Batter Up!

Millie Girl proved that she's is a big hitter when it comes to cake decorating.

She created a baseball cake for her catcher boyfriend's b-day. 

Does that make him a real catch? :-P

These two have been dating for over a year, 

because they really hit it off when they met one another.

Okay, okay, I'll stop with the baseball puns before I really strike out.

How about a joke instead of bad puns?

Q: What do baseball players use to bake a cake?
 A: Oven MITTS, BUNT pans and BATTER.

(Is that a swing and a miss?)

How 'bout pictures and no more jokes?

Suffice it to say that the b-day cake was a hit.

A League of My Own

Despite enjoying a much cooler than normal summer in the DFW area this summer, my birthday proved to be the exception to the exception. It was a cloudless, sunshiny, AND very warmish day. Toss in a little humidity for good measure, thanks to the (also) unusual rainy weather conditions, and we were looking for indoor activities to participate in. No sweat.

After considering several options of things to do in air conditioned comfort, we opted for bowling. Why bowling? Bowling is one of those activities that is right down our alley. (Hopefully!) And we wanted to be cool. (Literally.)

I'll spare telling you every little detail, but I managed to roll my way to a pretty decent score, despite the fact that in an alley, split happens. 

What was my score? Take my age and add 100 to it, give or take a pin.

And NO, I did not use the bumpers!

There is nothing quite like striking out for an adventure on one's birthday, but that's how we Smiths roll... (Have you had enough silly puns yet?)

I am not for sure, but I think that my bowling buddies may have let me knock down more pins than they did. I'm not saying that they threw the game, or anything like that...but at least they all spared me from the embarrassment of coming in last on "my" day of being the birthday kingpin. And best of all, I didn't need to be pulled out of the gutter when the b-day bowling was over and done with. 

It was a great birthday celebration, from start to finish. Obviously, I now have the tee shirt, so I must've "been there and done that" when it comes to achieving crazy cat lady status. I'll take that title, just as long as no one adds "old" to that string of adjectives!

It's Driving Me Batty

 BMW convertibles have batwings.

Yes, batwings.

Despite that renown German engineering, they are just not well designed.

They crack.

They break.

They need to be replaced.

The repair is not easy, and it is not for the faint of heart.

Replacement parts ain't cheap.

What's a batwing?

I'm glad you asked... 
It's a little plastic part with strings attached (It seems that there are always strings attached!) that helps hold the headliner taut when the convertible top is up. 

I won't tell you how much BMW charges for this part, because you wouldn't believe it. And nobody else offers it, except for BMW. They obviously planned it this way! But I'm not complaining. We now have five German "Otto-mobiles" in our family, and four of them are BMWs. We know what to expect.

Holy Bat Trap! This thing is quite a puzzle. Besides, we like a good challenge. It took hours of trial and error, as there were not any instructions included with the replacement part. We searched and searched and finally found a step-by-step description of this repair on one of the BMW forums. The instructions were not perfect, but it was better than "winging" it on our own.

Batman and Robin ain't got nothin' on this dynamic duo. 
These two are superheroes when it comes to auto repair.

If this part ever breaks again, we will surely send up the bat signal.

Rangers/Twins

 These two just might be Rangers Twins... HA!

No, we went to see the Texas Rangers play the Minnesota Twins.

And our team WON!

 Pop!

 Boom!

Bang!

@purrzle

It's true.

I am guilty.

I am a semi-crazy cat lady. (I'm not quite ready to admit that I'm 100% crazy.)

Yes, I realize that our two Coonies get WAY too much attention.

No, I don't think that I need professional help --- yet. HA!!!

As Bartholomew and Jemima's Instagram "account manager," it is up to me to make sure that these two fluffs have plenty of interesting photos to keep their "fans" and friends a-mew-sed. The "mamarazzi" (not paparazzi!) is out in full force... and there is no shortage of photo opportunities. These two cats are crazy, too. 

We have met some wonderful people through the fluffy duo's Instakitty account, and I am sure that at some point our paths will cross in real time. We have "furiends" from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Scotland, Africa, England, Canada, Russia, Australia, Florida, Oregon, New York, California, Texas, and all points in between. Many of our Instafriends own Maine Coons, but we also befriend Ragdolls, Bengals, Lions, Tigers, but no bears. Oh, my! And as crazy as it may sound, there is an inexplicable bond within the Instagram kitty community. Surprisingly, there are no cat fights.

