Toby, Alan, George, and Friends

My man...the Toby Keith!

Apparently one of the bad boys of country.

For years and years and years... well ever since I saw a picture of my Toby; I have wanted to see him live. How lucky I felt that after wimping out paying $75.00 per ticket to see him on my birthdays in Utah, that the tickets were free flowing during March Madness...a.k.a...the Houston Rodeo. When Texans say rodeo, they mean rodeo- cowboys; lassoes; cowboys; bucking broncs; chuck wagon races; oh did I mention cowboys? I was able to go to openning night of the rodeo, a sold out 70,000 crowd to see George Straight. Also, Alan Jackson and of course Toby.

One of the more attractive cowboys... he scored pretty high too; if you're interested in that sort of thing.

Surprisingly, I was not the only one to wear 'mah' cowboy hat an' belt buckle. I also ate my bbq with the best of them.

How can I resist the bandana and cowboy hat??

And here is what Toby looked like performing onstage. Not to compare him to George and Alan, but he really worked the crowd and sung his H-E-A-R-T out.

I wouldn't be a true fan-in-fatuation without adding one more clip of Toby...

Alan Jackson, equally as exciting to see and sing along to. Here is where I was doubly grateful that the music was loud enough to cover up my skills. Or if you take Bone Junior's advice the less you know of a song or melody the louder you should turn up the music and sing.

A song a novice-country music listener might recognize. Or to those listeners that "force themselves" to listen to country to prepare for their trips to Texas. Either way...

What it was like to be breathing the same air as these rockin' country legends...oh and a stadium full of other redneck fans.

Crazy cat lady?

Happy happy happy! Birthday...happy birthday...to YOOOU!

Dear Ronald...you are officially an adult. You get to eat the big boy food. Yummy!

...HAAAPPY BIRTHDAY to you...! So my baby is a year old. Well to be technical he is *checks calendar*

1 year and 41 days old. I kept meaning to commemorate the event, especially since it meant Ronald moved from kitten food to adult food. Thankfully Ronald prefers the adult dry food. Not to mention that I bought him the flavored kind. Lucky for both of us it was his favorite kitten food flavor. So I thought I was the solo-goober who celebrates my cat's birthday, then I - no correction- Ronald received a birthday card from one of his favorite boutiques.

...now all Ronald is doing is bugging me to go get that free toy for his birthday. And even though I have explained over and over that it simply is a sales tactic to get us into the store to get a free $3.00 toy but purchase $15.00 worth of stuff. Do we even need the stuff? Leave me alone... I am off to buy yet another article of clothing.

How To...

argue with a classmate. For a recent writing workshop assignment, my students were to write about something that they could teach about. Some of my students taught me how to make a cheeseburger, or how to make koolaide. I thought I had seen all of the original ideas when I was conferencing one day, I came across this lil' beauty and burst out laughing. This is one of those moments that makes my struggle to remain sane in this class worth it. I quickly grabbed my camera and tried to take a picture of the gal with her brainstorm web.

The infamous student.

Who wouldn't even get out of the way for a brief picture.

Nearly everyone could benefit from the advice so sagely given in this student's how to paper.

His teacher included.

But I'm curious- "What could my wise friends write a 'How To' paper teaching me about?"

HPLuvr the Travel Agent

So when I couldn't purchase an airline ticket to Utah for spring break for less than $450, I decided to accept my fate and attempt to convince a favored guest to come to me. I was very lucky that with less than a week to plan, mi momma rose to the challenge and joined me once again for a vacation in Houston. My challenge was to provide the entertainment. While the Houston Livestock and Rodeo was in town so I made sure that we attended a concert one night [which demands its own blog; coming later]. The other highlight was our impromptu road trip to New Orleans, LA aka NOLA. The French Quarter- a section of New Orleans, has very beautiful houses. There were many stores, hotels, and homes that were still damaged and closed, but seeing as it has been 2 years since Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is beginning to return to its feet and we were able to walk the streets and see some of the most beautiful homes I have seen.

We still saw remains of Mardi Gras on some of the local homes. I guess that the beads in the French Quarter are similar to Christmas lights on Red Necks homes- both are left up all year long.

When we were first driving to the French Quarter, I got off the wrong exit and ended up in one of the scariest neighborhoods I have even been in. We were the only white people there, and even though it was the middle of the day, there were groups of adults milling about the street and chatting on the front porch steps. In fact, as I was attempting to find a street that was on the map that my mother was reading, we pulled into a corner market to both study the map. All was seemingly fine, until a large van pulls up next to us, the driver hops out, quickly moves to the back of the van to open up the back doors and begin to do business with the pair of rather large men who appeared out of no where. With a full tank of gas, and some driving around, we eventually made it to a parking lot near the French Quarter; and we spent 2 days in the French Quarter, checking the craziness that is Bourbon Street, and particpating in a Haunted Evening tour of New Orleans. For those of you who are unsure what the big deal about Bourbon Street is, it has so many bars, there is no room left on the street for anything else. Which is comforting when at 9pm you are walking back to your parked car in the dark, and you turn a corner and the street is lit up like the middle of the afternoon. The only thing I can remotely compare it to, is when you are driving into Las Vegas. You have been driving through the dark desert for hours now, when in the distance you see one heck of a spot light shooting its beam straight up into the sky, then you drive around the mountains blocking your view and even though your car clock says it is 2am, the whole city is lit up like mid-day. I loved the atmosphere of this tourist town.

The street musicians added to the general feeling. And although it is odd to admit it, there are many VooDoo [the religion] and HooDoo [the "black" magic] shops with shrunken heads and VooDoo dolls for anyone that you wish to VooDoo. By the way, how are you feeling? Pain in your side? But that really is a big thing there. In fact go rent Skeleton Key.

...and the hidden treasure of New Orleans... I stepped into a small albums shop. In this shop there were hundreds of signed celebrity albums, movie posters, and guitars. Oh, it was a sight to behold. Then I came across one that I wanted to get for the #1 Fan of this musician. But unfortunately all I could afford to do was to slyly take out my camera and snap a few pictures of this particular treasure and hope that at least one of the pictures came out not blurry. Feast.

Where all the Cowboys Roam

Two weekends ago I went with a pal to see some real cowboys. Literally. Apparently there is a historic ranch not an hour outside of downtown Houston, that a family lived on for nearly 100 years. You are now able to tour the ranch at your leisure, going from one house to the next as the generations began to appreciate good 'old things like electriciy and indoor plumbing. Now at George Ranch there was a cowboy demonstration that we were able to see. I will tell you one thing, I really believe that the demonstration could have just been a cowboy- 'MMMmm; would have been worth my money. But alas I did get more for the money. Apparently at one point in history, the cattle that was being raised in Texas was immune to this particular tick, but when this Texas beef mingled and worked the other outta state herds, these weak-outta-staters were dying. So the federal government told ranchers in Texas that they had to "bathe" their cattle once every 21 days. In that nasty water were some fairy potent chemicals that not only killed the ticks, but also killed the cowboys with their fumes as they watched the herds get their bathes, and it even began killing the people who were eating the Texas beef. But no fear, I asked, and now the cattle get "flea-like" treatments, you know that Avantage stuff that you put on your dogs and cats on their shoulders? Same thing, just put it on your cattle.

Also, noted, this was a walking tour...until I came across this sign and suddenly I wasn't so keen on the walking near the rivers and streams as I had before.

Even if Mr. Alligator was trying to tempt me down there with a soda... I didn't buy it for a second.