Category: Humor/Light Hearted

Christmas 2014

On By DGThomaIn Family, Humor/Light Hearted, Writing2 Comments

Christmas 2014…. What a crazy and wonderful time we had.  Previously I nicknamed 2014 as the year of the broken bones.  I suffered through a broken toe and my husband Ron is sporting a trendy black cast while he recovers from a break in his wrist.

As we sprinted to the finish line to usher in 2015, I was a bit relieved to see 2014 come to an end.  We are normally very healthy.  We exercise and try to eat right so it is outside of the norm for us to have issues.

In December, we traveled to New York City for a bit of relaxation and rejuvenation before heading to Texas on Christmas Eve for our extended family Christmas celebration.  We were scheduled to fly out of JFK on the 23rd.   After a long busy day of activities on the 22nd, we received a text from my daughter which read “On my way to hospital, probably broken ankle, I’m okay.”  Followed shortly by “Broken on both sides, trying to determine if they will transport to surgery tonight.”20141224_155936

Oh, boy!  We were unable to change our flights due to the Christmas travel, so we headed to the airport to standby for any earlier flights.  No earlier flights materialized.  All things considered, the airport and subsequent travel went relatively smoothly.  We flew into Austin, TX, arriving at 9:30 PM where we grabbed our bags, retrieved our car and set off for Tulsa, OK.  We stopped about half way to Tulsa for the night.  Early the next morning on Christmas Eve we set off again.

While we were trying to get home, my son and daughter had coordinated and moved our Christmas celebration to Tulsa.  My son transported gifts, food and family and himself to Tulsa in support of his sister.  On Christmas Eve the two of them were sitting in the orthopedic surgeon’s office having her ankle reset, surgery scheduled and making everyone laugh.

By the time I arrived, dinner was being prepared, the house had been spruced and gifts were under the tree.  Everyone was smiling, my son-in-law’s parents were dropping by and one of his co-workers was on the way to share in the celebration.

As we gathered around the dinner table, we were all grateful to share a meal and celebrate being together.  So while I may have been pre-emptive to declare this the year of the broken bone ended, this is it!  No more broken bones allowed!

We had a wonderful new celebration of memories to add to our holiday traditions.  Today Christmas is over and we are sitting sipping our coffee and watching the snow fall outside while we were warm and comfortable inside.

Let it Snow
Let it Snow

 

 

Pretending

On By DGThomaIn Family, Humor/Light Hearted, Musings, Travel, WritingLeave a comment

When my children were young, we would often launch into spontaneous nonsensical conversations.  It might be a perfectly innocent comment that became a springboard.  A wondrous adventure would unfold as we each added our own spin. We would slip into role play effortlessly, becoming princesses, elves or ogres depending upon the trigger.

We had fun pretending our way through a diversity of situations without the benefit of any props other than our imagination.

Often, I still go off of imaginative tangents.  When I’m on a road trip anything can become fodder for a rambling conversation that the casual observer would find perplexing.  Recently, heading toward the town of Stephenville I forgot the name of the next town we would pass through.  I asked my husband “Are we almost to Benjamin?”

And my husband replied no, Benjamin is the town we go through on our way to Lubbock.  Undeterred, I replied, “Well if we get to Benjamin we’ve gone too far!”  Considering Benjamin was about 6 hours beyond where we were headed, that may have been a slight understatement.

A few days later we were driving toward the airport after a long weekend and my husband said something about Timbuktu and I said or Kalamazoo, which made no sense at all.  After all Timbuktu is a city in the West African nation of Mali and Kalamazoo is a city in the state of Michigan and there was no reason to discuss either of them.  But for no reason at all it made us laugh and laughter is a wonderful thing.

Our car talk is not always so off the wall, but every road trip is an opportunity for slipping into inane conversations and we rarely pass up the opportunity.

Crab legs, Lobster and Family Traditions

On By DGThomaIn Family, Food, Humor/Light Hearted, Writing1 Comment

My father’s birthday is October 31st.  This year he is 81 years young.  In spite of typical aging issues, he is remarkably healthy and fit. He has avoided most chronic health conditions.  He still drives well, mows his lawn and manages his daily activities with little assistance.

My grandson, Alex’s birthday is October 5th.  This year he is 13 years old.  They both live in the same town about 5 hours from where I live.