Here are some of my recent favorite pictures.

 Talk about cattitude...

These two often go in different directions. Herding cats is harder than it appears.

Bartholomew enjoys participating in #tacotonguetuesday shenanigans any chance he gets.

This photo was taken on a recent visit to the veterinarian's office. Obviously the rule does not apply to Bartholomew. The sign clearly says "small" pets.

Our college-aged girlie tells me that her friends in Switzerland keep finding out that her Maine Coons have an Instagram account. She doesn't know how they know, but they do. And they follow. 

Soooo, I don't think I'm the only crazy one out there. There must be a lot of crazy cat people -- especially if they are tailing MY cats on social media.

She's Officially a JUNIOR!

This girl's ready to roll into her last day of being a Sophomore. 

And she's going topless!

(I thought there was a dress code at school...)

These two didn't plan to wear matching tees, but it just happened.

What a great end to a fantastic school year!

Swiss Miss and Spanish Mister

Liesey Lou made it safely to Switzerland, by way of Frankfurt. 

Let the European adventures begin!

Pepperdine University's campus is in Lausanne, which is northeast of Geneva, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. The city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva (or Lac Léman as the locals call it). This is the view from campus, which just might be better than the view of the Pacific Ocean that these students are accustomed to seeing in Malibu. I think I'd be distracted from my studies with this outside my window.

The Matterhorn in Switzerland is a little more exciting to look at than the Disneyland version... Liesey's friend is awfully cute, too!

Can you tell that this girl is just a little bit excited to get to be in Paris? Lou at the Louvre was obviously meant to be!

 Our girlie got to see the Love Locks on the Pont des Arts before the removal of some hundreds of thousands of padlocks got underway on the 1st of June. It was estimated that the weight of these locks added an additional 40 tons of weight to the bridge, which it is not designed to bear. So there apparently IS such a thing as too much love.

 Oooh la la!

When in Paris, one must have a maracon, or two. Or six! These are almost too pretty to eat.

Meanwhile, back in Texas, a handsome business major, that we know and love, prepared for takeoff to Barcelona. Our son will be studying abroad for three weeks.

We enjoyed tracking his travels.

Stamp of approval!

There were thirteen students traveling from University of Texas Arlington. None of them were acquainted with one another before the trip began, but they all quickly became friends.

After being in Barcelona for just a few days, Smithling #1 traveled to Rome to meet up with Smithling #2. Both brought friends from their respective programs, so there was a group of five who toured together.

St. Peter's Square, Vatican City

 This whole place is in ruins! ;-)

When in Rome... 

There's nothing like a sibling selfie with the Colosseum as the backdrop.

After a fun weekend in Italy, M&A spent a day in Geneva.

I think my daughter would like to work here someday. :-)

The following weekend, our two oldest met up again. This time it was in Barcelona. (I wonder if they ever take time to study?!)

They enjoyed seeing lots of examples of Antoni Gaudi's architectural designs.

The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família is the pièce de résistance of Gaudi's work. The groundbreaking for this colossal church took place 133 years ago. It is still unfinished. It may never be complete! One thing is for sure, it is an awe in-"spire"-ing structure!

 These students obviously were chillin' when they went to the Ice BARcelona. Pretty cool...

It was fun to look at the "Find My Friends" app and see two of my three Smithlings in the same part of the world. With being able to text and make FaceTime calls, the world surely seems like a much smaller place. Yay for technology!

Although the technology stuff is all good, the best way to communicate is going to be having real "in your face" time with these two world travelers. I'm so looking forward to listening to every last detail of their tales of adventure. 

BMW stands for Blonde Millie's Wheels -- Duh!

She has been saving her pennies, nickels, and dimes for a l-o-n-g time. It all added up.

After looking for months and months, we found what we were looking for. (Yay for Craigslist and private sellers!) Our girlie found a great deal on a 2001 BMW 325Ci with 98,000 miles on it. Best of all, it's all hers. 

This HAPPY new "used car" owner may have had a little help from her parents, but she put in more than half of the cash required to buy this beauty.

Our sixteen-year-old and her fourteen-year-old are quite the teenaged duo! 

Yup, Blonde Millie's Wheels it is.