Age of Aquarius

So in a previous blog many moons ago I said:



"when the moon is in the seventh house and jupiter aligns with mars and peace will guide the planets and love will steer the stars"...



raise your hand if you got that?



what?
2 of you?



I have to admit something somewhat shameful here...



I totally loved The Fifth Dimension...



ok, maybe not "Up Up and Away" so much but oh the rest of it...yes, I did love it...



"Age of Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine" (which is really from the musical "Hair")
"Stoned Soul Picnic"
"Wedding Bell Blues"
"One Less Bell to Answer"
"(Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All"



I wanted to be Marilyn McCoo...that is until she did "Solid Gold" and after that...notsomuch...

although Solid Gold was a pretty awesomely bad show...remember The Solid Gold dancers?

raise your hand if you danced along with them...



what?
2 of you?



MarvelousMargaret PLEASE say you did...

(she and I like to dance in public to embarrass our children)



Growing up in the 60's was fun...although I don't remember a whole lot about it...and no, even though sometimes I feel old enough to have been around when dinosaurs roamed the earth it was not because I took all kinds of mind altering drugs that I don't remember it...it is that I was a VERY YOUNG CHILD

I have much more clarity about the 70's...because I was a a bit older...
I do remember my mother's fashions in the 60's and 70's...
and her hair

or rather her hairpieces...



At that time my mother had her natural hair color...brunette...so all of her wigs and falls and little hair things were brunette.
She went blonde in the 70's and spent years trying to achieve golden perfection although once or twice or twenty times she ended up a pretty bad shade of orange or a bad version of "ash blonde".



My hair has always been blonde...and that is what it will be until I go grey...although I have flirted with the idea of strawberry blonde which no hairdresser has ever agreed to because they know better than me...and they know I will cry...so blonde I stay...but I might just order me a red wig on QVC and have a taste of it...



When I was a child my mother always allowed my sisters to have long luxurious hair and I was forced into whatever horrible short haircut she thought would be cute...


and each and every one of them was...



perfectly awful...


No let's make that: "AS BAD AS A TRENDY HAIRCUT CAN GET AND SADLY HEAPED UPON A POOR UNFORTUNATE GIRL THAT ONLY WANTED LONG LUXURIOUS HAIR AND NOT SOME UGLY SHORT HAIRSTYLE"



So what did I end up with:
pageboys



blunt chin length bobs with bangs



but the worst...and this is a tie:



THE CAROL BRADY SHAG (I sobbed for hours after that one)


and


THE DOROTHY HAMILL (I sobbed for days after that one)



Raise your hand if you were forced into one of these travesties of hair fashion...



what?
2 of you?



My sisters were never forced to have scissors taken to their hair...they were allowed to grow their hair long but my mother never let me...maybe that is why I like mine long now.  Any time it would start to grow out she would find some excuse to force me into a haircut.



Once she told me that if I got the shag/pixie/bob whatever horrid haircut she wanted me to have that I could have my ears pierced.  So I allowed the horrid haircut to happen...and then went to the doctor and got my ears pierced...



And then she let my sisters get their ears pierced...

THE VERY NEXT DAY

and

WITHOUT HAVING TO HAVE SCISSORS TAKEN TO THEIR HAIR TO GET A HORRIBLE UGLY SHORT HAIRCUT THAT MADE THEM LOOK LIKE A BOY



David Cassady had longer hair than me...actually the entire cast of the Partridge Family had longer hair than me...(and oh how did I want to be Lori Partridge with her long straight thick gorgeous shiny brown hair)



except Shirley (the Mom)



because I was sporting that same ugly haircut...



UGH

raise your hand if you remember the Partridge Family...or had a crush on David Cassady and his puka shell necklace...or Shaun Cassady...

what?
2 of you?

Hence I was obsessed with her wigs and wiglets.  I would go around the house for hours in her long dark brown fall...happily perched to the back of my white blonde hair...



I wanted to feel that hair all around me...



I think that was part of my attraction to wanting to be Marilyn McCoo...she was gorgeous and had long hair that she could swing around.  It made no difference to me that she was black and I was white...I thought she was the very image of beauty and glamour...because she was...and I am betting she still is...that kind of beauty never truly goes away...fades maybe...but never goes away...


And you won't be surprised that my other beauty obsessions were Ann-Margaret and Vanessa Redgrave (in her Camelot "Guinevere" look)...both redheads...


But not once did I ever want to look like Goldie Hawn in her Laugh-In days or Twiggy with her pixie or Mia Farrow with her Vidal Sassoon pixie...nooooo I much preferred Lynn Anderson and Dolly Parton and their full heads of long blonde hair...and Barbie of course...


But I did have a "Twiggy" doll...but I always wanted her hair to be long...


Raise your hand if you remember who Twiggy was...


what?
2 of you?



My mother slowly transitioned from brunette to blonde by spending a fair amount of time doing the "frosted hair" look...



oh...no...

(shaking head)

oh...no...



The only good thing about that was that my mother would have "frosting parties" and her friends would come over and bring wine and frost each other's hair...that is until they drank too much wine and had me and my sisters pull their hair through the frosting caps for them...



I was highly coveted as I was fast and gentle...and never pulled too much through...
(and there are women who read this blog that will back me up on this)



although with all the Mateus Rose and Lancer's Rose they were drinking I'm not sure hair pulling was a problem...



It was hideous stuff (and by that I mean the frosted hair and the very bad wine)...a few looked very pretty with it but my mom...notsomuch...it was a bit harsh on her...things got better when she transitioned to highlighted lighter hair...and then blonde



She always had a thing for hairpieces...her hair was thin and got thinner from all that bleach...so if she was dressed in the least she usually had some sort of wiglet in place.



When she passed away I took her wiglets to the funeral home and instructed the lady there to put one or two in her hair so she looked right.



Yes, I sent my mama to heaven in her Manolo stilettos, her favorite Dana Buchman pants suit, a sweater in her favorite color (or at least my favorite color on her), her Lancome eyeliner and Estee Lauder lipgloss...AND HER WIGLETS...



I know my Mama is proud of me for that...



I have the rest of them (the wiglets and falls) that I didn't bury her in...they don't match my color but...I don't know...they were such a part of her.



She was quite the fashion plate...even in the 60's.



Right now I would totally kill to have her pink/purple Pucci velvet evening gown...to me it was the very essence of 60's glamour...along with a long fluffed up fall...and false eyelashes...



I don't know what happened to it but I wish I still had it...Ke$ha Barbie would rock it...



She had several dresses that looked like they belonged on Goldie Hawn during her "Laugh In" years (Please tell me you remember "Laugh In"...what? 2 of you?)...I wish I had those too...not that anyone needs to see me in polyester mini dresses with big bell sleeves...



She had a lot of flowered shift dresses...



and one dress that I really remember was one she wore to my cousin Tio's wedding...I was the flower girl and my mom was fairly pregnant with my brother.  She bought the dress a few months before she wore it and never bothered to try it on.  When we got to Fort Worth for the wedding she did try it on and it didn't fit (my brother was a BIG baby) so she went and bought a girdle to wear to fit into the dress and to keep my brother looking not so big in utero.



She passed out.



But it was a really pretty brown lace dress.

(and yes, I know there is no way that you can think a brown lace dress is pretty but this one was...in a very Jackie O sort of way)



Speaking of Jackie O, my mom had quite a great collection of sunglasses.  I still wear some of them...not from the 60's but she had a drawerful and once in a while I pop a pair on to think of her.



In the 70's the fashion got...uglier...



For me it was a lot of polyester double knit



For my mom it was a lot of polyester double knit



For my dad it was a lot of polyester double knit...and some godawful jumpsuit things he wore on Sundays...

my brother had matching ones...



I'd kill for a photo of that...



I had a lot of those polyester double knit shorts and pants...just some really hideous stuff...

Just watch The Brady Bunch...see what Jan has on?  That was me...


Except that I wasn't allowed to have Jan Brady hair...


but sometimes I did get to sport a yard ribbon in my hair if it was longer than a few inches...we often had our hair tightly pulled back in a half up/half down look with a yarn "ribbon" in our hair...


raise your hand if you remember "yarn ribbons"


what?
2 of you?


how about "doobies" (that's what we called those ponytail holders with the big plastic balls)


again...just 2 of you?


I never minded maxi dresses or halter tops...in fact I still love them...but sadly the maxi dresses all made us look like Laura Ingalls or Holly Hobby and I never rocked a halter as well as Cher did...


