Wordless Wednesday - somewhere in Pennsylvania

Catching Up is Hard To Do...

I am so humbled. I got about a million awards and linky linky love from Meg Ryan's Mom and some kind of awesome linky linky love from Stu Pidasso (say it really quick). I can’t believe it.

I can’t believe I’m so flippin’ busy at work and with the Wonder Dog and Wonder Pup that I can’t take time to put all the little award icons on my blog right now. I certainly do not deserve any of those awards, as bad as I am at posting consistently. So, I’m going to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH I AM MUCHLY HONORED and let it roll from there. So here’s a big ol’ West Texas Mmmmmmmuuuuuuuuuuahhhhhhhhh from me! And, love and lickies from The Zack Meister and Zanna Montana, to boot! (You know they gotta love that.)

You guys so rock.

Please take the time to go check our their blogs, they really are great, and I love reading them both.

I’ve been a busy girl. ThatManILove is still stuck in Pennsylvania, this is my 8th week to batch it. We had a field trial this weekend, so that kept Zack and Zanna busy and me on the road in my cute camo and snake gaters. Younger Son and a friend went to Lubbock and picked up the jeep we purchased from our friends John and Suzan. When he arrived at the house, he said, “You’d better be careful, that thing feels weeeeeeirrrrrrd. It’s hauling to the right when you put on the brakes.”

He was right. I called ThatManILove and told him the jeep felt squirrely. You know what he said? "Wait until I get home, I'll drive it and check it out." Whattttt? Who knows when he's coming home? And I got me some hunting to do!

I took it to our local mechanic to get it all checked out prior to taking it out hunting. I said, “Gary. Will you check this out, fix the door locks, and drive it? It feels funky, maybe it needs alignment.”

Gary called me yesterday. He said the reason the jeep felt funny was the front left wheel WAS ABOUT TO FREAKIN’ FALL OFF! No joke! So…not only did angels watch over my friends’ daughter Becky (who drove the jeep from Dallas to Lubbock at 80mph) they watched over Younger Son (who drove it from Lubbock to Midland at 65 mph). I am so blessed, I swear. I called ThatManILove in Pennsylvania, called him a twerp for not believing me, and he said, “Get it fixed, baby.” Voila, it is being done as we speak.

And my automatic sprinklers aren’t working, nor are the security lights around the house. It gets dark in Texas early. And I leave the house early. Put the dogs in the outside kennel in the dark, early. With a flashlight. Last night, I made ThatManILove walk me through the drill on the mobile phone. Seems like a breaker is out. So, now, I’ll have to find a reputable electrician to come call me baaaaaaaaaaaaack into the liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Anyway, that’s part of what I’ve been doing lately. Hopefully, I’ll get back to posting more regularly and sending y’all thrills and chills. I loved everyone's comments on the Redistribution of Wealth post.

And tomorrow’s Wordless Wednesday. Arrrrrrgh! The PRESSURE!! What can I find to post? One of my readers (shout out to Marilyn in Canyon Lake!) sent me an e-mail after last week’s posting.

Hey Janie,

Boy after "Wordless Wednesday" you sure made up for it on Thursday. I surely enjoy your Blog. Cheers!

Well, heckamundo. Y'all know the drill. It’s never boring around here.

Redistribution of Wealth

I got this today via e-mail. Makes you think!

Today on my way to lunch I passed a homeless guy with a sign that read "Vote Obama, I need the money." I laughed.

Once in the restaurant my server had on an 'Obama 08' tie, again I laughed as he had given away his political preference--just imagine the coincidence.

When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and explained to him that I was exploring the Obama "redistribution of wealth" concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone who I deemed more in need--the homeless guy outside. The server angrily stormed from my sight.

I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10 and told him to thank the server inside as I've decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy was grateful. At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment I realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn even, though the actual recipient deserved money more.

I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept than in practical application.

Now you should go out and do likewise.

Wordless Wednesday

Zanna Schwarzenegger

We are at a weird stage with the WonderChiens. WonderPerros. Wondersomethings.

Zanna the Wonderpup is a honking 5 months old. Zack the Wonderdog is a honking 5 years old.

That’s like having a 35 year old and a 3 ½ year old kid, in doggy years. Zanna adores the ground Zack runs across. She follows him everywhere – except up on the couch where he snuggles with me. When that happens, Zanna starts doing the…

Terminator.

