Then & now? Sooner or Later? Before & After!

Who's up for a little nostalgia?  (WE ARE!)  Well, girls & boys, this week, your blogmistress stepped out the front door for the mail, and what was out there?  A couple of huge boxes, that's what.  (WHAT WAS IN THEM?)  I'm glad you asked.  A cool, retro bike was in them!!  Ok, it was in several pieces, but now it's one awesome bike.

How did this come to be?  Let's rewind about 40 years.  We called this Mom's bike, and so it was.  It's a big, heavy, one-speed.  Your blogmistress, being smart and industrious, not to mention semi-brawny, took over brother Bill's paper route when he went to work at A&P in the early 70's.  She needed a summer ride to deliver those papers!  Enter Mom's bike.  Here we are, Mom & daughter, probably at the precise moment of hand-off.  Look, there are the papers, behind the bike!

Big brother Dave stored this bike in his garage or barn for many years.  Last year, after Bill finished restoring the Ding-Ray, he needed a new project.  So he restored Mom's bike!  What a fine job he did, too.  Thanks Bill-Ding!  I don't have any purple bellbottoms these days, but I tried to capture the same stance - check it!

Bill tricked it out with a headlight on the front fender and a horn - the original, paper route workhorse didn't have that - don't we all need a little enhancement as we get older?  (Botox?  SURE!  Boob job?  NO!)

When is the last time you rode your bike, just for fun?  Get out there & start pedaling. 

The drought is definitely OVER, at least in Texas

I think it has rained for at least 10 days straight in Houston.  What a contrast to last year!  There is still a drought throughout the midwest, and the farmers are feeling that pain.  I don't think we'll be complaining about rain for a long time to come.  Along with the rain, though, comes more creepy mushrooms.  They're everywhere in the garden!

Everywhere!  I think they're nasty.

You know what we don't have, though?  That crappy jasmine I pulled out while the house was being built.  I did such a good job of that, I haven't seen one leaf of the stuff since we moved back in.  Hurray!  Cuz it was worse than the mushrooms, and harder to get rid of.  

Who says you can't win in Vegas?

Has it been a whole month since my last blog post?  Never mind that.  Last week, I went to Las Vegas to attend the user conference for the law firm's accounting software.  We all stayed at the lovely Aria resort & casino.  Hey, I won $15.75 on video poker, and it only took me 10 minutes!  I had the wisdom to walk away while I was ahead. 

Meanwhile, my friends and I had to do a little shopping when we got to Vegas.  The mall next door to our hotel had a lot of expensive stores.  Usually, out in the middle of the mall, there are kiosks with less expensive items.  Not in Vegas!  Check out this cool Ferrari, right there in the mall.  Notice what side of the velvet rope I'm on.   A girl can dream, can't she?

Happy Independence Day, everyone!  Fly the flag and enjoy the fireworks.