Katiemagic

Thursday, April 28, 2005

Ants in My Pants


IMGP0856
Originally uploaded by KATIEmagic.
My husband is an avid mountain biker. So 5 years ago (ack!) when we first started dating he encouraged me to try it with him. I went a few times and like it enough to buy a $300 bike to take out when I went with him. We had a lot of fun during those days. Don't get me wrong I totally sucked at the actual mountain biking part of it. I fell constantly, I couldn't make it up any hills, and people I live in Texas there aren't even any real hills to make it up. I had to walk with the bike through half the trails. I have many, many scars from my feet slipping of the pedals who then sought revenge by impaling themselves into my shins. But what I liked about the whole thing was spending the day with my new boyfriend in the woods. He was very encouraging and nurturing with me on those trails.

One lovely summer Saturday morning, we went out for a ride. I think we'd been together less than 6 months. He and his friend Eric were both riding that day and they go fast and do challenging things like, you know, actually completing an entire hill. So rather than make them wait for my slow ass, I told them to go on ahead. Husband had just taught me how to change my tire and this day was the first time I'd done it all by my lonesome. It was also very, very hot. Like, in the 90's at 10 am hot. (God I'm not looking forward to another Texas summer.) About a mile into the trail took a spill and notice that a bike part had fallen off of the wheel I'd just installed myself. I also noticed that doing shots the night before a morning of 90 degree mountain biking is not a good idea. I was hot, I was dehydrated, I was frustrated, and I was seriously tired. Luckily Husband had doubled back looking for me because he had a feeling that I was in trouble and needed his help. (Just one example of how freakishly connected we are, and why I married this man.)

I was so happy to see his face! "Fix it" I pouted, "I'm dehydrated, hot, tired and frustrated and bike challenged." "OK baby", he said, "Why don't you sit down and rest, you look like you need it." Which I did. Without looking. Right in a nice big fire ant pile. I blame the fact that I didn't know I had sat in a fire ant pile for a good 30 seconds after I sat down on the fact that I was near blacking out from the heat. That 30 seconds gave the fire ants/devils spawn enough time to actually crawl into my biking shorts (under which you don't wear undies). When I finally realized what had happened I stood up, screamed bloody murder, and did what any self respecting girl being attacked in her shorts by fire ants would do. I stripped 'em off in the middle of that trail before God and mountain bikers. I did the "ants in your pants" boogie dance, and I gave them to Husband to make sure they were really all gone before I put those suckers back on.

Oh the pain. The ants had all conspired to bite me in a spot about the size of a silver dollar on my right butt cheek. I had over 20 big puss filled bites all in one spot. I couldn't sit down right and I had a huge knot of poison on my ass for weeks.

I stopped mountain biking after I broke my foot one day on a trail too advanced for me. I'm very, very afraid my friends. Now, I hike the trails while Husband bikes. And every time I pass a giant fire ant pile, I smile. Then I kick it a couple times and run away. Ha ha, Suckers!

ABC easy as 123

These are my URL ABCs:

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Help me OB One KenoBella, you're my only hope

Backyard Camping/OB one kenobella

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Smiles as big as Texas

You know what they say, ignorance is bliss.

Saturday, April 23, 2005

Jodie and Me


Jodie and me
Originally uploaded by KATIEmagic.
Whenever I think of my childhood, it comes in flashes. Little scenes that make up my life. A tableau of people and places in which there are a few constant threads. One of those threads is my best friend growing up, Jodie. We were inseperable. She the blonde mild mannered, well behaved beauty. Me the brunette, hot tempered, sneaky little shit. We balanced each other out pretty well. I can remember Kathryn (Jodie's mom, not me) and my mom sitting at our kitchen table watching Jodie and I wash our hands before dinner. My mom remarked on the different way we went about this. I was very quickly rubbing my hands together palm to palm Dr. Evil style, just trying to hurry up and get it over with so I could eat. Jodie was carefuly wringing them to get the soap in all the nooks and cranny's, very slowly and methodically, pensively and efficiently and with great care. The perfect metaphor for how we went on to live our lives. We drifted apart as a lot of childhood best friends do. High school brought different friends, different interests, and some conflicting beliefs. It makes me sad to think about it.

