And I Will Call Him...MINI ME! (And to think he got his 'big break' in Arlington!)

Verne J. Troyer, a.k.a. Mini-V, is best known for his role as "Mini-Me," Dr. Evil's smaller and more concentrated pure evil protégé, in the hit comedy Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002). Although the thirty-year-old, 32-inch-tall actor has just recently become recognized as a "Big Man in the business," Verne has been working in show business as an actor and stuntman for several years. Troyer, born on January 1, 1969, in Sturgis, Michigan, had always dreamed growing up of getting into showbiz. Shortly after his high school graduation in 1987, Verne moved with some friends to Arlington, Texas, where, in 1993, he got his first break into showbiz as a stunt double for a 9-month-old baby on a film called Baby's Day Out (1994). Over the next few years, Verne made several film and television appearances, often portraying animals or small children.

Greetings From Under the Bed

Maggie just wanted to say hi....from her most favorite place in the house - under my bed! She is turning into a cat!

...Barbecue Stain On My White T-shirt...

This week, my friend from work Mayce (the one who's Dad is a real cowboy in west Texas) and I went out to lunch and I asked her to take me to a place that has real authentic Texas barbecue food. And low and behold, in the center of corporate America - Coppell, Texas - there is a place called Hard 8 and man, was it ever authentic! You walk up to the restaurant and there's a guy outside grilling all kinds of meat and you pick out your meat and then take it inside to get the rest of the stuff (a bun, coleslaw, a margarita, whatever.).

Here's a pic of Mayce and I out front at the 'meat guy' station!

Inside, it's exactly what you would expect at a real Texas barbecue place - horse stall doors in the bathrooms, a big bean pot, sweet and unsweetened tea in big barrels with faucet spigets on them - ya know, the regular stuff. hee hee

Here are some more pics (and yes, Mayce was a good sport about me taking pictures in the restaurant and even the bathroom - she wasn't too embarassed). She joked that the very things that I was so excited about were the things/stereotypes that Texans try to escape from - how ironic!!

The last pic of "Waterin' Hole" was just above drinking fountains. Ha! Really, these pictures don't do it justice. It was a one-of-a-kind place that I will take all of my visitors that want this kind of experience. Fun!! And they also have a whole outside area for the night life too. I would like to go back and actually get a margarita - this is no sissy Irving Mexican restaurant - Hard 8 serves Big and Bigger margaritas!! (see the pic below) Woo hoo!!

It's a date

Well, since pretty much all of the comments on my margarita (or lack thereof) post are inquiring about my date, instead of expressing horror at the fact that there was a Mexican restaurant ON THE MEXICAN BORDER that didn't serve TEQUILA or MARGARITAS or CORONAS......(you all have sick priorities!).....I'll fill you in on the date.

We went to the aforementioned Mexican restaurant and were in and out pretty quick (he was the fastest eater I have ever seen). We decided to go to a movie, but the next showing of The Happening was at like 10:15 or something. The movie theater was in the Irving Mall, so we decided to shop a little bit to waste some time. We walked around the mall, which we quickly discovered was a decent, but older mall, that had turned into the ghetto, literally. We stopped at a few stores and checked out a few things, but pretty much we just sat on some benches that seemed relatively safe and chatted to pass the time. We finally went into the movie and it was kind of a disappointment, but it was alright. We held hands in the movie (this was our second date - first date was the night before at Lone Star Park - watching horse racing). After the movie, we "talked" in the parking lot, if you know what I mean. :) Then we each drove home (we met there, so we both had our cars in the same place). I was a good girl.

Needless to say, though, he is not 'the one' - fairly negative and he seems to like gambling a little too much for my taste.

Does anyone else have any good dating stories lately??

Start Spreading the News!

Today I had a great retail experience and I wanted to share it with all of you that are reading this so that you might have a similar experience and so that company gets more business. Lately, I have been noticing that my back driver's side tire seems awfully low on air. I put air in it and that helped for a while, but it was back to almost flat again. Knowing that this isn't good for the car, the handling or gas mileage...I finally dragged myself to a tire place to see what the damage would be. I decided to go to Discount Tire since I had bought tires for a different car there several years ago and was happy with the experience. I had to wait a little while in the waiting room, but I didn't mind because I thought ahead and brought my Glenn Beck book (An Inconvenient Book - it's great, check it out!). Anyway, when they were done, they drove my car around and told me that there was a screw in my tire and that they fixed it and I was good to go now. I asked how much I owed and they said it was free and to come back and buy tires from them when that time came. Agh! There's nothing for free these days - I was so excited!

