Totally Unrelated

It's been quite a few months since I have blogged about the photos that get taken with my cell phone. It's always interesting to see what I've got. WARNING: There's a lot!

You must remember that I am not the only one who takes photos with my phone. I often have NO IDEA how, when, or where some of these pictures come from, but I'll do my best to give you an explanation of the photos you are about to see. 

Before I even take a peek, I know there will be images of Bartholomew and Jemima, food pics, hairstyle creations à la Millie, smiling faces, and who-knows-what-else! 

Foodstuff:

Liesey's Fruit 'za

 Out to dinner? Or more likely out to lunch!

There's no doubt that this girl's got mad skills.

 Mom's Day treat from my favorite son

What can I say about this tortilla-faced child o' mine? 

I'm overcome with pride.

 This pepper is confused...pretty, but confused.

Only in Oklahoma

 No need to cry...

Actually it's not milk, it's heavy whipping cream, so Jemima was in kitty heaven. Bartholomew was asleep, so he missed out on the cleanup effort.

Napkin art

This is an example of what I included in Millie Girl's lunch bag every day this past school year. To be honest, I only doodled on 179 Vanity Fair napkins, not 180. Millie missed one day of school, due to a temp. of 103ºF. 


I tried my best to embarrass my youngest, but she actually liked having a message in her lunch. It's kind of like a fortune cookie, only better. Some napkins had Scripture verses or other words of encouragement written on them; sometimes I'd just do artwork like Snoopy, Hello Kitty, Angry Birds, and other cartoon characters. Images of Bartholomew and Jemima were frequently drawn since they could be drawn in a minute or less. Millie's friends got to the point where they were more eager to see what was on the napkin than she was. My Sharpie supply probably needs to be replenished before the new semester begins this fall.




Felines come, felines go: 

I am not sure where to begin to try to describe this image.

Kitty Girl will sit/lie/recline on the countertop and wait for the bathroom faucet to be turned on so she can get a drink. I think she was really posing for a picture. Yep, I'm probably already turning into a crazy cat lady who imagines that her pets are asking for things that they are not really asking for.

"Fur-fully" and wonderfully made?

Bart -- doing what Barts do best

Natural Beauties:

Hi, Hibiscus!

I cannot see this plant in my backyard without being reminded of the Beverly Hillbillies episode where Mrs. Drysdale is having trouble with her Hibiscus plant. Granny mistakenly thinks that her neighbor is having "female" health problems and tries to help with her "ailin' Hibiscus." My Hibiscus ain't ailin', as you can plainly see. :-)

My Bleeding Heart ain't ailin' either!

These "flutterbys" were migrating, but they stopped long enough so I could take their picture.

Career Daze:

My oldest daughter was asked to participate in Career Day at one of the Ft. Worth Schools. She got to speak to six different groups of 1st grade students about dance and dance-related careers. Of course, there was an emphasis on ballet.

Each presentation lasted 25 minutes, and she did a great job holding the students' attention. 

The real kicker was watching her teach the children the basic ballet positions. In every single group there were at least three boys who were too cool to participate, but after a minute, they all joined in on the fun.

Each one of the sessions ended with the students giving her hugs, high-fives, and asking for her autograph. It was precious! 


I was merely a fly on the wall, as I went along to help her carry all of her props -- additional tutus, costumes, various types of dance shoes, tiaras, swords, and books. 


Several days after the presentation, a delivery was made to the ballet studio on behalf of one of the classes at the elementary school. Our ballerina received a packet with thank you notes and artwork to show the students' appreciation. They've even invited her back for next year's event.




All Smiles:

Our sweet neighbor-girlie invited us to her school's musical program. Her group did a musical twist on the Three Little Pigs. She got to play the part of a pizza delivery man. Too cute!

This boy is smiling because he got to vote in his first presidential primary race. He really is into Paul-itics this season!

I don't think Bart'd fit, but he might have a fit if Millie tried to squeeze him in the basket. Thankfully, the maximum weight load on the bike's basket is 11 pounds. Bartholomew is smiling (on the inside, any way) because he knows he weighs twice that number.

Someone's looking like a Texan.

My tootsies are smiling because my friend Barb treated me to a pedicure to celebrate the start of sandal season. Hooray for RED toenails! The nail technician put the left flip flop on my right foot and vice versa, which made it challenging to walk.

Signs of the times:

This sticky note was on the door from the garage to the laundry room one afternoon. The door was locked. It made me laugh. I knew that Bartholomew was the "washee" and that Millie was the "washer." Poor, wet, miserable kitty. 

