Legally Blonde's Proceedings

The Overhead Door People just showed up at my door this morning. I had my neighbor call his father-in-law, who works for Overhead Door, yesterday, but I hadn't heard back from them. Good thing I was at home! Anyway, they started to try to insist that I needed two new panels instead of just one, but I convinced them that I only needed one. They rearranged the new panel and the one that was dented just at the top so that it works. Jennifer was here at the house when they came and she ran to get us lunch (since they had foiled my lunch plans by showing up unannounced). They had put the really bent panel that they were replacing behind her SUV. She didn't know that and they didn't say anything to her when she got in her car to leave. She just backed right over the thing! She managed to do what we had tried to do yesterday with the mallet...flattened that sucker out! So, we have put that in the back of our memory. Need a bent piece of metal flattened? Just run over it with a car...

Despite my Dad's belief that beat the dent out of the garage door, I don't believe it's going to happen. Jennifer brought up a mallet today. We did not succeed in getting the dent out, though we did manage to create our own little "big bang" experiment here in McKinney (though very different than the big bang experiment going on in Switzerland). Our experiment was probably heard in every contiguous county!

As October is swiftly approaching, I decided to start decorating for Halloween today. Things started off very well. I was very pleased to find my missing favorite screwdriver packed up with my Halloween stuff. (I knew I had been missing it for a while -obviously since last November-and had looked everywhere for it...well everywhere but in the big tubs of Halloween decorations!). I had to move some stuff around in the garage to get to the Halloween tubs. At one point I thought I had everything back in its place in the garage and hit the garage door down button and went in the house. A few minutes later, Lola and I hear a loud bang. I went out to the garage and there was my garage door all crumpled up and off the track. Apparently I hadn't gotten a baby (doggy) gate put back in its place and as the garage door went down, well it hit the baby gate. I guess the door malfunctioned and didn't just go back up, so the top panel of the door crumpled and it caused it to fall off ...

Since seeing Maggie on Oprah yesterday, I have of course been trying to teach Lola to do mathematics. So far, she takes after her Mom and isn't much for that subject! If you have spent any time around Lola, you know that she talks all the time. I have decided that Lola could be a genius like Maggie, but instead of tapping out her knowledge with her paw, she is talking. Who knows, she could be trying to dictate the first Great American Doggie novel? I don't think the problem is one of Lola not being smart enough, but of me not being smart enough to understand what she is trying to say!

Sometimes a girl just has to lower her expectations and compromise (it sounds better than settle)! I went to yet another DSW and couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, but I found these shoes. It also didn't hurt that these felt like they were made exactly for my feet and like I was walking on pillows. Now, I can continue my hunt for the other two or three kinds of shoes that I need for fall!

Okay, I now think it is possible that they have stopped making shoes in a size 10. I have searched high and low and have not come up with one pair of size 10 shoes. I have been to Stein Mart (2 stores), TJ Maxx, DSW, Dillards, Nordstrom, Cole Haan, Rackroom Shoes, Naturalizer, Liz Claiborne, and even scraped the bottom of the barrel and went to (GASP!) Nine West. So I am sending out a warning that next time you see me, I could possibly have my feet wrapped in burlap sacks.

I just got home and am watching my DVR'd Oprah from today. It is all about dogs, but I want to specifically tell you about Maggie, a Jack Russell terrier. Maggie is so smart (and adorable)! Maggie can count and multiply. You say, "Maggie, what is 2 + 5?" and Maggie takes her little paw and taps seven times. Yes! She does! I saw it! You can also say. "Maggie, what is 2 x 3" and she taps out 6. Whatever, she does it. If you get to anything that tallies over 10, she can sometimes lose track of how many times she has tapped and miss one or add an extra (but so would I if I were tapping out large numbers). AMAZING!

I know, I know. How could a girl who owns so many darn pairs of shoes hate shoe shopping? Let me clarify. I love stumbling onto the perfect pair of shoes or a great shoe bargain, but I hate having a pair of shoes in mind and not being able to find them anywhere. 2008 has been what I have termed "The Great Shoe Search of 2008". I honestly think that I have only purchased one or two pairs of shoes this year...yes the whole year. It isn't because I haven't been looking, but I haven't been able to find a pair that I like for under like $275. Now, if I had an unlimited budget, I could find an unlimited amount of $400+ shoes that I would love to have. But as it is, I have had no luck in the $100 and under price range! The last couple of days I have been looking for something that should be simple to find...patent black ballet flats with either a buckle, jewels, or something (other than a bow) on the toe. Yeah, not easy to find and no luck so far. I have a coupl...

