game day dress

My new Game-Day Dress!!!

I have held a grudge against the entire city of Lubbock since the Summer of 1990. That is a long time to hold a grudge. But, considering the fact that I was 6 years old at the time, this grudge must have been caused by something fairly significant.

Let me tell you, it was.

My family visited friends in Lubbock in 1990 and I came away with the chicken pox!  We had just embarked on a 2 week vacation/trip to South Dakota for a family reunion. On about Day 11 of the trip [and Day 1of the drive home] I showed the first signs of chicken pox. My parents were clued in when we went down to swim in the heated, indoor swimming pool at our hotel in Colorado. I was soooooo excited about an indoor swimming pool [any swimming pool gets me excited to this day] but the moment my little foot [it was little back then] touched the water I began to shiver.

I remember it like it was yesterday. I sat on the concrete steps, halfway submerged in the water, shaking and shivering while I watched Emily use Dad as a human jungle gym. I remember the surprised faces of my Grandparents when Mom and I met them in the elevator. They were coming down to watch us swim; they got to see Emily. I remember crying as Mom took my tell-tale temperature to determine what she highly suspected. I remember being sad that Mom had to miss out of the heated, indoor swimming pool because her 6-year-old daughter couldn't be in the hotel room by herself nor blow-dry her own 18" long hair. I remember the long & torturous 3 day drive back home. I remember Dad showing me how to wipe my tears away with the edge of my pillow case so as not to touch the pox nor make it hurt. I remember that Emily didn't come down with the awful pox until after we got home. I remember the oatmeal baths; probably the best part of dealing with chicken pox.

Yep, I remember it like yesterday. It's crazy to me that I can remember something that happened over 20 years ago when, on most days, I can barely remember what I ate for breakfast.  Needless to say, when I was approached with the idea of traveling to Lubbock for the Texas A&M vs. Texas Tech game I had a tiny little panic attack.  I am happy to say, though, that I made it there and back and only contracted a dry nose.

With that said, welcome to Midland/Odessa [& Lubbock]!  Last weekend, Jeff and I went to Midland & Lubbock for fun, football, & flying machines.

fun.

We got to have a fairly lazy day with Jeff's brother and SIL on Friday.  We even carved pumpkins!  I have never seen white pumpkins or squatty pumpkins such as these.  The squatty ones were called 'Cinderella Pumpkins' and I briefly entertained the idea of carving out a carriage.  Unfortunately they were a little pricey.  But they were pretty!!!

It was a true test of patience to find 4 'undamaged' pumpkins!

I went with a 'Carving in the Round', if you will.  It looked really pretty in person; I carved 5-petaled flowers into the face of the entire pumpkin.  Did you know that the more you carve away from a pumpkin the faster it deteriorates and looks poopey?  Mine looked very pitiful the next morning and practically dead by the day that we left.  Definitely not front porch material.  Lesson learned.

The completed line-up: Kevin, Me, Jeff, Liz

football.

We traveled to Lubbock [insert big breath] on Saturday for the big game.  I am happy to report that my attitude towards Lubbock has shifted drastically and, aside from a few obnoxious individuals that I encountered that day, I think it is a really nice place.  They recently had a new press box built-it is huge and really nice!

A beautiful sunset!  I understand that Lubbock sees a lot of these.

Towards the beginning of the game, I asked Jeff if we could take a picture.  He obliged and this is what I got:

He promised that we would take a real one before the game was over but preferably during a time-out or half-time.  But then this happened:

This score reflects the score prior to the end.  Final score: TAMU 45 TTU 40

So, I didn't get a better picture :(  We knew that one of us would walk away unhappy that day.  I just don't think he thought it would be him.

Oh, and do you like my new 'Howdy' Dress?!  Mom got it finished just as the last zipper was pulled shut on my suitcase.  I love it!  It fit perfectly and was so comfortable.  I also had her put accents of hounds tooth.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do next year when TAMU joins Alabama in the SEC?!?!?

flying machines.

We went to an airshow at the Midland/Odessa airport on Sunday.  This was my first airshow and I really enjoyed it!  Kevin's company was one of the main sponsors of the event so we had VIP parking, seating, eating, and port-a-potties.  Yes, there is such thing as VIP port-a-potties.  They are the kind on wheels and have air-conditioning.  I was very pleased.

I wish that I could tell you what all of these planes are and what they are doing.  But I can't.  I could describe them to you but I think you can do that on your own just by looking at the pictures.

B-1 Bomber.

I can tell you a little bit about this one.  This picture here shows the opened under-body of the B-1 Bomber.  I was informed that these chambers carry and drop the bombs.  I also learned that it travels faster than the speed of sound.  And they aren't kidding!  It passed in front of us about 4 times.  It would already be past us before you could hear it.  But when the sound did get there, whoa!  You better hold on to your ears!

Look at the size of the wing compared to the people!

B-1 Bomber

B-1 Bomber

 B-2 Bomber

Our own flying machine.  Look how little!!!  Actually, it held one more row of passengers than the Express Jets that I am accustomed to.  BUT!!!  Do you see the propellers?!?!  Out seats were right by them.  Thankfully they both turned properly and we made it back home safely and sans chicken pox!