Ask and You Shall Recieve

My Mother always used to tell me, "Ask! What's the worst that can happen?  They might say no?!".  She was very good about asking for things.  You want an extra 20% off that blouse, ma'am?  Sure!  She really did try to teach us to ask.  I just had a hard time learning that lesson.  I was afraid to ask. Unless it was about going to a party or on a date and then I was all about the asking!  Usually the fear of being rejected outweighed the benefit of getting whatever I was asking for, in my mind.  Luckily, I married a man who asks for the moon if he wants the stars and usually gets what he wants.  Exhibit A, he got me to marry him!  One more reason he is in sales and I am not!

To ask or not to ask....that is the question!

Recently, a group of friends (if you think this is you...it probably is) was sitting around a table discussing whether we call our banks, credit cards, cell phone carrier, etc. when we are charged an extra fee and request the fee be refunded.  I was clearly in the minority!  I guess I also choose friends who ask questions in addition to a spouse who does the asking!

There are countries where you are expected to bargain when you buy something.  I never like bargaining.  So much pressure....am I going too high and cheating myself or too low and insulting the seller?  I never know!  Too much pressure for me!  Just tell me how much it is and I'll decide if I want it or not.  Maybe I would get better at bargaining if I lived in one of these places and had to practice every day.

Recently, I found myself in a position to ask for something and I felt a little uncomfortable.  I decided to put on my big girl pants and go ahead and ask.  This takes a lot for me people ....don't judge.  Anyway, I received much more than I asked for!  What was I so afraid of?  If I hadn't asked, I would not have received.  A lesson I will continue to relearn my entire life.

Clues, Detours and Road Blocks

In honor of the Amazing Race beginning another season on Sunday, I will share my own personal amazing race from this past weekend.  TJ and I have been Amazing Race fans since the very first season in 2001 and even applied once....a very long time ago....to be on the show.  Now, you too, know one of my deepest secrets.  I have no idea why our very amateur video covering "the top 10 reasons we would be great on TAR" did not even get us an interview.  Ever since the show started, whenever I find myself in a bit of a travel challenge, I channel my inner AR contestant and power through the challenge.  There was that one time soon after 9/11 when I was in the Atlanta airport "the day the idiot ran back through security" and the airport was evacuated.  I ended up sleeping on the floor of the airport all night so I did not have to go back through the 3 hour security line in order to catch my flight in the wee hours of the next morning.  It was just easier to sleep on the floor than to go through that disaster again in a few hours.  Thankfully I had a coat for a blanket, a backpack for a pillow and newspaper for insulation.  Cozy!  I'm sure I would have won that leg of The Amazing Race!

TJ and I headed to NYC on Wednesday last week.  We were meeting our LG on Wednesday for dinner.  I was very excited about seeing her so imagine my surprise and disappointment when I arrived at the airport only to be told our flight was cancelled.  Not delayed....cancelled!  All of the options they gave us put us in NYC around 11 p.m. or midnight.  Too late for dinner with our LG.  As much as I wanted to, I did not cry in the airport.  I shifted into "momma bear needs to see her cub" mode.  TJ even suggested going home and flying out the next day.  No way, I was on a mission!  We chose the option that routed us through Chicago.  With a more than 3.5 hour layover I thought maybe, just maybe, we could get out earlier and  see our LG.  We landed in Chicago, exited our plane and I started looking.  Our original fight was going to Newark.  Right next to our arrival gate was a flight going to Laguardia in an hour.  I didn't really care which airport I flew into, I just needed to get to NYC.  I asked if there were seats available and there were.  We were put on the standby list which got us on the plane and into the city before 8 p.m.!!!  We managed to have dinner with our girl and there was peace and happiness once again!  Won another leg of TAR!

Rockefeller Center was jammed!  

