They Want How Much?

For you first time readers (I am sure I have SO many), or for those of you that live under a rock and don't pay very much attention to me, I live in Texas and am very proud of that fact! I am about as Texan as they get. And so are most of my family and friends. We don't think much of the way we talk and live until we are talking to some foreigner (Ooops, sorry. For you non-Texans, those are people in another state not another country!)

And Saturday night, my friends and I got a real good laugh out of talking to one such person!

Frank and I had gone to fish a tournament at O.H. Ivie. We left Saturday to spend some time with friends. It was late, about 8 (Hey, that's late when you have to get up early!) and we were giving Nina our breakfast order for Sunday morning when one of our friends came in asking if anyone had something to open up a locked truck. Uh oh! Someone (not sure who) had inadvertently locked the doors when they got out and the keys (including the spare) were inside the truck! Oh, my heart really did go out to them because any type of vehicle trouble is just a pain! A big ol' pain in the side!

Luckily, someone did have a tool that is supposed to pop that lock right open. I guess if you used it on a daily basis, you could do this. Not if you use it only once every year or so! I think there were about eight of us standing around in the parking lot watching the excitement (it doesn't take a lot to entertain a bunch of tired anglers!).

After about 30 minutes, I remembered I have roadside assistance on my cell phone. So I call. Have any of you out there tried to give an address at a lake to someone who is several states away from you? Not an easy task. Especially if you are out in the middle of no where! It all started easily enough -

He - "Roadside Assistance. How may I help you?"

Me - "We have a truck with the keys locked in it."

He - "Oh, no problem. I can definitely help you. Wow! Sounds like you are having a party. What is your cell phone number?"

Me - "No party, just a bunch of anglers after a long day. My number is 3##-###-####"

He - "Is this Mrs. Mixon?"

Me - "Yes."

He - "Are you with the vehicle that is locked out?"

Me - "Yes."

He - "Are you in a safe location?"

Me - "Yes." When what I really wanted to say was "it all depends if this going to take long? Will it make a difference in time?" which I will regret not saying later!

He - "What type of vehicle?"

Oh, my - this goes on forever! By the time we get to the address, he could pick out this vehicle from a line up! And what exactly does the color and rear wheel drive have to do with the keys being locked in the ignition?

Several questions later, just to make sure it is me on my cell phone, he asked me - "What is the address where you are located?"

So now the fun begins! Me - to David "Hey, what's the address out here?"

David - "### FM Road ###, Millersview, TX"

Me to operator - "### FM Road ###, Millersview, TX"

Typing and long pause...

Operator - "Um, Ms. Mixon. I'm sorry, but there is no Millersview, TX showing on my map"

Me - "Where are you?"

He - "I'm in western Kentucky."

Oh no! We are going to be here all night!

Me - "OK. Can you pull up just a town?"

He - "Yes."

Me - "Try Valera."

He - "No"

Me - "Voss?"

He - "No"

Me to everyone standing around - "Is there anything closer than Ballinger that might show up on his map?"

Everyone - "NO"

Me to operator - "Try Ballinger."

He - "Yes, here it is."

Me - "Can you see landmarks on your map?"

He - "Yes."

Me - "Do you see O. H. Ivie Reservoir?"

He - "YES!" (ok, I mistakenly think we are getting somewhere.)

Me - "Do you now see Millersview?"

He - "No, but I see a Leeday!"

Oh My!

Me - "How old is your map?! Leeday has been underwater ever since they finished the dam in 1992! But! We are about two miles south of that!"

He - "Would you happen to be on Park Rd. 11?"

Me to David - "Are we on Park Rd. 11?"

David - "Yes" (Cheers from the crowd!)!

Me to he - "Yes"

He (laughing) - "Sounds like you are having a great party."

Me - "No. No party. No one has had a drink! Just a bunch of anglers ready to get to bed!"

He - "Now that we know where you are, give me just a minute to locate someone to come help you."

Lovely music starts in my ear, and we are discussing the odds of them getting the lock popped before he even gets back on the phone. Glad I didn't get in on that because...

He - "Mrs. Mixon, I have located someone in Coleman that can be out in about an hour and half and it will be $75.00 out of pocket."

Me - "I thought this was covered as part of my roadside assistance?"

He - "Only up to $50.00."

