Static Alert!

I know it may be shocking to you all… but I am not so much a morning person… the wonderfully cheerful person you all know and love so well, is quiet and distant in the mornings. Is it the desperate cry for more sleep?? Is it the desperate cry for more caffeine?? Ehh something like that… Cheerful Amy doesn’t seem to appear until about an hour after I crawl my sleep deprived body out from under the mounds of covers on my bed… mind you the IV of caffeine and nicotine must be firmly in place as well…

But then I am all good… Happy… Alert… Ready to take on the world!

This morning the world took me on….

I walk out of the house this morning thinking to myself… hmm… I am early this morning… I might actually get 30 mins in the office of quiet time before the phones blow up… hmm… I could actually get some filing done (eww) or I could start my billing early… oh so many wonderful things I can do…

I walked out of the house… sun is shining… birds are chirping… grass is green… was such a bright, bright sunshiny day… I could have broke out in song… I took a deep breath of the fresh clean Texas air… walked out to my car… unlocked it… and went to place my purse on the passenger seat… and that’s when I saw it…

I looked… I was puzzled… very confused… Why are the contents of my glove box all over the seat? Why is my glove box open?

I was really just baffled… I walked back in the house… Woke up Kevin to ask him… did you go thru my car last night? I get a muffled, “No.”… I say, “Huh, well then someone broke into my car, but I don’t think they stole anything.”

I walk back out to the car… start cleaning up the mess all over my seats… Turned on the car, to start the drive into work… and that’s when I hear the static… static… STATIC?!?

I look down… and my heart drops… my IPOD is missing… OMG… MY FREAKING IPOD!!! YOU BASTARDS!! OMG!! *cry* (tearing up right now just thinking about it) MY FREAKING IPOD!! How am I going to survive without my IPOD??! How am I going to annoy my daughter by playing and singing along to “Love Shack” in the car with out my IPOD>?? How am I going to survive the commute to work without my IPOD… those other drivers DEPEND on me to entertain them by singing obnoxiously loud every morning and afternoon to and from the office…. How am I going to be able to WORK without my IPOD playing in the background?? I mean come on!! Take my cell phone… the stupid thing does nothing but ring all the time… but my IPOD? … *sigh* my IPOD… *weep*

So… I know… its not all just about me… I guess I should mention… that my husband’s car was also broken into… and his IPOD was also stolen… those bastards… that was my back up option… Hubby called the police… we were not the only one affected… there were several other reports of break ins in the neighborhood…

So Amy, Find the good in the situation…
1) I get to get a new IPOD
2) Those bastards didn’t steal our cars, or damage the cars in any way.
3) They didn’t try to break into the house. (course I may start carrying my computer to bed with me… if I cannot wow… people will be hurt)

Just FYI to my fellow WOW’ers… you may not see my husband for the next few days… I believe he is going to be going on a recon mission… He was just as fond of his IPOD as I was of mine… So I can pretty much picture him out in the yard… dressed in hunting camouflage … going into sniper mode to guard his truck, house, wife and kid… while I am in the house singing the theme song to Mission Impossible just loud enough for him to hear from his hiding place in the bushes. I will be his IPOD…

Texas Style Reunion

So Sunday we have the hubby’s family reunion out at the horse races... (Yes... the horse races in Texas are a perfectly acceptable family reunion meeting place... provides all the necessary entertainment factors... gambling and booze) So for your entertainment… I am proud to present….

Highlights from the horse track!!

