Just Call Me The Gutless Wonder... I Didn't Get Inside

Yes, it's true. I am a Gutless Wonder. But, I have an excuse... the dog ate my homework. No, really, it was 106 degrees in the shade when the party started. If you've been reading my blog, you probably know what happens to me in the heat. Thankfully, there were clouds & lots of trees to save me from Heat Induced Tourrett's Syndrome, which we all know I suffer from. Of course, I got plenty of pictures of the party outside, but when it came down to pulling some kind of stunt to get inside, I just couldn't muster up the nerve. Okay, I'll admit I did try a couple of doors when no one was looking, but they were locked. Honestly, I needed to have a partner-in-crime and a few more cocktails, so I wasn't as bold as I could have been. The garages were all closed as well and the front door had a sign that directed you to the Port-A-Pottys if needing a restroom. God Forbid I should ever resort to that... I live down the street. So, I failed in my promise to produce pictures of the interior of the house because it was apparently under Lock Down.

The party was grand, the food was delicious and the country band was absolutely the best local talent I've heard in ages (but, don't go by me... I don't get out much). There was an acoustic guitar player, a bass and three girls who sang & played fiddle like nothing I've ever heard before. They were so talented and really entertaining.




We saw lots of people we hadn't seen in awhile, but I think the majority of the crowd were employees of The Lord of the Manor (formerly the Alien). There were tons of children running around enjoying a station where they made cotton candy, another where a man made animals from balloons, another where they had face painting, and then three large jumping thingys for kids. I have no idea what they're called, but here is a picture.


The food was catered by a local barbecue establishment (considered by many to be the cadillac of barbecue joints in our neck of the woods) and they served a mean brisket, Polish sausage, a mean barbecue sauce, potato salad, cole slaw, bread. You know, the standard barbecue fare. Mr. Snooty was greatly disappointed that they didn't have peach cobbler this year. Instead, they created a delightful station of fresh fruit, although I didn't see many takers on that offering. I partook and enjoyed it thoroughly. The strawberries were so sweet they almost hurt your mouth. The same went for the melons & pineapple & grapes. I liked it very much & wish that I had been able to sneak some home. Because now I'm hungry again. Which is so typical. I seem to always spend too much time talking at parties. Then, a little while after I get home, I wish I'd shut up & eaten when I had the opportunity.










One of the highlights of my evening was getting to hold our best friends' (our Galveston friends) newest grandchild. Their daughter works for The Lord of the Manor and loves working for him. Anyway, is this not a totally precious little princess? I danced with her for a while & she was a perfect little lamb. And she smelled like sheer Heaven. I wanted to keep her & take her home but her Mommy wasn't about to let that happen. Oh well. I did offer my babysitting services and the Mommy's eyes lit up, so maybe she will let me keep the little darling sometime soon. Talk about a little angel.



Here's a picture of the band, I cannot begin to tell you how great they were. They played Texas Swing (like Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys) and those three girls that sang & played fiddle were simply amazing.

This is a picture of a friend I like, that we ran into at the party.

Then, Mr. Snooty decided to take a picture of me (when I was finished with going around trying doors, lol) in their Gazebo. I asked him if he would please remind me to suck it in next time, as in hold my big belly in. He replied with "What belly?" God, I love that man. In case anyone is wondering why I have on long sleeves... it's because of my saggy upper arms. I've tried lifting weights & doing girly push-ups but I inherited these floppy arms from The Brown Recluse. See picture.

I'd say there were around 250 to 300 people there. It was very festive and we had so much fun that it was difficult to leave. But, Mr. Snooty did stay up past his normal bedtime of 8:30 PM... all the way until 9:00 PM. So, I had a great time & got to stay 30 minutes longer than normal.

Actually, I would have stayed longer if there had been someone there I could have stayed & visited with. Even though the party went on until about 10:30, most of the people we knew were gone by the time we were leaving. So, we came home and I sat on the front porch and listened to the music until they were done. The sun had finally gone down and the West Texas breeze kicked in and it felt good. Until the first mosquito bite. At which point I wisely chose to retreat to the air-conditioned comfort of my home. To treat my bites before I scratched them. I'm just such a nature girl these days.

Sometimes the things we do come back to bite us in the proverbial derriere...

I raised two very resourceful children and I just feel so proud of them both.


The DU called from sunny southern California today to see how things are going with us, what we were doing and also to say how excited she is that we're coming to visit.

"We're just slugging since I still can't play golf due to the Torture Track mishap. What are you up to?" I asked.

"Just finished a soccer game & now I'm chilling" said she. "What did you guys do last night?"

"Oh, Puhleease! As if you have to ask. Dad fixed dinner & was in bed at 8:30 p.m., as usual. I stayed up until 2:00 in the morning, as usual. No new surprises here. What did you do?"

"Well, my roommate & I are both broke after buying new furniture for our new apartment."

"Soooo... you didn't go out then?" I asked. Which would REALLY be something new.

"Well, actually we did go out but had to spend some time coming up with a feasible plan for getting free drinks, since we're both broke. So, the first bar we went to we pretended it was my 21st birthday. Everyone was so nice & bought us all our drinks" she answers.

"Oh, that's nice... WAIT A MINUTE! You did WHAT?" I ask with a bit too much shrill in my voice.

"The first bar we went to we pretended it was my birthday so MC went around telling everyone it was my 21st birthday, and everyone was buying us drinks. Then, the next club we went to it was MC's turn to be the happy birthday girl and we got the same reaction from the other clubbers. We never paid for a thing. It was a great night!"

So I'm thinking to myself Hmmm...

"And you're proud of this, are you?" I ask.

"Hell Yeah!" she replies. "I had a great teacher, MOM."

"I have no idea what you mean by that remark" says I, rather haughtily.

"Oh pleease, like you don't know what I'm talking about" she says accusingly.

"Remember the last time we went skiing together and you lost your cash when you wiped out?" she asked.

"I'm not sure I do. Enlighten me, please" I say.

"As I recall we had lobster dinners & drinks with some people you met in the bar and told them it was your 40th birthday and that your husband refused to come with you so you brought your daughter who had recently turned 21. Remember that?" she asked.

"Vaguely" I lied. We'd had a blast that night. We were just a mother & her daughter enjoying a little evening of larceny together as a family, I think to myself. Aaaaargh!

"Right Mom, okay... whatever" she said with a tone in her voice that definitely smacked of sarcasm. (Where could she have ever learned that? Really, it's a mystery.)

"Oh yeah! We did wind up having fun that night didn't we?" I admitted with reluctance. "I'm not sure that I exactly meant for you to mirror my behavior that evening" I claimed. "It was rather an emergency, you know" I argued.

"Get over it Mom. You raised me to be a resourceful girl, just like you. You should be proud" she claims.


Oh yeah, I'm so proud I'm just busting out all over in goose bumps with the sheer delight of my pride. Not.

She must have learned this kind of behavior at the University of Texas... part of her degree. Yeah, that's it... it was part of her degree apparently, see? She never, never ever saw this sort of thing at home. It must have been school.



The moral to this conversation is: No matter what age your children are, you still have to be careful of what you do & say... Because THEY WILL COPY YOUR BEHAVIOR, at any age, unfortunately. Oyyyyyyyyy...