intro music

Tonight on The Adventures of Club Amaro's "Behind the Music"...


He was a long way from home with a Macbook full of banjo and harmonica tracks. She was a Johnny Cash lovin' 2nd grader from the other side of town. Together, they are Uncle Steve and Little Bita.

In 2008 in a dingy San Diego hotel room, "Lemon Cake String" came to life.   The success of the single came much too fast for these two.   In this TACA  exclusive, we go behind the music and bring you the story of Uncle Steve and Little Bita.

Actually, the story has yet to be written....and I'm much too excited about their sophomore project "A Bita Merry Christmas"

Uncle Steve threw down the banjo and harmonica tracks before Little Bita came into the studio.   Little Bita laid down her vocals like a pro.   There is even a guest appearance by El Padre de Bita.    Everything is arranged, mixed down and whatever other technical phrases there are to be done by Uncle Steve himself.

Please....sit back and enjoy this medley of tunes by clicking HERE

And thank you for tuning into this edition of TACA's Behind the Music

The day after Thanksgiving Club Amaro had the privilege of accompanying some of my gun-totin' family members to the Ouachita Parish Sheriff Department shooting range. The range was actually closed for the day, so we had the whole place to ourselves.

Are you wondering what our experience is with guns? Let me break it down for you...full disclosure style. I think that about 23 years ago, I shot a rifle twice, but I've seen alot of episodes of Bonanza. So I felt like I was well qualified to pop off a few rounds. Mike of course has had many a "boys day out" shooting guns with my Stepdad, Randy (aka GPP)...he knows his way around a gun. Abby showed interest in shooting after finding out that 3 of her cousins have shot guns (and 2 own their own).

Let me explain our safety detail, lest you think that we just showed up with some guns and ammo and started having a wild shoot-out. My cousin Stan is an ex-Marine and Lieutenant with the Sheriff's department and has plenty of experience with guns. Two of his 3 (soon to be 4) children know how to shoot guns and his oldest has his own rifle. My other cousin Jeremy (owner of Moore Landscaping for all your landscaping, lawn care and irrigation needs) has had and shot guns for many years. Not only do I trust them because they are my family, but they know what they are doing and they practice safe gun totin' and shootin'.

That said, we had a GREAT time...we shot a Glock .45, .40, 9mm, and an M4 (M-16)



Personally, I was way into the gun shooting... Once you realize the power that is behind the trigger, you have a new respect for guns. I think the 9mm was my favorite hand gun...but my most favorite was the M4. I felt like G.I. Joe for a few minutes. The .45 was too much for me...I popped that off a few times and handed it over. Too much power for this girl.



Abby got a very safe and slow introduction to a .22 pistol from Jeremy. He had his hand on her hand, but let her pull the trigger. She shot the gun twice and then decided to stop. The shell hit her on the way out and it scared her a bit, I think. I sat with her for awhile and made sure that she was ok. After awhile, she wanted to shoot again. At that point, we had already started packing up shop - she was visibly disappointed. "Maybe next year" I said.



After our time at the range, Stan took us through the obstacle course the officers use for training. The kids had a blast climbing up ropes and jumping over the fences. We also got to see the gym where the officers work out - very nice facilities.

A quick shout out to Stan and Jeremy for helping us to experience guns safely. We had a great time and hope to do it again soon! And anyone who is looking for Christmas gift giving ideas for me....I hear there are some good sales going on M4's if you know where to look.

just exercising my

For the past few days, we've had the privilege of hosting my cousin Ashley, and her family here at Club Amaro. Ashley was a participant in the Nashville Country Music 1/2 Marathon on Saturday morning (she did really great, too!).

Now, I don't know about you folks, but I get all confused when I have to start thinking about the correct familial relationship between Abby and the kids of my all my cousins. First? Second? Who knows? Who cares. We just call 'em all cousins. And Abby had an absolute BLAST with them!


What is this they are standing on you ask? That is the Club Amaro PLAY STRUCTURE (or if you are so inclined, "swing set"). Why have you not seen any pictures of my daughter playing on it before? Up till now, she's not been a fan of the structure. For whatever reason: it's not safe, it's dirty, it's wet, there's a bug on it...whatever. I figured eventually I'm going to have to sink a little money into the thing to bring it up to Abby specs.

But guess what happened? Other kids came and played on it without hesitation. And had fun even. Proof:





So the Club Amaro play structure has been kid approved, although it still needs a bit of tuning up. One more thing for the never ending list of home improvements.

