Day 124- I Would Have Gotten Away With It Too...

Howdy!

 I've been at camp for a week now and I still have a week of awesomeness left. 

Hopefully I'm doing better than this dude!

Memory #124

              To continue my web of illness and emergency room visits I would definitely need to include my string of hoax sickness that may or may not have happened in second grade...during a specific class. I attended Naumann elementary when I was in second grade and it was also the third school I had been to thus far. I was once again the new kid, which wasn't a big deal because I was kind of use to it at that point. Anyways within a month of me getting acclimated to the new school and whatnot my mom started receiving phone calls from the school's nurse saying that I didn't feel good and that I was requesting to go home. At first my mom was sympathetic and accepted my requests. Until they kept happening more and more frequently. She also started noticing the  time of every phone call. My mom slowly pieced together the situation that was going down. She noticed that after she did pick me up I suddenly became better and that the nurse called the same time every day. 

           My mom foiled my plans, she realized quickly that I was trying to get out of math class by faking ailment. It got to the point that whenever the nurse called my mom would just ask, "Is she in math class?" and if the nurse said yes my mom would tell the nurse to let me go back to class. Man she was a smart lady. The nurse visits didn't stop though, my mom was starting to get concerned. One day after school my mom picked me up and took me to get a frosty from wendy's, which is my favorite in case you were wondering, and asked me why I was trying to skip math all of the time. When I wouldn't immediately answer she asked me if I wanted to get a tutor. I wasn't exactly sure but my mom went out the next day to find me a tutor so that I could feel more confident in math class and I eventually did, thanks to my mom. 

Love always,

Erin

Day 123- I'm Not the Only Clumsy One I Swear

Howdy!

Still out adventuring! Have yourself an adventure too!

Memory #123

              So if you think my mom ever took on the role as mama bear with me you have not seen her when Sambo got hurt. Sam was definitely my mom's baby boy. This one time Sam and I were goofing off in the game room playing some game or watching television, I don't know but we had these bean bag chairs that we were sitting in. These bean bag chairs were pressed up against our coffee table, so that we could lean on them but be propped up so that we could see the TV. (What a kid thing to do) So there we are goofing off upstairs when Sam starts getting up and then throwing himself at the bean bag chair and we were both laughing as if this was the funniest thing that could ever have happened. I was still laughing so Sam took that as a sign to continue throwing himself at the bean bag chair but this particular time the bean bag chair slipped out from underneath him and he ended up smacking the back of his head on the coffee table. I screamed, he screamed especially when blood started to appear. You better believe my parents were racing upstairs. My mom immediately ran to my brother, full of panic and full of that mother instinct. I remember that when Sam came back with staples in his head my mom informed me of Sam's super cool status because he now had metal keeping his head together. Which I instantly believed and then I was jealous that I didn't have staples in my head, which is a really weird thing to be jealous about...

Love always,

Erin

Day 122- Mommy daughter outing?

Howdy!

Just because I enjoy Rumi quotes and well its camp inspired?

Memory #122

               This is next story does not involve broken bones but it does involve a certain somebody by the name of Erin Langford taking a trip to the ER by her frantic and loving mother. This story is actually from my junior year I believe. It was a late Thursday night when I was plagued by a fever and pain in my lower abdomen. As a paranoid child with access to WebMD I immediately thought it was possibly appendicitis. My mother, who was much more level headed than myself, brushed it off and told me to take an Advil. Three hours later I was still in pain, so my mother decided to take action and took me to the ER. Where we had to wait forever, so we sat there making jokes about what ailment I was possibly dying of, we had a real grave sense of humor in case you haven't noticed. After a while the doctor came to see us and started doing the usual poking and prodding to figure out what was up with me. We immediately ruled out appendicitis so the doctor suggested a CAT Scan. Which lead my mom to post this picture...

This is just a reminder of my mom's silliness. In case you forgot about it. We were going a little stir crazy as well because we had been at the hospital for four hours. After the CAT scan was done the doctor told us that I had a gall bladder infection...hurray! Since it was 5 am by the time we got back and I was on heavy duty meds my mom was nice enough to let me skip the next day...and the day after that and then some to recuperate. 

Love always,

Erin

Day 121- This Little Piggy was Purple

Howdy!

Memory #121

         Continuing on from my toe story, after I was finally whisked away to the hospital the doctors taped my pinky toe together with its neighboring toe. You know...because it was at an irregular angle from my foot. After I got my toe taken care of the doctors told us that we would have to come back to see how my pinky toe was doing/get them re-taped or whatever. So after a month or two of hobbling around on a icky hospital type of sensible shoe to help with the healing, my mom took me back to the doctor to see if my toe was any better. When we got there they peeled off the tape on my toes something wasn't right. The doctor left the room and I started getting nervous. "What do you think is wrong?" I innocently asked my mother to which my mother responded in a grave tone, "I didn't want to have to tell you but they have to remove your toe completely." WITH A COMPLETELY STRAIGHT FACE. I BELIEVED HER. WHY WOULDN'T I?! So I sat there in despair and agony waiting for the doctors to come back so they could severe my toe. My mom waited 15 minutes to inform me that she was joking. I ALMOST CRIED. WHAT THE HECK MOM.

         So the doctors came in and informed us that it was a good thing we came in that day because if we had left the tape on any longer something would have happened to my toe. You see when they put the tape on, they put it on too tightly and consequently made my neighboring toe purple. SO I MIGHT HAVE HAD TO LOSE THAT TOE MOM IS IT FUNNY NOW?! Yes. Yes it is. 

Love always,

Erin

Day 120- Toes

Howdy!

Wouldn't that be nice?