Two years ago, I was engaged to be married. It was a very strange time for my fiance and I. His mom was dying of cancer. We didn't know if she would make it to the wedding. It was heartbreaking to know that she was in pain and that we would lose her. It was difficult not to feel guilty about the happiness and anticipation I felt surrounding the pending wedding. The week before our wedding shower she took a turn for the worse. My husband went to Houston to MD Anderson cancer hospital to be with her. He was the only one of his siblings who was able to be there for those hellish days. I was aching to be there with them both, but I went to the party at his insistance. It was given by Jodie's mom and the mom of another of our childhood friends. I was not expecting Jodie to be there. She lives out of state now and rarely has the chance to come home. I was so touched, and surprised to see her walk through the door. Even all those years after we had lost regular touch, it was such a comfort to be around her at that time. It was like coming home, that warmth, that understanding which is saved for only those few people who knew you well as a child. My dad drove me down to Houston straight from the party. It was so surreal. I got there around midnight to finally put my arms around my fiance after his week of hell. His mom died the next day. It was three weeks before the wedding. With all of that upheaval and change, and heartbreaking saddness and guilty happiness going on all at once, I didn't make it a priority to tell Jodie how much it meant to me that she was there. And how much it meant that Kathryn and Nell Anne had honored my husband and I with the gift of that party.

Jodie became engaged last week. I am so happy for her. I'm nestolgic for the old times. I only hope that during this time in her life I can return to her some small fraction of what she gave to me two years ago.

Congratulations Jodie!!!! Love, Kathryn

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Bedtime Wrestling

It's a ritual with those two . They get in one last bit of play time before we turn out the lights. Then bam, they're out.

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Welcome to today's addition of my adolescent fantasies that didn't come true a.k.a. there IS A GOD

Another one bites the dust
The Fantasy: Corey Haim walking into my sixth grade English class (so all those bitches know Corey wants me, natch) and putting me in the trunk of his car while hijinx ensue. On a side note, what the hell? Heather Graham was Mercedes? Who knew! Also, the image of Corey Haim's mom putting catsup on her mashed potatoes is forever engrained in my psyche.

p.s. I found this on Defamer but couldn't link directly to it on that site so I linked to the original story instead. Hope I'm not breaking any blogger etiquette.

Monday, April 18, 2005

Soaka Tha Turtle

This weekend Bob made another entrance. He walked all around the house sniffing our cement floors every several steps. When I noticed that Bob was leaving behind a pile of dirt every time he laid down, Husband mentioned that he had read somewhere on the Internet that you're supposed to soak your turtle every once and a while. Which led to us saying "soaka the turtle" in very bad Italian accents stolen directly from the SNL sketch in which Jimmy Fallon (swoon) and (who cares who else cause it was Jimmy Fallon) were wine makers and they kept telling Janet Jackson that they had to "Soaka the cork".

We do this a lot, Husband and I. Talk in strange voices and possibly offensive accents to one another. Sometimes we have entire conversations that are actually dialogue from a movie or TV show. Usually The Big Lebowski and The Office. We do this even in public (well, not the possibly offensive accents part), and have gotten some interesting looks in line at Kroger. But it gets really interesting at home, particularly when we've been drinking. We've talked about how if there was a hidden camera in our house and the tape was leaked to a psychologist we would promptly be committed against our will. So our code word for ending these bouts of being complete dorks is "committed, solidly."

I started talking this way in high school with my brother. My Junior and Senior years we would stay up late into the night and watch really bad movies on TNT. It was SO MUCH FUN, and I credit those movies with bringing my brother and I into our adult brother/sister relationship, and with engraining in my psyche a love of all bad cheesy movies.

