Bain is a Pain

Happy Birthday to my craziest niece, Melissa!!

2010-08-04T22:34:00.079-05:00

August 6th - A day that will live in infamy!! On that day in 1945, the U.S. dropped a bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Life there was never the same ....on that day in 1973, Sherry and John dropped a bomb on Ft. Worth in the form of Melissa Lynne Bryant and life as we knew it was never the same!! Famous people born on August 6th are Actor Robert Mitchum, Poet Alfred Lord Tennyson and Actress Lucille Ball of "I Love Lucy"...which do you think most fits our Melissa?!?!

What a mess! Her mom wrote in her baby book at an early age that she was "sneaky and evil"! Some things never change. I just witnessed about a month ago her putting a slimy frog down her sister's top while out on the dock. I don't know many girls that would even pick up a frog and I know none that would want it down their top!! This "free spirit" started at an early age. One hot summer day, the mailman rang the door bell and handed Sherry 3 baby kittens that he found in the mailbox. They were, of course, all sweaty and on death's door....Was she trying to mail them? Who will ever know! None died, I'm glad to report - just a little brain damaged...but aren't all cats a little crazy anyway?

Melissa was a cut-up at school and loved to entertain her classmates thus she was frequently in trouble; however, she was very likable so the teachers never really could get too mad! She had a way of making them laugh also. She talked a lot and was once relegated to sit at the table of very quiet kids in order to keep her quiet, figuring if none of them would talk to her, then she'd also not talk. After 10 minutes the whole table was acting up and laughing. So much for the teacher's best efforts! School was never high on Melissa's list - it was a social affair at best. She had no intentions of going to college, in fact, she never even took the SAT or ACT tests. Later in life when someone asked her where she went to school she replied, "Butler Elementary"!

Before she was "Mel" she was known as "Mo" - short for molasses!! Her Uncle Bill changed her name! Never was there a slower child! You had to literally hold her arms up to put them into the sleeves of her shirt - and she was 4 years old for Heaven's sake!!!...an age quite capable of doing such a simple task! She is still slow!!!! When we go shopping, we tell her we are leaving at 9:00 so she'll be ready by 10:30! I could go mow the entire yard, feed the dogs, paint the house, cook breakfast, take a shower, get dressed and be ready and she is still sitting in the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her wet head, putting on her make-up! This is the gospel truth - if I'm lying, I'm dying!! She stayed with us once and we went to the beach. I thought Bill was going to leave her on the side of the road in Galveston - Patience is not his finest virtue and neither is this beautiful shirt he has on here - and don't you love his capri pants!

Melissa loved her older sister, Robyn, and her cousins, Jenny, David and Jaime. They spent many holidays together and even put on a live nativity at Christmas time. She played the part of the "uninterested, lazy angel" as seen here holding onto the bushes to keep her wings spread out! Robyn was "Mary", Jaime was "Baby Jesus", David was "Joseph" and Jenny was....I don't know, but I'm sure it was an important part because she and Robyn always had the best parts! Melissa and David couldn't have cared less and Jaime was too little to voice her opinion. Mel liked being with all the cousins but none better than David...they are 9 months apart and equally "sneaky and evil". They always wanted to marry each other but Texas frowns on such things; besides, think of what their offsprings would have been like!? Heaven help us!

Her 2-week visit to Houston in the early 80's was an adventure of neighborhood terrorism. I cannot tell you all they did during those 2 weeks. One reason is because I don't know and don't want to know all they did, but also because they both might be put in jail - but let's just say they were not holding neighborhood Bible studies! It reminded me a little of "To Kill a Mockingbird" but I think they might have been doing more than knocking on the door of Boo Radley's ramshackled house!

One of their wildest escapades was taken out on the poor neighbors next door - the Divins! They had moved out and their unoccupied house made for a perfect Crime Lab. I honestly didn't know they were over there! One hot afternoon, I opened the back gate to see David, Mel and Jaime (the innocent) standing there white as a sheet and sweating profusely. Little did I know that while they were next door in their secret hiding place, the owners came home to find it - well, let's just say, not in the same shape they had left it in! The 3 terrorists hid in the far back corner of a walk-in closet, shaking in their boots, finally narrowly escaping through a window and into our backyard. It was some time later that I found out why they were so scared. The lady of the house had left her bottles of hair color in one room and they decided to "graffiti" the walls! They wrote "Party Blood" on the carpet and "Death to all" on the wall. We heard later, by the new owners, that every time they painted the walls in that room that "something keeps bleeding through"...Hmmm...wonder what that could be!? Their poor swimming pool had tons of leftover trash thrown into it - toilets, bowling balls, rakes, boards, pillows and even a hot water heater!! I don't know if these fine young people did this or not, as I was not there, but I'm just sayin'....... In 1973, the year sweet Melissa was born, the burglars who broke into the Democratic headquarters at Watergate were caught - They should have taken lessons from Mel and David....they were never caught!

Mel was not particularly interested in anything athletic. There were reasons probably! She once fell off of her moped and had 2nd and 3rd degree burns on her thighs. She was the basketball manager at Lamar High School and while mopping the floor, fell flat on her face in front of all the student body! She did ride horses and was pretty good at it until she broke 3 fingers - bathing the horse!! His name was Antar! It was one of those rent-a-horse things and I think this passion didn't last very long thus they didn't lose much hard-earned money on this short-lived hobby. She did love animals but showed poor judgement when she purchased an Akita named "Nikki".... the world's meanest dog! Melissa is shown here demonstrating her attitude! She now rests where all evil dogs rest - down below! It is the only dog I have ever been scared of! I think her parents were too closely related...all the more reason Mel and David didn't need to get married to each other!

The English language was always a challenge to Melissa and it still is. She could almost get phrases right which left most of us dying laughing. Did you know that JFK was shot on the "grassy mole" in Dallas? and OJ Simpson was "indicated" instead of indicted! If someone was really mad they got "up on their shoebox" to say something instead of their "soapbox"! When in Paris on a family trip, she was really confused when they visited Notre Dame. She asked, "well, where is it? Isn't it a football stadium?" Just lately she wanted to say something really badly so she said, "I want the table" instead of "the floor". She just went to Mexico with the family and she purposely took Riley's car seat so she could put it on the seat in the plane....one problem...she checked it in with the luggage and remembered it as it was going through the little shoot to the luggage below the plane. She was late to the airport, of course, and was in a hurry and perhaps was not thinking straight. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt here as she had 3 kids in tow plus all the baby junk and suitcases. She is constantly amusing the rest of us. This is the same girl that left her goggles on her forehead while getting a spray tan!

I wish we all had the same outlook on life that Melissa has. Every day is a gift from God and she chooses to smile through everything! She is a delight to be around; I, for one, love to be with her. She makes me laugh and she loves to laugh. She loves to entertain, throws great parties, buys great gifts, is a true friend, can find anything on the internet, loves her family and she can brighten any room. Her 3 babies, Reagan, Ethan and Riley, are the love of her life and she is the sweetest, most patient mommy I've ever seen. She has always landed on her feet and she will continue to do so. We love you, Mel and we are truly glad God gave you to us on August 6th, 1973 - a day we will always remember!!

Happy Birthday to my niece, Robyn!!!

2010-05-22T00:12:00.055-05:00

Picture it......I'm 21 years old, "studying" for finals on the sun deck at my dorm at Baylor in my finest of bathing costumes and I get the news that my sister had a baby girl!!! May 23, 1968, Robyn Leigh Bryant graced our presence at a little more than 6 pounds and not very long! I don't have all the details....I'm not her mother....but I know she was little and cute! She was the first grandchild and niece of the Brooks-Bryant-Bain clan; 4 more were to follow but none cuter!

