Not everyone can be the academic type

So my daughter kind of struggles at school. She is very meticulous, but slow. Most of her grades are lower because she gets the 'late' markdowns. 

Anyway, she tells me this week that her physics teacher meets her at the front of the school before school starts all excited to see her. He asks her how she thinks she did on her physics test and she says "probably okay". He proceeds to tell her that she made a "GREAT grade". She made a 105 on her physics test. Apparently, he was much more excited than she was about it.

I still haven't ordered her senior pictures. I will, but with holidays, all my recent car maintenance (2 cars), and cat surgery expenses.....blah. So watermarked photos for now.

Because she is a senior, we are getting all kinds of mail from colleges. Hayley told me that she's also getting Email from colleges. She said the Emails start with......"Based on your academic achievements, we'd like to invite you to apply..." So again, I'm going to win mother of the year for this....we laughed for 1/2 an hour about how they obviously didn't look at her academic achievements. 

I hope everyone is in the Xmas spirit. We did a 6 inch 'real' tree this year. Hayley said she didn't want to bother putting up a tree, decorating it, and then taking it all back down. I felt a little like Scrooge, so I did pull out the lights for the outside of the house.

So one year, I decided I wanted purple lights. The only place I could find them was online. They showed up and they look way more pink than purple. I wrapped one of my trees in  in the so-called purple lights. It looks like I have a breast cancer awareness tree in the front yard, but its lovely.

Cat in heat and the Arboretum

So Peaches, our kittie, who just got surgery to get her external fixator off last week (after being hit by a car and breaking her femur) has now gone into heat for the first and last time. My daughter summed it up correctly. It's like there's a magnet on the ceiling and one on her butt. She is driving us crazy.

So last weekend, I went to the Dallas Arboretum for the first time. Even though my runflat tire has a screw in it, I decided it was a nice day for a convertible ride. Runflats really do run flat. I drove on it for 6 days....well really more than that because I didn't know it had a screw in it, but 6 days between the time they told me it was punctured until UPS delivered the new tire this week. What a great day for December. Walked around saw the Chihuly glass exhibit. It was a little overcast and chilly out in the morning, but then again it is December. It was warm and sunny by noon.

Afterwards stopped by Uptown Dallas and had a late lunch at S&D Oyster Bar. Yum. Love that place. I hate cole slaw, but I like theirs. Also, had some oysters on the half shell. http://www.sdoyster.com/dnn/

Then saw the Ginger Man bar. http://dallas.gingermanpub.com/
I hadn't been there since get this....I remember 1995, or 17 years ago. Stopped to have a beer on the patio as the sun was out and it was a beautiful day. I'm not a big beer drinker, but I had a Young's Double Chocolate Stout that was awesome. 

Saturday evening, decided to take a walk through my neighborhood. There are three what I like to call "Christmas Vacation" homes, but they are even better because they have hundreds of tiny cottages all lit up. Hard to see in the picture, but they are in front of the fence and then inside the yard too. All of these homes are next to each other and extended family live in all of them. I wish the pictures could do it justice.

So we continued the walk to Frisco Square, but my pictures are not that good because the lights are timed with the music and hard to get it when all lit up. From there, we walked to Frisco City Grill for dinner. I love that I can walk from my house to go out to eat.

Ichthyosis or scaly skin

Today's blog is a public service announcement about Ichthyosis. Growing up, I always had really dry itchy skin in the winter. My skin would flake and look kind of scaly. The skin on the back of my shins would get so dry sometimes that they would bleed. My mom took me to specialists and everyone told me the same thing. Slather on baby oil or Vaseline. Well that was pretty disgusting and didn't make it much better, but it made me really slippery.

If I was in the sun, my skin was completely normal. Thank goodness I live in Texas and it is sunny and warm most months. January and February were always rough months on my skin.

So fast forward a decade or two. I was 36 years old and living in Grapevine. I go see this 82-year old doctor for a physical. So while I was there, I thought I'd ask one more doctor about my skin. He looked at me and said "You have Ichthyosis." WTH? 

Well that was a huge turning point in my life..,.well between that and the Internet. I came home and Googled Ichthyosis. For years, not one doctor diagnosed me and this is a genetic thing that affects 1 in 250 people. That is pretty dang common. How could none of these doctors ever heard of it?