Morale of the story: There still are good things and people in the world, and buy tires/fix tires at Discount Tire!!!

Be my guest!

It's official - I'm welcoming my first guest in a few weeks: Allison!! On July 11th, she will fly to Dallas and we are going to hang out for a long weekend in the extreme heat! I'm super excited to see her and I need to start planning some fun activities for her very first trip to Texas. :) I cannot say that Maggie is as excited as I am - she's still a little upset about the yellow doggy raincoat Allison sent her....hee hee

To commemorate her upcoming visit, I dug up some old pictures of our glory days in college - where I met Allison in September 1995 when we started college at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire!

Picture #1 - During college freshman orientation - we just met! I can't believe it's been 13 years!

Picture #2 - Homecoming 1996 at the Phi Sig house, making the float for the parade.

Picture #3 - Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority formal - 1996

Fast forward 10+ years of fun:

Pictures #1 & #2 - Tri Sigma girls reunion weekend in Chicago - May 2005

Picture #3 - Allison's wedding in Apple Valley, Minnesota - November 2007

Wow, was that ever fun digging through the old photo albums looking for pictures that I could actually post on this public blog!

Confidential to Allison - Just be glad I didn't post some pics from the Shaft Mixer, the Mickeys in Cancun or your 21st birthday!!! hee hee!

Jimmy Buffett would be horrified!

I had an experience (a date, actually) on Friday night that I need to write/vent about. The guy I went out with suggested a little mom-and-pop Mexican restaurant for dinner and I thought that was a great idea (I'm currently looking for a good Mexican restaurant that could rival El Camino in Toledo - it's going to be REALLY tough). We were seated at a table and when the waiter came by and asked for our drink order, I asked if they had frozen margaritas. He said they DO NOT SERVE ANY ALCOHOL, INCLUDING MARGARITAS!!! Isn't that a crime or something?! What is the point of Mexican restaurants if they don't have margaritas to enjoy with the yummy salty chips and salsa?!?! Apparently the story is that liquor licenses are city-by-city around the Dallas/Fort Worth area and there are some cities that are "dry" and some can only serve beer/wine and some that can have everything. However, I have gone to restaurants in this same suburb (Irving) before and had a drink. Weird.

Hound Dog (times 3!)

Well, August will bring not only my 31st birthday, but it will bring a week of wiener dogs invading my house! The 2 wiener dogs that I met at Tammy's house back in March/April need a place to stay for a week in August while their owners are in St. Martin......soooo.....I'll be doggy-sitting for Tyson and Stretchy, along with Tammy's sheltie named Katie. I will have 4 crazy pups in my house and Maggie will be in absolute wiener heaven!!

One problem I've been having, though, is with Maggie and the doggy door....She's great with the door and goes in/out as she needs to when I'm home - day or night, rain, wind, whatever. She just takes care of business and I don't have to let her out at all. However, when I leave, she thinks she can't go outside through the doggy door without my permission. So.....if she has to go potty while I'm not home, she tends to have accidents and that just defeats the purpose of the doggy door. But how do I train her to go potty outside when I'm not home if I'm not home to train her to do that?! Any ideas?? Janis?? Maybe it'll be a super good thing to have these other dogs here to show her the ropes....All 3 of them have doggy doors of their own, so they are very well-versed in the concept....

Texas Tornado on a Louisiana Saturday Night

Every state I've lived in has had a border battle amongst its people. I just figured out that in Texas it is no different. Apparently, the people of Texas and Louisiana have terms of endearment for each other:

Texas people call Louisiana people "Coon *sses"

Louisiana people call Texas people "Sh*tkickers"

Ha! I thought those names are funny! At work, our office is filled with LOTS of Sh*tkickers and only one Coon*ss. :)

Speaking of 'coons.......I just had a friend tell me that I need to get a rabies shot now that I live in the south! (that was for you, LTL)! Ha ha!!

Armadillo Mania!

OK, so the other day I saw the GROSSEST roadkill I have ever seen - a DEAD ARMADILLO!! I posted some gross armadillo carnage just to illustrate my point. But in telling my co-workers about my disgusting roadkill experience, they said it's pretty common and to stay away from armadillos because they carry lots of diseases and will burrow huge holes in your yard too. Anyway, I was looking for the pics to put in this post and found that armadillo roadkill is quite the novelty in Texas - they even have chili recipes named after it! (see below) These people are INSANE!

http://www.caddylakgraffix.com/texas_road_kill.asp

https://www.msu.edu/~nixonjos/armadillo/faq.html

http://www.manzanita-jam.com/armadillo_chilli.htm

http://www.graffitiworx.com/stickers/sticker-detail.asp?item=STK0200

I'm officially a sort-of-Texan!!!

