RTT: Rule Britannia?

I'm dragging this Tuesday, people. Drrrrraaaaaggggiiiinnnnggggg. Han Solo is sleeping, but this waking up in the night business is killing me. I'm so tired! If I'm incoherent today, you'll understand, right?

*Indy has been walking around the house singing Rule Britannia for days. DAYS. He calls it England's "theme song." I tried to explain that it's not, but I might as well tell Han Solo for all the good it does.

*Do you think the Queen feels weird when people sing "God Save the Queen?" It's not like she can sing it. I imagine it would be like singing Happy Birthday to yourself.

*Kate Middleton reportedly wanted a country wedding because she's a simple "country" girl. I'm thinking country means something different in the UK than it does in the US because I did not see one cowboy hat, trucker hat, shotgun or any camouflage at the wedding.

*When we lived in the States, there was a show on TV (CMT, maybe?) called My Big Redneck Wedding. Have you ever seen it? Wow. If not, google it or go to youtube. There has to be clips available.

*I saw Water For Elephants this past weekend. It was so good. I was worried because I loved the book so much, but I figured even if it was bad (I'm looking at you Twilight movies), I'd at least have RPattz to look at. You know what though??? They stayed very true to the book and it was a good movie! You know what else? RPattz did such a good job, I forgot to think about how pretty he is! Shocking!

*I'll bet Will and Kate are glad this whole Osama operation didn't go down on Friday.

*Did you see Dick Van Dyke on The Today Show today? I love Dick Van Dyke, but what was up with his hair and beard? He looked like an old version of Wolverine.

*Why does Justin Bieber have a movie?

*We had to go apply for Han Solo's birth certificate (Report of Birth Abroad), passport and SSN this morning. It was a lot of paperwork and money. It cost us $205 for all this. WHAT? If you have a child born in a foreign country because you or your spouse are serving in a gov't position, all that should be free.

*Han Solo will be a month old tomorrow! How did that happen?

*I wish the news would quit trying to make Will and Kate out to be "just like everyone else." They're not. They may play at being just like everyone else, but let's be real. He's the heir to the throne and she's the daughter of millionaires (self made [good for them], but still millionaires). They drive expensive cars, wear expensive clothes, play polo, and vacation in places most people can only dream of. I respect that they want "normal" lives, but the are hardly just like everyone else.


*Those Brits sure are tough on rule breakers!

Road Trip Day 3: We finally get out of Texas!

Day 3 and we start off with no movie.

Oh and still in Texas. Look! More nothing:

Why doesn't everyone in America understand this?

We stopped for a potty break and I found these. Don't worry, I was parked when I took this one. They also had plain Limon, but I opted for the Chili Limon. The Limon was tangy and delicious, but the chili was HOT!
Look, it's lunch time. All eyes are on me. Or rather the "Justaburger" I was holding:

OMG! El Paso! Do you know why I was so excited to see El Paso? It's the last city in Texas!A shot of my GPS. See the US Border? That's the 'heel' of Texas. Mexico is on the left. Quite a difference, huh?New Mexico! No more Texas! No more Texas!

Um...where's Wyle E. Coyote?

I knew I should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque!

Goody! We're driving into this:

Border Patrol! Being blond haired (with a smidge of help) and blue eyed (naturally), I was not stopped.

Hey, when you're the only gas station for miles, look what you can do:

A choir of angles broke out into the halleluiah chorus:

Maybe Arizona is not for me:

Awww, look how Ft. H welcomed us:

Home! For a few months anyway.

Road Trip Day 2: Why is Texas so BIG?

Day 2: Still in Texas. C being silly at the hotel:
Our goal today was to make it from Houston to Fort Stockton. With my sanity still in tact. Maybe. The drive started off much like yesterday:Apparently the people in Houston have problems:

Hey, ever wonder where your Igloo cooler is made? Now you know, just outside of Houston:

Where are we? Texas or Germany?

About 30 minutes outside of Houston I started seeing a series of signs that intrigued me. What is this all about?

Unfortunately it was raining too hard to get a pic of my favorite signs. They read: "Eat Jerky, don't drive like one" Amen! "Bathrooms so clean you've got to Pee to believe." Well how can you resist advertising like that? Huh? I couldn't! I had to know more!!!!! So, we stopped (and thankfully the rain did too):

The signs must work because the place was packed. I mean packed. It was huge but you could barely move for all the people. I have to say the bathrooms were ridiculously clean. There were 22 individual room like stalls in the ladies, along with 10 sinks, 6 chairs, 2 benches (one covered with a buffalo hide) and several lovely western themed vignettes. I peed. I believed!