1. Horse track food... not so good... (blah)
2. Horse track sodas come with free refills... (So drink till you pee pure soda)
3. Never turn your back on a 7 year old with a spoon... (What is it with me and children and ice cream lately... OMG)
4. Pick your horses before you ever go inside the track.... (I won big on those)
5. Never bet on a white horse because it looks pretty.... (Cause when the race is over, it will be gray from being behind all the other horses)
6. You’re never too old to get your first tattoo.... (She was 60+ and I have never been more proud!!)
7. Always trust the voice in your head that says to bet big on the horse named Magic Pleasure... (Yeah... I just could not pass betting on the horse just for the humor of it... and boy did he pay off well... hee hee hee)
8. They will auto add 19% to your tab based on the size of your group... no matter how you behave.... (*cough* no comment *cough*)
9. The TVs at your table play things other than the track info and races... make sure your child head is averted when browsing thru the channels... (*cough* no comment *cough*)
10. Statistics really don't mean crap 90% of the time.... (Darts I think would be a more effective horse picking method)
11. Be sure to point out all the sexually explicit horse's name to your spouse while driving to the track... (While this may be a great deal of fun... you will not win the Defensive Driver of the Year Award)
12. Yelling for the horses that were scratched from the race is also a great deal of fun... (Of course people think (a) you are drunk or (b) you were the one on that short bus in the parking lot)
13. Gamblers are typically a loud group of people... (And they like you to be loud too... even when the horses are not running... really...)
14. The people that work the windows where you place bets... do not like being referred to as "Vote Takers"... (And they do get annoyed when you try to place "votes" and not bets... evidently they are two different things)
15. When it is all said and done… you pay $2 to get in the door (for the cheap seats… don’t know what we paid to sit inside in the bar area) and $2 minimum bets… a full days worth of entertainment… You can’t beat it with a stick… (Well I guess the jockeys do huh… lol)

All in all... had a great day!! We ended up with close to 30 in our party... and boy was it a great one!!

Out of the $100 the hubby gave me... I came home with $70... Not too shabby for all day fun in the sun if I do say so myself.... lol... put that little wad of cash in my shoe fund... Woot!!

Me favorite part was cheering (screaming) for the last place horses... poor things... they need someone to cheer for them.... they have to go back to all their horsie friends... try to save face... walk into their “last place” stalls.... while trying to hold their heads up high... endure the whispers of being sent to the glue factory...

*hugs*

Bubu's Surprise!

It was around the 2 o'clock hour today... that I realized... I was way too sober for work today...

So on the way home... I bought the ingredients for the best damn drink this side of the river... (for you Yankees... that river would be the Red one)...

I figured... it is time I shared my wonderful drink with you... my friends...

get you a big ol ice tea glass and fill it up with ice...
Add:
2 shots of Mango flavored rum
2 shots of Strawberry Schnapps
2 shots of Red Bull
2 shots of orange juice

Toss in a straw... and stir... and enjoy...

If your feeling particularly festive add yourself a pretty pink umbrella... (I know you boys love your pink umbrellas hee hee)

You can thank me for my wisdom around the 4th glass... I am now on glass #2
<3 Bubu

The Joys of Parenthood!

Ok... so the teenagers... sigh... I have one... only one thank goodness...

So as a mother you work so hard to bring your child into the world... hold their little hands... teach them right from wrong... teach them not to burn themselves on the stove... bask in the glow of their admiration of you...

Then they hit puberty and you left pondering where you went wrong...

How did I overnight become stupid?

Ice Cream... first thing I should have taught my child is you don't mess with momma's ice cream...

Sunday afternoon - I get the craving... gotta have some... just gotta have it... so I head off to the store and buy ice cream for all of us... hubby eats his... kid eats her's... I eat 1/2 of mine and put the rest in the freezer... seemingly safe move...

Monday - I get home from work...
Kid - "Can I have your ice cream"
Me - "uhh no.."

Monday - After dinner....
Kid - "Are you going to eat your ice cream?"
Me - "Not right now... I will eat it later"
Kid - "So I cannot have it?"
Me - "Uhhh no"

Tuesday - I am late coming home... had to stop at the grocery store on the way home... call the kid from the car to come out and help carry in groceries... pull up... and there is my wonderful daughter... pretty as ever... dutifully waiting on the front porch to help her old ma carry in the bags... with a huge chocolate smear on the right side of her face...

I greet her as normal... carry my load in the house... she goes out to the car to get her bags... I walk to the freezer... hmm... no bowl of ice cream... shocking... I look in the sink... hmm... empty bowl... shocking...

