Kindred Connection Party! Gotta love sweet Summer time!

I saw this little party and just knew I had to join in! I am all about summertime! This warm weather is getting me geared up for some serious lake time!

Go check out Windy Poplars for sure! This is a great idea to find new great blogs & meet fun people! :)


1. How do you most like to entertain during the summer (pool party, picnic, cookout, etc.)? - Or if your situation doesn't allow for entertaining right now, what do you look forward to being able to host? We love cooking out and having a few cold ones to cool us off from the hot Texas heat. We spend lots of time at the lake in our camper, so that's a great place of entertainment for us too! Nothing beats floatin in the water with a cold one in your hand! Anywhere is a great spot to entertain as long as you are surrounded by your loved ones & your friends!

2. Do you have a favorite summertime dessert? Mmmm...homemade ice cream!

3.What is your best outdoor summer date idea? Just me & Kam going fishing/camping/swimming. Or us just hanging out in our front yard relaxing, playing with the pups and visiting.

4. Share any outdoor decorating tips/ideas you have...
Nothing beats a vamped up old bench! Paint it a bright, fun color and it automatically becomes not only a functional place to sit, but a great eye catcher too! I've enjoyed finding unique things to hang outside too - I've got big metal flowers, crosses & signs hung on the house for character. And don't forget bird feeders! They bring life & enterntainment! And of course, you can never have enough flowers! :)

5. What will we find you wearing most in the summertime?
Well, when I'm not at work...flip flops and caps! Summer is all about comfort, relaxation & enjoyment...I'll be ready for all three wherever they may be!

Paying it forward & other ramblings

This is going to be a little random, but hey, what's new.....

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So I'm sure I've mentioned this, but I haven't had a coke (or anything caffeinated for that matter) in a little over a month. I'm really proud of myself, as I think I should be. This is a big step for me toward becoming a better me. I use to drink at least 3 dr. peppers a day. I always felt bloated and gross. Now...I drink water ALL the time. I feel healthier, happier, lighter and much more alert. My only complaint is my migraines. I get migraines, I always have. Use to, I could drink me a coke and take my meds and it would at least become bearable, but now, I just take my medicine and it doesn't work as well. BUT...I refuse to give in. I refuse.

My next goal (which I've been doing pretty well at so far) is to eat out less. I use to eat out ALL the time. I'm talking almost every day at lunch, then again that night. Now? I eat out at lunch maybe once a week and am trying to get in the habit of cooking supper more often - I enjoy cooking, but i despise cleaning the kitchen...ugh...So I'm trying to be better. I've even been bringing apples & clementines for snacks at work, for those of you who know me, yall know what an amazing feat this is because I'm not a fruity person. LOL Well, wish me luck!

I've also been walking with some friends of mine (or alone) at least a couple of times a week. This is not only good for me, but a great stress reliever and some much needed time with my main man the Mack-dog. O man, my Macky rocks! *for those who don't know, he's a 2 yr old chocolate lab & my new found BFF. I'm so glad he joined our little familia.

I also have a Wii fit, but don't use it very often lately because, unfortunately my husband despises it. I really need another TV in our spare bedroom...guess I should seriously look in to that. Maybe my next goal should be to use my Wii fit at least 3 nights per week for a month and see if Kam will come around...and maybe even start Wii'ing with me! :)

And I'm also working on the 'Paying it Forward' idea. Acts of simple kindness...when someone does something nice for you, repay them by paying it forward & doing something nice for someone else! :) I think if we all tried this, this world would be a much, much better place! :) Wouldn't it be great if we all helped each other out more often? Well, I'm on board. Hope you are too!

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I went to Abilene this past weekend with my bestest CRAZEEE lady friend, Callie, and her most adorable little boy Ethan. We attended the many festivities of the WHC (Western Heritage Classic) and enjoyed every second of it. Ethan loves all things cowboy. He wears his little straw hat, his boots & his spurs every where. I'm pretty sure he's the cutest kid ever. :) On Friday, we had a blow out, which took up most of our day, but Saturday was a blast - we went to the horsesale and watched the guys ride their sale colts through, shopped (I bought a new pair of hand tooled mules...they rock...just sayin), went to the match horse races for a while, then went to the rodeo and dance. All in all, the WHC was a hit, once again. Good times with good friends. My biggest disappointment was not hanging out with Nicole...but otherwise...all good stuff!

On Sunday, before we headed home, we took Ethan to the zoo. I can't explain how much fun I had with him & Callie there. Ethan was AMAZED at everything! His favorite part of it all was feeding the giraffes! :) Man I love that kid!

