Who I Am

This morning on the way to school, Tamara tells me she is excited because one of her friends is having a bowling birthday party. I asked her when and she said "at the bowling alley." I said, "no not where, when." She replied, "I don't know, don't you know when they have bowling parties?" I said no and left it at that. Then from the back seat with a questioning voice I hear, "Do you ever try thinking?" I wasn't sure who she was talking to so I replied, "Huh?" To which she replied, "Thinking, did you ever try it. Maybe you should think sometimes." If she had not been sincere and really didn't mean any harm behind it I probably would have whooped her for that one (and if I hadn't been trying really hard not to laugh where she could see me.) Don't know what I'm going to do with that child. I guess I better start "thinking!"

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Me and my girls are about to head out to Waco to visit Pam's dad. Probably won't write anything until after then so everyone be safe and don't eat too much! Oh by the way... 32 Days until CHRISTMAS!!

I remember the first time she wanted to make her own peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I was unsure of how she would do, but besides the peanut butter and jelly all over the counter, she did awesome. MaKayla has always enjoyed cooking. When she was little her favorite show was Emeril Live! She would walk around the house yelling BAM! For one Christmas she even got an Emeril cooking set with an apron and everything. So really it shouldn't be a surprise that at the ripe age of 7 she wanted to cook supper. The other day she said, "Dad, I want to learn how to cook." I said "okay what do you want to cook." She replied, "spaghetti." Okay, so today we went to HEB and bought the ingredients. I wrote down what she needed and she picked it all out, from the flavor of the sauce, type of noodles, bread, cheese, everything. Then we came home and laid out all the ingredients and I stood back and watched my baby girl cook her first meal. I touched nothing, I only instructed the whole time. She was a complete pro, acting as if she has been cooking her whole life, (mainly because in her mind she has rehearsed this moment for years). Everything turned out wonderful, she made spaghetti with sausage and meat sauce, bow tie noodles, and buttery garlic toast. As I was watching her stir, her spaghetti sauce and noodles on the stove, I kept seeing this small curly haired curl smearing peanut butter and jelly all over the world and sometimes getting a little on a piece of bread too. Where in the world did that little girl go?

Today I had a really big paper to write for my sports psychology class. I have really been dreading writing it because it had to be pretty extensive somewhere in the range of 6-7 pages, which isn't too bad if it's something you want to write but an assignment like this is something else. So anyway, today I sat down around 9:30 with my notes in hand ready to write. I wrote and I wrote, I researched along the way and attacked that paper like a man on a mission. Before I knew what happened 3 1/2 hours had passed and I had wrote 9 pages (oops!). There, I was done, that was easy, nothing is ever that easy but I guess today is my lucky day.....but wait, there was a catch. After picking up the girls from school I come home to pick up because some friends are coming over. I go in our closet to turn on the light and nothing. I change the bulb, still nothing! Okay I can handle this, I ran to the store to pick up a new light fixture, put it in and badda bing there was light. Alright, it's still my lucky day....but wait, there was a catch. After fixing the light I come to the kitchen to get a drink and see the sink backed up. This has been an on going problem for the last couple of years. I always blame my wife for it but I'm pretty sure it's just because the pipes are 50 years old. Anyway, I whip out the ole plunger and attack that sink like a fat man on a hot dog. I'm tearing that sink up, giving it all I got, jumping up and down...nothing, still blocked. So I run back to the store pick up some Drano and pour it in the sink. I wait the required 15 min come back and the sink is drained, HA! I ran water in it to see if I had done my job and whadda ya know, it backed up again. So I poured more Drano down the sink and left to go pick up some pizza. I believe it was at this time I made a statement like, "Could something else please go wrong!" Well, my wish was granted. I came home from picking up the pizza to find water all under my carport, all I could do was laugh. As of now, I have pulled out my dishwasher, cut a hole in the wall, found a hole in my pipes, a clog that won't come unclogged and to top it off I found evidence of mice living behind my dishwasher....but wait, there's a catch. I QUIT! I'm going to bed it will all have to wait until tomorrow, perhaps tomorrow is my lucky day.

39 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!
(I'm even getting worried about it now!)

Okay so I added music to my blog. I chose songs that pretty much represent me, or how I feel. I don't know about it yet, I personally can't read and listen to music at the same time but thought it might ad another dimension into "who I am." Let me know what you think.

This weekend I took MaKayla on a quail hunt with a buddy and me. She was all wound up and ready to go, despite all the warnings I gave of how much running and walking we would do. The morning came and I woke her up @ 5:30 a.m. and she hopped up and got ready faster than I did, you could see the excitement in her face. The lease is about 40min. away and you could tell how restless she was on the way down. When we arrived we put on her snake guards (which nearly covered her whole leg) and away we went, we drove and walked and walked and drove not seeing anything. Then out of nowhere we found the mother load. Birds were jumping off the ground from everywhere, shots rang out like firecrackers on the fourth of July and we ran and ran chasing those little birds. In the midst of of all this running, we ran across a 4ft. rattlesnake basking in the sun. After a little fun with our slithery friend, it was time for him to take a dirt nap, and that was that. After a while of this shooting and excitement my little hunter was given out. She decided she would sit back at the truck and kill ants with her knife while we ran around. About every 10 min I'd run back over and check on her and make sure everything was okay. She was quietly whittling a stick then using it as a spear to kill ants (who says you need a boy). Around 3:00 we finally had all the hunting we could take and decided it was time to go home. She was pooped and ready to go, but kept on talking about how much fun we had. On the way home we saw an Al-sups and had to stop in for a coke and chimichanga. I told her she had to try a chimichanga. She asked what it was, and I told her "honestly I don't know but its really good." She got one and the rest is history. My baby has now become a chimichangaholic. She went on and on about how good they were and kept asking "but Dad what's in them?" I kept telling her, "I don't know and we probably don't want to know just eat and be happy." So there it was, at the ripe age of 7 my baby went on her first quail hunt, saw her first live rattlesnake up close (then saw it die), and experienced the crown jewel of the quick-stop, the "chimichanga!" What a day!