My husband and I drove down to take them out to dinner to celebrate their respective birthdays.  We picked up my Dad first and then drove over to pick up my two grandsons, Alex and James.

Finding ourselves at a chain seafood restaurant, a lively discussion regarding what food to order ensued.  Neither my grandson, Alex nor my father (Papa) had ever eaten crab legs or lobster.  They both share a love of shrimp.Alex

Debating the merits of al a carte vs platters, Alex and my dad ended up with a plate of food that would have been three meals for me.   They had crab legs, lobster tail, fried shrimp, shrimp scampi and rice.  My grandson James opted for a traditional steak meal.

Watching my dad and his 13 year old great grandson side by side, cracking the hard shell of the crab was priceless.  They each experimented with different techniques to get to the delicious pieces of crab inside.  Butter dripped, shells cracked and tall tales flowed.  Everyone was smiling!

The lobster dripping in butter was no match for Alex.  It was one of his favorite things on the plate.  My dad didn’t enjoy the flavor nearly as much, but Alex helped him out and finished his lobster as well his own.  Neither my dad nor Alex took home a significant amount of leftovers.Crab

The service wasn’t great.  No one served us for quite some time and when everyone else’s food was coming out, the server let me know they were out of what I had ordered.  The sides we received were not what we ordered.  Even with the issues of service, the memories were priceless.

 

The Healing Power of Texas Tamales

On By DGThomaIn Family, Food, Humor/Light Hearted, WritingLeave a comment

Thanksgiving 2007 is now a wonderful memory.  However, at the time my daughter was struggling with life a bit, something she rarely does.  As a single mom she was attending law school and had moved many miles and hours away from her support system.  Law school is grueling at best but for just that moment in time, I think she was trying to stay afloat and hanging on by a thread.

She was home for Thanksgiving and the kitchen was alive with the sound of laughter, spoons scraping pans and stories of past escapades.  My children had taken over my kitchen and I was standing outside the door, loving the scene in front of me.

Kat had asked for tamales to round out our normal Thanksgiving fare and we had not been able to find any.  Although tamales are a staple over the holidays in much of Texas, we had waited too late to order them.Texas Tamales

My son, Rich proclaimed we would just make our own tamales.  In our family, we tend to think we can tackle anything, even though none of us had ever attempted to make homemade tamales.  So after a trip to the grocery store we were ready to get started.  The plan was to get things ready the night before Thanksgiving and then assemble them on Thanksgiving Day.  Making tamales is a lot of work! While we didn’t follow a recipe for making the tamales, we did look up how long they should be cooked.

Up at 6:00 AM on Thanksgiving morning, we set up an assembly line.  Richie made all the fillings and was in charge of preparing the husks and spreading them with masa.  The rest of us assisted with the actual assembly.  We made traditional pork tamales for the kids and black bean for me.

We had a wonderful time stirring, mixing, rolling and wrapping tamales, but most of all, we laughed and talked and made unforgettable memories.  All because a sister wanted tamales and a brother was determined she would have them.   We haven’t had a Thanksgiving without tamales since that year.

We skipped the Black Friday sales and opted for family time all weekend.   That is a tradition, I hope we can continue always and forever.

Pinot’s Palette – Painting and so much more!

On By DGThomaIn Family, Food, Humor/Light Hearted, WritingLeave a comment

I’ve wanted to try one of those instructor led classes where you paint a picture in a couple of hours that is advertised as something “you aren’t embarrassed to hang on your wall”.  I just haven’t made the effort to find out more information.

Thankfully, it wasn’t left up to me to follow through.  My granddaughter, Jillian recently surprised me with registration to a class at Pinot’s Palette .  She registered us for a class to paint a picture called “Rain Kisses”.  I was completely on board for the class but I assured her, my picture wouldn’t look anything like the example in the email.

All I had to do was make flight arrangements and pack a bag.  It was lovely that she made the effort to plan a weekend together for just the two of us.  Jillian picked me up at the airport and after a wonderful lunch, we headed to the store to pick up snacks for our class.  Our beverage of choice was sparkling water.  They do offer a stocked bar, but we are too young for alcohol.  Okay, at least Jillian is too young.   We made it to the class and were immediately greeted by lively music and a smiling hostess/artist.  We were directed to our seats where our names had been written in chalk by our canvases.   Our paints were already out and a canvas sat on an easel waiting for our creativity to complete it.  Jillian and I discussed grabbing our snacks early on, but I suggested we wait until half-time.  Jillian indulgently explained it’s a painting class, there is no half-time.

