Friday, December 25, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Meeting PW
This was a real treat. Meeting "Pioneer Woman" Ree Drummond at her book signing December 3. Had to rush into Austin after work,scrubs and all. It was held at Book People an independantly owned bookstore in Austin. It's a wonderful place and was jam packed with people. Mostly women. I got to know a woman standing next to me who happened to be from Round Rock also. She kindly offered to take pictures and send them to me. Thank goodness since my lovely daughter has some how "lost" our camera.
Ree's husband "Marlboro Man" and her children were also there,along with her mother, sister and BIL. Having read her blog for the past 2 years I am familiar with her family and it was like meeting an old friend.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving
Had a wonderful dinner with family.
Napped afterward.
Now football. Hook 'em Horns!
Let the holidays begin.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
Happy Friday
There's a new cupcake place here called "Be My Cupcake". Very yummy cupcakes.Victoria and I ventured in and bought a cool dozen. They were 1/2 price. I must say the pumpkin and carrot cake were my favorites.Of course I didn't get to try some of them. They seem to have been gobbled up by the cup cake gremlin's.Do you have those too? I think these are the 2 legged kind.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Autumn
A great cool day for Pumpkin spiced latte. I tried a recipe I found on "Pioneer Woman's" recipe site. It was "pumpkinny "as Victoria said. But did not taste like Starbuck's. Maybe because it wasn't laden with whipped cream and I used skim milk. May try again.
Friday, October 9, 2009
It's Pumpkin Time
It's a cool rainy morning.Perfect Autumn weather.
Great day to stay home and decorate for Halloween.
Gotta get us some real pumpkins.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Happy Fall Ya'll
Happy Fall Ya'll
or should I say Autumn.
The leaves don't fall around here until sometime in November.
That's when the leaves turn in this part of Texas.
I hope to be in Cancun then.
Anyway this is my favorite time of year.
Birthdays(mine and my 2 brothers) and Halloween.
It's been a rainy day and a cool front came in. It's in the 60's.
WooHoo!!
or should I say Autumn.
The leaves don't fall around here until sometime in November.
That's when the leaves turn in this part of Texas.
I hope to be in Cancun then.
Anyway this is my favorite time of year.
Birthdays(mine and my 2 brothers) and Halloween.
It's been a rainy day and a cool front came in. It's in the 60's.
WooHoo!!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
The end of an era-I am deeply saddened
Below is the full text of Barack Obama's eulogy for Senator Edward Kennedy:
Your Eminence, Vicki, Kara, Edward, Patrick, Curran, Caroline, members of the Kennedy family, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens: Today we say goodbye to the youngest child of Rose and Joseph Kennedy. The world will long remember their son Edward as the heir to a weighty legacy; a champion for those who had none; the soul of the Democratic Party; and the lion of the United States Senate -- a man who graces nearly 1,000 laws, and who penned more than 300 laws himself.But those of us who loved him, and ache with his passing, know Ted Kennedy by the other titles he held: Father. Brother. Husband. Grandfather. Uncle Teddy, or as he was often known to his younger nieces and nephews, "The Grand Fromage," or "The Big Cheese." I, like so many others in the city where he worked for nearly half a century, knew him as a col league, a mentor, and above all, as a friend.Ted Kennedy was the baby of the family who became its patriarch; the restless dreamer who became its rock. He was the sunny, joyful child who bore the brunt of his brothers' teasing, but learned quickly how to brush it off. When they tossed him off a boat bec ause he didn't know what a jib was, six-year-old Teddy got back in and learned to sail. When a photographer asked the newly elected Bobby to step back at a press conference because he was casting a shadow on his younger brother, Teddy quipped, "It'll be the same in Washington."That spirit of resilience and good humor would see Teddy through more pain and tragedy than most of us will ever know. He l ost two siblings by the age of 16. He saw two more taken violently from a country that loved them. He said goodbye to his beloved sister, Eunice, in the final days of his life. He narrowly survived a plane crash, watched two children struggle with cancer, buried three nephews, and experienced personal failings and setbacks in the most public way possible.It's a string of events that would have broken a lesser man. And it would have been easy for Ted to let himself become bitter and hardened; to sur render to self-pity and regret; to retreat from public life and live out his years in peaceful quiet. No one would have blamed him for that.But that was not Ted Kennedy. As he told us, "...[I] ndividual faults and frailties are no excuse to give in -- and no exemption from the common obligation to give of ourselves." Indeed, Ted was the "Happy Warrior" that the poet Wordsworth spoke of when he wrote:
As tempted more; more able to endure,As more exposed to suffering and distress;Thence, also, more alive to tenderness.
