Ten Countries I'd Like to Visit

Oh, I do love to travel! So one would think I'd have a great list for this week's Ten on Tuesday topic of Ten Countries I'd Like to Visit. But I have this thing. This fear of flying thing. For now, it trumps any desire I have to visit another country. But I'm working on it. So, assuming I can conquer my fear of flying, here are some places I'd like to visit:

1. Canada (actually I could drive there....)
2. Ireland, to see my family's castle and learn more about my heritage
3. England, to visit my cousin who lives there and see the sights of London
4. France, to see Paris (and so I can say, "I've seen London, I've seen France, I've seen so-and-so's underpants!")
5. Australia - seems like a really neat place to visit, and I like the way they talk down there.
6. I wouldn't mind going back to Mexico - Hubby and I visited Cozumel on our cruise and it was beautiful. Cruising is not scary like flying.
7. The same goes for Grand Cayman, which is actually a British Territory. Can I count that? I guess I can - it's my blog! Another great place to arrive by cruise ship, and it is beautiful, too.
8. I would also like to see Jamaica - a colony of the British West Indies. Sounds like another country to me! And another cruise port!
9. As long as I'm cruising around to islands, let's throw in The Bahamas. I hear it's lovely there, and a Disney cruise would take me there!
10. That's all I can think of. I think I'm more of a vacation-within-my-country kind of girl. But I guess all that could change someday! We shall see...

Friday's Feast #9

Bon appetite! Here's my Friday's Feast for the last Friday in July.....

Appetizer

Describe a toy you remember from your childhood.

I used to have this little doll at my grandparents' house in Dallas (I don't know why, but she lived there) and she had a string in her back that you pulled and she talked. But she said strange, bratty things, like "I'm a perfect child!" and "I want a hamburger!" and "You're cute but I'm cuter!" I thought she was hilarious.

Soup

On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being highest) how observant are you?

Probably a 4 - much lower than it used to be, that's for sure.

Salad

Where would you rather be at this very moment?

Disney World

Main Course

When was the last time you learned something new?

Last Saturday while watching the Astros game over at my parents' house I actually learned something about baseball that I didn't know!

Dessert

Fill in the blank: I have __flown in an airplane many times___ but I haven’t __gotten over my fear of flying_____.

Why did it have to be a snake??

So I get up this morning and it is thundering and raining (AGAIN!). I opened the back door so maybe the dogs could tiptoe outside and do their business, but just as I opened the door something came wriggling in! A SNAKE!!! Naturally, I freaked out. Using a paper towel to protect myself from its venomous fangs, I picked him up and put him in a Ragu jar (no, I don't make my own spaghetti sauce, and yes, I save the jars). I wanted the family to see him before I.....well.....I haven't decided what to do with him yet. We threw some grass in the jar with him and I decided I had to take a picture. But he just lay still in the grass, all coiled up and hissing (name that song!). So I dumped him into a Corning Ware dish. As you can see from this picture, he's huge:

And here's a close up shot of him - scary, isn't it? His tongue flickers in and out. It gives me the willies.

After I took these pics and came to put them on the computer, I went back to check on Mr. Anaconda. He had ESCAPED the confines of the Corning Ware and was slithering across the floor towards my back door! I had to freak out again. Back into the jar he went! I'll show him to Hubby when he gets home tonight, then we'll probably take him to the pond around the corner and let him go. I still get the willies every time I look at him, but I think that now I can officially consider myself a Snake Wrangler.

Stupid

The Foto Pherrets word for this week is STUPID. Not one of my favorite words. But I have to admit, this is pretty stupid:

Ten Nicest Things People Have Done For Me

First of all, let me say that I could make my entire Ten on Tuesday list this week about my parents, because they have done so much for me over the years. A lot of you would say, "Well, that's just what parents do, right?" Well, sometimes mine go above and beyond. So I've included a few examples in this list of The Ten Nicest Things People Have Done For Me:

