Les is More

Have a great day.

-Les Miles

I Fret Not

Well, welcome to fall.  It's rather delicious outside this morning.

I know you can't stand it any longer, so I'll forgo any additional pleasantries & tell you what you want to know.

Yes, I finished reading When the Elephants Dance before my book club meeting last Thursday night.  Actually, I had about ten pages left when I sauntered into the Cracker Barrel Thursday evening, but I knew enough to contribute to the discussion at what turned out to be our smallest book club gathering yet.  There were only three of us, but we had a lovely time, & honestly, I think we each deserve a trophy or something for having read the book, which I shall discuss in greater depth soon.  

I wish I had more good news to share, but alas, at present I know as much as you do about the results of Henry's blood work I told you about last week.  I guess in the age of Obamacare, "results will take four to six weeks," is translated, "results will take at least eight weeks."  I'm sure it's explained in some English to Obamacare manual right after, "If you like your plan, you can keep it."  Apparently before sending off blood samples for the detection of autoimmune antibodies, the good folks at UMMC (University of Mississippi Medical Center) Pediatric Research wait until a sufficient number of samples have been collected & then ship them off en masse.  Henry's sample was one of the first taken in a new shipping cycle, & so I got a call last week informing me that results would take another two weeks.

The good thing about having two young kids is that you don't have a lot of time to obsessively worry about them because, well, you have two young kids.  So, I begin another week of waiting to hear about the blood test.  I am sure it will busily fly by in a tired whir of diapers, tantrums, sweet hugs, & stolen moments during which I delve into fiction.  I should tell you that I have one of my birds to keep me company this week.  Soon after posting last week's blog, I headed over to World Market's website to order my bird prints.  Sadly, instead of the option to "Add to Cart," I was confronted with the dreaded "Unavailable Online" notation.  I immediately texted my go-to big city shopper, Jessica, to inquire about any plans she had to visit one of the many World Market stores in the DFW area.

About an hour later, I received a phone call from Jessica; she was speaking to me on location inside World Market with the news that only one of the prints was available in the store.  This story does end well, however.  Jessica & co. came to visit over the weekend, bringing with them my one bird print, which (I think) looks fantastic.  Additionally, Jessica was informed by the World Market salesgirl that the set of all three prints should be available online again in the near future . . . so now I can add "stalk World Market's website" to my list of highly anticipated fall activities.

I realize I've been throwing around the phrase "new furniture" a lot on the blog, & you've yet to actually see any of it, so here is the china cabinet, complete with my lone bird perched atop:

I may've mentioned before that I have an oddly strong fondness for distressed antique white furniture.  I continue my quest to discover the answer to the age old question, "How many pieces of distressed antique white furniture is too many?"  

In regard to the cabinet, I'd like to stress that when it comes to the knick knacks up top, I have not yet begun to decorate.  It's a work in progress, a work that begins with one small bird (& two candlesticks & some fake corn).  I have a loose deadline for decor completion, as the book club is meeting at my house at some point in December to discuss Pride & Prejudice.  So, I have roughly two months to secure two more bird prints & figure out what other pieces will pay the birds the ultimate compliment.  

In addition to not having a lot of time to obsessively fret over your kids because of said kids, you also don't get to sit still & watch much college football, which can sometimes be a blessing.  Oh, where to begin?  I feel kind of meh over LSU's loss.  I mean, at the beginning of last week, half the teams in the Top Ten were SEC Western division teams (Alabama, Auburn, A&M, LSU, & Ole Miss).  That is a set-up for some serious carnage.  LSU's loss to Mississippi State was dubbed a "shocker" by the media, who stopped talking about Jameis Winston long enough to note that LSU lost in a "shocker."  I wasn't all that shocked.  I knew LSU was overrated sitting at No. 8, & I knew Mississippi State was likely flying a bit under the radar, which can happen when your division includes Alabama, Auburn, Texas A&M, etc.  I think Mississippi State may "shock" a few other teams as the season unfolds.    

When you play in the SEC, you have to prove your worth in September, & in October, & in November, rather than being put to the test in January after spending a restful fall playing few, if any, ranked teams & skating through your conference title game, assuming of course your conference has a title game . . . assuming of course you play in a conference (looking at you, Irish).  I think at present every team in the SEC West is ranked with the exception of Arkansas (this is me, refraining from inserting an AR joke, because goodness knows even the best LSU team can find a way to lose to AR).

So, Saturday didn't go as I might've hoped.  Obviously I was hopeful LSU would defeat Mississippi State, but in my gut there was an ominous feeling about the game (likely similar to the feeling that will plague me come Thanksgiving when I eat too much & then watch LSU play Texas A&M . . . indigestion, what a fantastic new holiday tradition).  I was hoping Clemson would upset Florida State, & I was hoping Washington State would upset Oregon.  I was also hoping to not see Jameis Winston's face as often as I did, but the day just didn't go my way where football was concerned.  What softened the blow tremendously was crawling in bed Saturday night knowing Silver Linings Playbook is currently offered on Netflix.  

