Troubles McSteans

Tuesday morning I piled the dogs in the car to take them down to Happy Hills Puppy Farm (aka, my parents' half acre of backyard in San Marcos). The dogs love it there and it was great to see Lucy leaping over their decorative wall in pursuit of tennis balls and random woodland creatures. Tuesday was a lovely 72°, so Mel spent some time flipping around on his back, attempting to maximize sun exposure to his tummy. I'll have to start taking them down there more often. My mom and I had plans to see the 12:00 show of "The Secret Life of Bees" since we both liked the book and were curious, despite mediocre reviews, about the movie. I was slightly shocked to see my dad heading to the car with us for such a girly movie, but then realized that's just how bored he is already. He's only been retired since September. This is not a good sign. Someone made a crack about there not being any tickets available as we turned into the deserted theater parking lot, but we

My friend Rebecca made a return appearance in Austin this week, changing her travel plans to spend the last three days of her trip here instead of in Houston. I was thrilled she decided to come back as I rarely get to see her. She was the closest thing I had to a sister growing up (I have one brother and she has three) and it was wonderful to get reacquainted. Rebecca's mom, Dr. Kinslow, drove down from Oklahoma and the three of us, plus my mom, went shopping at the San Marcos outlet mall on Thursday. The trip harkened back to our annual back to school outings when the four of us would pile in the Kinslow's van and venture north to the malls of Oklahoma City to buy Guess overalls and Outback Red shirts. We were stylin'. Thursday we failed to purchase any Guess gear, but Rebecca and I did duck into the Converse store. Good times. Anyway, it was great having Rebecca and her mom here and I hope we can continue doing a better job of keeping in touch. Yesterday we had som