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I just realized I only have 2 followers...so Wendy & Amanda...THANK YOU! Thanks for reading my nonsense. Much love to yall! :)



Peace, Love & Kindness!

Whit

Things that make my heart go *Pitter Patter

Here's yet another list that has formed in my little mind...this is one of those "things i'm lovin RIGHT now" kind of lists...so here ya go!

1. SOBE Zero Calorie Lifewater (Black Cherry Dragonfruit is my fave)!

I'm tellin ya folks - this stuff ROCKS! Take it from a girl who's finally kicked the caffeine habit to the curb! I haven't had a drop of caffeine in a month...that's right! An entire MONTH! :) And despite my love for water w/lemon, I started getting a tad bored and these bad boys have rescued me! Sweet, tastey salvation in multiple flavors. Zero calories, Zero caffeine & they are chalked full of vitamins! Go try it! I dare ya!

2. Triple Barrel Curling Irons

Thanks to this bad boy, I'm gonna be rockin' Taylor Swift hair in NO TIME! You use it just like the old school crimping irons (shout out to the most awesome hairstyle ever: Crimped side pony tail w/HUMONGOUS bow!! much love) Besides that, this thing is versatile, fun & cheap. I have the Revlon, so get ready! and be prepared for waves! :)

3. Clementines

These things are awesome! They are like candy. I'm not a big fruit eater, or a vegetable eater...BUT I adore lil darlin' clementines! :)

5. Music in general (as if this is something new)!

~~Here are a few of my current favorite artists some are old, some are new, some are random, but all are cool...don't judge:

This of course, is not a complete list, but as of right now...I have these folks on my "Most Played" List on the old Ipod. Speaking of...

5. My Hot Pink Ipod

This thing keeps me going. If I wanna jam to a little Lady Gaga and then hear the sounds of Johnny Bush singing my all time fave "Green Snakes on the Ceiling" then hit up a little Frank Sinatra or perhaps a little "Boogie Shoes" by KC & The Sunshine Band then by gosh, my sweet friend the Ipod is ALWAYS there for me! My ecclectic mix of loveliness. Dear Ipod, how I adore thee! :)

6. My whore red metal bench & my fun-tastic yard!

~The bench:

It started out a putrid shade of yellow, but with a little sand blasting and 2 cans of Krylon...baby I got one fabulous $25 metal bench! Did I mention it's a glider?! O yes! It swings! :)

Of course...this isn't actually MY bench, but it was the closest thing Google Images had to offer...get over it. :)
~The rest of my yard - - I have some pretty awesome stuff this year - like a metal pink flamingo, a knockoff tiajuana frog, a giant turquoise sunflower and more....it's a good year in the front yard of the Baker residence. Even my ill fated butterfly bush has legged up and is lookin' quite fabulous! :)

~This is it for now! I'm off to head home to Post-Toasty!

Did I mention I love WHC in Abilene?! Well, I'm headed there tomorrow! Going to dance all night to Aaron Watson and watch some good old fashioned ranch rodeo goodness!

Much Love to ya!

Sending Peace & Margaritas your way,

WHIT

The day that changed our lives...

Monday will be a year since our lives stopped in their tracks. Monday will be a year since I heard the terrible news.

Two of my best girl friends witnessed 2 of my best guy friends have a terrible wreck. A man ended up dead. One of my friends is now paralyzed from the chest down and the other, scarred with terrible memories and weighed with loads of guilt.

I've lost some dear friends over something I had no control over. I've also come to the realization that no matter how much you love or care about someone, sometimes you are just not as important to them as they are to you.

I've seen what tragedy can do to friendship. It can bring you closer, or it can tear you apart.

And why did it tear us all apart...I will never know.

I know with God there is purpose in all things and to all things there is a season.

I've already seen many positive things come from this tragedy. I know people who no longer drink and drive, people with drinking problems who have stopped drinking all together. I've even seen someone find her soulmate as part of the aftermath to this tragedy.

But this also caused heartbreak, loss, pain, anger and more. A man lost his life - he had a wife & children. Two life long friends will most likely never speak again. My husband and I got stuck in the middle of things and lost our dear friends over something we do not understand, nor did we have any control over. People have lost sleep, cried tears, questioned their life on this earth, etc. There has been so much pain that I will never know or understand.

I know I was not the only person hurt by this. I was not hurt more than any one else. I know this broke so many hearts and changed so many lives. I know families were broken and friendships crushed. I know lives were changed forever. I don't write this post thinking only of myself...but all I can do is feel what I feel, not what someone else has felt.

