Third Place Softball 2011

Last weekend we played 3 teams, and lost in double overtime by one point to Pilgrim.

Went into the loser bracket of the double elimination tournament...

Today, we played 3 more teams, and lost by few points to Pilgrim (again.)

BUT... that left us in THIRD PLACE!!! YEAH!!

The PLAYERS:

The Stunt Man

The Kid

OUR Short Stop

Samson

Coach John

Freight Train

Pitcher Dave

Oh Paul!

She-who-did-the-splits-to-catch-the-ball

2B-D

AK

Nora gives you a run for your money

Carrie, The Trooper

Wes, Clayton , Joe, Hienrich and Tricia couldn't join us today, but definitely helped lead us to the championship tournament!!

I (usually) play catcher -- the caviat is -- in our league, there is no stealing bases.  So, basically the catcher's job is return the ball to the pitcher.  Luckily, we have some girls and guys who played college ball to cover the more "intense" positions... :)  We are all pretty good batters and runners too!!

We're called "One Bad Inning" b/c it seems like every game, there is always ONE really BAD INNING!  :) but our team usually pulls in out in the end!! We are lucky to have alot of good, positive, encouraging players.

This was our CHAMPIONSHIP picture last year:

CAN'T WAIT TILL NEXT SPRING YALL!!

Kids say the darndest things...

6 year old, adorable boy -- We already had "ch" ...so we tried for "J" (/dz/).

"J" in the beginning has some easy target words... Jeff, Jeep, Jet, Jam, Jiggle, Jump...
"J" in the end of a word has harder target words... average, wage, etc.

So I went through all the easy "J" at the end words (huge, age, etc)... then I came upon the word "Cottage"

ME: Hey Buddy, do you know what a "cottage" is??
HIM: Yeah, like College Cheese?

Yeah, something like that Buddy... HAHA!!! Cute kid!

PSA: The Dentist

This is a Public Service Announcement for THE DENTIST!!

I had been going to a great dentist in Dallas, but was planning on switching dentists when it was time for BIG photo shoot!  And I hadn't made it to her in over a year plus it was time for the BIG x-rays.

One of my favorite friends, Tricia, is a Dentist.  So naturally I went to her office -- (email me if you need her name and number! She's great!)

The hygenist finished and called her over... she was like "OH my gosh Amy! I didn't want to see ... ugh... this is not good....  what do you do drink Coke all day?!"

"Nope!" I said proudly, "I drink Dr. Pepper!"

She was not smiling.  Evidently... soda (dark and light) coats your teeth with acid that lasts about thrity minutes.  Well, I have been rewarding my self with a DP every work day, IF I made it through lunch without killing a kid, which was most days. :)  And (proudly) I made that DP last all afternoon by taking sips between each 30 minute appointment.

(You do the math -- but basically I was coating my teeth with acid for HOURS every weekday plus whenever I treated myself to a DP on the weekends).

I had 2 big cavities that needed to be drilled. And about a million on "watch."

ugh.

I went back a few weeks ago and did several hundred dollars of "repair" -- and the whole time Tricia was drilling, she was also chanting "doctor. pepper. doctor. pepper. doctor. pepper...." because (A) she is a turd and (B) she was drilling into my thick head that my addiction to Dr. Pepper has caused all of this (pun intended).

You will be proud to know I gave up DP for one month. And now drink them VERY sparingly and NEVER let it LINGER on my desk as a temptation to drink it all afternoon!

Thank you Tricia. 

My teeth are better because of you.

And that is my PSA:

Drink your soda. 

Don't "make it last."

Just drink it up...

or Don't drink it at all.

April 29th 2011

It's kinda late, but do you remember what happened on APRIL 29th?!

Well....

PRINCE WILLIAM got MARRIED! and IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY!!!

For every birthday at work, we have cake on the day (or as close to the day as possible).  I wasn't going to work on my actual birthday.  But I was bummed when I grabbed a book off of a co-workers shelf and saw a note that said "Amy's cake = Wednesday." 

Little did I know there was so much more...

...on Wendesday...

I was checking my schedule with an undergrad observation student and saw everyone gathering by the conference room door... 

When I was done, I came around the corner and said "Whats going on?" and then my boss said:

HERE YE! HERE YE!!  

and made a grand announcement of a

SURPRISE

ROYAL

BIRTHDAY

TEA PARTY

in honor of the happenings on April 29th!

aahhh!!

I was in heaven!!!

It was so fun and I was SO surprised!!!

And here are the pictures:

A Kate Middleton (look-alike) ring!

It was VERY FUN!!

 And elizaBeth brought me Cake balls -- I was mesmerized!

THANKS Y'ALL!!!