I love this! The lyrics to one of my favorite NEEDTOBREATHE songs was colorfully and artfully written on the whiteboard one day. :-)

Stylish Indeed:

I get to be the model for many of Millie's hairstyle creations. I truly enjoy having her mess with my hair, as it is so relaxing. Yes, I have actually fallen asleep in the chair. My stylist usually shakes me to wake me, so the slumber doesn't last that long. Forty winks?

That girlie will even "fix" my hair as we are riding in the car!

My personal stylist intended to do an updo; however, it morphed into a downdo. We need more bobby pins!

After the "downdo" was complete, Millie added a light touch of make-up as the finishing touch. I was ready to go! Sadly, I had no place to go to, except to the laundry room to fold laundry. Ah, what a glamorous life I lead!

Grin and Bear it

During the past year, we rescued two bears, Harwood and Norwood, from a grizzly situation at Costco. They were homeless and as hungry as a...well...you-know-what. 

Actually, we learned that these two don't eat much. It seems they are always stuffed. (Groan.)

One bear is Liesey's and the other is Millie's. The two 'Woods are living in the lap of luxury now.

 Don't feed the bears!

Beverages are okay.

Our warm and fuzzy friends make perfect pillows to use on the floor to watch TV. Norwood and Harwood are also popular with the neighbor kids, so the bears get quite a few visitors.

 Bear hugs!

Q: What do you get if you cross a bear and a harp? 

A: A bear-faced lyre! 

A bear walks into a bar and says to the bartender, "I would like a gin............. ............................................................................................and tonic." 

The bartender says, "What's up with the big pause?" 

The bear replies, "I've had them all my life."

Oh, I simply cannot bear another silly joke. 

Say, "Honey!"

Cheese is overrated.

Cruisin' into Summer

According to the calendar, it's still spring. In north Texas, we've already experienced temperatures in the 80s and 90s for several weeks, so it surely FEELS like summer is here. No matter what the season may be called, it's been great weather for taking walks and riding bikes. One problem: not everyone in the Smith family owns a bike. 

Liesey Lou suggested that a cruiser would make a wonderful graduation gift, and Miss Millie has been wanting to have a bike that actually was the correct frame size for her frame. We still needed to purchase a gift for our recent high school grad, and our youngest had long outgrown her bicycle. There was no doubt that we needed to go shopping, but first we had to do our homework. (Homework? Noooo! School's out.)

There are several brands (Schwinn, Huffy, Norco, Trek, Greenline, Nirve, and Electra) to consider, so it was hard to know where to begin our search. Our wheels were spinning as we were overwhelmed by too many options. After asking for input from those "in the know," we decided to go for the quality and flat foot technology offered by the Electra Bicycle Company. I also like their slogan: Official Bike of Nothing Official.  But which model? Decisions. Decisions.

Mr. Smith and I made a visit to the bike shop in Keller, just to look around and kick the tires. They only had one Electra bike for us to look at in the cruiser category, and it was still in the box. There were no tires to kick! Apparently these bikes sell just about as quickly as they can get 'em assembled. Our salesperson promised us that they would have more to choose from, as they were gearing up their bike assembly. We went home with a catalog.

More research.

More questions.

One afternoon, Liesey and I test rode Electra cruisers at the friendly neighborhood bike shop. Yep, they managed to get a few Electras assembled for display on the sales floor. We tried out a fuchsia bike and a black (men's) cruiser. Although impressed, we were still not quite ready to make a purchase. A salesperson at the shop told us that we "should" be able to get whatever we wanted, when we were ready to roll.

We studied the manufacturer's website again and again.

We figure these bikes will be the last ones we purchase for our daughters, so we wanted to get it right.

After perusing the Electra bike catalog, the Smith girls researched the differences between the various models -- Verse, Ticino, Townie, Amsterdam, Cruiser, and Coaster. They finally narrowed it down and determined which bikes they REALLY, really wanted: Electra's Townie Original 21D in polished blue for Lou, and a Townie Original 7D in fuchsia for Millie Girl.

I called the bike shop and inquired about availability. It took well over 24 hours to get the answers to my questions. I guess they were busy, either building bikes or selling them to somebody else. Our plans to purchase two bicycles were derailed -- momentarily. The fuchsia bike we had seen/ridden at the store had just been sold, and they could not get another one. In fact, they were not able to get either bicycle in the preferred colors.  