The instructor was wonderful and did a great job guiding us through the process.  Our first step was to paint the entire canvas gray.  I believe I excelled at this point.

In the Beginning

We laughed and joked and had an amazing time.  There were two young ladies sitting beside us discussing the female figure and how one of her legs was raised as she kissed her guy under the umbrella.  One of them said, who was it that started that leg thing?  Wasn’t it in Princess Diaries?  I smiled and said, “Actually, I believe it was Doris Day.”  The girl smiled tolerantly and said, “Well yes, but we were talking about the 90’s.”  I’m thinking she had never heard of Doris Day.  Jillian on the other hand smiled and nodded her agreement.  I should add that her favorite animation at around the age of three was Betty Boop!

The instructors are actual artists.  They lead you through the process step by step and while it isn’t without a bit of effort and maybe some skill, it was much easier than I anticipated.

Since we were going to be out late, (after 10:00 PM) I suggested to Jillian we go for breakfast instead of a late dinner.  We chose the  Village Inn for our late night breakfast of omelets, waffles, chocolate chip pancakes and hash browns.  It was delicious and we had leftovers for breakfast the next morning.

As we ate and discussed our mutual pictures, I pointed out that Jillian had painted a much better “booty” for her guy than I had.  Laughing at/with me, she informed me I was a “hoot!”

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Friday was spent running errands and getting ready for a garage sale on Saturday. After purchasing a new shelving unit we spent several hours working on putting it together.  Normally I’m pretty good at assembling modular furniture but this shelf was becoming quite a challenge.  Maybe I was tired but I put the top piece on backwards and had to start over about halfway through the assembly.  Finally I was ready to put the doors on only to discover the bottom was backwards, so maybe the sides were the actual problem, but we took it back apart and started over again.  By now our hands were sore from the screwdriver and we couldn’t get the small screws to the doors to turn.  Giving up temporarily we went to bed leaving the shelf to be tackled another day.

Early Saturday morning we went to my daughter’s to start the garage sale.  It was a beautiful day for a sale and while we didn’t have a landslide of customers, we had a wonderful morning together and a freshly organized and cleaned garage!  We also met some lovely people.

Saturday night was shelving unit round two.  After a nice dinner with my son-in-law and daughter, Jillian and I went shopping for an electric screwdriver.  What we came away with was a nice soft handled manual version with various sized ends.  It is absolutely amazing what a night’s rest, good food and the right tool can accomplish.  Jillian and Nana 1, shelving unit 0!  It went together like peanut butter and jelly.

Blue 2

The weekend flew by and Sunday morning arrived way too soon.  I am amazed at how much Jillian has grown up and what a caring responsible young lady she has become.  I was encouraged that she is still my sweet little girl.  She drove me to the airport in her sleep shirt and fuzzy Minnie Mouse sleep pants with the sound of Boston’s Greatest Hits playing in the background.

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Cheerios and Shoelaces

On By DGThomaIn Exercise, Family, Food, Humor/Light Hearted, Travel, WritingLeave a comment

For several years, the  Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco had been an elusive goal.  It was on my “to do” list, but it seemed something always interfered.  Either my training schedule was off or the timing of the race kept me from being able to participate.

After all who wouldn’t want a medal from Tiffany!Meda

When I decided that I would take the time to train and would definitely run in 2008 I discovered the only way for me to participate was through a lottery.

Although I didn’t believe I would make it in, I decided to register and take my chances with the lottery.  I immediately started soliciting family and friends to participate with me.  My first call was to my daughter, who was in law school.  I convinced her to train with me so we could submit for the lottery as a team.  I soon had enlisted my sister and my son’s girlfriend as well.  Of course the unexpected happened and our team was selected in the lottery!  Now I was forced to train!

I was determined to stick to my training program.  I am notorious for getting pulled off my training schedule by daily demands.  As a result, when I went to visit my daughter and granddaughter in Tulsa, OK, I made sure to pack both my running bag and my commitment.

Tulsa has a very nice running trail not too far from my daughter’s apartment.  I got up early on Saturday morning, and created one of my favorite running snacks, (Cheerios, pecans, dried fruit and bits of a bagel).  Since I managed to forget my SPIbelt (a stretchy fabric pouch on a belt), I pinned a baggie to the back of my shorts and my husband and I set off for a quick 8 mile run.  I chose to run out 4 miles and back and my husband soon left me behind as I settled in at a comfortable pace.