Memory #120

            Writing memories in bulk is difficult and tedious, I apologize if they start getting skimpier and skimpier as the days progress. I will try my best not too! The next bone I broke was my pinky toe...at least this is the first time I broke my toe. I think I broke it when I was in fifth grade. Around this time my mom started getting involved in our neighborhoods Bunco group/also just really enjoying bunco in general. So this one time my mom decided to have a bunco party with basically all of my friend's moms and then I was allowed to have all of my friends over to have my own kind of party upstairs. My brother and father were to have a boys night out so as to escape all of the estrogen that was going down at our house. In my little party, that was being held in my room, there was about 12 different girls all different ages and all super hyped up on sugar and excitement since we were around other people. We decided to start playing typical girl party games, so basically we started playing truth and dare. (Duh) Anyways we were all pretty tamed at first, "Wear this hat and dance", "Run in my brother's room with said hat and dance again", and so on and so forth. On one of these fateful dares it got the whole group so pumped that we all had to race out of the room so that we could witness it. On our way out the door I got caught in the stampede of estrogen and tripped over someone's leg and did a little 360 turn action...which basically left my pink toe at a 90 degree angle from my other toes. (gross visual sorry)

           So I come hobbling down the stairs, surprisingly not howling, and found my mom, who instantly panicked. Luckily my father had come home, so of course he could take me to my hospital, right? Wrong. My father found no reason as to why I would need medical attention. Reminder that my pinky toe was at a 90 degree angle from my foot. So my dad made no jump to action. My mom came back to harass my father so that he would take me to the hospital. It was my mom's logic of, "How are we supposed to put shoes on our child tomorrow?" that my dad finally took me to the hospital. So thanks mom, without you I would have a weird toe still. (P.S. I love you dad but your immediate action should've been to whisk me away to the hospital just saying)

Love always,

Erin

Day 119- Nail Art

Howdy!

Is this picture not the cutest thing ever? 

Memory #119

             The next part of the fingernail saga...so my finger wasn't exactly broken but my finger turned purple. It was real gnarly looking. I had to keep my hand in a splint thing but it kept my finger on display. Most people would have been appalled by their finger's grossness but I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I remember I would show it to people all of the time and my mom got sooooooo embarrassed. I don't blame her. I'm still pretty embarrassing to be around. Anyways so there wasn't much anyone could do about my finger looking gross until the finger healed. Which happened in good time...but before it did my fingernail fell off. The whole thing. So like most normal people I threw away the nail and went on with my life and let my nail grow back, right? Wrong. My mother would have loved that, unfortunately she ended up with a super special child. 

  

          This girl came up with an even grosser way to embarrass her poor mother. Which was to obviously preserve the disgusting nail that had fallen off my finger in a plastic baggy and show it to everyone as if it was my most valuable and prized possession. My mother tried everything to get me to dispose of it, shopping sprees, candy, etc. but none of those things fazed me. I continued having my show and tell on the road. Then one day I woke up in horror to find that my precious nail was not where I had left it. Which I came to realize that my mom, after all her other efforts had been thwarted, snook into my room after I had fallen asleep and disposed of the nail herself. I actually never knew this until she told me when I was older and could handle the tragic reality of my nail's fate. 

Love always,

Erin

Day 118- Unlock the Car, Please

Howdy!

                  

Memory #118

                      Continuing on with the breaking bones (sounds like a television show lol) the next bone that I broke I believe was my finger? Maybe. Anyways this story is definitely a two parter type of story. One lovely Saturday when I was but a wee second grader my family had gotten invited to a birthday party of one of our family friends. I guess my father and brother drove in a separate car because I have no memory of them in this memory but anyways I remember driving up with my mom to this persons house. We both got out of the car and my mom started walking to the house. I don't remember how this next part happened but basically I got out of the car, closed the door and somehow I caught my finger in the door. It was another one of those moments where I hadn't instantly grasped the concept that my finger was in pain, so at first I just started at my finger in shock. Since my mom heard my door closed she locked her car and kept walking. Which is when I realized that my finger should not be shut in a car door, which is when I also started to panic. I reached to open the car door which was of course locked now. So I started screaming and my mom at first was annoyed to see the hold up, she then turned to look at me now confused. She eventually translated my panicked shrieks and unlocked the car door, rushing to my side.

            After we got my hand out of the door, we again rushed to the hospital. I don't think my finger was  completely broken but it definitely hurt and it was definitely not normal. Which is why I started teasing my mom that it was her fault that I got stuck in the car, because she locked me in with my finger still lodged in. My poor mother. Having to deal with a clumsy and dramatic child such as myself. I guess I made life interesting? Also I turned a nice Saturday where we were supposed to attend a party into a party at the ER all day. Sorry mom!

Love always,

Erom

      

Day 117-Please Sir, Can I Borrow Your Markers?

Howdy!


       I'm currently at training!! Woo! Hopefully I'm having a great time and not being awkward! That would be stupendous...Since I'm away at camp and have no access to wifi or computers these posts (hopefully) are on a schedule and should post for me while I'm away! Hope you're having a good weekend!

Memory #117

                          I'm going to start this camp theme with my very first broken bone story! Out of my entire family I am proud to say that I'm the only member who has ever broken a bone. Shocker? Probably not if you've ever met me. In fact I have officially broken three bones and unofficially broken my pinky toe about 10 times or more...but that will be for another day. This story is how I broke my arm. One nice and sunny day my mom sent me out to our background to play on my playground. I remember playing out there for at least an hour before I decided to practice the brand new craze that had been going around my kindergarten. What was this new craze? You know, walking down a slide...that's meant to be sat on...you know normal typical things. (Seriously where do kids come up with these things?!) So anyways there I am slowly walking down the slide, feeling all confident and cool (because what's cooler than walking down a slide? Nothing. duh) and then all of sudden I lost my balance and my body decided to test out gravity and slammed against the earth. 

        I remember at first just feeling shock and then the realization that my arm was hurting came so at first I just laid there and cried...and then I finally stood up to make my way to our back door but there was an obstacle...our deck's gate. Without the use of my right hand I couldn't open it, so I decided the best option was to just stand there and scream until my mother came to rescue me. When my mom came bursting out those door, relief flushed over me instantly. She quickly opened the gate and basically dragged me out to her car, no questions asked. I remember when they started the process of putting on my cast, I was dreading it but my mom got super pumped and started showing me all of the colors I could put on my cast (Because moms rock) we finally picked out a rainbow one because...why not? My mom was also the first one to sign me cast. Then came the next obstacle. School, especially since my right hand was constricted by a cast. I had a hard time opening markers and usually ended up opening them with my mouth which ultimately ended up with no one wanting to share their markers with me (Go figure, no one wants to share with the girl who bites their markers) I remember being really bummed out by this but one day I came home from school and my mom had bought me a brand new super deluxe pack of markers. Which is pretty exciting, especially for a kindergartner.

