Tennis, anyone?

Thanks to our friend Mike, we saw some great tennis this weekend. His company was sponsoring a tennis tournament at SMU and several well-known pros were there. Lee and Ellie met Anna Kournakova on Saturday afternoon while my mom and I were at the St. Thomas mother's association market. I got there just as Anna was leaving the meet and greet party so I didn't get any one-on-one time with her like Lee and Ellie did. We had great box seats for the match - right at mid-court. We watched a mixed doubles match with Anna and then a match between Jim Courrier and Ferreira. Ellie was good the entire match, but right at the end as Courrier raised his racket to serve, it was pin-drop silent and Ellie let out a "Whhheeeeeeee!". Courrier stopped his serve and looked right at us. He knew it was her making the noise because there was nobody in the tables to the left of us. I should have been mortified, but I couldn't stop laughing. I stopped Courrier after the match to apologize and Mike got his autograph for Ellie. Mike recorded the match and watched it when he got home. He fast forwarded to the "incident" and said the announcer calling the match said in a hushed voice, "...Courrier to serve... Courrier stops to look in the stands... aaaaannnnd Courrier serves". We returned on Sunday for more tennis and Courrier went on to win the entire tournament and took home $75,000 for his efforts. Something is telling me I should have played tennis.

Our other big fun this past week was attending a Jason Mraz concert. I had been looking forward to it for months and was a little disappointed. He sounded good, but I can't stand people throwing politics in my face. I don't spend money to have a celebrity give me his views - I spend money so he'll stand up on stage and play his little guitar and sing. I'm so over it all. I would have been fine with him had he not created a stained glass window backdrop during the song "Live High" and overlaid the face of Obama on Jesus' face. It was too much. Obama is not Jesus. At all. Maybe he's a half-witted community organizing version of Robin Hood who thinks it's okay steal money from someone who her worked her butt off to get a bachelors and masters in engineering only to give that money to people who illegally crossed our borders or won't get off welfare, but that's as much as I'll give him credit for. But Jesus? Spare me. So we left.

Lee also caught an (un)lucky break this weekend - he tore the ACL in his right knee... or so we thought at first, which would have meant surgery. But we found out today that it was more of an up-and-down tear rather than a side-to-side so he may not have to have surgery after all. That's the lucky part. He's limping around and is a lot of pain, but the doctor that will go away and he'll have to do some physical therapy.

Last night, we attended a Halloween party at Lakewood. We met Jenny, Brandt, and Garrett there. Garett is about 4 months older than Ellie and is such a doll. When we arrived, I took Ellie in a bathroom to dress her in her costume - the pink poodle. She's had it on twice before, but decided two times was enough. She started screaming immediately when I took it out of the bag. I almost had to hold her down to get it on her. All of this while she was crying in this guttural voice, "Mama! Noooooooo!". It was very dramatic. This little Hispanic cleaning lady watched it all unfold and I felt like an A+ parent. She calmed down after I got the costume on her.

The six of us ate dinner and then went on a hayride around the golf course. On the hayride, Brandt asked Garrett if he would give Ellie a kiss, and he leaned over and planted one on her. There was also a "Monster Mash" with dancing inside. All of the kiddos were running around having a great time. One little girl was dressed as Elmo and Ellie couldn't get over her. She pointed and screamed, "Elmo! Elmo! Elmo!". I discovered that if you want to be treated like a celebrity at Halloween, dress up as Elmo. We're trick-or-treating tomorrow night. I can't wait to take her from house to house and let all of our neighbors see her. It will be much different than last year!

Happiness Is...

An Elmo Balloon (captured on Lee's cell phone)

The Exclamation Point!!!

After receiving a few comments on the “Tag, I’m It” post, I’m issuing a formal statement on the exclamation point. I am not opposed to the use of the exclamation point, rather I am opposed to the blatant overuse of the exclamation point. Some people end every sentence with an exclamation point. I found the following in a grammar guide on the internet:

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Use an exclamation point [ ! ] at the end of an emphatic declaration, interjection, or command.

"No!" he yelled. "Do it now!"

An exclamation mark may be used to close questions that are meant to convey extreme emotion, as in

What on earth are you doing! Stop!

An exclamation mark can be inserted within parentheses to emphasize a word within a sentence.
We have some really(!) low-priced rugs on sale this week.

Note that there is no space between the last letter of the word so emphasized and the parentheses. This device should be used rarely, if ever, in formal text.

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My main peeve is with respect to the last sentence – the use of the exclamation point in formal text. The exclamation point has no business in business communications. I would not send an e-mail or letter correspondence to a client with an exclamation point in it because I work with 99% men and I think it undermines the credibility of my writing.

My stance remains firm on smiley faces :P.

Tag, I'm It.

