Odds and ends of September

My mother and younger daughter were all dressed up and I snapped a pic of them. Alas, the black was for a funeral. But still a very striking color on them.

Filed under the tab of useless news, when the younger daughter was home last weekend she had a serious craving for Tex-Mex. It seems that's not something readily available in South Carolina where she attends college. So we took her for a Texas food fix at her favorite nacho place.

Since the kids have grown up and left the nest, I don't cook much anymore. But I had a hankering to get in the kitchen this week, so I whipped up some homemade beef tips with mashed taters, fresh corn off the cob and a caprese salad. And the salad totally didn't compliment the other three items on the menu that evening, but the husband and I enjoyed it anyway.

Resting in peace

Ten months ago, we attended the funeral of a friend's high school senior. On Saturday, we attended the funeral of our 15-year-old nephew. It was a shock, finding out in a moment of anger and frustration that Ryan chose to end his life. No matter the circumstances that led to this, we all mourn for a life cut short and dreams unfulfilled. We mourn for his friends and his immediate family who feels profound pain. 

These situations never make sense to those left behind wondering what if. All of the coulda-woulda-shoulda scenarios racing around in everyone's heads... too late. And so we take comfort in a loving God who never forsakes us. Who never promised we wouldn't be ill, mentally or physically. The Lord knew we would ride this roller coaster of life, and yet we could get through it by turning to Him. Seeking out His word, to learn from and take comfort in it. Bad things happen to good people all the time. I can't begin to fathom what the Godless folks do in situations like this. 

Ryan's time on earth has finished. He served God's purpose and has moved on to a better place. No more pain or suffering. And one day we'll join him with God, the Father in paradise. Are you a believer? As my old southern baptist pastor used to say, you need to get right with God. Start somewhere. Try out a church. Join a Bible study group. I promise you this is something you'll never regret, that your life will be enriched and blessed by knowing of God's unshakeable love, forgiveness and grace for us all.

 

Everyday I look forward to reading the Bible verses on the apps on my phone because they are oh-so timely and really speak to me when I need reassurance. God sent me this verse from Psalm  29 on the day of the funeral to hold in my heart. 

Happy 8th Birthday!

They're the only kids I have left at home, the furry sort. In honor of his 8th birthday, I'm taking him through a local drive-thru for a small order of french fries. He loves them! 

Ollie is our British boy. We got him when he was 10 weeks old from a cairn terrier breeder near Freckenham, located northeast of Cambridge. He's our well socialized and traveled boy. He has hopped the pond three times in the belly of a commercial airliner. He has attended doggy daycare. He was my walking buddy when I was a reluctant stay-at-home mom in the 'burbs of London for four years. He has chased thousands of squirrels, his sworn enemy. And he has hopped up on my lap for a pet any time I sit down on the couch. What a good dog he is!

Family reunion

It was a super brief visit, but we loved every minute of our weekend with the girls in South Carolina. The grad student drove over to join us from North Carolina. I rented an Airbnb on the lake, a brand new home that was perfect for us. We ate like starving dogs at our Tiger's favorite local BBQ/home cooking place. We shopped for some necessities. We helped hang some artwork the freshman ordered to decorate her dorm room. 

I also performed some mom chores. Thing like washing dirty clothes and sheets. In my bid for a mother-of-the-year nomination while she was in class on Monday, I performed this two step process to seal her tennis shoes so water and debris is supposed to just fall off them. The worst part was breathing in all of the noxious fumes from the spray cans. At my age, I can't afford to purposely kill off any more of the precious few remaining brain cells I've got.

When we returned home and began to unpack, I went to put my sunscreen back in its spot inside the clear organizer sitting on top of my bathroom vanity and let out a shriek when I discovered this spawn of Satan down in there. After a bit of a freak out, I emptied the organizer to take the corpse outside for disposal. When I wiggled it removing my toothpaste, the scorpion uncurled and started dancing around. Lord have mercy, it was ALIVE! I had a stomping good time outside on the driveway when it tried to get away. Crunch went the exoskeleton. Over 24 hrs later and I'm still bothered by the fact that this critter must have slithered down the wall and fallen into the organizer. That's the stuff of nightmares.

Dogs, coons and football

I love our terriers, Ollie and Pepper. Mother's pugs, Max and Ruby, are pretty endearing and entertaining, too. They'll turn 11 this fall and definitely old timers in puggy years. When your head starts feeling too heavy, you just find a convenient piece of furniture where you can prop it. Doesn't matter if it's patio furniture.