Okay, here is my official report on the Extended SATC the movie. Most of the parts that they added to the extended cut (or cut from the theatrical version) help other parts of the movie make more sense. I don't want to give away details in case you haven't seen it, but they just help explain things a little better. The extended cut is great and there is no need to buy the original one. I wonder, who made them cut these scenes from the original...who would have minded it lasting just a little longer?

The release date for Sex and the City the movies has finally arrived. Of course I had a copy in my hot little hands by noon! Those people are genious though... you can either buy the extended cut (for $8) more, or the original movie as it showed at the theatres, but if you want both, then you have to buy both. I opted for the extended cut, and will decide later whether I need the original too. In other SATC news... at the release party, it was announced that a second movie is in the works. Michael Patrick King says he has a story to tell and the ladies seem to be on board. Bring it!

Had I actually made it to the Junior League General Meeting tonight, I would have been awarded a 5 year pin. I received an e-mail telling me of this news last week. My initial thoughts were that a 5 year pin was no big deal. I mean, first, this is actually my 7 th year in Junior League so who cares about a 5 year pin (they don't count the first because that is the provisional year and then I guess they don't count this half year into my 7 th year that I have served). Second, it didn't seem like that big of a deal to make it 5 years in Junior League...for me, the big deal is making it through this year so that I can be a sustainer . Then I looked at the e-mail list of women who were also receiving their 5 year pin. Out of the approximately 100+ members that were in my provisional class, there were only about 25 of us who had made it to the 5 year mark. I was shocked and then became a little more proud of my 5 year pin. Now as you may have deduced, not proud enough to...

In today's Dallas Morning News, they had the listing for next summer's Dallas Summer Musicals. I was excited to see that "Legally Blonde" the musical is one of the shows! I will most definitely have to check out the musical Elle Woods.

Last night I went to Ponder to visit my friends, Jenn and Aaron and their 6 month old baby, Sarah-Grace (and three pups). They were making a whirlwind trip in from Florida to visit family before they move to North Carolina next week. I hadn't made it out to Florida to see S-G since she was born, so it was my first meeting. She is very cute and is such a good little baby. I brought her a Taggies toy and she was content for hours just chewing on those taggies! I wanted to post a photo, but of course, I left my camera at my house! I will post a photo when Jenn or Jenn's mom e-mails me one. I'm already looking at plane tickets and my calender to see when I can visit them in NC (I've never been to NC before).

The game isn't over yet, but we are beating UMass so badly that I'm going to go ahead and call it. As I have mentioned over the last few weeks, we are having some kicking troubles in Lubbock this year. We haven't had much success with field goals in particular. Tonight, they were running one of the drawings where someone attempts a field goal and if they make it, then they win money or something. Well the kid who won that drawing kicked a 30 yard field goal. According to the radio commentators, he lined up, looked like he knew what he was doing and nailed it. Apparently, there was enough in the kick that it would have been a solid 40 yarder even! So the kid kicks, wins his prize and takes off running up the tunnel. Next thing you know, Coach Leach sends someone after the kid! They bring the kid back and he tells Leach that he was a kicker in high school, so Leach sends him over to talk to some other coaches. The Texas Tech Sports Radio Network guys caught up with...

This is a really funny photo that my mom took of her pup, Milly. It is kind of hard to see since it is so small on this blog, so that is a bummer, because you can't really tell exactly what's going on. Here is a narration: Mom looked out her kitchen window and saw Milly standing out on the diving board looking in the pool. By the point the photo was taken, Milly had seen Mom looking at her and so she is now looking at Mom. This was taken during the Olympics (just late getting the photo because Dad's new Dell was crapped out AGAIN). We thought that Milly must have been trying out some of the things she had been seeing at the Olympics! Just FYI, Milly is a bit of a daredevil and you would never catch my Lola doing that in a million years! Ever since Lola fell in as a tiny pup, she likes to keep a safe distance from the pool which leads to a very funny story that I will retell in case you haven't heard it. I bought Lola on a Friday at McKinney Trade Days (I went for a pl...