Nicole sent me a "Tag, You're It" message with a challenge to write seven things weird or random about myself that other people may not know. Then you're supposed to tag other peoples blogs. I'm not going to do that, but if you're reading my blog and want to play along, please do (Meg this will give you a topic for you new blog)! Nicole tagged me about a month ago and I've been thinking about my list ever since. So obviously I'm putting way too much thought into this. Here it goes... I'll be surprised if anyone gets a seven out of seven:

1. When I was a junior in college, I almost changed my major to meteorology because I love the weather. Weather is so interesting to me and when a storm comes in, I always watch it on the radar. So what would I have done with this meteorology degree? I would have been the weather girl. And most days, I wish that's what I was doing... pointing at a green screen, smiling, and making weather puns with the anchorman. But I know I'd probably be doing the weather in Duluth or something, so maybe it wouldn't have been that great.

2. Speaking of career aspirations, my first ambition was to play the accordion just like the man on Hee-Haw. I was 4. I started taking piano lessons when I was 5 and about a year later, my parents discovered that our creepy neighbor had an accordion, so he lent it to me. I tried to play it, but it was really difficult. It ended my dream of becoming a professional accordion player, but I am still secretly fascinated by the accordion.

3. One of my biggest pet peeves is the overuse of the exclamation point! Or the double use!! Or triple use!!! REALLY?!!??!! Every sentence needs an exclamation point??!!! What are people trying to convey?!! Are they excited, yelling, or crazy?!!! A girl that used to work here would e-mail clients and every sentence in her e-mails ended with an exclamation point or a double!! I eventually told her to stop because it didn't look professional! My friends said I was crazy, but I couldn't help it! She had to be told! And this ":)" - or any variation - drives me nuts too.

4. I took my baby blanket to college with me, and I really don't care who knows it because I've been out and proud about my blanket for a long time. My mom tried to "lose it" when we took a trip to visit my grandparents when I was 7 or 8 because she thought I was too old to have it, but then I "found it" when I ransacked their house looking for it on a return trip 6 months later. Why would she want to take it away from me? Maybe she had some strange fear that I would still be sleeping with it when I went away to college? That's crazy talk. I still have it, but it's sealed in a bag because after years of wear, if it's exposed to the air, it will fall apart. It's like the Shroud of Turin.

5. Before Ellie was born, I didn't know any lullabies to sing so I downloaded "Que Sera, Sera" by Doris Day from iTunes and memorized it. It was the first song I sang to her, and it's what I always sing to her when she cries.

6. I'm the most inartistic person you'll ever meet. I can draw a smiley face and stick figures, but that's it. Art class was my least favorite class in elementary. My stuff was NEVER picked to go on the bulletin board. It's like the left side of my brain ate the right side of my brain and I have no ability to create. Well, I shouldn't say I can't create because I feel like I'm pretty good at writing and I've been dying to take a continuing ed class on creative writing. In fact, I have a funny book idea floating around in my head that will most likely never find its way to paper.

7. I'm not a picky eater, but I do not eat raw tomatoes. I never have, but for some reason I can't remember to say "no tomato" whenever I order a sandwich. So every time I order a sandwich, I have to pick the tomato off. I'll end this little exercise with a word problem: Assume Tiffany orders a sandwich every week and has been ordering sandwiches for the last 25 years. How many tomato slices has she picked off? If you said 1,300 slices, you'd be correct. Writing that makes me feel like a genius.

That is everything interesting to know about me that you may not have known. I don't have 6 toes, I can't play the flute with my nose, I have no tattoos, I'm not a secret agent, and I haven't hiked to the highest mountain in North America, but I did sleep with a baby blanket until I was 25.

Where have we been?

So I don't know if you've noticed, but I've been a little absent from blogging. The crazy thing is that the last time I blogged was over 2 weeks ago, and I can't really remember what I've been doing since then. And the only reason I know it's been two weeks is because Lee keeps reminding me. October is proving to be one big blur. And I've been so bad at photographically documenting this blur... the only pictures I've gotten in a while were this past weekend. The weekend before last was poker weekend at our house. Lee had all of his poker friends over for the big game and since the weather is so nice, they played outside. That's actually the only way it can happen with Ellie asleep because they get pretty loud. The game lasted until past 2AM. I forgot to take Mike's picture... he really wanted to make the blog. Maybe next time, Mr. Steele.



I do remember what happened this past weekend. Lee was out of town hunting. We dropped him at the airport on Friday morning on our way to work, Tee picked him up at the San Antonio airport and they headed south to the Herradura Ranch. It's the same trip that they took this time last year. So Ellie and I were by ourselves for the weekend. On Friday night, I stopped at Target on my way home to get some dog food, but I also got one of the most coveted toys of the holiday season... Elmo Live. Apparently this is the holiday item that people will be stampeding each other for this Christmas. In fact, the doll came out on Tuesday, and I got the last one in the store on Friday night. That night I stayed in and watched a girlie movie, Becoming Jane, but on Saturday, I had a whole girl's day planned.


