Happiness Is...

Newsflash

2 days ago
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I am Queen of the Mermaids.

I was crowned as such this afternoon at camp. This is what happens when you swim with 25 kindergarten through second grade girls. You get to be the Queen. They fixed my hair, which was somewhat painful, they did flips and jumped in the pool to entertain me, and they brought me food. While in the pool, this queen of the mermaids had a banana split, a Diet Coke, a glass of water, and some chocolate and vanilla ice cream. It's good to be the queen.

What a Day!

2 days ago
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AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's all I have to say.

Kitten Chronicles - Life With Cookie, Week 2

6 days ago
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It's been almost 2 weeks since we brought Cookie home. There have been some adjustments, but she is a really good kitten. The first night was rough. I put her in my bathroom thinking a small room with her toys, litter box, food and water would be the best place for her, but it didn't work out that way. She cried and cried and I ended up spending part of the night lying on a quilt on the ceramic tile floor with Cookie trying to get as close to me as she possibly could. We kept her in our room for the next couple of days so that she could get used to being in a new place. She decided very quickly that she liked the idea of being a spoiled house cat. It wasn't long before she was jumping in bed with us or sleeping in my lap when I was on the couch. On Wednesday, I opened the bedroom door so she could explore the house, and a few minutes after I opened it, she came wandering out, looking around. She ran all over the place and climbed and sniffed everything she saw. She and Bart have had some very noisy encounters. He hisses and growls at her every time he sees her. Yesterday Bart discovered her food and was helping himself and she walked up and saw him at her food bowl and she fuzzed up. I think she was getting ready to hiss and growl at him, but then he

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turned around and she thought better of it.

Cookie received a clean bill of health from the vet, and several compliments on her name. She has 2 more visits and then her kitten shots are complete. Unfortunately we have to board her for 12 days when we go on our vacation in August. I hate to do that, but we were afraid if we waited until after our trip to bring her home, it would be harder for her to get used to us. I know she'll be safe, I just hate the thought of leaving her for that long.

Cookie has a couple of habits that we need to break. As I type this, she is hanging from my living room curtain. This kitten can climb vertical things like you wouldn't believe. When she gets on the couch, she doesn't jump, she climbs it. Same thing with the bed. She has made it about half way up the blinds in the living room - we call her "Spidercat." She also has bad table manners. Every time we sit down to eat a meal, she tries to join us. We've started putting her in the bedroom and shutting the door. Otherwise she is at our feet meowing or trying to get in the chairs or on the table.

When I use the computer I almost always sit on the couch. Cookie has made this a little bit challenging. She likes to

get in my lap and she has a tendency to walk across the keyboard. Yesterday I was typing an email and she managed to send it before I had it finished. She also turns on the caps lock function quite often. I will be typing away and then all of a sudden I'm typing in all caps.

I'm very proud of Kaelin and her eagerness to take care of Cookie. I have to tell her to feed Cookie and scoop the litter box, but she does it happily and without complaining. Cookie's care is a team effort - she does the feeding and the scooping, and I clean up the food and litter that Cookie gets on the floor.

Tomorrow we are meeting Mom and Dad in Brenham for a short visit and also to pick up Sebastian. Kaelin's friend, Amanda, is taking Sebastian. I'm very happy that the kitten is getting a good home, and also that we'll be able to watch him grow up. Sebastian is beautiful. Here he is:

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Isn't he sweet??

Well, now Cookie is back in my lap while I'm trying to blog. I guess that means it is time to wrap this up. There is still one more kitten needing a home. He's the solid black one - Sam. He's had his first round of shots and he's been wormed. He's very cute, too. If you want a kitten (Kelly - you know you want one) and you're in my area or my parents' area, I can hook you up!! : )

Looky What I'm Getting

7 days ago
2 comments

After 13 years, Cole and I are finally getting real bedroom furniture. Yay!!

God Blessed Texas - Part 3

Jul 15, 2008
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My favorite season of the year is Spring. Spring is when baby animals are born, flowers are blooming, and everything is turning green again. In Texas, Spring is when the bluebonnets bloom. Texas never looks more beautiful than during bluebonnet season.

