Memorial Day Weekend 2011

Lake weekends are so much fun in the sun! Possum Kingdom is our lake of "choice."  I just spent Memorial Day weekend out there and had a great time.  We definitely made a point to check out the fire damage from the Texas wildfires.

 Just a few of our closest friends in front of the fire damage at Hell's Gate.

For some reason I only took a couple of pictures this weekend,  and they were mainly of the food.  So, I guess that's what I'm supposed to tell you about!

Miles is obsessed (rightly so) with Longoria's brisket sausage.  He drove out to Everman on Friday and grabbed some raw sausage for us to smoke over the weekend.  I am a big fan of that brisket sausage, and I recommend you each trying it, if you never have been there.  You can buy it cooked, too. :)

Matt always smokes the food for us on the smoker, though.  He has really mastered the art of preparing briskets and ribs and smoking them to perfection!  I witnessed him "scoring" the 12 pound brisket this time.  He makes his own rub, too!  Very impressive.  He's awesome for always making us such good meals out at the lake and at home.

Yummy

(Is it apparent that I am working on this post during what should be my lunch break?  I'm hungry.)

Most of our time at the lake is spent with Miles' family.  There are six of us, and we've sort of settled into different roles of "responsibility", when we're the only ones out there.  It's kind of funny how we all rely on one another to follow through with each of those, too.

Since I only have pictures of food, and none of us, here is a little quiz, "Who YOU Think Does What", to help you get to know my lake experience better...

In honor of finals week here at school, test yourself to see if YOU can match the person to his most common responsibility at the lake:

Phil          Bennie Rue          Matt          Sarina          Miles          Michelle

A. Responsible for providing tanning oil, bringing nail polish/tools, looking good in a bathing suit, dancing to Now That's What I Call Music 38, cooking, cleaning, and making delicious boat drinks.


B. Responsible for bringing snacks, sides, and lunch food to the lake, sharing lots of magazines and books with everyone, cooking, cleaning, taking time to listen to every one's work and life stories, and having ANYTHING you need ready.


C. Responsible for maintenance/fixing almost anything, giving tours of fire damage at the lake, providing jokes for everyone, preparing fishing gear and making special flies for fishing, doing pretty much anything to do with the house/dock/lake/land, and giving the dogs treats. 


D. Responsible for bringing activities/games, carrying others stuff in bag on dock and boat, being silly, making sure people remember to reapply, reading a lot, cleaning, eating a lot,  and taking pictures.


E. Responsible for setting up the dock, making us all laugh, cleaning the boats and other gear, aggravating the wasps so that they fly at me during all that work, driving the boats, and playing the music.


F. Responsible for cleaning and setting up the dock, making the rub for meats, driving the boats, smoking the meat, playing music that makes us go, "Oh, man..." in remembrance,  and helping with maintenance.

There is no prize related to this test, but there is the pride you will have in yourself for getting them right!

Totally worth it. :)

We are extremely lucky that Miles' parents have such a beautiful lake house to use all summer.  It is a wonderful place to relax, take in views, go for boat rides, do water sports, spend time with family and friends, etc.  So, be prepared for some lake pics throughout the next few months!

Captain Phil

Remember When Wednesday: 1996

When I stumbled upon this gem of a picture, I had to share.  It captures so much of who I was at this time in my life.  In 1996, I was 12.  I was taking pictures.  I was short on models.

Even though it's cut off, the whole date is on this picture, and I've deducted that this was Christmas day. :)  The random pictures are accounted for by the fact that I probably received a new camera for Christmas - maybe my first "own" camera?  

Those were three of my favorite beanie babies, or possibly ones I got for Christmas?? Brett brought me Reville, while home from his first semester in college (that one I know, for sure).  The cat (?) is unexplainable.  But, ugly, definitely.  

And, obviously, our family dog, Pumpkin, was having a fabulous Christmas day with me!  His ears are positioned perfectly.  I think he must've been asleep and I prodded him into position with my stuffed animals.  Merry Christmas! 

Although I could never have imagined feeling so nostalgic at the time, when I look back at this picture I think of how it might have been one of the last times I ever played with my stuffed animals all alone like that (for my own entertainment, anyway).  I mean, I guess I was in 7th grade here....

Come on, Michelle, embarrassing!

Some of you might be able to conjure up a picture of what I looked like on this day, but for those of you who didn't know... this was me at age 12.  

I love that I am rocking an oversized tee under overalls on Christmas Day.  Classy has always been the word that came to people's minds when they thought of me, though. 

The PRO List

I'm so glad you came back to see my list.  I knew I'd get a few of you...