1. When I finally found the courage to leave my abusive, alcoholic ex-husband, my parents took me (and my dog!) back in and never said, "I told you so." They totally could have.
2. When I was pregnant with Little Son, I went into pre-term labor at 32 weeks. They put me in the hospital where I stayed until he was born at 35 weeks. The first day I went in they started me on magnesium sulfate, which caused me to be very, very sick. My mother sat with me for hours in a dim room with no windows or TV while I went back and forth between barfing and sleeping. Every time I needed her she was right there. I'll never forget that.
3. A few years ago I had a hysterectomy, and the morning after was brutal. When they got me up for the first time I was sooooo sick - the nurse held my head with a cold washrag while I barfed. Her job? Yes. But I was soooooo glad she was there, and she was sooooo kind to me. How many people have held your head while you barfed?
4. I just so happened to have that hysterectomy a week or so before Thanksgiving, when literally everyone I knew was going out of town (including my parents!). I felt lonely and depressed, but USO Girl went out of her way during her holiday travel preparations to come to my house and bring me homemade cookies and Clay Aiken's Christmas CD. I cried.
5. One time my car ran out of gas - shame on me. I was in the middle of the street with a 4-year-old and a baby in the car. Some guys in a Miller Lite truck pulled over and pushed my car to the gas station for me. Darling Daughter loved telling everyone how the "Beer Guys" saved us!
6. When Hubby broke his leg last year a lot of bad things ensued. First of all, he did not have health insurance (he was, as luck would have it, switching from one policy to another and there was a lapse - great timing, huh?). He needed surgery. The wonderful doctor, who is also a member of our church, did his surgery at no charge to us. He is a kind and generous man.
7. Altho the doctor did not charge for his services, the hospital and anesthesiologist did. Our wonderful group of church friends came together and paid the surgery off for us, IN FULL. I have never been so overwhelmed by love and kindness in my life.
8. While Hubby was laid up with the broken leg, various friends brought us food, ran our errands, mowed our lawn, and paid our bills. They were truly God-sent.
9. During the ordeal with Hubby's leg, it was also discovered that he had DANGEROUSLY high blood pressure. His boss arranged for him to see his cardiologist and have a whole battery of tests run - all paid for by Hubby's boss. Thankfully Hubby's BP is under control now.
10. The cardiologist that Hubby saw was located on the 17th floor of a building in the Texas Medical Center. Knowing my intense fear of elevators, USO Girl went with us to the doctor's office, took Hubby up in a wheelchair, then came back down to walk all 17 flights of stairs with me. I love her more than you will ever know.

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I hope someone does something nice for you today!

I could have cried.

You've got to head over to USO Girl's blog and read her Apple Pie post! This is real life drama, folks. Be glad it didn't happen to you.

Momsense

Friday's Feast #8

Happy Friday and Happy Feasting! Enjoy!

Appetizer

On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being highest) how much do enjoy watching sports on television?
I would say probably an 8, depending on the sport. I love baseball and some football - college football is better than professional, IMO. I even watch golf with hubby sometimes.

Soup

If you could completely memorize any one work of fiction, which one would you pick?
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Salad

What is your favorite breakfast food?

hot tea and a good pastry

Main Course

Name something fun you can do for less than $10.00.

have lunch out with a friend

Dessert

How long does it usually take you to fall asleep?

I can usually fall asleep within 30 minutes of getting into bed, but there are certainly nights I lie there for much longer! Hubby can literally fall asleep in 5 minutes. It's amazing.

Rain, rain, go away.....

“Into each life some rain must fall, some days must be dark and dreary.”

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Here's what it looks like where I live today (this picture was taken from a local TV studio this morning). This is also what it looked like yesterday. And the day before. In fact, we have only had four days in July that it has not rained in the Houston/Galveston area. June was just as bad! I think it might be time to start building an ark.

Broke

The Foto Pherrets word for this week is BROKE. My first thought was to post a picture of my checkbook, however I thought better of it and went with this instead - hubby's nasty, swollen and bruised ankle/leg after he broke it in two places last October....it took 2 surgeries and a long recovery to get him fixed again!

Like the corners of my mind.....

Scroll down for this week's Ten on Tuesday list!!!!!

Working on this week's Ten on Tuesday list really brought back a lot of memories for me. And I realized that it's funny the things you remember - the moments of time that stand out in your memory.......