Through his own suffering, Ted Kennedy became more alive to the plight and the suffering of others -- the sick child who could not see a doctor; the young soldier denied her rights because of what she looks like or who she loves or where she comes from. The landmark laws that he championed -- the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, immigration reform, children's health insurance, the Family and Medical Leave Act -- all have a running thread. Ted Kennedy's life work was not to champion the causes of those with wealth or power or special connections. It was to give a voice to those who were not heard; to add a rung to the ladder of opportunity; to make real the dream of our founding. He was given the gift of time that his brothers were not, and he used that gift to touch as many lives and right as many wrongs as the years would allow.We can still hear his voice bellowing through the Senate chamber, face reddened, fist pounding the podium, a veritable force of nature, in support of health care or workers' rights or civil rights. And yet,20as has been noted, while his causes became deeply personal, his disagreements never did. While he was seen by his fiercest critics as a partisan lightning rod, that's not the prism through which Ted Kennedy saw the world, nor was it the prism through which his colleagues saw Ted Kennedy. He was a product of an age when the joy and nobility of politics prevented differences of party and platform and philosophy from becoming barriers to cooperation and mutual respect -- a time when adversaries still saw each other as patriots.And that's how Ted Kennedy became the greatest legislator of our time. He did it by hewing to principle, yes, but also by seeking compromise and common cause -- not through deal-making and horse-trading alone, but through friendship, and kindness, and humor. There was the time he courted Orrin Hatch for support of the Children's Health Insurance Program by having his chief of staff serenade the senator with a song Orrin had written himself; the time he delivered shamrock cookies on a china plate to sweeten up a crusty Republican colleague; the famous story of how he won the s upport of a Texas20committee chairman on an immigration bill. Teddy walked into a meeting with a plain manila envelope, and showed only the chairman that it was filled with the Texan's favorite cigars. When the negotiations were going well, he would inch the envelope closer to the chairman. (Laughter.) When they weren't, he'd pull it back. (Laughter.) Before long, the deal was done. (Laughter.)It was only a few years ago, on St. Patrick's Day, when Teddy buttonholed me on the floor of the Senate for my support of a certain piece of legislation that was coming up for vote. I gave my pledge, but I expressed skepticism that it would pass. But when the roll call was over, the bill garnered the votes that it needed, and then some. I looked at Teddy with astonishment and asked how had he done it. He just patted me on the back and said, "Luck of the Irish." (Laughter.)Of course, luck had little to do with Ted Kennedy's legislative success; he knew that. A few years ago, his father-in-law told him that he and Daniel Webster just might be the two greatest senators of all time. Without missing a beat, Teddy replied, "What did Webster do?" (Laughter.)But though it is Teddy's historic body of achievements that we will remember, it is his giving heart that we will miss. It was the friend and the colleague who was always the first to pick up the phone and say, "I'm sorry for your loss," or "I hope you feel better," or "What can I do to help?" It was the boss so adored by his staff that over 500, spanning five decades, showed up for his 75th birthday party. It was the man who sent birthday wishes and thank-you notes and even his own paintings to so many who never imagined that a U.S. senator of such stature would take the time to think abo ut somebody like them. I have one of those paintings in my private study off the Oval Office -- a Cape Cod seascape that was a gift to a freshman legislator who had just arrived in Washington and happened to admire it when Ted Kennedy welcomed him