Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Exchange = Change







As if we didn't have enough going on right now, we just dove heads first into something neither of us was even considering before a week and a half ago.

Lately we have been attending a 5k race each weekend. The one on October 29th was at Byron Nelson High School in Trophy Club where we ran into an old friend's mother, who happens to be the current mayor of Trophy Club as well. She and her husband are the host family for a French exchange student so she had heard about two other exchange students at Northwest High School how needed to be relocated. She asked us if we knew anyone in the district who had room for two girls. We thought about it but couldn't come up with anyone. Aaron half jokingly commented that we do have an extra room right now since he cleaned out his office and moved it to the garage in preparation for Small Ferrell's arrival. He said that the two girls could stay there temporarily if they just needed a place. Neither of us considered actually being a host family. So Connie, our friend's mother, took Aaron's email, we ran the race, Aaron had a personal best time, and then we went on with our day.

Before we even made it home we received an email stating that YFU, the organization who coordinates the exchange students, would like to talk to us and have us fill out some forms. That following Monday we were asked to complete an online application because they can't just let the students stay anywhere, even for a short period. After that, a volunteer named Anne came to our house to conduct a personal interview and look at our house. It was at that moment that I realized this was no temporary solution for anyone. They evidently have a tough time finding host families and if were approved it was likely that the girls would be with us until the end of the school year. Not quite what I was expecting. After all, I am expecting a baby instead, and had hoped to have the normal, bring-my-only-child-home experience the way the rest of the world hopes to do. But I stopped feeling sorry for myself, thought about everyone I met in India three years ago, and met the challenge gladly.

On Friday, November 4, Aaron walked out to feed the animals and saw that our horse had her baby! We were getting the first of the two girls that night and I was just overwhelmed with everything and thinking we had made a mistake. We still needed to pick up the bunk beds from Decatur, buy a new mattress, get stuff for the pony, spend time with the pony, and the list goes on and on!

But we got Diana from Korea on Friday night and then Vivien from Germany on Saturday.

They are both very sweet girls, different but the same in ways. They told us about some of the problems at the old house and I felt bad for them. So far it's working out really well. They are good at doing their homework every day and picking up after themselves. They seem geniunely happy and appreciative with everything we do and they are courteous and enjoyable to be around. So far so good!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Magic pillow

