Sunday in Denton

Casey's girlfriend, Ashley, visited him this weekend at UNT. Ashley attends Hardin-Simmons. They invited Charlie and I up Sunday to go to church with them. I love The Village where Casey goes to church. I've been a few times and it's worth the hour drive to go, it's an awesome church.

After chuch we had dinner at El Gaupo's. I love this place. It's where we had Casey's dinner when he graduated from high school. I got the same thing I got then, the Voodoo Shrimp. Asked for extra spicy and they sure did deliver.

After dinner we visited Wal-mart to pick up some things for Casey. One of the things I love about Ashley is how she and Casey are so much alike. Their sense of humor is so similar, and it's like they just 'get' each other. The entire time I'm around them, I've got a smile on my face. Let me give y'all some pictures of the day.

Casey filled up our cart as soon as we got there with the best the store had to offer. :)

Casey and Charlie with sweet Ashley. By the way, that's a pretty awesome shirt Charlie has on, wish I'd gotten a better picture of it.

We got Casey a web cam to go with his lap top so he can see Ashley when they chat. Mine has one built in, as does Ashley's. But, Casey's Gateway just didn't allow him to get up close and personal, so we had to fix that!

Wish I could capture how gorgeous this girl is inside and out. Casey and Ashley have been good friends for years, since the middle of high school. I'm glad they've taken it to the dating stage.

When we were at Casey's house in Denton, Charlie found a shirt of a female friend of Casey's that had been left in his room. He disappeared into Casey's closet for a couple of minutes...and this is what made us all laugh for a good couple of minutes. Gotta love my kids, they're smile makers for sure!

Yup, that's a Hannah Montanna shirt he's got on, LOL. How cute is he?? Then Casey tells me that he wore this shirt, that came way north of his belly button, a pair of low riding shorts that showed color coordinated boxers that matched the shirt...on the FIRST day of classes this year at college. WHY??? I dunno, he goes for laughs, I guess, I just don't know.

And just one more picture. I know, I'm such a proud mom...but I love this picture of Casey. It's his Chi Alpa basketball team. Casey is front row on the left.

There you go. I'm all done. See, the thing is, my life is soooo not perfect, but I am blessed beyond belief. And, I am grateful. Each and every minute of my life, I am grateful.

LOVE THEM

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Nuttin But Stringz

I can do it!

I'm not much of a mechanic. Sometimes I've been known to forget which side of the steering wheel the wipers are on, so I honestly can not claim to be very intuitive about cars. The other day when I got off of work, I was on the phone arranging a meet with a friend (actually it was a first 'date' of sorts, shhhhhhhhhhh) which I was on my way to. All of the sudden my car begins making a tapping sound. I told my friend there was something wrong with my car and I'd have to call him back. I pull over onto a side street, put the car in park and get out to walk around it. That pretty much exhausted my expertise on cars. Not a sound, it wasn't making that first tapping noise. I got in the car, revved it up, and still just a purring. Put it in drive, started to drive off and there it goes again, tap.tap.tap.tap. The faster I go, the faster and the louder the tapping got. I pulled over again, walked around it and thought maybe I should look under the hood. Could not find the hood release. I've only had the car for a few months, never had a need to use it. Found it just fine in the manual, though. Got the hood open and still, nothing. So, I get back in the car and start down the road and it's louder than ever.
I call my friend and told him I'd need a raincheck. I'm thinking to myself that I'd try to make it to my home town (just about 10 miles) to my mechanic, but the cars around me are all looking at me trying to figure out what's wrong with my car, which is a really good question, and as the speed limit increases so does the noise of my car. Best way to describe it is if you take a ring on your finger and bang it really hard on something metal. I've done this to imitate it and it's pretty close.
I decide there isn't any way I could drive it home, so I pull over to turn around and go back to a garage not far from where I work. I'm just a tad concerned if they need to keep it over night, they'll be keeping me there too.
I pull into a high school's parking lot to turn around and decide one more time to see if I can find anything wrong with my car. So, here I am dressed in black slacks, a black shell and a white jacket, and I lay down in the parking lot and get underneath my car. Nothing. As far as cars go, mine is pretty darn cute underneath.
I decide I'll have to spend the night at the garage and as I'm getting into the car, I think, one more walk around. I walk around the car and I notice something blue on my front drivers side tire. I get down to look at it closer and it's a deflated balloon, attached to the tire. A long, thin, blue balloon. I'm thinking 'surely not', and I peel it off of the tire. Yup, that was it.
I am so glad I did not take it to the mechanic. Wonder how long it'd taken them to find it...and how much it would've cost me.
I'm really good with cars.

