Recent goings on.

Last week ended with the arrival of the Austin City Limits music festival. For the 5th year in a row, I decided to take a pass. I almost regretted it when I saw how gorgeous the weather was going to be on festival weekend, but then I remembered how much I hate crowds, Phish, and port-o-potties, and I got over it lickety split.

Instead, on Friday night, I went with The Geej, Dah, and Dah's fiance (yep, Dah's getting hitched in April) down to watch the mighty Wimberley Texans whoop up on the Blanco Bandera Bulldogs in some 3A Texas High School football action. (My stepsister's son plays for Wimberley.) It was Wimberley's homecoming, and the game was packed. In fact, we had to sit on the visitor's side because the bleachers on the home side were filled to capacity.  

There's something so charming--so reassuring--about a small town football game. Granted, it's familiar territory for me having spent almost every football season Friday night of 10th, 11th, and 12th grade in the stands for Pine Tree High School's football games. But still, even if I didn't have my own experiences to draw on, it would be hard not to be sucked in by how much these games MATTER to those playing them, and those watching them play.

We stayed for the halftime show, and Blanco's Bandera's marching band inexplicably had some of these on the field during their performance:

Yep, those are those wind sock people. On a football field. I have no idea why... Their school is so small, that one of the cheerleaders picked up a flag and marched with the colorguard, and two of their football players took off their shoulder pads and helmets and marched with the band (one on alto sax and one as drum major). Awww...

We left after halftime because Wimberley was killing Blanco Bandera so there wasn't much of a game to watch. The final score ended up being 52 - 0. The Geej went home with Dah (because they hadn't gotten to hang out in a couple of weeks), and I went home.

Satruday was spent sleeping until 10:30 (awwww yeah), running errands and doing laundry. One of my errands was dropping off some donations at the ASPCA, and OH MY GOD Y'ALL, there were adorable, sweet kittehs EVERYWHERE!! But I managed to come home sans new kitteh, which is a good thing because Doug, Diane and BH would've disowned me.

Saturday night BH and I went on a real, honest-to-goodness date. A couple of weeks ago, I won a $50 gift certificate to a fancy schmancy restaurant, so we decided to redeem it. And although the food was good, it wasn't outstanding, which was kind of a disappointment. But still: A date!! At a restaurant that didn't have a kid's menu or crayons!! Whoo hoo!

Sunday I went to the grocery store, washed my car, did more laundry, and went to see Get Low. By myself. One of my favorite things is going to the movie by myself. I get a small popcorn (no butter) and a bottled water or Coke, and just get lost in the movie. Get Low was a good one to do that with--a wonderful cast, a great story, lovely soundtrack. I really enjoyed it--especially after I figured out who the actor was playing the character of Buddy. It was the kid from Sling Blade! All growed up!! (Man, it was driving me CRAZY trying to place that face and accent.)

After the movie, I went and got The Geej, and was able to surprise her by telling her we were going to dinner with one of her most favorite friends, Daschel. She was SO excited. They've been best buds since they started Montessori together (she'd just turned two, he was a few months younger, and they were literally inseparable from day one). They hadn't seen each other since the last day of school, and so it was quite the reunion. I know they're only 6, but it's like they really do love each other.

There they are with Dachel's dad (and Geej's former teacher), Mr. Gabe. We've got to get these two monkeys together more often.

On one final note, Diane received a new box to sit in.

She seems quite pleased.

Other goings on...

Yeah, I know that Texas got beat today by stupid ol' O.U. But you know what? U.T. is still way cooler than O.U. simply based on these two facts: It's not in Oklahoma AND it's actually in Austin, which--as many of us know--flippin' rules.

Okay, now down to haps.

This week was crazybusy at work. First off, it was a short week for me since I took Monday off. Then it was like--Bam!--meetings, meetings, meetings, lunch with new team, appointment, meetings, parent/teacher conference, meeting, team appreciation lunch, offsite meeting, 5:00pm Friday. I mean, seriously. Whoooooosh.

Monday my small team officially joined a new larger team at work. There are good things about this "merger", and things about it that still remain to be seen. I'm in protective "mother hen" mode at the moment with the whole situation. At any rate, it's new, and if there's one thing that is constant about where I work, there's always something "NEW" going on.