So kid walks in the house... and I ask...
Me - "Did you eat my ice cream?"
Kid - "No"
Me - (while eyeballing the chocolate smear) "Really? You didn't eat my ice cream?"
Kid - "uhh no"
Me - "Ok... so... let me make sure I understand this correctly.... You... didn't eat... MY ice cream? yet it is no longer in the freezer... and the bowl it was in... just magically appeared in the sink?
Kid - "I didn't eat your ice cream!!"
Me - "Ok... so... wait wait wait... hmmm.. YOU didn't eat my ice cream... and its not in the freezer... and the bowl is in the sink... so how did it get there?
Kid - "I thru it out"
Me - "You thru out my ice cream?"
Kid - "Yes"
Me - "You thru out chocolate-brownie-fudge ice cream??"
Kid - "Yes"
Me - (Still eyeballing the smear) "You thru it out... you didn't eat it?"
Kid - "Yes mom... why do you not believe anything I ever say?!?!"
Me - (laughing) "Cause my darling daughter... you want me to believe.. you THRU out Chocolate-brownie-fudge ice cream... and you didn't eat it... and by the way... did you HAPPEN to look in the mirror BEFORE you decided to lie to me?!?"
Kid - (shock and horror at my response)
Me - "Cause.. my child... you have MY ice cream smeared on YOUR face"

Sigh... she will learn...

Monte Carlo?

My hubby is finally home… I am 3 different shades of thrilled… I get him for 3 whole weeks… One of which is our vacation time… then he is off to the wild, wild yonder… errr well north of the Red River anyways….

So our vacation time we have off… are we going on an exotic Caribbean cruise? Or a wild arctic dog sled adventure? Or will we be gambling the nights away in Monte Carlo?

Nope…

The hubby and I have a hot date cleaning out our third bedroom… Right now the room looks somewhat like a nuclear bomb went off, and all that has survived are storage boxes… and *cough* books… old computer parts… *cough* more books… Stuff of my mom’s I couldn’t part with… oh, and did I mention the books? One of the few things I did inherit from my mother is a love of reading… she and I accumulated thousands of books over the years… and I think I still have everyone of them… I made a promise to myself that I will go thru the books… All soft bound that absolutely are not worth keeping (or that Tyrae doesn’t swipe) will find their way to a women’s shelter… along with clothes of mine and my moms… mom would like that… everything else… that will not store in the closet, will be stored on shelves in the garage… and the trash will be thrown away… I warned my hubby that I may not be able to part with as much as he would like for me to part with, but I will make sure that the room is somewhat cleared out so that we can muster some sort of office out of the space… I would also like to put a bed in there for the occasional overnight guest… i.e. my sister…

So the planning begins… I may even be tempted to take photos of this amazing transformation… ehh…

Amber? No… Ember

Ever wonder where people come up with their toon names? I mean it is rather like naming a child… careful thought and consideration should go into this name that will follow you around as long as you are playing said toon… This is why, no mater what game I am playing, I have always been very careful in my name selection.

So… we go back to 1993 when my sister and I started playing online games… I spent a few days really thinking about my name… what name I wanted to give myself… after great thought and consideration… Nightembers made her gaming debut…

Night, cause I was always online at night.

Embers are the glowing, hot coals that remain after a fire. Embers can glow very hot, nearly as hot and sometimes as hot as the fire which created them. They radiate a substantial amount of heat long after the fire has been extinguished, and if not taken care of properly can rekindle a fire that is thought to be completely extinguished and can pose a fire hazard to anyone not careful.

Ehh seemed to fit…

(Thank you Wikipedia for the quote)

Bubu took a bit longer… I had wanted to roll a priest toon for quite some time, but could not settle on a name that seemed to suit me… then one night I had a dream… nothing as brilliant as MLK’s dream… but a dream none the less… In my dream I was running a dungeon with my buddies, and said, to no one in particular, “Aww, he got a boo boo.” It was then that I got that weird “I’m falling” feeling and woke from a somewhat dead sleep… that comment still fresh in my head… I got up… logged in… and Gottabubu was born.

4/6/2008 - How Hick is Hick?

So, Last week... the question came up as to accents... mine being not as southern as one might really think a native Texan should sound...

Which got me to thinking about the great debate my husband and I used to have when we were dating and newly married...

Who's family is more red necked than the other...

Exhibit A... Hubby grew up chasing armadillos with his cousins out on the farm...
Exhibit B... Hubby has a Texas flag tattoo...
Exhibit C... Hubby went with me to my Grandfather's funeral a couple of years ago and met my cousin... who thought it perfectly acceptable to come to the funeral... with a mullet... blue jeans... boots... and a hand-crafted-multi-colored-patched-rabbit-fur vest... and cowboy hat...

Clearly the hubby wins... right??