget the time My Lover and I were driving and I yelled, "STOP!" I wanted to stop at this junkyard. I found this rusty wheel barrow with one handle, I wanted! I dumped all the crap out of it and it started taking it to the truck.  Jerry walked away and said, "I don't even know you!" It was great. I found my wire spool that I use for a table there too. I love junkyards, they're the best! I love antique malls too, but he doesn't mind going into those at all.


Today, I finally found my vintage square galvanized wash tub with a stand and it has a ringer! This is the real deal, not the crap knock offs they make today to replicate the old ones. Legit! Jerry's grandfather has one and I hint to him everytime I'm over there that I sure would love to have it.  Haha Papaw, I got one now!

And I got a milk can that I am going to sand down and paint John Deere green on a hot summer night.

That whiskey barrel was a great find too! I found it behind a farmer's market and asked if I could have it. She sold it to me for $20 bucks. My rusty wheel barrow was Jerry's grandfather.  

I found this mirror for Bailey's vanity. I recovered that chair her Mama gave her too.

You just gotta keep your eyes open! Open yow eyes Shelby, open open yow eyes!

CHEW WITH YOUR MOUTH SHUT BRO!!!

Bailey had a T ball game Saturday morning, 'team' ball as she calls it. Grammy took the rug rat home with her after the game. That was que for Jerry and I to have a little date night. We went to Pappadeux and enjoyed some shrimp, lobster and king crab legs. We never eat sea food, so we splurged. We went down to the Stockyards and walked around, then finished the night with a movie.


You know what else we never do? GO TO THE MOVIES! It gets expensive, it's loud, I don't like people sitting that close to me, it's hard for me to sit still through an entire movie, I get annoyed at people that talk, I get aggrivated with kids that are too young to be out without any parental guidance, but I especially get annoyed with guys sitting next to me that CHEW THEIR POPCORN WITH THEIR MOUTH OPEN! Did his mother not teach him to chew with his mouth shut? My four year old chews food with her mouth closed, nor does she talk with food in her mouth. Can he not hear himself smacking? Is there really anything worst than smacking of food in one's mouth?


THEN,  his girlfriend sitting next to him laughed unbelievably loud, awful awful laugh, at parts that were not even remotely funny. (ex: She started laughing because the monkey was wearing a Rolling Stones jean jacket in the movie The Hangover II) See, it was ridiculous! Did she just want people to hear her? Is that her way of getting attention? Then she was on her phone the entire movie! I could see her lit up screen in my peripheral the entire time. I tried to move, but the theater was already packed. 


I'll stick to taking Bailey to movies and watching my movies on Netflix.

Good Good Weekend!

What a good weekend. This is a weirdo weekend for us. Friday night, we ate at home and watched Sherlock Holmes and Gran Torino. Both excellent movies and highly recommend. Saturday we slept in. Bailey turned on her own TV and left us alone. We slept until 8:30ish! That is very odd in this house. It's usually, "Momma can you put this dress on my barbie" in a very whiny voice. We got up on our own will and My Lover made breakfast, biscuits and gravy, sausage gravy that is! I made coffee, sipped on it in my recliner and fell back asleep until 10! Again, Bailey left me completely alone. Usually she can't stand it if my eyes are closed. I finally got up, got ready, and we went to Bailey's double header T Ball game. (Team Ball as Bailey calls it.) It was hilarious, everytime a kid would hit all the kids would run after the ball and tackle each other to get the ball. Totally defeats the point of baseball, but it was cute to see her hit the dirt. We finished the night with some CiCi's because Bailey did so well and because it's cheap. We watched the Maverick's game and chilled again.


Sunday, we slept in again! We ate breakfast and layed around until it was time to get ready for the annual 'Falcon Fest'.  This is a little get together for all our 8th grade athletes. The coaches won this year and crushed the hearts of many 8th graders. Sorry, that's what we do.  We want to win those t shirts! We then rushed over to our friends that were having a diaper shower for their upcoming third kid next month. It was great! We played washers, drank some beer, had a shrimp boil, and Bailey played with all the other kids.


This was just the most chill relaxing weekend we have had in a very long time. We usually are on a mission to complete something every weekend.