The next leg of our race was to find TJ's grandmother's grave.  It is in Queens.  Easy.  Take a 40 minute subway ride to the second to last stop on the line.  Then catch a cab to the cemetery a mile and a half away, no problem.  Well maybe one problem.  When you get off at the second to last stop in Queens there are no cabs, we were not in Kansas anymore.  If I had known this I would not have worn my stylish riding boots.  Yeah...walking 3-4 miles in stylish riding boots is not that much fun.  I see comfortable walking shoes in my future!  Another complication was that the cemetery was huge!  It was also covered in snow.  We had a section number and plot number.  The section was easy to find but the plots numbers were under 2 feet of snow.  The nice cemetery worker helped us find the grave site and we tromped through the deep snow to find a historic landmark.

Great Grandfather, Great Grandmother, Grandfather and Grandmother

The rest of the trip involved melting snow, eating, drinking, and Carol King. NYC got a ton of snow this winter.  When it warmed up the snow went from white to black and melted quickly.  Underneath it all is a lot of ugly!

A lot of ugly snow.....

and a lot of just plain ugly.....

 We went on a quest for Broadway tickets and managed half price tickets to see "Beautiful, The Carol King Story".  All of us, "being of a certain age", really loved the music.  The play was beautiful...it made me feel like a natural woman and then we went up on the roof and felt the earth move under our feet!

Stay tuned as TAR goes to Steamboat Spring this weekend.  I hope I don't have to do a half pipe or a ski jump!

Creativity Rediscovered

There is something to be said about spending a day creating something.  I used to be a crafty person.  I used to sew and make stuff....a long time ago.  When I look back, I did most of my crafting when I had young children.  Somehow that just does not compute!  Who had time back then?  Somehow though, I managed to sew plenty of clothes for my girls, curtains for my windows, and create other needle crafts over the busiest years of my life.  What gives, besides the fact that I've become a lazy slob and the invention of the internet which seems to suck up a lot of my free time?

I know a lot of crafty people.  Some of them knit, some are artists, some sew, some do paper crafts and some are just generally crafty.  Crafting isn't dead I guess.  It's just been dormant in my life for a while.  I guess I haven't needed any new curtains lately and all of my girls are grown up and all of my grandchildren are grandsons who really don't wear smocked dresses.  I recently had the opportunity to smock a dress for a special little girl.  I agreed, hoping I would remember how to smock!  It's been a little while.  Well, it's just like riding a bike!  I also forgot how much I enjoy smocking!  I enjoy having something to keep my hands busy at night instead of a wine glass or food!

Today was one of those dreary, rainy, south Texas winter days that starts out 20 degrees warmer than it ends up.  I thought it was the perfect day to stay inside and finish putting the dress together.  I played CDs fresh out of the 90's and had myself a rockin' day making something!  My trusty dog never left my side....she didn't want to go outside either!  By the end of the day, I had listened to some of my favorite music and had something very pretty to show for my efforts.  Hmmm, maybe I should do more of this because there really is something to be said about spending a day creating!

A day or two or three.... well spent!

Give Me The Other Half of My Brain!

What to blog about this week?  That is the question.....  I could talk about Harry Connick Jr.'s awesomeness on American Idol or I could talk about planning the next great Mahoney wedding or maybe I could talk about sharing a brain with one of my sisters or I could just talk about the weather.
First the weather....

Park City, Utah
January 25, 2014
Note the lack of white stuff on the ground!

Back in Baton Rouge, LA,  Houston, TX and Atlanta, Georgia schools were cancelled, stores were closed, cars were sliding all over the icy freeways and people were in major panic mode or celebrating like children because of the snow and ice covering the ground.  When Houston cancels school twice in one winter because of ice and cold you know it is an unusual winter.  There are winters when the temperature does not even dip below freezing.  The world is upside down or at least sideways.

Last year we went on our our ski trip in mid March.  We usually have plenty of snow.  But, last year there wasn't much snow so we decided to plan this year for late January knowing it would be cold as (pick your favorite cold adjective) and there would be plenty of snow.  We plan and God laughs.  We arrived to temperatures in the 40's and no snow to speak of.  Luckily they had a good base on the mountain and we were still able to ski....just not in a foot of fresh powder.

Ahhh, there is some snow!

It was so nice and sunny and warm we sat out at the beach!

