Blast from the past

Does anyone else remember these?

I mean, we're going old school here. Like way back to elementary school. Well, Matt says that since I went to a private school for high school (and he believes that we had "gourmet" cafeteria food) that we didn't have these like he did at South Panola but I beg to differ. Matt also remembers having these at the Sigma Nu house at Ole Miss. Anyway, do you know what this is??? It's cafeteria pizza! Remember how it used to come in its own little plastic baggie? And the crust would be kind of soggy? Matt was super pumped to find these at Charlies (the meat market we go to) and had to bring some home. All that was missing were those little milk cartons. Or, if we were at my high school all I'd need to make this meal complete would be an undercooked (as in used a spoon to eat it) chocolate chip cookie. Perfection.

We're back!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I know we did! We had a great time being with our families. On December 23rd Buford had his third birthday and we celebrated by giving him a doggie cupcake cookie and a little taste of his first beer since he was 21 in dog years.

Around the house

I just love being around our house at Christmastime! Here's a little peek at some of our decorations. This idea I stole from one of my friends, Molly. It's perfect for showing off the Christmas cards that we get!
And, one of the only reasons I love cold weather: building a fire! Buford seems to love the fire too!

A rant...

I grew up in Jackson, MS where I was oblivious to the life of a train. I can recall train tracks but the only importance of them was whether you lived on the good side of them or the bad side of them. I really just don't remember any trains actually being on the tracks. Anyway, since moving to Memphis I have become completely aware of the trains. I consider them to be incredibly annoying. When we first moved into our house I would wake every night to the far away sounds of the train whistle. Annoying. Oh, and what about the traffic jam that results from a train coming through? So annoying. For the longest I had this hypothesis that the train was only annoying because I always seemed to get caught by it when I was in a hurry (for those of you who know me I always seem to be in a hurry).

However, last week my hypothesis was disproved. I was off the Wednesday before Thanksgiving with nothing to do but make a pie. I got caught by the train on my way home from the grocery and nearly blew my lid. For TWELVE minutes I sat stuck in my car. I was not in a hurry, I had no where to be but I was furious. I wanted to ram the train with my car but figured I'd lose that battle. During my twelve minutes of hell I came to the conclusion that I just hate the train in general. I realized that there are some circumstances in which I hate the train more than others:

1. The phantom train-this is when the arms come down and the lights go off but no train comes through

2. The snail train-this usually occurs when two trains are trying to connect (why they choose the heart of the city to do this in is beyond me) and the train literally creeps along the tracks causing an incredible backup of traffic

3. The stopped train-this usually occurs in conjunction with #2 and it makes my blood boil

4. The rush hour train-seriously I think the trains come through at noon and five o'clock just to be hateful

5. The back-to-back trains-what happens here is that one train has come and gone, and those of us stuck in traffic think that we're home free, traffic begins to flow again, and before you know it *WHAM* the arms come down again and another train comes through. Stuck again.

Now, think about this...a #2, #4, and #5 train combo and I'm in need of anger management classes. It's happened and unfortunately I've been a part of it. So while this may be a boring post to some, you other train-haters out there just might appreciate it!