Robyn loved puppies, purses and shoes!! She still loves purses and shoes but couldn't care less about puppies! She had one of my schnauzers, "Wolfy", and he turned out to be crazy and they gave him away, twice, and now he rests in the land of wherever bad dogs go! He cured her of ever wanting another dog!

Bill, aka "Uncle Bucky" (affectionately named by Robyn and Melissa), and I kept Robyn when she was about 4 for a short time and one hot afternoon she tried to escape our backyard by climbing barefooted over our cedar fence! The thought makes my feet hurt now!! She must have had 200 stickers in the bottom of her little feet; Bill was elected to try to get them out! You think I'm not very gentle and tender!!! Bill makes me look like Mother Theresa! He sat her out on the back porch and proceeded to pull them out with the tweezers! She screamed until CPS came and rescued her!! I think this is when she started thinking of new names for her uncle and she came up with Uncle Bucky!! She probably wanted to nickname him something worse!!

When she was 3, I remember she couldn't say words with the letter "L" in them very well and we would always try to get her to say things with "L" in them so I guess we could laugh at her. I once said, "Robyn, can you say yellow?" and in her quick wit said, "No, but I can say pink"!! She had high ambitions as a young lady; she wanted to grow up and be a cheerleader!! Wonder where you go to school for that? Not Baylor!! and that's where she wanted to go. I don't think she ever tried out for Baylor cheerleaders; by that time she had discovered her other talents.

She wasn't exactly athletic and didn't like to sweat! (I might add that she still doesn't like to sweat and would love to live where there is zero humidity!! She complains about Houston's climate to this day but she sure does like to come visit my lake and jet ski!!!) She found a sport that was cold and didn't require sweating. When she was 7, she attended an ice skating birthday party and the rest is history! She took private lessons and then what followed were costumes, early morning practices, lots of driving over to Dallas, competitions, special blades, custom boots and only two scars to show for it!! She skated at the age of 10 for the opening of the ice rink at Prestonwood Mall with Jojo Starbuck - (wonder if she started the coffee franchises after her days on ice???). She was asked by some pro if she could move to Chicago and train!! (Wish someone had asked me if I wanted to ship one of my kids off to Chicago - I might have been more tempted!) She was nicknamed the little "dragonfly" because she was little and skated really fast. Her main goal was to skate fast enough "so her skirt would blow in the wind". She was a better skater than a cheerleader and she can still skate. She proved it to us a few years ago at Christmas when all the kids went skating one night. She even beat her cousin, David, in a race!! She never fell; can't say that for the rest of them - of course she still had her special skates and the rest of them had old rented skates!!

She took dance lessons, tap and baton like all little girls and loved the costumes and performing. She and her cousin, Jenny, were always putting on shows for the family and loved to try to organize the other two wild ones in the clan. David and Melissa were definitely a challenge and didn't cooperate very well so they were always given the bit parts while Jen and Robyn were always the lead roles with lots of lines and costume changes. I think Jaime was too young to have to be included; just as well....one less to organize! These performances came in handy when she went to Baylor and had to be in "Sing" for her sorority, "Theta". (I think that is how you spell that; I never was in one....P.E. majors didn't have time for such frivolity!)

She was not without faults!! Once she and her little friend across the street, who will remain nameless, went door to door to collect money for the Girl Scouts.....only thing wrong with this is that she wasn't in Girl Scouts....or Brownies....or Boy Scouts.....nothing!!! She simply stole the money and then, like all of us that get caught at our sins, promptly blamed it on someone else!! "I didn't ask for the money; the other girl did......but I took it!!" They spent the rest of the hot afternoon sweating, going door to door to return the money! What she didn't know was that all she had to do was buy some GS cookies and sell them for a profit!! Everyone loves Thin Mints and would have gladly paid extra for them!! Wish I had some right now....

Robyn has a great sense of humor and quick wit. We want her to write children's books but so far I haven't been invited to a book signing. I think she is ignoring God's gift but there is hope. She is quiet in a large group until you get to know her - then she has a loud, infectious laugh! She loves her family, especially her sister. They love to shop and are great buddies even to this day. Two of these pictures prove their love - a banana pudding fight at New Braunfels. I think Robyn got the worst end of the skirmish. I wish they had used the salad instead of the pudding!! Her cousins are more like sisters and a brother to her. They have had many hours of fun and laughter together. She has many pictures to prove it - she loves photography like her favorite aunt - OK.....I'm her only aunt but I'm still her favorite! She, too, always has a camera for every occasion and will probably be buried with it. Some people want to be buried with their books around them; we want our pictures around us! We call and talk photography all the time...some people talk about recipes and cooking.....not us!! She doesn't like cooking either but does it more than I do! She has to - she has 3 hungry boys to feed! My one hungry boy can drive through McDonalds.

After graduating from Baylor in 1990, Robyn married her high school sweetheart, Rich Rogers. They met at church at age 16 and they married on a cold wintry night in January of 1991. She wanted little girls but God gave her two of the cutest and wildest little boys with lots of energy! She says she's glad now...Harrison and Griffin aren't as expensive as girls, don't whine as much (just hit and fight!) and they won't borrow her shoes or purses! She's the queen of the house has learned a lot about baseball, football, dirty uniforms, crummy umpires, games in the rain and heat, mouthpieces, cups, stinky socks and rally hats. She also has learned how to sweat with grace!!

Robyn is a great niece to Bill and I, a great cousin to Jenny, David and Jaime, a wonderful granddaughter, mom, wife and sister but she is a absolute delight and blessing to Sherry and John!! She is everything they have ever wanted and they are very proud of her, Rich and the boys. Her love for the Lord is evident in all she does! Happy Birthday sweet Robyn. I love you and to prove it, I left out a lot of pictures that I could have used!!!

this is a practice test.....

2010-05-12T15:10:00.012-05:00

you don't have to read any further....this is a practice test and I have nothing interesting to say except when I was swimming today some man got in my lane and ran into me. I thougtht at first it was an alligator......now on to practice something with the pictures. this is keely on the right. she is one now. this was turkey day when she was sick and didn't go to Ft. Worth with the rest of us. they probably ate turkey dinner from Luby's like Bill and I did the first year we moved to Houston. He was a pilot and on call so we couldn't leave so we ate at luby's and we were one couple of 4...all in different corners of the room. I found a match stick in my dressing. that was in 1970.

Now I have to write another paragraph so I can practice putting pictures here because I don't know the easy way to do this so I will just type a little more junk here and then try to drag a picture here. I'm an old dog and don't know how to be very computer/blog/email savvy....is that how you spell that. time for another picture.

Isn't he cute...don't you love the mullet hair do. This was his senior year after he pierced his own ear and grew this hair then went off to college and wrecked my car.

