I love Texas but....

I'm a born and raised Texan.

I love Texas. I love the Lone Star. I love cowboys(not the football team) and rodeos. I love country music.

I love BBQ. Oh sweet BBQ.

I love the Aggie's.
OK, well I don't like" love" them, but being married to an Aggie you kind of have to take one for the team so to speak. So I "love" them in my own sort of way.

What I do not love about Texas is the weather! I want to experience all 4 seasons Mother Nature has to offer! I want to see the leaves change colors. The leaves here in Texas go from green to dead. There is no in between, no beautiful reds, yellows, or oranges. Just green and then dead!

I mean look at this picture?!

Breathtaking isn't it?!
Now, being in Texas, I do not get to see beautiful things like this. We get blistering heat and cool winters. I don't even think they should be called winters if you do not get snow!

It is autumn after all and I was sweating walking to get my daughter from school.
That is just not right!
This should not be happening! I should be able to send my kids to school in jeans and a light jacket in autumn, not shorts and a tshirt!

Please Mother Nature, please bring us good ole Texans some real fall like weather! We really are awesome people and we deserve it after the scorching summer!

VMA Round Up

This Sunday was the MTV Video Music Awards. The only reason I was remotely interesting this year was because of Robert Pattinson and the cast presenting a new New Moon extended trailer. OK and if I am being honest I wanted to see what Kristen Stewart would show up wearing(she ended up looking amazing!) and see this strange character called Lady Gaga(which BTW I was shocked at what she wore!).

I had no idea when I set out to watch that in one night I would be appalled and then in awe of the human race.

First up was the tribute to Michael Jackson. And while I am not a MJ fan, it was very awesome to see Janet Jackson performing her duet song with her brother. That definitely brought a tear to my eye. She did a good job.

Within 10 minutes of the show starting, Taylor Swift(who I love) won for Best Female Video. During her acceptance speech, a poor excuse for a human being, Kanye West got up on stage(I'm sure he had had a few drinks) and took the mic from Taylor and said, " Im happy for you Taylor and I'm going to let you finish, but Beyonce had the best video of all time!". Beyonce was in the audience looking shocked and appalled at one of her musical colleagues. Taylor looked absolutely mortified and when the mic was given back to her she looked as if she wanted to run of the stage crying. What was she to say or do at that point?! Poor girl. I am not saying I do not like Beyonce but Taylor deserved her moment to shine and that was taken away from her by someone who is known to be a complete jerk. I was never a big fan of Kanye West to begin with, but believe me, anything that has to do with that man is now on my list of "have nothing to do with". he does not deserve the publicity he is getting for this, he does not deserve any award he might win or any money from any record sales he might have now.

After this horrible episode the night was pretty adventurous. Lady Gaga performed and well, that was very interesting to say the least. Beyonce performed and did a fantastic job.

And the main reason I watched, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner came out to show the extended New Moon movie trailer. *Swoon* I love Rob. The trailer gave me goosebumps. It was amazing and I'm literally counting down the days till New Moon hits theaters.

Next, is the moment when I began to feel like there are good people out in the world. Beyonce won her award for Video of the Year, and as soon as she took the stage she said she remembered being 17 at scared at the VMA's with Destiny's Child. She said everyone deserves to have their moment and she wants to give Taylor hers. Beyonce invited Taylor back up on stage to accept her award. True class from Beyonce. It really shows how much of a bigger person she is than Kanye and that she did not stand behind his actions. Hats off to Beyonce for allowing Taylor to have her moment during her own special moment.

In conclusion:
1. Taylor Swift is amazing. She handled the situation the best she could. Poor girl was so out of her element....a country singer at the VMA's...but she did it! She won!
2. Kanye West...well I have a few choice words I could use for him, but this is a family blog and they will be kept to myself. Do not buy any of his albums or anything associated with this so called man.
3. Lady Gaga....wow...thats really all there is to say about this one.
4. Robert Pattinson....SWOON! Ready for New Moon!
5. Beyonce....wonderful, gracious, and caring woman who reminds us that there are good people out there.

Highly Inappropriate!

* This post is my opinion. If you do not like my opinion that's fine, but I will not argue with you on this subject matter.



Monday night was the Teen Choice Awards 2009 on Fox. My daughter heard the Jonas Brothers was hosting and asked if she could watch. I told her we would watch it together. ( I wanted to check out the Twilight cast and RPattz anyways..lol).

Everything was going great, she was enjoying the show and I was enjoying spending time with her.