Our Ring camera system we had installed last year has proven to be really enlightening. In addition to watching for thieves and ne'er do wells that might decide to lurk around the house, I've spied all sorts of wildlife. But the one thing that has been a constant are the raccoons. After it was initially set up, I would get notifications of the camera filming these two adult raccoons when they traveled across our property. Maybe not every day, but certainly several times a week. Then in the late spring, it dropped to just the one raccoon and she showed up with her three kits on the camera. As we moved into summer, I enjoyed watching the babies follow along with momma raccoon and grow before my eyes. So stinking cute with their little ring tails and eye masks. As our annual drought struck, I began to worry about them and have intermittently put out some cheap cat food. Which they loved. And weren't they cute eating it with their little human-like paws.

On a recent feeding, I was shocked to discover that word must have spread in our hood because I counted seven raccoons enjoying the last of my cat food. Now that the babies are pretty much the same size as the momma, my days of feeding them are over. Especially since I don't want our yard to become a haven for every raccoon in the zip code.

Over the weekend, the husband and I watched two big games, A&M at Clemson and LSU at Univ of Texas. Both games looked HOT, as in the fans were sweltering. This is why I never plan to attend a game in the south in September because the temps are still waaaaay too close to the triple digit mark for me. Since the husband hates crowds, in general, we're all about armchair quarterbacking. We're saving our trips to the Clemson and UT stadium for November games this year, hoping we're not still wearing shorts and flip flops by then.

Empty Nesting

When the kids got to be annoying teens, I began looking forward to having an empty nest. But then once the younger daughter graduated from high school and we started creeping closer to dropping her off at college, I started to panic. Oh sure, this is what I THOUGHT I wanted when the kids were driving me nuts. But not really?! I knew I wouldn't miss the desperate texts to bring the chemistry homework they forgot on their desk up to the school. Or sitting around at all hours waiting for them to get out of practice, games, meets, etc. That was a no brainer. But not having a daughter in the house anymore... hard to fathom as we got nearer to D-day. That's drop off at college and cry intermittently all the way home for you younger mommas.

So now that I've survived the boo-hoo traveling from South Carolina to Texas and have been empty nesting for a few weeks, I gotta admit I'm kinda getting used to all this kid free time. I can meet friends for a leisurely lunch at fun places like Mariposa in Neiman's and then wander around shopping afterwards with no rush home to be there for the teen.

I can snoop around on Etsy for hours, cruising for a new S&P Mr. and Mrs. Claus shaker set to add to my collection. Or check out the Texas A&M letters up for auction on eBay.

I've got tons of time for yard work, too. Which in my case is really just landscape bed watering since our drip system is at a disadvantage in this drought. I took a pic of the rain we had a couple weeks ago. It's about the only measurable precip we've had fall from the sky here in south central Texas over the past 7ish weeks. 

College game day shows are baaaaaaaack! Now that football season has kicked off, I can excitedly scan the crowds during televised games, looking for my daughter in a sea of orange and white on the top deck of the stadium. No teens around to suck up all of our DVR storage with the Real Housewives franchises or The Bachelor. 

So yeah, I'm kinda digging this empty nest gig. The husband and I are headed up for parent's weekend and to take in a game later this fall, so I don't think I'll have much of a chance to really miss the last chick that fledged the nest.

So long to the orange and the white?

I've recently referred to Clemson as the A&M of South Carolina. It's a land grant public university that was originally all-male. They have this great ring tradition for seniors. Lots of school pride, yet mannerly students. But about 25K fewer folks on campus than you'll find in Aggieland. Clemson, South Carolina, isn't particularly convenient, especially since we're paying out-of-state tuition, and yet it's where the younger daughter wanted to attend university. 

As luck would have it, this upcoming weekend the TAMU Aggies are traveling to play the Clemson Tigers and our daughter is looking forward to the match up. I received the following mailer from the university and bought our daughter the shirt when I made a donation. 

Sorry, Clemson, but that is about the goofiest looking tiger I've seen in a while. Looks like something the Old Ag would whittle up with his saber and roast atop a bonfire. Ahh, the good old days of bonfire in the late 80s. But anyhoo, what caught my attention was the wording on the inside of the mailer.

"Clemson and Texas A&M have a lot in common..."

"Biggest game this season..."

Last year the Ags lost by two and let Clemson squeak out a win in College Station. This year we'll see how the Aggies fare in South Carolina. I can't wait to hear about it first-hand from our Clemson Tiger in attendance for the tailgating and game.