into his office. That, by the way, is my second gift from Teddy and20Vicki after our dog Bo. And it seems like everyone has one of those stories -- the ones that often start with "You wouldn't believe who called me today."Ted Kennedy was the father who looked not only after his own three children, but John's and Bobby's as well. He took them camping and taught them to sail. He laughed and danced with them at birthdays and weddings; cried and mourned with them through hardship and tragedy; and passed on that same sense of service and selflessness that his parents had instilled in him. Shortly after Ted walked Caroline down the aisle and gave her away at the altar, he received a note from Jackie that read, "On you the carefree youngest brother fell a burden a hero would have begged to been spared. We are all going to ma ke it because you were always there with your love."Not only did the Kennedy family make it because of Ted's love -- he made it because of t heirs, especially because the love and the life he found in Vicki. After so much loss and so much sorrow, it could not have been easy for Ted to risk his heart again. And that he did is a testament to how deeply he loved this remarkable woman from Louisiana. And she didn't just love him back. As Ted would often acknowledge, Vicki saved him. She gave him strength and purpose; joy and friendship; and stood by him always, especially in those last, hardest days.We cannot know for certain how long we have here. We cannot foresee the trials or misfortunes that will test us along the way. We cannot know what God's plan is for us.What we can do is to live out our lives as best we can with purpose, and with love, and with joy. We can use each day to show those who are closest to us how much we care about them, and treat others with the kindness and respect that we wish for ou rselves. We can learn from our mistakes and grow from our failures. And we can strive at all costs to make a better world, so that someday, if we are blessed with the chance to look back on our time here, we know that we spent it well; that we made a difference; that our fleeting presence had a lasting impact on the lives of others.This is how Ted Kennedy l ived. This is his legacy. He once said, as has already been mentioned, of his brother Bobby that he need not be idealized or enlarged in death because what he was in life -- and I imagine he would say the same about himself. The greatest expectations were placed upon Ted Kennedy's shoulders because of who he was, but he surpassed them all because of who he became. We do not weep for him today because of the prestige attached to his name or his office. We weep because we loved this kind and tender hero who persevered through pain and tragedy -- not for the sake of ambition or vanity; not for wealth or power; but only for the people and the country that he loved.In the days after September 11th, Teddy made it a point to personally call each one of the 177 families of this state who lost a loved one in the attack. But he didn't stop there. He kept calling and checking up on them. He fought through red tape to get them assistance and grief counseling. He invited them sailing, played with their children, and would write each family a letter whenever the=2 0anniversary of that terrible day came along. To one widow, he wrote the following:"As you know so well, the passage of time never really heals the tragic memory of such a great loss, but we carry on, because we have to, because our loved ones would want us to, and because there is still light to guide us in the world from the love they gave us."We carr y on.Ted Kennedy has gone home now, guided by his faith and by the light of those that he has loved and lost. At last he is with them once more, leaving those of us who grieve his passing with the memories he gave, the good that he did, the dream he kept alive, and a single, enduring image -- the image of a man on a boat, white mane tousled, smiling broadly as he sails into the wind, ready for whatever storms may come, carrying on toward some new and wondrous place just beyond the horizon. May God bless Ted Kennedy, and may he rest in eternal peace.