We enjoyed our sunny skies and comfortable temperatures...for skiing.  I'm glad we got out for those early days too because by Wednesday it was raining!  Raining in Park City, Utah in January.  Ick!  In all of my years I have never seen it rain there in the winter... I'm sure it does but not on my time!  The rain eventually turned to snow but conditions were not ideal.  We did get to ski on fresh snow Friday, but after being totally spoiled earlier in the week, it felt a lot like work skiing on that last day.  But who is complaining?  Well...maybe just a bit.

My sister and I realized, once again, that we must share a brain.  We have always had an uncanny way of wearing, buying, reading, saying, cooking, or thinking the same things.  We live in separate cities so it's not like we are together all of the time and get this through osmosis.  I am the oldest and she is the youngest.  Inevitably whenever we get together we show up wearing the same thing!

Did I mention how creatively we dress?

She showed up with a blouse she had just bought....I have the same exact one at home.  Definitely not the first time this has happened either!  I'm sure if you checked our closets we have many of the same clothes.  We had to start checking before we got dressed to see what the other was wearing so we did not look like twins....hehe.  I wish!  Aside from our uncanny ability to choose the same clothes we are the most alike of the four sisters.  We are also the ones who get referred to as "capable".  Some people may take this as a compliment but I'm not sure either of us does.  We have two sisters who excel, each in her own field.  We have no long suit but are "capable" of many things.  Maybe we excel at being "capable".  During dinner one night she cracked me up and said, "We share the same brain.... just think how smart we'd be if we had the other half of our brain!"  And then we watched American Idol and formed the Harry Connick Jr. "capable" sisters fan club!

Give me back the other half of my brain!

Quick To Judge

I got busted yesterday!  I caught myself in the act of being judgmental and the powers from above smacked me back down right off my high and mighty perch.  Just when I thought I was near perfect....bahahaha!

Let me explain....

I recently "graduated" from the 9 hole golf group to the 18 hole golf group.  It was time and a bunch of us "graduated" together so none of us had to make the move to the scary, competitive, serious 18 hole group alone.  Yes, we are in junior high school!  Anyway, our fears were quickly put to rest when they welcomed us with open arms.  They were very hospitable as we sat wide eyed and expectant at our first meeting.

One of our fears about joining the group was that we would be put in the back of the pack with the very slow golfers every week.  We may not be great golfers but we are definitely not slow golfers!  We always found ourselves catching up to their last groups on the course on Tuesdays and then having to wait for them on each hole. Our fear was that we would be in "that" group once we joined.

Yesterday, was our play day.  As I found my cart and the other two women I was assigned to play with that day I had a sinking feeling.  I knew one of the women from our 9 hole group, but the other looked like one of the "slow" playing women I had waited behind several times before.  I'll call her Golfer Gal. I figured my day was going to be an exercise in patience.

Off we went, in the gusting cold wind.  Perfect!  Cold... slow... golf....my favorite!  I watched and waited for our pace to be set.  None of us were playing especially well with all that wind and all those layers we were wearing.  Golfer Gal was no better or worse than either of us and not noticeably slower.  She was much older than either of us too.  There was about a 30 year age difference between Golfer Gal and the other girl and I was somewhere in the middle.  We were definitely an eclectic group.

Anyway, on the 4th hole our younger friend had to go and pick up her son at pre-school (yes, she is much younger!)because he was sick.  This left me and Golfer Gal to pair up and play the rest of the round together.  Two people will be a lot faster than three I figured .  Golfer Gal moved into my cart and we finally had a chance to visit with each other.  Well....that's when I got busted!

Golfer Gal mentioned that she had only played on our course three times!  Being an astute person, I figured that meant she was definitely not one of the slow bunch we always caught up to last season.  Shame on me!  As we visited in the cart I found out a lot about Golfer Gal and our worlds collided on at least three fronts, and by less than two degrees of separation.  She is new to the area.  She has lived here for less than a month.  We ended up having a delightful round of golf and I think I made a new friend. Plus, Golfer Gal has got game!

I can't help but think there was a much greater power at work yesterday.  I needed to be put in my place and I also needed to meet Golfer Gal.  I am definitely enjoying the new group and will from here on out withhold my judgment.  "Judge not lest ye be judged."  I can't imagine what they all think of me.  "That pushy 9 holer who plays fast and stares us down on every hole!"  Yikes!  I need to work on my golf demeanor.