At this point, the girls still didn't know that their parents had shifted gears from the "We'll think about it..." position to the "Let's take action!" mode. 

A quick Google search for authorized Electra dealers revealed 14 retailers within a 40 mile radius, so things were looking up. 

I worked my way down the list of bike shops until I finally found both bikes in stock at the same store. We only needed to travel about thirty miles away to Plano. I was able to make the purchase online and arrange to pick up the bikes at the store, all ready to roll. Easy! 

I didn't bother to tell the girls that I had found exactly what they were hoping for. I wanted there to be some element of surprise.

After Mr. Smith got home from work, the two of us took off to "run errands." Amazingly, we even remembered to turn off the tracking feature on our phones so our daughters could not locate us via the "Find My Friends" app.  Sneaky, eh? We were in stealth mode. We may be getting older, but we can still be pretty sneaky -- well, some of the time. 

This bike shop was well-stocked. We felt like kids in a candy store, especially when it came to accessories for Electra bikes. 

We called home as we were on our way back to Keller to confirm dinner plans, and the first comment was, "Where are you?! You both came up as unavailable when we searched for your your location on 'Find My Friends.'" 

My response? "Oh, that's weird. We must've been in a dead spot when you checked." 

I'm pretty sure we were at the bike shop in Plano when they were looking for us. :-) 

Although our Thule rack holds four bikes, we could only tote one of the Townies on the back of the car, due to the shape of the frame. The second bike was stowed in the back of the car. We wondered if our youngest daughter would be happy for her sister, or if there would be disappointment, when she saw that there was only ONE bike loaded on the rack. And that it was blue, not fuchsia.

I went in the house and announced that we were home and that we needed a hand. The kids figured we had made a trip to Costco, so they were willing to follow us back out to the car to help with unloading groceries.

Much to Liesey's surprise, there was a teal colored cycle on the bike rack.

Yay!

Little sister was genuinely happy for her big sister -- no disappointment at all. I told Millie that there was a basket for her sister's bike in the back of the Audi, and asked her to get it out of the car.

Was she ever surprised to find not one, but TWO baskets, and a fuchsia Townie in the back of the car!

Watch out for these biker chicks -- they've been known to ruffle a few feathers. HA!!!

School's Out, School's Out...

Let the lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer begin... NOW!

An "OK" Memorial Day Weekend

 ♭♪ ♫ Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain
And the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet
When the wind comes right behind the rain... ♯ ♩  ♬

Harvest time in the Sooner State has a beauty uniquely its own. The wheat was truly wavin', just as the song suggests; however, I'm not completely sure about the sweet smelling part, as no rainfall fell prior to our visit. Timing is key, I suppose, in order to be treated to the olfactory sensation of sweetness. ;-) 

...And when we say 

Yeeow! Ayipioeeay!

We're only sayin'

You're doin' fine, Oklahoma!

Oklahoma, O.K.

These two cousins were doin' fine, too, as they got back to their Okie roots. Cousin Linda flew into DFW from California, and we then made the five-hour drive to northwestern OK.

The main purpose of our visit to Oklahoma was to decorate graves for Memorial Day. We also visited one aunt, miscellaneous cousins, and a few friends. 

This annual pilgrimage is something that we promised my mother-in-law we'd do after she was no longer able to do so. For decades, she faithfully decorated the graves of all the military men in the family with flags and flowers, but also made sure every other deceased family member was remembered, too. Florence passed the "torch" to us in 2010, and we are doing our best to carry on, even though she's no longer here to assist.

On this third Memorial Day outing, we visited three different cemeteries and decorated the graves of twenty-eight dearly departed ancestors. 

After all of the tombstones were decorated, we visited the family farm in Lahoma. The girls had to pose in front of the grain storage bin. This photo shoot location is an annual tradition, too.

We had made reservations two months in advance of this trip; however, the nice folks at the Hampton Inn somehow managed to give away our requested non-smoking room. 


The NJCAA Division II World Series was taking place in Enid on Memorial Day weekend, so every single room in and around the city was booked. We HAD to accept the stale smelling room, so we simply donned gas masks and entered the room armed with Febreze. Okay, so the gas masks are a bit of an exaggeration, but the Febreze part is true. The room may have smelled horrible, but it beat the alternative of sleeping in the car, or in a stable, or under an overpass... 