In addition to sweaty and smelly kid activity, we had prissy, girly dress up activity as well. Ashley bought some matching dresses for the girls at the Walmarts, which they immediately paired up with high heels from the Imelda Marcos dress up shoe collection in Abby's closet. Get a load of the ankle action. And here I thought you had to go to a special school to know how to do that.

The kids had a great time playing together...and posing for pictures, too! Here are some shots from a local park in town:









I even managed to take pictures of the adults! Here, my cousin and her husband take a moment to pose for the pesky photographer. I know you would all agree with me when I say Ashely looks great for just having run 13.1 miles just a few hours before! What can I say...good looks run in our family. HA!


We were disappointed to see them leave, but surely enjoyed our time together! Thanks again for coming to visit us you guys!

By the way - this is completely unrelated. But I must broadcast the fact that I hate crane flies. I am SO not a fan of them...and if they completely disappeared from the face of the earth, I would be a much happier person. It's not too much to ask is it?

Yo.

The Reb has been workin' overtime...capturing all the haps here at Club Amaro. First of all, I'm handing out kudos to Canon for making the absolute best camera battery on the face of the earth. I have not had to charge the battery yet and I'm running this thing like Walter Payton just broke through a tackle and has 90 clear yards ahead. It's amazing. Now since I said that it's going to run out on my next shot, watch.

Anyway - got a few things to bring you up to speed on...so gather 'round.

BIRTHDAY.

First of all, we had a very special occasion here last night - the celebration of GPP's birthday. His real bday is on St. Patricks, so he always has green cupcakes. We certainly did not want to be accused of breaking tradition, so Abby and I got the Yellow & Blue food coloring out and had a little meeting with Betty Crocker.

We wanted to make them extra-special so I decided to try putting a little globule of marshmallows in the center (you know, hoping to create some kind of twinkie filling action). Well, it didn't really work but we did have a fun surprise instead.
The mallows kind of crept back up to the top during cooking and created a crispy little topping that was fabulouso (so I was told - I did not partake!). Most important, Grandpapa enjoyed his cupcake...and birthday gifts which included a homemade treasure box that Abby made.


After the festivities, it was time for a favorite pastime...coloring.



BIRDWATCHIN'

Abby is a fan of birds. She even has her own Bird book, which Aunt Jan gave to her way back when (Aunt Jan is a bird fan herself...). She also has a set of binoculars. This morning while GMama was in the beauty chamber getting ready, Abby was reading to her about the types of birds from her book. Later on, Abby took the binoculars outside to do some watching. We spotted a Robin's nest on the Oak tree in our front yard...YAY! It's a hefty nest too. We are hoping that Mike & GPapa will be able to put our bluebird house up in the next few days...that will give us even more birds to watch.





I thought the picture above would have been much cooler had there not been a big ol honken motor home in the background...maybe I'll have to do a little Photoshoppin' on it.

Oakie Riggin
The man-zone (aka the garage, aka the shop, aka "out there") has been seeing serious action since Gpapa arrived. Because we have a good bit of leftover debris in our backyard from the marathon pruning event that happened last time he was here, Gpapa decided to fashion something for Mike's truck that would allow him to transport more than the standard truck bed. I'm sorry that was such a long sentence...I'll give you a minute to catch your breath. Ok. So Gpapa went to work on what is now affectionately being referred to as the Oakie Camper.



This thing is a work of art...and I'm normally not the carpentry-appreciating type.



It comes apart in pieces - easy to put up, easy to take down.



Impressive...and, it can double as an Oakie tent, too.

Well...this is just too much information. I hope you've been able to take it all in. I'm going to go take a nap in the Oakie tent.

Oakie love,
k

Do you like games? I got one for ya...

Try and guess what could possibly be going on with this hair.



Perhaps the concentration level inside this brain is so intense, so fervid, that it's causing the hair to take on a new shape. Perhaps scientists would want to study this phenomenon.



Maybe I found a feature on The Reb that creates wild and crazy hair. Maybe I used my CVS bucks to get some free hairspray and styled it this way.



Maybe there's some Bill Bixby/Incredible Hulk kind of thing going on where the hair can't control itself and starts wigging out.





Or maybe...





Perhaps...





She's doing this:



Did you guess right?? I used the "continuous shoot" mode on The Reb to capture 143 shots of Abby jumping (in the span of a few minutes) while Gmama & Mike turned the rope.

And, FYI...they did not sing, "Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack...all dressed in black, black, black"

Can I tell you that I did NOT enjoy looking at them so much. Do you know what jumping does to your face when the force of your body hits the ground? As my friend Kathryn would say, "it ain't pretty, kitty". I mean, c'mon...Abby is a cute kid...I can't imagine what some of US would look like jumping rope.

YIKES.

Let us get that scary thought out of our mind by looking at this:



Ahhhh....much better.

Tonight we took Grandaddy to Millers Grocery for dinner and dancing. Well, of the 4 of us, there was only once who was cuttin' any rugs. Just for you, cuz I love ya...I put a little video together that features some of that fantastic five year old footwork. ENJOY!


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

The bluegrass trio playing at Miller's tonight was called "The Howling Brothers". We really enjoyed them. For more information, check them out at their website.

Those of you viewing from email or by feed, you will most likely need to go here and view the video directly from the site.

SECRET MESSAGE: Bash Flenark

The Feed Burner stats haven't shown any dip in readership, so I guess I don't have too much damage control to do after that last post. But God bless you if you're still reading anyway...



So yeah, this is that standard issue, late October "I took my kid to the pumpkin patch and here's all the pictures of us pumpkin carving in the afternoon", dried ears of corn kind of post. C'mon, you know you've got that kind of post...

Tuesday morning Mike, Uncle Steve and Grandaddy hopped in the car and drove out to Gentry's Farm in Franklin to meet a busload of kids from Abby's school. They spent a chunk of the day there doing various activities (one of which included feeding some pumpkins to the cows! did you know that cows ate pumpkins?) then got to eat lunch and even take a pumpkin home. The only unfortunate incident of the day involved a group of wild young animals attacking Uncle Steve. He was able to escape with only minor injuries.

Although we had to say adios to Uncle Steve on Wednesday morning, the Grandaddy visitation is still in full swing here at the Club. We spent some time carving the pumpkins that they brought home from the farm and roasting the seeds (my favorite!). One of the pumpkins was a "knuckle head" pumpkin. That thing was so tough, I couldn't get my Cutco in there for nuthin'. So what's a girl to do?? GET YER DRILL, BABY! Oh yeah - I LOVE using the drill. It's just a really cool feeling to know that you can make holes in stuff. The knuckle head was no match for the DeWalt...I even busted out the big 1" drill bit too - it was awesome. Pumpkin was flying everywhere. I was a total drill rebel and did it sans protective eyeware, too. I finally got the top off that thing so we could fish out the seeds.

Another fun highlight for the week was Grandaddy's lunch date with Abby. Her school allows family members to come have lunch with the kids in the cafeteria. This was actually kind of a big deal for Abby because it was the first time that she got to eat the "cafeterion" food. She even used her own money from her piggy bank to finance the lunch.



That should just about do it for this post...

love & a fully charged DeWalt

k

SECRET MESSAGE: Here...smell my feet. These shoes do NOT make my feet smell!

Hey y'all...welcome back to another installment of the Adventures. I mentioned in my previous post that my brother Steve flew to town so we could all head down to Louisiana for a little familial reunion. The trip would be very short (Friday eve to Sunday morning), but it was on par to be a memory maker.

The destination: Mer Rouge, Louisiana home of "Duckapaloza" (aka, the Byrd Camp....aka Aunt Jan & Uncle Richards quarters on the Bayou).

The plan: Fish, Visit, Eat, Sleep, Not Shower - not necessarily in that order.



Ahhh...what a beautiful scene, yes? I took this picture around...oh, I'd say 8:30 or 9 in the morning. Nestled with a hot cup of joe, I sat on the deck in awe of the beauty that surrounded me. The colors of fall on the bayou coupled with the sound of birds and an occasional fish flapping on the water made me forget that I had just spent 10 hours in a minivan the day before.



It was just chilly enough to make me wonder why I sitting there in my pajamas, but the only one around to care was my husband who was just slightly more focused on baiting his hook. An occasional egret would fly past and break up the stillness of the scene...there was not an ounce of city life around to drown out my moment.



The only thing that had a chance of drawing me back up to the warmth of the camp was Aunt Jan's biscuits and sausage gravy. And they did not disappoint...at least not for awhile.

After brekkie and a quick change of clothes, I bopped on down to the deck to take up my day dreamy scene. Only this time as I was boppin' on down, my stomach started makin' a fuss. Oh yeah... Makin' a big fuss. The kinda fuss that don't end pretty. Like...thank goodness there was a bayou and a rail right in front of me kinda fuss. From that moment on - all day and into the night - it was coming out one end or the other. Look my people, I'm sorry for the graphic nature of my content, but you've got to be with me through the good times AND the bad.

If I had to pick a bright spot from it all, the "output" did seem to attract some good fishin'. My uncle caught a 10 inch catfish right after my initial re-view of the morning menu.

So I had to experience the fun while fading in and out of consciousness and from all the 2nd hand accounts and pictures. I actually did manage to make it out to a chair close by the window while all my family enjoyed s'mores by the bonfire. And, as everyone was leaving I did manage to keep a saltine cracker down and perk up just enough to watch my Dad, brother and husband try and peg each other with a marshmallow.

It's still a mystery what sort of bug I managed to get ahold of...nobody else at camp got sick and I ate the same thing that everyone else did for breakfast and dinner the night before (which in my opinion eliminates food poisoning).

Although most of my time was spent curled up on the bed or in a chair (wondering when my next visit to the rail was going to be), I still had a great time having all the family activity buzzing around me.

And, I can't let this post go without showing you the cutest Nana around...here's a picture of her (sans bottom teeth) with my Dad and bro:



Until the next time (which will hopefully not include any euphemisms of throwing up)...stay healthy and bug free.

love & sausage gravy (the 1st time around only),

k

SECRET MESSAGE: Chunk E. Moto

Hey y'all...

Hope you are enjoying your week...Club Amaro is ramped up for new adventures this weekend. We welcomed my brother, Steve to town yesterday by taking him to Jack's BBQ for dinner. Tomorrow, we are off to Mer Rouge,La. to hang out on the bayou at my Aunt & Uncle's camp (we call it a camp, but it's a house on the bayou...who came up with term "camp" anyway?). All my patriarchal kin will be there...should be fun! And...as a bonus, we get to bring Grandaddy back to Middle Tennessee! Stay tuned for pics...

Just a quick shout out to my amiga Julie over at The Land of Lost Luggage who is featured in the latest issues of Artful Blogging Magazine. I knew that I was in the presence of greatness 20+ years ago when we were goofing off during Ed's Photography class in high school. Congrats, Julie. If you get a chance, check out her blog as well as her mixed media artwork displayed throughout the site. Muy bien hecho, Julia!

And last - but certainly not least - the biggest shout out is to my boyfriend, Mike. Today is our 9th wedding anniversary! Who knew that December eve 13 years ago would turn into such a fun ride. He is definitely the comic relief section of Club Amaro...his humor and personality are always fun to be around. He is an excellent husband, provider, father and friend...he is a strong spiritual leader in our home yet he is humble in his position. I am so thankful for him. Happy Anniversary sweet man!! Looking forward to many, many more years.

Enjoy your weekend and stay out of trouble, youse!

love & a clean rib bone,

k

SECRET MESSAGE: Happy Anniversary!

Today my Mom turns 60. She is one fabulous woman and I thought if y'all didn't mind I would tell you a little about her. First of all, I have to say, she is lookin' good for 60. I hope it's in the genes if you know what I mean. But, beauty is only the tip of the ice berg.

My mom is incredibly talented. She is very crafty, she can sew and embroider, scrapbook and bead and create a beautful garden. Her home is cozy and inviting because she has created it to be. She has an eye for detail and wonderful vision, she can see potential in things that most people can't.

If you need encouragement, don't bother looking anywhere else - my Mom is the gal. She is the best cheerleader around. Sometimes, you don't even know you need it and sometimes you don't want it...but, she's sensitive to give it in the right dose.

My mom is also very smart, organized and a top notch planner and researcher. She most always has just the right way with her words. She can negotiate white off rice.

She's a wonderful cook (even though she has to read every single word of the recipe fifty times, much to the shigrin of that recipe rebel daughter of hers). Her black eyed peas should win an award...and don't get me started about Thanksgiving dinner. Uh!

Anything she can, she will make special...everything from Christmas morning to the first day of school. My brother and I could make a list a mile long of many things that had that extra special "Mom" touch to it.