Love always,

Erin

Day 116- Start of Campness!

Howdy!

Well I'm officially off to camp! 

Memory #116

             Since I'm in a rush, as usual, here's a picture she took that represents her humor well!

These kind of photo shoots happened a lot with my mom lol

Love always,

Erin

Day 115-Last minute!

Howdy!

I definitely thought I already posted yesterday but I had not and now I'm rushed because I'm about to head out to go to camp training! AH! AH! I'm so nervous but really excited! So wish me luck and I hope you enjoy the posts for this next two weeks as I'm gone!

Memory #115

Since I'm running late, please enjoy this picture as a substitute

This picture came to my attention after my mom had passed away and it just really makes me happy. Its nice to have reminders of happy times even if you don't really remember the moment. I was about 5 when this picture was taken and I remember the trip but not a lot about it, just that it was fun! 

Love always,

Erin

Day 114-Yay, me!

Howdy!

           I'm currently pre-writing all of my blog posts for while I'm away at camp training! Let me tell you, it is a long and daunting task but I'm almost done and they should be pretty entertaining! Today I had the chance to have one last date with my gal pal, partner in crime, and second half Bailey Barton. I want to take this moment and brag about her because she is so stinkin awesome and I'm so so so blessed to have her in my life. Anyways she is the main reason I got inspired to go to camp and GAH I'm going to miss her as we both venture off into our different camps! Now on to your randomly scheduled memory!

Memory #114

      I mentioned once here I believe that when my mom get re diagnosed with breast cancer she also started getting more into trying to live a healthier lifestyle, primarily concerning with her eating habits.  One of the things that she started implementing and carrying out was her daily health shake. I don't remember what was in it but I believe it was a bunch of green type vegetables, protein and some awful tasting and looking vegetables. She would also include a scoop of peanut butter to reward herself for drinking that awful shake. Every morning she would make it for herself grimacing down at it, but with a lot of determination she would chug it down and triumphantly chant, "Yay me!" when she had successfully down the awful shake. 

             She used to tell me that she drank it so that she would be healthier, be able to fight the cancer and hang out with us some more (In her own words). This might seem like an insignificant story but to me it clearly reflects my mom's selfless and strength that she used daily to take on the daunting hurtle that is cancer. My mom knew how to celebrate the little things in life which is something I think we all stop doing until we are faced with hardships. This is your daily reminder to enjoy the little things in life before tragedy hits. 

Love always,

Erin

Day 113-Hunks

Howdy!

             Hope you're all having a great week! 

Memory #113

                   Today I was lurking the internet and I came across a bunch of funny twilight pictures, you know that silly vampire book and made-into-a-movie series? Anyways it got me thinking about my mom, odd right? Well there's a back story to why, I promise. I'll admit that when I was in middle school I read and liked the twilight series. Yup. Only because my best friend was really really really into the whole dark goth vampire thing and she really liked them...because now that I think about it I never handled twilight like I handle my other obsessions. Whatever I don't need to explain myself, I was young and dumb! Haha When my mom became a 5th grade teacher she decided to start reading some of the books her kids were reading to make sure they were appropriate/but also so that she could be cool and hip and so she ended up borrowing my books, shocker. Her opinion on them was much lower than that of my own, so I suppose we were the few during that time that wasn't all gaga for this silly love series. 

             Even though the book series, in our eyes, was kind of a bust when they came out saying that they were going to make them into movies we knew we had to see them. Why else do we read books anyways? (-MAJOR SARCASM, I PROMISE-) When the twilight movie premiered, all of my friends asked if I wanted to accompany them and I turned them down. Why? Because my mom and I had already made plans to see it together. Lets just say that the people around us did not care for our presence, since we were snickering and making immature jokes throughout the entire movie. (Typical) We thought we were so funny Probably cause we actually were. We ended up seeing the second movie together as well, this one we didn't see it on the premiere date (out of respect for the twihards) but we were dying to go see it because well...

         No shame. My 40 something mother was totally fine with being honest about her reasoning to go see this movie. I remember giggling as we sat in the Alamo draft house (Our favorite theater) waiting for Taylor Lautner (Shown above) to take off his shirt and when he finally did you better believe we were hootin. Haha! I know we saw the third movie together but I don't really recall anything about it, probably more obsession over the shirtless wonder here and making corny jokes. The fourth movie (The first half?) I remember seeing this movie right before it left theaters, in case you haven't seen this (Which if you haven't, don't. Go be a productive member of society) this is the movie with a super graphic birthing scene at the end. I remember that when this scene came up my mom and I became quite aware of the 10 year old girls in front of us, which made us even more uncomfortable that we were seeing the same movie as 10 year olds and we were being way more squirmy than they were. I guess we weren't mature enough to handle that beauty that is the twilight series....lol. The last movie came out in 2012...I believe but it was long after my mom had passed away so I ended up seeing it with my friends (Who rock) but it was kind of strange to not be able to finish out this silly little series with my mom.

Love always,

Erin

Day 112- The Dream Dog

Howdy!!

       I did something today!! Well I mean I didn't leave the house or anything but I did a lot in the house...that counts right? Yikes.The Camp countdown is now at four days until I leave for training! I have a lot I need to accomplish before then...like writing two weeks worth of posts for this blog! Lets do this thang.

Memory #112

                 Before we got my current pup, Sandy, my mom had talked about getting a Beagle. She absolutely adored Beagles, primarily because she had grown up beagles her entire life and thought they were just the best dog (Also they're stinking adorable). So my mother had become rather fixated on beagles for a while. So when her birthday rolled around I came up with the best birthday present idea ever (in my own mind). I think I was in elementary school around this time, so please keep that in mind ha. There was a phase where my cousin Sara and I were enthralled with Build-a-Bears. Seriously we were OBSESSED. Any chance that I got to go to Build-a-bear I definitely jumped on board. Which is why I have a tub of build-a-bear stuff under my bed. So I decided that the best present ever to get for my mom was a build-a-bear beagle. Instead of getting her an actual beagle because that would make sense. I guess I was pretty set on that idea because we ended up going through with it and bringing home Buster the stuffed beagle. 