Derby Hat

My friend Dianna has a Kentucky Derby Party every year... complete with Mint Julips, Kentucky Pie and Croquet! Very fun!!
Here is my hat from last year:

I made it and LOVED it!! Found the hat at TJ Maxx for like $14, and got a Mum (that I just pinned on) and the ribbon at Hobby Lobby for like $5 total!

This year, Dianna requested Bigger and Better... So I tried... Maybe it was b/c I just met the Pioneer Woman, or maybe it was because I was feeling crafty, but here is a step-by-step to making my hat!

First: Raid your Mom's closet and find some hat choices:

Make a good hat chioce (and save the other's for next year!)

 Start brainstorming/searching the internet for ideas...

Go to Michael's and start collecting!!!

I spent about 20 minutes wondering the store until the NICEST lady came to help me!! Her name was Chantel.  At about the same time I saw her, another women also searching for Derby Hats, bumped into us.  The three of us worked together for about 45 minutes and made 2 really great Derby Hay Plans.... Chantel was so nice and helpful... she is the kind of worker that EVERY store needs!!  She even reminded me about the coupon in the flyer so, I got another percentage off too!!

Here is what I collected:

First took off the boring white ribbon,



Put on a purple Ribbon



Add some Purple Berries that Chantel and I found

I tried the feathers out the back side, but ended up deciding it looked like an "after-thought," so I returned them yesterday!!

 Tie the BIGGEST bow you can with all the ribbon left over!
Wired ribbon = a big help b/c it holds it's shape better!

 Add some flowers...these were firm/hard flowers but I thought they looked alot like Cake Icing flowers!

Two flowers back by the bow

I didn't like just one in the front, so I added THREE in the front for a BIG BANG!

One more for a "bald" spot on this side

and FINALLY a look from the top down!

And TAA-DAAH!! Ready for the derby:

I was really proud! :) Hope you like it too!!

And the final price:
Hat = Free, found at Mom's house
Glue gun = borrowed from a friend (Shout out LC!!)
Ribbon = $2 (on sale, half off)
Berries = $3 (on sale, half off)
Flowers = $3 (full price, but Chantel reminded me of the coupon!!)

TOTAL = $8

 (and I had one of the best looking hats there for WAY less expense than the others!)

The night we met the Pioneer Woman

I met the Pioneer Woman on Friday!! Although, I already had her cookbook and her love story, I didn't have the Children's book.... and she was going to be in town and was willing to sign it!!

Lindsay and I plotted and planned -- not really, we realized she was going to be in Houston about 24 hours before she got here!

I didn't have much to say, but Lindsay had lots to talk to her about as her family is from a town close to PWs! If I recall correctly, Lindsay's mom went to high school with Marborlo Man!

Do you see her animation... haha!! I love it!

P.S. See her cute watch?! We bought them (mine is kelly green!) next door to the Blue Willow Book Store at The Pretty Penny Gift Shop... oh yeah... and they are SLAP bracelet WATCHES!!!

Love Your Brain...

We just returned from a state-wide convention for speech-language pathologists. At our convention, the keynote speaker was a woman (a neuroanatomist) who experienced a massive stroke in her mid-thirties. Did you read that? Mid-thirties. Not seventy, not eighty. This woman was young, healthy, and in the prime of her career. Not a person you would expect to have a stroke, right?

She lost her ability to talk, walk, and basically participate in life. It took her multiple years to fully recover, but she did (thanks to many therapies - including speech!). The reason I'm sharing all of this is because so many people have little awareness what the signs of a stroke are (don't tell me if you're one of them!). Now, put down whatever you are doing and pay attention.

Dr. Bolte-Taylor shares this acronym to remind people the signs of a stroke:

STROKE
S - speech or language problems
T - tingling or numbness in your body
R - remember/problems with memory
O - off balance/problems with coordination
K - killer headache
E - eyes/problems with vision

Another way we learned in grad school to be aware of a stroke was to do three things:

1. Raise your arms.
2. Smile.
3. Say "No ifs, ands, or buts." (Or anything really)

A stroke is a BRAIN ATTACK! Just like a Heart Attack --> if you have trouble with any of those, you need to call for help.

Strokes can happen to anyone at any time. Be aware of the signs! Now, go love your brain :-)

Hi Marissa! (thanks for writing this, and Lyla does have skillz!)
Hi Crystal! (thanks for coming!)
Hi Amanda! (thanks for rounding the crew up!)
Hi Autumn! (thanks for wearing red heels and making us dress up!)
Hi Jen, Jen, Erin (and Kasey!) -- (thanks for Cyclones and spandex rompers!)
Hi Jaci! -- (have that baby and come next time!)