SO EXCITED!

I have a new helper:

Klay is wearing his PPE for cooking bacon, and ready to demolish some waffles

Today’s Exploit:

I got a package in the mail the other day. It came from my second mom, Tammy. I was really excited because packages are fun, but I made myself wait until I finished my errands to open it. 

When I finally got home I dropped everything by the door and got my scissors out. She sent me so many fun things. 

So many new toys!

I got pieces for another quilt, Grandma Catherine’s cake pans and so, so many icing tips and toys for making cakes pretty. I immediately threw them in some soapy wanter and cleaned a few years of sticky coatings from them. I had to scrub a few of the better used ones a lot and use baking soda to cut through the grease. But now they are all shiny and clean and ready to decorate some cakes. Now I just need to decide on an occasion.  

Some baking soda and water, after scrubbing a bazillion icing tips.

All shiny and clean and drying in the sink.

The cake pans were still in the original box, one that has definitely seen its share of use.
However, the instructions for making a party cake are still in good shape.

About My Babies

It’s raining, raining, raining here. So much rain.

Today’s Exploit:

I have a new mint baby. His name is Max. He is a transplant from Wyoming and the grandchild of the Saratoga mint bush that wanted to take over the yard, and the garage.

Natalie and Max's future homes, and Max hanging out in the water growing some roots.

I also re-potted Maya Mint, and cloned Myrtle. (I pulled her out of her pot and broke the resulting mass in half and planted them in separate pots.) I still have Myrtle, she is doing quite well again, finally. And her clone is Myra, who looks more like Maya. 

Maya, looking all spiffy in her new "real" pot.

I also have a new nasturtium called Natalie. I planted her at the end of September and then neglected all the babies on my porch while I went off and made caramels, fudge, cookies and met H’s new nephew. Thankfully the Mint clan is pretty hardy and I remembered to leave Natalie on the wall to catch the rain. 

My Babies!

Ally and Jack now live on my patio wall since they can survive off the minimal Texas rain, and are too big to carry around in a milk crate with all the other new babies.

Where You From?

I made Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies last night. Then I ate way too many of them

Today’s Exploit:

The other day, when I was doing some real work, for a change, one of the roughnecks asked me where I was from.

Him: Hey, you ain’t from around here, where you from?

Me: I grew up in Wyoming.

Him: Whoa, you a long way from home.

Me: Yes.

Him: I was jus’ wonderin’ cause you got a accident,

I smiled an went on with my work, while inside I was laughing until my cheeks fell off and my stomach started hurting. 

Racing Colors

I have been reading so many books lately. They are silly and not well written free books on my phone, but I can’t tear myself away. I don’t understand it. I have so many books for my Kindle that I consider it my own personal library, but I have been ignoring the good books available there for the silly ones I found. 

Today’s Exploit:

At the end of August I did a 5k with my sister. She chose it and signed up for it without my coercion, which is a minor miracle after the half marathon drama. But she wanted running motivation and to celebrate finishing her school. She’s now a real nurse, I don’t know if she’s taken her final test yet, but she’s looking for jobs. 

The race she chose was in San Antonio, in the hottest month of the year. I think she’s trying to get me back for that last race. But I agreed since I never thought she’d run with me again.

It was a color run, where they throw powdered paint at you to stain your clothes, underclothes, skin and hair. It was pretty fun, even though it was Texas hot. The people throwing paint though it was hilarious to throw it at my face and at Cupcake’s legs. 

Afterward we raced to New Braunfels to look at a house, covered in powder and sunscreen and sweat. The lady showing the house didn’t even blink when we got out of the car. However she did ask us several times if we were sure that we weren’t twins. 

We got many stares at IHOP, too, because Cupcake just HAD to have pancakes after the race. 

Also, I still have paint powder in my car from throwing water bottles in the back seat, and having to dig around for my money at the restaurant. 

I Can’t Remember

I can’t remember the last time I posted.

Today’s Exploit:

I have had lots of adventures in the last month an a half.  I have lots of stories to tell and pictures to show.  However, at this exact moment I cannot think of any, and all my pictures are on my phone.  