Being pregnant has been such an incredible experience. I really mean that. Even though I was there when both of my sisters were pregnant twice and I was there while a bunch of my friends were pregnant and I had heard stories all my life, there is SO MUCH that I had no idea happened to your body, to your psyche and to your spirit during pregnancy. I know that my friends and family were not holding out on me. Having been there now, I know that a. you think some stuff is just too unimportant to talk about, b. you think some stuff is too weird to talk about and c. you think people will get sick of hearing you talk about it so you just keep it to yourself. Some helpful information I have gotten from people I know but a lot of it I have read about. I like being very educated on any subject that I am a part of. I have even learned some things from medical publications that my own high-risk doctor didn't know. I really feel like I might be an expert on this pregnancy thing. For me, anyway. The really strange thing about pregnancy is that a lot of women share a lot of the same symptoms. Then again, a lot of women are really very different from others. Most differences in symptoms has to do with your body and mind and how you react to different hormones. It was interesting for me to find that what you eat and what medications you don't take and how often you exercise are the basics for being able to control how horrible you feel, on a general scale. Of course there are major exceptions as sometimes women have problems way out of their control from the early stages of pregnancy. Then you just have to sit your happy bum in the bed until the doctor says it's time. The greatest thing about educating myself on this whole having-a-baby thing is that it takes a lot of the fear and anxiety out of it. I have just been able to relax pretty much from the beginning. I still get a little nervous about the episiotomy and I hope I don't have to have one. Lucky for me, there is a lot of information out there about how to prevent it. Wow! I digress.
The only real negative I have experienced, aside from the early, occasional nausea and early, extreme fatigue, has been lower back pains on the right side. (By the way, I had read a book very, very early in my pregnancy which informed me of how much exercise plays a part in getting you through that fatigue stage. It really worked. It is hard to make yourself plow through when you feel that tired but it was so worth it and I always felt better because of it.) The back pain seemed to increase with running as I got further into my pregnancy and by month five I was really feeling some pain. I couldn't sleep well and then I would feel pretty bad the next day from lack of sleep. I had a hard time getting up from a chair or out of my car. I couldn't walk fully erect during most evenings. Warm baths didn't seem to relieve it either. Aaron would rub the painful spot when it got too bad to deal with. Luckily that did help long enough to get a few hours of sleep.
Aaron has this client, Natalia, who had twin boys three years ago. She met Aaron last week to pick up a machine she had ordered. When she got out of the car, she said, "I have something for you," and pulled out this enormous pillow. Aaron had not even told her about my recent struggles. She just knew and even said, "I figured she would be getting pretty uncomfortable by now." Blessed, sweet, wonderful Natalia!!!!!
This pillow takes up half the bed at least. It also puts a border around me so there is no more snuggling for poor Mr. Ferrell. I am sure he is glad to get his sleep back, though. The pillow is like a mini recliner for your bed. All that it is lacking is a cup holder. Oh, it is so perfect! I have slept so soundly since I got it and, miraculously, I have no more back pain during the night or most of the day! I honestly haven't slept all night for months until the magic pillow entered my life.
After I ran yesterday evening, the pain was back and I got worried. Just not knowing if it will only get worse as I get bigger causes worry. I can handle it for now, but it does border on overwhelming at times and I have tried very hard not to take any kind of pain reliever since I got pregnant. It appears I have nothing to worry about, though. (Knock on wood.) After my run, I picked up the house, watered the garden, made dinner, did dishes, fed the dogs, put up the chickens and duck; all the while my back continued to hurt. As soon as I crawled into bed the pain started to subside. This pillow allows you to position yourself just right to completely alleviate the back pain. It is just amazing!
So that is the very long, drawn out story of my magic pillow. If you are pregnant or know somebody who is, I highly recommend this for you or them. This particular pillow is a LeachCo Back n Belly pillow. You can find it online for seventy bucks with shipping. I have not seen this exact pillow in any of the baby departments I have been in so online may be your best bet.
Sweet dreams!
~Shan

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Sticking around la casa

This week, Aaron and I have lived outside our normal routine and it has been so nice. Usually we are go! go! go! from the minute I get off work until we go to bed at night. The routine is usually:
Get home
Change clothes
Let the dogs out
Clean a little or water/weed the garden while he finishes his FedEx's
Love on animals
Grab gym towels, water bottles and gym bag
Head to FedEx and drop packages
Go to the gym
Go to dinner
Sometimes run some errands after dinner
Go home
Feed and put up animals for the night
Work on projects or finally relax
Shower & hit the hay

But this week has been:
Get home
Change
Water or clean
We run around our town vs going to the gym
(he has finished his FedEx's early, dropped them off and returned home by the time I get there)
I make dinner while he works on his race car trailer
Clean up
Feed/put away animals
A little lovey dovey
Lights out

So much better! Plus, I already had almost all the food for three night's dinners at the house so nothing's going to waste this week.
Aaron says it's getting us ready for when Small Ferrell comes. We'll be used to being home and eating there instead. It will be winter when she arrives and I don't want to drag her out in the cold while she is so small. I am looking forward to playing with my old recipes again and coming up with some new yummy stuff for dinner, too.
Aaron finished redoing his trailer last night and is almost ready to race in a week and a half. I am so excited for that. He hasn't raced all season. He has been so busy working to sock away money for the baby. He has worked late almost every day and all weekend since we found out I was pregnant. I am glad for him to get to work on his projects now, relax and have fun. He totally deserves it!