I grew up in a time of no VCR's and no cable TV - not until I was a teenager, anyway. We saw movies in the movie theater. My Granddaddy was a Mechanical Engineer whose Dallas company built movie theaters, including the little two-screen theater in my community. (For an interesting fact about that, see #26 of my 100 Things About Me post.) So we got in to all the movies for free. I went to countless theater openings around Texas (he liked to show off his grandchildren) and the biggest fun was going to his office with him, where they had the Candy Warehouse - it was a free shopping trip for us to pick out all the candy we wanted! Heaven for a child, I tell you.

When thinking over the movies of my childhood, I could remember exactly where I saw each one - usually at one of Granddaddy's theaters (until the multi-plex opened at the mall and it became cool to go to the movies and hang at the mall with my friends). Last night USO Girl and I were talking about the various movies we remember and she mentioned Staying Alive (the sequel to Saturday Night Fever) - and this is how I remember it....

It was the summer of 1983 - I was 13 years old and had just finished 8th grade. I had one foot in childhood and another in adolescence. My grandparents drove to Houston from Dallas with Wendy Bird (my cousin), picked me up, and we all drove to Harlingen where Granddaddy was opening another theater. Those were the days we listened to "Sneaky Snake" and "I Like Beer" on the 8-track in their car; Wendy Bird and I had made a cassette of our own with cool music like "Jack and Diane", "White Wedding" , and "China Girl". We spent a week at a motel in Harlingen - Wendy Bird and I had our own room that connected to our grandparents' room. We played Barbies and swam in the motel pool - we had breakfast and lunch every day at a cafe across the parking lot called The Hot Biscuit (Wendy Bird and I called it "The HB"). I can even remember what we ate most days - grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches and vegetable soup. Granddaddy went to work every day, but in the evenings we went on adventures - including a couple of trips over the border to Mexico, where I tried frog legs for the first time (they really do taste like chicken!), Wendy Bird and I had our pictures drawn by a local artist, and we got huge sombreros from one of the many shops.

When it came time for the theater's opening, they did a run-through of the movies during the day - so Granddaddy brought Wendy Bird and I up there and we got to see Staying Alive as the only 2 people in the house. Our own private showing. We were hot stuff. That evening we dressed up and went back for the Grand Opening Event - and we got to see War Games as the first movie shown to the public in that theater. We felt so special that OUR Granddaddy built that theater and we were there as Guests of Honor (or at least we were in our eyes).

In the grand scheme of things that was probably an insignificant little trip - nothing special planned, just two girls hanging out with their grandparents for a week-long business trip. But it stands out so strongly in my memory. It makes me wonder what my children will remember about their childhood - what things that I consider insignificant will be special memories to them?

Ten Favorite Movies From My Childhood

My Ten on Tuesday list this week was a tough one - before I knew it I had 15 or so movies listed!! But then I realized that some of them were more from my teenage years than my childhood, so I pared it back to these Ten Favorite Movies From My Childhood......I included my age at the time the movie was released in parentheses:

1. Benji (5 years old)

2. Grease (8 years old)

3. Saturday Night Fever (8 years old)

4. Xanadu (10 years old)

5. Scavenger Hunt (10 years old) - no one probably remembers this movie but I do and it was hilarious!

6. Urban Cowboy (10 years old)

7. Caddyshack (10 years old)

8. Flashdance (13 years old)

9. Footloose (14 years old)

10. Ghostbusters (14 years old)

There are more.....but it is TEN on Tuesday so I will stop there. Because if I included All of Me (14 years old) that would be eleven......and Dirty Dancing and Top Gun really were more teenage movies - like my senior year in high school when I certainly was no longer a child! So I'll stick with those ten. Happy Tuesday!

Awwww - now how cute is THAT?

Happy Monday, everyone!

Friday's Feast #7

Happy Friday and Happy Feasting!


Appetizer
What is your favorite fruit?
strawberries or blueberries

Soup
Who is someone you consider as a great role model?
I think that several of the Houston Astros make great role models for kids (Craig Biggio, Brad Ausmus, etc.), and I also think Tiger Woods is a great role model.

