Let the games begin

Mercer Mayer of the famed "Little Critter" Books will be there. I hoping that I can score some signed books for Theodorable!

Have passport-will travel

I am now able to jet off into the sunset at the drop of a hat to any exotic location my husband would care to take me. I have a passport.

I know many of you have had a passport for many years, but I did not get one until the ripe ol' age of 46.

I hope it was worth waiting for....

The one where I have a sinus infection

I have a sinus infection. How do I know? Because there was a pediatrician in my office today and she was kind enough to diagnose me. The perks of working where I work are never ending. I did not have to take sick leave to go to the doctor, nor did I have to pay a co-pay.

But a sinus infection has set up house keeping in my schnoz and I am not so happy about it. AND I have a prescribed nose spray. Have you ever done that whole nose spray thing? It is quite surprising the first time. So much that I really do not want to do it again. However, I am not willing for my head to explode so the nose spray is the lesser of the two evils.

I also was prescribed some antibiotics and something to make me cough.

Precious.

I am a schnoz leaking, coughing, pile of happiness.

Maybe I will be better by the week-end so I can attend the National Book Fair on the mall!!!!

I have a cootie of some sort, but I don't think this is it...

Brotherly love

Ayatollah Mugsy has welcomed a new brother, Wendell, into his home. The picture at right is our beloved Ayatollah teaching Wendell the fine art of looking absolutely adorable.

Mission accomplished.

It's National Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Please commence.

WOO HOO! Adam is home!

For any of those of you who have not heard: Adam is home from Iraq!!! Back in the good ol' U S of A and ready to head back to Oklahoma!

His crazy brother John got a Mohawk over the week-end. Thankfully his hair grows out pretty quickly so hopefully that will be a thing of the past very soon!

I am busily sewing away. Last night I went to a class on how to make the perfect pair of pants. We took copious amounts of measurements, so I am back on the Weight Watchers wagon this morning. It is going to be a very interesting class and I am excited about the end product.

I am also working on a swing jacket. These seem to be the "in" thing right now. I took a pattern and modified it by cutting 4 inches off the bottom and replacing it with a (VERY loosely gathered) ruffle. I also took of 10 inches of the sleeve and put a 4 inch (VERY loosely gathered) ruffle on the bottom of each sleeve. I tried to draw a picture for you, but it turned out looking like a Santa Suit Jacket. NOT the look I am going for, let me assure you! I will just have to take a picture for you.

The trench coat is being taken to the cleaners to be pressed. As soon as it returns in all it's fabulous-ness, I will take a picture and post it.

The whole having to work thing is really cutting into my sewing time....

Dance through Monday

It's Fair Time across the land!

My beloved Teeb is off to a discernment week-end. He will have to blog on exactly what that is because I am at a complete loss as to how to explain it.

While he is off discerning, I am left to my own devices. I always have such grand plans of whipping up an outfit, a quilt, a tote bag, or all of the above. I usually lie in the middle of the bed with Bob watching CSI reruns (because face it: we have all seen all of the Law and Order reruns ever made). This trip is no different.

However, I am going to sally forth this morning in solidarity with my sistah and mother and attend the County Fair. I realize it is not as great as the Great State Fair of OK-lahoma (I do hope they brought that back instead of the silly change they made before I left), but it is all I have here in the cultural wasteland of Southern Maryland.

And I need to walk off those 6 dozen Cream Filled Donuts I ate in my car yesterday.

Today is National Cream Filled Donut Day

I celebrated this most auspicious day by purchasing 4 dozen of the darling fat pills for my office. The girl at the counter at Dunkin' Donuts asked me if I was purchasing them for my office. I told her, "No I am going to eat them in my car."

I think she believed me.

This does seem just a tad excessive

Football Rivalry at Center of Bar Fight
By SEAN MURPHY, Associated Press Writer
1 hour ago

OKLAHOMA CITY - To some Oklahoma football fans, there are things that just aren't done in the heart of Sooner Nation, and one of them is to walk into a bar wearing a Texas Longhorns T-shirt.

That's exactly what touched off a bloody skirmish that left a Texas-shirt-wearing fan nearly castrated and an Oklahoma fan facing aggravated assault charges that could put him in prison for up to five years.

The shocking case has set off a raging debate in this football-crazed region about the extreme passions behind a bitter rivalry. Some legal observers have even questioned whether this case could ever truly have an impartial jury.