In the mail yesterday was a bunch of junk mail, but at the bottom of the pile, disguising itself like regular white-envelope-with-pre-printed-information was............MY NEW TEXAS DRIVER'S LICENSE!!!!!!!!! I'm officially a Texas citizen and I'm even registered to vote as well (too bad Glenn Beck isn't on the ticket for November - damn)!!!! However, even though I have all the legal documents to prove my residency in this great state, born-and-raised Texans still don't consider people like me Texan - and they probably never will, even when I'm 80 years old. The guy who I bought my bedroom furniture from at Ashley even told me so (and he's a cowboy type from west Texas - he said 'fixin' and everything). He was very nice about it, but said that "true" Texans don't like to share their state with us imports, at least as far as saying you're a 'real' Texan. Oh well - I'll be a fake, born-again, artificial, transplant Texan (whatever you want to call it) - that's fine with me!

Roll On, 18-wheeler, Roll On!

T-minus 3 days until Season 2 of Ice Road Truckers starts!!! Woo hoo!! I hear it was filmed in a different location than Season 1 because of commercial cameras not being allowed on the ice road this year. But who cares - it will be the same cut-throat drama and ya gotta love Hugh Rowland ("The Polar Bear")!!

Who's with me?! Stacie for sure!

Exploring the Lone Star state, one ranch at a time

Well, I am finally kicking myself out of the house this weekend - at least for an afternoon or so. I have been spending pretty much every weekend working on the house (installing smoke detectors, doorknobs, handymen doing work, painting trim, etc. etc.) and not exploring this great city/state that I was so obsessed with moving to! So.......this weekend I'm kicking myself out of the house on Saturday (after I set up my new patio swing in the morning before it hits 800 degrees) to go exploring.

My first two ideas for places to go are:


1. Old Red Museum (the historic huge courthouse in downtown Dallas - across the street from the grassy knoll/Commerce St. where Kennedy was assassinated) http://www.oldred.org/

2. Southfork Ranch in Plano, TX (about 40 minutes from me - it's where the TV show "Dallas" was filmed) - the Ewing mansion/estate. http://www.southfork.com/

Anyone who's been to Dallas have any other ideas for my adventures? I promise to post pics. I'm a total tourist, so I'm all about these things - both exciting/flashy and historic.

Medical Mystery

OK, if there are any medical professionals out there that can explain this phenomenon, I would really really appreciate it:

I have lived in Dallas for 2.5 months and I have had 3 very bad colds and now this week I have a very painful ear infection. I have NEVER had an ear infection in my life! And prior to moving here, I had only gotten maybe a cold or two a YEAR. Is there something to the climate change affecting the immune system?? Why would my immune system be so messed up because of a temperature change (especially when I went from a cold place to a warm place)?? I have never had a 3 month stint in my entire life where I was sick this much!

What's up????

PS - I suppose I should add that the stress level in these 3 months has been quite high, but still...

Lots of wieners!

Per Janis' request, here are live-action shots of my doggy door that I had installed for Maggie. She has mastered it and enjoys the freedom. The window is shut down on top of the doggy door and then the remainder of the width (to the left of the doggy door) is a piece of plexiglass cut to the perfect size.



Iris - here is a SECOND location of the Wienerschnitzel franchise that I found in Arlington! I had to take pictures this time. Can't wait to eat spaetzel with you and laugh uncontrollably about the Marienplatz!! (However, notice in the 3rd picture that they are promoting an "italian" sausage in a restaurant that screams German!)

Random Texas Observation - When several freeways all come together at a big complicated mess of overpasses and cloverleaves, that is called a "Mix-Master". I love it!

Today I watched an old Oprah episode that was on my DVR - about puppy mills. Have any of you seen this show?? I was bawling my eyes out when they showed the Fort Worth Animal Shelter and they filmed them picking out which dogs would get euthanized in the morning (about 20-40 per day get euthanized). They put a big red "E" on their cage card and then they filmed the process of killing the animal and showed them stop breathing peacefully. Oh my gosh - I was crying so hard. It was so sad.