          When we gave it to my mom she definitely appreciated the thought and loved it, but lets just say...I was way more excited about it and discreetly told my mom that I was taking Buster for a quick puppy play date with my other dog build-a-bears. She was very gracious and let me take it away, which humors me now. Leave it to me to take someone's birthday present within an hour of giving it to someone...Long story short I pretty much took the beagle build a bear to display with my other pups and my mom was nice enough to never question its whereabouts after that play date. Probably cause she knew I had it when I thought it was a secret that I had it. There must be some unspoken mom rule where you let your child believe that they are doing something secretive and unknown to your mother but in reality...THEY KNOW. Today I was cleaning up around the house and I found ol Buster still sitting among the other pups and it made me finally come to the realization that my mom knew all along that I'd kidnapped her birthday gift all of those years ago.

Love always,

Erin

Day 111-Pilates Queen

Howdy!


          I officially have all of my belongings out of College Station, whoop! Its been a long day of driving. Seriously. I'm exhausted but I'm glad I have it done so I don't have to worry about it anymore. Now I just have to worry about packing for camp! Just five more days until training!!! So excited and nervous all at the same time!

Memory #111

              

           When I was a senior in high school my mom decided to try and get more active, especially since she had been re-diagnosed with breast cancer. So after careful research and other failed endeavors in actives like step aerobics and  yoga, my mother came to discover Pilates. The next step was to find a Pilates studio in Cedar Park which was a fairly easy task since there was one literally down the street from our church. Then my mom decided that she didn't want to exercise alone, so who did she ask to be her Pilates partner in crime? Me. Duh. I wasn't all that thrilled to participate, I will admit, because I have rather long and awkward limbs and I don't like dealing with them. For my mom I agreed to do it. So I think it was like twice a week where I would have to drive to the Pilates studio straight after school to make our appointment at the studio. Did I also mention that we had a private mother daughter lesson? Cause we did. I can't decide if that made it better or worse. On the one hand I didn't have to endure embarrassment from being awkward but on the other since my mom was doing chemo and had to take it easy I got the blunt of the strictness from the instructor. Lawd. Pilates is real intense and has a whole heck of a bunch of strange machines to use.

          There were a lot of moments where during this intenseness of Pilates where my mom and I would share a "What the heck did we get ourselves into" look and giggle...uncomfortably. I'm pretty sure we only attempted Pilates under ten times but I remember that every time we finished a session my mom would have this triumphant look about her. There were only a few events that triggered that look during times of having cancer but those were the moments that made me think everything was going to be ok. Weird as it might sound, I kind of miss doing Pilates. 

Love always,

Erin

Day 110-Is Anyone Out There?!

Howdy!


          Well I would like to say that its been a productive Saturday but all I did was clean my car...I mean I guess that's pretty productive? I bet my car would agree...yikes on that note...Hope you're all having a great and slightly more productive Saturday than yours truly.

Memory #110

            I thought I'd give another story of my enduring paranoia that my poor parents had to deal with...a lot. When I was younger I had this incredible fear that if my parents left me at home either they would get kidnapped or I would get kidnapped, the only plausible way of staying safe in my mind was if we were all together under the same roof. This would be cute and all if I wan't like ten. My parents liked to go on walks all of the time....especially without Sam and I, which was detrimental to my plan of you know...not getting kidnapped. So I panicked every single time my parents left to walk around the neighborhood and pretty much would just sit by the phone waiting for them to return and if I felt they had been gone too long I would try calling their cell phone over and over until they picked up if they didn't I presumed that they were dead and would panic even more.  I'm super paranoid. 

            This paranoia got so bad that my mom eventually came up with a viable solution. Walkie Talkies. Yup. My mom bought heavy duty walkie talkies so that I could reach out to my parents when I thought they were out too long and the best part is that they couldn't ignore it because those things were so flippin loud. I feel like most parents would just tell their child to stop overreacting but instead my mom went out and got walkie talkies to appease me. She sure was one kooky lady Says the girl who had to get walkie talkies to talk to her parents while they were on a walk. 

Love always,

Erin

Day 109- Keep Yo Self Safe

Howdy!

        Memory #109

             I'm currently watching this show on Investigation Discovery called Web of Lies with my bru bru and the episode is basically about this girl who is Instant Messaging on aim (lol does that even exist even more?) and shoot I shouldn't say anything bad about this girl especially since I believe she experiences a tragic death...at the hands of the random strangers she talked to online and spoiler alert...she gives these 'boys' way too much information about her location...like her address. As a twenty something year old who watches way too many Criminal Minds/Law & Order SVU episodes and is super paranoid I find this incredibly hard to believe that a girl would do that. Then I realize. I was that girl. I mean I wasn't but I definitely got close to it. I remember when I was in 5th grade and my friends and I were addicted to this chat forum website. Like obsessed. I don't even want to talk about how much time I spent on that website because it's kind of embarrassing. Anyways at one point my friend and I got to talking to this girl who lived in another country and we decided that we knew each other well enough to be pen pals. How exciting? A 17 year old from I think Germany wanted to be MY pen pal. It was like a dream come true. 

          Until I told my mother. As soon as I told my mom the face she gave to me was not even close to being one of approval. Obviously it was the worst thing ever that could have happened and I stormed off to my room vowing to not talk to my mother as I told my super cool online friend and real friend that I couldn't participate in the pen pal fiesta. Later that night my mom slipped a paper clipped packet under my door. On top was a note from my mom, that I wish I had kept, and the rest was a story. Basically in the top note she told me how the internet isn't always what it seems. The story that she attached was about a girl who gave out her address and the person that the girl thought was a boy her age ended up being an old man that found her and killed her. Basically my mom gave me a love slap of reality. The rest of the note basically expressed how much she loved me and how she could never risk my safety. Which is funny (sort of) to me now. I guess that's why we need moms (and dads) to make us see the obvious until we can see it for ourselves. I might be super paranoid but hey better safe than sorry right?

Love always,

Erin

P.S.