Tomorrow I will tell you all about the pillow that has saved my pregnant life.
Ciao for now!
~Shan

Monday, September 19, 2011

Small World - Big Belly




Here I am, days away from my third trimester with Small Ferrell. Aaron took this picture of me at the Alliance Run in the Dark 5K race this past Saturday. We moved his sister, Caron, out of her home in The Colony most of the day and got home just in time to get ready for the run. It was such a beautiful day!

Josh, our neighbor across the street, went with us. He has ran a few times with Aaron but has never been able to finish a 5K run without walking. This was his first race. He paced himself better and was able to finish without walking! I was so proud of him for trying. Aaron did well. It wasn't his personal best by any means but given that he's been training around an ankle injury and not ran more than 6 times in the past 6 weeks, I thought he did great. He even beat our other neighbor, Alana, and her boyfriend. Both of whom are in their early 20's and run marathons. I was so proud of Aaron as well. Mostly I was proud that he actually gave his ankle time to heal. The old Aaron would not have been patient enough to wait it out. Instead he has packed in his cardio on the elliptical. The race was a success for me, too. I finished without walking and, even though I am SO MUCH SLOWER than normal, I wasn't turtle slow. I can deal with it for now. For the first time in a long time I got passed by more people than I did pass. That was irritating but I am keeping my eye on the prize and my heart rate in check! Paula Radcliffe I am not but I won't give up. Everything I read reflects years of research showing that women who continue to safely work out during pregnancy have much easier labors, healthier and more content infants and a shorter period of recovery. I am all for all of that!

So here's where the small world comes in. We show up at the race, register, put our shirts in the truck and then find a place on the lawn to plop down and stretch. Aaron and I spotted the cutest puppy either of us has ever seen. I went over to talk to its owner; this really nice, dark haired lady. She told me the dog's name was Walter and he was an 8 week old French Bulldog. Aaron said if they stayed that size he'd have about 15 of them. Anyway, she asked about my pregnancy and said she was impressed I was still running. She said she ran during her pregnancy until the last few months when it just got to be too hard on her and then she switched to stairs instead. I have been doing a lot of stairs on days that my lower back is killing me. She said she experienced an easier labor as well and encouraged me to keep it up.

Later, I looked over and saw our neighbor, Alana, talking to that same lady. I hollered at her and she came over to chat. She said the girl with the dog, who is friends with the lady I was talking to, is Alana's boyfriend's sister. Imagine that!

Then, during the run, I got passed by this barefoot runner. He wore a shirt that read, "I run naked on sharp, pointy objects." He was only naked on his feet but that made me laugh. Shortly after mile 2 I passed him back. He seemed to be in a little bit of pain, feet-wise, so I joked, "do you need some shoes?" He replied, "More like a piggy-back ride." I showed him I was already carrying one in the front. We both laughed, I ran on, and then I'll be danged if that shoeless runner didn't pass me back with about a 1/2 mile to go. I could never catch up and I was bummed! :)

I told Aaron about him and his funny shirt. He was amazed that someone could run that far and fast with no shoes. The next day I got a message from my friend, Amanda, asking if I had talked to a shoeless runner at the race. It turns out he lives down the street from her and while lunching together, she told him that I had ran that race and I was pregnant. He figured out it was me who had talked to him along the way. Super small world!

I am getting anxious for Small Ferrell. She moves so much now which makes me feel relieved and connected to her. Today I bought her a pelican water pitcher for rinsing her hair in the tub. It's cute and reminds me of my Gramma Gale's rhyme...Oh what a bird is a pelican. It's beak can hold more than its bellycan. He puts enough in its beak to last a weak and I don't know how the hellican. She never cursed so we would gasp when she would recite it. It always makes me smile to remember her saying it.

Guess I'll take my vitamins now. Arrivederci!


