It's Memorial Day. I'm at work. So what does that mean to you? Holiday Blogging, of course!
Let's see...let me back up.
Friday was pretty crazy. The Geej's last day of spring semester at school. They had a little "Gates of Life" ceremony that was fairly chaotic. It was meant to help usher those kiddos on who are moving from one class to the next or moving on to a different school. It was cute, but the kids didn't really "get it," per se. All The Geej knew was that it was a "special day" (she kept telling me that).
After, I got to work, and walked straight into a meeting that ended at noon. Then I shoved some lunch in my face and then walked in to an all-afternoon interview session for a new IT Team Leader who'll be working with my team. Those multi-hour interviews with a panel of 10+ interviewers are always grueling. Walked out of there, went home. Mom had taken The Geej to "the lakehouse" (more on that later), so I was flying solo. Decided to go have Grown-up Girls' Dinner with Jaye. We tried Mirabelle, and it was faaaaaaaaaaabulous. I tried to catch a tiny little stray black and white kitten that was playing in the parking lot after dinner, but didn't have any luck.
Saturday, I ran to the grocery store to get some stuff for my mom, and then joined them down at the lakehouse. See...when my grandfather died, he left my mom this bogus "time share" membership. Basically, it's these fairly crappy condos in these rather undesirable locations, and they're totally oversold, so you can't really pick or choose the time you'd like to go visit any of the locations. You have to put your name in a lottery, and then you don't find out if you've gotten the dates you've requested until a week beforehand. Stupid. But anyway, the one they went to is near Canyon Lake and there are 3 swimming pools, so mom thought it would be cool for The Geej. You actually could see the water from the unit they were in, but unfortunately, the view looked like this most of the weekend because of the frequent rain showers that kept rolling through. 
I spent the afternoon with them, then hauled ass back to Austin to go see Morrissey at The Back Yard. I hadn't been to The Backyard since they built all that stupid retail behind it, and I was kind of wary. But the show was awesome, and the group I went with--a work friend and a BIG bunch of her buddies--were a blast. The rain even held off until after the show was over. My only complaint? The show was too short. Damn Bee Caves noise ordinances...
Got up and headed back down to the lake house on Sunday. I'm pissed that I didn't take photos of it, but OH MY GAWD the wildflowers right now are insane. All along IH-35, and then everywhere along FM 306, from Gruene to Canyon Lake. SO gorgeous. As I drove over the Guadalupe, I saw that there were already people tubing. 
Hard to believe, really, because the Guadalupe is so freakin' cold and it wasn't hot at all outside--maybe 74 degrees. When it's 100 degrees, you'll still freeze your ass off in the Guadalupe, so I have no idea what these folks were dealing with. Oh, and by the way, there's a really klassy joint along 306 called "Daisy Dukes," in case you were wondering.
I'm curious about what the female waitstaff has to wear.
Hard to believe, really, because the Guadalupe is so freakin' cold and it wasn't hot at all outside--maybe 74 degrees. When it's 100 degrees, you'll still freeze your ass off in the Guadalupe, so I have no idea what these folks were dealing with. Oh, and by the way, there's a really klassy joint along 306 called "Daisy Dukes," in case you were wondering.I'm curious about what the female waitstaff has to wear. Soon after I got to the lakehouse, it started raining...again. And this time, it was one of those "settled in for a while" rains, complete with thunder and lightning. The Geej was sad b/c we couldn't go to the "fweeming poo" to swim. Instead, we went up to the "clubhouse" area of this "resort." Holy hell, people. I felt like I'd been plunked down at the center of the white trash universe or, at the very least injected in a scene from "Idiocracy." I mean every grossly overweight, horribly dressed, covered-in-Cheetos, reeking of smoke, bad haircutted, arguing with each other, nightmare cliche you can think of was in that one room. Together. I had to get the Geej and get the FUCK outta there before I had a full-on panic attack.
Later, we went in to New Braunfels for dinner, then back to the lakehouse to bathe and crash. I actually went to sleep before 10:30 and slept until 8:00am this morning. That NEVER happens. Got up, cleaned up, checked out. And of course, the day we're leaving, it looks like this:
And something I realized? The Geej's eyes are no longer blue AT ALL. They're totally green now. Observe--
Jelly faced little turkey.
Oh, I almost forgot to show you these: The Stairs from Hell.
But wait, there's more:
You had to climb these bad boys to get from the parking lot to the condo, so loading/unloading the vehicles was a bitch, to say the least.
Drove back in to town, and here I am. Sigh.
I hope you're having a wonderful day off. Please say a prayer that we get our men and women out of Iraq very, very soon.
Yep, there's nothing that says you've got a deep personal relationship with Christ like carrying a horribly ugly purse with "I Believe in Jesus" written on it along with images of He Himself on the cross. Tasteful, no? This was spotted on a Sunday afternoon (suprise!) in a line waiting to be seated at the Cotton Patch Cafe (you don't say!) in Corsicana, Texas (no way!).
Does anyone remember these godawful shoes from the 80s? They were actually called "Tiddies" and had an image of two big boobs on them. Ahh...the 80s. These almost make Crocs look cool. 
Promise me, that when I kick the bucket, you won't pay tribute to me by putting "In Loving Memory/Karla May/Date of Death/My Internet Buddy" on the back window of your Caddy. Thanks. This was taken on HWY 259 in Kilgore, TX, by the way, on the way to my Aunt Mary Lois and Uncle Ray's house.
And finally...vintage Geej:
Better, no? Simple, but better.
They're tiny but already blooming. The Geej picked these out at the nursery, and calls them "her plants."
If this doesn't make you smile, there' s probably something wrong with you. There's this guy in Austin who has an owl habitat and an "owlcam" set up on his property, and he's been recording the daily events of this owl family for a while now. I saw these suckers when they hatched, and now look at them. Could you DIE?! The image archive is hilarious. I'm telling you, I've been sucked into their world. I'm fascinated by them and in love with them all at the same time. You should really 
Damn it was good--asparagus, seitan, baby bok choy, zucchini, red onion, shitake, carrots, snow pea sprouts, etc. It made so much, that Geej and I ate it for dinner one night, I ate leftovers the next night, and then I still ended up trashing at least another serving of it. One thing I forgot to mention about stir-fry night: I taught the Geej to eat edamame. She LOVED it. I made a game out of it: See if you can pop the peas out of the pod. She tried doing it in her mouth (no luck), but then switched to her fingers, and had a blast. She ended up eating a shitload of the stuff, and asking if I would cook "Uhmamay" again. But of course.
I forgot to wish all my mom buddies a happy Mother's Day on Sunday. I hope yours was nice. Mine was very uneventful, unless you count the following exchange as "an event":
All they do is collect dust and look terribly depressing--like someone's untended grave. Just don't do it.
in the master bedroom, 
the master bath, 
and the second bath. And just a hint--if the wallpaper is peeling off in big-ass sheets, maybe it's time to get rid of it altogether.
Rattan furniture? Really?
It's just that the way things were done in our particular condo were kind of...half ass? Tacky? 
It was pretty awesome. Getting to experience the sand and surf through the eyes of a two-and-a-half year old is really, really cool. More tomorrow when I'm not so wiped out and sunburned.
