My Weekend in West Texas and Life as a Mute

I have been waiting for something exciting to blog about, but apparently I am a very boring person. This weekend, Taylor and I, Blake, Hayden, Ryan and Duncan all went to Taylor's grandparents land in Lamesa, TX. The boys were going hunting and Ryan and I went to hang out and see the farm. Taylor's grandparents do not live at the farm anymore but the house is still there and the land is good for hunting quail and dove. It is about a 6 hour drive from Austin, through beautiful, scenic West Texas! Well, it did get scenic after Synder when we got to the "table". The weekend was pretty fun. As per always in the Reid family of strong personalities, there were some disagreement and grumpiness. I can't really say much because I am usually just as grumpy and disagreeable. I tend to be a wee bit of a princess and I also despise when there is no plan on trips. I am not really a "fly by the seat of my pants" kind of girl. I like a little structure, but it was not my trip, so structure was limited.

I am also not really a nature girl. Sure, I love to walk on trails with Barley but I am not crazy about places where there are rattlesnakes and very uneven terrain. Taylor was pretty sure that I was going to hurt myself but I am proud to say that I only received a few mosquito bites and some scratches from prickly bushes. I am the girl who usually sprains my ankle at the disc golf course, which is sad. I regularly fall where there are no obstacles and I am not very sure footed. I am also not crazy about camping, which, thankfully, we did not have to do. My idea of roughing it is usually the Motel 6. I will say that I enjoyed the weekend more than I thought I would. It was pretty at the farm and it was great to see all the stars at night.

The boys hunted on Saturday and Sunday morning. We went hiking in the canyon on Friday and Saturday afternoons. We watched the UT game on Saturday thanks to a TV antenna. Hayden made ham, baked beans and 6 lbs of hominy on Saturday afternoon and then Taylor made Frito pies and chili dogs for dinner. Sorry we didn't finish all that hominy, Hayden. We shot clays on Friday afternoon and I shot my first gun. It was Taylor's dad's 20 gauge and I am still not a huge fan of shooting guns. Mostly it just stung my shoulder and I didn't hit my clays. There was also a lot of target practice with Blake's pistol, including a "hit the beer bottle" set up. We also played Trivial Pursuit on Saturday night. It was like the longest game ever!

We left Sunday morning and drove back to Austin. All in all, it was a fun trip. I enjoyed the hiking and just getting away for a weekend. I was sad because we couldn't bring Barley but, hopefully, he will be able to come on our next trip.

Once we got back, I noticed that the sore throat I had all weekend had gotten much worse. I ended up missing work on Monday due to my sore throat and a major headache. I was concerned it might be strep since I don't usually get really bad sore throats. Luckily, now the mucus has covered up my sore throat leaving me with just a cough and laryngitis that is getting worse by the minute. I am pretty sure I will be a mute by the end of this working day. I currently sound like a frog. I wish that laryngitis was not my "go to" disease. I used to get sinus infections all the time, but since becoming a nurse, I have switched to laryngitis. I get it a few times a year. It sucks. I don't usually feel that bad but I sound awful and it is a little hard to be a TELEPHONE triage nurse when you can't talk. I just hope it clears up by Friday because Taylor and I are going to a Halloween party. I even got a semi-costume. I am going as a kind of "Chicago" girl with a pinstriped hat, pinstriped pants and a white blouse with a waist cincher. For those that don't know, a waist cincher is a half corset and it is not very comfortable. Taylor actually thought of most of the costume. I also have a short black wig and I am going to do my makeup very dramatic. I am not sure that I will really look like I am from the musical, I may look more gothic, but that is okay. Taylor is not dressing up so I didn't want to be a witch or something that I would obviously look awkward with him. Blake is going as Usane Bolt, so he will have the best costume of all. He shaved his whole body, including his head and Taylor is using self-tanner on him until he is really dark. I know it is kind of racist to go in black face, but it is going to be hilarious! The sad thing is, he is going to look like this for at least a week or two after Halloween. I am not sure he realizes that yet.

Well, gotta get back to work. I will hopefully have some more exciting stuff to write about soon.

Sorry It Has Been So Long

Well, I have really not been in the blogging mood for the last two weeks so that is why there have been no posts. I really try to blog about once a week, but life has been a little busy and frankly I just haven't had many ideas to write about.

