Eh... Uh.... Oh!!

Blogger and I haven't been getting along. Two posts are written and sitting there in the list, but they will. not. publish. I copied and pasted them, deleted them, reposted, and they simply will not publish.

So I decided it was a good time to take a bloggy break seeing how I couldn't, you know, POST anything.

Hmmmmmph.

Then my little friend Suze told me in very clear terms that it is time for a new post.

I sat down to write about one of the 11,000 things in my head, and nothing would come. It's Blogger's fault. I'm sure of that.

Tomorrow is Father's Day. It isn't just ANY Father's Day, but the one right after my daddy has had some scary health issues. I was reminded once again that my least favorite sight in the world is someone I love in a hospital bed. However, Dad never lost his sense of humor, and he did keep us all entertained. Thankfully, he is doing well now, and all the scary stuff is behind us. God is good. And so is my daddy.

So tomorrow, we're gonna get together as a family and celebrate him and remember the good times we've shared while we're making new memories. We'll laugh a lot, and there will certainly be some pictures taken. Of course there will be presents. And hugs. Lots and lots of hugs.

Studly got to spend three days with his dad in South Texas this week. At almost 87, my father-in-love is going strong. Every Father's Day with him is a gift, as it is with my dad. If you're able, reach out to your own dad and tell him how much he is loved. Don't let it go unsaid.

To all you dads out there, Happy Father's Day!!

To MY dad... I love you dearly and SO glad God chose YOU to be my daddy.



Wow.

See what I did there?

Nice work, Jenn.

Sat down to grumble about Blogger and ended up making myself grateful for my two wonderful fathers!

Okay, Blogger. I forgive you.

Ma and Pa Kettle Go To Costco

Costco.

It's a wonderful thing.

Everyone should go to Costco. At least once.

My mom and dad had never been to Costco. Until today. Oh, they'd been to Sam's Club many times. But Costco? Never.

AND they'd never had LUNCH at Costco.

I had to fix that. 'Cuz if you've never had a Hebrew National all beef hot dog and a 20 oz Diet Coke - with refill - at Costco all for the low, low price of $1.50, you have. not. lived.

So...

Studly Man and I decided Ma and Pa needed an adventure. Adventures require fuel. Fuel consists of food.

We ate hot dogs.

And drank Diet Coke.

We could have gone home after that, and my day would have been complete.

But in the interest of stretching our adventure, we went shopping.

At Costco.

Now Ma had both of her knees replaced a few years back. She's doin' great and gets around fine, but we thought the motorized cart would serve her well since the warehouse is so big and all. That, and she just looks so cute drivin' one.

Not to be outdone, Pa got a cart, too. See, he NEEDS to have a knee or two replaced, but he ain't interested. Since he'll be 79 next month, we figured a motorized cart would be okay for him, too. That, and he just looks so cute drivin' one.

Before we actually moved into the actual official shopping area, I laid down the law. No racin', no honkin', no cart bumpin'.


Ahem.


Off we went.

We looked at flat screen TVs. (They've got a GORGEOUS 46" Sony for the bargain price of $1,799. I'll take two, please.) We looked at computer stuff. We contemplated the at-home keg because who doesn't need a new one of those? We looked at the car covers because you never know when the need for one might arise. We looked at toasters. Pa bought Ma a new one recently, and he wanted to make sure he'd gotten a good deal.

And then we arrived at the bakery. We salivated and contemplated, but since we were so full from those Hebrew National all beef hot dogs we'd just eaten, we passed on dessert.

But then...

Then it happened. We came upon the butcher shop. It was a thing to behold, that Ma of mine comparison price shopping. Now let me tell you. My Ma can comparison price shop you right under the table. She can smell a deal. Pa? He can smell the deal once she's home cookin' it, so he followed (somewhat) quietly behind her and occasionally sipped on his Diet Coke after retrieving it from the basket of his chariot.

Ma was wowed by the vast array of choices.
There was a cart traffic jam, but that didn't stop Ma from doing her work. She sweetly smiled at that pushy broad nice lady who refused to yield right-of-way at the salmon section and went methodically on about her business.

Next, we motored on over to the cleaning and laundry supplies. Ma had never seen a box of laundry detergent that was bigger than her kitchen table. She was impressed! Studly went over to help lift it off the shelf, because everyone knows you need a box of laundry detergent bigger than the kitchen table. Pa dutifully watched and waited and sipped Diet Coke while guarding the 5,700 rolls of Charmain Ultra Ma had procured a moment earlier. Good deals, y'all. Good deals.
Ma and Pa and I strolled/drove leisurely up and down the aisles to survey the inventory in the awesomeness that is Costco. I realized after a while I hadn't seen Studly for lo unto a half an hour or more.