Your Eminence, Vicki, Kara, Edward, Patrick, Curran, Caroline, members of the Kennedy family, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens: Today we say goodbye to the youngest child of Rose and Joseph Kennedy. The world will long remember their son Edward as the heir to a weighty legacy; a champion for those who had none; the soul of the Democratic Party; and the lion of the United States Senate -- a man who graces nearly 1,000 laws, and who penned more than 300 laws himself.But those of us who loved him, and ache with his passing, know Ted Kennedy by the other titles he held: Father. Brother. Husband. Grandfather. Uncle Teddy, or as he was often known to his younger nieces and nephews, "The Grand Fromage," or "The Big Cheese." I, like so many others in the city where he worked for nearly half a century, knew him as a col league, a mentor, and above all, as a friend.Ted Kennedy was the baby of the family who became its patriarch; the restless dreamer who became its rock. He was the sunny, joyful child who bore the brunt of his brothers' teasing, but learned quickly how to brush it off. When they tossed him off a boat bec ause he didn't know what a jib was, six-year-old Teddy got back in and learned to sail. When a photographer asked the newly elected Bobby to step back at a press conference because he was casting a shadow on his younger brother, Teddy quipped, "It'll be the same in Washington."That spirit of resilience and good humor would see Teddy through more pain and tragedy than most of us will ever know. He l ost two siblings by the age of 16. He saw two more taken violently from a country that loved them. He said goodbye to his beloved sister, Eunice, in the final days of his life. He narrowly survived a plane crash, watched two children struggle with cancer, buried three nephews, and experienced personal failings and setbacks in the most public way possible.It's a string of events that would have broken a lesser man. And it would have been easy for Ted to let himself become bitter and hardened; to sur render to self-pity and regret; to retreat from public life and live out his years in peaceful quiet. No one would have blamed him for that.But that was not Ted Kennedy. As he told us, "...[I] ndividual faults and frailties are no excuse to give in -- and no exemption from the common obligation to give of ourselves." Indeed, Ted was the "Happy Warrior" that the poet Wordsworth spoke of when he wrote:
As tempted more; more able to endure,As more exposed to suffering and distress;Thence, also, more alive to tenderness.
Through his own suffering, Ted Kennedy became more alive to the plight and the suffering of others -- the sick child who could not see a doctor; the young soldier denied her rights because of what she looks like or who she loves or where she comes from. The landmark laws that he championed -- the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, immigration reform, children's health insurance, the Family and Medical Leave Act -- all have a running thread. Ted Kennedy's life work was not to champion the causes of those with wealth or power or special connections. It was to give a voice to those who were not heard; to add a rung to the ladder of opportunity; to make real the dream of our founding. He was given the gift of time that his brothers were not, and he used that gift to touch as many lives and right as many wrongs as the years would allow.We can still hear his voice bellowing through the Senate chamber, face reddened, fist pounding the podium, a veritable force of nature, in support of health care or workers' rights or civil rights. And yet,20as has been noted, while his causes became deeply personal, his disagreements never did. While he was seen by his fiercest critics as a partisan lightning rod, that's not the prism through which Ted Kennedy saw the world, nor was it the prism through which his colleagues saw Ted Kennedy. He was a product of an age when the joy and nobility of politics prevented differences of party and platform and philosophy from becoming barriers to cooperation and mutual respect -- a time when adversaries still saw each other as patriots.And that's how Ted Kennedy became the greatest legislator of our time. He did it by hewing to principle, yes, but also by seeking compromise and common cause -- not through deal-making and horse-trading alone, but through friendship, and kindness, and humor. There was the time he courted Orrin Hatch for support of the Children's Health Insurance Program by having his chief of staff serenade the senator with a song Orrin had written himself; the time he delivered shamrock cookies on a china plate to sweeten up a crusty Republican colleague; the famous story of how he won the s upport of a Texas20committee chairman on an immigration bill. Teddy walked into a meeting with a plain manila envelope, and showed only the chairman that it was filled with the Texan's favorite cigars. When the negotiations were going well, he would inch the envelope closer to the chairman. (Laughter.) When they weren't, he'd pull it back. (Laughter.) Before long, the deal was done. (Laughter.)It was only a few years ago, on St. Patrick's Day, when Teddy buttonholed me on the floor of the Senate for my support of a certain piece of legislation that was coming up for vote. I gave my pledge, but I expressed skepticism that it would pass. But when the roll call was over, the bill garnered the votes that it needed, and then some. I looked at Teddy with astonishment and asked how had he