List 51: Dad, return of Mad Men, retail therapy, &!%#@ mosquitos, wrong lane on the beltway

It's wildflower season in Texas. Yay, Spring!

It’s been a rough few weeks, but I’ve emerged relatively unscathed so I can write another blog post. Nothing horribly exciting to report, except that I broke my iPhone (I got it fixed), Jamey broke his iPad (still unfixed), and we jointly broke (and fixed) the ice maker. We learned that I’m a complete basket case when driving in the rain during rush hour morning traffic. Also, I bought a cinnamon basil plant. Hopefully I won’t kill it.

I hope everyone has a fantastic week. I hope you revel in whatever state of Spring you happen to be enjoying at the moment, and enjoy the lists!

top 20

1. 

   My Fabulous Father

   My Dad, who turns 68 this Thursday. He’s fabulous.

2. Jamey instructing me on how to fix the freezer via FaceTime
3. popcorn
4. Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman from MythBusters. We saw them live, and they’re awesome.
5. the Zac Brown Band
6. Club seats at the Rodeo. Doesn’t get much better than free food, an open bar, and a fantastic view (thank you Robby!).
7. The border patrol agents on The Amazing Race who offered to share their first-place winnings with the last-place finishers a few legs back
8. The Amazing Race in general. I love that show.
9. the return of Spring
10. the return of Mad Men
11. Matthew Weiner, for giving us Don Draper
12. Andrew Bird. The video of him improvising with Yo Yo Ma is especially lovely.
13. This comment from an eight-year old kid sitting in my row at the MythBusters “Behind the Myths” show: “Everyone knows that mostly kids watch Myth Busters.” I love that because I always thought that show was made just for me, too.
14. continued pasta adventures
15. hybrid cars
16. hybrid communities
17. supportive friends
18. my hair stylist Ashley
19. Texas wildflowers. A-mazing.
20. retail therapy

bottom 10

1. the return of the &!%#@ mosquitos
2. driving in the rain
3. harassment
4. loneliness
5. allergies
6. papercuts
7. my iPhone, shattered
8. intolerance
9. greedy people
10. getting stuck in the wrong lane on the Beltway

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List 50: Rodeo, Rich Family in Houston, everyone matters, discouragement, violence in Homs

So I’ve been on hiatus for a while–sorry about that. It’s been a challenging few months and for one reason or another my top 20 and bottom 10 just haven’t made it onto the web. But I’m back now. Here are a few things that are new and different, in my world and beyond, since I’ve been gone:

Making pasta. We're kind of obsessed with it.

Jamey and I got a pasta maker, and we are now pasta making fools. My grandmother, who was in El Paso, is currently staying in Albuquerque with my parents. I bought lots of Girl Scout Cookies from my niece Olivia (and my waist-line is expanding proportionally).  Several amazing journalists lost their lives in Syria on February 22, and (some) people started taking notice of the severity of the situation there. The Republican Presidential candidates had about 75 debates and lots of primaries and still haven’t determined who their candidate will be. Winter came to Houston, then left, then came again, and then disappeared completely and left a really lovely Spring in its wake–and lots and lots of much-needed rain. Meryl Streep finally won a well-deserved Oscar. Jamey put almost 9,000 miles on his brand new Honda CR-Z with his daily commute to Huntsville. I wrecked our Honda CR-V with my daily commute on Fairmont Parkway in La Porte. 

And hey–we’re up to List 50! That’s a landmark of some kind, I’m sure, and I thank my readers, whoever you area, for continuing to read, even when I take very long hiati. FYI: If you’re interested in subscribing, just click the handy little “Sign me up!” button on the right-hand side of the screen and you’ll get an email message letting you know when there’s a new blog post.

Ok, you’re all caught up now! Enjoy this week’s lists, and I promise I won’t take so long to write the next post.

top 20

1. Rodeo Time!
   

   A cowgirl tutu. One of the many wares for sale at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

2. the return of spring
3. Jamey spoiling me rotten with a luxurious weekend in Austin after a really awful few weeks
4. The Girl Scouts turning 100. Happy Birthday!
5. my parents taking my grandmother into their home
6. the house concert we attended in Round Rock with pianists Mike Logozar, Kendra Springer, and Chad Lawson.
7. H-GAC’s sustainability project
8. hanging out with the Osborne clan
9. friends
10. The Rich family coming to visit in April–I’m so excited to see them!
11. Jamey’s co-workers, who have welcomed him to his new workplace and made him feel like part of the team
12. The film The Decedents. It’s just awesome all the way around.
13. house hunting
14. compromise
15. Survey Monkey
16. the NY Times Crossword Puzzle
17. Getting reacquainted with the Janet Evanovitch Stephanie Plum series. It’s hardly high brow, but really really fun to read.
18. Saint Bernards. If I didn’t live in a place where the heat index is regularly in the triple digits I’d totally have one.
19. spring fashions
20. Time Magazine’s obituary to slain journalist Anthony Shadid, particularly the last part: “The thing I like most about Arab culture,” he once said, “is that no one can enter a room without being acknowledged.” Pay attention. Everyone matters. (Read the whole thing online here. )

bottom 10

1. discouragement
2. feeling small
3. Rush Limbaugh
4. car accidents
5. rude people
6. midnight cat fights in the backyard
7. migraine headaches
8. passive aggression
9. short-range thinking
10. violence in Homs (and elsewhere, too, but it’s really, really awful in Syria right now)

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