The Love Shack

Remember that restaurant/hotel evaluator thing I did? Well I was surfing the net not too long ago and I decided to see what sort of treasures were waiting for some sucker who thought...hey, free hotel? free food? SIGN ME UP! Anyway, I noticed a new restaurant posting in Ft Worth for a place called The Love Shack by the Stockyards. Curiosity got me far enough to the restaurant's website, and I thought that it sounded like a very fun place. Not at all the usual evaluator spot...burgers, dogs, shakes, live music, movies, and all kinds of seemingly family-friendly type stuff. So I passed on the info to some friends with an open invitation to whoever wanted to go check it out. no evaluating this time; only fun.

And we did. Saturday night C and I went w/ some friends from church out to Ft. Worth and The Love Shack. The name should have been my first clue, and "Saturday night at the Stockyards" should have been my 2nd. But I'm all about makin' memories and having fun experiences, so I ignored reason. We got to the Stockyard area and I'm telling you, there were not many people there who would probably be in worship the next morning. Bikers and drunk cowboys everywhere. But we had come so far, so naturally, we forged ahead. Through the thick cloud of cigarette smoke we marched up to the counter at The Love Shack and ordered our burgers. C ordered the "Dirty Love Burger" and I had the "Love Meal," which included a drink and fries. We scored a table upstairs, which was a little bit of help, because down below (it was an open-air eating establishment) was the stage where some guy was singing country music and all sorts of raucous behavior was taking place. We could NOT have been more out of place. The guy singing was pretty good. I liked it when he sang that song, "You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille..." but most of his other lyrics were just plain embarrassing. And, it's never attractive for people to be drunk and dancing about with various partners, hoopin' and hollerin' (as they say in the wild west), but it is especially disturbing to see that sort of behavior from people who are in their 40's, 50's, and 60's. I hope I never have to see any of you acting that way.

All in all, though, I'd have to say it was a good time. Like I said, it's all about makin' memories. and exploring other cultures. :-) It did take me a little extra time to wash off all that culture, but hey...
"If you see a faded sign by the side of the road that says
15 miles to the... Love Shack! Love Shack yeah"

bizarro

Not too long ago I read an article about bizarre sports injuries, like a baseball player who was inactive for several games bc he sprained his hand by playing too much guitar hero. This morning, I had my own bizarre injury incident when I was having my quiet time. I was on my left side and leaning up on my left elbow in bed when I had to sneeze violently. The sneeze in that position apparently put undue strain on my back. Since then, I have had an awful pain under my left shoulder blade. Hope I'll be able to write tomorrow...or do you think LifeWay has an inactive list of their own???

from A

got this email from A today and thought you'd enjoy it too..happy Easter!



This is your Easter gift. Have a good time reading this.

Jesus is the reason we have Easter. He is the reason we celebrate. Without him where would we be? Try to think about how GOD died on the cross for our sins, and you'll know why we celebrate Easter. It is supposed to be fun, so have a good time, but while you hunt for eggs, think about GOD. Easter can make you more Happy. This is a great time to celebrate GOD and why he made our sins go away. He died on the cross, and rose again three days later. Just like Jonah and the whale. He got swallowed by a whale and got shot out three days later.I love thinking about it and you should too. It's fun to think about everything GOD does for us. He is the only thing you should put first in your life. So, if you like Easter than you should think about this FIRST. And you will have a great Easter. Happy Easter!

Love, A---

day 2

skiing today was WAY more fun than yesterday. maybe it was that whole first day thing and starting off so harried that made yesterday a pain in the backside. today we skied together as a family and had a blast. and let me just say that A HAULS down the mountain. I can't keep up w/ her and C, who is a really good skier, had to really go to keep up w/ her. she just points em straight and goes. she did crash and burn once...at the end of the run at the base. she was going so fast that she ran straight into the net and pole. it drew a crowd, but she was alright. tomorrow we're going to work on control and skiing side to side with her! B did great, too, but he is far more cautious & never ever out of control. he stayed on the mountain all day long and doesn't want to leave on friday. he looks like a ski bum, too. that's all for now!

money well spent?