I know what you're wondering.  You're wondering if I was hoping West Virginia would upset Oklahoma.  A funny thing happened Saturday.  I have a friend who grew up in Oklahoma.  I like her.  She's a reader, a thinker, & a coffee drinker.  I shared a meal with her & another friend last Thursday night, & it was time well spent.  We ate, we drank coffee, & we talked about books.  It was glorious.  On Saturday, as I was gearing up to cheer for the West Virginia Mountaineers (& cast a voodoo spell or two on Bob Stoops), my friend came to mind.  You can tell she loves Oklahoma, & I don't just mean the Sooners.  She loves the place, the land, the people; it's genuine & it's refreshing, as is she.  In what has to be a maddening situation, she finds herself living far from Oklahoma, surrounded by a crazed SEC mob.  What I haven't told you is that she's married to a Texas fan - - Texas, as in Austin, orange & white, horns, the whole ordeal.  With all this running through my mind, I found myself not giving Bob Stoops the evil eye Saturday.  While I didn't watch every down of the game, I didn't obsessively check Twitter in the hopes of seeing an upset alert from Sports Center either.  This is friendship, y'all.  I think I am growing as a person.  

I mentioned that Jessica & her crew came to town over the weekend, & this necessitated a trip to Nana & Papa's Saturday afternoon.  Here's a snippet of what was going on Saturday in lieu of me sitting on the couch watching football all day:

Well, this feels like an ending to me.  I have some things I need to grade, though what I'm likely about to do is make today's third cup of coffee & read Wool, a book by Hugh Howey that my dad recommended.  They just don't pay me enough for me to grade with any sense of urgency, particularly when there are so many things I want to read at the moment.  I realize I've yet to expound on When the Elephants Dance, but please, don't you fret.  I need to let it sit & simmer awhile, so stay tuned.  

Those of you who're locals, enjoy this week's cooler temps.  Rumor has it the morning lows may dip into the fifties.  Now if you'll excuse me, I have boots & scarves to dig out of my closet, & a website to stalk.  

AZ

The Football Purge

Welcome to September, & Happy New Year!

My year begins now.  I just began another year of teaching, & of course, last Thursday evening the 2014 college football season commenced with considerable flair provided by Tim Tebow & his lavender suit.

I don't spring clean.  I don't summer clean.  Spring & summer are endless seasons filled with mundane happenings & weather that denies me the opportunity to wear turtlenecks & boots & scarves.  For months & months I feel that I have so much time to do what needs to be done, which of course means I delay, delay, delay.

Now is when things start to happen.  The football.  The elections.  The boot-wearing weather (okay not now, but soon).  The release of films adapted from young adult book series.  The holidays & the ensuing food that makes you contemplate breaking out a pair of maternity pants like Joey.  It's an avalanche of awesome.

Inevitably, every year I wait & wait, & then, the week before college football begins, I decide it's time to clean out closets & get the house in shape so I am mentally free to guiltlessly watch hour after hour of college football every Saturday for the next four months.  After enjoying the lavender suit, the South Carolina/A&M game, & a few minutes of the Ole Miss game Thursday night, I spent a large part of Friday digging through all of the stuff we have & deciding what needed to go.  After my day of digging, I didn't plan on going anywhere Friday night, but then my dad called & the grandparents were eating dinner at Newk's, so I stripped us all out of our pajamas, threw a hat on, & we were on the way.

So you don't think I am loosely, metaphorically using the phrase "threw a hat on" - -

Reagan wanted me to take a picture because she thought the hat was so funny.  Oh to be three & equate unwashed hair with hilarity. 

  

Now, before I continue, I know what you're wondering.  How, Anna, are you watching college football with no cable?  While I am usually forthright with you, all you need to know is that I am indeed watching college football this season, Trey remains convinced he still has the upper hand in his ongoing war with Comcast, & Trey & I will happily celebrate five years of marriage this October.  Isn't that what matters in the end?  A stable, happy marriage?  I think so.

So, the digging & purging.  You know what is quite the emotional experience for a mother?  Going through your kids' clothes.  The promise of more drawer space & better organized closets is so enticing, but when you're in the thick of it, weeping into the tiny pants they'll never wear again, it's not as rewarding an experience as it first seemed.  The first year is the hardest, too.  They wear a size for such a short time they don't even get the opportunity to thoroughly stain every item (at least this is how it's worked for my kids, who will likely both tower over me one day . . . & I am not short).  Henry's closet had basically become a shrine to his former, tinier self (it was not unlike my closet back in May before I  dropped fifteen pounds).

Alas, I persevered.  By the time the sun rose this past Saturday, the kids' clothes had been (somewhat) culled.  The floors had been mopped.  The stove had been cleaned (fyi: even if you don't use it, a stove can still accumulate a nasty layer of dust).  My Facebook feed had, for weeks, been inundated with various inspirational LSU videos.  Tebow had worn a lavender suit on national television, which I like to think was a subliminal shout-out to the Tiger nation, whom he now regrets taunting at times during his years as a Florida Gator.  Or maybe the lavender suit was meant to send a not-so-subliminal message like, I am so good-looking I can wear a lavender suit & still look better than these other yahoos.  Who knows.

