Home again

Well, we’re back home, after a very, very long day yesterday.

If you’re just tuning in, I was visiting my family in east Tennessee. We were staying with my sister and family, and my mom and dad came up from B’ham to visit with us, as well. Night before last, they threw me a birthday party, complete with chocolate/raspberry cake (my favorite!!). It was very sweet.

Anyway, yesterday morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, packed everything into my sister’s van and headed for Nashville. The plan was to spend some time visiting with my sister-in-law and our newly-married friends before catching our plane back to Texas a few hours later.

The visit with Tracy, my about-to-burst-pregnant sister-in-law, went well. But, for some reason, when we went to check out our friends’ new place, Mikaela just had a meltdown. I believe it was the worst she’s ever had. She was mad at me because I wanted her to sit still and watch Shrek and not wreak havoc in their very nice, new house. This indignity, combined with the lack of a good nap (and possibly hunger) was just too much, apparently because she felt the need to scream for about 20 minutes. It was one of those fits that makes you look like a total loser of a parent, because there was really nothing I could do to make her happy or to stop the screaming (short of giving in and letting her “explore” in the non-Mikaela-proofed house). Hopefully we haven’t convinced our friends not to have kids!

We said our goodbyes to our friends and our sister-in-law and got on the plane in Nashville (we walked right past Reba McIntyre in the Nasville Airport, by the way), where Mikaela started to have another meltdown. It lasted most of the flight, until she finally stopped fighting her sleepiness and konked out. I tried snacks and stickers and stuffed animals, to no avail. I felt extremely helpless and fairly mortified. We are now officially “those people with the bratty kid.”

I arrived in San Antonio at about 8:40, bedraggled and exhausted. I was so glad to see Jay. We drove home and got in around 11:30 pm, and the kids and I had a very good night’s sleep. Mikaela is being an angel today. Just a couple of minutes ago, while I was typing, she walked up and kissed and then patted me on the leg.

Nice surprise when I walked in the door from our trip last night: Jay had me a birthday cake and present waiting for me (yesterday was my birthday). He actually lit my “29″ candle and sang to me. Great end to a fairly frustrating day.

Like shooting fish in a barrel

Apparently Willie Nelson’s tour bus was pulled over and searched by the police recently and they found – you guessed it – pot. And ‘shrooms.

I am not exactly a huge fan of drugs, but I think our police manpower and tax dollars can be better spent than booking an old stoner … I say just leave Willie be.

America’s Got Talent?

I haven’t really been following the “America’s Got Talent” show on NBC, but I’ve seen enough to catch Taylor Ware, yodeling sensation out of Franklin, TN (where we lived before we moved here last year).

Taylor has been featured in local Nashville-area commercials, and when they came on the air, I always dove for the remote. Taylor may be pretty, and she may be talented, but I equate yodeling with torture. It sounds like a wounded animal. Actually, I’m pretty sure they have yodeling in hell.

So, sorry, Taylor. Bianca’s got my vote.

hair

Mikaela has really bad hair. She has a swirly (forgive my lack of technical terminology) part/cowlick thingy in the front of her head, right above her forehead – and another in the back. It makes her hair really hard to deal with. Most times, her hair is hanging in her eyes.

So, a couple of days ago, I decided to blow her hair dry after her bath and style it with a round brush. I was hoping that styling it would keep it out of her eyes. Unfortunately, the end result made her look like a little Marty Stuart.