Christmas Tour 2008

Welcome in. Glad you could join me for a tour of my house. I am also glad this is only a photo tour and not a real tour. My house is a mess right now. This way I can crop all the photos of the mess. Just imagine my house is spotless and ready for guest.

Christmas is my favorite time of year. Partly because of the decorations. I hope you enjoy.

This is our mantel as you can tell. I love the Santa and the sleigh. My mom has mine and Jaime's stocking that grandma made for us. I got these stockings the first year we were married. Someday I will take our stockings from my mom.

I love my Christmas tree!!! At first I did not basically because I am opposed to change. Now I love it. It looks much better in my living room because it is taller. I also love that it has more lights. It so pretty!
This is just a close up of some of my ornaments. My favorite ornament is the red one that says "Jesus is the reason for the season." I got the ornament in New York at a church gift shop. It means so much to me.
I like this picture because you can see my first Christmas ornament on the upper left corner. It has my name and birthday and weight and height. It is really sweet. All the information is putt on with stickers. It is a little cheap, but it means a lot to me.
My Christmas tree from the other side. I didn't want you not to see the entire thing.
This is my favorite wreath. I got it from my friend, Dacia. It is red and green feathers with the little red ornament hanging in the middle. So cute.
These are our other stockings. Paula gave these to us and I love them. Everyone needs a Texas Tech stocking!
Just in case you couldn't tell it was a Texas Tech stocking.
This is my nativity scene. Grandma gave it to me so it means a lot to me. I love pulling it out every year and just looking at it. It really does remind me of the reason we are celebrating. It is also interesting to look a the box it comes in and the picture on the box. I have to look at the picture every year to try and figure out how to get everyone on the little wood platform it comes with. It is very tight quarters on that piece of wood.

Finally, a picture of the living room. You can see how the place is laid out. I am sure you were wondering. You can also see my little Santa Clause and Snowman. They are so cute. Basically, everything in my house is cute. I don't know any other adjectives.

Back in Action

Thanks for all the concern. I am fine now, but it was a little touch and go for awhile. Not really, but I didn't feel very good. I totally understand if you want to stop reading now and not know my complete medical history from the last week. It really isn't that interesting.

It all started last Friday. I was a little nauseous all day, but made it through the day without throwing up. That is big accomplishment for me. I hate throwing up and will do about anything to avoid it. I was fine all weekend. I never felt bad at all. On Monday I got up and went to work and I was fine till that evening. I started felling nauseous again and late in the evening I started dry heaving. It really wasn't a big deal. I went to bed and forgot all about my problems.

I had to work again Tuesday morning. Everything started fine. At about 10:30 my left side below my ribs started hurting. Darrell, one of the volunteers, was working that morning and I just figured he was causing the pain. He is pretty much a pain in my side every time he comes in. Oh, I am just kidding. Darrell is great! Soon after the pain started the nausea came and then the dry heaving. By about 11:30 I could hardly stand. I was doubled over in pain. Finally, Michael convinced me to leave. I got in the car and was headed to the doctor. I called Jaime on the way to let him know what was going on and the pain just got worse and worse while we were on the phone.

Jaime was at lunch with another attorney and didn't have his car. He finally convinced me to come and get him and he would take me to the doctor. It took me about 20 minutes to get there when it should have taken about 10 minutes. I kept having to pull over to dry heave. I was worried the one time I didn't pull over I would actually throw up in my car. That would have made the day a little bit better.

I finally made it to Jaime and he took me to a minor emergency place. They were very friendly from what I remember. I passed out from the pain in my side. Oh, I kid again. I just thought it would make the story a little more dramatic and interesting.

The gave me a cup of liquid Maalox and Ladicane (I don't know how to spell it, but it was good) for the pain. I gulped that down and the pain went away in about 10 seconds. After the pain was gone I was just nauseous. They gave me a shot for the nausea. After that I don't really remember much. It pretty much knocked me out.

I went in with a fever and and they did some blood work and other test. All the test came back fine. The doctor is not really sure what was wrong with me. I do recall him asking me if I had been on a drinking binge. I told him no and he said that was ashamed because then there would be a reason for all this. Sorry to disappoint. The doctor did put me on a liquid diet for two days. I fought Jaime tooth and nail on the liquid diet, but he held strong. As Big Mama would say, I am only a stomach bug away from my goal weight. Unfortunately, for me I am about 20 stomach bugs away from my goal weight.