Raise you hand if you remember Holly Hobby...


what?
2 of you?


Raise your hand if you know who Laura Ingalls was...and if you don't get on Wikipedia right now...


I am sure my children will one day look back on the fashions I foisted upon them and tell their friends "my mother dressed me in the most gawdawful stuff"...but I never made Kesha Barbie cut her beautiful hair off...oh no...


I really wish I could have dug up some of the old awful photos of me in these fabulous looks and haircuts but heaven only knows where they are in storage right now...maybe they should just be burned...


And as for 80's fashion...


well...that is a whole other blog...maybe 2...


So if you will all excuse me now I am going to go put on a maxi dress and make my long blonde hair look like Ann-Margaret's and I'm gonna wing out my eyeliner in a perfect cat's eye...


what goes around comes around...but hopefully it is better the second time around...


I hope that for fashion...and for my romantic future...


Inspiration Song: "Age of Aquarius" by the 5th Dimension...originally from the 60's musical "Hair".  It is sung in medley with "Let the Sunshine In" which I may also use as a blog title if it doesn't stop raining around here...I loved the 5th Dimension...


Bye Darlings...aren't you glad we have survived some bad fashion and hairstyles...and the words to the song aren't bad advice:


Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelation
And the mind's true liberation
Aquarius! Aquarius!


Ok so maybe that last part is about drugs...
don't take drugs...


but find your peace and harmony darlings and make peace and harmony with your past fashion mistakes...

Can You Do This?

Hello Darlings...


since my last blog post I have had a few of you ask me about spinning and I have even inspired a few of you to try it...and that my lovies is the entire purpose of this blog:


I WANT TO INSPIRE YOU


and if I can make you laugh while I do it then mores the better...


Now just because I think that spinning is the most fun and effective way to burn calories, well that is just my opinion...and we all know what opinions are like...


Frankly I just want to inspire you to MOVE...to shake things up and find yourself in a place where you feel happy, healthy and fit.


It's not about losing weight or having a hot body...


well, maybe it is a little...I paid for a hot body and almost wrecked it and I am single...but what I really am seeking for myself is fitness...and hot body...


If running is your thing then by all means run your patootie off...but for me (and my crappy knees) I need the non-impact of spinning for my cardio workouts.


When I first started on my road back to fitness in 2010, I was a 300 lb miserable woman who looked 50 and felt 60...


I gave myself a month just to diet but it soon became apparent that I needed to add cardio and weight and strength training to the mix.


So when I was about 280 lbs I found a t-shirt big enough to cover my butt and a pair of very large pants and I hauled myself to the gym and got on the elliptical machine and worked out for an hour.  Stupidly I believed what the machine said my calorie burn was....


WRONG


If you don't believe me...next time you are at the gym turn on the treadmill (I learned this from a trainer) and don't get on it...just set it on...and watch the calories burn...


To accurately tell how many calories you are burning YOU NEED TO WEAR A HEART MONITOR.  I learned this from the amazing Coach Dimples back when he was training me (and the only reason I'm still not yelling at him on an almost daily basis is because he can't hear me in Colorado where he moved...I forgive him because he moved to have a life with the beautiful woman he loves who had a job opportunity there...but boy do I miss him...and yelling at him...)


So I thought that maybe today instead of telling you just to do something I might give you some tips on HOW to do it so that you might be further inspired to go and try something...


So if you want to try SPINNING (and JayVee and MyTommy and SuSu since you are the gurus of spin if you have any comments or need to correct me feel free to do so!)


1) find a studio...make sure it is convenient to your house!  If you have to travel more than 15 minutes from your home or work you won't go...you might go SOME but not as often as you like. 


2) Decide if you want to join a spin-specific studio or try classes in a gym.  You can get an excellent class and instructor either way...some of the best instructors are actually at gyms and not at spin studios.  The advantage of a gym is that you can do things other than just spin.  The advantage of a spin studio is that the classes tend to be very consistent in style so that no matter what time you go or instructor you have you are guaranteed to get a good workout.  Many studios offer a free first class or a week of unlimited classes at a reduced fee...do it!


3) If you are at a gym, check out the class schedule and try to find a time to peek in (if there is a window) and where you can hear the instructor.  Everyone has their own style---some are drill sergeants, some are spiritual motivators...and some just kick your ass....I really suggest you find an instructor who teaches in a way you are comfortable before you try it...if you have a bad experience the first time you may not want to go back.  If I walked into a spin class with a drill sergeant who played a lot of country music I would never get back on the bike...but that's just me...Personally I love an instructor who gets off the bike and in my face to motivate me and/or busts a move dancing around the room...it gets my energy going...yesterday MarvelousMel gave me oodles of moral support with by just coming to the second row and holding my hand for a sec...that may seem silly but it was like a hug when I needed it....and JayVee has no problem motivating me by standing next to me and upping my tension when she knows I need a push...or calls me out that I am doing great...


4) What to wear: I think it may be better to tell you what NOT to wear than what to wear.  I would not suggest running shorts for your first class...they are for RUNNING.  You will see some people wearing them but I doubt you will see an instructor do so.  Bike shorts are definitely a good way to go but I would avoid those with the built in gel padding if you are doing a "soul cycle" type class with a lot of choreography---that padding will get in your way when you are trying to do slides and tap backs.  Just plain bike shorts or any style of tight fitting workout pants will do.  My favorites are capris from Lucy (their perfect core).  You want something that won't ride up or twist about.  As for underwear I suggest a thong or go commando or underwear that aren't going to constantly make you want to "fix" yourself...not kidding.  A t-shirt or athletic shirt for men is great.  For women I would recommend a sports bra and tank or t-shirt...something that won't expose yourself when you are bent over the bike.  Just remember you will be getting your sweat on so dress for it...


5) a word about shoes: you will get a far superior workout if you wear bike shoes with clips.  Before investing in a pair I suggest you see if spinning is something you love doing...it's not that they are all that pricey but the will cost more than a few bucks.  Many spin studios require cycle shoes and will rent them to you for a low cost.  If you find you are loving spinning then go to a bike shop and get a pair with the clips or many studios also sell them so check those out as well.


6) bring a water bottle with you....you will need it!


7) Arrive early for your first class.  This is sooooo important, especially if it is your first time to spin...but even if you are a veteran if you are at a new gym or studio you need time to familiarize yourself with the bike and studio itself.  Get there at least 20 min early and if there is a check-in or instructor in the studio let them know you are new.  Each bike brand is different...I love the Keisers at my club (that is one set of settings I have to remember) and Revolution uses a Schwinn (setting #2 to remember) and DEFINE uses a different kind of Schwinn (setting 3 for me to remember).  You need time to get on the bike and check your settings and get a feel for it.


8) If you are spinning for the first time PLEASE TELL THE INSTRUCTOR!!!!!  This is so important!  He/she needs to know you are a newbie...that way the can help you adjust your bike and familiarize you with how to ride it.  It's not like riding a bike...it's riding a SPIN bike.  He/she can help you learn how to click in with your clips, how to find your settings, how to work the computer (if the bike has one), and help you understand the different positions.  Trust me THEY WANT TO KNOW YOU ARE NEW TO THIS...it will make it a much better experience for you.  And if you are a veteran spinner but new to a studio, gym, or class please let the instructor know...they may have some valuable info on how they structure their class...plus its just good manners!


9) now you gotta figure out where you want to ride...do you want to hide in the back? be a front row powerhouse?  stay in the middle?  be near where the fans blow?  be away from the fans?  See yourself in the mirror? Not see yourself in the mirror?  Some studios have you "book" your bike so you have a reserved spot...other's is first come/first served.  Get there early enough to look around and see where you want to ride.  For me it is front row but not where I can see myself in the mirror and I do not want even the tiniest breeze of a fan on me...Some studios bring the lights way way down so you are almost in the dark...for many people that is freeing...


10) many studios have gel seat pads for your use...use one the first few times...you will be more comfortable. 


11) speaking of comfortable, let me just let you know it is not...it is hard, and that saddle feels like a rock the first few times...and you are gonna get sore and tired.  That is what Advil is for.  Take your advil and go back. 