He then came home and was told to cut the hair and get rid of the earring. He went on to texas tech with no car and a roommate from Maylasia that he didn't know into an unairconditioned dorm. He didn't have a car all year and then when he got one it was his great aunt's old oldsmobile with valour seats..it was a piece of junk. teach him to wreck my mustang. time for another picture.

everyone needs some construction pictures in their blogs. I know, it's sideways, but it would look the same if I turned it 90 degrees. what is a degree? something you get in college but what is 90 degrees? who invented that? it's hard to explain that to an 8 year old....I tried the other night when I told him to do a 180....he didn't really catch on but then again, neither did I. where do you learn things like that? now it time to view this lovely post and see if it is doing the same goofy things it was before and then I'm going to try to find a way to fix it. see ya in a minute.

it finally snowed in shreveport when jenny was actually at home. aren't they cute. we are going there this weekend for the lovely 2 dance recitals. why 2? why can't they be in the same one.....it will be delightful and they will look cute in their costumes. Kate is in one dance and allie is in 3. In 3 weeks allie will be the part of "wind" in the downtown musical of aladdin. it will be great. 2 years ago she was in Lion King and her part was "grass". what next? Fire maybe or tornado in Wizard of Oz.....when will she get a real part? I don't know if I can keep driving there for non-human part. gotta go do another picture......

well this is Charlie and Jackson's first day of school picture. It is that day that every mom waits for until they bring all those papers home to fill out. They always look cute on the first day so the teacher will like them and she'll think they are sweet and will always act cute.....she will soon learn differently. the second day, it's back to cutoffs and a t-shirt with a dragon on it or a baseball or skateboard or last night's spaghetti. time to practice some more pictures.

This is a picture of Suz and Camryn,,,,,well part of cammie. she is at Grace Presbyterian for her baptism. She was really cute and stole the show from the other 2 babies there. Now I'm going to preview this and see what I need to repair. remember this is a test and why are you still readying this?

Happy Birthday David!!!!

2010-04-29T15:43:00.071-05:00

Happy 36th Birthday to my middle child, William David Bain. It was May 6, 1974 and I was thrilled to have a boy! In fact, I wanted and prayed for 4 boys so we could have a basketball team - I would be the 5th member, not Bill; he was always out buying antiques somewhere! What is the country song about sometimes "God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers"?!! As it turned out, one boy was quite enough! David was home 3 days and then was in Texas Children's Hospital for 10 days with meningitis. God's grace got us through this and many more adventures in his lifetime!

David was a cute, white-headed, wild, energetic dare devil all of his life and now has two boys just like him. What goes around, comes around! He couldn't have cared less about girls, dressing up, Sunday School, choir at church, long car trips, piano lessons or school in general. He was most active at bed/bath time and the only reason he liked books was because it meant I had to read more and this postponed finally going to bed! He wasn't too high on swimming lessons. On the 2nd day of swim lessons I told him to go get ready and he said, "I already had it". I guess one day was good enough for him.

He loved his sisters, Jenny and Jaime, cars, boots, jeans with back pockets, puppies, all sports, dirt piles, his fort in the back yard, hanging Jaime's Cabbage Patch dolls by a rope from the balcony, cereal at 3:00 a.m. every night, his neighborhood buddies, drums, his snake "Lars", his grandparents and his cousins; in fact, he and Melissa got into much mischief, some of which, if printed, would probably incarcerate both of them! She was one year older than him and equally immature. His other cousin, Robyn, was older and more grounded than her sister! His girlfriend when he was young was Jennifer Turner; I asked him once who his girlfriend was and he said, "Turnerfer". That is what we still call her to this day. They once tried to find gold in a hill of dirt in our back yard while playing cowboys! One Valentine's day he was making cookies with me - one of those few days he was actually in the house and I knew where he was - he asked me, "when you fall in love, can you get up?" (Guess that depends on how hard you fall!!) I always hoped he would not really wear my wedding gown at his wedding!!

I asked him once what he wanted to be when he grew up and he said, "A doctor so I can see people naked" or "a fireman so I can start fires"! Where did I go wrong??? He left a note on the front door once that said, "Jenny, the house key is in the gas grill." To see the difference in he and Jenny....while they were gone one night, Jenny asked if I could tape President Bush's speech and Dave wanted me to tape "Bart Simpson". Unfortunately, he is his mother's child; I'd rather see Bart than Bush!

He was in several Christmas pageants at church and he liked those because he didn't have to sit still and listen; he could run wild through the church when it wasn't his turn on stage. I had to pay him 25 cents the first year to go on stage and be a pilgrim. The year before he was baby Jesus. One year he played the piano and one year was in a dance. He probably never told any of his friends about his pageant days! He told me once that Joan Brunson, the church pianist, was lucky because she didn't have to sing in the choir! After reading a Bible story one night, I asked him "where did Adam and Eve go when they got kicked out of the Garden of Eden?" and he said, "I don't know; I guess out to eat". Probably was a good answer! Like I said, he wasn't too high on church and I don't know that he learned much! He asked me once, "when I get married, do I have to marry a Baptist?" In a prayer at dinner one night he thanked God for Halloween and told God not to drive fast or the cops would get him!! He saw Bill Daniels (pageant Jesus) in a pickup one day and said, "I didn't know Jesus drove a truck?"

Dave loved being outside and loved all things physical. He was pretty coordinated and learned to ride a 2-wheel bike at age 3. He played football at 6 and was the shortest one on the team. I think he made one tackle but he loved the "costume" and helmet. He played baseball, basketball, snow and water skied and loved skateboarding. Bill and he and all the skaters built a half-pipe ramp in the driveway and they played on that all summer until the mean men in the homeowner's association made them take it down. The skaters all came over at midnight and tore it down with hammers and loud music!! They didn't go down easily! It was called "skate or die" and one mother wrote a permission slip that said, "Ozzie has my permission to skate or die"!! No one did; in fact there were never any broken bones!

Not on the skate ramp anyway! There were several other instances of broken bones, stitches, operations and bandaids. He had stitches early on from jumping off the dryer into the trash sack and cut his toe on a tin can lid! Being the loving mother that I am, I told Bill to just put a bandaid on it!! A little too much blood for that! He broke his collar bone twice; once on a dirt bike and once in football. His biggest collision was on a street bike when he ran into the back of a parked car - thank the Lord he had a helmet on! As he lay on the curb, bleeding everywhere he told the ambulance driver "not to tell my mother". It was a tad obvious. Broken jaw, split lip, broken tooth, blood clot in the cheek, face black and swollen....let's just say he got many strange looks in public! I tried to act like I didn't know him! Six months later he looked pretty normal again, thanks to Dr. Lee and God's grace! (I could have shown you much worse pictures!)

This didn't really slow him down much that summer; he even made baseball All-stars with his mouth wired shut. One his most favorite things to do is dirt bikes! He has even instilled this into his two boys. They rode from the time they were 4 and 5 years old. Grandma doesn't like it and it keeps me on my knees!! He has bungy jumped with Jenny over the Guadalupe River, raced go carts, para sailed, jumped off the roof of the house into the pool, rode 4 wheelers all over the farm, shot a deer, snakes, a wild boar and some animal that looks like a deer called a nalgae! They beautifully adorn the walls of my house and his! Suz and I are thrilled! He played basketball, football and ran track at Taylor High School. Football was his favorite but he didn't like cutting his mullet off before two-a-days!!

Upon graduation, it was time to think college. He really didn't know where he wanted to go and I asked him if he'd like to go see some schools and he said, "Oh, mom; I don't care if it's got any trees!" He eventually went to Texas Tech with his best friend, "Duke", a chocolate lab, and graduated later on with a degree in advertising. Bill and I also gave Suzanne a degree in advertising because we figure she had as many hours in his degree as he did!! Thank you, Suz!

Dave met Suz at a New Year's eve party his senior year in high school. He came in that night and said, "Mom, can I go to early church so I can meet Suzanne at the hotel?" I said, "Who is Suzanne and why are you meeting her at a hotel?!" It was all legit; she was in town with her family for her sister's wedding. Until now, remember, he could have cared less!! Suddenly, he cared!! They dated for 7 years, on and off, and were married July 10, 1999. She is the best thing that has ever happened to him!! He now is the wild father of 2 wild boys, Jackson and Charlie, and one sweet little girl, Camryn. He works with Bill now in construction and has to remodel churches a lot and help run an antique store! I told him I never thought he would be in "church work" or antiques!! He is a sweet, wonderful son, husband and daddy and I thank God every day that he is mine!! His life has been wild and fun and has kept me closer to God than I could have ever imagined!! Happy Birthday Dave - I love you!!