And then I turned the corner.

And there he was... relaxing in a comfy glider/recliner and eating ice cream he'd lifted from the sample lady. He was so cute sittin' there I would have bought him that recliner if only I'd had an extra $299.99.
We price checked 87 gallon drums of olives and a 200-pack of yogurt cups. We passed the four gallon jugs of mayonnaise and the packages of spaghetti large enough to feed Minneapolis. At last we came to the pharmacy section. That's where things got ugly.

Did you know that THREE senior citizens riding motorized carts, TWO very busy and important ladies with regular carts, one slightly disoriented son-in-law, and a frenzied daughter don't fit well in one skinny little pharmacy aisle? Well, we found out.

I instructed my drivers to back up, retreat, turn around, and go the other way.

You have never heard such beeping and honking in your entire life! Pa went left. Ma went right. I went straight and pretended I'd never seen them before. It was chaos.

We were finally reunited, and just as we approached the coveted check-out lines, Pa said, "So, where's all the candy?" (He knew we'd bought Costco candy by the truck load for the kids we minister to in prison.) I pointed that direction, and off he went.

Studly excused himself to the necessary room (lotsa Diet Coke, ya know). Ma got in line with her cart behind me with mine. I paid for my items, and then....

it was Ma's turn.

But there was no Pa.

And HE had all their treasures in HIS basket.

Thankfully Studly emerged from his side trip, and I sent him to find Pa because causing unnecessary wait time in the check out line at Costco? NOT a good idea.

When no further damage could be done to Costco or her patrons, Ma paid as Pa drove by with their goods.

And all I could do was stand to the side and take pictures. And laugh.

Because they just look so cute...

High School

Today I received an email meme from a friend. It was all about high school. It got me thinking about things I haven't thought about in a very long time.

Here is part of it:

1. Did you date someone from your school? Yes. Nelson and Keith

2. Did you marry someone from your high school? Nope. I married an Irish-Peruvian boy from the Rio Grande Valley.

3. Did you car pool to School? Not usually. We just lived a few blocks away. Mom generally took me.

4. What kind of car did you have? Mom had a cream colored Malibu Classic that I was occasionally fortunate enough to borrow.

5. It is Friday night then; where are you? In full Planoette uniform in the drill team section of the stands, watching the Cardiac 'Cats charge on to victory. We played in the state championship game my junior year two days before Christmas, but lost to Houston's Stratford High School where a young Craig James was playing his senior season before going on to SMU to team up with Eric Dickerson. They both went on to play in the NFL. If you HAVE to be beaten, at least be beaten by the BEST!

6. It is Friday night now, where are you? At home with Studly Man and our furry four-legged children.

8. What kind of job did you have in high school? Cashier at Pitman Corner Shell. Did my homework in the kiosk most nights while the guys cleaned out the carwash.

9. Were you a party animal? Not really. My friends weren't really the "party crowd."

10. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? Was in choir my freshman through junior years, but had to give it up senior year.

11. Were you a nerd? Probably. Following in the footsteps of my sister, the valedictorian, grades were a big deal.

12. Did you get suspended or expelled? Nope.

13. Can you sing the school song? Dear Plano High School, Hats off to you. 'Ever you'll find us loyal and true (true, true, true). Firm and undaunted, always we will be, Hail to dear Plano HIGH SCHOOL, we love you! Required to learn that AND sing it at every football and basketball game.

14. Who was your favorite teacher? Mama Mac. (Phyllis McNeill, drill team sponsor) She was one of the last really good teachers who knew that expecting a lot from us and refusing to accept less than our very best would serve us well. She was never afraid to "tell it like it is," even if our feelings might get hurt. Many of the things she taught us still bounce around in my head.

15. Where did you sit during lunch? Either in subschool area C or Taco DeLite

16. When did you graduate? 1980. We were 80 Ladies

17. What was your school mascot? Wildcats. Maroon and white.

18. If you could go back and do it again - what would you do? Realize the people whose approval I desperately wanted are really sad, unfulfilled people in their adult lives. Wouldn't take things so seriously.

