Dad, this one's for you........

Being that it's Halloween, I thought I would give a shout-out to my Dad since I've been thinking of him lately and a wonderful memory came back to me involving Trick-or-Treating.

My Dad was 38 years old when I was born and he was definitely a man's man, if you know what I mean. So imagine him trying to relate to two little girls playing with Barbie's and Cabbage Patch Kids while he was in his 40's. Awkward! But one memory I have that I will always cherish is going Trick-or-Treating with Dad and Kristi while Mom stayed home to hand out candy to all of the other Trick-or-Treaters in the neighborhood.

Being that I grew up in Minnesota, it was usually pretty chilly by the time Halloween came around (in 9th grade, we had a bona fide BLIZZARD on Halloween and Kristi got our white car stuck in a snowbank!). Anyway, I always remember that Dad wore this fuzzy black hat that was shaped kind of like a football. I have no idea why I remember this special hat so much, but it's usually the little things that make me miss him so much. He also wore a different black hat in the years just before he died. I have that hat and I keep it in the pocket behind the driver's seat in my car so he's always with me. :)

The Sounds of Silence

Recently a co-worker of mine said something that resonated with Erin and I in our office and Erin wrote it on our big whiteboard so we will remember it. I thought I would share:

PEOPLE DON'T CARE HOW MUCH YOU KNOW. THEY JUST WANT TO KNOW THAT YOU CARE.

I, for one, get so tired of hearing people just 'talk' when they aren't really saying anything. They are just either filling silent space or trying to impress/show off. Sometimes all a person needs is a friend to listen to them. All of the knowledge in the world cannot compare with the feeling when you have a friend who will listen to you and comfort you. It's really so simple, but seems to be so elusive these days...

Who Let The Dogs Out?!

I finally broke down and bought a baby gate in order to keep my little wiener dog Maggie in the kitchen while I'm not home. I tried giving her the reign of the house and that didn't work (she had accidents in this one spot upstairs). Then I tried to just keep all room doors closed and let her just be in common areas. That didn't work too well either. So for the last couple weeks, I've had no choice but to get out her crate and keep her in that during the day (which she HATES).

Last week I ordered this baby gate on walmart.com and it had great reviews. I think I will keep her gated in the kitchen so that she has access to her crate where she can sleep, her food/water and she can also go in/out the doggy door (although she STILL doesn't get the concept that she can use the doggy door while I'm not there - she's a master of it when I'm home, but apparently she's afraid to use it while I'm gone).

We'll see if this helps!

Southern Cookin'

Well, it's official - I've now tried chicken-fried steak (does that mean that I can qualify as a Texan now??). I don't think I've ever had it in my life, but now I can say that I have had it home-cooked by a native southerner! Mayce and I hung out at her apartment last week to watch a movie and she cooked me chicken-fried steak, which is her specialty. It was interesting watching her make it and it was quite tasty!

From what Mayce tells me, her Mom Terrye is a fabulous cook, so hopefully someday I'll be able to blog about her cooking as well. I heard through the grapevine that Terrye reads my blog (Hi T-Nann!), so I wanted you to know that your daughter raves about your cooking. :) Oh, and Maggie misses you too!

A Little Bit of Dallas Culture

During Claire's visit, we went to the Dallas Museum of Art in downtown Dallas to see the King Tut exhibit. There were items there on display from King Tut's actual tomb - very cool. It's a traveling exhibit that is here until May 2009.

There was also a really neat sculpture garden outside the museum with some waterfalls. The weather was gorgeous so we hung out there for a while too.


After the museum, we headed over to Commerce St. so Claire could go through the Sixth Floor Museum (the JFK assassination site). Since I had been through it twice this year already, I hung out on the 'grassy knoll' while she went in the museum. On our way back to the car, we passed by "Old Red" - the historic courthouse that is across the street from Dealey Plaza and the 'grassy knoll'. I think it's so beautiful!!


OK, here's a random picture - it's at the Botanical Gardens (I'll blog about that later) and there was a cactus garden and some idiot named Amber carved her name into the cactus leaf. Ugh. Anyway, that's not the point.....Look close above the "B" in Amber and you'll see a tiny little gecko! They are just soooo cute!

Maggie's Worst Halloween Nightmare Came True!

Mayce sent me a link to the ONE & ONLY costume I'm willing to spend money on for Maggie (since she hates clothes and will chew her way out of them and waste my money). It's the bun/ketchup outfit for wiener dogs! How awesomely bad is this?! And it's on clearance for $6.29, so how could I resist?!