The bluebonnet is the state flower of Texas. It seems that there was a big disagreement about this decision. The

Texasbluebonnet

men wanted a different flower and the ladies wanted the bluebonnet. Big surprise here - the ladies won. ; ) However, the fight continued for 70 years over which species of bluebonnet should be "the" state flower. That debate ended with the legislature deciding that either of the 2 species, and any other future species of the bluebonnet would be the state flower.

For years and years I've heard that it is illegal to pick a bluebonnet. I've never let my kids pick one, and I've never picked one. As it turns out, this is an urban legend. I don't think I could pick one even now.

Kaelin Touches a Bluebonnet

Every Texan has at least 1 picture of some family member or pet posing in the bluebonnets. I never really did this until I became a parent. We used to take our pictures at my grandparents' house in Brenham. They have a fair amount of property and a white fence for the background, and when the bluebonnets were thick you couldn't even see the grass. It looked like the yard was blue. My pictures were beautiful. We haven't made it to Brenham during bluebonnet season in a few years. I've taken some pictures around here, but they're not the same.

Interestingly enough, not all bluebonnets are blue. Some of them are pink, some are white, and I've heard that that other school in College Station has produced (or is trying to produce) a maroon one. I could certainly do without that!

I will leave you with some additional pictures that I have taken of the kids in the bluebonnets. And if you have a chance to visit Texas during the Spring, be sure and get to the Austin area so you can see them in all of their glory.

Lessons Learned

Jul 13, 2008
4 comments

Before I get to my topic at hand, I would just like to say that I am very happy that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have had 2 more kids while still not being married, and I'm glad everyone is okay, but let's move on. Millions and millions of women before Angelina Jolie have had babies and just because she's an actress does not make the miracle of a baby more amazing for her than it is for the rest of us.

Anyway, I spent last weekend in Waco, Texas, at Baylor University. I attended training for preschool teachers along with most of the other teachers that I work with at His Kids. It's always a good bonding time for everybody and it's a good way to get to know other people that we don't have a lot of time to visit with at work. It can also be a little awkward because we sleep 4 people to a room, and typically at least 1 of those people is someone that we don't know at all. I wasn't sure how it would be, but when it was over, I was glad I had the chance to get to know 3 people that I previously hardly knew a little bit better. Which brings me to what I want to say. Sit back because this is going to get wordy.

I am a big fan of the sitcom. Specifically I love those sitcoms from the 80's like Designing Women and The Golden Girls. There is an episode of Designing Women where the ladies are doing a promotion and they are giving away a free room makeover. They draw a name and the winner is a guy named Eldon Ashcroft, who turns out to be a derelict

Designing Women

who lives in an abandoned gas station. So their job is to decorate this guy's gas station. Throughout the episode, Eldon proves to be very hard to work with and won't make decisions on how he wants the gas station decorated. The DW ladies get fed up with him and I do believe Julia goes on one of her tirades at Eldon. In the end he says he enjoyed the attention and was trying to make the experience last as long as he could. And while he is apologizing to the ladies, he says this line that has stuck with me all of these years because it is just a few words, but they are very profound words. He says, "Everyone is worth knowing."

I've had a lot of life experiences over the past few years that this quote applies to. It's very easy in our society to simply look at a person and decide that they aren't worth our time. They aren't in the same social class as we are, they're a different age, their clothes are ugly, they can't control their children, their education level is different, or, yes, their skin is a different color. But I'm here to tell you that if you let these superficial issues keep you from getting to know a person it is your loss. We are all different, but we are all in this life together, and I have found that the more people I have to go through life with, the better off I am. This is not always easy for me because I am an introvert, and I'm not a great conversationalist, but I'm learning. God has taken me so far out of my comfort zone so many times in recent years and he continues to do so, and I am glad.

My weekend in Waco reinforced Eldon Ashcroft's quote. I spent time driving to and from Waco and shared a hotel room with my awesome assistant who I love dearly, but I also had the pleasure of getting to know 3 more ladies a little bit more than I knew them when we left Cedar Park Friday morning. And to Eldon's quote, let me just add that making judgments about people based on very few interactions with them may prove to be a mistake, too. You never know what is truly in a person's heart until you get to know them, and I firmly believe it is worth it to get to know people.

If you get nothing else from this blog - and you probably won't because I usually don't do posts like this one - I hope you will hear what I'm saying now and take it to heart. It may be silly to learn life lessons from a sitcom, but I think the writers of Designing Women were right on when they filmed the Eldon Ashcroft episode. There is wisdom in his quote. God made all of us to live on this earth together. He made us all different and He made us all special. We are all worth knowing.