12) the instructor is going to tell you how fast you should be going (most ride to rhythm) and how much tension you should have on your bike.  The first few classes you take will be hard...I'm not going to lie to you, so don't feel bad if you have to back the tension off a bit or sit down.  It's ok...it's a hard workout.  So ease off the tension if it is feeling too hard, or take a seat if you need to...BUT make it your goal to stay up, or stay at the tension the instructor is suggesting.  AND WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT STAND UP IN THE SADDLE WITH NO TENSION ON...can you say torn ligament surgery? 


13) The instructor will help you understand the different positions...you do not want to be draped over the bike like your towel...you want to keep your butt over the saddle when you are up...you don't want to be wiggling around like my cat does before he pounces...do not grip the handle bars like they are a joystick on a video game.  The handle bars are there for support and positioning but not to support you---that is what your legs are for!  Your core and legs will support you...some instructors may even have you take one hand off the bars (but you should never stand and not have at least one hand resting on the bar).  Lightly rest your hands on the bar and make sure you can wiggle your fingers.  Your feet should be "flat" and not pointed down (like riding a regular bike).  You should have a 20% bend in your knee when it is fully extended...


14) So you find a studio, get there early, are appropriately dressed and have water, meet the instructor, get situated on the bike...and then you do the class and at the end...YOU WANT TO DIE.  Guess what?  I don't really know of anyone dying from spin class.  It will be hard but it won't kill you and it will get easier.  It will never ever BE easy (if it is don't go back to that class) but it will GET easier.  Go home and take Advil and go back again within a couple of days.  And if you didn't love the instructor or class, go back to a different instructor...it may not be the spinning you didn't like but just the style of the instructor.  Whatever you do I urge you to go back and try it again...don't let it be a "one and done" thing!


and my last suggestion:
15) Take a friend with you...it's not a social hour by any means but having a friend ride next to you is great moral support and you can feel proud together.  It's very motivating to be there with someone you know.  Yesterday JayVee and I took a class together (that is why she is an awesome instructor---she takes classes from others so she can "grow") and we had so much fun pounding away.


So there you go...some tips to help you get started...


And hey if spinning is not "your thing" then I urge you to check out other forms of group exercise.  I have found that if I have a class I have signed up for or a session with a trainer booked that I have no excuse.  When I'm afraid I will "wimp out" and not go to a class I make sure I sign up online so it's paid for and I can't back out...


I know this is a super boring blog but since some of you have asked I thought I would help you out and see if I can't get a few more of you to try this awesome form of working out. 


Trust me, I usually feel like I want to die during class...I curse JayVee and the Revolution girls and SuSu under my breath...and I pray for it to end...but then somewhere my brain takes over my body and I find that I am proud of myself for being able to work so hard and not die.  Sometimes class passes so quickly that when we start to cool down I can't believe 45-60 min (depending on the class) has passed.  Other days one song in I'm asking myself why the hell I am there and I want off the damn bike...but for the most part I go, sweat my ass off, have fun and get proud that this almost 50-year old former fat girl can do what I do.


I wish I was the kind of person who could eat whatever she wanted and wouldn't gain an ounce...but then again I am not a 16-year old boy.  My son can down his weight in chicken wings and not gain any weight and if I LOOK at the chicken wings (or whatever) I gain the weight for both of us...heck if I just SMELL something like chicken wings I gain weight...sigh....


So for me I need to do cardio and weight training 5 days a week or the weight creeps back on...I found it out the hard way when I cut back to twice a week and the weight crept on...but then it quit creeping and sneaking up on me and went into full  attack and it suddenly things got ugly...I started to resemble Princess Fiona in her ogre state and not Barbie anymore...


So for the past month I have upped my exercise and have been eating really pretty darn clean.  I have been eating so much salmon it is a miracle I am not pink and walking backward (like a salmon swims upstream).  I have several ways I prepare salmon but I found this amazing recipe on Pinterest from an excellent food blogger and it is my "go-to" now.  It's a yummy teriyaki marinade (I think it would also be great on flank or skirt steak or chicken or pork chops) and has a sriracha cream sauce.  I changed the sauce to my own sriracha "crazy sauce" (see last blog) but the marinade is spot-on.  Even if you don't like salmon you might find you do if you try this.  I suggest letting it marinade for 8-24 hours for maximum flavor.  Just remember to make the marinade ahead of time because it must fully cool off before you throw the fish in it.


Here's the link to her blog...it truly is damn delicious
http://damndelicious.net/2012/05/30/teriyaki-salmon-with-sriracha-cream-sauce/


So my darlings I hope I have inspired some of you to try spinning or push yourself to go again if you tried it once and didn't like it.  If you belong to the HRC I will meet you any Tuesday/Thursday for JayVee's class if you want to try...and if you don't belong to the HRC but live in Houston and want to try out Revolution or DEFINE I will meet you there for moral support...


AND IF YOU LIVE IN HOUSTON AND WANT TO TRY REVOLUTION THERE IS A SPECIAL RUNNING ON GILT.COM (GILTCITY...GO TO GILT.COM AND GO TO CITY AND THEN CLICK  HOUSTON) FOR 5 CLASSES FOR $55 (INSTEAD OF $100)...THAT IS A HECK OF A DEAL.  YOU MUST BE A NEW CLIENT TO DO THIS---AND THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT SINCE YOU ARE BUYING 5 YOU WILL COMMIT TO GIVING IT A REAL CHANCE!
http://www.giltcity.com/houston/revolutionjunhouston


Inspiration Song: "Can You Do This?" by Aloe Blacc...it will get you going...its one of those songs that makes me want to dance around like Snoopy...


Bye Darlings...get on your bikes and ride! (maybe I should have called this "Fat Bottomed Girls").  Just give spin (or a trainer or group exercise) a chance...and feel free to message me if  you have questions...

Changes

I love throwing something up there on the blog title that will scare some of you...

so you see that and go....

"uh oh what now?"

I've made a lot of changes in the last few years:
lost over 100 pounds
got divorced
sent Kesha Barbie off to college
started working at a new school
sold my beloved house and moved into a new one

But lately there have been a few more changes in my world...

and to be perfectly honest if you keep up with me on facebook pretty much none of this will be a surprise...

but lately I have been thinking about changes, and making changes, and changing things that I need to fix...

like the fact I have been divorced 2 years and 3 months and the judge granted me the use of my maiden name back and until now I haven't changed my driver's license or any of that legal-type stuff to say "Shelton"...

but on June 10

I took myself down the the DPS and fixed it...

done...

the next time I get a speeding ticket (I am Bobby S___n's daughter) that cop will be writing it to "Anice S____n"

Believe it or not that was easy.  I did the "get in line online" thing and only waited 10 minutes to see the awesome lady who made the change and took my photo...

name change...check that off the "to do" list

So now that my DL says my name I am fixing my credit cards, etc.

Believe it or not American Express was more trouble than the DPS...but, and maybe this should give me pause, Chase and Citi (for my Visa and MC...yes, I have a few...) were just a little "change my name to this" and "save the change"....

up next: Social Security and the passport

not that I am going anywhere but you never know...I could win a game show prize or meet a man (who drives a big ass truck and has blue eyes and dimples) who wants to whisk me away to Costa Rica...

it could happen...

the game show I mean...

the man part is....well, that is a whole other blog...

I called my Aunt Jane to tell her what I had done.  Because you see...that day would have been my mom's 70th birthday. So instead of wallowing in self pity that I no longer had her here with me I decided to do something she would be proud of.

It was a very liberating feeling to know that I am no thoroughly and legally me.  I didn't do it because I dislike my ex-husband, I did it because I want to really start my life over and part of that was no longer having to spell a name that pretty much contained every letter in the alphabet.

Other changes...

My closet.  Yes, my closet...

I had a perfectly nice closet in this house but given that my last 3 homes have had really well organized closets I bit the bullet and I hired a closet company to come in and re-do the closet.  I now have a really well-organized space that works perfectly for me.

And yes, I totally take up 100% of the space and there is no room for anyone else.

So if some man who drives a big-ass truck ever becomes a permanent part of my life we will have to figure out what other closet in the house isn't inconvenient for him...

but I am not planning on that so I feel zero guilt that I have this big closet all to myself.

There is room in my life for a man...

but not his clothing...

When I moved I "purged" a bit but I was so busy packing everything else up I didn't really pay much attention to my clothes.  So once I took everything out of the closet for the new one I had all my clothes on rolling racks in my great room.

and boy did reality smack me upside my little head

I have too many clothes...and I have clothes that never need to be on my body again.

