The Vice Chancellor of Sunshine - The Soundtrack

I really did burn a cd with these songs it. It's amazing how these songs can put me in a better mood. I would encourage you to actually make a cd of Your Soundtrack, too.

“You are the Sunshine of my Life” by Stevie Wonder
“32 Flavors” by Alana Davis
“You Are My Sunshine”
“Shine” by Collective Soul
“Lovely Day” by Bill Withers
“All for You” by Sister Hazel
“Brown-eyed Girl” by Van Morrison
“Feeling Good Again” by Robert Earl Keen
“Your Smiling Face” by James Taylor

Songs that remind of me good times and good friends
“Only the Good Die Young” by Billy Joel for my Mom, Kyle Abernathie and all my Catholic girlfriends
“John Deere Green” by Joe Diffy for Josh
“I’ll Be There for You/Friends Theme Song” by The Rembrants for Mary Kate and the RA #18 staff
“You Can Call Me Al” by Paul Simon for my Dad
“Just the Way You Are” by Billy Joel for all my friends and loved one who love me for all I am, all I’m not and all I am becoming
and OF COURSE the Tech Fight Song

20th Anniversary of Bull Durham

Bull Durham is easily one of THE best movies EVER! Baseball. Great lines. Kevin Costner. These are some of my favoriet quotes from the movie. Forgive the language - it wouldn't be the same with editing.

Annie Savoy: What do you believe in, then?
Crash Davis: Well, I believe in the soul, the cock, the pussy, the small of a woman's back, the hanging curve ball, high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days. [pause]
Crash Davis: Goodnight.

[Larry jogs out to the mound to break up a players' conference]
Larry: Excuse me, but what the hell's going on out here?
Crash Davis: Well, Nuke's scared because his eyelids are jammed and his old man's here. We need a live... is it a live rooster? [Jose nods]
Crash Davis: . We need a live rooster to take the curse off Jose's glove and nobody seems to know what to get Millie or Jimmy for their wedding present.
Crash Davis: Is that about right? [the players nod]
Crash Davis: We're dealing with a lot of shit.
Larry: Okay, well, uh... candlesticks always make a nice gift, and uh, maybe you could find out where she's registered and maybe a place-setting or maybe a silverware pattern. Okay, let's get two! Go get 'em.

Random Spring Slideshow

These are all pictures from Mom's camera. Some are from Sunday dinners with Great Papa at Doodah & Papa J's, some are from our weekend in Austin to celebrate Uncle Josh's birthday (ah- that damn kite) and some are from Easter.

Here come Patrick Cottontail

We colored Easter Eggs after the belated St. Patrick's day dinner. Patrick kept sticking his fingers in the little cups to get the eggs all the way in. And he ended up with blue-green fingers!

Doodah tried to help, but he insisted he could do it by himself. Like everything else these days.

Drinkagreenbeerasaurus

I think this is Patrick's dinosaur face??? We took him to see the Dinosaur Alive! exhibit at the Science Spectrum last Friday. He truly amazed me with all he knows about dinosaurs - especially the names! I guess he should since he is best buds with Blaise, the ultimate dino guy. I was so sad when he and Paul dropped me off at home. It was a very lonely feeling. He asked Paul as they drove away when he was going to come home. It breaks my heart that my little guy has to ask those questions. But we'll all get through this. It is for the best.
I had my parents over on March 18th for a St. Patrick's Day GREEN dinner. This was my green beer. I learned after the first one to put the green color in first then add the beer otherwise just the foam turns green. Or maybe it was the spirit of the Irish getting me back since I was drinking Stella Artois, a French beer.
Mom and Dad toasting with water - ??? - and Patrick refusing to take a picture.
This was dinner. Baked chicken coated in garlic & herb All Bran crackers, green mashed potatoes, green gravy and green beans. We had green vanilla pudding with Oeros for dessert. The green gravy reminded me of ectoplasm from Ghostbusters, but we all ate it anyways.

St. Patrick's Day Trivia

1. Do you see the difference between these 2 plants? The top one is actually oxalis and the bottom one is clover or shamrock. Typically, St. Patrick's Day shamrocks are depicted with the leaves attached at the stalk, but not so. Plants with the leaves attached at the stalk are oxalis. If you look closely at clover or shamrock leaves, you will see that a bit of plant stem separates the leaves from the stalk.
An Irish tale tells of how Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to explain the Trinity. He used it in his sermons to represent how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit could all exist as separate elements of the same entity. His followers adopted the custom of wearing a shamrock on his feast day.

2. If you abbreviate St. Patrick's Day, you should spell it Paddy with DDs instead of TTs. Paddy is the masculine nickname for Pádraig, the Irish spelling of Patrick. Patty is the feminine version. You will notice when I refer to my Patrick on my blog it's with DDs.

And there you go.

Uplifting Thought for the Day

I LOVE THIS MESSAGE! Things really are going wonderful for me! I haven't shared this on my blog yet but I have a new job! As of next Thursday, I will be the Events & Training Supervisor for the Division of Information Technology at Texas Tech. I know science teachers to IT, but this position really has ME written all over it. It will allow me to use the PR and people skills I know I have, as well as use my degrees. My dream job ever is to be the special events coordinator for the TTU President or Chancellor. This is definitely a step in the right direction. It means more responsibility since I will be considered administration, as well as a a better title and, along with that, a raise that I desperately needed as a single mom. I really felt a connection with the staff and I can't to SHINE like I know I can.