19. Did you go to the Prom? Went long enough to have our pictures made and make sure all the "friends" saw us arrive in our chauffeur driven Rolls Royce, which belonged to and was driven by Keith's brother-in-law. Keith couldn't afford to rent a limo like other guys were doing, so his BIL offered to take us in the Rolls. We were the envy of all (and no one knew he hadn't rented it). After that, we went to a fish fry with some of his friends (he and his crowd were three years older).

20. Do you still talk to the person you went to the prom with? Yep. Saw him (and his sweet wife and two children) at his nephew's wedding a few weeks ago. His sister is my best friend of 30 years.

21. Do you still talk to people from your school? Very few. Mostly people who also went to my church then and are friends of the family.


Interesting that life has changed so very much and not very much at all, both at the same time. I'm certainly older and hopefully wiser. I don't take things (people) so seriously now, and I am so secure in who I am and Whose I am.

Just for fun, tell me some of your favorite high school memories or better yet, copy and paste this meme and answer it on YOUR blog!

Six Random Things

(Fortunately, Blogger resurrected my post from last night. Otherwise, I'd still sulking.)

My friend, Kim, over at Seasons of My Heart tagged me in her meme. It's called Six Random Things, and I'm supposed to tell you... well, six random things about myself that you may or may not know.

SOOooooo....

1. My favorite beverage of all time is milk. I love me some milk. I'm not very happy if the refrigerator at Casa de Castro is sans milk. I've been known to cry on the rare occasion my refrigerator IS without milk. I've even driven to the store after midnight to get milk. Must.Have.Milk.

2. My very first job was as a cashier at a local WhatABurger. My boss was the spitting image of Richard Nixon. He was a strange man named George. He did, however, teach me the proper way to make change without relying on the computerized cash register to do it for me. More importantly, he taught me how to count the change back to the customer starting with PUTTING THE COINS IN THE PALM OF THE CUSTOMER'S HAND FIRST and then placing the bills on top so the coins wouldn't go slidin' off to kingdom come. Now, thanks to George, I am keenly aware of most teenagers' inability to a) properly make change without the aid of a computer; b) properly count back the change to the customer; and c) properly place it in.my.hand.

3. A few years ago, Studly Man and I were attendants in the wedding of some dear friends. The best man in that wedding? None other than Zig Ziglar himself. He is a hoot and a genuinely nice person. Some other friends of ours have a son who was being awarded the rank of Eagle Scout. They asked Zig, never having met him, to speak at the Court of Honor. And ya know what? He showed up. And he spoke. He's an Eagle, too. So now when I see Zig and "The Redhead" (his wife, Jean) at church, he smiles and says "see you at the top!" Wow. Somebody I know is actually on Wikipedia AND Amazon.com. My personal brush with greatness.

4. I am fascinated by whales. They are so beautiful and graceful and M.A.S.S.I.V.E. My sister and I went to SeaWorld one summer about ten years ago on a "sisterin' trip," and I think the most excited person in the entire Shamu exhibit was, um, me. I squealed and giggled like a little a girl when I got splashed and drenched with sea water by Shamu's giant fluke. My sister pretended not to know me. I've spent hours and hours watching the Shamu-Cam online. I even "adopted" a humpback whale once and proudly displayed his/her 8" x 10" "photograph" in a lovely frame on the wall in my office. I love orcas also, but there weren't any available for adoption that day.

5. My ultimate dream trip would be to go on a whale-watching cruise to Alaska and/or Hawaii. See #4. Swimming with the dolphins would be amazing, too.

6. I have a duplicated collecting system. That's all I have to say about that.

And there you have it. Six random things about me.

Now I get to tag some of my friends to tell us six random things. And the lucky winners are:

DidiLyn at Meyers on the Hood
Suzanne at Lily of the Valley
Paula at His Ways... are not our ways
Sheryl at The Perch

What a NIGHT!

Edited to add: This blog post took me over three hours to write because I spent so much time on YouTube watching Ms. McBride sing. What.a.voice.


"So, was it hot?" you ask?

Um, yeah. It was hot.

"Did you almost faint from the heat?" you wonder.

Well, yes. Yes, we did.

"But was it fun?"

Y.E.S. Yes, it was fun.

That BFF of mine? She rocks. And so did Martina. And Jack Ingram. What a show!

Burlene (that's my BFF - I'll have to explain some day why I call her Burlene, especially since her name is really Matilda) and her daughters treated me to one heckuva fun time. We started out by puttin' on the feed bag here. I went with my old standby, a turkey melt and some sweeeeeet tea. De-licious! Thinly sliced deli turkey, some melted provolone cheese and just-made guacamole on wheat bread?? Heaven!

