TRICIA TALKS

Tickle Your Fancy is one of our Themes. Since The Reading Cafe is a place we can all hang out, while we drink our coffee or sip our margaritas, the talk of everything books can lead to funny stuff when we are having fun. Since this feature has been so much fun, We asked Tricia to find some time to talk to us again.

When Barb approached me with the idea of resurrecting the Tricia Talks column, I was worried.  What am I going to write about?  What should I focus on?  Well you know what?  I’m just going to ramble.  For those of you who know me, rambling is as normal as breathing.  Y’all are so lucky! 

It’s been a year that’s all I can say.  WHEW WHAT A YEAR!  On a personal level, things have gone great.  A few minor ups and downs, but nothing to really complain about.  I could complain, don’t get me wrong, but I’ll spare you the boredom.  Let me think…..what was special about this year?  Hmmmmm. I really didn’t have anything major happen, my family is healthy, I have a lot of blessings to be thankful for.  My son is 13.  I officially am the owner of a teenager.  A teenager that is a boy.  His voiced changed one day.  One morning, after staggering to the coffeepot and fumbling around to make my first cup of happiness, I’m startled by this MAN’S voice behind me that says, “good morning mom.”  GASP!  That’s my little boy speaking to me.  I managed to shove my heart back into my chest to tell my sweet boy good morning.  Don’t care how big he gets, he will always be my little boy.  And I’m the type of mom that will remind him of that when he’s surrounded by his stinky teenage friends. 

I FOUND PINTEREST!  Pinterest and I have a love/hate relationship.  Thanks to Pinterest I am cooking up a storm, making all kinds of great breakfast meals, dinners and desserts.  Well with Pinterest making me such a great cook, my rear is spreading.  Pinterest is making me fat, dang it.  I blame Pinterest.  So many recipes packed full of melted cheese and gooey deliciousness, I have to cook them all.  I need a 12 step program to cure my addiction to Pinterest.  It’s ridonkulous.  I have pinned hundreds of recipes.  I can make you any and every kind of pasta dish or bake you 10 varieties of oatmeal.  Plus I’ve pinned tons of useful household tips. I am now armed with tons of facts that’ll I’ll never use again, how to clean with dryer sheets as scrubbers, making my own laundry detergent, make my own coffee creamer.  Great ideas for the do it yourself gal.  I’m a buy it at Walmart already made kind of girl.  But I still save all of the tidbits of info, just in case.  Maybe one day there will be a Pinterest game show and I’ll win tons of money.  Don’t laugh, it could happen.

I went to Las Vegas this year!  Little ole southern me hopped on a plane and jetted over to Las Vegas for a week on vacation.  Let me just say WOW.  First, let’s talk about heat.  Now remember, I’m in Mississippi, about an hour north of New Orleans.  We have heat and humidity, temperatures over 100 in the summer months.  I know what heat is.  People kept saying “Oh, it’s a DRY heat in Las Vegas.  It’s not that hot.”  Let me define dry heat.  “Dry heat” is like standing on the sun.  I was sweating in places that I didn’t even know existed.  Oh yeah, it’s a dry heat.  I love that baking like a rotisserie chicken in an oven, dry heat feeling.  NOT!  The only good thing about the hotter than hades dry heat, is there was no humidity which meant my curly hair was looking awesome.  But my great hair days were defeated by the puddle of dripping sweat that followed me everywhere I went.  Besides the heat though, I had a wonderful time, it was a vacation of a lifetime.  Beautiful city, gorgeous sights.  I have some beautiful pictures and memories that will last forever.

The holidays are approaching!  For Christmas this year, I bought my son a gaming desktop computer.  I gave it to him early because I didn’t want to make him wait.  I’m impatient like that.  Plus his computer had died and he needed a new one for school stuff too, which justified his early Christmas present.  Logical thinking at its best!  Well anywho…….  Brand new computer out the box, should be easy to get up and running, right?  Um, NO.  Things never go smoothly for me.  When I bought the desktop, I did not buy a new monitor.  Our existing one was in great shape, why waste the money?  Haha, the computer gods laughed and laughed at me for that idea.  My sweet boy is all excited, waiting for his desktop to be put together.  All is going smoothly until I try to plug in the monitor to the computer.  I was almost done, things had gone great up till that moment.  The brand new computer didn’t have a plug that my monitor cable would fit in.  There were USB plugs, DVI plugs, HDMI plugs, ear plugs, microphone plugs, speaker plugs, you get the point.  No VGA plug, which is what my antique monitor has.  ROAR!!!!  I dash off to Walmart to get an adapter.  The Walmart guy tells me they do not have an adapter for what I need.  He kindly suggests for me to just buy a TV, which will work great.  Or I can buy a new monitor, but he recommends the TV.  Ok, thanks Walmart dude for the advice.  I buy a new monitor.  Dash back home, where my sweet boy’s face is waiting patiently for his new toy.  Unpack the monitor and what does it have???  A VGA plug, just like my old monitor.  CURSE YOU COMPUTER GODS!  I will not be defeated!  I jump into my super mom mobile and go to Radio Shack looking for an adapter.  Radio Shack dude says nope, they don’t have one either.  I explained how I bought a brand new monitor and it also has the stupid old fashioned VGA plug.  He says, just get a TV screen, it’s cheaper and the picture will be better.  Well apparently Walmart dude and Radio Shack dude must’ve talked before I got there.  I kicked Radio Shack dude in the shins and stomped off to Walmart to buy the TV that I should’ve purchased the first time.  I also purchased an HDMI cable while I was there because I figured with my luck, the TV wouldn’t come with the proper cable.  HAHAHAHA, can’t fool me computer gods, I was right!  No cable in the box, but I was prepared with my HDMI extra purchase.  Get ready to hook up the TV, which is the last crucial piece before the computer is ready, and the cable is about an inch too short.  Really?  REALLY?  Two stacks of computer paper under the desktop later, I made the cable reach until I could get a longer cable.  My son was thrilled.  I defeated the computer gods.  Super mom wins again, although super mom was exhausted after that little adventure.

To wrap up my rambles, I would like to wish all of you a blessed and wonderful Holiday season!  May you and your families be happy and healthy!  Until next time, happy reading!