I am also aware that I'm becoming my mother. And I'm totally ok with that.

Day 108-In that Moment I Swear We Were Rock Stars

Howdy!


        It has been yet another eventful day full of nothing for this college student. Whoops. I did shower though...so that's something. Right? I'm boring. And excruciatingly lazy.

Memory #108

         As I write this post I'm again snuggled up in my bed with my two animals (per usual) but from my bed I have a view of the guitar my mom bought for me a couple summers back. I remember when I was younger, in elementary school I believe, I really wanted to learn how to play guitar. So my mom bought me this guitar that was bright eccentric blue and I loved it. The only problem with it though was that it was huge. I mean I could put that sucker on my lap and not be able to see what I was doing because it so big. So it pretty much went to go live in the guest room closet because I never really said anything about it and my mom never really asked. Then my mom a couple years later decided she wanted to learn how to play guitar so she went out and bought herself a guitar and a crap ton of self taught books on how to play the guitar, along with a bunch of books of guitar songs. This phase sizzled out pretty quick and pretty soon her guitar was left sitting in its case tucked away in some random corner not to be disturbed, which is what usually happens in the Langford house haha. 

         When my mom got diagnosed with cancer she started wanting to do more things that she hadn't previously done. This included trying to really learn how to play the guitar so my mom and I decided to cash in our guitars and buy proper guitars. I remember bringing the guitar straight to my room and teaching myself to play three chords that night and getting so excited that I ran downstairs to show my mom. She got so excited that she also attempted to learn the three chords. We were absolutely terrible in switching from chord to chord but we did however nail the separate chords. It didn't really matter though we were having a hoot just playing the same chord over and over again and laughing as if we were three year olds.

Love always,

Erin

Day 107-Those Summer Walks

Howdy!


        Well today's weather is quite the juxtaposition from yesterday is it not? It is really a pretty day though a tad colder than I expected for a Texas May day but I ain't complaining. I love not stepping outside and immediately start dripping with sweat. What a concept. Maybe I'll even indulge in the great outdoors since the weather is so wonderful.

Memory #107

                

              If you haven't looked outside your window you totally should because even though its starting to get a tad bit windy, it is absolutely wonderful. Especially considering the gloomy stormy days that happened before hand. This is the kind of day that if you were a hiker you'd want to go hiking. Not that I or my family is really into hiking or whatever but my parents used to really like to go out walking especially when the neighborhood was still primarily under construction. During the first summer that we lived in my current house there was a whole heck of a lot of construction going on. There used to be this greenbelt type of thing that backed up to my neighborhood and in close walking distance from my house. During the summers my mom would spontaneously decide to go on a nature hike, as she called it. There were many a days that this would occur, where we would put on our tennis shoes grab a water bottle and set off for this green belt. If you went far enough on this trail it eventually led to this canyon with a water hole. I actually have no memory of what it looked like but really it probably wasn't that magical but my mom played it up and got enthusiastic about it so Sam and I were always super excited to go see it. Which was a pretty big deal considering that it was summer and we were always the kids that go into the "I'm bored" rut really quickly. 

        The sad thing now is that greenbelt is now private property to the golf course of the adjacent neighborhood. Or maybe it always has been and my mom was a law breaker...Wouldn't surprise me. Also totally worth it those little nature walks are totally ingrained in my mind. I definitely miss those summertime walks with my mom. 

Love always,

Erin

Day 106-Make Friends

Howdy!


          Meh I think summer is already getting to my head and its only been like three days really. Yikes. I did nothing of worth yesterday and it was superb but you think I would have actually posted yesterday but alas when I tried at the last second to post it my computer went to sleep and I was to tired and lazy to try to get it back on. Basically I'm just lazy and this is a mighty terrible excuse so I apologize for like the ten kajillionth time. Anyways (Does anyone else notice that I start a lot of sentences with either "Anyways" or "so" because I have become aware of it and now every time I type one of those words I erase the sentence and start over) ((Random fact of the day))...wait what was I saying...I literally have no idea...Well this has been nice hasn't it? This is literally the conversation that is going on in my head, in case you ever wondered how my brain works. Well enough of this rambling I have two memories to report on today.

Memory #106

          So (<-THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT) I'm currently home alone since Sam still has a couple weeks left of school and my Dad "has this thing called a job" (Direct annoying quote that my father likes to use a lot) ((what's up with the parenthesis' today?)), and well the cleaning lady came today to take on the daunting task of cleaning the house. I of course wanted to get out of the way so as soon as the clock turned to 11 I scuttled out through the backyard into my car and went to get food for my tummy. Maybe this is a weird connection but it kind of got me thinking about the times when I was in high school, more specifically high school choir (Ew). 

     During the last couple of weeks in high school my choir always had stupid long after school pointless rehearsals that usually went to the ungodly hour of 8:30. That is past dinner time folks. We had a lot of hangry people (Hangry- people that get angry when they're hungry i.e. my brother) because if you forgot to bring food you had no time to go grab food and most parents would not come back to the school just to bring food. (Which is totally understandable) But not my mom. No sure. She was a saint. She would text me before school let out asking me what I wanted to eat and then she would bring it to the school. I remember most of the time I would just send her to subway because I had a weird small obsession with subway (don't ask I don't quite understand it either). So when school was over I'd go out and meet my mom so we could make the exchange (My backpack for dinner, it was a great trade I know) This one time I remember my mom handing me my bagged dinner and adding, "I also bought you four cookies so that you can be the popular kid and have friends." Lawd that woman was sarcastic but was the popular kid so I can't complain. I swear my choir friends all thought my mom was the coolest. And to be fair, she absolutely was. 

Love always,

Erin

P.s.

I apologize for the crazed thoughts and obsessive parenthesis' used in the above post I'm running on little sleep and a ton of coffee. 

Day 105-Gettin Personal

Howdy!

        ITS RAINING! Whoop! There is nothing better than a long and heavy summer rain storm (in my personal opinion) So uh I'm snuggled up on my bed with my puppy (once again) and something super funny happened but instead of telling you what just happened to me I'm going to tell a similar memory that happened to my mom and see if you can guess what just happened to me! Enjoy the rain my friends.