In all fairness, the hotel management treated us very well. They outfitted the hotel room with an ozone machine, which dramatically cut down on the smokey smell. Best of all, we were given a reduced room rate (fire sale?) AND a gift card to IHOP. Perhaps they thought we were in town for the baseball tournament and would appreciate having a "Grand Slam" for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It was a nice thought. 

We arrived back in Texas late Sunday evening. Mercifully, we not only had a non-smoking room at the Smith Haus B&B, but a completely non-smoking environment! No Febreze was required. :-) Ahhh! There's no place like home.

On Monday afternoon, we showed Cousin Linda around the DFW Metroplex.

 The new Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in the Big D proved to be photo-worthy.

From downtown Dallas (Sixth Floor Museum, the Galleria, and a driving tour) to Fort Worth (Sundance Square, Smitty's office, and the Stockyards), and literally all points in between the two big cities, we gave Mr. Smith's cousin a pretty good idea of what the metroplex is like -- endless road construction, traffic, terrific shopping, lots of buildings, and too much to see and do in one day!

The "Turned Tassel" Bash

The RSVPs were tallied.


The house was clean.


Food was prepared.


The Maine Coons went into hiding. (How do our cats always sense that company is coming over at least 45 minutes before the doorbell actually rings?)


It was time to uncork the bubbly! We were DEFINITELY ready to celebrate our recent graduate's accomplishments.


I snapped a few photos prior to the first guests' arrival. I think Martha Stewart would approve. 

The menu consisted of: mini pulled pork sandwiches, bacon-wrapped chicken stuffed with jalapeño strips and cream cheese, caramel-nut brie, mini quiche, spanakopita, meatballs, salami and cheese platter, veggies and dip, deviled eggs, punch, sparkling cider, champagne, red and white libations, and water. For dessert, there were two decadent cakes from Central Market Bakery and (Pepperidge Farms) Pirouettes. Our celebrant is a ballerina.



We had planned food for forty people, and I think the final count was at 36, so it all worked out perfectly.

I almost forgot about the Edible Arrangement for the table's centerpiece, complete with the year "2012" spelled out in pineapple cutouts. Very tasteful indeed.

The story you are about to see is true; the names have been changed to protect the innocent... 

The diploma really does have a complete first name. It's not just  A.

Of course, there had to be roses and stargazer lilies, as these are a favorite of all three Smith girls. These flowers smell even better than they look. 

Our graduate girlie had to decide which pair of shoes to wear for the big event. 

Decisions, Decisions...

Eeny, meeny, miney, mo?

Eeny won.

 If the shoe fits, wear it. So she did -- with a little black dress.

I attempted to get pictures of all of our guests, but somehow managed to miss a few -- quite a few, actually. I'll share a few of the smiles:

 Tia and Liesey

The glad grad, Claire, Kaytlynn, and Isabel

 Millie, Olivia, and Katie

 SuJean, Luke, and Lane

 The Thomsons minus one plus one Smith

 Jim Tom and Diana with a very happy girl

 Miss Claire got artsy with the confetti. Too cute!

The girls went to see The Avengers after the reception was wrapped up, but I think our graduate was a little embarrassed to drive her car. 


I'm responsible for the graffiti, and I think it looks classy!

Artsy Fartsy Award

Our youngest Smithling was awarded the Outstanding Achievement in Art award. (I could insert a random thought about Millie's brush with greatness making me bristle with pride, but I won't... But I already did, didn't I?! Oh, well! The "badder" the pun, the better?) There were only two students who received art awards, so this is quite an honor. 

Go ahead and draw your own conclusions, but we think this young lady is a masterful work of art!

"For we are God's masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."  - Ephesians 2:10

GLADuation

The Lone Star Christian Academy proudly announces the addition of one more alumnus to its list of distinguished graduates. The count is now up to TWO. 

CONGRATULATIONS, Liesey Lou!

Yep, she's in a class all her own -- quite literally.

Senior Shoot

My intentions were good. It just didn't happen -- all school year long. Obviously, it's been a busy year.

Somehow we neglected to get an appointment scheduled with a professional photographer for senior portraits. Aren't senior pictures traditionally taken during the fall semester? And now the school year is pretty much over. Our SENIOR graduates on May 12th!

After an impromptu outing (almost in our literal backyard), we managed to get a few poses that capture our grad's personality, and best of all, there was no sitting fee. :-)  I took just over 100 shots, and ended up with several really nice pictures. Well, to be honest, there wasn't a bad one in the bunch. Don't worry, I am only sharing a few. Enjoy!

  As an added bonus, I snapped a sister shot. Two-for-one!

 My fav.