Happy Birthday Jaime!!!

2010-03-16T23:44:00.037-05:00

Happy birthday to my youngest today, Jaime Brooke Bain!!! It was March 20, 1979, the first day of spring, and it was raining cats and dogs! Jaime is the perfect example of God's sense of humor - we were not going to have any more children after Jenny (7) and David (5)....yeah, right!! I thought I had a really bad case of the flu or something.....the flu came 8 months later weighing 7 lbs, 5 oz with the biggest blue eyes you have ever seen. She is not unloved - just unplanned and I am glad God surprised us that wet spring day!

Jaime is sweet, easy-going, lovable, kind, self-sufficient, flexible and was definitely the easiest of the three to raise. She had to be....She was dragged from one thing to another, ate a million hot dogs at everyone's ball games, took naps in the back seat of the car and took the fall for many pranks and mischevious adventures of her sister but mostly her brother! She once was run over by David on the 4-wheeler and it broke her toe. She told me she ran into the curb barefooted because he threatened her if she told me the truth! After asking me for something once, David said, "no" and this 3-year-old responded with, David, you're not "a mother". He was griping one night, at one of my finer meals, at the dinner table that there wasn't a chicken leg left and she told him, "well tough; just eat a body"!! I even forgot her once at the church nursery one Wednesday night after choir and drove all the way home! She was 3 months old and I had gotten out of the "baby mode" and it simply slipped my mind that I had another child. My good friend, Trevelyn, brought her home to me! Jaime reminds me of this often when she wants something!

She always wanted to know "why is the 2nd act of this Christmas Pageant always about the Lord?" I asked her once what she thought God looked like and she said "He has dark hair, a beard and wears sandals and a cape"! Sounds like a gothic Superman. She also asked while eating her sandwich, "Does God like crust?" I told her yes (who knows?) "Well, I like God but I don't like crust"!! In the first grade, she came home and told me she got her name on the board because "when the teacher got really mad, she was going to count to 3 and she said "one" and I said "two"!!

Jaime took piano for about 3 months so we didn't have to endure a piano recital like the other two. She skipped ballet, gymnastics,(see cartwheel picture to understand why!), swim team, etc and went straight to basketball and softball. I loved every minute of it. I hung on the fence at a 100 ball parks across the nation and took 10,000 pictures. She became a pitcher because our team didn't have one and luckily she was really good. She only got beaned in the head a couple of times and in my loving way, if it wasn't bleeding too badly, I made her carry on. When she came home from school, we'd skip English, math and science homework to go pitch in the side yard; because I didn't have shin guards, my legs got beaned and now they look like the Battle of Gettysburg - I soon purchased some shin guards but it was too late.
She won most valuable pitcher at 10 years old and it continued through high school and ASA summer ball. She was All-Greater Houston her senior year and won Taylor MVP 4 years in a row. She was asked to play in college but she was tired of the life of skinned knees, funny tan lines and running around the country playing at wee hours of the morning. She once played in the state Regionals at the Baylor Baseball Park where Bill played. This picture is at that park with Jaime, Bill and his Baylor coach, Dutch Schroeder. I was sad she quit but she was ready to "move on". We had some great memories and laughs through all those years and we grew very close because of all the time we spent together. She also ran track, played volleyball and was on the THS basketball team 4 years. No wonder she was tired of it and ready to move on!!

She loved high school and had many friends. One of her best friends was Joy Keating and they are still close today - sharing memories and laughing and helping each other raise babies. They were on the winning powder puff football team. Jaime broke up this pass to help win but Joy was the star! She kicked a 30 yard field goal to win. Jaime was the "holder" and was scared to death!!

Several years later she graduated from Southwest Texas and started her teaching career. She has taught first grade and third grade and now understands why her mom/coach said the things she said to students and their parents, why she was always tired and why she was not at home much! After not having seen each other for several days, one night I found a note in the kitchen and it said, "Dear family, if you are still alive, I have gone to bed."

One of the most important parts of Jaime's life is her dog, Dexter, an 11 year old black lab that has lived with me for 9 years!! Now the most important parts of her life are husband Michael, a Nebraska Husker, and her one year old (almost) daughter, Keely!! She has big blue eyes just like Jaime and looks just like her baby pictures. I hope she grows up to be just as sweet and a great pitcher too! I'd like to hang on a few more fences before I go! I love you, Jaime! Thanks for being such a great daughter - You have brought us much joy!!!

Happy Birthday Jenny Bain!!

2010-02-04T17:40:00.029-06:00

This post is dedicated to the birthday of my oldest offspring. On Feb 4, 1972, Jennifer Paige Bain came kicking and screaming into this cruel world and instantly it became a better place. She took her good time and waited until evening but it was worth the wait. She is a fun, happy, sweet daughter and I am thankful God blessed Bill and I with Jenny! She weighed 7 lb 4 oz and I had not a clue what to do with her. The hospital told us after 3 days that we had stayed as long as our insurance would let us and it was time to leave!! They gave us Jenny but they didn't give us a manual as to what to do next! So we got in our fine small orange Vega and drove to our new home on the west side of Houston ready to parent this child into adulthood. Thank heavens for my sister, mom and a few close friends. I learned how to fold diapers, sterilize bottles, burp, clean up spit up and the art of creeping down the hall so she wouldn't wake up! That was a gift God had to give me because until then I could have slept through a tornado!

Jenny was your typical kid running around, messing up stuff, falling down and bleeding, pulling all of the kleenex out of the box, pulling the dog's ear and asking "where's daddy?" all day....I wondered the same thing! Why did he get to leave all day and only come home when it was time to play for 15 minutes and then put her in bed!! She was precocious and had an answer for everything. She told David once, "Come on and play with me; I'll let you be second!" How kind! Once during a bad storm she asked me, "who is going to take care of us?" and in my fine Christian wisdom I told her "God would". About 10 minutes later she walked to the back door and said, "when is God going to get here?" She was 3 years old then and sometimes at 63, I'm asking the same question. She even asked me one time, "Mom, can I tell you something without you just saying 'Well, tough'?" That will make you step back and think for a second.

She told David once that the reason the lady in front of us could take the Lord's Supper was because "she has already been crucified!" She also wanted to know who God's wife was? Her dream job when she grew up was to work at the cleaners or the "Film and Photo" drive-thru! This was the same child that saw me vacuuming the floor and ask me "who's coming for dinner?" I'm sure I deserved this but spoken by your 5 year old makes you think bad thoughts!!

My 3 children have been in every lesson and sport known to man except ice skating. My niece did that and I knew right there that those hours were much too early for this old girl!!! Jenny was in a little of everything.....dancing, gymnastics, cheerleading, softball, tennis, volleyball, basketball, track, soccer, choir, piano just to name a few. She was definitely better at some that others. The tennis coach ask me once if she perhaps was left-handed because she wasn't very good right handed...that would be no!

She played basketball all during Junior High and I even bribed her with a new Laura Ashley dress to play in High School. After I bought it and she wore it once, she quit basketball. She still owes me for that dress!! I am not bitter, however!! One summer she tried the swim team. She went to the pool, dived in, swam one length of the pool and got out and said, "this is not for me!" We left...that was fine with me....swim meets are really long! The soccer picture here.....that is the closest the ball got to her all season....I actually think the ball accidentally hit her leg once; she was a one-season wonder!

