On the Brink of Magnificence and She Just Wants a Taco

Last Saturday Abigail attended her final piano competition of 2009 -- the Texas Music Teachers Association Jazz and Hymn Festival. It requires quite a bit of preparation: one memorized jazz piece, one piece to be played as an offertory for church, and two hymns played as accompaniment.

Side Story (Background important for the telling of this story): For the last few weeks every time we pass a Taco Casa restaurant Abigail says, "I want to eat at Taco Casa!" When asked why, she just smiles and says, "I just want to eat there." Oookkaaayyyyy... Now, I don't know about you, but just the name Taco Casa (in English) means 'not that good' to me. The restaurants don't even look appealing. And, I feel they are probably on the level of Taco Bueno and Taco Bell -- two restaurants into which I will never step foot, unless forced to at gunpoint.

Back to our primary story...

As we were driving to Burleson for the competition, we passed, you guessed it, a Taco Casa. "TACO CASA!" Abigail shouts out. "How nice," I reply. "We should eat there," she says. Of course it's 9:30 a.m. and I'm just not feeling it. So, we pass by and on to the piano festival. Abigail plays beautifully and receives two superior ratings for her performance that day. On her written evaluation, the judge stated: "An amazing performance today, you are on the brink of magnificence." WOW! The. brink. of. magnificence. (And she's only 12!) What a commendation. Her teacher was so thrilled to have that said about one of her students. I was excited to have that said about my child. What did Abigail think?

"Can we get a taco now?"

Well, I guess it's good that she doesn't let all those fine words and bragging go to her head. And, we headed to Taco Casa. Right after I forced her to take this picture holding her ribbons.

True success for those girls on the brink of magnificence?
-- a taco from TACO CASA!

Esta' muy delicioso. Adios!

An Open Letter to Sonic

Dear Sonic,

You must know by now how I feel about you. You are all things amazing when it comes to your Diet Cokes with Lime, Butterfinger Blasts and Mozzarella Sticks. I even enjoy your hamburgers from time to time. (mainly when you don't squash the top bun flat) I'm not sure your french fries can compete with others, but you do offer those tasty little tater tots. And, your occasional Breakfast Burrito makes my heart sing, even though I can feel my hips growing as I finish the last bite.

Why then, oh why, can you not make a decent salad?It can't be that hard when you already do so many things well. I know you're a fast food restaurant, but you seriously should make the attempt. You only offer three choices, which should make your life even simpler. I just don't understand why you think people want to eat brown lettuce and mushy tomatoes. When you opened up that lid to put the grilled chicken on top, did you not notice there was not even one speck of green in the bowl? And, maybe you don't realize this, but salads are comprised of one main ingredient -- lettuce, and......lettuce is green. I just felt you should know this, you know....in case no one had ever mentioned it.

So, be warned, that I will not be burned again by your beautiful pictures advertising a colorful and tasty salad. I do thank you, however, for the crunchy onion ring that sat on top. It was the best part!

Sincerely,

Frustrated in Fort Worth

P.S. I'll see you this afternoon at 3:00 for Happy Hour.

Halloween Recital

An odd day to have a piano recital, to be sure... I kept thinking one of the students would play "Monster Mash" or "The Graveyard Boogie," but no such luck.

I tried, for about 20 minutes, to upload the videos of the girls playing their pieces but just couldn't handle the time commitment it was obviously going to take. Twenty minutes of my life I'll never get back. The girls love playing at Steinway Hall and the pianos...ah, the pianos. I pick out one to take home every time we're there.

Katherine played "Dawn" from "Pride and Prejudice."

Abigail played "Goldfish" by William Gillock.

It Was A Dark and Stormy Night

Actually, it was a beautiful night. It just seemed a good title for a Halloween post. We had big plans for October 31st. We started out the day with an early morning piano recital. (post to follow) Rebecca went to a movie at the mall with friends, Katherine was somewhere, Jeff was in College Station for the game (whoop!) and Abigail and I met up with her friend, Emma, to have a party.

Moon over Lynndale Place
(Doesn't have the same ring as Miami, does it?)

We enjoyed a little pre-Halloween party shoe shopping.

Love these two characters!

We planned a ghoulishly delicious meal for the evening. MENU: Swamp Juice, Dried Bones, Pizza Mummies, Frozen Frog Eggs and Fresh Veggies

Ingredients for Swamp Juice: fish eggs, gummy fish, gummy worms and fizzy water with lemonade

Making Pizza Mummies

So cute, and tasty! (Please ignore the nasty stained baking sheet.)

Best part of icing the brownie ghosts? Lickin' the knife!

Just so you know, I checked to make sure they finished
icing the ghosts before they licked the knives.

And, it seems, goblins have taken over this bottom photo.
It uploaded like this, and then wouldn't let me delete it.
Ooooooooo...........

Hope you had a delightful evening with your ghosts, pirates and hippies!