Has Anyone Seen My Weekend? I Can't Find It...

Monday was a busy day.

I promised to do little Gavin’s 1st birthday photos, and we had so much fun.  Gavin’s parents and grandparents are so sweet, I love being around them.  And that always makes pictures so much easier!

And then, a friend from Houston came by to visit.   It’s always good to see ChristiLynn.

At the same time, our little friend Andi was working with ThatManILove at the kitchen table, doing land work.

And one of our engineering interns was hanging with us, well at least until 5 p.m., when he got his first call out to go to work in the oilfield.

Then our friend Jenaya came over, and she and ThatManILove grilled a London Broil and veggies.  And then the little sweetheart made homemade ice cream, oh yes, she did.

Me? I worked on pictures & laundry most of the day. And then, I cleaned up the kitchen.  (That's my job when others do the cooking, and I'm glad to do it!)

I need another three day weekend - one where I’m not busy 24/7.

Please?  Because the one I was just supposed to have?  Flat out disappeared. 

Daytripping...Across Miles and Miles of Texas

Sunday found us in the vehicle at 7:45 a.m. heading 4 hours away to our son’s wedding shower in Spicewood, Texas.

Did I tell you we were tired?  And that ThatManILove someone had decided that it was going to be a roundtrip day? (And then tried to tell me it was my idea?)

We were tired.

Mainly because we got up early on Saturday and ran errands, went to the movie*, ran more errands, and then went to some friends’ house for supper.  And of course, we stayed too late.  WAAAAY too late.

So late, the hostess went to bed.  And left the host to deal with us hooligans.  Well, to tell the truth, I wasn’t a hooligan.  But we were all jammin’ on the piano, with ThatManILove playing the git-fiddle and singing.  It was fun.

And then, we decided that no way were we going to leave the kitchen in that kind of shape for the host and hostess to see in the morning.  So, we all got busy cleaning.  I think we got home at 12:30 a.m., and were up again at 5:30 a.m.

And now, we are home.  After day-tripping it to Spicewood, like we weren’t elderly and didn’t have a care in the world.

And now?  I’m in my pajamas.  ThatManILove is grilling ribs.

And the interns are fueling up the vehicles and grocery shopping, in preparation for their first day of actual work in the oilpatch tomorrow.

It’s never boring around here!

*Hangover II.  Do not take your kids.  It was over the top graphic...I wish I'd not gone.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off To Work They Go!

Do you remember your first job?

Do you remember being excited about your first day of work?  I do.

Our resident engineering students, Tunde and Ted, start their first “oilfield” jobs on Monday.  (Yup, Monday.  The oilfield is 24/7, remember?)

And they are both so excited.  The last few days have been filled with drug tests, physicals, touring the yard, coveralls, steel toe boots.  (Have you ever tried to find steel toe boots in size 15?  Fun stuff!)  

Today, we’ll all hit the store to stock them up for lunches - they’ll both be working in the field - one on a frac crew, one on a cementing crew.  Then, midsummer, they’ll switch to the other discipline.

It’s going to be fun watching these two learn - they are like sponges.  I have four more engineering students that are looking for internships, so if you have anything, let me know.

We are blessed.   You will be, too.

Education in progress - it’s something to see.

More Munchkins!

It’s been crazy around here, lately.  We have one engineering intern, Tunde, living with us for the summer, and another, Ted, has been landing here from time to time.  He’ll be here Sunday and stay for a couple of weeks until he can get into the college dorms or I can find him a summer-time home.

People here in Midland are so giving, we’ll have no trouble finding him a home.  We all love helping our young people in this industry!

These guys are so funny and caring, they have already crept into our hearts...so now, we’ll gain two more munchkins.  I can’t wait to meet their parents - they must be pretty special people to have raised these two young men.

We have another engineer, Naya, that calls us her Midland mom and dad. We’ve known her for a little bit over a year.  We love that girl, she makes us laugh!  She’ll just come over and hang out, no matter what we are doing, she’s a part of it.  At Thanksgiving, her parents came in, and treated us to a “German Thanksgiving meal”.  It was a blast, and so good - and it was fun to see a part of both parents in this sweet young lady.  Her mom would laugh, and I’d think - “There’s our girl!” - and her dad would say something, and I’d think - “Hmmm...that’s where she gets that brain.”  It’s fun when you know someone and you are blessed to meet their parental units!  (It’s a good thing y’all don’t know my parents, you’d say, “Hmmm.  Was she hatched?”  It’s okay - just continue to ponder, my gentle twisted readers.)  And man, can Naya cook~she puts Emeril to shame!  She'll call and say, "I'm bringing salmon, and I'm going to cook, okay?"  

Anyway, all this activity just adds to the “it’s never boring around here” portion of our lives.

A couple of weeks ago, I thought out loud, “I’ve got to get those guitars to the shop before we go on vacation so maybe ThatManILove will take one with us.”

Yesterday, Tunde reminded me, and he grabbed them and took them to the shop for us. What a neat thing to do!  And he’s already got them back at the house, and we put one in TMIL’s arms last night.  

I would post videos of how last night turned into James Taylor/Jimmy Buffett-ville, but, no.

ThatManILove would kill me.

And He Sleeps

Conversation at 4:11 a.m. this morning.

Yes, this morning.  When I had not been asleep but for one hour of the entire night.  (Don’t ask, I couldn’t begin to tell you why.)

ThatManILove wakes up.

TMIL:  “Janie, have you slept any tonight?”