This year I am about to turn a very scary number...and because of that I realize now that some of the things I could get away with in my 40's won't look so great when they are being sported by a woman of a certain age.

So those went into the donation pile...

And so did things that won't fit right since I had my improvements made by Dr. Bonnie Baldwin.

And a few things that were hopelessly out of style (they are going into the costume closet at the school)

And a few things that made me say "what the hell was I thinking?" when I looked at them again.

I've also changed my workouts a bit.

I got really really lazy and found myself only working out 2X per week...and if JayVee wasn't teaching or I was subbing sometimes that was only once a week.

And so sure enough weight has crept back on and I am mighty unhappy with myself about it.

But in a sense I am glad it happened because it taught me a few things:

1) I must exercise 4-5 days a week to maintain a healthy body
2) I need to change it up and not just do one sort of workout
3) I can eat what I want...but only if I am working out at least 5 days a week
4) I can eat what I want as long as I keep it pretty clean and only have one or two cheat meals a week

Soooooo...I decided to try out a new spin place to kick in some more classes and for a change of pace.

No one, and I mean no one, is a better or more creative spin teacher than JayVee.  But she only teaches it twice a week.  And because of my crappy knees I can't do some of her other classes that require a lot more bouncing about.

So on her recommendation (yes SHE sent me there because she loves me and knows what is good for me) I tried out Revolution Studio.

Bam

that was a good thing

I love it...the instructors are spot on and in 45 minutes I get a great spin class and come out of there drenched in sweat and ready for those lovely lavender frozen towels they give us.

It's a "Soul Cycle" concept and it's done in the dark.

It's a lot of techno and hip-hop music.

It's not for everybody.

But I am loving it and since I have added some classes there to the ones that JayVee teaches the weight is melting off.  JayVee teaches in that same "soul cycle" format but with a little more intensity, a little more choreography, and for an hour.  So I was prepared for the Revolution classes and their intensity.

And to add to the "change it up" my friend SuSu now teaches spin at DEFINE Tanglewood on Sundays so I am adding her to the mix.  She does an awesome job and she had me shredding the calories last week when I took my first class from her.

You can only get JayVee if you belong to the Houston Racquet Club, but if you are looking to try spinning and want something fun and intense I highly recommend Revolution Studio (Memorial City or Sugar Land) or DEFINE (many locations).  They have similar formats and styles at both studios but with a few differences...check them out...you will get a great workout and have fun doing it.

Another change for me has been that this is the first time in my life that I have been completely alone for a long period of time.

Kesha Barbie decided to stay in Boston and get a job for the summer so she's not home.  And The Cutest Boy in the World (TCBITW) is off at camp being a junior counselor.

So it is just me in the cats.

There are some days that the only voices heard in the house are from the tv...or when I talk to the cats.

They don't answer back so it's usually pretty quiet.

It's sometimes a bit lonely but KuteKaren and RoyBoy and SuperSarah have been dragging me out a bit at night.

Last night I had my "Big Gay Night at the Theater" because I went to see "Xanadu"with a group of wonderful and very fun friends (I love you boys!!!!!).  I went with SweetyTodd, De-LIGHTful Adam (he is a lighting designer) and Robert Scissorhands (he is a hair stylist and jewelry designer) and we all enjoyed watching the  Divine Miss Tam bring the house down as an evil muse.

If you live in Houston I urge you to go and see "Xanadu" at Stages.  It's appropriate for ages 12 on up and you do not have to be a fan of the movie to enjoy it.  It is the most fun I have had at the theater in ages and it was actually my second time to see it last night...and I am considering going at least once more before it closes.

I will confess that the movie is one of my guilty pleasures and I have a playlist of nothing but the songs from it on my iPod so I am a fangirl...but even if you have "Never Been Mellow" or enjoyed the "Magic" of Olivia Newton John I think you will take "The Fall" and become "Suspended in Time" while you watch the show.  And seeing "Evil Woman" the Divine Miss Tam work her "Strange Magic" on the crowd is reason enough to go.  You will "Suddenly" find yourself "Dancin"'All Over the World" (or at least to the parking lot) and I promise you will be singing "Xanadu" in the shower and wake up saying "I'm Alive"...

(Come on people...I just managed to get like almost every song from the show into one paragraph...go see it for that alone).

And now I will end this blog with a life-changing recipe..

Ok, so it won't REALLY change your life but I made if for my friend SweetSu and JayVee and they both agree that it is good on everything.

I agree...

It's a touch creamy, a little sweet, and nicely spicy...

We call it "Crazy Sauce" because it is crazy good and it sounds crazy when you see what the ingredients are.

I never do measurements but here is what you need:

Mexican Crema (you can use sour cream but Mexican...and not Salvadoran or Honduran but MEXICAN Crema is the best. They sell it at most groceries but my favorite is the La Michaocana store brand)
Sriracha (and it has to be Sriracha)
Agave nectar

So put some crema in a bowl (say half a cup)
now squirt in some sriracha...how much you put in depends on how spicy you like things...for mildly spiced I would say put some in and stir and if it is the color of raw atlantic salmon you are good.  For a spicier flavor add more...but start at "raw salmon" color.

Next squirt in about a teaspoon of agave nectar.  I know it sounds weird but TRUST me on this...the sweetness is necessary...and it just works.

Now adjust things to your liking.  If you are using sour cream and not crema I would add a dash or two of salt.  Mexican crema is lighter and saltier than sour cream so add a bit of salt...

now put it on everything...

It's especially good on salmon (especially if you teriyaki marinate it first) and chicken..but really it goes with everything but dessert...

you're welcome...

Inspiration song; "Changes" by David Bowie.  Because sometimes you just need some ch-ch-ch-ch-changes in your life and you have to "turn and face the strange ch-ch-changes"...but don't let them scare you...make some changes to improve your life...I try and do it every day...

Bye Darlings...be proactive and make the changes you need to so you have a better life..sometimes changes are thrown at you but the ones you decide to do on your own can truly take you to a better place...or at least more room in the closet...

Simple Joys

Hello Darlings...

lately I have been taking joy in some things I wanted share with you...some are things that have happened, some are products, some are places...

stuff...

And at the end of the blog there is something I have never done before...I am doing a product give away!  Read on for more details...

These days I am determined to find joy even in things that I might not normally find joy in...

Like today...when I subbed for 5th grade...it was field day...

normally that would not make me joyful...and frankly I feel I still deserved hazard pay because I was standing around where 11 years olds where throwing things like footballs, basketballs, and hula hoops.

But I found joy in watching them get excited and have fun...it was fun watching the tiniest little blonde girl prove that she pretty much is the beast at sports (she never missed a basket and she beat everyone at ring toss with the hula hoop...and then some...)...I found joy in the fact that the weather was PERFECT and I didn't end up with a "farmer's tan"...it was a joyful day...and I got to spend it with some sweet kids and some amazing teachers I look up to.

I"m finding joy as I sit in on casting our shows for next year...like when the biggest kid in the room insisted he get to read for "Tiny Tim" (we are doing "Christmas Carol") or when the super quiet young man got up and had me in tears laughing...or when a child I have known since he was in kindergarten is continually surprising me with his acting...or when I got to sit next to another child I have known since she was in kindergarten and as I realized that she is a grown woman now and off to college I have had the joy of sharing this last year with her (I love you CrewBossCass).

I found joy on mother's day...not just from my children..and they were awesome (The Cutest Boy in the World cooked me breakfast and brought it to me in bed)

but from my ex-husband

um...

but not in the way most would expect (like he did something nice...)

no...it was more surprising and I'm still laughing at it...

basically...

he sent me a text meant for his girlfriend

not kidding

you read that right

he sent ME a text meant for his girlfriend

my joy came from the humor of it

and the fact that I could absolutely care less that he has a girlfriend (other than it chaps me that he found someone before I did)

I knew it because not for me because the text was NICE

not that he isn't nice to me but it was waaaay friendly than I ever get or ever got even when we were married

it was all friendly and happy and even had an exclamation point

not kidding...

once I realized it was NOT for me but rather for someone else

and I stopped laughing my @$$ off

I sent him back at text saying "I don't think you meant to send this text to me lol"

at least it wasn't a "sext"...

and for that I am truly grateful and joyful

(shudder)

I'm taking joy at making homemade goat cheese...I found a recipe and it is delicious and creamy and a bit tangy but not overly so...and you can flavor it however you like...and I use fresh lemon juice as the acid...here's a blog that explains how to do it...