Brendan Made the News!

Jul 9, 2008
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Brendan was in the newspaper today. Look quickly because the link will only work for a week.

http://www.hillcountrynews.com/opinion/question_of_the_week/

God Blessed Texas - Part 2

Jul 8, 2008
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You might not be aware of this, but July is National Ice Cream month. I just found out about this little factoid about 10 minutes ago while I was doing some reading about Blue Bell ice cream for this week's GBT blogpost. President Reagan started National Ice Cream month way back in 1984...how have I missed it all these years??

Anyway, Blue Bell ice cream is one of the things Texans can brag about and pretty much nobody can argue it.

Blue Bell ice cream

There's no other ice cream like it. Blue Bell comes from a smallish town smack dab in the middle of Houston and Austin called Brenham. I have the good fortune to have had grandparents who lived there and I've also had the good fortune to tour the creamery a couple of times. Fun and interesting tour, but you can only tour the creamery during the week. Cameras aren't allowed on the tour, but there are some cool photo ops outside the factory.

Blue Bell ice cream is only available in 17 states, pretty much southern and southwestern ones...and of course, Texas. If you live in any state between Arizona and Florida, you can get it. It is the third best-selling brand of ice cream in the United States. Since it's not available in all 50 states that ranking is pretty impressive. Blue Bell's biggest seller is Homemade Vanilla. Just for the record, this is the only vanilla ice cream that I will eat. It's worth every calorie and gram of fat. It's good stuff.

Blue Bell has been around for just over 100 years. The creamery opened in 1907 and originally made butter. It was originally called Brenham Creamery Company and changed to Blue Bell in 1930. The name comes from the Texas bluebell wildflower. Today, Blue Bell makes around 50 different flavors of ice cream in addition to all of those yummy frozen treats.

Bluebellpromo

If you live in an area where Blue Bell is not available, you can have 4 half gallons of it shipped to you for the low price of $119. And if anybody does this, please leave a comment, I've got to know who you are. ; )

The Blue Bell website has a more extensive history of the company as well as news about what's going on at the little creamery in Brenham.

Finally - Something Chocolate I Don't Like

Jul 7, 2008
1 comment

Chocolate-skittles

Meet Cookie

Jul 6, 2008
4 comments

We came back from my parents' house with an extra family member. Her name is Cookie and she is a gray tabby kitten. My mother will someday be known as "That Crazy Cat Lady" because she loves cats and she has a tender place in her heart for homeless ones. What started as the rescue of one cat has turned into the rescue of 7. You see, there was a cat hanging around Mom's office so Mom started feeding this cat. Her name would later become Daisy Mae and before Mom could catch Daisy Mae and take her home, Daisy Mae had 2 kittens. The kittens are Mikey and Spice. Mom decided she would catch the whole family and take them home, and she got Daisy Mae, who now lives in Brenham with my grandpa. Sooo...before she could catch Mikey and Spice, Spice birthed 4 kittens - 3 boys and 1 girl who were named by Kaelin, Collin, and Mom this week. They are Sam (yes, Collin chose this name after his best friend, Sam), Sebastian, Po-dunk, and Cookie (the girl). Needless to say, this whole family of cats, minus the original stray cat, Daisy Mae, are now living with my parents. And now, Cookie, is Kaelin's kitten. Her middle name is Gail, by the way. ; )

Here's Cookie...

If you or anybody you know is interested in adopting one of the other kittens, I know this crazy cat lady and she has 3 to choose from.

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aussie_jaci said:
Very nice indeed :) read more
on Looky What I'm Getting
aussie_jaci said:
Being a cat person myself, you'll learn to live the lesson of: dogs have owners, cats have servants :) Cookie... read more
on Kitten Chronicles - Life With Cookie, Week 2
Kendell said:
Thanks, Cassie! I'm glad you take the time to read. I have enjoyed this blogging thing more than I thought... read more
on Lessons Learned
Kendell said:
Thank you, Wendy. I have certainly enjoyed knowing you, too. You are amazing! read more
on Lessons Learned
Cassie said:
Great post (and oh so true). I am glad you sent your blog address out with your Christmas card...it has... read more
on Lessons Learned