In Jr High she ran track...she was pretty fast for a white girl but when your district is mostly non-white, well, let's just say she didn't win a lot of ribbons! She loved volleyball and cheerleading in Jr Hi and High School. Speaking from her mother/coach of 17 years, I think she was best suited for these sports. She was also very graceful at water skiing!! She once sang the "Good Ole Baylor Line" at a fellowship at church when she was three. Bill took her to a rather large Baylor Letterman's banquet in Houston a few weeks later and she wouldn't sing a note. He was so embarrassed; they left and when they got to the car she said, "Ok, I'll do it now". She didn't get the chance and I think he told me he left her on the curb for a while!! I don't know where I was but I'm glad I wasn't there! She was in the "Sound of Music" at church and was also baby Jesus in the FBC Pageant; she cried a lot. She was in several piano recitals and it brought us to tears....not because we were so proud but because I gave up 3rd row, Houston Rockets' playoff tickets to hear her play "Theme from E.T." - or was that David?

Jenny enjoyed Taylor High School, graduating with Honor Cords, whatever that might mean....it means she is smarter than me....her team won the all-important Powder Puff football game that was played against the boys playing on one leg and after graduating went off to Baylor for years of fun and I don't-want-to-know-what-else!!!

She joined Kappa Alpha Theta and spent lots of time and money there making lots of good friends and memories. Jen also acquired a cat during her Baylor days. "Gorby" was a great friend and he even came home to live with us for a few years....just like my other two children who have "left" their animals for me to raise. Gorby didn't eat near as much as the two labs!!

She found the love of her life at BU, Shannon Johnston and they were married in January of 1996 in Houston. They have given us two wonderful granddaughters, Allie and Kate. The only thing I can say about Shannon that was not exactly on my plan was his moving my girls to Louisiana! As long as he lets me visit as often as I want to drive 4 hours to "who dat" country, I guess I'll let them stay....like I have any say in this!!

Jenny is a mother's dream. She is Godly, compassionate, caring and a friend to all....she is not only my daughter but one of my best friends! Thank you, Jenny, for being mine. I know you will feel the same way about your girls as the way I do.....take advantage of all the time you have with them because before you know it, you'll be paying for a wedding ...or two! Happy Birthday to Jenny - one of God's greatest gifts!!

My Dad was the best!!

2009-10-11T20:33:00.036-05:00

No matter how old we get, a girl never outgrows her need or love for her daddy. My dad was indeed one of a kind....sweet, funny, happy, knowledgeable, silly and with a love for his Lord that never waivered. Gene was born "Eugene Brooks" with no middle name, but other than that, he doesn't know a lot about his birth. He doesn't know when he was born or where. He was the 7th of 8 children and was probably born on a farm somewhere near Bonham, Texas; the doctor on duty that day probably had to go deliver some cows or horses too and he never recorded dad's birth. Cow, horse, human...it didn't matter back then I guess....almost 95 years ago!

Dad's family sorta fell apart after his parents divorced and he commenced to live with 11 different families or friends until he married my mom, Eleanor Beazley, in 1941. They were married 68 years! For a period of time, he lived with his uncle, Amon Carter, in some big white house on the west side of Ft. Worth. Amon, the namesake for the TCU football stadium, was a character who had more money than necessary; he started the Ft. Worth Star Telegram and has had an airport and museum named after him and was some big wig way back when. Dad said it was nothing to come downstairs and see some famous person sitting at the breakfast table. He remembers seeing Will Rogers and Charles Lindberg there one morning. I remember going to Amon's funeral; I was 8 years old and I don't remember much about him but did wonder if we would get any of his money. Yeah, right!! While he lived there, Amon's wife told dad that all men needed a middle name so she gave him the name Carter. Somebody else he lived with asked him one day when he wanted his birthday and he said, "tomorrow" and that happened to be November 27th. They thought the year was 1915 but years later discovered that that would make him only 3 months older than his youngest sister so he must have been born in 1914. As a small boy he was in Vaudeville and also traveled with the carnival for a while. What a wild beginning to a great life. He told me once, "I love life; I'd like to do it again...well, most of it anyway".

Dad's family was definitely on the small side; he was 5'4" and he was one of the bigger boys. Some of his brothers were jockeys in Kentucky. Wish he had been; I always wanted a horse! Now you pair that up with my mom who is 5'3" and you get short children and short grandchildren and on and on until someone marries tall; so far, no one has!! His height never bothered him. He was tall in my eyes. I loved his sense of humor. He always had a crazy saying, goofy look, smirky smile and the greatest hugs ever!! I already miss them.

Dad loved history, especially the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln. When Dad got to heaven, I bet he saw God on his throne in the middle, with Jesus on the right hand side and Abe Lincoln on the left. When I was 10, one vacation I remember was when we drove our '58 Buick all over what seemed to be the entire eastern 1/3 of the country looking at every Civil War battlefield there was. We had to take our picture beside every sign, cannon, fort and graveyard! After several days of this, I was a little bored and my sister, Sherry, and I couldn't wait to go to the cheesy motels and swim in their pool. My love of history wasn't as deep as his!! Every day from April 1961-1965, we received one to ten self-addressed letters in our mailbox with the 100th year anniversary stamp commemorating every battle in the Civil War and it was postmarked by the postmaster in that town with "First Day Issue" stamped on it. He had them all nicely bound in books with notes about each battle. If anyone knows anyone who would want these for a school or museum, call me!! I remember I always hated to ask Dad a history question because he wouldn't just give me the answer, he had to start way back to the Roman Empire to get me the answer to something in WWII!! All I wanted was the answer so I could be finished with the homework and could go play basketball in the driveway!!

Dad loved sports; he taught me football and how to throw a spiral. He loved the Cowboys but really only when Roger Staubach and Tom Landry were there; he wasn't much on Jerry Jones......who is??? He never could get over pro basketball players and their shorts that are too baggy and that they "travel with the ball" all the time. I'd have to agree with both. He loved track and excelled in that. He told me a 100 times how he set a record in the 60 yard dash in high school by not getting caught when he jumped the gun....it's not a sin unless you get caught! He also told me how he dug holes in the ground to get a better start because they didn't have starting blocks back then.

I was a church rat and loved everything about it; the people, the music, the leaders, the fun but the best was Camp!! I couldn't wait to go to camp and always wanted to stay there for 2 weeks. I continued my love for camp until a few years ago; at last count, I have been to 58 camps and several years went to 2-3 a summer. That's a long time on a bunk bed....except most of the time I was out creating havoc all night and never slept much. My mom and dad always went to Camp and were sponsors. Every group had to do a skit and some were more on the line of productions rather than silly skits. Dad's was no exception! He worked for weeks on these skits and usually won "Best Skit" which was a big deal back then! He also did skits at church and was sometimes in the musicals we did; he rarely had a serious part! He was well known for his pantomime of Andy Griffith's, "What it was, was Football"....a goofy monologue about a country bumkin that wandered into a football game and had no clue what they were doing. You could probably find it on You Tube nowadays but back then you could only find it at Sagamore Hill Baptist Church.

Dad worked at General Dynamics in Fort Worth for 26 years and was the purchasing agent for the F-111 and B-26. He also worked at Texlite in Dallas for 5 years where they made the big flying red horse for Mobil Gas. The largest one is still on some building in downtown Dallas. We have one in the downstairs of my house...what on earth will I do with it when Bill dies!!! If you know someone who wants it, call me!! I might throw in the Civil War books for free and the 20 years of National Geographic that I promised I wouldn't throw away. He would never let me cut anything out of those; you would have thought they were part of the Bible!! Speaking of the Bible, he knew it very well also and taught Sunday School for years. I was afraid to ask him a Biblical question because I figured he'd start back with Adam and Eve and I just wanted to know something about the crucifixion...there's a lot of time in between those two events!!