Cheerios and fruit

At about mile three, my shoelaces began to loosen and for some reason, they were hitting against the back of my legs.  Frustrated, I stopped, retied my shoes and took off again.  My new shoes had particularly long shoestrings and soon I could feel them blowing against the back of my legs again.  Checking the shoes, I discovered the laces seemed fine.   Puzzled, I finished my run.

Dee and Dez
Dee and Dez

As I waited for my husband to meet me I reached for my snack, only to discover the baggie was empty.  Apparently, friction had worn a hole in the plastic and the snack mix had slowly dropped through until the bag was empty!  It turns out it wasn’t the shoelaces  hitting my leg, it was the snack mix.  I wondered why everyone I passed had such big smiles!  My husband confirmed that fact, when he said he followed the trail of Cheerios and pecans to find me.

Cows and Bananas

On By DGThomaIn Animal Stories, Family, Humor/Light Hearted, Musings, Writing2 Comments

I live in a somewhat rural area of a large Texas metropolis.  On any given day, my visual experiences may include  a view of farm animals at a doughnut shop or someone whose complete attire consists of a thong and stiletto’s walking down a major downtown street.

This week, on my way home from work, I had the pleasure of seeing a banana riding a bicycle.  Yes, it was really an individual wearing a yellow banana costume while riding his bike but even that takes a fair amount of talent.

That smile invoking moment was followed about half an hour later by a cow chasing a calf chasing a family of deer.  And no, sadly I didn’t get pictures of either of these.

When we turned off the highway, the traffic noise immediately  fell away and the home trees came into view.

Part of the home trees

As we neared the turn to our house, I realized the pond which had been bone dry was now filled, thanks to our feast of recent rain showers.  Thinking happy thoughts, I suddenly noticed a calf sprinting, (yes sprinting) along the fence line headed in the general direction of the pond.  The calf was followed by his mother (I can only assume) lumbering after him at something close to a sprint.  Thinking they thought we were coming to feed them, my husband and I were startled when a family of deer, burst out of the trees along the fence line and sprinted across the road in front of our car.  No one was harmed and all made it home safely.

I know I am easily entertained, but I love living where I get to experience such a diversity of entertainment.  It mostly makes up for the lack of cable and the faltering internet service.

In search of a Piñata…..

On By DGThomaIn Family, Friends, Humor/Light Hearted, Musings, Writing1 Comment

Sometimes there just isn’t enough silly in the world.

When I found out my adult children were both going to be home (in my home) for their birthdays, I decided to create a party reminiscent of one of their childhood celebrations. My son and daughter were born 2 years and 5 days apart. Until the age of 11 and 13, they always shared a birthday party.  One year the party was a Sesame street theme, and another year it was a skating party. No matter what the theme, we always had a great family celebration and lots of fun.

I enlisted my granddaughter, Jill and her mother to help with the planning. We set off to our local big box store to buy some party favors.  As we filled our cart with bubbles, noise makers and more party favors, Jill looked up and said “We have to get a piñata!” There were several piñatas on the shelf; a traditional donkey, a Teen-aged Mutant Ninja Turtle (the new version) and a few miscellaneous others.

But, hanging from a wire overhead, there were a dozen or more colorful piñatas. Right in the center was a brightly colored bull piñata. It was perfect and exactly what we wanted. My daughter, Kat, went to find a sales associate to assist us in retrieving the piñata. 20140730_184047

Kat returned with an associate who informed us Martha was on the way. Ten minutes later we were debating how to make a human pyramid so we could get the piñata ourselves. We couldn’t agree who should be the base of the pyramid or we might have attempted it. My vote was to stand in the cart and try to reach for it. I was vetoed for safety reasons.

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About this time Martha showed up and started rummaging around at the ends of the aisles. Grumbling and frowning, she mumbled something about a piñata stick. She continued to pace back and forth, up and down the aisle as if the infamous piñata stick might appear by osmosis. We on the other hand were still planning a pyramid strategy when she left the aisle.