"I've actually heard callers on talk radio say that this guy deserved what he got for wearing a Texas T-shirt into a bar in the middle of Sooner country," said Irven Box, an attorney in this city 20 miles from Oklahoma's campus in Norman.

According to police, 32-year-old Texas fan Brian Christopher Thomas walked into Henry Hudson's Pub on June 17 wearing a Longhorns T-shirt and quickly became the focus of football "trash talk" from another regular, 53-year-old Oklahoma fan Allen Michael Beckett.

Thomas told police that when he decided to leave and went to the bar to pay his tab, Beckett grabbed him in the crotch, pulled him to the ground and wouldn't let go, even as bar patrons tried to break it up. When the two men were separated, Thomas looked down and realized the extent of his injuries.

"He could see both of his testicles hanging on the outside of his body," said Thomas' attorney, Carl Hughes. "He was wearing a pair of white shorts, which made it that much worse."

It took more than 60 stitches to close the wound, and police interviewed Thomas at a nearby hospital emergency room.

Beckett's attorney, Billy Bock, concedes that his client commented about Thomas' shirt, but said it was just good-natured ribbing and that he apologized to Thomas when it appeared to upset the Texas fan. Later, Bock said Thomas approached his client at the bar and threatened him.

"My client is a little man, and this guy (Thomas) is 30 to 40 pounds bigger than him," Bock said. "He's bigger, stronger, younger and probably faster, and he aggressively leaned in and touched my client and threatened to beat him up. ... My guy was defending himself and just took control of the situation."

Thomas' attorney disputes Beckett's version.

"That's total malarkey," Hughes said. "My client never said a word to him. He got up to pay and when he paid and left a tip, the guy grabbed him."

Beckett, a 53-year-old church deacon, federal auditor and former Army combat veteran, has pleaded not guilty. His next court appearance comes Oct. 4, two days before the Sooners and Horns tangle in their annual football game at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

Thomas, who once lived in Houston and became a Texas fan during the heyday of star running back Earl Campbell, is still recovering from his injuries but has returned to work as a meat cutter at a Sam's Club warehouse store.

Like Beckett and Thomas, many fans of the two college squads never attended either university, but have come to identify so closely with these teams that they attach banners to their cars, wear team colors on game day and even have programmed their car horns to play school fight songs.

Dallas police Sgt. Andy Harvey, a 12-year veteran of the force, said it's not uncommon for fights to break out between fans of the two schools.

"People are passionate about their teams and their universities, and that's a good thing," he said, "but when you mix a real passionate sports fan and then get a little alcohol in there, sometimes it's not a good mix."

On both Texas and Oklahoma fan Web sites, boosters trade familiar tales of having their car tires slashed or windshields smashed for sporting the opposing team's sticker in enemy territory.

Assistant District Attorney Scott Rowland said the rivalry will have no bearing on the way the case is prosecuted.

"It appears that it played a part in the fight," he said, "but that won't play any more of a role in our handling of the case than would a fight over a girl or a car or a song on the jukebox."

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

I have lost my posting mojo.

Sad but true. I was able to regale you with tales of Unfortunate Sharpie Girl and random bra fitting muggings, but now I am bereft of such fascinating stories.

Unfortunate Sharpie Girl is getting married. I have no idea the exact date. I think it is whenever they can get both Harleys running since the nuptials will take place on said machines. I can tell you that she is wearing pink chaps and the couple is planning on having each other's names tattooed on their ring fingers. Good thing since we know where her other tattoos are,

My last trench coat class is tomorrow night and then I start a class on how to make the perfect pair of pants. Steve took me to G Street Fabrics Sunday where I purchased some lovely olive wool at 50% off to make my first pair. It is a five week course so I am anticipating great things. I also purchased some beautiful rust jersey to make a top to go with the hunter green-rust-gold print that I am going to whip into a skirt this week-end. Did I mention that Steve will be out of town? Look for me in the sewing room...

Dance through Monday

I am inspired

Justifiable Homocide

It is stunts like this that make me want to kill my darling husband - if he lives through the stunt that is.

He is changing he air fliter conveniently located behind the armoir. I wasn't sure whether to scream at him or laugh so I just took his picture.

Don't Dance through the Day!

It's a holiday - savor every last minute!

We are back from Ohio - Bus is doing much better than we anticipated. He is almost able to get in and out of bed by himself.

On the way back, we stopped in Hagerstown at the outlet mall. That must have been a really popular idea since the entire population of Maryland was there!

Have a safe, lazy, Labor Day!