The shop had a jerky bar. You read that right. Jerky. Bar. Who knew there were so many kinds of jerky? Being a non-meat eater I wasn't all that impressed, but still. They also had a deli, a standard snack shop, a pottery store, leather wear, cowboy hats of all shapes and sizes, and fudge. Oh, sweet, sweet, delicious, evil, thigh enlarging fudge. By 4 pieces, get 2 free. Gah! C had to have it, so we got 2 pieces of chocolate for him, 2 pieces of choclate pecan for me and my ever expanding thighs, and 2 (Free) pieces of Rocky Road for M. It's so rich you can only eat a sliver at a time, but oh my is it good!

C picked what is probably the only flower in Texas. Isn't it pretty?


After we left we found a whole lot of nothing. Want proof? Here you go. See the serious lack of roads on the GPS?:



I did however find something to like about Texas:



When the speed limit is 80mph, that really means you can do this because really, no one cares:



And even this (but don't tell my mom):


Apparently I'm the only one awake:



It's amazing what you can find to amuse yourself. Do you see the viking long boat in this cloud?


Oh, hey, look! An old style oil well! This of course popped the phrase "Up through the ground came a bubbling crude. Oil that is. Black gold. Texas T." Then I sang the theme to the Beverley Hillbillies in my head for at least an hour. If you're now singing it, you're welcome.
Civilization? Nope, just a display of Texas pride and an overpriced gas station:

Finally, Fort Stockton! Oh, yes, I will!

Road Trip Day 1: Are we almost there, Mom?

Warning! Picture Heavy!Today C and I started our long drive to Arizona. We started at Gigi and Papa's house, where C has been getting spoiled beyond reason. Grandparents!  There were many tears, but not all just for us.  More on that later.So, this is how we started off.
C (bless the person wo invented the portable DVD player):
Pepper and Dutch:
And Arf, our newest acquisition (more on him later):
This is how Alabama bid us farewell. Rain:
Woohoo!!! State line:
Pepper and Dutch about an hour into the drive:
I couldn't get a good pic of this, but C loved it. It's a trike motorcycle:
Woohoo! Another State line:
One of the things I love about Louisiana. The crazy names for places:
Atchaf...what? They had an awesome welcome center though (look at the blue sign):
State Line!!!!:
Is this really Texas? These words don't make sense:
A Texas sunset:
We made it from Mobile to Houston. I was so happy to see the hotel. C was an excellent little traveler. As were the dogs, bless their sweet little hearts.

So, are you intrigued by the new acquisition and all the tears at Gigi and Papa's house?  Well, who am I to keep you in suspense?  "Arf" (I'll get to the awful name later) is a 4 lb, 5 year old Maltese, who until today, belonged to my mom.  They got him (ironically through us) about 4.5 years ago and he's been spoiled, spoiled, spoiled.  They also had a gorgeous, jet black, teacup poodle named Tiger.  Arf and Tiger were best buds (mostly-when Tiger felt like it.  He was a bit of a snob.)  and together all the time.  Sadly, Tiger passed away from cancer in April.  My mom was devestated.  If there was ever a dog devoted to a person, it was Tiger to my mom.  He worshiped her.  When she left the house, he would sit in the middle of the floor and howl.  It was sad and more than a little annoying.  He was diagnosed mid last year with cancer that was inoperable. He was given less than a year to live. By March, they knew the end was near, and when it finally came, it was relatively quiet and hopefully painless.  He died  wrapped in his favorite blanket and being rocked in my mom's arms.  As devestated as my mom was, Arf was more so.  He was lonely and stopped eating. At 4 lbs, he could hardly stand to lose any weight.  They literally have been hand feeding him since Tiger died and he would only eat a little at a time.  When they came up to my house to get C for his summer of spoiling, Arf was so happy to be around my dogs.  He ate like he was starving to death.  When they went home he stopped eating again.  Poor little love.  Though interestingly, he started sleeping with C instead of them. 
Upon my arrival (to end the summer of spoiling), he started eating again with my dogs.  Apparently he's a social eater.  My mom made the incredibly difficult and selfless decision to ask me to take him.  She was afraid that if he didn't come with us and start eating, they'd be burying him along side Tiger before long.  Of COURSE I agreed to take him.  C, M and I adore him and vice versa.  So today, my mom and step dad said good bye to him. They both cried. My mom sobbed. SOBBED. It was so bad it even made me cry. Arf settled in just fine and ate like a pig when we stopped at the hotel. I'm sure he misses my mom, but he seems to be handling it just fine.
I would love to change his name but I'm afraid it's too late. When C was little and just learning to talk, he called all dogs "arf." He'd point to a dog and say excitedly "Mommy! Arf! Arf!" My mom of course thought this was the cutest thing ever and renamed tiny Frank the Tank (his previous moniker), Arf. It's cute when you know the story, but I feel super lame calling him Arf, especially in public.

Okay, I've written enough. I'm exhausted and tomorrow is Day 2. Fort Stockton is our goal. It's so far away.