Me - "You mean to tell me that some yaw-who is going to take an hour and a half to drive the 15 minutes from Coleman then charge us $75.00 for two seconds worth of work?"

A few seconds of stunned silence from the crowd, then a bunch of "We can push him down there by hand if we have to... $75?! Are they nuts?" and lots of other useless comments from the crowd.

He - "Sounds like a really good party."

Me - "I told you, no party! We are just tired from a long day and we have another long day tomorrow!"

He - "Of partying?"

Me - "NO!! No parties! Just fishing! Thank you for your time and please update your map!"

And we found a guy in Ballinger to come out for $50 and he was there in 45 minutes! Man! Am I going to have a chat with AT&T!

Easter Pictures

I finally got around to working with my Easter pictures. I hope you enjoy. Sorry, no Edith!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

On my Soapbox

I just saw an add for Abercrombie & Fitch.

Can someone please tell me what a man with no clothes on sitting on a park bench with a pretty girl (fully dressed, thank goodness) laying next to him has to do with selling jeans? I just don't get it!

Fast Week

Man last week past in a hurry! Not much happened during the week, just work and the regular daily grind. Nothing exciting but nothing to worry about either.

Friday I got off work early so Frank and I took Mattie May to the zoo. Then we headed to Abuelo's (my fav) for an early dinner so we could hit the sack early. We had to get up at 3:30 yes that's AM!) for a fishing tournament. You can read about that here, Just an absolutely beautiful day. I really hope you got to enjoy it.

Sunday was church then home to fix brunch. No unexpected visitors this week, just Buddy, Katie and Mattie May. Buddy and Katie had a birthday party to go to so Mattie May stayed with us and took her nap. Even though it was extremely windy, we tried to get some family pictures made of them. Between the wind and the three year old we didn't have much luck. Still it was a great day and weekend.

Hope you have a great week.
OH, and tomorrow is Frank's birthday and I still don't have him a gift or card! Any suggestions?

Easter with Edith

What a wonderful weekend we had. Friday, Frank and I spent the day with Mattie May not doing much of anything. We did some laundry and our grocery shopping and ended the day with "brown" pizza at Brick Oven Pizza. I'm not sure about the brown pizza, but when we asked Mattie May what she wanted, she said "Brown pizza!" She ate very well and was very well behaved at the restaurant, so I guess she was happy with hamburger, black olive, and mushroom pizza!

Saturday was "Eggstravaganza" at church. We took Mattie May and there was a very good turn out even with the overcast skies and the cooler (cold) weather. She made out like a bandit on the egg hunt and enjoyed the inflatable slide and jump box. Not sure what it is called, but you have all seen them, they inflate and the kids get inside and jump.

We all attended church service on Sunday then headed out to my Aunt Hymonda and Uncle Bill's for Sunday brunch. We usually have a great lunch for family gatherings, but because so many were out of town on Saturday for LTC (Leadership Training for Christ) we decided brunch was just fine. Even though our friend Sarah had written a fantastic article on us for the Reporter News that ran on Wednesday, we went against tradition. The article told about what our family traditionally does for Easter lunch and ran most of our recipes. It was very well done and exciting to be a celebrity for the day. Many of our friends and family saw the article and called to let us know they had seen it.

After eating, Buddy and Katie hid eggs for Makaley, Kauy and Mattie May to hunt. The day was glorious, warm with just a light breeze. Then we all headed inside to visit and enjoy the rest of the day.

And who is Edith? Good question. We still really don't know who she is! Thursday after the article had run in the ARN, Hymonda got a call from Edith who said she was a friend of one of Mattie B's long lost relatives and had seen us in the paper and just wanted to tell us how nice the article was. Hymonda was gracious and thanked her and hurried about her busy day. That same day, Mattie B received a call from Edith. The conversation was about the same. Neither thought anything else about the phone calls.

We were finishing up our brunch Sunday and Trina saw someone walking up the drive. Hymonda asked us who it was but none of us recognized her. She rang the bell and Hymonda answered with a very confused look on her face. It was Edith! She had come to join us for lunch. Hymonda explained we had not done the lunch this year and had just finished up brunch. Well, Edith said that was fine with her, asked where Mattie B was and continued on in the house!