At long last, after months of nothingness, College Gameday & Kirk & his sensible suit returned Saturday morning, & I have to say, I think my coffee actually tasted better.  I made my second cup during an extended segment Gameday ran on Nick Saban & his new offensive coordinator, Lane Kiffin.  Oh my word.  I think it was titled, "The Odd Couple."  You can do better, Gameday.  

Just look at them behind the desk in their suits, ushering in the first season of college football in the post-BCS era.  It's a beautiful sight.

A few random thoughts:

*Since they were playing Alabama, I set aside the animosity I'll likely always feel toward the people of West Virginia for their repeated reelection of the (now deceased) former KKK member, Robert Byrd, to the United States Senate & cheered heartily for West Virginia, unranked West Virginia, who could have beaten Alabama.

*The commentating suits Mack Brown.  I am happy to see him off the sidelines.  On that note, I know that one day, sooner than I'd like, Steve Spurrier will throw his visor for the last time & perhaps take a seat behind the commentating desk, & I will be sad.  I've just always loved Spurrier, & when he hangs up the visor, I will miss him coaching the same way I miss seeing Jim Tressel on the sidelines in his sweater vest.  I have no love for Ohio State, but you can't help but like a man who coaches football in a sweater vest.

*It needs to be said that while SEC football players may be notorious for their defenses, & their arrests, & their often thuggish behavior, at least these young men aren't inventing stories about rescuing a drowning nephew, or tweeting (& then deleting) nonsensical comments likening their coach to a slave owner.  I'm not pointing any fingers, but I am looking at you, USC.  Between USC's drama & Lane Kiffin running Alabama's offense, this football season is off to a promising start.

*Ah, LSU.  I think it's going to be a long year (& by long I mean I'm picturing frustrating, hair-pulling disappointment), but right now, you're undefeated, & hey, you don't have Georgia on the regular season schedule this year, so that's another plus.  Geaux Tigers!

Despite the cleaning & the mopping & the purging I did in preparation for Saturday, by the time LSU kicked off at eight o'clock Saturday night, the house was a mess.  I have a vision in my mind of sitting on my couch sipping hot coffee, a roaring fire to my left & an LSU team led by a capable, intelligent, consistently fabulous quarterback flickering on the television to my right.  In this vision, I am covered from head to toe in all manner of winter clothing, my recently vacuumed rugs are the only thing on the floor of my home, & the smell of something wonderful I'm cooking in the crock pot is wafting through the house.  I realize there are about eight things wrong with those last two sentences.

In closing, thank you for the kind words you offered, on Facebook & in person, after last week's post in which I whine about the publishing industry.  Your comments have ranged from, "I really enjoyed reading your book," to, "You wrote a book?"  Either way, I appreciate your feedback, especially those of you who either genuinely enjoy reading what I write, or are incredible amateur actors.

I am toying with the idea of entering Dear Miss Moreau in a contest for unpublished authors that I recently discovered thanks to my new habit of spending too much time on Twitter.  A stipulation of the contest is that all novels entered are unpublished.  Technically, posting a novel on a blog might be construed as publishing the novel, since, once posted, it is copyrighted.  Many consider a novel to be self-published only when the author makes it available for a price, which I haven't done.  Why do you care?  You may not, but this is a notice to anyone who wants to read it & has not yet done so that in about a month, I may be removing it from the blog.  I'm not 100% on this, but it's a possibility.  Eventually, I will likely self-publish it through Amazon, at which time it will cost you a whopping $3.99.  So please, don't panic, unlike the ridiculous BCS system of yesteryear, it's not going away forever.

AZ

Today

You know what today is, right?

Flashback

Today, the undefeated, #1 ranked LSU Tigers play Kentucky.  In the fall of 2007, the Tigers found themselves in the same situation.  Trey & I watched the beginning of the game at Chili's with a few friends before we all attended Trey's 10 year high school reunion (& missed most of the game).

LSU's quarterback at the time was a young man named Matt Flynn.  As we sat in Chili's watching the game, he threw an interception, which prompted me to say, somewhat loudly (in Chili's), sh*t.  It is an incident others ('others' meaning Trey) occasionally bring up in conversation, which I suppose I will take as a compliment considering it is only memorable because I rarely curse.  I am confessing now, before Trey or anyone else has a chance to remind me today.

Game Day Lessons

A quick rundown of Reagan's first Game Day.

Backing up a bit, Friday night Reagan slept in her LSU pajamas, which she proceeded to poop all over Saturday morning.  Holding Reagan's legs while I cleaned up the mess, Trey commented that he hoped it wasn't a sign of things to come.  It was, at least where my day was concerned, because Reagan later pooped all over the LSU onesie that replaced the LSU pajamas.

The Wait is Almost Over

Yesterday afternoon, I got in my car & the temp read 88 degrees.  Last night, I saw Pete Carroll on TV looking cocky as ever.  It's almost time, & we are prepared.

My mom gave me these shoes last May right after Trey & I announced I was pregnant.  She later admitted she bought them when Trey & I were engaged.