When we lived in Dallas, I was 5 to 10 years old. We lived in a fun neighborhood and Dad made it that way. If the neighbors left town for a trip, they came home to who-knows-what done to their house. No one locked their doors so it was easy to get into. He did the usual Syran Wrap on the potty, string all wrapped around everything in the house but the best was the vacuum cleaner under their bed on a timer that would go off about 3:00 in the morning! As far as I know, no one had a heart attack, just several cases of severe panic and calling of the cops. Mom would also make them a chocolate mud pie topped with whipped cream to welcome them home. I've made several of these; the best ingredient is sand from the long jump pit at my school. It's a great joke. If you need the recipe, call me. I'll sell it to you along with the Civil War books and flying red horse!

Dads are more than funny skits, pranks, vacations, answers for homework and money for junk kids want....My Dad was unconditional love, integrity, discipline, Biblical morals and values, consistency, encourager, memories, laughs galore, love for my mom and her dogs, love for God and His church and the greatest PeePaw 5 grand kids ever knew. Robyn, Jenny, Melissa, David and Jaime loved him very much. He loved all of them dearly and prayed for them all the time!! We always hoped these prayers were not at the dinner table. He prayed for every kid, grand kid, leader, president, missionary, czar, sick person and world affair until pretty soon the meal was stone cold and the kids had fallen fast asleep face down in the broccoli! I will miss all that my Dad was but I thank God everyday that he was my dad!! What a happy, Christian legacy he left!! I'll sell you everything I have except the memories of my Dad. He wrote a biography and titled it, "Leave 'Em Laughing"......I can't wait to see his laugh and smile again in Heaven with all of his family! I love you Daddy!!

Aren't these 6 kids cute??!!!

2009-09-14T10:58:00.031-05:00

You may not have noticed, but I changed the blog picture of my grandkids. This was taken at New Braunfels just a week ago. We go there every Labor Day and have since I was 12. It's changed alot...but then so have I in some areas!

On the left is KATE. She is 4 and is Jenny and Shannon's youngest. What a hoot she is. She recently asked her mom, "mama, is this the Obama guy, the president of the states? He bees on the TV all the time". I agree with her...he bees on there too much! She loves to fish and play in the crime lab at my house and get in the costumes and jewelry. It is always a mess when she's finished playing. She also announced on Palm Sunday that Jesus came to town on a Honkey!! What is that? A white donkey?

Next is CHARLIE. He is 5 and in kindergarten. This is David and Suz's middle child and has the prettiest hair and eyelashes of them all. He loves baseball and wants to play in college like his Pops did. I wish he'd play at Baylor but by the time he gets there, he'd need a scholarship for sure! He can throw and catch really well. He also can hit and practices alot by hitting his brother.

Charlie is holding his baby sister, CAMRYN. She came into this world a little early, weighing in at a whopping 3 lbs, 9 ozs. She is now 10 months and finally weighs 14 lbs. She is so cute and sweet and when she cries you can hardly hear her! Can't say that for her cousin!

Next is ALLIE. This is Jenny's oldest and she is 8. She loves art and has drawn many princesses and fairies. She's really good. She loves acting and was the "Fairy God Mother" in her second grade play, "Cinderella". She likes to come to our lake and has learned to slalom ski and wakeboard. She and Jen and I were at the dock this summer and were talking about her being in the 3rd grade next year. Jenny remembered that when she was in the 3rd grade that the president got shot. I told Allie that when I was in the 11th grade, the president got shot. She looked at me very seriously and asked, "would that be Abraham Lincoln?" After I ripped her hair out and threw her in the lake, I told her it was Kennedy and that I had also attended Lee Harvey Oswald's funeral. She wasn't impressed. Maybe she would have been if it had been John Wilkes Booth.

Allie is holding KEELY. She is Jaime and Michael's baby. She is 5 months and has the biggest blue eyes and loves her mops and pops. Unlike Camryn, you can definitely hear her cry! She loves to be outside just like me. She can be soothed if you turn on Mickey Mouse. Maybe she'll work at Disney World someday.

Next is JACKSON. He is David and Suz's oldest. He loves all sports but especially loves dirt bike racing. He started this at 4-5 years old and has won several trophies. He wants to be a professional dirt bike racer. I take lots of pictures of him and pray the entire time.

Thanks for indulging me this time to brag. Since it is my blog, I guess I can brag anytime I want to. Next I will be posting some pics of the summer...I refer to it as the Summer of 243! That's how many different people came to the lake. It was lots of fun. The neighbors think we should replace the water in the lake...I think God did that for me just this past week!.

Things NOT on my Bucket List!!

2009-07-23T21:34:00.003-05:00

A week ago I had to go to the dentist.....this trip, as we all know, is not high on anyone's Bucket List!! I go to a nice dentist that goes to my church...when I left, I wondered if he ever goes to church!! I had to have a crown which is the price of a new small car. Of course it was the farthest tooth back so after the gas took effect on my brain, he shot me about 4-5 times. Holy catfish!! That hurts so bad! When that took effect, I couldn't hear, see, taste or smell. You could have performed surgery on the entire right side of my body. Everything was numb. I could have pierced 4 new holes in my ear, taken out my appendix, done half of a colonoscopy and gotten a new right knee!! I need a new knee so that really was appealing but I don't want another colonoscopy for 5 more years! Been there...done that...and I don't want to buy the t-shirt! After the gas wore off, I had to drive home. I think I made it.

Later that day, I drove to Ft. Worth. Still gnawing on my tongue, I headed north to help out with some parental duties. This too is not on my Bucket List but I went like a good daughter to help. Mom had just put down new carpet because of a leak or something. When I got there, I helped unpack all kinds of "treasures" to put back in the dining room hutch and eterge' (however you spell that - you know that fancy little shelf). She was somewhat offended when I tried to put some of these lovely items in a box "to put somewhere else". When she wasn't looking, I threw some things away. I started to find a box and put the finer things in it to give to my sister, Sherry; I'm sure she'll want them!! Anyway, I think we only hollered at each other once or twice and then went to bed. It does look nicer and she probably won't miss the little bunny rabbit with a blue bow, turtle family, swans, box of candy from someone's wedding, broken pig, faded flowers from a funeral or the antique (?) broach! I went to church with them on Sunday and saw lots of people I'm suppose to remember but don't. You know how that is! After church we went to Cheddars!! Oh, if the story could just stop right there!

I had a bowl of chicken tortilla soup...big bowl. I gave Mom one spoonful; thank heavens I didn't give my dad any. This soup decided to rear it's ugly head in the form of food poisoning in the middle of the movie that evening at 8:00! I thought I had eaten too many Boston Baked Beans and along with the 3D movie of "Ice Age"....well, let's just say that I had to make a mad dash to the movie theatre potty. Thank heavens, no one else was in there. Throwing up is an art form that you never really "learn" but also never forget how!!! After 5 minutes, I went out in the hall. Several minutes later, I was back in there...this time the place was full of people....for only a brief moment. I've never heard people run out of a place so fast! I then ran for the car and made it almost home. I don't know the name of the street I threw up on, but I ruined my flip flops! This lasted all night along with the other part of food poisoning that I won't discuss...aren't you glad!! 12 hours later and 10 pounds lighter, I laid in bed and tried to act human. I felt like a mac truck hit me for 3 days. This is definitely NOT on my Bucket List. Mom got sick too but not quite as bad because she only had a little of this tasty soup.

