Hunter Classic Amateur Women's Tour

One of my girlfriends who moved to Ft. Worth sent me an email the other day letting me know the Hunter Classics Women Tour is going to stop in Austin at Fast Eddies. She's coming down to play and we are going to play it together. She's awesome on the table and I have a feeling she will do well in this. This will be our very first time to participate in this event, so I'm excited to play in it. Most of the women that play are tough on the felt and I'm no where ready to play with them, but it will surely be fun to try.

The tour hits Austin on January 27th and 28th and if any of you pool lovin' gals are interested in playing, let me know and we'll make arrangements to make this a girl's weekend event! The entry fee is $30.00 and the annual membership fee is $20.00. The beauty of this is the point rankings start at the beginning of the calendar year, so the Austin stop will be the first of the year. The next one is in Lake Jackson, TX in March which would make a good road trip for us. *hint hint*

Just the thought of playing makes me nervous...but it's the good kind of nervous.

"It's more important to practice good shot making than it is to practice making shots."

“You paws, I paws, we all paws for Frosty Paws! Woof Woof!”

Our little canine buddies – we love em!

They keep us going back to the basics of life. Today we are glued to the cable box, technology, the hustle and bustle of work, families, commutes, activities, the internet and all the other things that fill up our days (and then we start the whole cycle over again). Yeah, us humans are high maintenance, at least that’s what I think our dogs would say.

Our little buddies remind us to go back to the simple things in life and slow down once in awhile to realize tomorrow is another day and take some time out of what we “think” is so pressing, and just enjoy a break for an hour. My guy, Jordan, does that for me. He loves to take walks in the neighborhood (yes, he walks me) or play at the dog park. I see myself talking to other dog owners about their dogs – and they talking to me about their best canine lovin’ buddies. The coolest part, they LOVE us! They give us unconditional, unqualified affection just for being there with them. The known trick among the canine community is to simply look up at your owner with these glossy, warm, kind, gentle eyes and never look away until you get what you want. Hmmm, maybe they are on to something. Jordan is like a perfect child, but furrier and walks on 4 legs. Oh, and no need to pay for those soccer lessons or save for college tuition – he really has no interest in college. I support him 100% and save over 20K in expenses. *winks*

Of course, we are all guilty of this – spoiling our little guys. I am game for spoiling Jordan, but not game for “spoiling” Jordan. There’s dog spas, dog hotels, dog clothes…um, “Jordan, you are not getting that buddy.”

But what he will get and definitely deserves is doggie ice cream!! I’m an ice cream lover, so of course it’s gotta trickle down to him. I’m sure he would love (and prolly doesn’t care which one) any treat whether it my table food, dog treats, bones, etc. – but one thing he LOVES is Frosty Paws. He’s like an addict. I put one of those down and he swallows it up in less than 30 seconds and then glows afterward.

His tail is always waggin’ and tongue hangin’ out as soon as I open that freezer. Yep, I can buy his love and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I think I did it with the Frosty Paws. They have them in peanut butter flavor too, but I’m sticking to the original. He loves em’, so not going to toss something new in the mix yet. He’d prolly want jelly to go with it. “No, Jordan – not gonna happen my friend.” Also, there is a Frosty Paws Paw-ty kit *giggles*. It comes with 4 cute little red bandanas, 2 balls with the lovely logo on them, 4 paw-ty hats like your kids and a little pouch to store everything. It’s about 17 bucks. I think I am going to contact Frosty Paws Corporation and let them know that I don’t think the dogs are interested in the party hats and bandanas, just the ice cream. I might even suggest they get some other flavors. I’ve always been tempted to taste what Jordan goes crazy about, but haven’t gotten the courage to take a little bite. But with some assorted flavors, I might be tempted.

Don’t worry everyone, it’s not really ice cream, but your dog will sure think it is and not paw at you when you are eating your own ice cream sundae. It looks like and feels like ice cream and it’s formulated to be healthy for your dog – has vitamins, proteins, minerals and free of sugar or artificial flavors.