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/02/how-to-make-goat-cheese-recipe.html

Of course I am taking great joy in my new house...and I am almost ready to "show" it to you...but if you are looking for painters, or an electrician, or some carpenters---message me and I will pass along their names...they are awesome...

Lately I find great joy in going to the, for lack of a better term, "latino grocery store".  The one by me is called "La Michoacana" and I love shopping there.  The produce is good and cheap, I get great avocados for less than 50 cents each (sometimes as little as a quarter...they are the small ones but the perfect size), they have great fajitas, and I can get in and out in less than a quarter of the time I spend at HEB.

I am very fond of their "pollo para tacos" and "beef para tacos"...it's meat that is slivered up for you and all you do is throw it in a skillet with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and you have a "street taco" when you add a little green salsa...bueno...

and they have awesome corn tortillas and I am very fond of their La Michoacana brand of "queso quesadilla"

The Cutest Boy in the World and I have taco night almost once a week and it's a no brainer to shop for and put together...

if you want to find one near you here is their website:

http://www.lamichoacanameatmarket.com/en/

If you have any kind of ethnic market near you I urge you to go in there and explore...you might find some great food at great prices that might shake up your usual meals...

and if you want more specifics on how to do your tacos, etc just message me...

Let's see what else...

I take simple joy (actually GREAT joy) in the fact that the two top-selling NFL jerseys post-draft are Johnny Manziel's and Michael Sam's...but that deserves it's own blog...

I find simple joy in some new findings in the way of alcoholic beverages...

I picked up some peach vodka from a Texas vodka producer  (Lonespur Texas Vodka) and it's awesome...I plan to make some fun summer drinks with that one...I tried it with a little blueberry liqueur for a dessert martini...joyful...

I'm not usually a whiskey girl at all but I find that Cooper's Mark honey bourbon whiskey has a smokey, sexy, slightly sweet taste that makes for a delicious occasional nightcap...like at the end of the day when your ex-husband sends you a text meant for his paramour...

And lastly on the alcoholic beverage front I share with you a nice red wine I am enjoying:
Chateau St. Cosme "Les Deux Albion" Cotes du Rhone

yummy...

And the olive bar at Whole Foods has long been a place of simple joy for me but I recently discovered their "sweet" olive blend with almonds and raisins...and yes, it is supper yummy when chopped up and put on top of that homemade goat cheese on a crostini...

I take a lot of simple joy from my cat "Dragon"...he amuses me and is super affectionate and so very sweet...

although last night at 3am when he decided to lodge his "teaser" toy into a chair so he could play with it (it has a bell on it....arrrrgh) I was not taking ANY joy in him...

And now for my unpaid endorsements...but these are things I really love..two are beauty products and one is something my son can't live without...

The Cutest Boy in the World lives in athletic shorts...and his favorite shorts come from a company called "Streaker Sports"...what makes these shorts special is the fact that the fabric is super lightweight and dries quickly and IS NOT MESH but also because THEY HAVE POCKETS...he lives in them...check them out the company is a good old USA company and their stuff just gets better and better with each washing...he loves the t-shirts too...if you have seen my son "out and about" then you have seen him in his Streakers...

http://www.streakersports.com/

Lastly I want to share two beauty products that not only give me simple joy in making me look better but I pretty much use them every single day...

First up is Oscar Blandi Dry Teasing dust...

finally a product that gives me the big hair I love...and it stays...it's the best of the "dusts" I have tried and I am an addict

Here's a link to Sephora:

http://www.sephora.com/product/productDetail.jsp?keyword=OSCAR%20BLANDI%20Dry%20Teasing%20Dust%20P378139&skuId=1510163&productId=P378139&_requestid=137377

but you can get it other places...

My other beauty obsession is my lashes...it's all about the hair and lashes with me...and I have finally found a product that gives me the look of false eyelashes without having to put the falsies on.

It's called Younique Moonstruck 3D fiber lashes...

amazeballs...

you put on your regular mascara and then...when you want to pump up the volume...and add length...

you brush on the gel and then you comb on the fibers (I have contacts and have had no issues) and then you seal it up with the gel...

and then you get supermodel lashes

My friend Jill turned me on to them and she set up a "virtual party" where you can go and buy them...no since I don't believe in using my blog to serve myself in any way other than mental therapy I am going to GIVE AWAY a set of the fiber lashes...

that's right

I'm doing a give away...

the "party" last for 10 days so feel free to go onto the website and buy away..you will be hooked...

but if you leave a comment here on the blog or on my facebook page that you want to be in "in" on the giveaway, simple let me know and on May 25 I will put all of your names in a hat and draw one out and that person will get the lashes...I already have a set to give away...

but I really urge you to shop for yourself...you will love them!  And the price is good...

here's the link:

https://www.youniqueproducts.com/JillWatson/party/199439/view

I swear these are amazing and I get tons of compliments and the best part is I can use them to look naturally pretty or full out glamazon depending on how much I build up with the fibers.  Jill and I total believers  and addicts...you will be addicted too..

Ok so that is all for now with my simple joys...because my next simple joy is watching Gray's Anatomy and going to bed...

Inspiration Song: "Simple joys" from the musical "Pippin"...because GOTT and I are doing Pippin this year...just in case you have missed it from my facebook page..yup the next 9 months are gonna be all about "Pippin" and football and wrestling...and also in honor of the fact that an amazing young man who was in the first show I ever costumed once played "Pippin" in high school and now he is on BROADWAY in Book of Mormon...yes, I finally know someone on Broadway...I die happy....

Bye Darlings...find your simple joys...share them with me...and let me know if you want in on the drawing!

Mama Who Bore Me

Helloooo Darlings....

And Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there...

today is always a bittersweet day for me...I always feel so lucky because I AM a mom and God blessed me with two amazing and talented and wonderful children...but for the past 9 years I have been without my sweet mom and that makes today just a bit sad for me.  I miss her terribly...I miss her every day...and I have this 3 month run where once I month I have to confront the fact she is gone:

She died in April so that is always a crappy day...

And then Mother's Day rolls around a month later and punches me in the gut again...

And then in June her birthday comes along and I no longer have her here to celebrate.

I have many friends who have lost their precious mommies so I am not alone in this struggle of joy and pain...and to all of you who have a special angel in heaven you call "Mom" please know I love you and I send you a hug...

I slept in this morning and then The Cutest Boy in the World brought me breakfast in bed...he got up and made me coffee and biscuits and we opted to eat on the couch in my room rather than in bed because Bad Dragon was a little TOO interested in those biscuits so I had to thwart him a bit...

I've been lazy all day and I am just fine with that...I have things I could do but instead I opted to spend 3 hours watching a documentary on the Eagles (the band, as if I have to tell you people...GREATEST AMERICAN ROCK BAND EVER..that's my opinion and if you want to argue it, well I don't want to hear it...).

Ke$ha Barbie called and wished me happy mother's day.  I really should re-name her but I might confuse some of you so it's gonna stick...sorry beautiful child...she's still up in Boston and I miss her so much...but I am so proud of her and her hard work at school...

I wear the title of "Mom" as my proudest accomplishment.  It is the one thing I truly have loved doing...I loved every minute of raising my babies and I am ever so grateful that I did not mess them up or ruin them...

Now as for my fur babies...well, Dragon is still learning manners so I am sort of a failure when it comes to being a cat mama...

I've received so many sweet texts and messages today...but the ones that touch me the most are those from kids I have taught.  I have literally teared up reading their sweet texts to me...because to have a child who is not your own tell you they love you...well, you just can't beat that...So far I have heard from Sweet Caroline, Alexandra the Great, KuteKass, and MyMary...and frankly I would happily call each of them "daughter"...I love those girls so very much because they have opened their hearts to me and they have given me the gift of their love and friendship.  Precious Precious Precious girls...

And I have sweet girls like SuperSarah who treats me like another mom or a very special aunt...inviting me to graduation and to come to the "before prom" photo time...and her birthday...I will miss her when she goes off to college next year...

because sometimes it's not the mama who bore you...but the mama of your heart that you love as well...

I have some "mamas of the heart" too...My friends SuperShari and JoJo are my mamas all the time...they fuss over me, check on me all the time, worry when I have hurt myself (the latest was a nasty burn from bacon grease when God was trying to tell me I no longer need to cook with bacon), and act as a mom when I need a shoulder to cry on.