Tuesday, September 13, 2011

The Tree


The house I grew up in was previously occupied by the Jones Family. They had a son, Homer, who was born sometime around the turn of the 20th century. When Homer Jones grew up, he became a successful business-man, dabbling in cattle and oil the old-fashioned Texas way, and then he married Frances. They built a house right next door to the one he and I grew up in so I knew them throughout my childhood and adolescents. When Homer was a little boy, he planted a cottonwood tree in the backyard of that original house. I grew up under that cottonwood which, by the time I came along, was huge. My dad set up our trampoline under the umbrella of that magnificent tree. I can remember countless afternoons of lying on my back on the trampoline, watching planes make their way to DFW and staring at the blue sky between the green, waxy leaves. Oh, those leaves! If you have never heard wind through a cottonwood, you are missing something special. It is a uniquely distinct sound and because I grew up with it, I can feel at home almost any place I run into it. In fact, the day I realized I was in love with Aaron, I had been lying on the dock at the lake while he worked on his boat, listening to the nearby cottonwood dance in the wind. Also, my favorite place in the whole world is the Grand Canyon. On every hike I have been there, just as I am feeling beaten by the desert, I stumble upon a lone cottonwood perfectly placed for me to rest under until I find my strength. Cottonwoods are a part of my life.

Walking home from school or a friends’ house, I could always spot that tree from blocks away. My parents have very green thumbs and they took great care of all our trees, bushes and plants. Our cottonwood was taller than most other trees in our neighborhood. The squirrels played on its long branches and made a home in a knot-hole way up high. The birds flitted in and out of the tree or perched on branches and sang us lovely songs. It was a perfect shade tree and it protected us from the cruel Texas heat, summer upon summer. It was a wonderful yard to live in with our tree towering above.

Years after I moved away, my dad spotted a large snake climbing the tree. He saw the snake work its way to the knot-hole where the squirrel family dwelled. Over the next couple of weeks he kept an eye out for the snake. Instead he saw less of the squirrels as, one by one, the snake consumed them or scared the survivors away. Knowing my mother’s fear of snakes, he waited to report the events to her but realizing the snake would likely reappear to her shock and horror he finally divulged the information. He continued to watch for the snake but apparently it had moved on during the night or some other time my dad was not holding a vigil at the base of the giant cottonwood.

My mother could never grasp the concept that the snake was gone from her yard. My dad tried to explain that the squirrels were gone and there weren’t any other animals so the snake was gone, too. It didn’t matter to her. Her skin would crawl each time she stepped foot into the back yard and gazed up at the tree.

One week my dad went away to a funeral in Arkansas. My mother stayed behind. It was a beautiful time of year. Spring was coming on and she had lots of work to do in the yard; work that she loved. She and my dad had gone to the nursery, the days before he went out of town, to get some new flowers and things for her garden. When I went to keep her company in my dad’s absence, I noticed that all the new plants were still in their pots sitting around the patio. I asked her why she hadn’t started working; wondering if she was fearful of a late frost. She finally, sheepishly admitted that she was terrified to enter the yard without my dad there to protect her. I tried to coax her outside to do what she loved and enjoy the wonderful weather but she would have none of it until he returned.

It wasn’t long before we all realized that even with my dad back home to be the snake guard, my mother was never going to be comfortable with the snake tree. She started making strange observations about how old the tree was, that it was self pruning and dangerous, that it just didn’t look as nice as it used to. For a short while we brushed it off but soon it was obvious she wanted rid of the tree. Her final argument was that one of the branches was likely to fall off of the aging tree and knock my dad unconscious or kill him. So as crazy as it sounds, (because it is!) my dad had the tree cut down to settle her nerves. My nerves, on the other hand, were shot! I couldn’t believe that they would cut down a gorgeous tree with so much meaning to our family because of a snake that nobody had seen any sign of for months. I cried and begged them not to do it but it happened all the same.

To my surprise, the very afternoon that the tree had been cut down, I came home from work to find the entire trunk sitting in our back yard. It was incredible and I cried some more. Aaron had listened to my tearful pleas to my parents and had known for years how much I loved that tree. So much so that his very first purchase after we wrote the contract to buy our home was three tiny cottonwoods of our own to plant around our property. Upon learning that my parents were actually going through with cutting it down, he commissioned a wrecker service to bring it to our house. The trunk weighed so much that it nearly tipped the wrecker over when he tried to load it. I was overjoyed to have it with us.