Suddenly, over the loud speaker we heard “Who has taken the piñata stick? Someone please return the piñata stick immediately”. By now, I had started to bounce on my feet a bit wondering if I could jump up and knock the piñata down. A manager wandered by and I launched into the quandary of the missing piñata stick and explained that I was thinking I could almost reach it if I jumped up.  Now the manager looked up and I could tell he was wondering if he could jump up and grab the piñata, but instead he said he would go find Penny, because she could fix anything.

Now another 10 minutes went by before the manager and Penny returned. The manager smiled and told us we were in good hands as he wandered away. Martha returned and continued walking aimlessly up and down while Penny searched secret hideaways behind the end-caps. Still no one had recovered the elusive piñata stick. Penny left and I’m thinking “Who needs a piñata anyway”, when suddenly she returned triumphantly holding the piñata stick. The entire aisle broke into cheers, (even though it was only the three of us and the returning manager), it was still awesome.

One manager, and three associates later, we had a Piñata in hand and were off to plan a birthday party!2014-09-07 20.30.42

Catching flies with honey, Why?

On By DGThomaIn Family, Food, Friends, Humor/Light Hearted, WritingLeave a comment

The real question is can you really catch more flies with honey?  And why would you want to catch more flies?  Not me!  But a loose translation of “nice things happen when you behave nicely” sounds a little better.

You hear a lot about people doing nice things for total strangers, otherwise known as random acts of kindness.  I think that’s awesome, and I wish I remembered to do it more often.

Honey? and Flies?

I recently had a great experience at Starbucks and it wasn’t because I had invented and ordered the largest and most obnoxious combination I could find.

My sister, Deb and I were meeting on the road midway between our respective homes.  She lives on the Texas coast and I live in Central Texas.

We met in the parking lot of a shopping center and after exchanging boxes and bags; we decided to grab a coffee for the road from the Starbucks across the street.

The store wasn’t particularly crowded when we walked in which looked promising.  However, when Deb tried to pay for her drink, the computers went down.  A manager came and took over the register but still couldn’t get the transaction to process.  My son and I were next in line and the barista and manager kept apologizing for the delay.

My son, Rich previously managed a retail store, so he just smiled and said he understood.  He assured them both that it was not a problem.  It was probably only 6 or 7 minutes of waiting. Rich entertained us all, the employees included, with jokes and stories. We all laughed and enjoyed ourselves despite the situation.

When my son and I were finally able to place our order, I handed them cash, since they seemed to still be having trouble with the card reader.

The manager shook his head and said, “No charge, you guys were great.  I’m sorry for the wait. ” What a wonderful surprise!  Maybe our drinks would still have been free if we had grumbled and complained, but the mood would certainly have been different for all of us.  (And yes my sister’s drink was also free!)

I’m not saying that I am never the grumbling complaining customer, but it was a wonderful reminder that sometimes being pleasant pays off.  Thank you Mr. Starbuck’s manager for making our day a little brighter!

 

Why did the chicken cross the road????

On By DGThomaIn Animal Stories, Family, Humor/Light Hearted, WritingLeave a comment
ElginTXWPAPostOfficeMuralBG
Elgin Post Office Mural “Texas Farm” by Julius Woeltz Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson

Urban farming is making a resurgence and Austin, TX is no exception.  Raising backyard chickens is popular in Austin and has been for quite some time.  A few months ago, my neighbors took the plunge and started raising chickens for the eggs.  We live in a rural area, just outside of Austin, and I’m sure chickens have roamed these acres many times in the past.

The adage of a rooster crowing to start the morning is a complete myth.  Roosters crow all the time!  They crow to establish their turf or to assert dominance.  They even crow when a hen lays an egg.

My husband and I have grown accustomed to the noise and rarely notice it any longer.  Our visitors are generally less prepared for around the clock crowing.  Recently my son, who was visiting from out of town, commented about 10:00 PM, “That is going to drive me crazy!”

I had to smile, remembering the first weeks the rooster moved in next door.  I thought I would never get used to hearing the noise.

I did get used to the noise.  In fact when we drove to pick up breakfast tacos the next morning, at the local doughnut shop, it took a minute to realize I was hearing a rooster crow.  As I waited in the car, a rooster strutted up to the door of the doughnut shop and serenaded everyone with his “Cock a Doodle Doo!”  Continuing his rise and shine revelry, he made his way down the side walk pecking at the concrete.

Even in our community in the great state of Texas, that’s not a normal site.  So now I know why the chicken crossed the road…..  To get to the Doughnut shop!