Mazda - Zoom Zoom............errrrrrrr NOT

I had to say bye-bye to my car this morning (well, for a day - but this is Extreme Lauri talking today). I went out to my car to leave for work and turned the key - just to hear a clicking noise that sounded like a machine gun, but no engine firing up. My friend Marino suggested opening up the hood and looking at the battery. I did and found a ton of corrosion (white crap) on the connector between the battery and the black cable running from the battery. He said that if I cleaned that all up, I might be able to start the car. He suggested baking soda and water, but I didn't have any baking soda (and no way to get to the store to get some!), so my boss suggested pouring Coke over it. I happened to have some Diet Coke and tried it. WOW - Coke really gets rid of that corrosion! (Kind of makes you wonder what it's doing to your insides........as I gulp down my Diet Mountain Dew........)

But in the end, the car just wouldn't start. So I had to call a tow truck/car repair place that my friend Erin recommended. Thankfully my car insurance covers towing, so I'll get that money back, but I'm sure I'll get a hefty bill for the rest - I'm hoping they just have to replace the battery or something simple like that.

Here is a pic of Maggie looking out the window and watching that towing guy like a hawk - she's very protective. hee hee

I know that cars break down every day and that it's not the end of the world - and quite honestly, I should be thankful for a number of reasons:

1. It happened in the comfort of my own home.

2. I work for a fabulous boss who is understanding about these kinds of things.

3. I work for a company who lets me work from home when circumstances like this come up (I have my work laptop with me).

4. No one was hurt and it is relatively minor in the grand scheme of car problems.

But for some reason, I just panic when car problems arise. I think that in some ways, no one will give me as good of advice as my Dad would have - he was a car wizard. I wish I could still call him when things like this happen and he would know what to do. I surely will get through this day just fine, but I just wanted to burst into tears this morning! Am I weird???

Claire's Visit!

Well, I'm finally blogging/posting pics from Claire's recent visit, so here goes!

This is Claire in her new Sam Moon sunglasses - all pink and obnoxious!

Right after I picked up Claire from the airport, we headed to Dallas to shop for jewelry at Sam Moon and we both got purses! Then we were hungry for lunch and headed to Hard 8 barbecue restaurant (the one I've blogged about a couple times). This time I took a pic of the 'meat guys' stoking their fire. Man, that outside grill area smelled SO GOOD!

After lunch, we headed to Irving for a tour of Texas stadium (yes, it was my 3rd time in 9 months!). It was fun and our tour guide was an older guy named Slim who looked like he'd had a wild and rough life. Since the new Cowboys stadium will be finished and ready to go for the 2009 season, this is the last hurrah for Texas Stadium in Irving. Here are some pics!

This star is on the wall in the tunnel from the Cowboys locker room out to the field. I thought it was interesting because the smudging around the bottom of the star is from the players rubbing their hand on the star for good luck on their way out to the field - it actually rubbed the paint off!

This is me running down the tunnel and through the inflatable helmet onto the field!

This is Claire, with the picture taken from inside the inflatable helmet.

And last, but not least, is Maggie waiting outside Claire's guest bedroom for her to wake up the next morning. After Claire went to bed and before she got up in the morning, Maggie would go to her door and just wait for her to come out. It was very sweet!

Glenn's FOX trot

To my fellow Glenn Beck lovers:

You've probably noticed that Glenn hasn't been on HNN for his regular TV show each night. I know - HORRIFYING! But have no fear - Glenn is 'trotting' over to FOX News at the beginning of the year (where he really belongs) and will resume his fabulous commentary.

However, the fact that he's not on the air right now makes blood shoot out of my eyes (to quote Mr. Beck!).

I am still beaming from when he was at the SeaGate Centre in Toledo last December, he walked right past me and looked me in the eyes and said "Merry Christmas"!! I would've lunged at him and shook his hand and told him that I'm his biggest fan, but his 8-person security detail and the bomb dog probably wouldn't have appreciated it....

Mesa Nueva!

Over the weekend, I found the kitchen/dining room table that has always been in my head! I'm kind of a freak about buying furniture - I get the image of what I want in my head and then I have to search and search to find it 'in reality'. This makes for a frustrating time finding furniture. I would imagine that most normal people have a general idea of what they are looking for and then start shopping to see what's out there. I am the opposite and I really annoy myself because sometimes the exact furniture that's in my brain doesn't actually exist! Needless to say, I take a LONG time to buy furniture (going to a million stores). But anyway, I did find a kitchen table that I love and here it is!

Tuna Does Vegas!

On Saturday, Mayce and I went to downtown Fort Worth to see a play called "Tuna Does Vegas" at Bass Performance Hall.