At this point, all of us in the dining room were being very quite so we could hear the conversation in the kitchen/breakfast area where Mattie B was sitting. We couldn't see her face, but we could hear the tone of Mattie B's voice and she was a little stunned to say the least. Edith told her since neither she nor Hymonda had invited her when she called on Thursday, she just decided to just invite herself!

One thing you can not call my family is selfish. We let her have anything that was left (which I must say wasn't much) and we "enjoyed" her stay. She stayed and visited with Mattie B for a while after she ate and then just left - seriously, she just got up and left, not a word! It was one of the strangest things we ever had happen and we will now remember this Easter celebration as the one we had Brunch with Edith!

I hope God blessed you this past weekend as He did us.

She Like to Move It Move It!

Mattie May loves music. And she loves to dance to that music. She gets so excited to be out somewhere and hear a song being played that she recognizes. At the Abilene Ruff Riders game last night she just squeeled when they played "Life is a Highway" by Rascal Flatts. If any of you don't know that is one of the songs they play in the Disney movie "Cars" one of her all time favorite movies (can you have an all time favorite movie at three?).

Later in the night they played the move it song from "Madagascar" (sorry, I don't know the actual name or who sings it.). She really got excited this time and jumped out of her seat and started to dance. Frank and I (and everyone around us) got so tickled watching her. I was only able to get a short video and I just have to share it with you.

ENJOY!

WWW (What a Wonderful Weekend)

As usual the weekend was just not long enough, but it was nice. Of course Frank got home Friday from Boston and we spent time that night going through all the give aways he collected at the conference and all his pictures. I have started his scrapbook for this so I will have it posted as soon as I can.

Saturday, he decided to fish the Stillwaters tournament over at Hubbard and I stayed home, watched a couple of movies, did some light house work and started on Katie's dress.

Sunday, Frank took Kauy to the Spring Jamboree at UT. I messed up a little so they didn't get to attend the Kids Club pizza party, but they still had a good time. I went to church in the morning then Mattie May and I took a nice nap. Sunday afternoon, we went to Makaley's TLC practice then to the grocery store. And last night to bed at a decent hour.

So not to eventful for me anyway, but a nice relaxing weekend. God is so good to us.

He's Home!

Yeah, Frank made it home from Boston, eighteen hours late, but HOME! He had a great trip. The seminar was great. He learned a lot, met a lot of people, and even won a 47" plasma TV! Yep, out of the thousands of people that were there, he won a TV. They are even paying the shipping to get it to our house! And just think, our front room TV went out a few months ago we just hadn't found the right TV to buy. The funniest part of the whole thing, is I won the TV that we are replacing about 15 years ago at a United Way luncheon.



He was supposed to be home yesterday, but they canceled his flight and couldn't get him on another one until today, so he got to do lots of sight seeing yesterday. He even got to pose with a Boston Red Sox World Series ring! He can talk himself into anything! He took lots of pictures for me and has been telling me stories of his trip all evening long. He did a lot of things that were totally out of character for him (like taking pictures everywhere!) and had such a good time, he wants to take me up there for vacation! Don't have to twist my arm!

I am so glad to have him home and giving praise to God for getting him there and back safely.

Is That My Great Grandmother?

First this is not a post about President and Mrs. Obama, they just happen to be in the picture. As a matter of fact, they are the reason this picture was even taken.

Secondly, the only copyright tag I found for this picture is REUTERS/John Stillwell/Pool (BRITAIN BUSINESS POLITICS ROYALS) so I hope I am giving the proper credit so I don't get in trouble for copyright infringement.

If you live in America and listen to any type of radio, TV, anything that might talk about current events, I'm sure you know that President Obama is at the G20 Summit in London. As part of this event, he and Mrs. Obama visited with Queen Elizabeth at her home, Buckingham Palace. And of course, to appease the masses, there were photos taken of this historic event.

Look at the picture below. Aren't they all lovely? Each smiling for the camera, just like they all rehearsed. No really it is a lovely picture. I would not disrespect the President or Queen by making fun of them. BUT this picture does make me laugh. Can you figure out what it is? If you know my grandmother or knew my great grandmother, you should easily figure this one out.

Do you get it, do you see what is making me laugh?

OK, I'll give - They are in Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth's home. So please tell me, why does she need her purse in the picture?! Hahah,heehee, hoho! I am so sorry but that just tickles my funny bone!