Just thinking out loud...

I am at such a loss with the election coming up. I know everyone is talking, writing or reading about it as well. I've never passed up an election without voting, but if ever I were to do so, it would be this one.

I'm about as conservative as they come. Don't go yellin' at me, or judging me. If you're one of my long time friends here, you pretty much know where I stand on the big issues, as I know where you stand and we still remain standing together. I don't demand my friends believe as I do, and my friends graciously honor me with the same courtesy.

I'm not a fan of either Obama or Palin for the office in which they're running. As people, I'm sure they must be honest, kind, giving and thoughtful people. However, they're not up for membership in my Home Owner's Association. I am at a total loss as to how this country, which I still believe to be pretty great, has somehow laid this selection at our feet.

Obama ~ I'm not saying he doesn't have any experience, I'm saying he doesn't have enough.
Palin ~ Ditto Obama, but divide it by half. The thing is, though she's running as a 'mate', given who her 'mate' is, God forbid, she could be be left running the whole show should anything happen to 72 year old McCain. Even though I share some of her views, I don't share enough. Even if I did, I share 98% of my best friend's views, and I wouldn't want her as our country's president (sorry Katy).

I'm not happy. This whole thing scares me. I keep waiting for a dark horse to show up...someone who'll run as an independent...a write in...something. I come from a generation that remembers the Kennedy's, and Ford, Carter, Reagan...I remember the passion that candidates use to stir. Yeah, I'm not happy and not only am I scared (because let's face it, our country needs a strong president), I'm also sad. This is really the best our country has to offer, the best we have to choose from...this is really our best?

Age and commercial breaks

I am spoiled. Seriously, I'm spoiled. Some of you may have gotten notices from AT&T that I'd changed internet services, so I had a new email address. They sent out bulk mailings from my contact lists. People I've never even heard of have been sending me emails saying "Thanks for letting me know you've changed your address. How do I know you?" Heck if I know.

All started when I wanted Showtime added to my cable so I could watch Dexter's new season. I'd caught it on dvd, and now it's nearly a must have...yeah, spoiled, I know. Time Warner, whom I've been with since it was AT&T years ago, wouldn't cut me a deal and my bill was going to go up a good bit. So, being an all American looking for that ever popular good deal, I called the competition, AT&T. Got a great deal. Here is the catch: with AT&T you can only have one dvr box. I'm use to having three. The one in the family room is a family t.v. One in my room to watch in my room, alone. Makes perfect sense to me. Then another in Charlie's room. He doesn't actually want or need one, he says, because he is always in the family room. Thus my need for one in my room. Perfect sense. AT&T had actually told me I could have two, and it showed on my invoice that, in fact, I'd ordered two. Yet, mysteriously, they don't allow two dvr boxes in one home.

I tried it in my room without a dvr box and felt like I was back in the 80's. I was watching one of my favorite shows, The Closer, and I had to go to the bathroom. I'm hitting the pause button on that remote with all the power in my index finger. Nothing. Then it hit's me...it's not a dvr tv anymore. Right then, I decided, I'm going back to Time Warner. And, to welcome me back, Time Warner not only added Showtime, but they lowered my bill by $30 a month. Thank you, thank you very much.

So, for all of you who are having to go through, yet again, my change of email address, I'm sorry. But at my age, there is no way in hell I can only go to the bathroom at commercial breaks.