I am at least two-thirds like this…

The other one-third is the manic me…plunging into the great, depths of the unknown!

The original is by Lisa Montag Brotman. I have a giclee I bought in South Carolina….it is sitting proudly in my office to remind me of who I want to be all the time– Cautiously Optimistic!

We spent a day out and about–no church. Started by throwing caution totally to the wind and eating obscene amounts of food at IHOP for breakfast. Then zipped over to Whole Foods then immediately over to the Apple Store. Len needed to get one of the computer keys replaced again where one of the cute cats had popped it off the keyboard. While there some extravagances were thrown in…Len a new phone and for me a nice Bose docking station for the phone/iPod. We are rotten.

With little time to spare, we made it back to Georgetown to see Up in the Air. I thought it was supposed to be funny! The Huffington Post said that, the movie is about an “…unsatisfied George Clooney (who) by turns (is) debonair and aware of his own shallowness. He’s a 21st-century libertine who winds up endorsing 20th-century family values of loyalty and commitment”. Also, the movie is a “snarky take on conventional morality”. I guess. I was fairly depressed.

An Exxxxxxxceptional Christmas!

Most years I am considered the Christmas Grinch–but imagine this? I had a great holiday in spite of the disappointment of not having Carol & Al here! Maybe I just didn’t have time to get in a snit! We met Dentons, plus Sarah, Jay, and Baby Pete as well as Lawsons plus Jeremy for breakfast Christmas Eve morning. Len suggested this be a Christmas tradition for all in town…I think it is the 3rd time we have done it so I guess it is a tradition. It was very nice and,at las–t maybe, I will have a real Christmas tradition!

Annnnyway, we left from the Stagecoach Inn coffee shop…leaving cats in for overnight. Teresa was here to clean up the house when we left. So off to SAT…Mom was at the ‘beauty parlor’ so we just putzed about…Bros. Bill had a new plan for dinner which captivated me….He was giving up experimental turkey cookery! No more unique brine blends… YES! With that challenge out of the way, Len and I ran amok…we went to Central Market to get Mom her cranberry orange scones, blitzed the major bike shop plus North Str Mall just in case there was a DEAL, and best of all went in to Shades of Green Nursery to do a surprise attack on Ed and Roberta. We try to get there every year in time for their open house, wine, and sausage gift…complete with lewd comments from Ed…who is my former boyfriend

from 1969-71, married the BEST woman alive….evidenced by the fact that he is still alive. Ed, as many of you know, served as groomsman at our wedding, arranged for our honeymoon in light of Len being in Germany, and hosted Len for the week prior to wedding. I must have been NUTS. At any rate, Len and Ed admire each other endlessly….Ed tells him every year, “Damn, I am glad YOU married her instead of me”. Humph. Roberta and I talk a lot about marriage when we get the chance!

Then on to Mom’s. How is it that it was so good after all these years? David was always darling … I think it was the “small bird” business that Mom put Mary and me through…whipping up everyone’s favorite dish they ever ate and us hating it. Now we have it though. We each ordered exactly what we wanted from Alexander’s and Billy and David picked it up. Most of us enjoyed prime rib…Len, the exception, with a Christmas cheeseburger! It was marvelously easy to assemble and disassemble….Mary and I vote for this method forever! We spent the rest of Christmas Eve being the Maynor-Krals family. Because Baby David is majoring in Russian at West Point, everything was Russian….I mean everything….soft drinks, tea, vodka, stories, etc.

I will attach random photos….Christmas morning….I slept until 9 in the other guest bed room since Len was in a major snore mode….We had a great morning, snacking on scones, and sausage biscuits…No church this year…. Mom loved all the conversations although she had no idea what we were saying unless we SCREAMED at her….she is the most precious, dear generous woman. We are so blessed.

      

Meet and Greet Holiday 2009 Happy Hour without Guests of Honor!!!!