My aunt Jane is also like a mom to me...more big sister but there are times she stands in as a mom or grandparent for me or my kids.

I was lucky enough to hear from my sister-in-law today....my WonderfulWendy.  She is no longer married to my brother (in fact she has found a wonderful man and they got married!) but she will ALWAYS be my sister...marriages don't matter when you have a sister for life.

All of this got me thinking about what it means to be a mom...because it's not just about giving birth.  I have two adopted sisters who are my SISTERS.  Period.  I only use the "term" adopted when I explain how they started off in my life.  Adopted or not they are as much my sisters as my "blood" sisters are, and I actually am closer to them than the other sisters.  My mother never thought of them differently and neither do I.  They are my sisters.  End of story...

A few years ago my sister SuSu and her family came to visit.  Her daughter June Bug wanted to sleep with me every night.  She would fall asleep and I would stare at her because she not only was so beautiful but she looked just like my sister and it would take my breath away to look at this precious little creature and be so happy that I got to have that experience with her loving me like that...loving me that she wanted to be next to me.  That's how I feel about my Aunt Jane...

So it's not blood...it's not birth...it's about love...

I have friends who don't have human babies but are moms to fur babies...again, that is all about love...

I have a friend I have loved almost all my life who is gay and is father to two twin boys...I love that he gets to be a parent because he is an amazing dad along with his partner...it's not about being a "mom" it's about being a parent...but mostly it about love...

I have friends who have raised their grandchildren because circumstances prevented their child from raising their own child...again, it's about love...

I have kids from school who call me mama...I don't pay for their tuition, or raise them under my roof, but it means the world to me for them to call me "mama" and I will take it..again, it's about love...

So I want to end this post with something I wrote 9 years ago...it's my mom's eulogy. I'm not going to share the whole thing but the part about the lessons I learned from her.  I was going to share it on the anniversary of her passing but I just couldn't bring myself to bring it up...I was missing her too much but was making it through the day without tears so I decided not to.

But today, I feel strong.  And I want to share the wonderful lessons I learned from my mother and her life.  She was a gorgeous woman who inspired me to do many things. I would not be the woman I am today without her...

So in honor of the amazing Debbie Shelton I share this...and I hope today you will do one of these things for yourself.  When I gave the eulogy I made a top ten things I learned from her so here it is...and I have left the last part of the eulogy in because it gives me comfort:

Number 10---Cook with butter! My mother was a fabulous cook…she learned from her father who was also a great cook. She rarely produced a dish that wasn’t incredible tasting. She ate a healthy diet and enjoyed good food, but when she cooked, she cooked with butter. Most of our holiday meals centered on her delicious food and she didn’t skimp on the good stuff. So when you do anything in life, and not just when you cook…don’t skimp on the good stuff…make everything you do full fat, whole hog, and ignore the calories.

Number 9--- travel first class and see this world. It’s not always feasible to fly first class, but why not give up some of those frequent flyer points and get to your destination in a little more comfort? My mother always tried to do that…and she was always more comfortable for doing so. She loved to travel. She loved to go and see my brother Beto and his family in Africa----it’s a magnificent country and she loved to be there. She loved New York City---we traveled twice there with Camiel but she made many trips there and she never tired of the city. She took ordinary vacations to ordinary places but she also loved to travel to exotic and fun places like Hawaii, Bermuda, Egypt, and Europe. Even when she visited my sister Katie and her family in Fort Worth she turned it into a vacation. She loved to go places---whether she was traveling with her children or with friends. We took so many fabulous trips together and I know that I will miss having her as my favorite traveling companion. So get out there and see this world…and send my mother a postcard in a prayer.

Number 8---Sleep on a lot of soft pillows. My mother’s bed was a soft, safe haven for my children and my sibling’s children…all the grandchildren have slept in Nona’s great big bed, surrounded by all of her soft pillows. Sometimes our entire family would pile into her bed. My mother had guest rooms but my sister Susan would always sleep in her bed when she came to visit because Mom’s bed was the best. Everyone who was at her house at some point would find themself lounging about on my mother’s bed. My mother made bed-making into an art form. Her pillows were soft and plentiful and her sheets were luxurious. But translating that to real life, what she did was to create comfort around herself. We can all honor her by splurging on the creature comforts in our home and create that safe, soft haven that welcomes us. 

Number 7---take more pictures. My mother took more photos than anyone I knew---she also managed to display them all. If you were at the funeral home yesterday you saw just a smidgen of the photos she had. And if you were there yesterday I sincerely hope you saw the marvelous video that my Aunt Gayle put together with some of Mom’s photos. She loved photos of friends and family and usually had her photos to the developer within hours of taking them. Take photos and share them with everyone. There is no greater artwork in this world than the human face.

Number 6---Keep a clean house. I have failed miserably at this…she was such a tidy house keeper and I am nothing but a mess…never dirty, just messy. Her home was ready for “Better Homes and Gardens” to come and photograph it at any moment. When her father died she took on keeping the house to help my grandmother out when she went back to work. I was told a story about her neat-nick ways that makes me laugh. Back in the early 60’s, when my mother and her siblings were young, my Uncle Phil was home relaxing. Suddenly my Uncle Steve ran through the house yelling “Run for your lives!” and raced out of the house. My Uncle John soon followed suit and jumped out the window. The next thing that Phil saw was my mother making a mad dash through the house and she forced Phil, along with Jane, Gayle and the others, out of the house. When my grandmother came home she found 5 of her 6 children waiting on the front porch, locked out of the house. It seems that my mother had done her cleaning and they weren’t allowed back in---no matter what. Her housekeeping skills continued on to her adult life. She had a maid that had absolutely nothing to do. She threw out her clutter and kept things so organized. Her closet is a work of art. She never had to worry that her house wasn’t tidy enough for anyone to drop on by. Speaking of which, that brings up:

Number 5----Throw more parties! My mother was the hostess with the mostest. Martha Stewart had nothing on her. She gave great parties. She was the social director for whatever community she lived in. When I was young I can remember sitting with my sisters and brother and watching all of my Mom and Dad’s friends come in to the parties they gave. They had fabulous parties…costume parties, hunting parties, dancing parties, teas, casino parties, bridge parties and benefit parties. They entertained heads of state and heads of the school. We loved to watch her get dressed for a party and always were amazed that she could look so beautiful each and every time. Our home was the gathering place for the web of friends that she had in Kingsville. I remember Sunday afternoons spent with our family friends coming by---the kids stayed in the pool until we were long past the prune stage, the dads would stand around and drink beer until it was time to watch Peyton cook the burgers, and the moms would lay in their chairs sunning themselves while wearing curlers in the hair covered by a silly cap or bandana. Why those women lounged in the sun in hair curlers is beyond me, but I can still see that group of people at my house as if it was yesterday. She could even turn a hairdressing adventure into a party. In the early 70’s I remember her friends showing up, armed with home “frost your hair” kits, Lancer’s Rose wine, and cigarettes for those who smoked. The would seat themselves around my mother’s long vanity area and pull each other’s hair through the frosting caps…all the while yakking and drinking wine. As the evening wore on my sister Noel and I became hot commodities because we could pull the hair through the caps for them when they got a little too tipsy to do it right. They would emerge a few hours later, full of wine, full of fun, with head’s full of frosted hair---they all looked a little like Bea Arthur in her “Maude” days…and my mother was their queen. Those were some of the greatest times of my life, and I think my siblings will agree. Most of the best times were never a planned thing…it was just that everyone knew that our family and my mother would welcome everyone and no one had to put much thought to it. Have a party---we are, because she would want us to!

Number 4----Support education. It was so important to my mother that we got an education. I know the day my sister Sarita graduated was one of the proudest days of her life. My graduation from A&M was a triumph for both of us because she never went to college. Her siblings went to various universities and she was proud of their accomplishments. She tried to give us the best education possible. While in Kingsville she sent us to an amazing Episcopal school. When the time came to educate my own children I feel so blessed that I too found an amazing Episcopal school for my children. I use what she did for us as a blueprint for how to raise my own children and I was pleased that I can give such a wonderful educational gift to them. My mother loved going to St. Francis and seeing her grandchildren perform, or attending grandparent day, or even just picking them up in the carpool line. She so believed in the school that she participated in the school’s capital campaign and regularly gave to the Annual Giving program. But her dedication to good education didn’t stop with her grandchildren’s school----she gave scholarships to A&M, helped build on to our school when we were children, and she helped out with various projects at Texas A&I when she lived in Kingsville. So give to the school of your choice and support it well, she would really like that.