Yup. She stands in the middle of whatever room she happens to be currently occupying, and scans the room slowly, just wondering what she can get away with next. For a minute or two, nothing moves except her head. From the right to the left, and then, from eye level to as high as she can see. Sloowwwly she turns. It’s hilarious to watch, and I’d love to know what goes on in her head. The problem is that I’m not always in the room, which is not so hilarious.

I stayed home today, which means the Wonders stayed pretty much inside, with me. Translate that to Terminator Zanna stayed in deep poop most of the day. She’s just leggy enough that she’ll try to reach dresser tops, table tops, whatever has something on it that catches her eye.

And she’s getting damn good at it.

Zanna’s list of stuff I’ve removed from her mouth.

Today.

Just.Today.

In less than 12 hours.

1) One of my brand new Mephisto sandals.
2) Any number of gimme caps, which she steals from a shelf in the TV room. She loves her some hats.
3) A bra.
4) The remote control. The heavy one. That goes with the B&O TV. Probably couldn’t replace it if we tried.
5) A towel.
6) A turtleneck. And then a pair of my slacks. Crap. At least they matched.
7) A dirty plastic ladle, stolen from the dishwasher while I was loading it.
8) A Franco Sarto leather loafer, snatched from the closet while I was hanging up clothes.
9) A medicine bottle that fell off my nightstand.
10) The toilet bowl brush.
11) The gun thingy that goes with the Wii.
12) My freakin’ blackberry. I am not even kidding.

And if I yell, “Zanna!”, or say in a singsong voice, “Zannagirl, what do you have?”, she runs. So I have to play the “fetch” game to get her to bring it to me.

Which only encourages her all the more.

She is flat wearing me out. And I wonder why I have trouble getting housesitters.

Hunting Field Trial and More Hunting Dog Pictures

Okay, I have to show off pictures of Zack the Wonder Dog and Zanna the Wonder Pup from this weekend. They are so awesome. The dogs, I mean. The pictures? Yeaaaaaah, they're okay, too.
My friend Steve put out a live quail for Zanna to chase, and chase, she did! She caught it, and is bringing it back to me. With zero training. She is so funny!
And here are a couple of Zack the Wonder Dog on point. I never get to take these pictures, but this time, Kellygirl was with me, so she held my gun while I took pictures. And then, yes, I shot my quail. But that's another story unto itself, right, Kelly?
This is Steve's dog, Abby the English Pointer, on point. She's a beautiful gal.And this is Steve, walking up to flush the bird. Notice Abby never breaks her point? She's stout, stout, stout. I think she's beautiful.
And of course, LB1, who spent the weekend with me. The little guy woke himself up at 4 a.m. and stayed awake so I wouldn’t be late for the field trial. At 5:30 a.m., he knocked on my door.

LB1: Miss Janie?

Janie: Hey, little dude.

LB1: Time to get up! We don’t want to be late. Can we go get a burrito on the way out?

The kid is a bottomless pit, I swear. I can’t keep him filled up. God bless his Mom. I don’t know how she does it! We ordered a large pizza for supper, and he ate everything but the two pieces I had. He does love him some pizza! (Notice, Kellygirl, he has on your snake gaters!)
LB1 was so great at the field trials. He loved driving the golf cart, and timing the events. I think his second best thing to do was to blow the horn at the end of the timed sessions. He is such a funny, bright young man. I love hanging around him!

Here are Zack and Zanna, tied to the tail end of my new ride while awaiting their turn. Well, Zack's turn, really, since Zanna's too young to "hunt" yet.

Zanna asked to be put in her crate after Zack kept running over her while tied out. He just will not settle while hunting's going on. He thinks he has to be in on every run.

I’ve had a rough weekend, missing That Man I Love. It's been six weeks today since he's been home, and I’m more than ready for him to come back to Texas. Zanna has already doubled in size, and you just wait until Zack sees MLH. He will flat go crazy. He loves that man so much!

Janie: Hey. Can you hear Zanna snoring on the bed, through the cellphone? She is flat rocking out some ZZZZZ's!

MLH: No, I can’t hear her. Is she as big as Zack yet?

Janie: She’s about half his size. She’s grown so much. You know those moms that start talking baby talk when they’ve been around their munchkins nonstop24/7?

MLH: Yes?