So, like I said last time, Ikea was an experience.  It really was on overall good experience, too.  If we lived closer, there might be less heartache involved in mistakes!  Here is the list:

1. Ikea is cheaper than most places to buy furniture.

It allowed us to furnish our office with enough storage and work space for both of us.  It also allowed us to do so NOW, which was awesome because I couldn't stand the space we used to use for mail/office junk pile up.  NOW was also awesome because society has turned me into a monster who must have immediate gratification.  (What? You don't think that's all society's fault.  I do.)  And, we are actually utilizing our whole house, when for so long our spare room was just a closed off door with a printer behind it.

2. Ikea is cheaper than most places to buy lunch.

We had some fabulous meatballs for lunch in between rounds of shopping at Ikea (the first time), and they were very affordable! :)  The kind of affordable that, in retrospect, possibly should have raised alarm.

3.  Ikea is fun.

We made a day of it.  It was kind of like a date.  Insert "Old School" quote here:

"A big day? Doing What?"

"Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we're going to Home Depot.  Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get flooring, stuff like that.  Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time."

4. Ikea has curtains.

Not only did we get a new desk, cabinet with lower-filing drawer, a shelf, and two rolling files, but we also got curtains for our bedroom, dining room, and living room.   This was possible because they had everything in one place and because of number 1.

5.  I have an office to use.

Please note that we are still in the process of putting the room together (I can't help but say that because I have a vision, people.), and we're using our extra dining room chairs for now. But, I think it looks pretty good!

I am very excited about getting my diploma framed, finally!  We're going to hang them above my portion of the desk.  It's taken me almost as long as earning that degree did to get it framed.

 Just kidding, it's not even close yet, right Mom and Dad!?  Just kidding, again, kind of. ;)

6. The final pro is the one who put it all together.  Thanks, Miles!

Ikea wore me out.

Yes, that's my excuse for the absence from Blogger lately.  That and that work has been wearing me out.  I hate to even post that because I only have 10 more days with students (11 days for us teachers), and people might comment about me having a summer break and shutting my mouth before they do it for me.  It IS amazing to have time off, but it does not mean the overwhelmingly busy days leading there aren't tiring - fair?

Okay, well, back to Ikea.  I've now been.  We were successful. 

I should have posted the day we went, when we truly felt successful. Since then the CON list has added up.

CON LIST

1. The lights inside Ikea made me think brown curtains were gray, and, therefore, purchase the wrong ones.  (However, since we kind of shopped in rounds for 3.5 hours, I did discover this in time to correct my mistake before going home.  In fact, it was part of what made me feel smarter than Ikea that day.  Little did I know.)

2. Human error is a factor at Ikea.We found throughout the past week that we:

forgot a "half-round" piece that finishes off the end of our desk

picked up our rolling files in white instead of black/brown (the color of our desk and cabinet)

chose the wrong size end brackets for the shelves we bought

3. Ikea is gracious.

They think you are so smart that you need no words included with directions.  True for some. There is no way that is true for all of the people I saw at Ikea that day... 

4. The distance to Ikea from our house is 51.2miles.  We had never been before last Saturday, but Miles has now been twice.  Hence, the con.

5. Ikea is a test.

Can you deal with forty pieces to build one? Yes, but only because of mental preparation.

Can you be nice to your spouse while frustrated with laminate? Yes, but only because of mental preparation.

Can you outsmart a broken drawer piece with duct tape and glue?  Yes, but only from pure adrenaline.

(NOTE: Miles is the only one who passed the test.)

Ikea was an experience and allowed us to do what we wanted/needed in our office right now.  So, do you think my PROS outweigh the CONS? 

I'll post more on that later! ;)

Cheers & Jeers

Cheers to the cutest nieces and nephew ever! "They" sent me this with an "I love Aunt Michelle," message last week.  My family was all in Houston, but I couldn't make it.  I especially missed being with all these little sweeties.  Cheers to having a job, though. :) 

Scarlett (4), Ava (2), and Ben (6)

Lucy (4 months)

Jeers to my students changing the desktop on the student computer...They're trying to kill me; I'm sure of it.

Cheers to MEXICO! I love that place. We finally booked our vacay to the Cantalonia Resort in Puerto Adventuras.  So excited.  Viva Mexico.

Jeers to my car.  You know why, car.

Cheers to the Mexican restaurant that had a picture of my husband as a child, in a sombrero, on their wall.

Jeers to Fergie (not Black Eyed Peas Fergie, but the English Fergie) for obviously neglecting to pass any sense of classiness down to her daughters.  Catherine and Pippa probably had a good snicker over them, though, so maybe we shouldn't mind.

(source)

(source)

Don't they remind you of the wicked step sisters in the Disney version of Cinderella?

Cheers to my father-in-law, Phil,  who is an official weather watcher for channel 8's Pete Delkus and got his rain total on the news.  His response was, "I really wish he had shown my balls."  That was in reference to the hail balls he found...we think.

Jeers to audible.  I love you audible.  That's why I hate you.  Because I have lost any semblance of normalcy and walk around with earphones in, don't talk to my friends, my fam, my man, or do anything productive anymore. Damn you, good literature.