Me: “Yes, a little.”

TMIL” “Why can’t you sleep?”

Me: “I can’t turn off my mind. I have so much to get done.”

TMIL:  “Well, I can’t do this up and down thing.  I’ve woken up several times tonight and...”

Me:  “No, you have not.  You’ve been asleep since 10:30 p.m.  I know -  I’ve been laying here the entire time.   You’ve talked a lot in your sleep, but you’ve not awakened.”

TMIL:  “Well, that should tell you I’m not sleeping well.  I need my sleep.”

Me:  “Go back to sleep, honey.”

TMIL:  “ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.”

Wow.  I’m glad he got that out of his system.

Hug Someone Today

Yesterday was a weird, weird day.

Our friends’ parents were found murdered in their nice, safe, neighborhood in Odessa yesterday.  

We went and spent some time with our friends tonight.

My heart breaks for them all.  And for the parents’ dog, who is blind, and was there for the entire murder.  The dog is elderly, and severely traumatized.

Please keep them all, even the little dog, in your prayers...the family will know.

And hug someone you love today.

Life is short.

There's a Stranger In My House

On my husband’s one day off, leave it to me to take in a stray.

A stray, you say?  What, Janie, more engineering interns?

Nope.

A stray chocolate lab.  With no collar or tags.  Well kept, so I figured he belonged in the neighborhood.  Who looked grown, but who knew he was still but a pup?  Full of piss (literally) and vinegar, stout as a mule, and wanting to mount anything that moves.  Zack the Wonderdog, who, by the way told me in no uncertain terms to “rid the house of this intruder”, and Zanna the Wonderdog.  Neither of whom care to be mounted.  So we’ve had a few dog spats this afternoon, one of which was (gasp!) over me.  Zack wants this pup nowhere near his “momma”.

My dogs are not happy.

Neither is ThatManILove.

And said chocolate lab is marking everything outside.  So far, nothing inside, but I’m watching him like a hawk.

And, you know, he’s smart.  Very smart.  But he has that puppy brain right now.  The one that does something, gets chastised, stops, sit downs, pouts, and then...does it again.  And again.  Which is funny, but also sort of frustrating - especially when he’s not your dog!

So, yeah, I’m wondering, “Why did I open that door?”  And I’m not even going to write what ThatManILove is thinking...

But...he went with me and let me:

1. Go buy a crate
2. Buy flea/tick treatment
3. A collar
4. A new food bowl

 All of this was somewhat preventative, in case we have to foster this dog for  couple of days before we find his owner, but still, it’s pretty giving of TMIL.

We found out this dog can escape our outdoor professionally built kennel (and our dogs didn’t follow his lead, yeah!) and that he’s never been crated.  But he’s a quick learner.  He’s in his crate tonight, went straight to sleep, and Monday morning, we’ll take him to the vet and see if he’s microchipped.  I've posted him on Facebook and CraigsList and HomeAgain.  Hopefully, his peeps will show up and take his little rambunctious wagging butt home.

It’s never boring around here!

Anybody need a chocolate lab?

House International

I’m wiped out.  Between putting on a golf tourney, and trying to find some young petroleum engineering students summer interning positions, and my regular job, I think I need some Geritol.

Or maybe just, you know, a trip to the Bahamas?

Or a shopping trip?

A new shotgun?  (Did I tell y’all I won a rifle?  I did.  I’ll take pix of it and let you see it when I have enough energy to get my butt up off this couch and take a picture!)

A Pandora bracelet?

Or, I know!!!!  How about an old essential called sleep?

That would be it!!  Sleep!  My old friend, sleep.

I believe I’ll try that tonight.

As soon as I get the three(out of six) engineers (that decided to stay one more night) sleeping arrangements, well, arranged. (My house has become international once again - one from Kuwait, one from Nigeria, and one from the Washington, D.C.  They are all super young men, and they are so much fun!)  I've put one on this couch, one on another couch, and one in the spare bedroom. 

Then, and only then, will I be hitting the hay.  It’s almost 11 p.m.  And I’ve got yet another early morning going for Friday.  I’ll be out and about by the time you’re reading this.

Another day, another adventure.

Happy trails, y’all!

My Little Scene Stealer

Remember I had begged tried wanted been scheduled to keep little Kingston last weekend?

I did!! I got to keep the little tyke!  I was SO excited!

I had all these grandiose plans of taking millions of pictures within a three hour window and blowing his parents away with these cool, creative photos.  I got out the cowboy boots and the hat, and my favorite cowboy-themed decoupaged trunk.

And I tried, I really did.  He kept grabbing everything - which made for some really cute shots.

But me, plus a 6 month old, who has discovered he can hold a million things, including your props for his photo session?  Equals WORN OUT.

And did I tell you he is a droolbucket?  A teething wonder!


He let me dress him up for this shot.




























And dress him down for this one.

He loved laying in the sun (under the tree, of course.)

And he didn’t mind Zanna the Wonderdog giving him a facial.

And then, that was it.  As quick as you could say, "Where's my dang bottle, Janie?" Kingston ran out of good will, and got fussy.

I?  Got the bottle.  Quickly.  Before he started screaming instead of just fussing.

It was naptime.  And the little thing, who supposedly sleeps 20-30 minutes at naptime, slept 2 hours.  Oh, yes, he did.

Isn’t he beautiful?

I figured out another thing.  When taking a little boy's pictures, especially one that is 6 months old and super active, it might be good to schedule an assistant.

I need a nap.  And it's been four days since.