Sorry. Reminiscing there for a moment. Made myself hungry.

Then we motored on the down the highway to the furnace venue and parked our trusty ride. Burlene drives a gangsta car. I felt safe. No one would mess with four women in a gangsta car, especially if one of them is Annie Oakley.


After picking up our tickets at the Will Call window and securing some beverages, we found our seats... right down front. We thought they were on the second row. Turns out they were on the fourth row. Oh, darn. The fourth row was BETTER than the second row! Row two might have been a little too close, and our necks woulda been sore from tiltin' our heads back for three hours. But there we were. Front and center. Oh, yes ma'am. C.E.N.T.E.R. In a word, our seats were perfect. Hot, but perfect.

There were two warm up acts. We missed the first one. The second one, however, was great. Jack Ingram is a homegrown Texas boy. I hafta confess: I wasn't familiar with his music. I typically listen to Christian contemporary stuff and haven't always been a huge fan of country music. However, this guy and his band put on an energetic, entertaining show. Watching them sweat up there made us all feel guilty for even THINKING about how hot we were.

Now being the pragmatic girl I am, with wisdom and forethought decided to take along this little thing. Burlene made some snide comment about my "cute little fan." However, the day AFTER the concert when she had to go to an outdoor birthday party at 4:00 in the afternoon, she said she thought maybe she should borrow that nifty little fan of mine. Ha! It WAS a good idea. During Jack Ingram's set, I did at one point think I would literally melt and ooze right off the hard, blue metal chair I was sitting on and run right down onto the concrete floor only to be mixed with someone's spilt beer. But my trusty little $1.50 fan saved.my.life. Anyone who knows me also knows how much I dislike being hot. Studly Man thought I was plumb crazy to even agree to go to an outdoor concert in July in Texas. But with a fan... eh. I made it.


The panic started toward the end of Jack's set. I realized the batteries in my trusty little fan were overworked and underpaid and just might mount a protest or a labor strike or something equally as horrible. I knew what I had to do. I had to find more batteries.

At intermission, I set out on a quest for batteries and water. The water was easy to find. The batteries? Not so much. I asked 1,234 people if they knew where I might buy some batteries. Each time I was met with one of two expressions. This one or this one. Just as I was about to give up and return to my seat, I spotted a little booth where they sell those light-up-glow-in-the-dark necklaces. I walked over and said in a very weary and defeated tone, "I don't suppose you sell batteries, do you?" The very kind young woman working the booth asked what kind of batteries I needed and how many. I told her. She said, "Well, I don't SELL them, but I have some in my purse." I yelled, "SOLD!" I pulled out some cash, she pulled out some batteries, we exchanged our possessions, and all was right with the world. I wouldn't melt after all.


I got back to my fourth-row-front-and-center seat about three minutes before Martina (we're on a first name basis now) took the stage. I settled in for what turned out to be an incredible distraction from the heat! Can I just say... that girl can S.I.N.G.


She's cute as a button and tiny as a church mouse, and how that big 'ole voice comes out of her, I'll never know. That's a picture from the paper this morning, taken during the concert. What it DOESN'T show is the gorgeous pair of five-inch Christian Louboutin ankle strap shoes she o.w.n.e.d. How she walked on them is a puzzlement to me, but how she danced on them and ran all over that stage in them left my mind plumb boggled.


She did most of her hits. But in addition to those, she covered Bill Withers' "Lean On Me" (that link is actually from the performance I saw two nights ago - video isn't great, but sound is okay), Aretha Franklin's "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman," Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'," and Pat Benatar's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot." Ya'll... she can sing.

She sang "Anyway." I've heard it a zillion times, but I'm ashamed to say I never knew it was Martina singing it. It has become a great crossover hit on the Christian stations. Awesome song!

And she sang "Concrete Angel" with the video playing behind her. I watched as people all around us wiped the tears that had silently slipped down their cheeks. At the end of the song, the jumbotron screens gave contact information for the child abuse hot line. Martina has done a lot to raise awareness of this horrendous plague that so many children face.

She's gorgeous. She can sing. She has a heart for kids. And she has a new fan.

After the concert we made our way back to the gangsta car and talked about what an amazing show we'd just witnessed. We were entertained and moved, and it was just a perfect evening.

Almost.

Once we went through the drive-thru at Taco Bell and got crunchy tacos and Strawberry Fruitista Freezes, it was a perfect evening.


Oh, yeah. And she can sing.