Some Quotables:
Drop Dead Fred
The Warriors
Repo Man
Pod People
The Big Lebowski (although not bad or cheesy still very quotable)
Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (same thing)
French Kiss

Sunday, April 10, 2005

I love this man


I love this man
Originally uploaded by KATIEmagic.
Birthday Week: or Why I should never complain about anything in my life, ever

Last Thursday birthday week commenced. Husband came home with my birthday present, a brand new digital camera. The significance of this is not just that it's a KICK ASS digital camera that I have not put down since. The real present is that I had just casually mentioned to him a few weeks ago that he should ask his camera savy friend about which cameras we could actually afford because it might be nice to have a new one sometime. Hint, hint hint. Lady's and gentlemen my husband took the birthday hint. So on Friday he emails me and says: "How about we spend all day together on Saturday just you and me. We'll go to breakfast, play with the dogs, go take some pictures, whatever you want to do." So I'm like hell yeah! Birthday week kicks ass! So on saturday we slept late, snuggled with the dauggers, went to breakfast, went exploring, went shopping, and got hungry for dinner. So Husband says: "Why don't we go to that Thai restaurant you like. I'm in the mood for Thai food." So I'm like sure sounds great to me. And we go to the restaurant and we park and I'm like, "Hey that sure looks like Cheri's car". And we walk in and "SURPRISE"! A surprise party!!!! For me!!!! Planned by Husband!!!!! How kick ass is that!? It's not even a monumentous birthday! And again, the significance of this is not just that he PLANNED A BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR ME. But that the last time we ate there was in February when I mentioned that it would be a fun place to have a birthday party. Ladies and Gentlemen I have a husband that listens to what I say and actually cares. I realize that the feminist view (this is BFF talking to me in my head again) is that that's the least I should expect from a relationship. But the reality is that a lot women don't have that amount of love and respect and communication in their relationships. And I am DAMN lucky to have it. The best part is that it comes out in different ways every day. I don't have to wait for special occasions for him to tell me that he loves me, that he is happy, that he is content with our life together. What more could a girl ask for? I love you Husband. Thank you for choosing to make your life with me. I am the lucky one.

Friday, April 08, 2005

Tucker Vs. The Bird


Tucker Vs. The Bird
Originally uploaded by KATIEmagic.
Tucker had a mad fight with a bird this afternoon. The bird kept pecking at him, it was pretty funny.

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Weeeeeee!


Car Fun for Chloe.jpg
Originally uploaded by KATIEmagic.
So last weekend Husband and I went around to a bunch of garage sales with the dauggers. We had the top down on the jeep and Chloe stuck her head out so far she nearly ate shit. No more car rides without the harnesses!

The mere fact that I'm admiting to these garage sale trips is a pretty big step. We are the kind of couple who while living in our loft in dowtown dallas said things like. "Why would anyone get up before 11 am to go buy other peoples trash? I will NEVER DO THAT. If I suggest that, honey, will you just shoot me and put me out of my misery?" Seriously. Those words were uttered. And yet we made the move to the suburbs. Not without trepidation mind you. The building we lived in downtown had an art gallery on the first floor. The architecture itself was art. We knew there would not such things in the burbs. We were within walking distance of three streets lined with bars, tattoo parlours and a restaurant owned by a transgenered person (oh, the migas, I miss those migas). None of those things can be found here in the burbs. I loved it there. But crime was in issue and getting worse by the month. When we first moved there in 2001 I felt safe walking to get migas by myself. By the time we left I was looking over my should just walking to the car. We wanted to start a family in a house but property in the city of dallas is ridiculously out of our price range. So we made the move, we took the plunge, we bought a house with a pool and a yard in a neighborhood where the middle school is within walking distance and bars are nowhere to be found. It's still taking some adjusting. But it's the best decision we've made yet. Now if I could just get pregnant...

Friday, April 01, 2005

boof


boof
Originally uploaded by KATIEmagic.
This is my Beloved Bella the Bulldog. She is the sweetest dog I have ever know. And she might tlook a little fierce, but the worst thing she would do is lick you to death. I heart Bella!
 
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