We do know how to have a good time…and what is it we talk about with such fervor and intensity? Barbara replicated the very deeeeeeelicious, Broadmoor Yo No Mo Cosmo as evidenced in photos. She is not only the best breakfast cook ever but the best bar tender! Pulled pork makes me popular with men, yes, possibly a dubious distinction! In attendance in alpha order: Babs and Gordon Adams, Becky and Bros. Bob Denton, Susan and Bros. Bill Lawson, Jeremy Lawson, darling film producer, Joann and John Milican, Sarah Mackey and Tom Normand, and Shelly Smith and Tom McMaster.

  

Missing and sorely missed: Carol and Al Esposito. Carol had her mega stone removed earlier in the day!! I just called the hospital and she was RELEASED yesterday but she is not answering her phone…GADS, I hope she isn’t out shopping!  

It all came together nicely….I played Mah Jongg in the early afternoon so I had it all down to easy assembly when I came home. Len was incredibly helpful…I am trying very hard to remember to tell what–not how. He is responding nicely!  

Bummer…Carol is sick and they can’t come!

This is horrid…Carol is having a super-sized, foot-long (my description) kidney stone removed as I write this. They were supposed to get here last night but she had to be transported by ambulance to Boston, then admitted into the hospital, then blessedly attached to morphine…I will call her room in a bit to see if it is done or when it will be done. I am keeping my fingers crossed that she bounces back from this quickly…from all accounts, it is wretchedly painful . Add to that– Boston had 20″ snow or were supposed to…Maybe they will be able to come before tax season starts…

We were going to go to Big Bend for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for Cowboy Action Shooting…the Buckaroo Package…loooooove the name, don’t you? Len and I don’t want to do this without them…I mean, really, Yankees would make the event so much more entertaining. Of course, Carol does have her license to carry and shoots like Annie Oakley, what with her preparation for some kind of national take over! I adore her! So not to go off on another story, Len and I will drive down to Mom’s Christmas Eve for dinner and come back home Christmas Day. Mom will like this.

Tonight was the ‘meet and greet Carol & Al’ happy hour here at the house…we will still do all but the meet and greet part. I have the mango-bourbon pulled pork simmering and the cole slaw made…Len is buying more wine which is unnecessary since we have TONS of wine but he enjoys being over-stocked (?)!

Yesterday I went ‘up’ to Eddy, TX to Foy’s annual Christmas Open House/Soiree. It was very Southern Living and he was/is charming and the perfect host. I was

full of joy and gratitude to get to see Calvin and Julia Whatley. Julia and I taught at Temple High together ions ago. Calvin also retired from TISD as a principal. He is so precious…he told me he wore his Dillard’s cologne just in case I was there. Now, THAT is a compliment. I am putting it in a compliment jar…not that I have one but it just came to me and so when I am feeling bleak, I will pull one out for recollection. Yes, that IS what I am going to do. I may make people look at them with me! Now that is pitiful and needy!

Must get a new hairdo…maybe resurrect the BEE HIVE

OK, I must be bored and obvious without pride or I wouldn’t put these pictures in….Edward is right though, I do not need to take hair vitamins…I currently have a full head of hair! Now to learn the intricacies of the bee hive!   

I am placing a self-imposed moratorium on adding to existing collections of beauty aids, objects de art, and jewelry! No kidding.

Is it possible? Can I do this? YES, I am strong and capable…I will mange my excesses. I will NOT buy one more kaleidoscope, vest, magical facial serum, doll house furniture, shawl, jewelry, fabric, hat, CD, cocktail napkin, tablecloth, etc. I CAN do this.

Seedy doll house, aka Katy Sue’s Social Club still sits in the living room. Len occasionally asks what he can do with it when I die. He isn’t too subtle.

Here is what I do….to include more happy hour photos

I get to go to San Antonio every month….I hope that doesn’t sound…hmmm, what? I don’t necessarily like to GO but I love to be there with Mom, while I have her. She is so frail, and I imagine just like I will be some day. I don’t like it. I think I love her more than I can ever say to anyone. She is me. I am her…we are shared DNA. I can never be good enough to be her daughter. I want to be just like her and I am totally not her. I wonder if people ever get a handle on who they are in relation to their parents? So, I have to stop with this. I will publish this knowing I can take it off in a minute.