Memory #105

       My dog, Sandy, loves to cuddle with people. Like a lot a lot. Today she literally went from one bed to another in hopes to find someone to snuggle up with. If you're crawling into bed you better expect Sandy to find you and snuggle. Which is why we usually found her in my mom's room because most of the time my mom was snuggled up in her bed with Sandy pressed up against her. When my mom was on chemotherapy one of the side effects of all of the treatments was that it made her a tad bit well...uhm gassy. Sometimes after a round of chemotherapy she'd come home and lay in bed and you would just hear her fart and then laugh to herself. Is this TMI? I'm sorry if you don't find fart humor funny because in my family its basically the foundation of our humor. Anyways one time my mom was laying in bed and Sandy was under the covers and pressed up against my mom...when my mom let out a silent but deadly fart. 

         All you heard after that is Sandy groan and quickly escaped the covers and ran out of the room. My mom laughed for a solid minute and then some. It was pretty dang funny. Sorry if I got too personal today but I felt like it needed to be shared. Hurray for bodily functions and puppy snuggles!

Love always,

Erin

P.S,

I'm sure my mom will be thrilled that I shared this with the internet! 

Day 104- Happy Mother's Day

Howdy!

          Well this post is late, like its almost the next day late. To be quite honest I've been avoiding this post today. Probably because on this particular day I feel like there are more people than usual paying particular attention on me. Which I guess is incredible to know to know how many people care about you. So happy mother's day to all of the amazing mother's including my own. I obviously miss you everyday mom and there is no accurate word to describe how amazing of a person and a mom you were. I love you to the moon and back and then some.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the time my family first went to Disney world. I don't remember a whole lot about the trip but the picture itself makes me pretty dang happy. 

Love always,

Erin

Day 103-Paranoia

Howdy!

     Well this post comes to you from the country side of Bandera, Texas. Cowboy capital of the world in case you didn't know that. I suppose I should update you on the irony of yesterday's post because literally 30 minutes after I posted that who escaped our house? Sandy. Who had to go chase her down? Erin. Yup. It was not fun but we got her quickly and made our trek to Bandera with Sandy in tow. It has been quite the day. I took down a bush with my baby not so little brother. It was great. I only have a little time to post this for I don't have wifi where I'm inhabiting currently. So until tomorrow! Hope you're having a lovely Saturday with your loved ones.

Memory #103

                So in honor of being at the ranch I guess I ought to put a memory about the ranch that I just remembered. When Sam was about 5 (maybe) and I was about 8 or 9 our parents dropped us off at our grandparents ranch for the week or something while they went back home to be kidless or whatever. After the weeks end though a big storm hit Bandera (which if you've ever been to this part of Texas you know it doesn't rain too much out here) and it became so flooded that no one could enter or leave the country area. As an overly attached child being away from my parents for a week was hard enough and then being super paranoid on top of that I was completely under the influence of thinking that I would never see my mom or day ever again. I was a terribly dramatic child. I'll admit to that. 

          When we were finally able to Macgyvre this makeshift bridge across a previously destroyed dirt road bridge where my parents met us, I was so utterly relieved. Being apart from my mom for that amount of time was horrifying to me, laugh at me its OK. I remember latching onto my mother from that point on because I was so nervous that I would never see her again or somehow get stuck by the flood again. Then of course we got home and my mom was like, "Oh by the way we got a cat." So she pretty much made a memory that should have been scarring to something that involves acquiring a cat and I like acquiring cats. A lot. Also this is not my only memory of being a paranoid child to mother. My mother handled my nervousness quite well. 

Love always,

Erin

Day 102-Chasing

Howdy!

         Well it is super windy and gloomy in Cedar Park, some welcoming huh? Haha it sure doesn't feel like Summer yet. Well I'm about to trek with my brother and father to see my grandparents that live out in Bandera for Mother's day. So again this post might seemed rush and I apologize for that.

Memory #102

          In honor of it almost being summer and the previous memory being about my awesome puppy dog. I give you yet another Sandy inspired memory. If you live around me or see us a lot you will know that Sandy doubles as not only our dog but also as the dog reincarnation of Houdini. Seriously. This dog always finds a way out of our backyard, especially when we go on a trip. Literally if she is in our backyard and she feels that she's been out there too long she finds a way out of our backyard, no matter what we did. There were many a summer days, especially, when a knock when come at our door and there'd be a kid informing us that our dog got out. To which my mom and I would spring into action and get in her car to chase down our dumb but lovable dog. 

       I'll admit that most of the time when this happened I was wearing what I slept in the night before and I hadn't showered or made myself at all presentable so I'm sure it was always quite the sight to see my mom slowly driving in her ford expedition yelling Sandy's name as I ran hard core after my dog who was just having the time of her life. Eventually we'd get her and load back up in my mom's car to take our dog home, with my mom laughing and my dog and I panting.

Love always,

Erin 

Day 101-Not Dalmations

Howdy!

      Well I have nothing to add from my last post! Except for the fact that I'm physically and mentally exhausted. What's new?

Memory #101

          I talked about my cat in the last post so I guess I ought to include my puppy, because my obsession extends to her too and I may or not be snuggling with her. Since the day I was born until 7th grade we had a dog named Larry. He was one of those "So ugly he was cute" kind of dogs, or at least that's what my mom always said about poor Larry boy. The day we had to put Larry down was a really tragic day, you know it sucks when your childhood pet dies especially when all you've known in life is having that pet as a part of your family. When Larry was gone our house didn't feel complete. It was lacking that kind of love that only a dog can exude. So a week after Larry went to puppy heaven my parents decided that we were going to get another puppy. 

       I remember driving to the county's shelter with my whole family all wearing smiles because we knew there was a possibility of getting a new furry family member. We walked around the shelter looking at all of the dogs and I guess we eventually ended up in front of one kennel where this small 8 month year old golden looking dog was huddle up in the corner of her cage whimpering. I don't know what it was but our whole family fell in instant love. So we of course asked if we could pull her out and interact with her. Once we got in this playpen this once scared puppy mauled me and I remember my mom saying, "Well I like her." Foreals. That's how it went down. So of course my brother and I were sold on this dog. Then came the bad news. She needed a hip replacement surgery and it would take a while until we could officially adopt her. My dad, for good reasons, was skeptical but I guess because we had already fallen in love with her both my mom and dad agreed to adopt her. It was such an agonizing week after that though. Everyday after school I remember coming home and asking my mom, "Is the puppy here yet?" and then being disappointed when she told me no. 