Finally it was time for Miley Cyrus to perform. My daughter likes her music as well so she was very excited to see her. As soon as it started my mouth hit the floor! I could not believe what she was wearing! I could not believe that her parents allowed her to wear that outfit! She is 16 years old for crying out loud! And even more so, is that she knows her audience. There are little girls out there as young as 4 years old that love Miley Cyrus and her character on the Disney Channel Hanna Montana. She was clearly targeting her older audience with her clothing choices at this point. And to make matters worse, all of a sudden a "ice cream cart" with a huge "stripper" pole comes out. As this cart is being wheeled out I'm thinking " there is no way that is about to happen". Boy was I wrong. Miley proceeded to jump on that ice cream cart and do a little pole dance! A 16 year old, doing a pole dance with hardly any clothes on....now how is that appropriate?! I guess since she was on the "teen" awards show and not the "little girl" awards show. How can Disney allow this?! How can her parents?! I have never been so appalled!

Look for yourself!
Now, do you see that one face in the audience?! That has to be a mother standing there! It has to be because that was my face as this performance is going on!

You can not see very well in that particular picture, but her shorts(well if you can even call them shorts) are extremely short. I consider those to be underwear if you ask me. Even Britney Spears wore a dress that was longer than Miley Cyrus! And her shirt, yea it's see thru! its like a mesh netting with no back and of course you can see her bra. I guess I should be lucky that she at least wore a bra.

Lucky for me, my daughter does not "love" Miley Cyrus or Hanna Montana as much as some children do. But I do know that she will never ever watch that show ever again. I will not allow it and I will not help Disney or Hanna Montana out with ratings or sales of products that have anything to do with Miley Cyrus. I understand she is growing up and changing her music, but I think she(and her parents for crying out loud) should use common sense when it comes to shows where children are watching and "looking up" to these so called "artists.

Where Is Our Moment?

** This blog post is from a fellow blogger and dear friend of mine. I am posting this because I feel that it should be posted anywhere and everywhere. Everyone needs to read this. You may not agree 100% but it needs to get out there. You all have your own opinion and I have mine. My friend Lindsey has worded it just perfectly for me(and for so many others). I have no doubt that I will probably get a few hateful comments for this post, but again...this is my opinion and you have yours. Let's keep our discussions very civil.


So, this guest blog post is by Lindsey over at That Lin Chick. I am posting her blog post here, but you can also check it out her blog as well.


Also known as: Michael Jackson vs The Military

Michael Jackson was known as The King of Pop. He lived an extraordinary and luxurious life once he rocketed to stardom as a musical performer. Throughout his career, he was a troubled person, struggling with abuse, addictions and various other issues. He contributed much to the music industry, to include dance moves like The Moonwalk and various other hit songs, albums, and advances in musical styling. Jackson also donated to many charities, created NeverLand Ranch and dealt with accusations of child molestation which were subsequently paid off and swept under the rug. He died suddenly at the age of 50 of a heart attack. Thousands will show up to his funeral and celebrities have and will continue to express their condolences to the Jackson family for their unfortunate loss.

Your average military service member is anywhere between the ages of 18 to 25 upon first enlisting. They are usually fresh out of high school or college. Most likely their extensive job history includes stints at fast food joints, convenience stores, or wherever they could get a job to pay for the limo for their senior prom or buy books for next semester.

They enlisted for various reasons, most of which are personal, many of which involve a desperate need for money to help with the ever-increasing costs of a college education and the insanity of repaying student loans.

All of them, whether they enlisted for it or not, grow to take pride in serving and giving back to the country that has given them the freedoms they enjoy.

Many have families. Spouses and children who must wait on the home front when they are deployed overseas, fighting for our country. People who love them dearly and pray daily for their safe return.

If the service member is killed in action, their body is returned home to be buried by their family. Their life is celebrated and their death is mourned, families and friends express their condolences. Fellow service members grieve the loss of someone they had never thought this would happen to. Those still overseas grieve and in the middle of the night, they can't help but wonder... am I next? Should it have been me?

The service member is not mourned in an arena, with thousands of wailing, weeping fans who paid a cover charge to be allowed access to see the body just one last time.

The service member is not given extensive media coverage. There are no biopics made of their lives.

Celebrities do not send condolences to the families.

Congress does not stop for a moment of silence.

The service member grappled with life or death situations on a daily basis. Saw things that they will never tell you, not only because they can't, but because they went over there so you didn't have to. They fight to find support when they come home, they struggle with post traumatic stress disorder and grieve for their fallen brothers and sisters.

They are deployed overseas multiple times. Their deployments are extended. Families don't know exactly where they are at and communication is spotty at best.

If anyone wanted an update on Michael Jackson, all they needed to do was Google his name. Military families don't get that kind of information. They can't have that. They live in quiet pride and express their grief quietly when they receive that knock on the door. Cameras do not follow them around.

E News doesn't ask for their thoughts or opinions on the death of their loved one.

Today, thousands of fans will show up to Michael Jackson's funeral and they will openly weep. Media crews will fight for space and servers will crash over the high traffic to the live web stream of the services.

And military families will pay their last respects, their only prayer that no one shows up to protest their loved one's funeral.

Sure, MJ donated to charities.
Service members are donating their lives for you.

Where is our moment of silence?