Last night I got home from class and as I was eating dinner, I got ready to watch 90210 that should have been recording. To my horror, my DVR was broken. Now I have had some troubles with this particular DVR in the past, but usually calling Time Warner Cable to reset the box will fix the troubles. Not this time. Of course we are just at the start of all the fall previews so I was in panic mode (afraid that a cable guy would have to come out to fix the problem and that NEVER goes well- like the time I had to wait for 10 hours and then the cable guy never showed up despite telling the dispatch from the cable company that he was parked outside my house- no he wasn't). Today I went to Dallas for lunch to meet my friend Suzanna and her new baby Kate. We celebrated Suz's birthday and then on the way home I stopped in Plano for a DVR exchange. I got the new DVR and all appears to be working! My Fall TV Preview has appeared to have been saved! Thank goodness the CW re-runs 902...

Well I just got home from volunteering at the Junior League from 6-9. Not to be too much of a complainer, but leaving at 6:30 a.m. to go teach and volunteering until 9:00 p.m. makes for a darn long day! This counts as my one ways and means shift that I have to work this year, so now I'm 3 meetings and 20 volunteer hours away from sustaining...YEAH!!!! After 7 years, countless meetings and probably about 1000 volunteer hours, I will be able to only do what I want to do for the Junior League and won't be required to do anything. Tonight, I was labeling and sorting invitations to our American Girl Fashion show. Apparently we get part of our mailing list from American Girl's catalog list. You may be asking yourself, "How many invites were you labeling and sorting tonight?", and the answer would be 18,000. Yes, 18,000!!!!! (There were about 15 of us working on this project) While I was working tonight, I was sitting next to a lady who was clearly going through c...

Tech won last night. Beat SMU 43-7. Finally, most things started coming together. Running game was good (yes, I said RUNNING GAME), passing game was better (Graham and Crabtree look in sync for the first time this year), and the defense looked good (almost had a shut out until late in the 4th when SMU scored). Our biggest problem right now is kicking. After having our NCAA record setting extra point/field goal kicker graduate, we are having some growing pains with our new kicker Carona. He hasn't made much of a showing so far, and I hope that isn't what comes back to bite us once we start Big 12 match-ups.

Usually I worry about my friend Jenn when it comes to Hurricanes. She has had to dodge more than her fare share over the past 7 years that she has lived in the Florida Panhandle. She has educated me on hurricanes over the years. Jenn has now become an expert at packing up (with the three dogs) and heading out as well as how to deal with all the issues once she returns (generators, finding the water donation spots, etc.). Poor Jenn, most of the time, the hurricanes seem to hit when her husband Aaron is deployed. Well this time, my friend Abby and her family have had to evacuate. She lives down in south Texas in El Campo. I have been following her blogging action on the hurricane. Seems they are right where the eye is predicted to hit, so she and her husband developed an evacuation plan this morning and got out of dodge. I just read the plan that they developed and I just loved their step 4 (Run Like Hell). It really made me laugh, so I had to share it. Let's pray that all is well wh...

I just finished reading "Rhett Butler's People" by Daonald McCaig. "RBP" is an authorized novel based on Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With The Wind". McCaig supposedly worked on it for 12 years. This book, as you might imagine from the title, focuses on Rhett Bulter and his family and friends. It tells you about Rhett's childhood, his teen years, and carries you through the war, reconstruction, to the day of Melanie's death (where GWTW left off) and even gives you a story about what happened after he left Scarlett on that day. I really enjoyed this book and while reading about Rhett and Scarlett, I started thinking about another famous literary duo... Miss Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. Women readers all over the world swoon at the thought of Mr. Darcy, and while I'm usually guilty of that too, after being re-introduced to Rhett Butler, this southern girl will swoon for Rhett any day over Darcy. Rhett is like Darcy only...

Well, to my prayers for a fiasco free day, God seems to have replied. His answer was "Not Today". My tire was still aired up this morning, so that was a good start. I got in the car at 6:30 for my drive in the dark to class. I discovered that instead of the air compressor actually crapping out last night, I in fact blew a fuse that works my accessory plug in as well as my radio. So, I made a very dark and quiet drive to class this morning. I decided to figure out how to change the fuse myself and I am happy to report that I was successful. I now will add that to my list of "skills" I possess. After fixing the fuse, I went to Discount Tire where they informed me that my front tires were horrible and they wouldn't even fix a tire that was in that bad of shape (No, I've never rotated my tires and thus the front are worn and the back look new). I told the guy that I passed inspection last month, and he was very shocked that those tires passed. He told me...