         My poor mother basically had to be the messenger of bad news for that whole week but I remember her (and my dad) doing everything in their power to get this dog into our household. I don't remember what happened but I think my mom eventually got fed up with the pound keeping Sandy and not doing anything that my mom finally just drove down to the shelter and taking her home. Which was seriously one of the best nights ever. This is going to sound strange (whats new) but whenever I feel sad about my mom not being here anymore I cuddle up with Sandy and somehow I'm comforted. I am reminded of the times of snuggling with my mom and Sandy during lazy afternoons. Which I miss but for now I still have one of my snuggle buddies and for that I'm grateful. 

Love always,

Erin

Day 100-Catz

Howdy!

       Happy 100 days. How incredible. This has been really an incredible journey so far, so thank you for coming along with me and putting up with all of my late posts (Like today's err yesterday's post haha) I always plan on when I'm going to sit down and write my post and then something happens and yeah...you know it gets a little crazy. Yesterday I pretty much spent the day with my lovely best friend Bailey and well writing my blog kind of just slipped my mind. I'm home now! Which now means I'm free from school and you get a double post...once again.

Memory #100

            I came home today and the cat that I fed on Easter morning is nowhere to be seen ): and I'm pretty sad. I mean I think one of our neighbors is looking after it so that's ok. I guess its for the best since I can't take it to college with me and Walter our current cat is super angsty against other cats. It got me thinking about when we first got Walter back in the summer before my senior year. When we got Walter I was so very excited about having a kitten and I wanted to take care of him 24/7 and be pretty much the perfect '"kitty mom". One fateful day I was going in and out of the house bringing stuff in which meant I left the front door open for like 5 minutes. Keep that in mind. After I was done with whatever I went on a search for Walter who was tiny at the time and I looked for him EVERYWHERE. Seriously everywhere and I couldn't find him so I started to panic, as any mother would. 

         Since I couldn't find him in our house, I panicked realizing that he could have escaped out the front door. So with tears in my eyes I told my mom who jumped to action and walked out the front door. We walked around the neighborhood for an hour calling (crying on my part) for poor tiny little Walter who probably didn't even know his name at the point. After an hour of not being able to find him and my mom trying to calm me down we got back home. I was heartbroken. I had been pleading to my parents for years to get a kitten and I lost him within a week of getting one. As I entered the house and pursued into my self thrown pity party my mom came downstairs and what was in her arms? Walter. Asleep. My mom literally walked upstairs and just found him. 

Love always,

Erin

Day 99-Explorer

Howdy!

       Well I lied yesterday...today's post is also going to be a little incoherent because I'm still completely and utterly pooped! It is not even 10 and I'm about to go to bed. College life? Yikes. I have a few last minute packing stuff/cleaning to do in my apartment and then early Thursday morning I shall make my trek back to Cedar Park. Its crazy how fast time goes by. I'm really thrilled to get back home (and back to my pets) though and get this summer started! I have so much ahead of me and its all really super awesome.

Memory #99

         So since College Station is in the middle of its "move-out frenzy" there are parents EVERYWHERE. Seriously. There are parents everywhere coming to move their child out and back home and it is so super chaotic. Which weirdly reminded me of when my mom picked me up from school. My mom decided to take classes to become a teacher when I was in middle school and it was a real weird adjustment to make. After school my mom would always be late to pick me up from school. Always. I was almost always the last person to get picked up from school. Which would have been ok IF I wasn't the most paranoid person on the planet. Which I am. So everyday after school I would panic after 20 minutes had gone by. Thinking to myself, "Maybe she forgot?" Which is probably the dumbest thing ever but it happened on the daily. (I told you I'm a paranoid child) It was always the biggest relief when I finally saw my mom's white Ford explorer driving into the parent pick up and my mom's face. 

     Even at the age of 20 I still always double glance when I see a White Ford explorer, I guess because a part of me still wants to be able to glance up and see my mom's face. I'm sorry if I just made that memory depressing, I didn't mean to make that into like a sad pity me moment but I've noticed that I do it like a lot. Its funny how the mind works. 

Good night.

Love Always,

Erin 

Day 98- Puzzlin'

Howdy!!

   
        Well I'm officially done! SWEET FREEDOM! Whoop! What a relief! I'm exhausted so I'll keep this short and just jump right in. I'll give you a more coherent recap of my success tomorrow perhaps.

Memory #98

              So my mom was into all things that were brain stimulating. I remember for the longest time my mom had this puzzle website subscription, that had all of these different word games and Sudoku type games. I remember many a days of coming home from school and going straight to her room to look at whatever puzzle or logic game she was trying to complete. She was always so patient with me when I would try and harp in on the words that I thought she had missed. (Totally missing with her strategy, sorry mom) I would always beg my mom to let me play after her, which I'm glad she never did because shoot I stink at word games. At one point, when I got older, my mom let me log in after she had done all of her games and play some of them. Which was a pretty big deal. 

Love always,

Erin 

(Sorry for the incoherentness I'm pooped)

Day 97-Family Feud

Howdy!

     
        Happy Sunday! Also I guess this will be my last Sunday in College Station for awhile! That is so hard to believe, the year never feels like its going that fast until you're confronted with the reality that its over. It's definitely hitting me now. I packed up a lot of my room so that my dad could take it home with him and my room looks mighty depressing. I have my last test tomorrow at 8 and my paper is due by 5 tomorrow, so I guess I ought to get back to studying and not procrastinate too much...