Years before I had been to a fireside talk at Grand Canyon. We all sat on logs in a circle around a park ranger while he told us stories of the canyon. Aaron and I decided to mimic that to an extent. We set the freshly cut log in the center of our back yard, built a fire pit out of beautiful Austin stone in front of it and circled the whole thing in limestone underfoot. Year after year we gathered on the log to roast marshmallows, watch the fire and talk with family and friends. It was one of my favorite things about our house for the nine and half years we had it.

Sadly, at our last Halloween party, the top of the log started to cave in. It seems the sun’s rays did some harsh damage to the very tree that used to protect me from them. Upon closer inspection the next day we determined much of the log had rotted. Aaron thought some wood could be salvaged and he devised a plan to keep parts of it and make something out of it later on. He contacted a saw-mill where he learned how to cut it and where to deliver it and how long it would take to get back. I wasn’t quite ready to cut it up, though, and instead would drape thick blankets over it if we were going to sit on it to keep from sinking into the cracks.

After this past summer of incredible heat and no rain to speak of since I can remember, the log deteriorated even more. I knew Aaron was right when he indicated it was now or never if we wanted to be able to salvage anything from the log. So last weekend he dragged out the chainsaw and got to work on the tree. First he carefully cleaned out the rotted top and middle by hand. We were astonished when we lifted parts of the tree trunk and felt how light it was now. Then he rolled it over to get a good look at the remains and see which parts were worth saving. Luckily, before he put the log down in the yard, he placed pavestones under it to protect it from the ground. Doing this saved the underside of the trunk so only the top, exposed to extreme heat, was rotted. Finally he trimmed a very small amount off the end of the trunk. What was left resembled a canoe and I immediately thought, "I could float in that." My parents came over soon after and that was the first thing my mother said as well.

True to form, Aaron’s brain was busy thinking about what to do with the log. He had changed his mind on having the saw-mill chop it up and was now set on finding a way to keep it in tact the way it was. He has always been really creative and he can imagine things coming together much better than I can. After pulling the log to the front of the back yard, he carefully power washed it. Then he left it in the sun to dry out again. After that, we went inside and sat on the counter in the kitchen, which we do often; each one of us getting a corner on either side of the sink. He looked up at the ceiling around the rooms and told me he thought the hollowed out log would look great hanging from the ceiling as a light fixture. I thought it was the perfect idea! I have been lit up inside ever since. I can’t wait to see it in our home, lighting up the room, just waiting for someone new to come over to hear about its life.

According to my dad and Aaron, we can coat the log with oils that will protect it and keep it in its present condition for as long as I’m alive. Unfortunately it is just too soft a wood to withstand Texas summers outside. But I couldn’t be happier that we had it to perch on around our fire for almost a decade and now it will shine on inside with us.

When I think about all that Aaron has done to preserve this piece of my own history, without my ever even asking, my heart overflows with gratitude. It is just one of the countless things he does for me, and for others, to try to bring happiness to our lives. He is incredibly giving and such a wonderful friend. I love the way his mind works. I was at work when it struck me just how much he had done with that log so I sent him a message thanking him. I told him how sweet and thoughtful he was. He replied that he loved me and thanked me for saying that. Finally he said, “I’m glad you are the kind of person who likes that kind of stuff. You’re sweet.” Talk about melt your heart and make your day! How lucky am I!

Monday, August 29, 2011

Sweet memories



















The first two pictures are of Aaron, me & Kelly Fraser during our assessment of the situation in her driveway in Breckenridge, February 2003. The last picture is of me & Willis in our usual Cowboy's games positions. Now I have that shirt of his & I wear it with pride.






