Fab Gift from Fab, Fab Friend

OMG, these banners are a gift sent to me by fab friend, Julie Baxley.  Julie was the first person I met when I got to Silver Bella in Omaha in 2007.  I'd just driven from Maryland with my mom, walked into the Hilton bleary-eyed, and there's a strange (in that I did not know her...stranger...not strange) woman running toward me saying, "Stephanie George!".  She recognized me from the photos we'd all posted on Flickr before the workshop.  I still wasn't sure what state I was in but she popped me right into reality.  The perfect person to be the first to meet, as she turned out from that minute on.  We were at SB in 2008 too and stay friends through Facebook, emails, etc.  Anywayyyyyyyy, she just sent me these Texas A&M banners, the one from 1924, the other looks around that time too.  Way before my daddy went there but anything Aggie/Texas/Bryan College Station is golden to me-new, used, ancient, and in between.  I have them up in my special room above and below one of my daddy's A&M diplomas.  How awesome is that?  It should give you a small idea of how awesome Julie Baxley is.  Be still my heart, thank you Julie, Stephanie

And the crowd went wild...

All my friends in Texas are going crazy 'cause it's snowing where it never snows when it never snows.  Here's a photo of The Aggies' Kyle field at Texas A&M in College Station, TX.  I call it home and say that's where I was breast-fed (my mom did breastfeed me and I was very young when my parents first took me to a game but I don't think they were at the same time!).  We are still working on  trying to get Justin here but it's either snowing here or there so we are still waiting.  Hey, y'all enjoy!

Something went terribly wrong...

Justin was supposed to fly in weekend before last but the flight got cancelled due to our snowmeggedon.  So, unless you've been under a rock, we've been stuck inside most of the time.  He could have been stranded here all this time. 

No shit.

On the other hand, I could have gone there (Texas) and gotten stuck during the time when they were fishing and frollicing in the sun.  But nooooooooo, I didn't think of that.

Okay, maybe I did for a moment but I know he wants to see us but he's also homesick for here and his buddies.  It wouldn't have worked out all that well since he wouldn't have been able to see and hang out with his buds and he'd a been inside with US for how-knows-how-long.

Here's the snow blowing through the screen into the windows.  It was like The Birds only we named it The Snow.  It was trying to get at us-scary.

In the end something really good came out of it.  I spent most of every day perusing my old photo albums and yearbooks finding the greatest photos.  I scanned and cropped them all then downloaded them onto Facebook, tagged them, then let the others in on the fun.  I loved every minute of every part of it.  Since then I've gotten over 100 comments and emails from people so surprised and happy.  "Where did you find this?" , "When was that taken?", and a lot of, "Thanks so much for doing all this, it's great fun.".  Above is the photo of my first grade class.  I was so blessed to grow up in a great place, Bryan, Texas.  Most of us went to school first through 12th grade.  As they say, kids spend more awake time at school than they do with their families, so we literally grew up together.  And after almost 35 years we are still like brothers and sisters to each other.  I was one of those who ran away from home as soon as possible and stayed away for most of these 35 years, so reconnecting with everyone has been fabulous.  It only took 34 years but I believe, if they took a vote now, I'd be the most popular girl in school!

Now I really can't complain...or can I? (pondering by rubbing my chin)

I know I complain a lot that I'm not living in Texas and that the folks here don't make eye contact unless you know them, but then something like today happens and, karma, my negativity is proven wrong.  My 91 year old father-in-law, in a confused state, called 911 at 2 this morning.  At 3 a.m., while Paul was, by that time, with his dad, the doorbell rang.  When I answered it was a Howard County police officer and he had walked down our long street and several blocks before that in hip-deep in snow.  Since I'm in charge of the neighborhood watch, I was inundated with emails regarding when the hell we were going to get our three culs-de-sac plowed.  I mentioned that the police had walked in to check on my father-in-law and the neighbors were so concerned that they all got out today and shovelled out OUR ENTIRE STREET.  Of course it benefits all of us but the initial motivation had been my father-in-law's well-being.  I still can't think about it without tearing up.  We have a pretty close neighborhood as far as the adults are concerned, and we do look out for each other, but this was a clear-cut example of the kindness of human nature. 

Here's Matt, Alana, and Ohmad after they had made their contribution to the shovelling outside.  They're playing Uno,..

...watching MJ on the vidie (I still can't watch it without crying but once he's on I can't stop watching him; I just become mesmerized), and...

...and all the emergency supplies that teenagers could possibly need.  P.S. They are calling for ANOTHER FOOT of snow tomorrow and Wednesday.  Oy.

Hellooooooooooooo snow.

Well unless you've been under a rock, you've heard about our little snow storm.  30"+!

It snowed in the backyard too!

Can't see the cars, just a little of my truck.  No where to go 'cause there's no way to get out-yikes.  AND there's another snow storm coming tomorrow (Tuesday) and Wednesday.  I just keep thinking about Haiti and my post-traumatic-living-in-Wyoming flashbacks are put into correct perspective. 

To amuse myself all weekend I spent an embarrassment of hours on Facebook downloading photos from high school.  I'm definitely addicted; there are so many cool things you can do on there.  After downloading the photos it allowed me to add captions to the photos AND click on the photos to add the name of the person in the photo, more than one, as many as you like, so that when you scroll over the photo it shows the names of the people in them.  I'm sure y'all already knew this but I needed the weekend to figure it out.  It was a labor of love but it was fun and I'm getting great comments and feedback after only just finishing this morning.  Above is one of the photos I posted.  It's me at the podium my senior year.  Looking back at this photo I realize why public speaking was luckily not at the top of my list of career passions.   It looks like even I'm drifting off.  It took me a few minutes but I finally realized that I was saying the prayer before the event.  IN SCHOOL.  Heaven forbid (puns always intended) but it was Texas.  I'll use this podium to say that prayer is still allowed in the schools and public in Texas.  They say one before football games and other sporting events including rodeos and, as a Texan, that tops the list of reasons why I am so proud to be from Texas.  Next on the list, at least this week, is the lack of snow...

Checking In/ Update Part Deux

Okay, so I finished my two weeks of starving my cleaning diet.  The timing was a little poor because at the end I was changing meds (weening off one to NONE then onto a new one right away).  I did loose 10 pounds.  I know what you're thinking, water weight, a big sneeze, but it was the phychology of it, just getting that jump start and I do feel better.  Turns out the new meds are killing my appetite.  Anyway, the new meds put me on a complete roller coaster ride nearing breakdown.  By breakdown I mean crying when a woman can't find the toilet paper in Target.  It was bad.  In the meantime, hubby was so worried that he called in the big guns.  He surprised me by making a plane ticket for my middle son, Justin, to come for a visit this weekend.  Can you just imagine how long that crying jag lasted?

In the meantime I moved my shop space once again at The Pink Cabbage.  I think I've found my home there.  Lots of light and a surprising amount of space-so much more than I had realized before I moved in-BONUS!

Thanks for stopping in and having a look.  If I EVER figure out how this new format on here works I'll get more posts going more often.  You can also check out my Facebook page under Stephanie George where I just declared openly this morning:  Hi, my name is Stephanie and I'm a Facebook addict.  My reasoning is that it's like a jigsaw puzzle of your past and present and I think it's fun and cool.  Check it out.