I put up a Christmas tree for her and decorated it with the lemons off her little but mighty Myers Lemon Tree…very prolific little tree. DId a little shopping for her, went to dinner with her and our friend, Betty, then off to Austin to get the car serviced and serious hair job from dear Edward. I came home and collapsed on the sofa for sweet dreams of nothingness then serious once- monthly happy hour.

Happy Hour Commentary: Tonight Susan and Bill were holding vigil at their Christmas tree farm so they weren’t there….in attendance, Becky & Bob, John, Joann, and Joann’s brother,Bud, from OK, Dear Tom Normand, Susan and Mike Shobe, off to Dublin in a week, John and Kerry, and new chums (meaning we met them tonight), Gretchen and Dennis __?___. I love the first two photos…the different expressions on the gal’s faces….might tell the real truth about the story being told…whatever it was! We had a lovely time..too much fun actually. I believe Gretchen (in last photo, giving John an attack of hilarity) invited me to learn how to do steer castration…and I believe I might like it! It has never been on my life list but I think NOW is the time to add it.

What are the implications? I am 63-years-old….and I am seriously thinking about my grandparents at 63…were they like I am NOW? Surely not. I want to get it.

Photo of dashboard means NOTHING! Or is it art? Well, maybe we should have a contest to see what it could mean!

Brookshire Brothers Grand Opening and Book Club

Apparently last night I crashed the Grand Opening of our new Brookshire Brothers grocery store…not at all unlike the couple from Florida who crashed the White House dinner for the Indian Prime Minister. I just didn’t know I was crashing it….good will and all. And I DO NOT want to be on reality TV! Anyway, I went, accepted a long stemmed rose and recycle bag, proceeded to smooze, snack on divine appetizers and drink, and admired the lovely store. Later when I was at book club, the chums were all incensed that I was invited and they were not…come to find out Len told me about the opening when he came back from Rotary–the mayor told everyone to come! So there, girls. Does this tell you about our simple, village life?

I looooooooove my book club. We met last night for our Holiday Soiree…at Jean’s house…and I might add beautifully decorated. We proposed books for the coming year, haggled over selections, ate, drank, and laughed like loons! The weather was frightful–foggy and cold–of course, I was discombobulated going home!

Walmart Santa!

After church Len and I did the run-to-Walmart-and-buy-everything-then-go-home-and-remember-why-you-really-went shopping! Poor Santa Baby (I think he may really be the Optical Shop Manager) had no one to sit with him so the recruiter (no kidding) snapped this…..Hmmmm, so what do I want and is it even available at Walmart? I wish I had sat on his lap….but then he would have required medical attention! I think he was frightened of me!!!!

Quick Trip to Colorado Springs

About 6 months ago I received notice that the Broadmoor Hotel was having a half price sale…so as a frugal consumer I sent the call out to fair fellow travelers to see if there was any interest in a spa retreat. The rest is history. Barbara, Jackie, Susan H., and I made a quick visit to Jackie Kennedy’s favorite hotel–so my mother tells me. We had lovely rooms in the old Tower. Hmmmmm, in a nutshell: We did spa activities on Tuesday–some that sound questionable…Broadmoor Bliss and Vibraderm service–all part of a package called Girls Gone Spa! I assure you, it is all about sounding evocative!

Wednesday the weather was frezzzzzzzzing but we put on happy faces and did a tourista outing to Garden of the Gods and Historic Colorado Springs before heading back to the hotel to avoid the snow and deep freeze of 4 F! So we took over the Mezzanine lobby where we took

naps, read books, and drank hot chocolate. The best, of course, are the impossible to describe belly laughs and deeeeeeep conversations about travel, opportunities, clothing, politics, make up, favorite jobs, fears, etc. Now home and trying to figure out what opportunity next. Life is good.