Number 3--- Drink more water and exercise more. Was there ever a time that we didn’t see her drinking water? She never ordered anything in a restaurant but water. She was a connoisseur of water and she drank it by the gallon. She always had a bottle of water and kept several pitchers of it in her fridge. It’s good for you and won’t interrupt your sleep…so toast her with your next glass and drink it more often. And get out there and work out! My mother loved to exercise…she was in amazing shape and she worked hard at it. She loved to walk with her friends in the morning and she also loved going to the Houstonian to work out. She enjoyed trying all kinds of classes but usually stuck to her walks with friends when the weather was nice. I know that she managed to get many of you out of the house to walk with her and I only wish she had made me do so more often with her---then I might fit into more of her gorgeous clothes! Take care of your health---she would want you to.

Number 2---Go to church. My mother loved coming to St. Michael’s. She loved this church and she loved the Catholic Church. She often walked to mass from her house so that she could exercise both her body and her spirit. She loved her faith and she clung to it. She loved Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and God. She prayed for all of us…so let us all remember her in our prayers and thank God for her life because He did such good work when he created her.

Number 1---love your family, spoil your children, but ridiculously spoil your grandchildren. My mother was the most beautiful and wonderful mother a person could have. She did the best she could after the divorce and I think we all turned out pretty well. But where she really shined was in the “grandmother department’. Nona, as the grandkids call her, was the best grandmother a child could have. She spoiled them rotten and loved them with the fiercest of loves. She taught them so many things and she could spend hours listing their virtues to anyone who would listen. She was devoted to her mother and she loved her brothers and sisters so very much. She was the oldest child and was their second mother since some of them are much younger than she was. Her family, children, siblings, and mother and grandchildren were the light in her life…and she was such a strong light in ours. We will all be a little dimmer without her to shine on.

In closing I want to finish with a story of how all of this got put into perspective for me. Over the last few days I have been told so many things and been given much sympathy and advice. But the true meaning of how I, and those of us who loved her, are to carry on were best expressed by Connally Dull. Connally is the sweet 3 year old daughter of my good friends Christy and John Dull. I left the Dulls, Connally, and her 2 sisters at my house to go and sign the papers to release my mother’s body to the funeral home. The Dulls said they would stay to answer the phone and the door while George and I were gone. When I stepped back into the house I began to cry once again. Connally looked up at me with her beautiful big eyes and opened her sweet mouth and said “Why you crying? Your mommy in HEAVEN!” I couldn’t have said it better myself…Sometimes it takes a child to put things in perspective. 


So there you go...things I learned from the woman who bore me...and I have learned many lessons from the women who did not give birth to me but love me like their child...and from my friends who are all amazing moms...and from the children who love me...

The bottom line is...it's about love...

And I love you all...

Inspiration Song: "Mama Who Bore Me"...from the musical "Spring Awakening"...an incredible musical...

Bye Darlings...love the mamas in your life...and love those kids...and just love love love...

No Matter What

Hellloooo my darlings!

Long time...no blog...

That's what happens when you costume a show and then move from a home you have lived in for 14 years.

I'm dying to tell you all about the new house but I really want to wait until I have photos for some "show and tell" and I'm waiting on some bookshelves to get finished...but soon darlings...plus I know you are DYING to listen to me endlessly complain about how awful cardboard boxes are...

But today something happened that I just had to blog about...and this is a platform that I can use to brag on the ones I love...

So today the Tommy Tune Awards nominations came out...

for those of you who aren't involved in high school musical theater here in Houston the Tommy Tune Awards (TTA) are awards given to local high school musical productions and...

THEY ARE A BIG DARN DEAL TO THOSE INVOLVED

A few years ago when GOTT was considering a job change I encouraged him to do so...he was ready for a new challenge and teaching high school kids instead of middle school (19 years there I think) would help him to grow...and I told him that within 2 years I expected to go to the Tommy Tune Awards with him and GOTTESS and that GOTTESS and I would cheer wildly because he was nominated.

Last year was his first year there and I didn't expect any nominations for him but the show did garner a few.

This year when I agreed to costume the show he said "you might get a TTA nomination too..."

I didn't believe him

But then things started to come together and I got my sweet MOD (My Other Daughter) as my assistant...

and I met and grew to love the kids...especially my Sweet Caroline, my Morgan LaFab, Katherine the Great, my Belle Morgan, HannahLove (Hannah G baby that is you), DarlingDuna, and The Duck...as well as all the other kids...and I loved the opportunity to get to work alongside my precious CrewBossCass who I have known since she was a veeeery little girl and is now a senior...

So as I worked the thoughts of TTA were pushed to the back of my mind and all I cared about was making the kids happy and making them look great.

I was haunted in my dreams by cutlery and peasants and candlesticks and beasts...and I worried endlessly that my work wouldn't be good enough.

MOD pushed me and helped me and encouraged me...

GOTT pushed me and encouraged me and believed in me

But somewhere in there I totally began to doubt myself.

I knew I could work with the kids but I didn't want to let them down...I wanted them to look as good as the performances they were giving.

And this is where this blog goes from being a brag fest to a confessional...

I really started to doubt myself...and panicked a little...

And there was one morning when I wasn't sure I could drag myself out of bed...I was in total panic...I had sold my house and had no where to live...I had just gotten over the flu...I had a ton of costumes to finish...I had cutlery to make...

and I literally did not want to get out of bed

And then I remembered back to 2005 when I was costuming my first show for GOTT.  We were doing The Music Man.  And in the middle of it...my mother died...

it paralyzed me to lose my mother

But I had about 80 kids depending on me to do a job I had never done before and I needed to finish it.  I dragged myself out of bed and tried to sneak in but one of the kids saw me and the next thing I knew I had about 30 kids trying to hug me at once.  And the last performance of that show was on Mother's Day and one of the amazing sweet boys made his dad take him out in the rain and buy me flowers because he knew it was a hard day for me (this time I will use a real name because I will love Zach Sendukas for that forever because it literally is one of the sweetest things anyone ever did for me).

So while I lay there paralyzed with fear and doubt I remembered that day and got myself out of bed and headed to the school where MOD and I managed to overcome a few hurdles and my fear of that morning was over but not forgotten...

Because it taught me that I can't let my own fears stand in my own way...and that day I almost did...

We all need to do things that scare us a little...it's good for us...and this downright terrified me but once I got over the fact that it was NOT about me but all about the KIDS I got my act together and pushed through...

But don't worry...I still have fears and you will never see me on Survivor or The Amazing Race because I am terrified of heights and I refuse to eat bugs or vermin...but I will eat raw beef and sushi...go figure...

Last night I slept fitfully because I was too excited to see if we had gotten any nominations for our show...I knew we did a good show but it's always nice to be validated...

So I got on the webpage with the nominations list and...

well I didn't go straight to "best costumes"...

I decided to just go ahead and peek at who was nominated for "best musical"...because, well, maybe we were...I think we did a great job but you never know what appeals to others and judges...

So I looked at the list and started reading...

and...

there...

we...

were!

Best Musical nominee...

I started crying so hard I couldn't see the computer screen...

it took a full minute before I looked at the next category...Best Direction...

and...

there...

we....

were!

GOTT did it...just like I said we would...

And then I looked at the next category...by then I didn't give a damn if we got nominated for costumes or not...

it was Choreography

I knew we had that one in the bag!

but...

WHAT THE HELL?

Our name wasn't there...

no
no
no

could not be

GOTT and Morgan LaFab (and her helpers HannaDoll and BeautifulJess)worked too hard getting those numbers perfect and amazing...

I mean come on...how do you not give a nomination to a musical where over 20 kids are clinking pewter cups perfectly while dancing?

So that took my breath away...

but then I kept looking...still crying...still trying to text GOTT (he's on vacay) at the same time...

we got CREW  (yay CrewBossCass) and LIGHTING (yay to my DiscoBallAdam! love you babe!)

and then...

there it was...

"Best Costumes"

and it said "Houston Christian High School" among the list of names

I fell on the floor and cried...and texted GOTT

And he called and I cried some more...