I came across this old song today by Townes Van Zandt called Snowin' on Raton. It reminds me of Willis and the only reason I can think of is because we always take Raton Pass to go skiing in Colorado and Willis told us stories of being snowed in there before. One year, Aaron and I were snowed in there ourselves. It's such a long story and so crazy that all of that happened in one trip. I'll have to tell that whole story another day because it's the end of the month and I am too busy to tell it now. I just wanted to get this little jot down so I'd remember to tell it later.









The rendition of the TVZ song that I heard today was performed by Natalie Maines and Pat Green & I love it almost as much as TVZ's version. I love the way Natalie sings the verses about the road; my favorite part of that song anyway. It's been four years since Willis passed and I am so grateful that my memories of him are as sharp as they are. As long as I live, I will never forget him.









~Shan

Monday, July 11, 2011

Over the weekend


What a big weekend we had. Friday night I rushed over to BJ's to meet Aaron, his sister, her son and new boyfriend, Aaron's mother and boyfriend and Aaron's sister's old friend, Janet. We were all gathered to be introduced to the sister's new bf. It was ok. Then Aaron and I raced home, got his FedEx's together, raced to the airport then to dinner with Arun, Dee, Judy and Arun's mother at Fogo de Chao. They were in town from OKC to fly out in the morning to the Virgin Islands. Great food, great laughs and awesome company. Traffic was horrible on the way home and what was worse is, Aaron had to drive their car back to our house so we were split up through the construction mess. Blah! Finally made it home, took care of the animals and went to bed. We were both so tired!
Saturday we went to FedEx to pick up some packages, Starbuck's then Russell Feed for hay and dog food. Talked to Caron, Aaron's other sister on the way about her trip to Houston. She cracks me up! We cleaned up around the house. I cleaned the front porch and Aaron cleaned out the barn. Then we went to Decatur to drop some stuff off and take some stuff to the dump and the scrap metal yard. We made way more money off the scrap metal than we had to pay at the dump! Hooray. Then we saw my parents and brother driving through Decatur so we turned around and hurried to our place to meet them and they never showed. Finally called to find out they were eating lunch. Thanks for the invite, snooties! ;) So off we went to get cleaned up and go with the Screamers to Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show at Cowtown Coliseum. We have always wanted to check it out but never made it. It was kind of lame but still fun. The whip was cool. When I was a kid, my hero was Buffalo Bill Cody. My parents took me to Cody, Wyoming several times and we toured his old home and museum. I had posted of him in my room til college. A few years ago, Aaron and I stopped with some friends just outside of Denver to visit his grave. I imagined this show to be like what I had heard Buffalo Bill's to be but it fell drastically short. After the show, we let the Screamer kids ride the mechanical bull and venture through the maze. They had fun but it was so hot! Their faces looked like tomatoes when they finally found their way out. Then back home and dinner at the Screamers. Cheryl is a nurse and getting her doctorate in mid-wifery so she filled me in on all kinds of pregnancy news.
Sunday we loaded up Mack and took the mower to Decatur. After a stop at Starbuck's (weekend tradition,) we headed to our place. Aaron mowed and I cleaned inside and then watched a movie. Then we headed back home, worked around the house, tended animals (Harley Rabbit was very hot so I brought him inside and let him run around the bathroom,) cleaned out the old compost bin, set up the new one that I love, put up a hot wire to keep Ninja Pony out of the garden and then got ready for dinner with Tracy and Jenn. We were supposed to meet at Olive Garden but true to form, it was packed. So Zio's it was. Still good. Back home, fed all the animals, Aaron worked on probes and I watched bull riding, with Donnie Gay commentating. It's the best! Wish all weekends were three days like last week. Already looking forward to the next one. Even though I love the quote my old pal Frankie used to keep on her desk (and now I have a little wooden sign that reads the same thing,) "Don't count the days; make the days count!"

Friday, July 8, 2011

Summer!



