A Rant

I hate to say this but, women truly are oblivious to anything going on further out than 1 foot in diameter around them.

Ladies, when walking in groups in crowded places, say the mall or the underground hallways at work, politely step aside while the four of you decide which place you would like to go to eat. DO NOT, as you always collectively do, stand in the most narrow point of a hallway, door, or opening that you can find, start talking about lunch, get distracted and start talking about how you expect Valentine's day to go, and stand there completely unaware that you are truly blocking what would be a good two way flow of traffic in a most inconvenient place to all except yourselves.

Also, whilst driving. DO NOT get in the left lane on the highway and go 60. I promise you that you are actually putting yourself in more danger than if you traveled, oh, say, at least the actual speed limit. Also, please don't sit at red lights re-applying lipstick and gazing at yourself long enough to actually cause yourself (and a few irate others) to miss half of the green light. In addition, if I am cruising at a decent rate of speed with a HUUUUUUGGE gap in traffic behind me, DON'T pull out and make a turn right in front of me only to travel at half the rate of speed I was. YOU. ARE. AN. IDIOT.

Now, ladies, if you see a pair of shoes that are just amazing and fit so well and look so good that you just have to get them, then go ahead, splurge. However, one good rule of thumb is: they may look so wonderful off of a foot, but when you put them on you are actually physically, literally, and obviously struggling to walk properly, it completely negates how good the actual shoe looks and makes you look, well, again , like an idiot. I am not saying I have never done this. Every woman has! However, I am not yet 30 years old and have picked up on this most obvious rule simply through a keen sense of observation, without one person having advised me on this fact. I will go ahead and say any woman who has a job that requires decent shoes, should know and have adopted this rule within one year of employment. If you haven't figured it out by then, then you are the gal I'm talkin' to. Get with it. Stumbling and awkward stride is not sexy.

Lastly, I would just like to say, if you are in any place where a shopping cart is necessary, please, PLEASE, pay attention to the damn thing. If you are walking down and isle and spot something you might need or want, DO NOT take your hands off your cart and leave it right there in the very spot where your eyes fell upon this object of potential desire. Take two seconds, move the cart to the side, and then go. In fact, let's just go one step further and say, move your cart aside and look both ways before crossing the traffic you ARE going to run into. This goes a long with my "walk forward, look forward" rule. But that is anther topic entirely.

This concludes my rant this even......WAIT!

Sorry, one more.

PLEEEEEASE pay attention to the cars you park next to. No one wants a door ding. NO ONE! And you know what? I get it. I've done the whole "this car seat is heavy and awkward to carry and there isn't much space here and I am very tired and frustrated and there is some jerk waiting for my spot looking annoyed that I am taking so long so now I am in a hurry too" thing. It doesn't make door dings OK. Nothing does. Watch yourself. Watch your kids. Only you can prevent door dings.

I think I really am done this time.

Yeah.

I am.

All of these aweseom observations came from 1 single trip to Super Target today. Isn't that amazing? It just goes to show, the best way to learn is through experience.

Good night.

A visit from Alex and Laura

I know. I couldn't really think of a better title than that. I must be losing my sarcastic edge.

Anywho.

Alex and Laura came to come visit and one of the coolest things about Alex coming to visit is that it means he brings his super bad ass awesomely fast but hugely over sized camera with him. I love this camera. Takes great photos and the shutter speed is very quick.

Laura is due in May and moving along. She was eager to take advantage of the shopping here in Dallas because, as she kept saying all week, "They just don't have this stuff over there." We hit the motherland, Babies R' Us, where she got quite a few useful things, and did some shopping at Northpark. We also had a baby shower for them while they were here. It was a couples shower so a large attendance and lots of fun.

So! I provide large quantities of current pics of Big Alex and Little Alex and Laura. What else are you going to do with your brother and one super bad ass awesomely fast but hugely over sized camera?

Right about the same I think right?

Laura and I under.........those things I made.


The boys sucking beer out of baby bottles. Allen won and I coudn't pretend that didn't concern me. He won by quite a bit. Hmm...

Laura and Little Alex

All smiles, all the time

Except for when we are growling at you. No smiles then.

I love ducks.

Ducks. Ducks. Ducks.

Big and Little Alex

Man do we like to play rough. Really rough.

It's our favorite.

Jack Boy

Most of you have met our Doberman, Jack. We call him Jack Boy. He looooves to sit anywhere near anyone. Allen and I have always found this rather annoying since he is SO LARGE! I guess Allen and I knew this was funny, but I never realized how funny until I showed these pictures to a few girlfriends at work. Jack has done this for almost a year now and I just now took pictures of it. The gals at work thought it was the funniest (and strangest) thing ever.

But when I say Jack likes to sit near you, I mean near. He has developed a way of sitting on the couch that gets him as close to you as possible. He sits like we sit. Bottom on the seat, feet on the floor. Now he does it even when we aren't sitting on the couch.

Besides calling him Jack Boy, his other nick name around the house is "Big Dumb Dummy". Every year that nick name becomes more and more fitting.

So here you go, Jack, sitting on the couch, just hangin' out......

9 MONTHS OLD!

Alex turned 9 months old yesterday. I just can't believe it. I was updating his baby book and thought I would post some of my favorite photos to the site.

