She-Devil Said What?!

Little bits has found her voice, and it's a sassy, high-pitched bark she uses on big boy. The only time we hear it is when she's jealous of him being snuggled up next to me or in my lap, and so she's loud and clear with letting us know how she feels about that. This is something we've just started hearing in the past couple weeks. He has always done the growly noise and barking at her when she aggravates him, but she's new to vocalizing her doggy displeasure. This afternoon I was on the sofa trying to watch a program when the barking commenced. Fur baby squabbling gets old real quick. What makes it tolerable, as they're not human kids, is that I can shove them out into the backyard or put them in their kennels to get a break from it.

Random Tuesday Ramblings, the bulleted version

• Last week we had ICE on Tuesday. The lines at the store the afternoon before Icemageddon was predicted to hit were even worse than the panic of Sept 2017 when forecasters thought we were in the path of a big hurricane. Thankfully, both were a lot of built up and what-ifs that never happened. We got just enough sleet to make the dark mulch look like it had a bad case of dandruff. Or maybe lice since it was bouncing and hopping when it hit the ground. And the junior got two days off from school, so it was definitely a win for her.

• Meanwhile, the grad school daughter in NC got a whole lot of the fluffy white stuff. Her university closed for a snow day, woo-hoo. When she got back to campus the next day, she slipped on ice in the parking lot only to arrive at class and discover the professor cancelled it. 

• Winter means I'm still cooking soup these days. The in-laws came over for a visit on Sunday and my MIL mentioned she made tortellini soup recently. So that inspired me to whip up a pot of it for supper last night.

• As always, the Cairns keep me entertained with their shenanigans. They do a lot of mock scrap fighting with the bared teeth and growling, but it's all for show. She-devil is the worst of the two, getting jealous if big boy sits next to me and she wants the spot. Best part of the pics is the crazy eyes!

Nothing But Net

Saturday night, I took my CASA boy (I'm a court appointed special advocate) and his grandparents, who have kinship custody, to an NBA Spurs game. My sweet little 5th gr boy was so, so happy to see his favorite team and players he really admires, particularly Ginobili, Parker and Leonard. These professional athletes really are a shining light in the sport, all about the we instead of me, full of humility rather than glory hogs seeking camera time and self aggrandizement.

We seldom request the executive perks available to my husband, so it was a blessing to be able to ask and receive tickets in the company box that allowed me to make this precious boy's dream come true. He and his grandparents had a wonderful time, something they won't soon forget, and I'm just happy I was able to have a hand in making it happen thanks to my husband's generous employer. It was a bit of a blowout with the Spurs walloping the Denver Nuggets, but we still had a blast. GO SPURS GO!

Mirror, mirror I need to find for the wall

Who is the most confused mirror shopper of all? That would be yours truly. I've spent hours looking at mirrors on a bunch of different shopping sites and they're all running together now. It's gonna take some professional help to figure out which one will look best above the sofa in the family room. One large abstract mirror? Maybe a trio with interesting frames? I know what I like, but that doesn't mean it would actually look good in that particular space.

What on earth did we do before Pinterest came along? I was late to the pinning craze, but now I absolutely love to gather items that interest me from various websites so I can compare them all side-by-side in my folders.

January Bah Humbugging

When I was a public school teacher, I always dreaded January. Nobody wanted to get back to learning after the fun of Christmas break, including me. So despite the fact that I'm no longer in the classroom, I still feel the mulligrubs (that's a grannyism) once I put the Santas in storage and roll into the new year. 

I did perk up a little when I realized I needed to find a few decorative pieces for the house, something fun to focus on in the boring month of January. I love the shape of this piece on the buffet, the elongated green glass container, but the moss is just a tad too bright green, in my opinion.

I ordered these online and four of the five arrived in great shape. I didn't even open the fifth box because it tinkled and clanged and was oh-so-obvious the glass vase arrived in about a hundred pieces. Thankfully, the local store had them in stock and so getting a replacement wasn't too painful.

The smaller vase below was a late November purchase I made at the Magnolia Market shop in Waco during the teen's state cheer competition. I think it's a nice addition to the lazy susan on the kitchen island. 

Succulents... they seem to be all the rage these days. So I bought some fakes as a solitary piece on the coffee table in the front living area.

Last, but not least, is the corner space in our office area. I still need some travel books to stack beneath and against this little grouping to make it complete, but you get the gist.

Right now the only booked travel I have on the calendar is my trek to Peru in July, plus the date for a quick trip to NC to watch the older daughter get her masters in May. The teen wants to visit California for spring break, so I undoubtedly need to get busy planning something or it won't happen. The grad student has her spring break week before the teen's, so she's bummed she can't join us in Cali. And then there's the June college tours to plan. I'm thinking the teen's SAT and ACT results this spring will help dictate which universities we visit this summer. Before I know it, baby bird will hit senior year in August and then we'll be empty nesters. 

Brrrrrringing in 2018

Surprise, surprise, surprise (in my best Gomer Pyle voice), we were actually awake to see in the new year. The only reason we weren't asleep is because the teen was at a friend's house and we were waiting for her to get home safely before we hit the hay. Not that our staying awake somehow kept her safe, what with the drunks undoubtedly out in full force. Or the frigid temps that would make any wet roadways a danger. Parent logic 101.

We did indeed kick off the new year with freezing temps, as in wearing gloves and a coat when I walk the dogs for their potty break. It wasn't so cold that the fountain froze, but we did have some ice. We also started the new year with a big pot of chicken taco soup. Although the interior has been free of Christmas decor since the 26th, there are still lights and a big wreath on the front gate. I've been waiting for the weather to warm up so I can get out there to cut off the zip ties (deterring the outdoor decor bandits by using those) and store it all in the workshop. Looks like I'll be waiting until the end of the week to get that final holiday chore done.