Janie: Well, I feel like I’m talking to Zack and Zanna every minute of every day and night allthetimenonstopdoyouknowwhatImean? I’m probably going to start incorporating my doggyspeak into my normal workday. You know, "Down, boy! " " Heel." "Hunt 'em up!" "Come arouuuuund!" "Fetch dead!" Oh, that won’t work at all. (MLH is laughing.) Oh, hang on, Zack has to go outside.

MLH: He’s probably just trying to fake it so he can grab Zanna’s rawhide.

At this point, Zanna wakes up, and runs to the door to be the first outside. She may be small, but she’s totally dominating Zack. And Zack? Doubles back, hops on the bed, lays down…and grabs Zanna’s rawhide. I am not even kidding you.

MLH is just heehawing on the cellphone – I guess I’ve given a narrative while I laid down the phone, or he figured it out by what I said to Zack. Which I’m not even going to repeat, so don’t go there.

Okay, enough whining already. Have a great week!!

New Blogger in Town!! Meet Kellygirl!!

Today was a great Friday! I went to work, and then was scheduled to go practice with Zack, as we have a field trial tomorrow. Around lunchtime, I got a call from our newest Midland blogger, Kellygirl at Life in the Sahara. Kellygirl just moved here from the Metroplex. We decided to meet for lunch.

We’d never met before, so Kelly and I had to do the “I drive a new blue Sequoia.” and “Well, I’m the girl sitting on the bench at the KentKwik where they’re washing my car.” No problem. We knew each other immediately…and when Kellygirl got in the car, and got in, well, I had a surprise for her - someone was on the speaker phone, namely, In_Spired at For Love of Home. Kellygirl’s circle of influence includes In_Spired’s pastor in Munday, Texas. And In_Spired introduced me to Kelly, so the rest of today is In_Spired’s fault! (Right, Kellygirl?) After everyone visited for a bit, we said “Bye” to In_Spired, and went to lunch at Schlotzky’s.

I knew right away that Kelly and I would get along. It was fun! And when I told her I had to go hunting, she expressed interest. So, I asked her to tag along, and she did! What a trooper! She even caught some pictures for me (will post later!) It was Kellygirl's first bird hunt (maybe her first hunt ever!)and I think she really liked watching the dogs work. She never missed a step, following us all around that field. We all had a good time watching little Zanna chasing a quail around, catching it and bringing it back to me. Zanna did well!

Oh, yeah! I had outfitted Kellygirl with some protective gear, and I sort of explained it, but as it unfolded, I’d not explained it well. We got the dogs loaded back up, and got in the truck to leave.

Janie: What did you think about that, Kellygirl? Did you have fun?

Kellygirl: It was fun! I'd like to go again! The only thing that bothered me was that snake skin. (Kelly walked right across where a bull snake had shed it’s skin.)

Janie: Yeah, that’s why you’re wearing those snake gaters over your jeans, just in case we ran onto a snake.

Kellygirl: Snake gaters?

Janie: Yeah. Rattlesnakes can’t bite through them, so they’re protective gear.

Quiet. Deeeeeeaaaaad quiet.

Kellygirl: Oh. Okaaaay.

Janie: I'm sorry, I thought you knew what they were when I handed them to you. (Well, heck, she just put them on like a pro!)

We laughed. She took it very, very well. Kelly decided to make it a day, and join me in the rest of mine. We decided to go eat Mexican Food…’cause you know they don’t have that West Texas kind of Mexican food in the Metroplex!

We ran home, put the dogs up, and picked up Little Brother #1, who's hanging with me for the weekend. We then met Bob and Cherie, who’d just returned from Toledo, at Casa Madrid. I believe Kellygirl had a great time! She and LB1 got along well, and I know she enjoyed meeting fellow bloggers Bob and Cherie!

Now I’ve flung a cravin’ on the Kellygirl for shooting, so we’ll be going and trying out some sporting clays on her next day off. What y’all wanna bet I’ve got her hunting before long?

Y’all go meet Kellygirl at Life in the Sahara, and give her a good ol' West Texas welcome!

I'm Home Again--Woohoo!

I’m home. Oh, yeah, and I put the "followme" thingy on my blog. So go ahead. Follow me! I dare you! Your horizons will be expanded (not THOSE horizons, y'all!) and your mind will be opened to all the lovely crooks and crannies of my life. (Not to mention the mud puddles, oil rigs, and everyday boring crap of my life.)

Anyway, back to the "I'm home" part. We had a lovely time in Pennsylvania, and it was great to see ThatManILove. I took over 300 pictures, but I won’t bore you with all of them.