I can stand up now and I am never laying down when Mommy comes to get me out of the crib
Hey Mommy!

Every time I look at this it makes me laugh. he is so unaware that his face is smashed, Coincidentally, I had a doberman that used to do this at the back door. Alex loves his playpen.

My new friend Riley. (Smiley Riley) Riley was born in the same hospital as Alex just 1 1/2 days prior. Her Momma was in my birthing class.

It impossible to catch a candid photo of Riley's face! Riley sees that light comes on and turns to pose.

Another bath tub photo because damnit, they are cute.

My brother is going to kill me......

With Alex growing and changing every day, and with Laura pregnant, baby talk and baby "Stuff" is becoming a very big and exciting part of my parents and I's lives. Alex is only 9 months old(today actually) and not only is he crawling, but he is already pulling himself up on things and will stand up for decently long periods of time. This got my Dad to thinking.....when did Kate and Alex first walk? SO! Out come the baby books. This, we all know, is a very dangerous game. AND SINCE Alex Macnab was the only one not present at this time, he was in the most danger, as proved by this post.

The funny thing is, what I am about to do, my brother could do back to me with 10x more imagination and electronic manipulation than I could ever attempt, BUT, I mean, I am here with all the ammunition I might need, and he is there in London, with a very limited amount of what might not even be .22 caliber bullets so, I take the risk. AND, I can laugh at myself so I am not worried. (thank goodness being able to laugh at oneself is a shared Macnab trait. I wipe my brow.)

So after going through Alex's baby book, these were the two that just kept me in stitches. He just looks so...........proud. So Alex, in honor of your upcoming baby shower (and because I'm your sister and I can do these things) I post the pictures below. I hope they give you a giggle as well.

I love you. I miss you. I can't wait until you are here (with clothes on).

Bathtubs and Bars - another random posting

For those of you who read this just to keep up with Alex, sorry, I am going to torture you with Allen's birthday photos first. We'll get to the bathtub stuff later. (Thankfully, those photos have nothing to do with Allen!)

We went out on Saturday night to celebrate Allen's 29th birthday. We ate dinner on the patio at Ozona on upper Greenville, and then headed to Stan's Blue Note to hang out. Below are just a random sampling of photos from the night.

Katy and I watching all the weird girls come up and try to take the shuffle board away from us. (Honestly. It's not jealousy. These gals were strange!)

Just thought this photo was funny. What is going on here? What are we talking about?

Amanda accidentally ordered a drink she didn't know anything about, which turned out to be a cherry bomb. She was a little apprehensive to say the least.

John was there to help out. Otherwise known as making sure she did not only drink half of that thing.

Ok, now for an update on The Monster. Alex is sneaking up on 9 months old and doing very well. He is crawling EVERYWHERE! There was a week of the army crawl, two weeks of good crawling, and we are now already in the crawling really well and pulling up on things phase. I also like to call this the "oh shit!" phase, since that comes out of my mouth every time I look over and Alex has pulled himself up on something to get grab at an object he should not have with his go-go-gadget arms.

This shirt was made by my friend Kristie. Too cute and very fitting.

The obligatory bathtub picture. This, and many others, will be filed away so I can wait for the perfect opportunity in his teen years to use this against him. No really. What parent doesn't do that? I thought we were supposed to.

Thanks for checking in. Talk to you soon!

7 Random Facts

So Amanda tagged me to create a post to list 7 Random Facts about me. Why 7? That is too random AND difficult. I am shooting for 5 and anything after that is just a bonus. Here we go:

1) When I was little, I was a rough and rowdy gal. I used to collect live crickets and stick them in my pocket. (That is if they escaped the burning lens of the magnifying glass). My poor Mom used to find cricket legs and heads in the washer and dryer.

2) I was born in London England. Chelsea to be exact. After a few drinks, I do a mean London accent. Sober, I do......something close.

3) It is quickly becoming a family tradition on holidays to play the After Eight Mint Game. You get an After Eight Mint and put it on your forehead. Lean back. Now you have to get it into your mouth without touching it at all. You can only use gravity and facial expressions to get it down your face. This game is best placed while inebriated. My brother demonstrates wonderfully.

4) I must have carnies in my family tree as I have many strange tricks up my sleeve. I can: tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue, put 1, 2 or 3 loops in my tongue, I can wave my tongue, cross one eye, cross my arms after turning them inside out and STILL fit my head through there without letting go of my hands, and I can blow a bubble with gum bigger than anyone I know. And no, I will not show you pictures of of any of it. Carnie, not crazy. I am also left handed to add to my oddities.

5) I, like Amanda, have never (and probably won't ever) get gas before the gas light comes on. Don't lecture me. I am big on structure and schedules and lists, but apparently, filling the tank before necessary is not in my nature.

6) I am proud to admit that I am one of the few people my age that I know that has 3 friends I have known since kindergarten and still speak with. Melissa, Kathryn, and Katie.

7) I actually have a pet raccoon.

ok, no I don't but how many people have pictures of themselves feeding raccoons on the patio? Not a lot I bet.

OK, that is 7. This wasn't as hard as I thought. I actually can think of more random things about me! BUT, unlike Amanda, I will not curse you with having to post about yourself! ;)