I started off with a trip to the gym where Ellie got to play and then we met our friends, the Hardeman's at the Arboretum for more pictures. Yes, we had been there a few weeks ago, but there was a professional photographer there. I couldn't decide if I wanted to dress in her cute fall jumper or Halloween costume... I went with costume. I don't want to let the cat out of the bag yet on her costume so I'm not going to post any of those pictures just yet, but I'm certain that Ellie is going to deeply resent me for this year's costume when she is old enough to realize what I dressed her as. I will say one thing this about the costume - it nearly paralyzes her so she stands there motionless. This makes it easy for me to pose her, but doesn't make it easy for her to smile.


After pictures, Stephanie, Cooper, Ellie and I ate lunch outside at the club. The weather was great. I think Ellie is recognizing Cooper more now because as we were leaving, I told her to tell Cooper goodbye and she started saying "Bye! Bye!" and waving at him. Then I told her to give him a hug. She did and they both fell over in the process. After a big nap, Ellie and I participated in some retail therapy.


On Sunday, I went against my better judgement and took Ellie to church. By myself. It's really all one can do to keep up with her when we don't have to be quiet and still. We made it through the gospel and then she pooped so I gave up and went to the club for breakfast. Maybe Jesus will give me double credit for the effort I put in while I was there. I don't know how single parents so it. Lee got home around 4:00 and Ellie was so excited to see him. She saw him getting out of the car, ran up to him, and gave him a huge hug and kiss. Then she was beside herself with excitement when he made it upstairs. She was running around giggling and screaming. She definitely missed her daddy.


We've gotten a few new words out of her lately. She can say owl, Morgan, Lucy, Irma (her teacher), airplane (pronounced "eh-pane" though it would be much funnier if she screamed "da plane! da plane, boss!" when she saw one - Fantasy Island reference), buzz like a bee, and she's really been working on "please" a lot. If she sees me eat something she points to her hand and says "mo! mo!" meaning "more". Then when that doesn't work, she gets this pitiful look and says "peas?". How can I say no to that?


Here she is trying to put on her favorite shoes... they'd be my favorite shoes too if they came in my size.

The 2008 State Fair of Texas

October means one thing - the State Fair of Texas! This was Ellie's first trip, but it was also my first trip. No, I'm not kidding. I've lived here my whole life and I've never been to the State Fair. We got to the fairgrounds around 10AM and they were already frying up the Fletcher's Corny Dogs so Lee had to get one right away and let Ellie have her first taste... it was a hit! There was also fried ribs, chicken fried bacon, fried Snickers, fried oreos, and fried grilled cheese, but the corny dog was the only thing we tried.



Our next stop was the petting zoo, which was also a big hit. There were goats, a giraffe, emus, an ostrich (which tried to pick my arm off), some things with horns I'd never seen and a lot more animals. At first, I was feeding the animals with my hand, but then Ellie tried to do the same and I was afraid they'd bite her hand off so we switched to the little shovels.

There was also some sort of a rabbit competition there which they were judging when we were in the exhibition hall. Whichever rabbit wins must win based on the talent portion, because they all looked the same to me. White with pink eyes, white with pink eyes, white with pink eyes. I hope she never asks me for one because she'll get a quick "no". The only pet we'll ever have will be a dog... *maybe* a fish, but that's pushing it. Still to this day, I'll never know why my mother ever bought me two gerbils, but it taught me three valuable lessons: 1) Never swing a gerbil buy the tail because it will come off in your hand and no amount of therapy can make you forget that. 2) Gerbils can have heat stroke if left in an enclosed garage in August. 3) No exotic pets. Ever.

Around noon, I noticed her putting her head down on her stroller and about 5 minutes after that, the meltdown occurred. The corny dogs, zebras, airbrushed t-shirts, midway, and car show had finally worn our little munchkin out so we headed for the car and she was asleep before we hit the highway. Later in the afternoon, Lee met Mike to watch some football and we stayed in on Saturday night.

The pumpkin patch is back at the Arboretum this fall so we went to church and then there for a photo op. Ellie did not want to cooperate with picture taking so I didn't get one picture of her sitting there with the pumpkins like I did last year. She kept saying "ball!" and wanted to play with them. I had her dressed in a pink striped dress, bubble gum tights, and hot pink shoes, and at lunch, a lady at the club still told me what a cute boy I have. Are you kidding me? Does anyone have a son who dressed him like that? Pay attention, people.

I also played a whole round of golf for the first time ever this week. Some guys asked me to play on their team for the Society of American Military Engineers scramble. I am NOT GOOD. There was a lot of whiffs and missed putts, but I am interested in playing and I thought it was really fun. Now to get some lessons... Lee told me that he can teach me, but that may be more of an exercise in frustration for him.

New words in the past two weeks: Yellow, bracelet, please, thank you, slide, swing, fish.