Texas, My Texas

Texas Monthly recently released their 2005 special publication of "How to be Texan". Even though it's been hotter'n a goat's behind in a pepper patch lately (save the past couple of days) and I hate the heat, I have recently been thinking about all the things I love (or have loved) about Texas. Most of these are personal to me.....probably wouldn't make the Texas Monthly list. Here are a few (in no particular order):

1) Lakes- some of my favorite memories of my teenage years were spent on Texas lakes with friends, family, or both. Horseshoe Bay, Lake Brownwood, PK, and some other lake that I used to go to with Staci Sessom..... can't remember the name. Good times.

2) Big Red mixed with Dr. Pepper and calling it "Coke"-Don't really know if mixing sodas is a "Texas" thing, but back in high school I always mixed Big Red and Dr. Pepper together, so it's Texan to me. In Texas, however, we always call a soda "coke". It can be Coke, Dr. Pepper, Diet Coke, Sprite, Pepsi......it's all "Coke". Mmmmmm....I'm thirsty.

3) Taco Bueno- while there are a few in OK and KS, this is a Texas place. In fact, the first one opened in 1967 in Abilene, Tx on South 1st Street. My dad worked there. I have Bueno memories as far back as 7 years old. My mom used to take us there when we were younger at the one on the "Hill." We would play Galaga, Donkey Kong, and QBert until our eyes crossed. Brady would ONLY eat plain, dry tortillas. Today, his palate has become more sophisticated and he will eat the tortilla AND meat AND cheese ONLY. Lindsay would ride on the 3-horse musical quarter carrousel until the mechanical horses collapsed. As a teenager, Bueno was THE hang-out!! If you wanted to be cool, appear cool, or find someone cool, you had to go to the Bueno on Buffalo Gap Rd. And, you NEVER went in- you ONLY hung out in the parking lot. The only thing I hate about Bueno now is their "new image."

4) Country roads- I love to find a good "drive" on a great FM road. There is nothing prettier in Texas than driving by a green field on a cloudy day with a little bit of sunshine way up above the clouds. I love how the bright green meets the dark blue and shines. Picture perfect. The only thing better is driving through the hill country in the spring when the bluebonnets have bloomed.

5) Summer nights in Lubbock- Most of my fondest memories are of summer nights in Lubbock. It would be so hot in Lubbock during the day that the trees were bribin' the dogs, but not at night. It was like the desert. It always cooled down to at least the 80s (brrr!) and it was so wonderful to go sit on a porch somewhere or drive with your windows down and just enjoy the weather.

6) Joe Allen steaks, with Cagle Steaks being a close second- Joe Allen's only wins because they served both Big Red AND Dr. Pepper.

7) Football- High school and college, only, though. NFL can't compare. I love everything about it. Day games, night games, regular games, playoff games, hot games, cold games, tailgating, hot chocolate, bands, big stadiums, small fields, long passes, long runs, sacks.

8) Waving-This goes hand in hand with number 4. People in Texas wave when they drive past. They are friendly with no strings attached. They don't have to know you; they just wave.

9) Texasisms- We have our own language and we're proud of it. Of course there are the obvious ones, "y'all", "fixin' to", and "howdy", but there are also the sayings. Here are a few examples:

Sweeping through the south like a tornado through a trailer park
It's shaky like cafeteria jello
He swept the south like a big wheel through a cotton field
It's so tight, you can't get a cigarette paper between them
For him to win it would be like trying to scratch his ear with his elbow
Hold on to your drawers
They are jumping out of their seat like they had been stabbed with a hat pin
He'll be madder than a rained on rooster
Close only counts with horseshoes and hand grenades

10) the movie "Dancer, Texas pop. 81" It's great. Rent it.

Anybody got anything else to add?

I learned something new today!!!

I learned how to upload a picture on this thing!! I think. I haven't tried to publish this yet.....let me give it a shot! Here is a cute picture of Landry.

Spooky or Funny?

The last house we lived in in Abilene was previously owned by an elderly lady named Imogene (not exactly sure this is how she spelled it, but for the sake of the story I'm going with 'Imogene'). She passed away and we bought the house from her kids. From what I know about her, she was a lovely lady.

Throughout our time in this house, 'strange' things would happen. Lights would suddenly come on/turn off, doors would slowly creak open, banging noises would come from the attic, etc. (As a side note, this house was lovely, but was always in need of foundation repairs). It was a running joke in our family that when things like this would happen that it was Imogene messing with us.

"Why is this door open?"......."Imogene's walking around the upstairs again, I guess.".......you get the picture.

So, my husband, my daughter and I built a house and moved in this past April. Since our move, our ironing board has been in our garage. (It's mid-July now....don't iron that much!) I brought the ironing board in the other day to press some clothes and it was really dusty, so I took off the pad to clean it. AND, underneath the pad of the ironing board was a little white card, like the kind of card you would put on a gift to someone. The only word on the little card was "Imogene."

I grinned. I called my mom and we had a good laugh. Imogene apparently wants to follow us wherever we go!

President

Occasionally, I lose creativity in explaining to Landry why she should do something. Last night was one of those times. After we finished our gourmet McDonald's and were getting in the car she asked why she had to be buckled in her car seat. The answers "because it's safe" and "because it's the law" apparently were not acceptable to her, so I resorted to the old stand-by of "because I said so". "Why do you say so?", she asks. "Because I'm the boss", I replied.

Landry then asked who was the boss of me. I said Gigi. Then, she asked who was the boss of Gigi. I replied with "the President." This seemed to satisfy her for a while and we drove silently for a few seconds. Then, a couple of minutes later she asked, "Mommy, how can I make me President?".......ah, the rationale of a three-year-old!!

Speaking of the President, a lot has been made recently of the Northwestern University girls lacrosse team's recent visit to the White House to meet the President. In a published picture, most of the girls are wearing flip-flops. While they all have on "presentable and appropriate" (per the 'experts' quoted on TV and newspapers) skirts and tops or dresses, they are wearing either flip-flop sandals or strappy (open-toed/heeled) sandals. Some people have made such a big deal of this; considering it disrespectful and a faux pas. My response is "BIG FAT HAIRY DEAL"!! Who cares? This is the girls lacrosse team......not the high society debutantes. These girls were probably so excited to be invited to the White House. They didn't intend to pick out clothes that were inappropriate or "controversial". To them, they were dressed up.

I think that unless they had been instructed to wear close-toed pumps, panty hose, tea length skirts, sleeved jackets, pearls, and a pill box hat then what they chose to wear was appropriate.

Their respectfulness should have been judged more by how they treated the White House staff, etc during their visit then what they wore on their feet.

Can't See the City

I don't necessarily consider myself a "country girl", but there are many things I miss living here in the Metro-mess as opposed to West Texas. One of those things is just looking out onto a field or prairie for miles and miles and not seeing anything else.

My three-year-old, however, doesn't share the same enthusiasm as I do for looking out into the horizon for as far as the eye can see. A few days ago, we were driving down a two-lane FM road near our house. It's the only bit of "country" that I know of near where we live (however, it is soon going to be developed into new sub-divisions and retail property). Anyway, she was looking out of her window and said (to I'm not sure who), "MOVE GRASS! MOVE TREES! You're in the way! I can't see the city!" :(