It's not every day or every place...

That can have a blizzard warning when it's 64 degrees outside.  But we do.  Apparently by 9pm...less than 2 hours away...snow sould start.  Part of me would love a snow day but it will cost us the Monday after Easter so...whatever!!     Bring it on!!

2 AM Ramblings...

I can't sleep.  Nothing unusual there.  I normally can't without a sleeping pill, no matter how tired I am.  Most of the time they work but even with the pill, sometimes I can't sleep.  It's just OTC stuff and I only take one even though the box says I can take two.  Two puts me in a coma that is hell to wake up from so I don't.  And I try not to take them on the weekends but I need to.  So here I am.

I'm playing a game on CNN while I write this.  I check out Pinterest.  Sometimes I watch TV.  Sometimes I do laundry or clean house but I did that last night.  I read for awhile tonight but lost concentration after awhile.

In the book I was reading there is a continuity error that has nothing to do with the story but it bugs me.  The guy picks the girl up in his car and then wakes up to find that she has gone home.  Ok, so did she walk the 15 miles to town or steal his truck?   It's called an EDITOR, Author!!   Look into one!!

I've been hooked on 'The Rifleman' for a couple of months now.  It's on METV & AMC.  I have to be close to seeing every episode but I'm not yet.  I like the show although I lived with a cowboy for a long time and 2 things don't ring true there.  My dad never wore a short sleeved shirt and would never sit around the house or work outside without a shirt on.  I'm just saying.

I decided on a color for my laundry room.  It's called High Noon.  I cannot help humming 'Do Not Forsake Me...' when i look at it.  It's going to look great.

Tomorrow night is the Academy Awards hosted by Seth McFarlane.  I thought he was on Saturday Night Live but then read he does something with The Simpsons so basically, I have no clue who he is.


Here is Jimmy Fallon doing the "Mom Dance" with First Lady Michelle Obama.  Love it.

It's too cold to stay up so I'm back off to bed.  Hopefully with better results.

20 Years Later

Today at the United Spirit Arena the Texas Tech Lady Raiders beat the Whorns of UT which is always a good thing.  And at half time, they celebrated the 1993 National Championship team's 20th anniversary,  I did not go to the game so I got what I deserved but Fox Sport SW only showed part of the team introductions but I'd read that they were all going to be there.  And that idiot Rick Gilbert mispronounced every other name.  It was pretty cool that they were all here to celebrate.

In 1992-1993, Tech basketball was still played in the bubble.  I had gone to a few late games in the previous season and had gotten a gander at Sheryl Swoopes and thought, HOLY COW, that girl is good!!  She only played 2 seasons at Tech total.  She had signed with the Whorns but got to Austin and felt she did not fit in with the same sex oriented locker room there.  She was still professing to be straight at the time.  So she came back to west Texas and went to school in Levelland.  Then, lucky for us, to Tech.   And I was so impressed, that for her senior year I bought season tickets.  Then the 1st game, Swoopes hit the pylon thingy that holds the backboard  and crumbled like a rag doll.  She laid there a minute and then Linden Weese went out to get her.  He picked her up and she had her arms around his neck and her face buried in his neck and then he sat her down on the bench and they surrounded her.  And then, a few minutes later, she got up and scored a ton of points.  And she continued to score and score.  And she scored 47 points in the championship game.  They only won by 2 points but it was really not that close throughout the game.  It was a wonderful moment to be a Tech fan.

The thing about this team is that they were girls.  They were graceful and talented and seemed to really like each other.  Sheryl Swoopes was the most talented, no doubt but everyone one of them had a place on the team and played very well.   They didn't dunk or grunt or cold cock anyone.  They weren't selfish.  And it was beautiful.