I have always loved Summer. Even though Fall brings a welcome reprieve from the heat and I love its colors, Summer still beats it to me. While Spring is such a refreshing change from the bitter cold and grey, Summer wins hands down. I don't mind the heat. I love the way it soaks into my bones. After several days of 100+ degrees, the puffy clouds sure are nice. They do compliment the blue sky and what is left of the green grasses. (Most have turned a shade of green-yellow from the heat or been harvested already.) There is a field near our house, several adjacent fields actually, that are covered in sunflowers from Spring until late Fall some years. They showed up the year my father-in-law, Willis, passed away. Sunflowers always remind me of him. He has been gone four years now. Two years ago we purchased some land a county away. We have had fun working out there and most weekends, we take the horses with us and let them run, play and eat the plentiful grass. Early this year a plant popped up in the low sandy part of the property where we work the horses. Aaron decided to leave it to see what sprang up. It was a lonely, perfect sunflower. Just one big plant. It was like Willis was smiling on us when it finally bloomed. Summer is so sweet.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

A year blew by

I thought I would be more dedicated to this blog since I was full of regret over my past two blogs. But here we are a year and a day later and I am shooting 15% for the year. Horrible! I'm not even in the competition!
What a year it's been. I wish I had blogged more of all the wonderful fun we've had. My nephew is back from the Middle East; safe at home in Michigan. We bought a horse that I have fallen in love with. I took lots of horse whispering lessons. I had the dreaded 37th birthday (I'm over it...really) and survived and then got pregnant! All of this while falling more in love with Aaron and being awe struck at how much he does for me. I don't know anybody else in the world who would do so much to make me happy and help my dreams come true. I constantly wrack my brain to come up with things to do for him that will measure up but I am not as good as he is.
Yesterday he was in OKC for work until very late last night. I was home alone and instead of sofa surfing, which is what I usually do while he's away, I walked Odelay two plus miles to the arena in Old Town Haslet, worked her, rode her, got a snow cone, then walked her back. We were both exhausted. I think she had fun. I'm looking forward to tonight. Just him and me. That's the best part of my day.
Maybe I can beat 15% this year. Here we go!

Thursday, June 30, 2011

The angst of a summer without Cowboys.

As it were, we would be less than 30 days away from training camp. As it stands, who the heck knows if there will even be such a thing. (Unless of course we all ditch the NFL for Pop Warner.) In lieu of contaminating the world with my angry opinion on the lockout, I have chosen to focus my energy on memorable and season changing moments of training camps past.

And the winners are....

#10. Ratliff/Colombo duke it out. On film.

# 9. Dez suffers an ankle strain during his very first week of camp. He performed well throughout the season but, boy, wasn't that an ugly precursor to an injury plagued year.

# 8. Tuna moving camp back to Cali, which means.....ROAD TRIP!

# 7. Speaking of said road trip, seeing, in person, Quincy throw and dodge bullets like a pro and thinking, "This guy might be really good." And he was. Just better at illegal stuff than football.

# 6. My picture, with Willis, in front of Bob Lilly's Super Bowl duds.

# 5. T.O. donning a bike helmet and a Lance Armstrong Team jersey while on the stationary bike. I got his humour at that moment and have liked him ever since.

# 4. Switzer packs some loaded heat at DFW airport. Those OU boys just ain't that smart. ;)

# 3. Cartwright's rendition of the day Landry moved Mel to offense. Three and out and a validated plane ride home for Thomas Wade.

# 2. Herschel returns! (Btw, he also returned a kick for a 90 something yard td against the Jags the next season and I was there!)

And finally, the most memorable/notable training camp moment for Super Fan Shan........

# 1. Summer '95, at St. Ed's, Charles Haley hit the sled facing me on the other side of a 4 foot chain link fence and his sweat got all over me. I said, "Hey Charles!" He said, "Hey."