A fiasco free day...that's what I will be praying for when I go to bed tonight. This afternoon, I got in my car at 5:00 to drive to Frisco to teach my 5:30 class. As I backed out of the driveway, I noticed my tire was leaving black marks on the cement (due to a mishap last year, I learned the hard way that this means I have a flat tire). I stopped, got out of the car and sure enough, the front passenger tire was flat as a pancake! I alternated from trying to fill the tire with "fix a flat", to trying to fill the tire with an air compressor, to trying to call for a ride to class. I finally got it aired up enough to drive up to the corner and finish filling it up at Tom Thumb (though that itself wasn't free from fiasco, but that would just drag out this story even longer!). I made it to class 10 minutes late but all of my students were still there waiting on me (that is truly a miracle)! I taught class and when it was over at 6:45, my tire was still full, so I went to...

Lola is SUCH a drama queen... I discovered yesterday that my A/C is broken again-about 3 weeks since the last A/C fiasco. It is still leaking coolant (clearly that didn't get fixed when I paid $300 to fix it last time), but this time I have gone through my home warranty people so it won't cost so much. Anyway, the guy comes to look at it this morning and I have to put Lola up because she really isn't too friendly to workmen who come around. I put her in my bedroom. What's not to like, right? I mean she has a nice bed with expensive bedding, I put her ellie and bones in there, she has a nice chair to sit on if she chooses, a fan, etc. That darn dog sat at the door and whined and barked and cried and screamed. Then I would hear her scratching the carpet furiously trying to dig her way under the door. Finally, I would hear her hitting the door, hard, like she was trying to break it down. She was stuck in there for about 10 minutes (maybe less). The guy had to lea...

Lisa and I hit up Neiman's today for the fall beauty week event. I have partially rubbed off on Lisa and this time she was a purchaser at the more expensive Armani counter rather than her normal Clinique or Lancome counters. I'm so proud, but not half as proud as I will be if I actually see her wearing what she purchased on just a random work day! Everyone knows how much I LOVE make-up and that is part of my scheme to get everyone on board with it... get them to purchase the expensive stuff and then the feel like the HAVE to wear it! I hate to brag on myself, but I believe I showed self restraint that will surprise most of you... I only purchased 3 eyeshadows, an eyeliner and lipstick! I don't think I've ever gotten out of beauty week with my pocketbook so unscathed! Anyway, one of the freebies that we received was something called "glowelle". Apparently it is a "beauty drink mix" that is a "powerhouse combination of skin beautifying antioxidan...

Another Win for Tech last night! Red Raiders beat Nevada 35-19. It wasn't a real pretty game and they still had plenty of errors, but the game was really won because the defense stepped up and played well when it counted. That is a good sign since we know the offense is there (if they can just find their groove this season) and now maybe we have some semblance of a defense. Hopefully Tech will make a little better showing in the next couple of non-conference games.

I just finished reading "The Last Summer (of You and Me)" by Ann Brashares. This is Brashares' first adult novel, though I've read and enjoyed all of her "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" series of novels even though they were for teens. I give this one a thumbs up too.

Well, she didn't blow away in the storm, so we are booked and itching to go to NOLA. Lisa and I just booked a trip, but sadly it isn't until January. We were hoping for fall, but between football, Lisa's son's soccer games, thanksgiving, and then the christmas season, it just seemed like MLK day weekend would be best. We only wanted to pay for two nights at a hotel, so we are using our flight times to really pack in our time in N'awlins AND more importantly, we should be able to pack in 9 full meals! We have a crack of dawn flight from Dallas to NOLA on Saturday morning putting us there in time for breakfast and we are staying all day on Monday and not flying back until 9:30 p.m. I'm sure we will be exhausted, but we both agree that getting to stay in our favorite city til the very last minute is worth it!

You Can't Fix Stupid... I saw that bumper sticker as I was driving down the road yesterday. To that I say "AMEN!". Between dealing with my clients and dealing with my students, I feel like I am surrounded by some form of stupid every single day. Most of my clients don't get into their criminal troubles because they are mean horrible people...most are just plain stupid. You may be surprised that my students are stupid, but alas most are. I had a smarter summer class and was hopeful that maybe it was just my Spring students who were not so smart, but no, it seems summer was just an anomaly . Here is an example: I take attendance at the beginning of my classes. At the end of class, I always say "If you were late to class and I didn't get you counted as here when I did attendance, be sure to come up here and let me know that you are present so you don't get counted absent." I had a student raise her hand last night and said, "What do you mean by la...