Just some of them.

Over a protractedly long period of time.

Do the math.

Check out the reflections of the trees in the water. Absolutely beautiful. Hope y'all can see them. The leaves were just beginning to turn in Pennsyvania, and the colors were gorgeous.

Speaking of leaves (she’s going to freakin’ kill me for doing this, but She with the camera wins!), here’s Suzan… doesn't she make a twisted, wickedly devilish Eve?

We had lots of fun, and visited several sites, one being Falling Water, the Kaufman house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Pictures are verboten, but I took some of the grounds.

Awesome. MLH loves Frank Lloyd Wright designs.

Here's a pix of That Man I Love withSuzan. This was after she did the fig leaf thing. He's looking like he has that Enzyte smile, isn't he? Makes ya wonder, doesn't it? Okay, he's going to kill me now, too.

Anyway, have to go rescue Zack and Zanna from the kennel. And tonight? I catch up on all your blogs. Are you ready???

Pennsylvania is Beautiful!

Here are some cool shots from the beautiful state of Pennsylvania. Enjoy!

Where in the World is Janie?

Can anyone guess where Janie is today?

Geographically, Gretchen is probably the closest blogger I know! So, hey, girl, what's up?

Pup With Purpose

After my last snarky post, I thought I’d lighten it up a bit. The Zanna-girl grows.

Her "coy" pose. (Really, I woke her up taking this shot.)

And here she is, in yet another "pond" shot, playing with her new friend Laci, a black Lab belonging to Ronnie and Lisa Burnett. The item of interest? Nothing more than a stick.

She's one determined gal, I'll give her that much. And she's not one bit afraid of water.
Enjoy!

Wondering...

Okay. Help me out here. And before you start, know that names have been changed to protect the innocent. Well, except for mine.

As you know, I just returned home from a days long conference in New Mexico. At this conference, a young sales professional hung out with all of us. Every day. I’m going to call him Joseph.

The very act of our friendship afforded Joseph access to my immediate professional relationships, and introduced him to even others, very powerful relationships in their own right. Most young salespeople would love to have the access this young one gained in one weekend.

A young lady flew in from another town and joined Joseph, and as such, she was welcomed into our group. I’m going to call her Deanna. Deanna was precious, a beautiful single mom, and a national sales manager for a firm totally unrelated to oil and gas. The very first night she’s there, Joseph falls ill. She pitches in and takes care of him. Joseph recovers to attend all of the events on Saturday, as well as the rest of the weekend. Saturday night, we’re sitting together at the same large dinner table, and I tell Joseph that we enjoyed Deanna’s company that afternoon when she joined us for shopping on the square. (He was playing in a golf tourney.)

His comment, “Yeah? She’s sweet. But I have commitment issues. I just can’t do it. But you know, last night, she so totally took care of me when I was sick. I couldn't believe it. It’s caused me to wonder.”

She’s sitting right next to him. I’m so thankful she didn’t hear him. I want to slap him.

I’m thinking: you need to rope up, boy, and see gold when it appears in front of you. I see a committed, professional, single mom, who’s working her fingers to the bone to raise her son. She’s been given a weekend off, and been thrown in a huge mix of people she’s never met, and she is faring very well. She's not intimidated, she's visiting with others, and very interested in their responses. I’m impressed. The entire group is impressed with Deanna.

That night, after an event, Joseph and Deanna went out to a very small, no, tiny local bar with four of my friends and their wives. These friends each happen to be VPs with ABigHonkin’Service Company. (I skipped and went to the hotel, I was exhausted.) A large time was had by all, and said night ended with all the wives and girlfriends singing on the stage with the band. These ladies, with the exception of Deanna, had known each other for years. They took Deanna under their wings, and a good time was had by all. They were all having fun, and nothing untoward happened. Their husbands/significant others thought the time was great!

The next morning found Deanna without her purse. Her Louis Vuitton purse. With her I.D., credit cards, and house/car keys. All missing. Joseph calls me and lets me know. All of the VP’s go on the search. I go on the search. We go over every step of the night, every single place that was visited. We go to the reception, the dinner, the bar, and after a thorough search, find the purse, with everything intact. We’re all so relieved. Deanna almost cries with gratitude. Later on that afternoon, Deanna flies home, actually riding to the airport with one of the VPs and his wife.

Joseph is back with us again. And we’re all bragging on how much we love Deanna, how she fit in, and how sweet she was. How all the customers and VPs and their wives loved her, as well.