Bears Do It

Is it just me or does everyone else want to hibernate in January?  I just want to stay inside and sit around all day wearing yoga pants, reading a book or watching chick flicks and finally eat a nice stew or soup for dinner at 5:30.   There has to be some kind of metaphysical reason for this!  It seems to happen every January.  Call it the post holiday lull....the calm after the storm....or maybe the calm before the storm.  Call it whatever you want but give me a good book, some hot tea and a blanket and leave me alone!

The weather last week did not exactly lend itself to playing outside.  The beginning of the week was freezing!  Literally....

Photo evidence of the freezing temperatures!

Since we live in Houston, the end of the week was warm, humid and rainy and we were back to wearing shorts.  We live in "wardrobe confusion" all winter long down here.  The sun finally showed it's shy face on the weekend and the freeze of earlier this week was but a distant memory.  I had just hunkered down for my long winter's nap and now it feels like springtime.  I really just need a good nap, can it get cold again?

I, for one, love the cold.  I like cooking all those comfort foods.  I like bundling up in sweaters, scarves and jackets...even a coat!  I like having to use the fireplace.  I like hibernating....I must be part bear!  I would really like it for more than four days too!  Just try me Houston!  While most of the city has been complaining about the "cold" winter we have had, I sit and say, "Wow!  It finally feels like winter!  Whoo hoo!".

The desire to hibernate diametrically opposes all of those January resolutions.  How am I supposed to do all that exercise I resolved to do in the freezing temperatures or rain... when all I really feel like doing is watching The Wedding Planner for the hundredth time?  If I could just hibernate I would not be tempted to overeat....I'd be sleeping!  Sounds like a great weight loss program to me, sleep for a month....ahhhh.

Alas, I am not a bear and the sun is out again.  My four day hibernation is over and it feels like springtime in Houston.  I guess I have to go out and get some of that exercise stuff while the sun is shining!

The Party Is Over

And so it begins....another year.
I usually don't "love" New Year's Eve.  I find it never quite lives up to the hype and as much as it pains me to admit, I have a hard time staying up past midnight these days.  This year was different!  Is this a sign?

We were still in Nova Scotia on New Year's Eve and went right across the street to a party.  No need to worry about which one of us would have to be the designated driver, we were free to drink... responsibly.  We bundled up, it was -20C, and walked to the party.  (Yes, we take on polar bear qualities when we are immersed in snowy wintry conditions)  We knew every single person at the party!  That is my kind of party!

The party itself was attended by young, old and all ages in between.  One of the many blessings of life at the shore are the multi-generational get togethers.  We had tons of delicious food, signature drinks, and on top of it all there was hockey and curling on the pond next door.  I can't say I actually witnessed the curling, I stayed inside and "made sure the fire did not go out"....I have my limits people and -20C is one of them!

This young man ?  braved the cold and participated in the curling,
 he also tried some creative ways to stay warm.
His glasses immediately fogged up when he came inside!

Winter up north has a few unique necessities aside from the obvious good boots, warm coats, hats and gloves.   A large mudroom is a must in any northern home.  The mudroom is the staging area for putting on and taking off all the winter gear.  We don't really have a need for mudrooms down here, except for mud...and really...how much mud do flip flops drag in anyways?

A nice self respecting mudroom...in full use!

We brought in the new year with cheers and hugs and kisses all around.  I loved being up there and bringing in the year with my summer friends and relatives.  Since the party was attended by many children things broke up soon after midnight....perfect!  We bundled back up and walked home, I'm sure we were stone sober by the time we got there.....-20C can do that!

So, here we are in 2014 and it's time to get back to work.  The holidays are officially over...or they will be tonight after the BCS Championship game...for me at least.  I guess it's that dreaded time of year when I am supposed to resolve to get healthier, organize my life, write at least once a week on the blog,  and be a better person.  Since we have a big wedding coming up in May, I will join the resolutionists this year and try to fight the flab in order to fit into that elusive-perfect-mother-of-the-bride dress.  The party is over......but it sure was fun!