Ichthyosis Vulgaris is one of the more commonly seen types of ichthyosis. Sometimes called Common Ichthyosis. It appears in approximately 1 in 250 individuals. Ichthyosis vulgaris often goes undiagnosed because people who have it think they have simple “dry skin” and never seek treatment.

For the past decade, I have been using a couple of different lotions that make my skin look and feel like normal even in the winter. I have to use lotion that has alpha hydroxy or lactic acids. I prefer Dermal Therapy, but you have to order it from Canada which can take a while to ship. You can pick up AmLactin or Lac-Hydrin Five at Target or CVS. At Target, they keep it behind the pharmacy counter, but no prescription is needed. I believe these lotions are also used commonly for diabetics. Market Street also keeps some generic alpha hydroxy lotions behind the pharmacy counter that are a little less expensive.

Dermal Therapy with Alpha Hydroxy

I also hear using Voda soap or soap with Shea butter is helpful, but I have not tried it since the lotions seem to work just fine.

In addition to just dry scaly skin, this condition causes you to not sweat which makes you overheat. Seriously, I can do an hour-long cycle class and barely begin to perspire.

 Itchyosis FIRST

I no longer have minors and this blog is kind of gross

So let's talk about Hayley.....my youngest child that just turned 18 this week. The photo to the left is the one that cracks me up the most. We always said she looked like Uncle Fester.....we just needed the light bulb in her mouth.

Below is a shot of her being mean when I made her clean  up her old car to sell....the one that was totaled  three days later anyway (not Hayley's fault). Still same attitude as when she was a baby.....the bad kind. It is definitely the same look.

Because it is holiday time and her birthday, she has gotten money and has been shopping. She told me last week that she felt so good. She was wearing all new clothes. She had her nails done and used her new curling iron to have awesome curls in her hair. She said she felt so pretty that she hated to go to work. I told her the key is to work to get the things that make you feel good. As an adult, I don't work for clothes or acrylic nails, but I love my convertible. If you are going to work hard, you might as well have something that makes you feel good. Oh and my nice golf clubs.

So Tuesday was her birthday. I took Hayley along with her BF and BFF out to Texas Land and Cattle for dinner. Afterwards, her first act of grown up revenge was to go get her tongue pierced. She had mentioned it before and I told her NOT to do it.

So yesterday, I'm living it up with the people of Walmart buying groceries and she calls. She is blubbering something about pudding and soft foods. I had a "I told you so moment". Anyway, I bought her apple sauce, pudding, ice cream and Ramen soup. I have since been told that the Ramen noodles wrap around the ball of the tongue ring.....yuck. Also she has to rinse her tongue off with dish washing soap. Gag. I told her to at least cuss it up before she rinses her mouth out with soap.

So I'm not an empty nester yet, but its getting near. Once she graduates in May she wants to hang here while she goes to Paul Mitchell school which is another 9 months or so. When she leaves I'm going to party like a rock star here at my house all alone. :( 

Well party with the cat and dog. Hayley says she's taking the mean cat with her....good. Little Peaches gets her external fixator off on Monday. Poor thing. I heard a cat screaming when I was in the shower this morning. I jump out and Peaches' external fixator (the the metal thingy that attaches to the pins placed in her broken femur and attached to outside of her body) is caught in the string of the mini blinds. She is hanging upside down and tangled. I got her out. Just glad I was home when it happened.

Surfside Beach

Took a short trip to Houston and Surfside Beach. 

First stop. Houston. Boyfriend attends tennis conference. A must so he can write off part of the trip. We have a hard time finding the Downtown Met Racquet Club. We finally stop to ask directions...Go over the skybridge, through the double doors, go further down and through the next set of double doors, follow the yellow path to the garage, go to elevators, go to the 6th floor. Well, voila, there is a beautiful indoor tennis and basketball facility with restaurant and pro shop. Who'd a thunk it?

So while he's in class, I go shopping. I pick up FOUR....I mean four sweaters at Macy's for less than $100. Awesome. Then, I do a Yelp search and find a hair salon with good ratings. I get a haircut for $15. This lady washed my hair twice, conditioned it, dried it and styled it. Awesome. I was going to get a foot massage, but boyfriend only did a short session the 2nd day, so we could go to the beach early.