Memory #97

            I know I've mentioned before that my mom was a smart lady but I don't think I've mentioned her obsession with mind games. Seriously. We almost always had the game show network playing in the background all of the time. I remember my mom would sit there and be able to guess whatever the problem was before anyone. I know for sure that I mentioned my mother's uncanny prowess in the Wheel of Fortune department. She was a magician I swear to goodness. Anyways one of my favorite game shows to watch with both my mom and brother was Family Feud (Still guilty of this, I can watch this show for hours). We would have the show on and we'd all huddle up on my mom's bed and try to guess what the answers were. (Also side note my mom said that if we ever went on the show she'd pick me, SO BAM) 

         I got so into this show that I downloaded the computer game for it so that we could all play together. I remember playing this one game and the question was something to the effect of, "What is something you shouldn't wear to a restaurant." and we got all of the answers except for one. We even paused the game (cheaters) and thought all together and we could not get the answer for it. So we finally let the time go out so we could see the answer. I kid you not, the final answer ended up being "Sexy Underwear". What. What. We thought it was the funniest thing ever. So of course after that if we were watching family feud and there was one final answer that no one could guess my mom would always turn to us with a grin and say, "Sexy Underwear". It really never got old. It still makes me laugh.

Love always,

Erin 

Day 96-Puddin'

Howdy!


        Sorry for the delay in my last post...I'm a pretty bad daily blogger I guess. Whatever the point is that I'm sharing the memories not the day I post them, right? I was up pretty late yesterday and I got up only to start studying and writing. Boo it's a pretty Saturday I want to be out at the Baseball field watching...well baseball obviously. I'm so close to being done with school but I do have a lot left to do which is making me a bundle of nerves but once I overcome those obstacles I get to have a jam packed and exciting summer, the light at the end of the tunnel?

Memory #96

                This is probably the most random and uneventful memory that I will ever tell in this blog ever but I feel compelled to mention it because it was a thing and it happened. I remember this fairly long period of time during middle school I think where my mom, Sam and I got into a pudding/jello phase. It seriously came out of the blue. Before this period I might have pudding or jello at my house like twice. Now obviously whenever we went to Luby's I would get jello and whenever I went to Mr.Gatti's I got pudding, duh but it wasn't the same as making it at home. So I don't remember what caused this phase either but all of a sudden we had this bin dedicated to pudding and jello. We would get in these super adventurous moods and try all of the 'fancy' versions besides like the normal crowd favorites. We also started buying a lot of milk...you know to make the pudding. It became a thing every time we went to the store we also bought like two to three boxes of pudding and jello. Then we'd come home and decide which one to make. 

        Really strange sounding I know but I have a lot of glimpses of memories of coming home and either pudding or jello would be waiting for me. At one point I remember my mom and I getting really obsessed with pistachio pudding. Weird right. But I remember that Sam didn't like it so we would make a box and split it between ourselves for the rest of the day. I don't know if we pudding ourselves out too much but I really haven't made either pudding or jello since those days but every time I pass the pudding and jello at the grocery store I think of my mom as strange as that sounds.

Love always,

Erin

Day 95-I Appear to Have Sprung a Leak

Howdy!
UPDATE:
I just realized that this didn't post yesterday...my bad


         Well just finished my Spanish exam...I think it went ok. Like I think I made the grade I needed to get an A in the class so fingers crossed! I thought I would have some time today to study/write for my last two exams that are Monday but it looks like I need to jump into the shower before I go to dinner tonight with my youth counselor posse. Then later tonight my daddy-o and Sambo are coming into town, all so very exciting yet also nerve wrecking because I still have to study and write....Yikes.

Memory #95

              There's a particular memory I've been thinking of late and I didn't know if it was something that I should share because I didn't know how well it would translate. Even when I verbally tell the story I tend to get a weird reaction or a somber reaction which perplexes me. The story I'm about to tell is not meant to be a somber one, nothing bad became of it and when it was all done it was fairly humorous in my own opinion. So maybe writing it out and giving you this preface to the story will somehow make it better? Sorry if it doesn't.

        I remember it had been a week after I got my license and I was all about being able to use it but at the same time I was also totally chill with being driven around (The teenager dilemma). I remember this one particular night there was no food at my house. When I say this I don't mean the "There's no good food here, I want fast food instead" I mean that my fridge at my house is almost always filled with condiments...and other random odds and ends. I also remember that my brother and father were somewhere not in the house, so I remember cuddling up to my mom on the bed and hinting that I wanted to go to Whataburger and she just being like, "You can drive go get us some, here's the credit card". Which surprised me but I took the card and her order and drove down to Whataburger feeling like such a cool kid, got our food and drove back. I don't know why but I was expecting there to be some glorious welcome for me for accomplishing such a task but instead I was greeted with my mom holding her boob and calmly stating, "My boob is leaking". 

          I don't remember the details but obviously this was the aftermath of a surgery or something. To me just the way that she handled the whole situation kind of makes me chuckle and the mental image of her nonchalance of her leaking boob is kind of funny, in my personal opinion. I remember rushing to my car with my mom in tow and just freaking out, on my part, but my mom was totally chill and making jokes. She then asked for her whataburger bag, which in my haste I had left in my lap, so I handed it to her and with one hand she was holding her boob and in the other she was eating french fries. What a lady. This story is pretty reflective of her personality in the regards that she was always pretty laid back even about the crazy moments of life. 

Love always,

Erin

Day 94-Crazy Love

Howdy!

        Well yikes I spent all day studying para mi examen de espanol...It has been a mighty long day and I'm pooped. Tomorrow I'm going to get up early and study EVEN MORE until noon because that's when my exam is...yikes. Wish me luck!

Memory #94

                 Literally all I want to do right now (besides sleeping) is to snuggle up and watch movies. All night. As if I had nothing else to worry about. Which of course got me thinking about my mom. She was always my go to person when I got in those moods (it happens a lot) and it was super convenient that my mom was chill enough to say yes (almost) every time you wanted to go to the movies. The last movie I remember seeing with my mom was "Crazy, Stupid Love". The one with Ryan Gosling? Hubba hubba literally the only reason my mom and I chose to see that movie. I remember going early to buy candy from the dollar store and sneaking them into the movies, along with our snuggies (duh) and snuggling up. I guess that's all I really have to say about that particular memory. It might not seem that monumental I suppose but when you don't have the chance to go on mother daughter dates anymore, even the smallest of memories can bring back nostalgia and maybe even a smile.

Love always,

Erin