Tuesday morning I awoke a 6 a.m. to my mother telling me she was going to the ATM to get some money and when she came home she was going to call the ambulance because dad doesn't feel well!!!! What?? Is this a dream? Why do you need money to go call an ambulance...still in a fog, I said, "If you need an ambulance, why are you going after money first?" something was not right here! I talked her out of the money but not out of the ambulance! He went in for chest pains and by the time he got there he was fine. So we spent the better part of a day telling them not to do tests on him and can we go home? He came home, ate a big dinner, slept soundly in his own bed and I finally came home on Wednesday. I secretly threw the Cheddars leftovers in the garbage disposal!! Mom was just about attached to the leftovers as she was the bunnies and turtles! If he had had the tortilla soup, we would have been calling the ambulance 2 nights in a row! There are a million stories just like this...but that's for another day!! This day was long enough...and really not on my Bucket List!

2009-07-15T16:33:00.002-05:00

More Lake Fun!!

2009-07-03T21:26:00.026-05:00

Here are some more pics of the lake fun. Jenny added it up......65 hours on the lake in 17 days! No wonder, after they left, I slept til 10:00 every day! Who am I kidding...I could sleep that late every day!! Butch, Kate, Allie and Harrison enjoying the lake at sunset! It's the best and coolest time to be out there!!

Our good friend, Butch McBroom, comes down every summer and fishes day and night! He uses fancy lures and worms etc and I use hot dogs. Guess who catches the most?? yep, he is a hot dog lover now! He goes out early, stays in the sun all day, comes in for dinner and fishes at night. Bill quotes Will Rogers and says "I hope I never get so lazy that I like to fish." Last year he actually caught some and ate them! This year Butch caught a turtle. He's no longer in our lake!

Feeding time with a big gang of people is a real experience!

Eat really fast, leave a mess and let Bill and Gerald clean it!

Back to the lake for more fun!

We can walk on water, slide, fish and dowse your grandma!!

Reagan sporting the new look in comfortable, yet sexy, bathing suits!!

Allie got pretty good at skiing on two so she tried to slalom. She went about 50 yards on one before she bit it but got up and tried again. She got pretty good.....for 8 years old!

Her sexy teacher is "Mops"!

All the cousins came out one day! It is always my favorite time!

We are a very dignified family! Harrison, Reagan, Jackson, Charlie, Camryn, Griffin, Kate, Ethan and Allie. Baby Keely was asleep somewhere!

Keely Brooke - 3 months old, July 3rd!! Pretty blue eyes!!

Sundaes at the soda fountain are a must before bedtime!!

If no one feeds you.....get it out of the garbage sack!! That's what Birdie did!!

Happiest Day of My Life!!!

2009-07-02T14:24:00.006-05:00

About 6 months ago, my doctor, who is a male, decided it would behoove me to get off of my hormone pills. Now right there is an oxymoron!!! HE is a male and doesn't take hormone pills, at least not the kind I take, and who is he to decide if it is time? There is appointed to each person a time to die and God decides that - not Dr. G. "You are over 60 and been on them awhile and I think it would be best"! Who died and left him in charge!! So for 6 months I have been miserable....can you spell SWEAT?!....all night and all day not to mention weight gain, lack of sleep and an annoying ringing in my ears! It's a high pitched E flat I think...whatever note it is, it must go!!! I am proficient at laundry because I sweat through everything. If I've bitten your head off any time during the last 6 months, I would like to apologize - it is not my fault! The hormone pills supposedly have horse urine in them.....I don't care whose urine is in them....Give them back to me!! I thought about buying a horse and letting him pee on my foot every day but I figured the neighbors might not want a horse around. I could let their children ride him and charge them and make a little money on the side. As far as I'm concerned it can have urine from the whole zoo; I don't care!!

Hot flashes feel like someone stuck a hair dryer down your throat...it's a inner heat that can't be described unless you are a female going through this. It's like being thrown into hell 10-15 times a day - Now I can sympathize more with Shaddrach, Meshach and Abendego!!! So....I tried being a big girl and going cold turkey; that was awful! Over-the-counter remedies, sleeping bare, ice packs under the arms, spritz bottles for down the back - none of these worked! He even gave me a "low dosage of anti-depressant medicine". I almost killed myself - that really didn't work!! So, after 6 months, I called him again and threatened to kill him if he didn't write me a prescription for the little green pill!! I must have sounded sincere about killing him and he relented. It was the most wonderful day of my life!! I figure I would rather live shorter and have friends than live a long time and have no friends. It's taken a few weeks to get them back in my system and the ringing in the ears is still there but I can now sleep through the night! I am only hot now when I go outside - but that's the drawbacks of living in Houston! I knew I could win this battle somehow - I really didn't want to buy a horse!!

Hours of fun on the lake!!

2009-06-23T12:19:00.036-05:00

If you ever wonder why my arms look like a nice leather purse and my face has more wrinkles than most 100 year olds, it's because I'm an outside junky. Teaching PE outside for 20 years didn't help but now I can blame it on living on a lake! It's really fun and I love being out there with the kids and dragging them all over the lake! Jenny and I have taught several how to ski or knee board this summer. When I was 12, my good friend Trevelyn and her dad taught me how to ski on Lake Arlington near Ft. Worth. This past weekend, Trev's daughter, Kristy and her family came out and Jen and I got her daughter up on skis on the very first try. Mary Kathryn, who is 12, now has to teach my great-grandchildren how to ski. We have to keep this legacy going!! We had a great day fishing and skiing and riding the raft!

Mary Kathryn Parrott skiing for the first time with her beautiful teacher, "Mops"!

Mary Kathryn, Kate, Benjamin Parrott, Reid Parrott and Allie loved the raft!

Kristy Parrott, MK, Shannon, Reid and Benjamin fishing for the fun of it...not for food

Keith caught a big bass....but no one wanted to clean it!

Grandkids love to come to the lake!!

Jackson doing a 360 on the kneeboard, Allie skiing and Kate and Allie modeling their matching bathing suits!

Keely Brooke, almost 3 months, and Jaime!! Charlie, aka, "Chuck Nasty" is letting his hair grow out again!! We all like it long!

Allie loves babies - especially Camryn, age almost 8 months!!

Trey and Laurie Mounce and JT and Weston came out on Father's Day. I didn't think I would ever get off of the jet ski!!! "Faster, faster" is all I heard!!!!

John Tyler and Weston kneeboarding!!

Weston, Allie, Charlie, Jackson, Kate and JT ready to jump into the lake!

One day last week, 3 of the 5 boys that live next door came over to play. We call them "the 5-boy-house"! It took me 6 months to learn their names and know one from the other....Drew, Will, Kyle, Ben and Grant. They have quickly become my adopted grandchildren....so polite, fun, cute and they don't live with me!!! When I want them, I call and they come running. When they want to eat, they go home. Best of both worlds.

Grant with our pet dead snake!!
Tonight 2 adults and 2 kids spent the better part of a ball game cleaning up the "crime lab" more commonly referred to in other households as a playroom. It had to be cleaned before the rest of the guests arrived tomorrow and Thursday or we might lose a kid in there....now that might not be a bad idea! The picture below is the before and this really does not do justice to the mess!! You can't see the trash, body parts, little Barbie shoes, feathers from boas, Crayola papers peeled off or jewelry smashed down into the carpet.....but thank heavens we have this room or the whole house would look like this!! Gotta love grandkids!!!

