Wrong Number

The other day I got a call. The guys says “hey I’m from the cable company, and someone will be there around 4 to repair your service.” Of course, I have the number of my cable company programmed to my phone- how else could I avoid answering when my bill is late? So I knew this guy was up to something and I said “what cable company?” “The cable company ma’am, didn’t you request that we come install a family filter on your cable box?” Let me guess, you want my credit card pin, my PayPal password, and the social security number of my first born… Nice try buddy! I thought his timing was pretty ironic considering YouTube’s announcement that they are launching “Safety Mode” to the public. Many schools and businesses have already been using this feature for quite some time. It’s not flawless, but it does help block a great deal of the inappropriate material from being played. Of course my little hacker wasn’t happy. “What’s your YouTube password?” He asked me the very next day. “Why do you need it?” I replied. “So I can play the songs on my playlist!”

My Hero

I’m a firm believer that marriage is full of ups and downs and I also think anyone who pretends to be hunky dory happy all the time is most likely full of it, but I’ve gotta say, my husband has been my hero lately. I think it may have started the day he found the bicycle. I was pretty upset when my son’s bike was stolen. It’s not the first time something disappeared from our house, but usually you know who stole from you.

A Hallmark Moment

Last night my husband had the foresight to ask Blondie and her Beau if they would do a little babysitting so he could take me out for a Valentine’s date, a day early. I don’t know why, I got those teenager bubbles in my stomach. I had a new red dress hanging in the closet, so Blondie and I made a voyage to buy new shoes, a few accessories, and for the first time all week, I broke out the good mascara. I even bought him a Hallmark!

Bionic Boy

So my Dyl PIckles should be a Bionic Boy by now. I swear that kid has his own dedicated medical team. Ok, he doesn’t have that, but maybe he should have his own Dr. House on standby to figure out all the mysteries that surround this kid, and by mysteries, I mean accidental injuries mixed in with a few surgical procedures.

I remember when I brought him home. I thought he was absolutely perfect. He’d been a few weeks early, but I was glad to be done with bed-rest and on to loving my little man. There was only one problem. He kept throwing up. By the time he was 8 weeks old, he could vomit 6 feet across the room. Blondie was the cutest little 4-year-old big sister, and she loved to tote him around. One day he decided to unleash his projectile puke right on her new shirt, and she straight-up dropped him on the floor. She came running to me saying “mommy, my shirt!” I went running for the baby and she stood there dumb founded because I picked him up before I helped her!

Blondie and her Pickle

You’re Not Getting Away With That!

I’m amazed my kids haven’t figured out that I’m going to catch on to almost everything they try to get away with. Sometimes I think they try harder to slide one by me than it would take to just mind me. Last week I sent Trenton to take a shower. He came out of the bathroom so fast, I knew he didn’t bathe, so I sent him back. This time he turned on the shower on for a few minutes, but still he came back with the same smudge on his cheek, and again I sent him to the bathroom. You would think he’d give in and rinse off a layer of dirt, but no, he ran the shower, splashed a little water on his hair, and tried once again to return to the spot he warmed on the couch. This time, I marched him back to the bathroom, watched as he reluctantly stepped into the shower, and while he got out the soap I gave him the speech about how nobody wants to sit next to the stinky boy in school. Then he actually told me he wants to be the stinky boy… well, he’s off to a good start.

Killing Birds

Some people like to say they’re killing two birds with one stone… but I’m so busy I think I have to aim for at least a dozen at a time. Last week our long awaited baby shower finally happened, but not without a ton of preparation. First, there was THE LIST. I always have a list, thanks to the curse of my mother. I remember when I was a kid, I used to laugh at her and her ridiculous lists. She had a grocery list, a list of chores to do, a list of things to pack, a list of places to go, oh and there was that one time we found the list of Christmas gifts that had been bought…. yep, there was always a list and I was sure my superior memory would never require more than a basic ‘what to grab at the store’ list. Unfortunately, my memory has become as cluttered as my little house, so I have resorted to writing it all down.

Because we moved the date of our shower, it sort of became a multi-celebration. My son Trenton turned 9 Saturday, Blondie’s birthday was Sunday, her beau’s birthday was Monday and of course we still wanted to celebrate the birth of Presley, so we were killing lots of birds with one stone!

I had a list of things to buy, a list of things to make, and the longest of them all was the list of projects to complete. We invited so many people to this gathering, and I wanted things to be in top-notch condition. The list went something like:

Clean out kids’ rooms
Tile Kitchen backsplash
Repaint fireplace
Complete backlog of laundry
Declutter countertops and bookshelves
Dust everything we never dust
Replace bedroom doors
Fix hole in the hallway sheetrock
Paint front door and trim on house

You get the idea, there was a lot I wanted to tackle…

Back in Action

Just a few days after having a baby, I got a call asking if Treble Soul would like to appear on Fox News. I wasn’t sure Blondie was already up for an outing, but like a good “mama/manager” I left the choice to her. To my surprise, she was good to go! So Friday morning we got up bright and early and headed to the city to appear on Good Day Austin!

Good Day Austin! (Click the pic to go watch the segment)

It was pretty neat taking the baby on her first outing. When the newsroom staff realized that Blondie had a baby just a week ago, they were pretty amazed too! It’s always fun to watch them in action, but while we were standing in the corner of the newsroom with a tiny little baby in my arms, my mother-in-law spotted a familiar face. There, on a shelf of station knick-knacks was a book called “The Sound of Austin – Portraits” and pictured on the cover was “Cousin Charlie”. It was something special to look over and see a face we knew!

The Sound of Austin – Portraits
Charlie Sexton

The Nurse Called….

I think I’ve been on speed-dial with the school nurse for the past fifteen years. In fact, Nurses have come and gone, but my number remains the set of digits most often dialed! The other day I got a call that my little princess had thrown up. Before I even made it to the school, I told my niece “I’d bet you anything she threw up her milk so she could come home early.”

I don’t know who would want to be the first one home to hold Ms. Presley!!

There’s just something about school cafeterias and those little cartons of milk…. they are never quite cold enough and my kids seem to know exactly how to chug it down just fast enough to send it churning right back up…  eeewwwwwwwwwweee.

On the Day Elvis Was Born…

By the time Thursday rolled around, everything was in place. The nursery was ready with it’s hand-painted leopard-print walls.

Blondie and her Beau

The car seat was loaded. The bags were packed. And two excited new parents headed off to have a baby. The world changed again!

What’s in a Name?

It’s been a long nine months. From the moment Blondie moved home, there was so much to do. From finding new places to sing to moving into a new house, it’s been milestone after milestone, but this week, we’re going to hit the biggest milestone of all! I knew the moment Blondie was pregnant that it was going to be a girl! We’ve got too many boys in this house, we needed to PINK up the world around here! And SPARKLES! WE NEED SPARKLES!! A lot of people were betting on a boy, but I just knew it was going to be sugar and spice and everything nice. When the ultrasound confirmed my suspicions, Blondie and her Beau picked out a name- a very special name! Blondie and her Beau met on Broadway. The moment he heard her voice, he knew he just had to get to know her! I love that about him! A few days later they were paired together to sing and it was LOVE AT FIRST SONG! And I was there, I was standing right there! I saw my daughter give her heart away… but that’s a whole other story.