All I can know is the pain I have felt, and the pain I've seen my girl friends go through - being called liars, being witnesses to their friends' terrible accident, being questioned, investigated, interrogated...all I can know is my sleepless nights. My tears I've cried for my friends. My tears I've cried for that man's family. The tears I saw in two mothers' eyes. The pain in two fathers' faces. The sadness in a girlfriend's eyes. All I can know for sure is that day, my heartbroke. And the day they quit speaking to me for whatever reason it was, my heart broke again. And it breaks every time I see them and they look away. It breaks everytime I hear their names.

I do not give up on people easily. I love them to a fault. This is something that will never change. I hope someday, with time, all this will settle down and become a faint memory - one strong enough to keep our minds on point, but never strong enough to hold grudges or hold on to pain.

You will never know just how many lives a person has touched until tragedy strikes. And you will never know where you rank in someone's life until they choose. 3 of them chose me, even though I would not choose. And the 2 I thought would always love me, pushed me away and I can only assume it was because I would NOT choose.

And me? I will love all of them forever. Because that is how I am. That is how I was raised. And that is how my God made me.

They say the truth shall sat you free...some truths are lost forever, some are hidden behind pain, some were told and not accepted. I pray for peace and an ending to all of this misery for all parties involved in this sadness.

And I am forever thankful for my 2 best girl friends. They are strong, independent women who stood up and told the truth, despite what other's believed. They will forever be "those girls" to some people, but they will always know that truth really can set some parts of you free......

I hope someday to have my other friends back in my life. I know Kam misses them too, but life moves on and we can't fix something we ourselves did not break. Until then...I'll just keep praying for them just like I always have & always will.


Sorry for the somber tone....I'm weighed down pretty heavy today.

LOVE...

Whit

The Adventures of a Ranch Watch Babe in The City (Part 1)

I use the term "City" lightly, mind you. Post is a town, but to me it is a city...any thing more populated with humans than wildlife and/or livestock automatically becomes a city in my book. Now...on to my adventures!!


There are many similarities between my mother and I, one of these things is our insane sense of smell. Most times, I consider this trait a curse, but two nights ago it was this ranch watch babe's saving Grace.

It was a late night in the Baker house. We tossed and turned like normal, visited about random uninteresting topics and of course harrassed each other mercilessly with tickling, wrestling and pinching (it's a nightly routine - leave us alone!) There was nothing strange about this night until we settled down to fall asleep and that's when it happened! My deranged sense of smell kicked in!

Time: Midnight-Thirty

"I smell something hot." I said calmly to my snoring husband.

"Just go back to sleep, it's probably outside," Kam uttered.

"Seriously, Kam. Something is burning. It smells electrical! Get up!" I yelled as I jumped out of bed and headed toward the light switch.

"You smell everything."
"It's probably nothing."
"Stop worrying."
"Turn the stupid light out!" were phrases I heard as I went in to the kitchen to check the oven.

I found nothing in the front of the house so I began sniffing the air. I reminded my self of a blood hound. I'd picked up my scent and noone would break me from my trail! As this vision of me on all fours, sniffing the air laughingly played through my mind, I heard the familiar tumbling of our old faithful dryer...

"THE DRYER!" I exclaimed as I made a run for the laundry room door.

By this time, Kam had dragged ass out of the bed and was half-heartedly helping me in my search for the mystery smoke smell. We opened the laundry room door and there it was! Smoke billowing out of our dryer. Our clothes were tossing in a pool of hot, smokey steam. Kam shut the breaker off and we began airing out the dryer. I'm telling you, the entire dryer was smoking, the wall was smoking...it was crazy!

As we tried to rescue our clothes, I was praying my only pair of decent jeans weren't ruined and thanking the good Lord above for protecting us from what could have been an absolute disaster while Kam began cussing the P.O.S. dryer to which I responded..."don't hurt it's feelings, it might explode!"

You know, when a dryer catches on fire there are several things that could cause it. Despite the huge burn marks on the wall behind the dryer, we ruled out our first suspect, the electrical outlet itself. We then moved to the lint trap, which I clean out religiously before EVERY load of laundry, so of course it was ruled out.

Then we decided to mosey outside and check out the vent. I was standing on the porch in my jammies and Kam was standing barefoot in the grass with a flashlight looking up the vent to see if it was clogged when we heard "BANG! BANG!"

Gunshots!

Now, where I come from, gun shots are a sign of the current hunting season - you hear a rifle, it's deer season - you hear a shotgun, it's dove/quail/turkey, etc. season. They are also heard when you're feeding cows and a poor misguided coyote comes in to your sites as you tire of waiting for your cattle and find more amusing things to do than check the horizon. Spot lighting for hogs and shooting rabbits are also reasons for gun shots. Other purposes include the priviledge of ending a rattlesnake's life, protecting the homeplace, trap/skeet shooting or just sheer boredom.