That Just Happened

What are the odds a F0 tornado would hit my backyard? Apparently pretty good, because Wednesday, May 11th around 2:35ish, one did! The funny thing is that our neighbor called our alarm company, because we have a little sign in front of our house, and they gave her Jerry's number. Jerry almost didn't take the call, because he didn't recognize it. He called me and I quickly called Bailey's school to see if she was okay. When I drove up to my house and looked around, I immediately got sick to my stomach. We spend so much time in our backyard and have been working so hard to get Jerry's shop built. We were at the point of putting a roof on it.  He has spent countless hours on it, but I personally mixed all the cement the posts are in. On a freezing cold day, I helped him put up the walls. I mean I did get to use the nailer, which was fun, but not when your nose is dripping. Last weekend, we put up 11 trusses on a windy day and I'm scared of heights. So when we saw the pile of wood, we were just heart-broken, BUT it's just wood and we can rebuild it. The quicker we rebuild it, the quicker we tear down our other shed and my outdoor kitchen will go there!

I think this twister was a blessing in disguise. Yeah, my yard looks likes a gypsy camp currently, but it will look good again.  We needed to redo all our fence anyway. Our gates needed some attention. The builders used wooden posts, because they are cheap instead of doing it right with metal ones, so this way we can build it back the way it should have been built in the beginning. 


Bailey needed a new swing set.


Who doesn't like a new roof? 


Camper needed some minor repairs, now they can fix those along with these new repairs.

And with all the old wood from the fence I want to make faux windows and plantar boxes and sell them!

 Our gate flew into the side of the camper.

 It completely pulled the plug out.

 My poor surf board table. I found it on the complete other side of the pool.

 It blew the vent off the top off the camper and now our mattress is SOAKED!

 We found Bailey's slide a street over.

 We found part of this fence two streets over.

Even the posts that were metal were bent.

  I'm just thankful that Bailey was okay at her school, it didn't hit our house or my deck I love love love.

God is Good.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today, Jerry surprised me with a really cool Mother's Day gift. He got me a Scentsy candle with three different scents, one including my favorite scent Clean Breeze. I love things that smell clean. Maybe it's my OCD getting the best of me again. Yeah, I know it's probably lame to you, but this is a really good gift for Jerry. One year I got a gallon of sweet tea and for my birthday I got a plastic tiara and poinsettia (in front of my friend and I was so embarrassed). I'm not kidding people. Next to the volleyball he got me three years ago, this is the best Mother's Day gift Jerry has given me.

Today is Mother's Day. That's a tough one for me. My biological mother left me when I was 7 and my sister was 12.  I rarely saw her after that. When I did see her, she was getting drunk or high with her boyfriend and leaving me places you shouldn't even take children. My Dad remarried and unfortunately the step mother and I never saw eye-to-eye......ever.


Don't even feel bad. Don't. Don't you do it!!


Luckily, I married a great man. His name is Jerry Wayne. You may know him by "Lover".  He has the best mother on this earth.  You don't even know. He totally doesn't understand how lucky he was to grow up with such a loving and caring mother. I'm not kidding people. If Jerry said, I want a bubble-gum snow cone, she would be in the car finding the closest snow cone stand. If she couldn't find one she would find a way to make it at home. It drives me crazy how she is always trying to please people. She's so positive about everything  in life too. Gosh! I wish I could be that positive. She loved her boys unconditionally too. Even the nights Jerry came home 'Cooder Browne' drunk and passed out in her bedroom, she still loved him the next day. He wasn't kicked out of the house. He was never treated any differently.     Unconditional love.


Whenever I need someone to talk to, I can count on her. When I need someone to watch Bailey, I can ALWAYS count on her. She still loves me when I do bone-head things too. We won't even get into that though.


Today's Mother's Day definitely goes to my Mother-In-Law, Pamala Black. Is there a Mother Of The Year? If there is, she deserves its.  She has been there for me, us, Bailey countless times and I am so thankful that I married into this family. I've learned so much about unconditional love.  I love my mother-in-law and don't know what I'd do without her. I get a kick out of listening to women that hate their Mother-In-Law. It's hilarious!


Oh, and Bailey LOVES her Grammy so much too. I think she loves Grammy more than me sometimes. Well, you know I have to be the bad guy and say no.  She cries for a solid hour after leaving Grammy.
                     Happy Mother's Day Pam! I love you!