I slept all afternoon on Tuesday once we were home from the doctor. I got up at 8:00am on Wednesday and thought I was fine. I was only able to stay awake for about an hour before I went back to bed. I ended up sleeping till 11:30am. Jaime brought me some lunch and I was back in bed by 1:00pm. I slept till 4:30pm. My sleep at night was not affected by all the sleeping during the day. Maybe I just needed to catch up on my sleep. I am not pregnant for those of you wondering or hoping (Ann.)

Jaime was amazing during the whole thing. He had to leave in the middle of a lunch meeting to take me the doctor. He stayed the rest of the afternoon with me and got my prescriptions filled for me. He brought me lunch on Wednesday and then stayed home the rest of the afternoon to take care of me. He has been great and hasn't complained once. I know he missed a lot of work to take care of me and I really appreciate it.

I have slowly started adding some solid foods back to my diet. I have had a few things, but not too much. I am trying to take it slow. Hopefully I will get some more rest this weekend and feel great by Monday.

Don't forget Monday is Boo Mama's Christmas tour of homes. I will have pictures of my house all decorated. I hope you do as well.

Death Averted

I have averted death and will be back soon with all the wonderful details.

Don't Go!!!

I hope he doesn't leave us. We really need him!!! Not only for his coaching, but for his quotes as well. These are the top 12 quotes by Mike Leach.

12. “Sometimes a Pirate beats a Soldier.”
- After a victory over Texas A&M

11. “At no level do I see where the Red Raider football team is responsible at all for any tortillas being thrown. We watch over them very carefully, and before they ever go on the field, we ensure that none of them have tortillas.”
- On tortilla throwing Tech fans in 2002

10. ”It’s kind of like doing surgery with a chainsaw instead of a scalpel. We had pieces and parts flying everywhere. It turned out in our favor. We’ve just got to clean it up the next time around.”
- After winning his first game (against the University of New Mexico)

9. “Nevertheless, you get my point. When you get up in the morning you need to take off running and that’s what we’re going to do at Texas Tech, and that’s why I’m excited to be a part of this program, so we can outrun all the antelopes and lions there are in this country and go on from there.”
- Upon joining the Texas Tech program

8. “If you get into a fight, don’t take your helmet off. We’re looking for smart football players, not dumb ones.”

7. “We’re going to treat (the next three games) all dramatically differently, and there will be all kinds of interesting little twists and nuances that we’ll do to each individual one to dignify it for its importance that exists in the overall scheme of the universe. There’ll be dramatic differences, and throughout the course of that deal, I’ll enjoy talking about it in length.”

6. “I know that in Ames, Iowa, they fancy themselves being experts on the wind, but in Lubbock, Texas, we’ll put our wind up against your wind in Iowa. We practice against it all the time.”
- October 13, 2002

5. “I told him to fix his helmet, which I thought was a pretty good coaching point at the time.”

4. “Some of the greatest minds in college sports have us rated about 75th, so we’re obviously not very good, and we are going to try to build on that as the season goes on.”

3. ”I don’t think so. The people are incredibly similar. They’re very friendly people here. The weather’s nicer here. The mountains are shorter here.”
- On the culture shock of moving to Lubbock after growing up in Wyoming

2. “I expect you to score.”
- To the second string offense, at the half time of the 2003 Iowa State game.

1. “The thing most people don’t understand about Bob is what a great guy he is to work for. Most head coaches love to talk. It’s just their nature. But with him, it’s not like he’s Mr. Chairman of the Board or anything. He’s unique because he’s a listener. He’s interested in what others on the staff have to offer. He taught me that. So I’ll listen — up to a point. But pretty soon, I’ll tell them all to shut up because I like to talk.”
- Quoted by the Austin American Statesmen in the run-up to the 2008 Texas Tech/Oklahoma game

Twelve Down and One to Go

We did make it to the final Tech home game last Saturday. It seems like it was a long time ago because it has been, but this is the first time I have had a chance to post about it.

It was a cold day in Lubbock. It started out really cloudy and windy. I know windy is not unusual for Lubbock. Finally, after I got dressed with two pairs of long johns on, the sun came out. I ended up taking a pair off in the car on the way to the stadium and ended up putting them back on before we went into the game. I know that is more than you wanted to know, but I was having a really hard time with my wardrobe that day.

Of course the game didn't start off very well. We looked like the team from the week before. I was hoping we would leave that team in Oklahoma. Didn't really happen that way. Finally, after two long quarters we started looking like our old self. It took awhile and it wasn't a pretty win, but I guess at least it was a win.