For a little while, recruiting boomed and while the teams were good, they weren't great.  The USA was built for the Lady Raider fans.  And when Marsha Sharp had a great recruiting class, one of her players got pregnant and rumor has it that St Marsha  turned on the 19 year old and the rest of the team took it personally and while they played well, it appeared their hearts were not in it.  And recruiting dropped.  And Marsha retired.  And Kristi Curry came aboard.  And winning teams are a thing of the past.

But today, we got to relive a moment.

Men, listen up

Hearts full of hate

I don't watch the Super Bowl, not even for the commercials but I heard about 'America the Beautiful' performed by a choir made up of Sandy Hook students and Jennifer and I went to find it.  It's here:

It is indeed beautiful.  To take the kids who were around for this tragedy and mix their voices with Jennifer Hudson's (one of the best of her generation) and have them sing one of my favorite songs was a thing of beauty.  But then I read the comments on the video and I was stunned.  Granted, there are only a few commentators and they tend to hide behind their anonymous computer screens and spew their hatred in droves but WOW.  I could not read much but what I read goes from simple accusations of exploitation all the way up to a conspiracy theory that Obama had kinder gardeners killed to pass a gun control agenda.  Um, really?   And the posters are hateful in general and to each other especially.  I hate when something this beautiful cannot be enjoyed for what it is.

I have a twitter account and the people I follow and that follow me are mostly harmless...Texas humor, Texas Tech fans, Downton Abbey fans...but I followed a guy for about 3 days after a retweet from one of my Techies and he is a mean conservative who picks fights and apparently never sleeps.  I unfollowed him and the crap on my twitter feed went down 99%.  Just saying the haters are everywhere and will say things on the computer that we hope they would not say to anyone's actual face.   Dr Phil says people around contribute or contaminate and I try to block out the contaminators in my life.  But dang, they are everwhere!!

I do have to agree with one negative comment I read...Jennifer has a beautiful Weight Watchers body and she can wear anything she likes but that skirt?  Eek!!

February 3, 2003

I got a call from the hospital in the middle of the night from a nice nurse telling that my mom had died peacefully in her sleep.  I think that there is a class in that middle of the nightcall because the nurse who called me about daddy said the exact same thing.  Mom had been in a coma for over a month and was not going to get better and it was here time.  And I had told her the day before it was ok if she was tired and didn't want to fight anymore.  It still hurt beyond reason.

The years have eased the pain.  The good memories take over.  I know how lucky I am to have the mom I had.  She was a simple woman who loved her family and her simple life.  She could be counted on by everyone who knew her.  I miss her.

Potato Chowder

I found a recipe on Pinterest that sounded really good, Paula Deen's Crock Pot Potato Soup.  That was the plan...but as usual, it didn't actually go as planned.  Here is the original recipe:

1 30 oz pkg of frozen hash browns
1/2 cup onion
28 ounces of chicken broth
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/3 tsp of black pepper

Put in crockpot on low for 5 hours. Then add:
1 8 oz pkg softened cream cheese.  

Cook for 30 more minutes until the cream cheese is melted.

Before the cream cheese, I thought it had a lot of extra liquid so I decided to modify...because it's what I do.  I had bought a store roasted chicken last week and only used part and so pulled the rest out of the freezer and added it.  Then I added a can of whole kernel corn and a can of green peas.  And some bell pepper. And some salt. And I crumbled a little bacon on top.  And some cheese might be good but I don't think cheese is normally worth the calories.   And it tastes pretty darn good!!  I made a pan of cornbread and I have soup for thousands.  Ok, maybe just 8.  I sent 2 to Sarjim & Rick, will take lunch for all to work tomorrow and will still be eating for awhile.  In fact, I ran out of bowls and the one I pictured is in an old refrigerator bowl!!  

If you have not seen them, there are frozen packages of pre-diced onions and bell peppers so basically there was no chopping.  This is an extremely easy and tasty soup.  And I have never cooked much with cream cheese but I am quickly becoming a great fan.  I'll be embracing it more.   Here is the picture of my soup:

Separated at birth Kim Richards & Aunt Clara