However, on this unfortunate evening...I am pretty sure NONE of the aforementioned purposes were part of the plan.

After the gunshots, which I'm sure ended in some form of death, mutilation or bodily injury for some thuggy dope headed Post Toasty, my lady-like self hollered "#$*^ this!" and shot back in the house. My dogs were barking, Kam was laughing at my cat-like reflexes....we locked the door, turned out the lights and went back to bed to battle the burned up dryer another day.

Now, two days later, we have a new dryer. But somewhere in the night an episode of First 48 occurred and noone saw it but Kam, Snowny, Penny & me...



Peace.

Spring has Sprung a Leak in My Mind...

I'm dreaming about my yard. My bleak, boring, pitiful yard. I'm sure the sweet little old lady who originally owned our house had the yard all spiffed up in old lady yard fashion, as it's full of ground cover and random piles of rocks that I assume once held purpose, but now...now it's drab.

I want flowers. I want color. I want TIME to do the things I want to do to my yard. And I declare I shall make time!

I did buy a fabulous metal pink flamingo - in old school WHIKISU fashion! And I just got my stellar deal-of-the-day swing/bench. (I'm sorry but 25 bucks for an old school metal bench in good condition is what I call a STEAL!). It's yellow right now, but by the end of next week it shall be red. WHORE RED!

I envision two small tables next to my swing - turquoise in color, with a beer on one and a margarita on the other as Kam & I swing together and dream...

Is it grotesque to spray paint plastic flower pots? I hope not, because all my cheap-o dollar store delight pots are getting a make over this year. Bright colors! All colors! It's going to fun and bright and verging on slightly tacky! And I'm going to be in town-yard Heaven, if there is such a thing.

I'll soon be making stepping stones. I'm going to do some mosaic magic to the tops of them, of course. I'm way excited!

Stay tuned for progress on my rather ambitious ideas for transforming my granny-style yard in to a gypsy inspired , wildwood hide-a-way! :)

Check ya later!


~w

Uninspired Inspiration

I need a little inspiration, so in true McNeely girl fashion, I'm going to make a list of things that make me smile...here goes nothing!

~Every day when the sun rises & sets
I am in awe of the colors, designs...the magnitude. I am in awe of our Awesome God!

~My big sister
She's the most quirky, original, talented, intelligent, silly, weird, rockin' cool chic EVER

~Holly's Drive-In
I mean really! You can travel far and wide, but you'll never find a better Cherry Lime!

~Hearing Robert Earl Keen sing "I'm Comin' Home To You" (& pretty much any other song he chooses to sing)

~Dancing with my husband

~Reminscing about my college days

~Quoting movies (even though I screw em up!)

~Dancing in general

~Long walks & deep talks with my free-spirited home gal, Callie Myrell

~Sippin on a cold one, floatin in my "chair" at the lake

~Seeing the Bubble Gum man
If you grew up in or around Garza County, you know who I'm referring to

~The fact that it's March 18th & my Christmas tree is still up! :)
Think about it, Christmas never lasts long enough! Besides, my tree is fabulous. hehe

~Looking through pictures

~Being outside

~Relaxation

~Margaritas
Except for when I have allergic reactions to them (darn real strawberries err)

~Sitting around a fire visiting with friends

~ALL of my family

~Sun shine & SON shine

~Kam's smile

~Our little pop-up crew

~Pitchin horseshoes

~Backroads

~Silly texts from Holly that make me remember the good ole CEV trailer park days

~Handmade boots
It's a love-love relationship & my addiction is crying out for a fix, I mean a new pair!

~Seeing Rylie Roo

~Playing with Ethan Ray & Mack

~Texts/phonecalls/emails from old friends

~Penny when she's being sweet

~Snowball acting like a macho dog

~Hangin' with Nicole

~Butt-fluffing with Courtney

~Old school cherry Slush Puppies

~Hearing Boogie Shoes on the radio

~Random phone calls from my B-renna

~Flowers

~Finding quotes that perfectly explain how I feel, or long to feel

~My gangly old man of horse, Uncy

~Hearing my Momma sing

~Simplicity

~Good music

~The color turquoise

~Stan the Man
Seriously, my dad's a cool cat. Someone once called him the 'Happy Cowboy'

~Hanging out with the coolest 2 year old girl EVER (aka Kyndall Wyndall)

~Listening to coyotes howl
...it makes me feel like HOME



This is all for now...although, there are a million things on this earth & in my mind that make me smile daily...

Peace.