done it. He just patted me on the back and said, "Luck of the Irish." (Laughter.)Of course, luck had little to do with Ted Kennedy's legislative success; he knew that. A few years ago, his father-in-law told him that he and Daniel Webster just might be the two greatest senators of all time. Without missing a beat, Teddy replied, "What did Webster do?" (Laughter.)But though it is Teddy's historic body of achievements that we will remember, it is his giving heart that we will miss. It was the friend and the colleague who was always the first to pick up the phone and say, "I'm sorry for your loss," or "I hope you feel better," or "What can I do to help?" It was the boss so adored by his staff that over 500, spanning five decades, showed up for his 75th birthday party. It was the man who sent birthday wishes and thank-you notes and even his own paintings to so many who never imagined that a U.S. senator of such stature would take the time to think abo ut somebody like them. I have one of those paintings in my private study off the Oval Office -- a Cape Cod seascape that was a gift to a freshman legislator who had just arrived in Washington and happened to admire it when Ted Kennedy welcomed him into his office. That, by the way, is my second gift from Teddy and20Vicki after our dog Bo. And it seems like everyone has one of those stories -- the ones that often start with "You wouldn't believe who called me today."Ted Kennedy was the father who looked not only after his own three children, but John's and Bobby's as well. He took them camping and taught them to sail. He laughed and danced with them at birthdays and weddings; cried and mourned with them through hardship and tragedy; and passed on that same sense of service and selflessness that his parents had instilled in him. Shortly after Ted walked Caroline down the aisle and gave her away at the altar, he received a note from Jackie that read, "On you the carefree youngest brother fell a burden a hero would have begged to been spared. We are all going to ma ke it because you were always there with your love."Not only did the Kennedy family make it because of Ted's love -- he made it because of t heirs, especially because the love and the life he found in Vicki. After so much loss and so much sorrow, it could not have been easy for Ted to risk his heart again. And that he did is a testament to how deeply he loved this remarkable woman from Louisiana. And she didn't just love him back. As Ted would often acknowledge, Vicki saved him. She gave him strength and purpose; joy and friendship; and stood by him always, especially in those last, hardest days.We cannot know for certain how long we have here. We cannot foresee the trials or misfortunes that will test us along the way. We cannot know what God's plan is for us.What we can do is to live out our lives as best we can with purpose, and with love, and with joy. We can use each day to show those who are closest to us how much we care about them, and treat others with the kindness and respect that we wish for ou rselves. We can learn from our mistakes and grow from our failures. And we can strive at all costs to make a better world, so that someday, if we are blessed with the chance to look back on our time here, we know that we spent it well; that we made a difference; that our fleeting presence had a lasting impact on the lives of others.This is how Ted Kennedy l ived. This is his legacy. He once said, as has already been mentioned, of his brother Bobby that he need not be idealized or enlarged in death because what he was in life -- and I imagine he would say the same about himself. The greatest expectations were placed upon Ted Kennedy's shoulders because of who he was, but he surpassed them all because of who he became. We do not weep for him today because of the prestige attached to his name or his office. We weep because we loved this kind and tender hero who persevered through pain and tragedy -- not for the sake of ambition or vanity; not for wealth or power; but only for the people and the country that he loved.In the days after September 11th, Teddy made it a point to personally call each one of the 177 families of this state who lost a loved one in the attack. But he didn't stop there. He kept calling and checking up on them. He fought through red tape to get them assistance and grief counseling. He invited them sailing, played with their children, and would write each family a letter whenever the=2 0anniversary of that terrible day came along. To one widow, he wrote the following:"As you know so well, the passage of time never really heals the tragic memory of such a great loss, but we carry on, because we have to, because our loved ones would want us to, and because there is still light to guide us in the world from the love they gave us."We carr y on.Ted Kennedy has gone home now, guided by his faith and by the light of those that he has loved and lost. At last he is with them once more, leaving those of us who grieve his passing with the memories he gave, the good that he did, the dream he kept alive, and a single, enduring image -- the image of a man on a boat, white mane tousled, smiling broadly as he sails into the wind, ready for whatever storms may come, carrying on toward some new and wondrous place just beyond the horizon. May God bless Ted Kennedy, and may he rest in eternal peace.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Picture
The picture from the previous post was a sand man. The hair moved around later that day. Heehee.