Salad
If you were to spend one night anywhere within an hour of your home, where would you choose?
In a beach house in Galveston (everything else within an hour of my home is pretty much Houston!)

Main Course
Name something you do too often.
Nap

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I really like ___________ because ____________.
I really like eating out because I hate to cook!

A Rising Star

As you may have read over at USO Girl's blog, Talented Daughter and her Equally Talented BFF have been attending a Summer Drama Camp at a local community theater - it lasts for 4 weeks and their production will be "The Little Mermaid". They had to audition for parts - singing and reading - and while neither girl cared in particular which part they got, they just wanted an actual part and not just "Fish 2" or something like that. Today the cast was announced - four casts, actually, since there are 40 kids there - and Talented Daughter got the role of.......



Yes! Ariel! The lead! Her BFF was also cast as Ariel (in another cast) - so they can rehearse together and get their lines and blocking just right!

We are so proud of them! Way to go, girls! Have a great time Under the Sea!!!

Tagged from A to Z!

I've been tagged by Jolene for this one:

A- Attached or Single? Attached for the last 15 years!

B- Best Friend: USO Girl!

C- Cake or Pie: Yes, please.

D- Drink of Choice: Ginger Ale or Tea

E- Essential Item: my calendar

F- Favourite Color: blue

G- Gummi Bears or Worms? Neither - yuk - both are like eating rubber.

H- Hometown: Clear Lake City, Texas (suburb of Houston)

I- Indulgence: chocolates (I keep them hidden, too, Jolene!)

J- January or February: February, because it's almost spring!

K- Kids: One in the Navy and two at home - a 13-year-old daughter and a 10-year old son; they are awesome.

L- Life is incomplete without: Family and friends

M- Marriage Date: November 25, 1992

N- Number of Siblings: Just one - Bubba

O- Oranges or Apples? Apples, especially if they are cooked in a pie or cobbler or something!

P- Phobia: elevators

Q- Favourite Quote: "I'll think about that tomorrow..."

R- Reasons to smile: babies, puppies, fresh-baked muffins, not having to get up early

S- Season: Spring!

T- Tag Three: USO Girl, Skittles, Bubba's Mom

U- Unknown Fact About Me: I am a certified paralegal. After completing my certification I discovered I hated working for lawyers.

V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals? I like meat AND vegetables!

W- Worst Habit: worrying

X- X-rays or Ultrasounds? I've had both, many times.

Y- Your Favorite Foods: Mexican, Italian, and seafood

Z- Zodiac: Libra

Sing!

The Foto Pherrets word for this week is SING! Here are Talented Daughter and her BFF singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at a minor-league baseball game a few summers ago.....

Ten Favorite Things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens......this week's Ten on Tuesday post highlights Ten of My Favorite Things:

1987

Twenty years ago Ronald Reagan was President, the New York Giants won the Superbowl, the world population reached 5 billion, and Baby Jessica fell down a well. It was a time when the show Married With Children hit the air and everyone learned how to "Walk Like an Egyptian." Iran Contra was in news, evangelist Jim Bakker resigned and Liberace died. And I graduated from high school.

Last night I attended my 20th high school reunion - I was really undecided about whether to go or not, but I'm so glad I did - I really did enjoy it. My graduating class was large - nearly 1000 students - and there was a good turn-out at the reunion. It was a good thing we had name-tags because often I would recognize a face but be unable to recall a name - or I would see the name, look at the face, and think, "No way!" Some were grayer, some balder, some heavier - one or two have had cosmetic surgery (yes, I noticed!). I saw a lot of old friends - talked with a lot of people for the first time in 20 years - danced and drank beer and had a good time (how can you NOT have fun with 80's music playing?)! Most of the people that I wanted to see were there, but not all. My high school boyfriend who ended up breaking my heart into a million pieces within a year of graduation was not there - too bad because I wanted him to see what he missed out on! Ha! But another person I really connected with my senior year was there, and it was great catching up with him. He's a really good guy, was a good friend to me back then, and I have never forgotten him - in fact I still have notes and poems and things he wrote to me. I hope that we can keep in touch now.