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Three of hearts

For a pretty long time our little family has been Aaron, me and a bunch of feathered and furry babies. Some with hooves, some with claws, some with paws. Now our family will be three humans together with the aforementioned motley crew. Yep! We're having a baby! Small Ferrell is due in early January. I am 12 weeks along and peering down 2nd trimester lane. It seems more and more official every day but way more so since Sunday, when we told my parents and then again on Monday, when AF told his mother. Today I told some friends and the rest of my family. I am so excited. Aaron is, too. I am also scared about so much. Getting huge is one cause of freak out. Followed by permanent skin damage. I won't even mention the things that cause me shortness of breath over delivery. I am sure it's the same for all women and so I am insignificant in my mental state. However! Once it is happening to you, it causes your pulse to race and you suddenly ask the same questions women have been asking for years but now the answers scare the shizz out of you. Beyond that, of course I am scared that the baby will have any sort of trouble. I try very hard not to think that way or go there at all but there are moments when it creeps into my mind. I do daydream about what the baby will look like. I hope it is like Aaron. He has beautiful features. Mostly, though, I am happy and content. I am not overly anxious about the nine months being over. Experiencing all that my body does in order to produce this little person has been incredibly interesting and actually pretty fun. I am glad that we get almost a year to prepare our minds, home & lives for this happy change. I am grateful we're not like chickens. 28 days later, you have a baby hatching out. That is not nearly enough time. Cheers (with water) to expecting!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Hey Babay! It's your birthday!


This here is the birthday boy.
Happy birthday, Mr. Ferrell!
I am anxious to get off work today and
head home as fast I can to surprise my Baby
with his gifts and celebrate
until he's plum tuckered out.
I hope he has an awesome day.
love love love

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Good vs Evil


Do you ever feel like you are a semi-constant personified version of good vs evil? Lately, I do. I feel that way as I stare at the half eaten cup of pink frosting on my desk while thinking about the pains of my workouts and the water I promised myself I'd drink but haven't. I feel that way each day when I come home from work, burdened with all the things I was supposed to accomplish but got side tracked reading about Egypt's emancipation or Lyndsay Lohan's impending arrest. I feel that way as I step into my complete mess of a closet, again, after telling myself, day after day after day, that tomorrow I will pick this mess up! I feel that way each time I spend too much at a department store the day after I messed up a bill or my bank account. Even as I read a post from a woman who, while she drives me absolutely bonkers with her evident ignorance, tries hard every day to literally live a life that Jesus would be proud of in the best (albeit incredibly self righteous) way she possibly can, I was left feeling as I did at 15 (wanting desperately to live a life of virtue/find a kinship with God,) yet all the while, my mind continued to drift to a place I have been both trying to get to and simultaneaously avoid consistently every day for a while now. I complicate things for myself. I create my own stress and worry. I long for the simple and then instantly crave the satisfaction of the temporary pleasure offered by the wicked apple. I hope I make the right decisions for myself and others today. Each day I hope that; that I will be able to restrict my guilty pleasures to diet coke.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Yuck Mouth

I got my tooth pulled/cut out yesterday. I am still feeling the lingering effects of the drugs they gave me. I am bewildered as to why anybody would want to do drugs. I don't like the way I feel when my brain won't work the way I want it to or when I can't type or speak the way I want. I don't like the feeling of coming down and it is certainly not worth the high which basically just had me pain free but activity free as well for hours and hours. No thanks! But the tooth is gone as is the toothache/earache/headache that accompanied it for a while now. I am looking forward to being completely pain free and, once the rest of this drug stuff wears off, back to my normal self.
Battery died on my car today so Aaron is coming to my rescue, again. Poor guy.
I missed seeing Nicc last night because of the tooth repair. She was in town for one evening and now back in Houston. I will see her in two weeks when I go visit to see her daughter, Lexi, show her pig. I can't wait.
Meanwhile, my house is perfectly clean and almost completely organized on the inside. The garage is another story. I am looking forward to selling some things to simplify things around there. So much clutter. I am liking the way it feels to come home to a nice clean place. I let it get out of hand for a short while, which is too easy to do when you have so many animals.
It's only Tuesday. I am ready for the weekend. But grateful for the sunshine and my sweet friends and family.
Today, Brandy buries her mother. Tuesdays.....