Ugh!
I don't really mind getting older(most times), but do I have to be constantly reminded of it.
I work with mostly twenty somethings. Some thirty somethings. I'm older than some of their mothers. One of the 20 somethings was bemoaning the fact that she will be turning 22 in 8 months.Not to mention the tattoo parties.Of course I don't get invited to those.I can't join in to the show and tell conversations about my tattoo's. Although my Rosebuddies and I have mentioned the possibility of all getting cherry tats.
The commercials on TV are for wrinkle creams,plastic surgeons,ED,bladder control,fiber,losing weight..........WTF!
Change yourself....Make yourself look better. You are not good enough.....I have struggled with this all my life.Enough already!
Can't we all just be satisfied? Guess not.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Happy 4th of July
Happy Independance Day
Just hanging out today.
Celebrated last night at the Dell Diamond(http://roundrockexpress.com) with my clinic.Yummy burgers and hotdogs.
Great fireworks!
Friday, May 15, 2009
Shelter from the storm
Last week end My daughter and I traveled to Abilene to visit my parents.On the way we were caught in a storm. This is where we sought shelter. We drove under this porch at this store in Zephyr Texas. It's in a tiny town just North of Brownwood. My Mother had just called and alerted me to the fact that a possible tornado had just hit the area were were approaching. Let me just say thank God for cell phones because we would have driven right into it if not for her alert call.I had been watching some lightening in the distance ahead. These spring storms can come up very rapidly and can be dangerous when cool meets warm. We stayed under here for an hour while thunder,lightening,high winds, hail and rain was happening. Very scarry. Victoria is terrified of lightening. She tried to lie down and go to sleep. I felt so helpless out there. There's nothing you can do but watch and wait. There were cars under every possible shelter around there. We had already tried to get under one area of a store but it was too crowded and no one was moving to let us in. At one point there was a DPS car that drove by with yellow lights flashing. I don't know what that means but it can't be good. There were no cars on the road.Thankfully the storm blew over and we were able to drive on to our destination. There was debris and lots of tree limbs on the road around there.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Cinco de Mayo
My husband and I are celebrating our 18th wedding anniversary. We were married in Jamaica. There were lots of hibiscus flowers. On the table spelled out in chenille plants was To Thee I Wed. We were married 2 years from the day of our first date. So we have been together for 20 years!
Our first date was on a Friday night and we went to Gruene Hallhttp://www.gruenehall.com/ to see Lyle Lovett. It was a magical time.
We're going out to dinner to celebrate.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Cherry Coke Cupcake
Yummy. I love cherry coke. Gotta get the recipe. Found this on Cupcakes take the cake blog. http://cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com/Derby Day
Being Married to a man from Kentucky watching the derby is tradition. This year DD's horse won. So glad everything went well . After last years tragedy I wasn't sure I could watch it again. This would cause much strife in household.Friday, April 24, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
OMG
Can't believe I'm actually starting a blog. I read so many blogs. Guess it's my turn. Of course last night was the first time I'd even put a picture up. I had to get my daughter to help . Put a couple on Facebook.
I had to stop and go fix tuna fish for lunch. How do you fix your tuna for sandwiches? I use my Mother's recipe then I tweak it to suit me. Boiled eggs,dill pickles,onions with mayo(or Miracle Whip-this is Texas you know) and mustard. Now that's Mother's recipe. I also include celery,dill and lemon juice and zest. Of course S and P. My grandmother never would let me drink milk with it. It's an old wives tale about milk and fish together is bad juju. That's my favorite thing to drink with it. And potato chips. That's the holy trinity.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)