Because when you have the best job in the world and you work with the person who is literally your soul-brother and you work like a well-oiled machine together and you get to love and be proud of amazing kids...

well getting a nomination for your work is like finding out the caramel cake is not just caramel cake but it is SALTED caramel cake...it is just that much better

and when GOTT told me to start believing in myself the way he did...well, maybe now I do...but it isn't the nomination that did it...it's that HE and the KIDS believe in me...

I texted MOD and congratulated her and told her to find a pretty dress for the awards...I could not have done it without her...and she deserves all the credit for keeping me focuses on the whole costume and not just the buttons (that's a thing I told her to tell me when I would get bogged down in silly details).

So while I was messaging with my friend DivaGlamTam (she's the BOMB people...sings like Aretha and has a real job too...) I mentioned I was put out that we didn't get choreography and since she is a judge for the TTA she knew it wasn't right...

yup...

just a typo...they forgot us

So BOOM!

We had one more..."Best Choreography"

I got to call Morgan LaFab and as I cried into the phone I am actually happy it worked out that way because I loved that I got to be the one to tell her that she was nominated...

But here's the deal...

I FINALLY get it when someone says it is an honor just to be nominated...

well...

it is...

and even if we don't win a thing we have already won...

Because it was not about winning an award...

It was about so much much more...

it's about entertaining an audience...

it's about kids putting themselves out there...

it's about fun...

it's about PRINCESSES people (not really but to the 5 year old girls in the audience it is)

The night before our first show I told My Belle Morgan that her job was not to perform for the judges...her job was to sing and dance her heart out for a 5 year old little girl in the audience who goes home and wants to be her and dance in a big yellow ball gown with a prince...and to be on the stage...

(Oh yes...she got a nomination! and so did Katherine the Great! and the boy who played Gaston!)

That's why you do it...not for awards...not for attention...

but to carry someone in the audience away for a few hours and letting them experience a bit of magic

And that is why we do it...

So win or not...we have already won...

(but yeah ok it would be nice to win...I'd be lying if I didn't say so...but that's not what is important)

So to all my HC kids I love so very very much...and to GOTT who I believe in with all my heart and soul and who is the ONLY director I will work with...

CONGRATULATIONS!

You deserve the nominations!

I'm so proud of you!!!!

Inspiration Song: "No Matter What"...because no matter if we win or not...we already won...we put on a great show...and my "win" was the love I got from the kids and their parents...oh yes---"No Matter What" is a song from the show...because no matter what I will love every second of working for those kids...

Bye Darlings...if you know a kid from HC that was in the show tell them congrats...they did an amazing job...and now I am going to go and cry some more...so proud...so proud...

Be Our Guest

So my darlings I realize I haven't blogged since NOVEMBER...

I need to get back to writing and blogging...and now that I have so much behind me I think I sorta kinda maybe probably have some time to do so...

So since NOVEMBER:

I sold my house

I had the holidays with my kids

I helped GOTT surprise my sweet GOTTESS with an awesome Xmas present---because when a man goes out and picks out the perfect luxury car for your "sister wife" you pretty much better be included and get to make a giant bow to put on it and video her being surprised...I loved doing that so much!

I did costumes for 60+ kids for a high school musical that was worthy of anything TUTS does...(the musical, NOT my costumes)

I found a new house to live in (I close next week)

I fell in love----with 60+ amazing kids that I couldn't be prouder of

and I am packing to move into a house 1/2 the size of the one I live in now...

whew...

I think that is pretty much it...

changes are happening and they are all good...

and for the new few blogs I can pretty much guarantee that the song titles will all be songs from "Beauty and the Beast" because they pretty much fit my life right now...

The kids performed the show last weekend and now I have the worst show depression I have ever had...seriously it's a good thing I am moving because otherwise I would be in bed so sad or up at the school making a nuisance of myself...

Those kids changed me...and just what those changes are I will address in another blog (conveniently there is a song called "A change in me"...lol)

In so many ways...

Last spring when GOTT asked me if I would costume the two shows he was doing at the high school I said "yes" without thinking because that is what happens when GOTT asks me to do things...I automatically spit out the word "yes" and then figure it out later...

That's what happened the first time he asked me to costume a show...he asked if I knew how to do it and I LIED and said yes and figured it out later...

Since we have now done 26 shows together I think I can safely say I have learned how and he likes my work...

But then we plunged headlong into "Seussical" and at the back of my mind I kept thinking "how the hell am I going to do the darn Be Our Guest number..."

And he kept adding kids to the chorus...

Suessical ended and then I did "Arsenic and Old Lace" for him...but that was like 13 kids and was easy...

But many nights...when I couldn't sleep...I was haunted by dreams...

OF CUTLERY

AND PLATES

all singing and dancing

and then he tells me we have like 60 kids

Um....

what the hell?

I would google...I would watch youtube

and many nights I broke out into a sweat about how to make 15 kids look like napkins (thank goodness there were actually only 9)

and then God and GOTT gave me a gift...

I shall dub her "My Other Daughter"...MOD for short...

GOTT tells me that if I can convince the sweet girl MOD to help me I might just have found an angel

Boy was he right

But then again GOTT is usually right...

except about A&M...

there he is wrong (yes darling it is an EXCELLENT school ...end of story)

So MOD comes and meets me one day and I KNEW with all of my heart that the sweet child before me not only would be an enormous help but that I was going to love her

and she was

and I do

she had been helping with the student musicals for 4 years...and she knew all the stuff I didn't...

so I learned a heck of a lot from an 18 year old senior in high school...

we started formulating a plan...some of the stuff we could do...some we couldn't...but for the most part we made it work...

we got 60 "peasants" costumed straight out of the school's costume closet...I spent about $8 getting 2 boys pants because I didn't have their size...

But Be Our Guest was still nagging at me...until one day she suggested we go look in the other closet for inspiration...

and

voila...

we had it!

I won't bore you with details but trust me when you are told you have 9 "napkins", 10 "plates", 9 "napkin rings", 7 "knives", 6 "spoons" and 6 "forks"...well, you panic a little...

we added a "stove" and "salt and pepper" shakers and a rug...

and we styled it all "Busby Berkley" and somehow...strangely...magically...

IT WORKED

I won't even get into what making "wolves" and "gargoyles" was like...I'm saving that for another blog...

I had a ton of help in the form of angels that are otherwise known as mothers of the cast...

But really it was me and MOD figuring it out and getting it done...

And on Saturday night...at the last show...I bawled my eyes out because the kids looked so amazing and IT ALL LOOKED GREAT

I have so many tales to tell of the show...of how my "Sweet Caroline" kept me calm and would kiss my cheek and tell me it was all amazing so that I wouldn't panic...how my "Morgan La Fab" blew me away with her choreography and she is just 18 years old...how my "Katherine the Great" made me cry each night with her singing....how "My Belle Morgan" (yes, there were 2 Morgans) made me so proud I almost burst each night...

but this blog is dedicated to MOD...because she did so much more than fit costumes, organize dressing rooms, and Febreezed the heck out of stinky morph suits...

I LEARNED from her...

not just the show stuff...but watching her with her classmates and the grace she used...her ingenuity on coming up with great ideas...her ability to run it all when I was sick...

(yes, I got the flu in the middle of it all...)

And every responsibility I handed to her was handled with perfection...

even "costume jail" and some incredibly scary quick costume changes...

I learned from a beautiful young lady that I could do my job and make everyone happy...

Because my goal when I do these shows is not to make myself look good...

it's to make the kids look good

that's what GOTT and I do...we try and bring out the best in our kids...

I don't know how I will do this all without her next year but I am giving serious consideration to offering to pay for her to come back here and help me with the show...

I'm not kidding...she's that valuable to me....

But more importantly I have a sweet little extra daughter to love and be proud of as she spreads her wings and moves beyond high school to her future...

and because of her my future with doing high school shows is now so much easier...

I love you sweet MOD...

What's the point of all of this besides honoring a very special young lady?

We never know just WHO our teacher will be...

in my case she was a very special young lady...

OPEN YOUR EYES and see what the youth before us can offer...don't discount what they can teach...

I have learned a lot from my kids but it was also quite sweet and special to learn from some kids who I had not raised...

And I am a very proud mama indeed...

Inspiration song: "Be Our Guest" from "Beauty and the Beast"...if you were fortunate enough to see our show you know it was amazing...and this is dedicated to my sweet MOD who made it work for me so others could be our guest...

Bye Darlings...look to our youth...they will inspire, they will challenge, they will lead, they will teach...and you will find much to love there...