My SUPER HERO Identity

Your Superhero Identity Is:
Name: Red Woman - That works!
Secret Identity: Britta Tye
Special Power: Incredible Toes - is this really a super power?
Transportation: Quantum Motorcycle
Weapon: Ultra Bolt - What do I do with my ultra bolt?
Costume: Vinyl Pajamas - I could make those work.
Sidekick: Black Dan
Nemesis: Arnold the Unspeakable
Tragic Flaw: Addicted to love
Favorite Food: Peanuts

What's yours? http://www.humorscope.com/hero.html

More March Birthdays to celebrate

Happy birthdays dear friends. You still have a few years before 40. wink wink
Happy birthday, Jennifer Marie!
Happy birthday, Stacy Catherine!

Josh's 30th Birthday in Austin

This picture was supposed to post at the bottom, but it didn't, so I'm just going to go with it. We ate at PF Chang's on our way out of town yesterday. Patrick was very excited about eating with chopsticks and I must admit, he used them better than I could. This kid LOVES noodles! We were all in Austin this past weekend to celebrate Josh's 30th birthday. Friday night we went to dinner at Trudy's - Mmmm! Poor Patrick - we just forget that he's 3 and we go go GO! He totally fell asleep while we were waiting for our table and then slept while we ate. Doodah and Papa J enjoyed snuggling.


Meghan decorated their apartment and got these fun hats. It just happened to match his shirt.















Saturday night Josh, Meghan and I met Jennifer and Todd out at Little Woodrow's. She had just flown back from working in Hong Kong and had been up for 36 hours! I don't know how that girl does it!

GO LUGNUTS!

Patrick is going to be a LUGNUT in tee-ball. They are named after minor league teams - his is the Lansing Lugnuts. Check out www.lansinglugnuts.com. And they are red and black - perfect!

There are 13 kids on each team and it's co-ed. They only play 2 innings because each kid on both teams gets to bat each inning. 26 kiddos each inning!!! And the last kid at bat always scores a homerun. There are no outs. They play on Saturdays out in Wolfforth since it's a Frenship league. Paul is one of the coaches. Troy is, too - of Troy and Neicie - and their twins are playing.

We told Patrick the name of his team last night and I asked him later on what his team name was and he said "2 nuts." And then I asked him again this morning and he said the "peanuts." We're going to have to work on the team name as much as we are hitting the ball. I can't wait to watch him play!!!


I think Neicie and I need these skirts! I saw this on the Lansing website. I am SO going to be yelling "GO NUTS!" What a great team name.

15 Day Challenge update

YES's and Successes
1. Multi vitamin EVERY day, plus 5000 mg of biotin (for my hair and nails) and 2 packets of Emergen-C (zinc & vitamin C)
2. 80+ minutes cardio workout Monday & Tuesday and record my time, miles and calories burned
3. Make healthy food choices - Fuji apple and smoothie for b-fast (see below for my smoothie recipe) - salad, grapes, Teddy Grahams for lunch - Triscuits for afternoon snack - broiled salmon, sugar snaps and carrots for dinner, with a piece of whole wheat cinnamon toast for dessert - both days
4. Park and walk - working on the Tech campus makes this one easy. The walk to my building from my parking space is about 5 minutes - twice a day. I also park far away from the gym entrance, mostly because all the closer spaces are taken when I get there.
5. Hydration - I drink more green tea than water during the day, but green tea is still good for you. . . I need to work on the water. I just don't like drinking cold cold water. I prefer lukewarm so I have to let my water "warm up" after getting it from the Culligan machine.

NOs - we'll call these "areas of improvement"
1. 1-2 minutes of being silent and breathing - I just don't stop. It's genetic. My mom can't just "be still" either. I GO GO GO until I crash into bed at night. I did have some good prayer time while walking across campus to my interview, though. I used to be really good about praying as I walked to and from my building. I think this is what I need to focus on.
2. I haven't done any crunches yet. I need to get in a routine of doing those. Especially since Patrick likes to do them with me. Too funny!

Happy 100th Birthday, Lubbock!

Last night was the opening celebration for the Centennial Lubbock Celebration. It was AWESOME! What a great show! And it was only $5!!!! Performers included Joe Ely, David Gashen, Mac Davis and Cactus Cuties & the Texas Rhythm Machine from the Cactus Theatre. The Cactus Cutie opened the ceremony with The National Anthem. WOW can those girls sing! Mac Davis of course sand "Happiness is Lubbock, TX in my Rear View Mirror." David Gashen sang "Bring Him Home" from Les Miz. There was a parade of 40 of Lubbock's greatest athletes. It was FABULOUS! The planning committee really went all out. I can't wait until the next events.
Here is the follow-up story that was in the AJ this morning
http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/030308/loc_253120182.shtml

Ultimate workout DVD

February's totals
14.69 hours
61.26 miles
6257 miles
March is going to be a stronger month for me.

I did discover an ultimate DVD to work out to. . .Neil Diamond's Greatest Hits DVD! TOTALLY! I decided to watch it this morning while I worked out and it was awesome! It has a great beat and rhythm, and plenty of opportunities to laugh at the 80s audience members. Laughing at the audience is one of my favorite things about the DVD. "America" "Sweet Caroline" "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show" "Headed for the Future" complete with a TOTALLY TERRIBLE 80s video and my favorite "Forever in Blue Jeans" - which is my favorite on the DVD! All these songs remind me of roller skating in my driveway when I was in 4th grade to the N.D. "Heartlight" tape.