We went to the Houston Aquarium for dinner and it was really good food and not overly expensive. We even rode rides. We rode a train that went in a tunnel where sharks are swimming. That was awesome, but the flash on the camera made for lousy pics.

So Surfside Beach... I have wanted to check it out for a long time. The water is a nice Texas brown, but the beach is nice. They even allow you to drive on the beach and have fires.  Nice. The hotel was awesome and in walking distance to restaurants. It is the most laid back town I have ever visited. Everyone there is super nice and so friendly. Hmmmmm. Much unlike the Frisco hood where I live. I mean there are a few nice people....a few. They are the ones NOT in their cars. :)

Let's talk Colorado

I watched Squawkbox this morning. They were talking about how legalizing marijuana in Colorado would really help boost the economy....with all the Twinkie and Cheetos sales and water bongs, etc.

So I thought about retiring in Florida some day, but Colorado just might do. I'm not being serious...well at least I don't think I am. I'll revisit that idea in about 10 years. But seriously, I wonder if people will relocate to Colorado....or....will the real potsmokers be too unmotivated?

"Forty million  Americans smoked marijuana; the only ones who didn't like it were Judge Ginsberg, Clarence Thomas, and Bill Clinton" -- Jay Leno

The link below is a little outdated because pot was only available with a prescription when it was created. This links is totally inappropriate, totally disgusting, but funny...if you can get past disgusting. Click link at your own risk. The first time I saw this I cried I was laughing so hard.

http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s14e03-medicinal-fried-chicken

So Trader Joe's is the bomb. I went today and bought 2 bottles of wine, some crackers, some wasabi seaweed snacks and some sushi....It was only $16. I spend that much typically just on grocery store sushi. The sushi was not that great, so I'll pass on it next time.

When my daughter's boyfriend's mother found out who he  voted for she had a cow. Hayley said she started screaming at him and told him he needed to move out and to start paying for his own car and cell phone. Priceless!!!! I told Hayley to break up with him. She hasn't done it, but I'm sure she'll figure it out soon enough.

So I'm headed to Houston and Surfside Beach for a short getaway. I'm going to sit on my patio, drink my 3-buck chuck, and just listen to the surf and seagulls and do absolutely nothing except think about my next meal.

Love me some Halloween

So last night for dinner, I had Milk Duds, Twizzlers, and white wine spritzers. I'm pretty sure that is not on the Petite Advantage Diet. Hayley was correct in her Halloween assessment: the 'good' parents took their kids to the $$$rich$$$ neighborhoods. I only had 6 trick-or-treaters and 2 of them were older with no costumes.  

So I was watching a commercial for Blue dog food where a lady cannot believe how bad her dog food is for her dog. Well glad she wasn't at my house last night. She would have been appalled if she saw my boyfriend feeding the dogs Twizzlers....no protein or nothing.

So back in high school, we used to go to Del Taco and get burritos with green sauce. Thanks Liz. Well, I haven't had Del Taco in 30 years. I didn't even know if they still existed. A Del Taco just opened by my house. My boyfriend and I went a couple of times and he had the beef burrito. He decided to try my bean burrito with green sauce. He is addicted. It's crazy. He used to come to my house a couple of times a week. Now, he comes to see me all the time bringing his bag of burritos. I'm glad to see him more, but I'm a little jealous knowing that the burritos are part of the reason I see more of him recently. Sigh. 

So today, I made a trip to my local Walmart on my lunch break. Did you get that...WALMART? Anyway, I parked next to a brand new Maserati Grandturismo still sporting the paper tags. Gorgeous car. I guess people with Maserati's still need groceries and home goods. The one to the right is probably not it, but it was that same color. I've decided that if I ever buy a lotto ticket AND win, I will do my civic duty and help out the economy by purchasing a Maserati.


So I borrowed a kitty carrier so that I could take Peaches to the vet when she got hit by the car. Well, I just tossed it on the refrigerator. Billie Jean has made that her new napping spot. I only have a picture of the carrier. I missed the shot when she had her head sticking out the top.

Oh and for November 1st....I'm sweating in Texas.