You will notice the 39-33 sign in the background, which is the score we beat Texas by.


Now on to Dallas. We should be playing in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on January 2nd. Of course I won't count my eggs till they hatch. I don't see any other place for us to go. No matter if Oklahoma wins or loses it doesn't really matter to us.

We have ordered our tickets to the Cotton Bowl and are hoping David and Wendee will go with us. Maybe if we twist their arm enough they will give in and go. I told Wendee at the beginning of the season that I was going to get her into college football. So far she has watched a few games on T.V. Now if I can just her to a game I will have her hooked for sure.

So Long, Fair Well

I had a great time in Lubbock. It was nice to be there for a few extra days and hang out with my peeps.

Monday I picked up Caroline from school and had the privilege of taking her to dance. My mom was a little bumbbed out because it is usually her job to pick Caroline up from school and take her to dance. We all like our alone time with Caroline when we can have her undivided attention. Having such a big family, those days are hard to come by. I made it up to mom by having Caroline call her and tell her she missed her. It made moms day. Just don’t tell her I put Caroline up to it.

I was really excited about dance. Caroline takes dance where Doneece and I took dance and Doneece is now a teacher. Of course, Doneece teaches Caroline’s class. I was a little disappointed when I found out Doneece would not be there on Monday. Something to do with school. She wouldn’t even skip school so I could see her teach Caroline’s class.

Caroline of course was the best in the class. I am not her mother so I am not bias.

After dance Ann and I took Caroline home and left Jeff in charge. He offered to take care of the kids so Ann and I could have an adult’s only meal. It was so much fun. We haven’t been able to talk like that in years. It was nice, but I wouldn’t give up the kids for anything.

I told Ann we were taking a picture and she argued with me. I argued back that we were doing it like it or not because I don’t have any recent pictures of us. After all that I forgot about the picture until I had changed into my comfy clothes. Too late.

Yesterday I picked Caroline up and we went straight to KFC at 10:30am. That is her favorite place to eat right now so we waited for 30 minutes until they opened. We went back to the house and Ann joined us for lunch. Just the girls for a little lunch.

After lunch we made it to the mall with Doneece. Caroline was a doll and didn’t ask me to buy her one thing. Doneece on the other hand did. She got an early Christmas present which is fine by me, one less thing I have to wrap. I was able to get some of my Christmas shopping done while we were there.

Ice Cream was next. We headed to Baskin’ Robbins which is my favorite. I was so excited that they had pink bubble gum. It is my favorite flavor and it is hard to find it in the winter. The people at Baskin’ Robbins have decided that it should be a summer flavor. Really? Who only eats bubble gum in the summer? Caroline and I had our ice cream and were very happy. Caroline was so happy that she fell asleep in the car on the way home.

She got about a 30-minute nap while I finished packing. Mom came and got us and we went to the airport. Caroline fell back asleep on the way to the airport. I tired keeping her awake so she would go to bed at a decent our. That child has enough problems going to bed at night; she doesn’t need late and long naps to help her out. Sorry Ann if she didn’t go to bed till late.

I do have one John story for you. He is always the first to tell you hello when you walk in the door. I walk in and he says, "Hi Robin." I tell him "Hi John." Next he ask me "Where's Jaime?" He actually doesn't say Jaime. He uses Jaime's real name. I tell him he is at work and he continues to ask me until I leave. He really loves his Jaime. This is him asking me "Where's Jaime?"

Bye Lubbock. Back to San Antonio and life. I have a lot of little things to get done today and back to work tomorrow.

Change of Plans

There have been many change of plans and there may be more to come. It all started last week.

Jaime had to fly to Oklahoma City for work on Sunday and I had to fly home to work on Monday. That all changed when my work day got moved from Monday to Friday. No problem. I decided to stay in Lubbock instead of going home to an empty house. I was suppose to fly home Monday evening and actually meet Jaime and Dallas and fly the rest of the way home with him.

That all changed when I got to Lubbock and Ann asked me to stay until Tuesday. Caroline gets out of school at 10:30am on Tuesday. What a waste, why even go to school? Everyone had a full schedule so I agreed to stay and hang out with Caroline today.

Since I have been here I have had lots to do. You know what that means? Good blog material. The only problem is the internet is a little faulty. I can type everything up and then I go to download the pictures and all of the sudden my plans change. You can't have a blog without pictures, except today.

I have some super cute pictures and some cute stories to go along, but that really isn't working out for me. Maybe tomorrow I can share a few with you. Happy Tuesday!