Joseph? Not so much. He totally trashes her, saying he can’t believe she got up on the stage in front of such powerful people. After all, he has his reputation to protect.

I’m in shock – my friends are in shock. I’m thinking my own reputation might be in danger, if he continues to act like this. I’ve known Joseph for 3-4 years. I’ve somewhat, in a limited by distance way, mentored him, opened doors for him, and have willingly done so. He works in the same industry as I, and also works with a non-profit that helps underprivileged kids. I think he can go far. This weekend he's sought my advice, and we’ve enjoyed some deep discussions concerning furthering his education, and his ultimate career path.

I tell him in no uncertain terms his vision’s a little off. Deanna was just letting her hair down, following the older adults in the group. Matter of fact, I remind him, he has some culpability here, as well. Deanna crossed no lines, and everyone loved her. I personally think that Deanna is a deep well, very disciplined, and sweet to boot. She’s one of those rare ones - a keeper.

Joseph still keeps griping. I tell him to look in the mirror, that this is really about him, not her.

The next morning, Joseph’s readying to fly home, himself, and can’t find his rental car keys. He calls me, and tells me he thinks that Deanna took the keys home by mistake. The rental car company has to drive from another town and make a new set of keys so he can get to the airport. He calls her, and she doesn’t have them. He’s still blaming her.

I give up. Whatever this is, it’s not about me.

Tonight, I receive this e-mail.

Janie-

It was great seeing you again this year at NMOGA.
As always, I had a great time with you and your friends/customers.
You are such a great person and always so kind to me. It is no wonder why you are so loved everywhere you go.

On a not so "cheesy" note, haha, I was hoping to follow up with a few people to say thanks.
If possible, please send email addresses for the below.

Dean Brown (wifes name?)
Jim Ican’trememberhislastname (wifes name?)
Danny (last name?)
Ronald & Rhoda S – BigHonkin’ServiceCo (last name?)
Peter G/J – BigHonkin’Service Co(last name?)
Dolores & Lonnie Smith

Thanks again! Hopefully next year that man you love will join the fun... ;)

G'Night!

Joseph

I don’t know if I’m more pissed that Joseph didn’t think to get their business cards or that I still might be a little ouchy from once being a single mom myself. Or if I just feel used.

Guess I’d better go look in my own mirror. If you hear this big crash, know that it shattered the moment I showed up.

Drive With Me!

I’m home from Santa Fe. It’s 11:51 p.m. And I'm exhausted. I went from breakfast to midnight almost every day, made lots of contacts, and had lots of fun. Energizer Bunny, that's me. But dang, I need some Geritol.

One good thing - I am unpacked.

Ready to hit the hay, then hit the streets running tomorrow.

Thought I’d take a second and share some of the pics of the drive home. (Gretchen asked!) Santa Fe is beautiful in it’s own right. Here’s pix of the snowy mountains. Eight inches while we were there on the mountaintops – but the closest snow that hit the town of Santa Fe was about 2 minutes of sleet, while I was driving back downtown from the outlet mall. Otherwise, the weather was beautiful and cool, with nighttime rains. Awesome.

En route from Santa Fe to Midland, you hit the plains and pastures, with the mountains as backdrop. I know lots of y’all think desert and flatlands is ugly, but tell me this isn’t beautiful? I love it. Anytime I make this drive, I’m reminded that there is a God, and all the hills, valleys, and land belong to Him. What a diverse landscape we share!

An antelope buck and his babes. I couldn’t get him to pay attention to me. I wonder why? I think it's the season of the pleasing!

And I would have made it home more quickly, had I not had to stop outside of Roswell and take these shots of the beautiful sunset . Hope you can see them.

And at Tatum, N.M., just after sunset?

You know, people tease us because we don't have any trees out here. But I think God made West Texas and Eastern New Mexico that way so we would appreciate his art work. Absolutely beautiful.

All you bloggers who kept me awake on this drive by listening to my drivel and catching me up on all I missed a la handsfree cellphone (Bluetooth, I promise!), I thank you. MLH thanks you.

Good night!

Out of Touch

I’ve been incommunicado for the last 4-5 days. We’ve been at the NMOGA conference in Santa Fe and staying at the historic La Fonda Hotel...which is SO historic that the wireless and internet and phone service SUCKS.

Therefore, no posting.

Heading back today, will try to grab photos before I get too far out of town.