I stepped back in time last night - and it was a fun trip. Can't wait for the next one!

Postcard from Camp

Hi, Mom! We're having a great time at Camp Nana! Yesterday Nana took us to see Ratatoullie and it was really good! We think it would be really cool to be a chef. Today Granddaddy took us to the Houston Museum of Natural Science and we got to see the exhibit on Imperial Rome, which was really really interesting. And we saw the dinosaurs and a bunch of other neat stuff. Tonight we are having popcorn and watching some movies Nana rented for us. Tomorrow morning we're going out to breakfast!

We miss you! See you Sunday!

Love,

Your Kids

Things that make me go, "Huh?"

Camp Nana

Today my kids leave for Camp Nana - four fun-filled days with Bubba's Mom and Dad (who only live 15 minutes away and we see them nearly every day anyway)! It's a tradition we started several years ago when the kiddos stayed with Mom and Dad while Hubby and I went on a week-long Caribbean cruise. Now every summer they spend several days and nights with their grandparents and they do fun stuff like crafts, field trips to the museum and movies, and just hang out and be spoiled. They love it. And Hubby and I enjoy the break. We don't have any big plans except attending my 20th high school reunion on Saturday - eek I feel old! Other than that we will enjoy the peace and quiet for a few days. Aaaaaaah!

Happy 4th of July!

Appropriately, the Foto Pherrets word for this week is FLAG!

Ten Things To Do Before I Die

While composing this week's Ten on Tuesday list, Tim McGraw's song Live Like You Were Dying kept running thru my mind. Here's my list of things to do before I die.....

1. I know this will be on a lot of people's lists, but I really want to swim with dolphins - I have swam with stingrays in Grand Cayman and it was incredible! Now I want to swim with dolphins. I know there are several places in the Caribbean where you can do this, and the next time we go on a cruise I will likely check them out. But I really want to go to Discovery Cove. It's pricey, but it looks oh so awesome!
2. See my children grow up, hopefully graduate from college, and have happy, successful lives
3. Be a grandmother
4. Overcome my fear of flying so that I can travel and see more places (like Las Vegas!)
5. Take Drew Bear to Disney World
6. Be debt-free
7. Own my dream house
8. See the Astros win the World Series!
9. Celebrate my golden wedding anniversary (50 years!)
10. Learn sign language

Nerds

Here's the scene - two 13-year-old girls and their 10-year-old brothers. The girls have come up with a brilliant plan for a club - a specially-themed club that they have invited the boys to join. The boys decided to form their own club; ironically it is identical to the girls' club.

Now here is how the argument would go amongst normal children:

Girl: "Mom, they're copying us!"
Boy: "Nuh-uh!"
And so on and so on....

Here is how the argument goes with MY kids:

Daughter: "Mom, they PLAGIARIZED us!!"
Son: "No, you didn't COPYRIGHT it!"

Nerds.

Dream House

I got an e-mail from an old friend recently and she told me that she and her husband were getting ready to build their "dream house". That got me to thinking - what defines one's "dream house"? If I won the lottery, what would my dream house look like? What would yours look like? Does anyone really have their dream house? Barbie has hers, altho it has changed over the years so I'm thinking she gets bored with it and needs an upgrade every so often. I'm sure my friend and her husband bought a nice piece of land somewhere - after all, location is everything - and have drawn up plans to build a lovely house with all the bells and whistles. There are a plethora of home improvement shows on TV now to show us just how crappy our stuff is and tempt us with the latest and greatest gizmos and gadgets - things that make life more convenient, or things that are just plain cool.

I don't think my dream house can be built. I think it must be found. My dream house is old - an historic Victorian house with real hardwood floors and a big front porch. Something like this in Beaufort, South Carolina:


Or this in Natchez, Mississippi:

Or this (OK, this is cjh's house, but I do covet it!):

I don't need anything too fancy - I like the oldness of them. Just updated enough to make life comfortable (I do need my dishwasher, microwave, indoor plumbing, etc.). But you can't build houses like that. They must be discovered - like a hidden treasure. Perhaps one day I'll discover that treasure for myself, and then my dream house can be a reality!