Friends

I'm amazed you guys still come here despite the fact that I've been a terrible blogger. Not only have I been neglecting my own keyboard, but I haven't even been reading your blogs, my dear friends. But I'm staying up late tonight, hoping that Tucker will stay asleep long enough for me to type to my heart's content.

I've been thinking about my friends (more than usual) in the last few days. Sarah, The Girl, and Kelly are who I would call my closest friends - the people who got me through my time at The Worst Duty Station in the World. I'm terrible at keeping in touch with them, but I think about them often and dream about the next time I get to see them. All three of them have qualities that, in some way or another, make me a better person - or at least make me desire to be.

But long distance friendship is rough. I've resisted making new friends for over a year now, for a variety of reasons: 1) The world is filled with crazy people. 2) I'm a little extreme in some of my world views, and I'm afraid of sending someone new into a premature stroke. 3) If I hear one more military wife complain about the "War for Oil" I'm afraid I will have to end their miserable existence with my favorite firearm (see number two).

So with the difficulties of long distance friendships and resistance to new ones, I'm amazed that I stumbled upon my friend, ABW. She's wonderful and funny and fierce. Best of all, she tolerates me.

In October, we'll be partnering up to be Muddy Buddies in Dallas. And then, we will be trying out for the Amazing Race. And then there's the Livestrong Challenge - among others, which she assures me, I will live through. We have mapped out a lot of things that will make us steamy and muscular and irresistable in the next year. Yesss.

Oh, and here's a quick picture of my boy. I'm so in love with him (just in case I hadn't made that clear):

On Being Alone

Crazy Aunt Purl says it best in her book, Drunk, Divorced & Covered in Cat Hair:

I don't want to be one of those women who needs a man for my life to hold any kind of value or purpose or meaning. But Lord, it felt nice to have a man place his hand on the small of my back and usher me through a door like a lady. All at once, I remembered the things I missed most about men, having someone touch your face, run a finger along your jawline, tell you that you look nice this evening, look at you that way. It makes you feel sexy to the bottoms of your toes; you walk taller, something changes, people sense it in you, you feel desired.

It's not quite the same to look in the mirror at yourself and say, "Not too shabby!" or whatever your internal pep-talk sounds like. There's just nothing I can tell myself in a mirror that comes close to that moment when you're sitting at the table and you look up from the salad plate or reach for a glass of wine, and his eyes are on you and you smile, and you feel warm all over.

It's a delicious thing. I guess maybe I never want to reach a place where I don't need it, even if that makes me a simpering old romantic fool.

We're Alive

I don't have much time, but I wanted to give some picture updates, just to let all of you lovelies know that Tucker and I are still alive.

I have some others that I would like to post that ABW took, but I'm having a hard time finding them on my computer. Like I said, I have no time.

And I heard a rumor that Scout is finally out of Kuwait and in Iraq. The Girl, a good friend of mine from Germany, called me and said that The Boy (one of Scout's favorite buddies ever) saw Scout today. It's crazy that I haven't heard from him, but I know where he's at based on a series of phone calls from other people.

I'm off to watch a show I look forward to all week. And Tucker's schedule is finally meshing with mine: He's asleep.

Tucker's first Longhorn:

Tucker sleeping with Aunt Meghan and cousin, Teagan:

Grandma Seattle and IHOP, which Tucker loved:

Really Cool

Need a smile? Here's a good little clip to watch, via my cousin, Heather.

Homestead Heritage

We went to the most wonderful place today.

Truly, if you are in or near Waco, this little excursion is fun and wholesome and lovely.

The weather was beautiful and the sweet smell of horse manure lingered in the air (call me strange, but I love that smell).

And I promise the people popped out of a book for the day. They wore hand made skirts and spent their time crafting dovetailed wall clocks! And made the best tomato bisque this girl could ever imagine eating. And they loved Tucker.

A 14 year-old, wise beyond her years (at least in regards to domestic matters) held Tucker the entire time we ate lunch. Standing up. And she had him sleeping in less than ten minutes (not an easy feat when he's gassy). I kept asking her if she was ok, and she kept telling me what an "outstanding" time she was having. It's good to hear a child use words like that, particularly when some of my most recent experiences with teenage vocabulary made me (ME!) blush. Her and I even discussed knitting. And she informed me that, yes, she knew how to knit, but she much preferred sewing. Ha! Love it.

Here's one of the buildings near the herb garden:


Tucker couldn't figure out why this rooster was making so much noise (as a side note, I promise this boy has more than one outfit. He just always seems to be wearing the same one when we decide to take pictures of him):


This sweet lady couldn't resist holding Tucker while I shopped for homemade hush puppy mix and apple pecan scone mix (she even fed him a bottle - I joked that I was going to leave him there for a while so we could finish walking around!):


And finally, I have to tell you, it took everything I had to avoid adopting some of this scrumptious yarn:

Part of the Pack

Other people were oh-so-worried about how my dogs would react to the new baby. My response? Meh, they'll get over it. As long as Lewis still has room on the couch to smother me, he's one happy camper:


And I swear, I didn't stage this. And I love it (although the picture quality isn't all that great):


Can you believe he's getting so big? Me neither:


And here's what Tucker thinks of one of Aunt ABW's gifts: