Howdy, Pardners

Look who's come to live with me! I found her in Dallas and just knew she belonged in my guest room. I love that coy little look, and the colors are divine. Sigh ... Welcome home, lil cowgirl.

In other (hopefully more interesting? entertaining?) news, I was cray-zee busy last week with the big GGMS gala, which was a huge success Friday night. Those hippies can really throw down some cash, y'all. Which means that los ninos will soon be enjoying a brand new, totally tricked out playground, and one kind soul will be relaxing in the two porch chairs I supervised the painting of for the last month. Peach's class did an excellent job, and the chairs fetched $900 - of course, it coulda been the booze and the late hour of the auction, but whatever. They were cute.

Wednesday was Peach's much belated and anticipated "birthday circle" at school. The birthday kid sits in the middle of the circle, on a footstool, and then the rest of the kids "fill their hearts with love and give accolades to the honoree." First, the birthday kid gets to light a big candle while the others sing, and in her excitement, Peach blew on the candle so hard, the wax splattered all over her face. Thank God for the glasses. OK, so it was really just little bits here and there, and she shook it off and took her place on the footstool. Which she immediately fell off of. SO her mother's daughter. Again, it was a footstool, not a real sitting stool, and, again, this was the MUCH anticipated birthday circle. So shit happens. And I caught the whole show on video.

The kids were so adorable and so earnest in their accolades, it was really fun to see. Apparently, Peach is good friend, a willing helper, and the first to respond anytime someone is injured. Also, she is funny and "always full of smiles." Several of the older kids told her that "seven is a really great age," and the teachers both commented on her love of learning and wonderful spirit. Even Olive piped up with, "Happy Birthday, Peach. I hope you have a great big sister. Happy Birthday."

I spent the better part of yesterday down for the count - not exactly the brew flu, just a nice dull pain in the old tum-tum - so I caught up on my stories on the television while T-Bone wrangled the children. Today the weather is faboo, so I'm on the mend and off to weed, weed, and weed some more. After tossing around about 8 lbs of bluebonnet seeds from my grandmother's garden last year, we may actually have a few blooming here in a bit. And with any luck, we'll have a new (and final!) flower bed up front and a lovely lacebark elm to complete the tableau. Doncha just love spring?