If you haven’t tried them for you little one, pick up a box the next time you are in your ice cream section. They are usually at Walmart or HEBs in Austin. I always find them right next to the Nutty Buddies or the Klondike Bars in a light blue box with a cute dog on the front. It may seem silly to give them this extra treat – but know they deserve it. Your dog would go to bat for you even during your most intolerable day, because it is unconditional love.

Hard to believe, but your dog will love you just a little more than he/she already does. Kinda hard to imagine that possible, but Ice Cream just does the trick. Come on’ – what is really better than Ice Cream? Not much.

Jordan can have a Frosty Paw as long as he wants them. That’s the least I can do for the little guy that keeps reminding me how great the simple things are in life. Thanks for showing me that Jordan.

“If you think dogs can’t count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket and then giving Fido only two of them.” – Phil Pastoret

"She's My Cherry Pie..."

If you haven't played Guitar Hero II, take a break from the hustle and bustle of the daily routine and jump on the headbanging bandwagon! It's pretty sweet. You play it on the PS2 with an actual life-sized guitar controller, which makes you feel like a rock star even if you don't have a sliver of musical talent (I'm one of em').

There's 55 songs on GH2 and it's just like Guitar Hero I, but with the option to bring in a bud to compliment your performance on bass, guitar, lead or rhythm. Most of my friends that play have are naturals in the music world, so can dominate me in the game. The beauty of the co-op mode, is you can change the difficulty level based on what you can handle, so you no longer get the dreaded "boo'ing from the audience".

Something different from the first version is the star power now requires both players to use the star power (raising the guitar) simultaneously. So indeed, you are rockin' together. There's a cool practice mode now, so you can work on the tracks that are a little more difficult. It completely sucks to fail in a song. The virtual crowd "Boos" you and it let's you know you failed. Noone wants to fail. Another cool feature - you can slow down the tempo of the songs to learn the tricky parts. The game also keeps records of how you did in the chorus, solos, etc, so you know what areas you need to work on. For clutzes like myself, practice mode was create for me!

I played quite awhile last night and man, my wrist hurts. Sad, that a video game can do that to me. I give kuddos to the real guitar players out there.

Oh, my friend's daughter, Caitlin, is alreay on expert mode and she's only 12 and 1/2 years old (but has the intelligence of an 18 year old)! She's talented and gifted in music and I could never go against her - but now, I can play in co-op mode with her and not feel like a complete music idiot *smiles*.

Game runs about 79 bucks and comes with the guitar. If you have Guitar Hero 1, then you got the other guitar to rock out. Thanks Red Octane for making an awesome game. "She's my cherry pie, Cool drink of water, such a sweet surprise. Tastes so good, make a grown man cry, Sweet cherry pie." With that thought, a Mrs Baird's Cherry Pie sure does sound good right now.

I’m hungry & need a good dining table to enjoy my food

I live in a small little two bedroom and it’s always been a dream to have a pool table in one of the rooms. Right now, then only feasible way to accomplish this would be to put it in the living room and not have any living furniture. I’m rarely home, so really don’t need to having living room furniture and it would easily go into the master bedroom. *bam* That would be the new living room. Gotta’ think of all the options here.

I found the perfect table. It’s a Craftsman Table that is a pool table that doubles as a sturdy dining room table once the matching top is attached. It’s a beautiful piece and would enhance the whole place! You can get them in 7”, 8” or 9” tables and are made of oak or maple wood.

Plan A: Put money away for a year and just buy it. That’s a year away. *sigh*

Plan B: Build it! I found a great site that tells you how to build one from scratch. Estimated cost is $1500.00 and 70 hours of labor. Not bad and it would be a great project to work on. I love making things and even more so, trying to figure out how to even begin.

Plan C: The ultimate beauty: Create a poker, billiard, video gaming console, dining room table.

Beautiful.