I went to a work-related reception thingie on Wednesday evening. It was nice, but gosh that shit's just awkward. I'm chatty as hell, but I'm not one of those folks who likes to go up and just initiate random, work-related conversation with someone I don't know. But I did, and it was fine. As long as this type of schmooze-fest isn't a regular part of what I do at work, I'm golden.

I had Geej's parent/teacher conference on Thursday afternoon. Let me set the scene for you:

Her teachers--Mr. Gabe and Miss Kim--and I are seated on the "circle time" circle in the middle of their feng shui-ed/bamboo-floored classroom, while the class rat Hunka Munka runs around between us, crawling all over us at various points. It was freakin' awesome. The basic report is this: She's doing incredibly well, especially considering how different the "Primary" class (with all 4 and 5 yr. olds except for her and her friend Kennedy) is from the "Pre-primary" class she came from. The only issue? Her tendency to be a bit...um...bossy. Seriously, I have no idea where she gets this from. (Nod, nod, wink wink.) We'll be working on this as hard as we can, but honestly? She's my kid: she's gonna be a Bossy McBossersons. There's not a whole lot I can do about it.

This week was going really well, actually, until yesterday morning when Earl woke me up barfing on the pillow next to my head. Some cats are barfy--Earl is not. So this was a tad bit weird. Well, by the time Geej and I were leaving for our day, he'd puked another 5 times. Lovely. When I got home, 3 semi-dry piles of upchuck greeted me. I took up his food and told myself that if he was still hurling today, we'd give the vet a call. Well, guess what. This morning, he threw up another 5 times before the crack of 10am, so I called my vet (who is open from 9am to 1pm on Saturdays). I explained what was going on, but they had two emergency surgeries going on, so they weren't going to be able to see my big, barfy boy. So they referred me to the emregency vet not too far from where I live. We took him, and nothing unusual was found during the regular exam (of course), so they guilted me into a shitload of diagnostic testing and x-raying and whatnot. Now, he's home with me hydrated and anti-nausea medicated, and x-rayed, and CBC-ed. But at least he hasn't blown chunks since we got home. Even if I am $500 poorer, I'm glad to know he's feeling better. I hope he STAYS better, because I don't think I can afford another trip to the vet right now. Oh! And get this: My little fatty has lost TWO pounds since his annual exam last year. I totally attibute this to the fact that I transitioned him to "light" food after Ellen was no longer with us. He's still HUGE, but not as enormous as he used to be. Good boy...

Other things:
Mr. Wonderful starts his new job on 11/12, so he and I are trying to figure out the logistics of getting his ass down here. Right now, it's looking like I'll be flying up there to help him drive the U-Haul down here on 11/1. Oh. My. GOD!! I'm so freakin' excited. And I've got SO much to do to ger ready for him to arrive. I smell a garage sale in my immediate future...I gots to make some room, fools!

Speaking of Mr. W., I am heading to Boulder, CO next week with my entire work team to meet with our parallel team at the company we're merging with, and Mr. W. and I are going to be able to spend a wee bit of time together at the end of my trip. Boulder in October? GORGEOUS. I can't wait.

Geej and I are going to a birthday party tomorrow where there will be a pony for riding. Last time she had the opportunity to ride a pony, she was too scared. But she's been talking about this and fired up for a week now, so we'll see if she is ready to go for it. I hope so, because how else am I going to get her interested in this: Welcome to Ponyville! Holy CRAP, people!! How do I protect my daughter from this marketing onslaught? Jesus H. Christ. Speaking of...I have a whole bitchtastic post brewing about the whole branding/marketing thing and kiddos. I know it's not groundbreaking, but I'm just now facing it with my kiddo, and it makes me wanna punch someone in a suit. Hard.

Okay, I have so much more to write, but it's clogging my brain and I'm too tired. So I'll leave you with this piece of advice:

Do yourself a favor, and treat yourself to this month's playlist at davidbyrne.com. It's based on a cross-country driving trip he did with his daughter, and it's perfection. If I weren't already in love with Mr. Wonderful, I would TOTALLY stalk David Byrne.

This one's for you, Julie.

Yep. I purchased this 12-pack before the crack of 9:30am this morning and am trying to figure out a way to ship it to you safely without bottles breaking. We may just have to wait to crack these open until the next time we see each other (which I hope won't be that far away).

O.U. Sucks!