She's an excellent listener and a good sounding board. She is able to see the positive in things and will be the first to tell you, "Cut the negs!". She is not above receiving advice from her daughter...and sometimes she even asks for it :)

The woman knows how to do laundry...seriously. You think you know laundry, but you have no idea.

She has cool handwriting.

She is an awesome Grandmama.

She loves my husband and could take up 2 hours saying all the things she likes about him.

She finds fun in things that most people ignore.

She's got a great sense of humor.

She will kick your butt in Scrable and then cheer you up afterwards (I still have the score sheet from when I beat her that ONE TIME).

She is the original bargain huntress...she will find a deal where there is no deal.

She is a beautiful sister in Christ, and I will always treasure her.

Happy Birthday, Momma - I love you!!

the cub.

SECRET MESSAGE: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

We survived the "phase in" day for Kindergarten...looking forward to the first official day of school on Monday. I did great on my drop off and pick up, although I had help from Gdaddy (and there were only about 1/3 of the kids there).

I have to share a little moon funny...the night before her phase in day, we were all sitting at the table eating dinner. I asked Abby, "So Abby, what would you like to wear tomorrow to school?" She didn't skip a beat as she responded, "Sumthin' cute".

She is my child, really she is.

I'm so excited about her school...after attending the "Kindergarten" room meeting w/ her teacher, I am thrilled about the stuff she'll be learning and the way that they will present it. I'm sure there will be lots of fun material for future posts.

Gdaddy snaps his camera ALOT more than I do these days, so there are tons of new pics to view. Please visit the Dropshots page to see them...here are some links if you're feeling like you want to pick-n-choose:

• Legos/Logs and Date with Grandaddy @ Discovery Center
• PHASE IN DAY of Kindergarten!
• Grandaddy Visits, Abby's Haircut at the Big Girl Salon
• Swimming Lessons!

We have a weekend ahead showing Gdaddy the sights of Middle Tennessee, then will say goodbye to him after the "drop off" on Monday. On Tuesday, we have the big "closing"...a real answer to prayer there is that all the numbers have gone done (as they usually do) from what was originally sketched out. We feel very blessed and know that God has special plans for us in this house. Looking forward to posting more adventures about that too!

Enjoy your weekend everyone...hope you'll be wearin' sumthin' cute!!

hugs & kisses,
k

Just a quick Adventure update: Grandaddy is here! For those of you that know, for every year of Abby's life, Grandaddy visited pretty much every 3 weeks. Working for the airlines allows such priveledges as flying for free. So Gdaddy would fly up first thing in the morning on his 1st day off, then leave in the afternoon on his 2nd day off. You would be surprised how much fun those two could pack into a thrity hour period of time! Well, we've missed about 7 or 8 of those 3 week visits since we left our road-trip pit stop in San Diego.

Gdaddy arrived on Monday evening after flying ALL OVER the US ALL DAY long!! Ok, well he never made it over to the east coast, but he did see more than a few airports. He went from San Diego to Denver - missed a few flights there so took a detour to Chicago where he caught another flight to Nashville. When Abby saw him come down the elevator in the airport, she ran across the room and jumped into his arms. I'm guessing at that point, Gdaddy forgot that he had been flying all day long and was happy to see us.

Much fun ahead on the horizon! Abby starts school TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tomorrow, people. Although it's a "phase in" day, which means that she only goes half day...she will have Friday off and then start her full schedule on Monday. She will be in school 6 1/2 hours a day! I am in shock-e-arlo.

Lastly, we close in 6 days...the whole process has gone so incredibly smooth that it's hard to believe it's actually happening. We already have another visitor scheduled for September (my gal-pal Kathryn...YAY!!!) - she'll get to break in the new deluxe visitor accomodations at Club Amaro (unless anyone else wants to come before that - the reservation book is wide open).

Although the house is completly move-in ready, there are plenty of projects to do around the house that will keep us busy for awhile. We look forward to posting pictures and keeping y'all updated.

Another little tid-bit of information that I didn't disclose before - we will be living right down the street (literally - we share the same street name!) from B, M and the kids!! They bought a foreclosure (of the worst kind!)...and have been working on it now for a week or so. It's been an incredible sight to see the transformation happening. This picture to the left is of a SNAKE SKIN....snake skin, people. That is just a small taste of the animal population that called this home their own. Anyway - while B & M are getting their house in order, we will be moving in to ours. A school carpool situation straight from God himself :)


love & down payments, prepaids and closing costs,
k