The play is done by just 2 men that play all of these different characters themselves (mostly obnoxious Texas women). It is set in a fictional Texas town called Tuna, TX (the 3rd smallest town in Texas) and it plays on all of the stereotypical craziness of a small town. It was great!

Here are pics of Bass Performance Hall - it was a georgeous theater! I hope to go back for more shows....they are doing Annie in December...hmmm....I might have to go and relive my childhood!

Here's a description of the play from their website:

Tuna Does Vegas, the hilarious new installment from the legendary “Greater Tuna” creative team, hits the road with a 21-city National tour starting March 25th at the Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas. Starring the incomparable duo Joe Sears and Jaston Williams, Tuna Does Vegas re-unites the lovable and eccentric characters from the 'third smallest town in Texas' as they take a rambling romp in Sin City. The hilarity begins when oddball-conservative radio host Arles Struvie announces on air that he and his wife Bertha Bumiller are heading to Vegas to renew their wedding vows...but everyone in Tuna, Texas goes along for the ride! Written by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard, Tuna Does Vegas will feature the favorite characters from the award-winning “Greater Tuna” productions with some new characters too! ----all staged under the directorial hand of Mr. Howard.

How 'bout them cowgirls...

My favorite day of Claire's visit was Saturday - we spent the whole day and evening in Fort Worth (Cowtown). There were NO shortages of cowboy hats, boots, spurs, horses or anything of the like! Love it!
We spent the morning at the Botanic Gardens, then headed over to the Stockyards and had lunch at Risckey's BBQ, then shopping throughout the giftshops. At 4pm, we watched the cattle drive (one of the longhorns had a cowbell around his neck - need more cowbell!) and then we headed to Joe T. Garcia's for dinner. Joe T's is supposed to be this famous tourist trap that has fabulous food and gorgeous dining areas. Claire and I weren't that impressed, but at least we can say we've been there. After we had dinner, we headed back to the rodeo area and watched all of the cowboys and cowgirls heading in to the rodeo. We decided to go to Billy Bob's instead, which is just behind the rodeo coliseum.

Here are some pics of our adventures in Cowtown!

Some people just take the cowboy thing too far. Mayce would just puke if she saw this cow all dressed up like this!

Claire found this big huge oversized spur during our power-shopping time in the afternoon. There was also a HUGE belt with belt buckle too, but it wouldn't fit in a picture very well. I thought it was a fabulously big spur!!

Here's a biker bar in the Stockyards - maybe I'll take my next visitor to the Love Shack! Oh wait, my Mom is my next visitor......I'm not sure if that's really her thing....... hee hee

As part of their uniform, the cops in Fort Worth wear cowboy hats - I couldn't resist getting my picture taken with two of them.

While we were at Billy Bob's (the biggest honky tonk in the world!), we took in some bull-riding action. This whole stadium thing was inside the bar! One of the bullriders got hurt while we were there - he got thrown off the bull, but his hand got stuck on a rope and dragged him around. He probably broke his leg - they had to kind of carry him off. But other than that, it was very interesting.

As we were heading into Billy Bob's, we passed by the practice corral for the rodeo that was going on next door. The horses are walked around in that corral and warmed up, and some of them were tied up to the outside edge so you could walk up and pet them. Horse noses are the softest, sweetest thing - I loved touching them! Here are some pics of the horse corral:

My Magic Elixir!

My newest favorite home improvement product is Gorilla Glue. It's just about $6 for a big bottle of it at your local Home Depot or Lowe's and it works wonders on all types of projects! I've used it for all of my tile projects and a bunch of other ones. I swear, there's nothing that 'holds' better than this stuff....but make sure you don't use too much because as it dries, it kind of foams up and hardens and it can seep out from where you put it and you will have to chip off the excess. I highly recommend it!

Has anyone else used it?

I experienced a special treat in Fort Worth when Claire was visiting - something I didn't even realize I missed until I saw it - "northern" grass! Now I'm sure there's a techincal or botanical name for "northern" grass varieties, but I am not cultured enough to know those names - nor do I care. I just saw this big area of grass outside the rodeo coliseum and I immediately laid down in it and enjoyed every second!

Down here in Texas, we have lots of grass, but it's different than in the north. Until I came down here, I took that grass for granted because down here the grass is really 'crunchy' and stiff - and the blades are very thick. Northern grass has very thin, soft blades of grass, so it's very comfy to sit/lay on. Man, when I laid down in the grass in Fort Worth, I thought I was on a blanket!!

Ah, the things you miss when you move away.......