so i'm in winter park, colorado right now. are you jealous? maybe not, if you're like me and feel that skiing is a most trying sport. seriously, yesterday we flew in and then drove a couple of hours to winter park. then we had to go get fitted for skis. this was aggravating bc b and a couldn't get their feet in the boots. we got that taken care of and went to eat dinner. but then this morning we had to eat and be all bundled up, lathered in sunscreen and chapstick, and ready to roll by 7:30 in the a.m. (that's mountain time.)we got our group situated with lift tickets, etc and then had to boogie the kids over to ski school. once again, couldn't get b's feet in the stinkin' boots bc they were pretty much frozen solid. after almost breaking his ankle, we did it though. got them properly enrolled and in place, and then got our own boots and skis on...o yeah wait...clay couldn't find his skis bc someone had apparently taken/moved them. found 'em 20 minutes later, and then we were standing in the terribly long lift line for at least 25 mins more. Now riding up the lift is, actually, wonderfully relaxing and beautiful, except for the part where i had to wonder if i would remember how to get off the thing w/out falling and getting clunked in the back of the head with the chair. i did remember, and had a nice time skiing down the mountain a couple of times before i was ready to call it a day. i'm a wimp. skiing is fun; i'm just saying it's way too much work. not sure the benefits outweigh the pain of the crowds and walking around in those dad-burned boots. the kids LOVED ski school and their trip down the mountain w/ dad after ski school, though. looking forward to more family fun tomorrow. :-/

one other fun thing...waiting forever for our luggage at baggage claim i tried a lil sociology experiment. there were people standing all around the oval conveyer belt thingy so i dropped a dollar on it and watched with interest. it made it half way around before some lady picked it up and handed it to a kid. many people looked at it pass and commented to their travel partners whether or not they should take it, but did not. next time i'm going to write "Thou shall not steal" on it or something clever like that. anyway, it was a dollar well spent. we all got a big kick out of the whole thing, and so did some other travelers who figured out that it was planted there by our group.

frittering away valuable time...

i don't like falling into a predictable pattern, but list-writing sure is a nice and easy way to blog. so you might wanna just get used to it :-)

*My fantasy basketball team was called, "Yaoza!" but now I've changed it to "Stress Fracture." No worries, though. 16 wins in a row & most of them blowouts makes basketball watching and my daily reading of the houston chronicle online very very fun!

*last night we had a true love waits ceremony at church. there were about 150 ppl there and i loved, loved, loved it. it's a double blessing ministering to youth and parenting one at the same time.

*the TAKS day was as boring as i had imagined it. 5 A.D.D. kids spiced it up a little for me, though. i got to read a book while i also ACTIVELY MONITORED the room. this monitoring was especially needed for one poor girl who literally could not focus for more than 10 minutes at a time. (raises hand and whispers after I walk over to her desk) "What time is it?" (raises hand again)"Can I go to the bathroom?" (raises hand again) "Are we going to have recess?" (raises hand again) "What happens if we don't finish?" (rha)"Can I go to the bathroom?" (rha)"How long til lunch?" ....you get the picture.

*it's supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow. brrrrr.

*a couple of nights ago the electricity went out and it was very cold and WAY dark. it was fun to watch b's man-side leap into action as he began to gather and light candles. we played a board game bc the kids didn't want to tell ghost stories. :-) go figure.

* Have you heard the song, "Cinderella" by Steven Curtis Chapman? If not, you should go listen to it on i-tunes or something bc OH MY GOSH.

*i'm almost finished with a writing assignment. so why am i procrastinating here on this blog?

10

1.it is disconcerting when you look down and notice that the lady giving you your pedicure has a nasty toenail fungus.

2. family movie night last night...Karate Kid. Wax on, wax off!

3. B got 1st place in UIL spelling.

4. had to go to TAKS training last week bc i'm administering the test to 5 5th graders this Wednesday. I had no idea what SERIOUS business it is. I have a whole book full of rules I must promise to follow, twice. seriously, by the looks of these instructions, some teacher somewhere in Texas must have gone to great lengths to cheat.

5. i love warmth.

6. A has replaced her Sanjaya wallpaper (computer variety, that is) with David Archuleta. This, I think, is a much better choice. I had imagined, though, that the reason he didn't sing the first verse of "Imagine" was because he is a Christian. Sadly, I was wrong. Just read that sweet David is Mormon.

7. baseball season is upon us.

8. do you think our neighbors are getting tired of toilet paper blowing in their yards each weekend? tonight i'm going to station b outside in the shadows with the hose ready.

9. winter park, co in 2 weeks!

10. comment me.