A Busy Sunday

2009-06-15T01:06:00.006-05:00

After church today, Bill and I went to the Nord to eat; he had had enough of my good meals and wanted something mundane so we ate at the Bistro. Then we proceeded to get a couple of things for the kids that were coming to stay for 2 weeks. (The girls just left their other grandparents home in Crawford, near George W; they had been to Bible School at Valley Mills Baptist Church. It isn't as big as FBC but I'm sure equally glorious.) The Galleria doesn't have a toy store so we went to Toys R Us in Katy on the way home. We got a few things, but that wasn't enough. "More is always better" is Bill's motto. When he dies, I think I'll put up 2 tombstones! He wants a bench...why? I'm not going to take a picnic lunch out to the graveyard and ponder while eating. But, more IS always better with him, so we proceeded to Michael's craft store. We got a few more things and then I lost him in the store. This is his usual mode of operation! He always leaves me in a store and never says where he's going. For 10 minutes I wandered around the store with all the other craft nerds with my assorted junk and tried to find him. Finally I turned down the aisle with bird houses and there he was, on his knees, looking at 8,000 little bottles of paint. He looked up and said, "do you see Emperor's gold?" what???? what are you doing on the floor and what is Emperor's Gold? I helped him up and we finally headed to the check out counter. We had paint by number, pads of paper, water colors, new crayolas, Pez, a battery-operated fan, bird houses to paint (with emperor's gold!) and to top it off, a rock tumbler!!!! It is running right now and has to for several days. It sounds like an old fashioned ice cream machine. The girls arrived at 6, we were on the lake by 7:30 and they are in bed by 10. They haven't painted anything yet!

After doing my most favorite job in the whole wide world, typing for Bill, Jenny and I went to The Kroger (that's what old people call their grocery store - The Kroger, like it was the only one in the world.) We picked up a few things that could suffice as meals for the week such as popsicles, corn dogs, "watermelon bread" which is what Allie calls lemon cake, milk, fruit, dental floss, shampoo and one roast. I don't know what we'll have with this roast; maybe ding dongs and bean dip! Anyway, we headed to check out and realized they don't have anyone working at the check out counters at that hour. Our only choice was to check it out yourself!! Oh, no! I hate those machines. We tried to act civilized but the lady "inside" the machine was a bit testy and sometimes downright nasty! She kept telling us to "put the items back on the bagging area"!!!! Well, I would if you could say it nicely and IF there was room to put it - but there wasn't anymore room! She got louder and louder and I wanted to punch the machine! We finally found a way to shut her up....there's a button to push to by-pass that command!! We finally left and bought gas at midnight....always a safe thing for 2 girls to do in the dark! She just got a new car and we had to get out the 2" thick manual to find out how to shut the "fuel filler flap" more commonly referred to as a gas cap!! After 5 minutes, I wanted to punch the manual!

We had spent enough money today and it is time to go to bed. I have a few chores to do before retiring - I must set up all the crafts for Mop's and Pop's Bible School. We will not be out done by Valley Mills Baptist. Two Bible schools in 2 weeks might seem like too much but.......remember "more is always better".

Random happenings of late!!

2009-06-12T14:16:00.005-05:00

Well, it's been a while since I wrote anything; so I had to call my friend, Nancy, aka "Millie", and ask how to find where I even typed...also what my username and password was...being the good friend she is, she remembered. It's been a busy spring so far with everything from power washing to babysitting my parents. Both are challenging! Today Bill informed me that the "professional" power washers were coming and they are out there right now on tall ladders, buckets of chemicals, big brushes and sprayers that spray so hard that it almost knocked him off of the ladder!! I'm guessing this is my anniversary present....isn't the 40th year - water?!! OK with me. I thought I might continue doing the brick fence but since it is 98 degrees outside, I think I'll let them do that too.
This was my love note to Bill in the drive way one day early on in this conquest when it was fun power washing!! It's not fun anymore!This is Pedro attacking the side of the house. Notice the large spray of water?! Mine puny power washer did not have this much power!!!! It would have taken off more than my toes if I had hit my foot with his sprayer!

I mentioned babysitting my parents......it's got to rank right up there with a root canal! I love them to pieces but somewhere in the Bible it says that you should leave them and cleave to your spouse....such a goofy word...cleave.....reminds me of Beaver Cleaver or a meat cleaver which all of us girls use on a daily basis I'm sure. Dad had a mild heart attack and so I went to help. He asked when I was leaving 5 minutes after I got there, accused me and Bill of gambling and ate a big spoonful of ranch dressing thinking it was soup. We were at Cracker Barrel - such a lovely place to dine. The lobby really sent him spinning as there were 5,000 things to look at and buy. He just wanted to get in the car and leave. That took longer than it takes paint to dry! Took Dad to the doctor and he said he hoped that he didn't find out he was pregnant!! Mom accused me and Bill of taking her box of her grandpa's sermon notes!! Why on God's green earth would we do that? I didn't even know she had a box of notes and can honestly say I didn't know she had anyone in her family that would remotely represent a preacher!! She said she wasn't accusing us but thought Bill would be the only one that would want it since he's such an antique nut! He might want it when you die, but not now!! Besides Sherry finally reminded her that she had given them to Robyn, her oldest granddaughter. Here is the latest picture of 88 year old Mimi and 94 year old PeePaw!!

Aren't they cute!!!

Speaking of antique nut!! Most of you know I live with a man with a rare sickness....He buys every antique he sees. The downstairs of my house smells like an antique store (along with the delightful smell of 3 large labs, Dixie, Dexter and Daisy.) Bill's friend, Tom, told him about an estate sale and he was in hog heaven! He bought all kinds of junk and brought it home....he's now going to rent a booth in an antique store in Katy and try to sell stuff. I had the wonderful privilege today of IRONING.....antique doll clothes. I washed them and then ironed probably 50 worthless pieces of clothing and hankies. It didn't take very long because (1) they are small and (2) no one is going to buy them so I didn't put much effort into it. They still have roach-poop stain on them from pre-WWII!! I bet none of you were doing that today! Living with an antique nut gives me the opportunity to do lots of things none of you have done. About a year ago, at the age of 61, I unloaded 5,000 antique maps out of the bed of a truck. They were 4' x 2' each. It took until the sun disappeared on the horizon. I was hungry, hot, sweaty, mad and contemplating divorce! Not really, it's all worth money so I really don't care what he brings through the door as long as it's not another woman - unless she can iron, cook and unload junk!

I only spotted 5-6 spots where Mr. Armadillo got to my flower bed last night. I was going to sleep outside on the blow-up mattress but opted out for my own bed. Besides my gun and I probably would have slept right through his arrival. Surely he had eaten all the grub worms in the flower bed and can move on to someone else's yard tonight.

Speaking of yard, today I get to spread 14 yards of sand for the beach. It's suppose to be here around 5:00. I'll be spreading that way past dark I'm sure. Jaime and Michael and going to help. Why is it called "yard"? Is it enough sand to fill up 14 people's yards? Strange word. The calendar is filling up with out-of-town friends and family and it's time to play on the lake. Can't wait; this is always my most fun time of the year. Love having all the grandkids here. I'll post pics of those if I can remember how! Time to get to work!

My first post

2009-05-27T13:59:00.003-05:00

Welcome to Bain is a Pain! Nancy is desperately trying to help me set up a blog. I am old and new at this and she is just flat forgetful.....so we might have to start over several times before this gets published!

Allie (8) and Kate (4) at Easter!

Baby Keely at Easter - 1 week old!

Camryn - 7 months
Jackson, 7, plays in the costumes in the Crime Lab!
Charlie, 5, batting for the Cyclones!