Thanks for being faithful and commenting while I’ve been gone! I’ve missed y’all.

Over in Santa Fe

I’m stupid.

I was supposed to leave this morning for Santa Fe, NM. That was my intent.

However, I woke up at 7:45 a.m. My intent (I’m full of that crap, aren’t I?) was to be at the cleaners at 7 a.m., come home, pack, take the dogs to the kennel, and leave. By 10 a.m. at the latest.

The best laid plans of mice and Janie. All shot to heck because I decided to work this morning until 1:35 a.m. And then I went home.

Well, decided to work is probably incorrect. Realized I’d not done my expenses in 2 months and figured I better get them done. In reality, received a rude phone call from American Express Corporate Card and decided I’d best get in compliance before I got my whole company cut off from utilizing their credit cards.

So busy girl too dang busy to do her expense accounts e-mails her boss, in a totally subservient and contrite manner, after completing 2 months worth of expense reports. At 1:30 in the morning.

Um. Oh, Jamison, oh, greatest boss in the world, oh man of much wisdom who always takes care of everything for me…

Amex cut me off today. At least they called me so I wasn’t embarrassed too badly – well, except when NMOGA called me and my card was declined. I put it on my personal to save face. Gotta love that.

And now, my expenses are officially caught up. Sorry I let them get behind. Can you get them (#1) paid asap and (#2) my Amex turned back on?

I have been SOOOOO busy but you know that. There’s no excuse. Please forgive me and don’t take it out of my bonus – or better yet, my driving allowance. I know you have compassion for a busy girl who keeps putting off doing her expenses…didn’t the same thing happen to you recently?

(I wouldn’t be so busy if I.didn’t.have.to.(insert rant about a situation).) (I didn’t say that. I didn’t. I didn’t. Oh, yes I did.)

Ahem.

Anyway, God willing, it won’t happen again.

I’m off to Santa Fe, boss. Have a good dove hunting trip and think about me while you’re blapping those poor defenseless dove.

You didn’t e-mail that to your boss, Janie.

Oh, yes, I did.

And to his credit, he’s not responded. At all.

Hell. I might be fired.

Nah.

Anyway, back to my story.

I was tired. I overslept. Then I had to run all sorts of errands.

Go to the cleaners. Go back to the office and print off the insurance card for my new Sequoia. Which by the way I freakin’ love. Then, called Baby Brother Scott, because, all of a sudden, I HAD to see him before I left town. I picked him up, then we dropped by the house and unloaded the truck full of cleaning. We loaded up the dogs and took them to the kennel, where I felt like a mom dropping her kindergartner off on the first day. Except Zack and Zanna didn’t cry, they just went. With someone else. Sob. Sniff. Howl.

Okay. So, then, Scott and I went to eat lunch. It’s now 12:30 p.m., and lunch lasted an hour or so. We had fun. I’m glad I took the time to be with him. And, he bought! Yeah! (Just teasing, Scott.)

So, I go home. No, I didn’t. I still had to run more errands. Got those done, then went home.
Started trying to pack. I think I took everything out of my closet. I was just stuck! Formal wear. Jeans and shooting stuff for the sporting clay tournament. Pairing items together. Jeans and dressy jackets for that downtown Santa Fe look while shopping. The.right.shoes.for.every.little.outfit. (Guys, don’t check out on me here.)

I get to that certain point.

You know, the one where you need a second opinion?

Cherie to the rescue! It’s now 5:30 p.m. Bob and Cherie go get sandwiches, and come over to help. Cherie cheerleads me into getting it all done, packed, and in the truck. It’s now 8:00 p.m.-ish.

Yup. 8:00 p.m. I’m almost ready to leave for Santa Fe.

8:20 p.m. I finally leave for Santa Fe. A good 8 hour trip. Santa Fe. Where every single event I attend I will be attending without MLH. Everybody will have their spouse there, and I’m flying solo. I don’t even want to go without him. It’s a tradition, and I feel like I’m breaking it.

Drive, Janie. Drive.

I make it to Roswell, 211 miles away, where MLH tells me to stop and get a hotel. I’ve not slept since. I think I could have made it all the way to Santa Fe, but I didn’t want him to worry, and to be realistic, I need to sleep.

Instead, I’m writing this blog entry. Think I’m a little jacked on priorities today?

I think I’ll go start my October expenses. Then, leave for Santa Fe around 8 a.m.

Texas Time.
Yeah, right.