Over the last two weeks, I have lost 3 lbs at Weight Watchers, yeah! That puts me at about 17 lbs. I am hoping to hit my 10% goal by Christmas (or Thanksgiving). Weight Watchers is going pretty well, I have kind of hit a lull in my enthusiasm but I am trying to not just go crazy and start eating everything in sight.

Last week was not the best, I started getting sick on Thursday and ended up having a little virus that finally resolved over the weekend. I missed work on Friday, but don't think I just lazed around the house. No no, I cleaned and then Taylor and Blake did the vacuuming, sweeping and mopping, as well as cleaning up the outside of the house. Then Saturday, we had about 5 people over for the OU/UT game. Great game and luckily, it was a meal that Taylor can pretty much handle on his own so I don't think I got any germs in the food. I am not even sure I was contagious by that point anyway.

Sunday, Taylor and I lazed about the house, watching football and then went to visit his parents. The weekend was too short as always. Sometimes, I really miss the shift work I used to do just because I only had to work 3 days a week. Of course, that didn't really count when you worked like a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule because you were always just trying to catch up on sleep and then it was back to work. I guess M-F is better since I don't have to work 12 hour shifts, or holidays, or weekends.

Also on Sunday, Taylor and I went to dinner with Blake and met the new girl he is dating. We had actually met her before since Blake met her at Serranos when we were eating with him, but this was our first chance to really hang out with her. She is a nice girl, but she is 19. Oh to be 19 and know so much about life because you have gone through your first year of college again. I am not usually a person who gets irritated by hanging out with younger people. In fact, since I am married to someone younger, I am usually hanging out with people a few years my junior. However, as I was listening to this girl talk to me about what my job was, what our friend D's job was and give us a little lecture about not making fun of kids with disabilities (which we weren't, by the way), I got to thinking. I remember being a freshman at ACU and the looks that the seniors I knew gave me sometimes, and now I know what those were about. I was a 19 year old idiot! Like most 19 year olds, I knew all about the world. Not that I know all about the world and life now. Certainly not, but I recognize this now and realize how I must have come off then. Like I said, she is a very nice girl but she is one of the first people I have met that I really feel the age difference with. Anyway, little rant there. Done now.

Well, this ramble could go on forever, so I will stop it now. I will try to write about something more excited next time.

A Week of Ups and Downs

Well, this has been kind of a crazy week and it is only Wednesday. It all started on Saturday, when I went to WW and gained 0.4 lbs. I was kind of upset about that since I worked out 5 times last week even though I didn't eat the best. But, I got to spend the whole day with Mom which was nice and she took me shopping for a birthday present. I got some new scrubs, new makeup, some new Victoria's Secret stuff and a couple new movies. Yeah! Then Sunday, Taylor and I were lazy all day and went over the my in-laws and bought my mother in laws birthday gift (we have the same birthday). That night we went out to dinner with my parents to a restaurant called Jaspers. They do backyard gourmet cuisine. It was good, we had shrimp and grits, I had pecan crusted trout with sweet potatoes and chocolate cake. Yum! Then Monday night, we went to my in-laws for a birthday dinner for myself and my mother in law. We had PF Changs which was great because my sister in law, Ryan, has introduced me to their Lemongrass Prawns and they are GREAT! We had ice cream cake and I got some cash, the new Sex in the City Movie and a Starbuck's giftcard! Then yesterday, which was actually my birthday, I had to go to work, which was okay. I had Tiff's Treats delivered, which was really good. They bring the cookies warm with milk and everything. Yum again! Then my sweet hubby took me to our favorite sushi place Tomo, which was awesome as always. He got me the Sex in the City movie too, and the whole Indiana Jones set, which we have been wanting. He also got me a really cute card that played "You'll Be in My Heart" and was an anniversary card in actuality but he didn't realize until he got home. He crossed out anniversary and wrote birthday. It made me laugh! So all in all, I guess it has been a week of mostly ups. Work has been super crazy so that kind of stinks, but oh well. I also will probably gain again this week after all the junk I ate for all the birthday dinners but it was fun and I have been trying to eat good the other parts of the day. I have also been working out some this week, so hopefully that will help. Thanks to all that were involved in making my 26th birthday so nice. Love you all!