I’ll think really hard and have more soon.

Texas Style Adventure

My classes are feeling never-ending. I just want these last two weeks to be done. And then I’ll be finished, and no more worthless papers. 

Today’s Exploit:

I made a friend. 

And it wasn’t a tortoise or cow or fuzzy red ant, which, by the way, I have learned are actually wingless wasps and REALLY nasty. 

Ashley is from Florida. She is staying with the company man and she is going to run a marathon in November. 

We went walking because she forgot her running shoes.

On this walk we came across a bull in the road. On the other side of the fence was another, much younger bull. 

We slowed down and I yelled at them so that the one in the road would move. It did, about 10 feet further down the road.

After about 3.2 repeats of this process Ashley decided that the bull might charge us and wanted to be prepared. She found a large hunk of wood and carried it with her for the next half mile while we tried to convince the bull to leave the road long enough for us to walk by. I am not sure why this seemed like it would be a good idea. She claimed that her grandparents owned a ranch. But I didn’t think the bull was going to charge us, either. 

Eventually we made it to the gate and she thought it was safe to drop the hunk of wood. 

The bull decided to leave the road long enough for us to pass on the way back, but the cows on the other side of the fence thought it would be funny to run down the fence line just far enough ahead of us that we were in a dust cloud for half a mile. 

When we finally left the dust cloud behind, Ashley decided that her shoes hurt her feet and took them off. She walked 1.24 miles back to the rig in her socks. 

Thankfully she didn’t step on any of those nasty fuzzy red ants/wasps.

Walking, Because Running Equals Death By Overwhelming Heat

Today’s Exploit:

I have been going for long walks lately. None quite as long as my eventful walk about a week ago, that one was 8.5 miles, I checked. 

However, with the heat and me being lazy, I have spent more time on long walks with a few bursts of running when I’m feeling super motivated. 

Other times I am far more interested in things like Speedy Gonzalez, here.

Or the endlessly boring, flat landscape.

And the baby cows that can’t decide if they want to play, or if I’m some horrible monster that is going to attack.

Also, last night I met the driver for the landowner. And had 4 other trucks stop to ask what I was doing and if I needed a ride. In the process of getting out of the road so that one of said trucks would not kill me I stepped on a thorn. The first one ever to go through my shoe and poke my foot. Stupid Texas plants and their pokeys.

Did you know that it takes 21,000 steps to walk 8.5 miles? And 12,000 to go 5.5? Yesterday I did 7.5 miles and that was 16,000 steps. 

Classic Love Stories Are Pathetic

Today’s Exploit:

I started reading Romeo and Juliet. So far I have understood about a quarter of what I’ve read and I’ve had to look up about 68.13 words. 

So far Romeo is completely consumed with love for someone he won’t name, and is pretty pathetic. Every other phrase is “Woe, is me”. 

Juliet has been asked to check out the suitor that has been talking to her dad, but she’s skeptical. 

As of right now, in the middle of Scene IV, it is nearly as pathetic a love story as Pride and Prejudice has been so far. And I still have not been able to bring myself to finish that one, yet. 

My Growing Family

Today’s Exploit:

My family has mutated and grown and shrunk and gone through many transformations this year.

I got Pete for Christmas, and the poor thing still has glitter stuck to him from the store. Then I got Jack from one of the roughnecks. Eventually I was motivated and put Pete and Jack in the new pots I’d gotten a while ago. 

Then I got this little guy, from the same roughneck. This little guy doesn’t have a name because it made me mad on the trip home because it bit me when I tried to throw a wrapper in the trash. 

So now it lives with H. because Klay really wanted a plant the last time he visited.

Myrtle and Maya have gotten several haircuts because I leave them in the SUPER hot sun for too many days without water.

I was even afraid I’d lost Myrtle for a while. She needs...something. I guess I need to break her into pieces so that I can add some real dirt to the pot, instead of a mess of roots.

And most recently, I have two new additions to my family. 

Allie has a baby and Pete has a baby. The babies do not yet have names, because they don’t have their own pots. 

Now I just have to figure out how they’ll fit into the crate with 2 new pots.