Life

A Gif for Little Bit

- Melody


dress: Old Navy, cardigan: thrifted, belt: Old Navy, shoes: Buffalo Exchange

So all I had to do Thursday was sing one song in our studio class (a performing class when all the voice students in a particular studio come together and sing for each other) and take a vocabulary quiz in my vocal pedagogy class. Our teacher surprised us by only keeping us 20 minutes of the full hour in class! Woohoo!

It was raining all day yesterday and will continue to storm throughout the weekend. Too bad I’ll be beaching it up next week. 🙂 So when I came home there weren’t a lot of picture options so I decided the “best” spot was in my music room. These were the best ones that came out of 100+ pictures we took. Yeah. It’s an art. I’ve really been wanting to drive around and take “location” pictures. There are a lot of neat places around here! Jason’s response? “Make some money on your blog. Then I’ll go somewhere else.” Plus the fact that Jason is already embarrassed to take them because kids at school have seen him taking them of me in our yard and have said things to him, haha. Like, “I saw you taking pictures of your girlfriend.” HA! Plus, it’s not necessarily his favorite thing to do, believe it or not.

ANYWAY, when we were taking these, I sat on my desk in front the window and LB decided she wanted to get in on some photog action. Here’s a little .gif I made of her…

Isn’t she adorable?

In some sad news, the family cat, Pippin, died yesterday afternoon after his health suddenly took a turn for the worst. That cat was my dad’s world. They were buddies! He was the craziest, toughest, sweetest cat you’d have ever met. He protected the girl kitties from being beat up by bigger boy cats and paid heavily for it with the cat version of cauliflower ears and cuts and bruises. But he survived all of them! We are glad, though, that dad was able to be home with him before he died. If you think about it, even though it might seem a little silly, just pray for our family! Thanks, guys.

Hope your spring break is great! Happy weekend!

These Are My Thoughts

- Melody

I made a vow to myself to exercise and eat breakfast every day this week. So far so good… but it’s only Monday. I figured I’d challenge myself and see what I could do before spring break when WE GO TO FLORIDA. SO. DANG. EXCITED!! If it’s anything like last summer I’ll never want to leave! Family, sand, and margaritas here I come…

I’m currently working on an extremely long music history review for a test Wednesday. I love the teacher but preparing for the tests is a week long activity. Yeeesh. I have a lot to do tonight and tomorrow. Blahhhhhh…

I’m long overdue for a leg shavin’.

Jason has a love/hate relationship with video games. I’ve recently learned about him that he will fall in love with something for a couple of weeks then kind of fall back out of love with it. That is what is happening with this game Borderlands. I think I got it for him for Christmas or something one year? Well, since we cancelled cable we’re finding all kinds of stuff to do. Hence the recent love affair with this game. He’s currently playing it like he has been for several hours. I took a nap, ate dinner, worked on some homework, and worked out. Meanwhile, the scathes and spiders attack him while he tries to find corroded crystals.

I haven’t really seen our cats in three days. Friday I was at my sister’s concert, and I stayed the night at my parents that night so I was gone all day Saturday. Sunday we went grocery shopping and were out for several hours. I think Little Bit hates me.

Speaking of Saturday. THE most amazing thing happened to us. So I spent the night at my parent’s right? (Because Texas A&M Commerce is about 2 hours away and we left early to eat with my sister before the concert and the -AMAZING- concert was 2.5 hours long! 2 hours back=1:20 am.) The next day we were all lounging around when my Mimi calls my mom. They had bought new couches and were GIVING my parents their practically new leather ones! WHAAAAAAT?! So guess who inherited my parent’s 2 year old couches?! UH, HELLO. WE CAN BOTH FIT ON THE COUCH NOW! We’ve gone from futon, to a couch from the home-ec room with a dead black widow in it, to new FREE couch and loveseat! Our living room actually looks like a living room now. Thank you to my dad, mom, Mimi, and Pawpaw for moving things and giving things away! We LOVE you guys!

A Letter to Louie

- Melody

If you know me, you know I’ve had a terrible time working out my financial aid since transferring to University of Texas at Tyler. To preface, I graduated high school with 30+ hours of college credits which granted me the Early Graduation Scholarship of $1,000. I was only able to receive this scholarship, however, if I attended a college in Texas. No problem! I went to Kilgore College for two years and graduated in May of 2011. (I also had a ridiculous time with scholarships at KC, but that’s another story for another day.)

Last fall, I started at UT Tyler. Trying to find this scholarship I learned that the funding had been cut. The rest is explained in my letter to Louie Gohmert below. Please read it and stand up for our schools by emailing our leaders.

——
Hello,

I am a junior vocal music education major at the University of Texas at Tyler. I graduated Sabine High School in May of 2009 with 30+ college credit hours. Because of these hours, I received the Early Graduation Scholarship from the state of Texas. This was our incentive to graduate high school with so many hours. If the recipients of this scholarship attended any college in the state of Texas we would receive our $1,000 scholarship. So in the fall of 2009 I attended Kilgore College in Kilgore, Texas but decided to wait until I went on to a university to pull on this scholarship because I had enough scholarships at Kilgore College. In the fall of 2011 I started school full-time at the University of Texas at Tyler. Attempting to locate the whereabouts of the Early Graduation Scholarship, I learned that there was no funding from the state of Texas for this scholarship anymore. Then, in October a letter was mailed to all those eligible for this scholarship, myself included, that funds were now available from the state of Texas and that quick action must be taken before December 20, 2011 to receive this funding. Mid November I faxed over a copy of my letter to UTT to get what was long due me. After weeks of waiting, I still got no response. I emailed and called countless times only to hear time after time, “We’ll let you know in a couple of weeks.” February 15, 2012 I emailed UTT’s enrollment office as a last attempt for resolution. February 16 I received an email stating that all of the funding has run out once again and that UTT disbursed all of this money to those eligible already. I would not be receiving this scholarship. Frustrated and out of patience, I responded asking when I would be finally receiving this scholarship. I am a newlywed with one income. This scholarship is desperately needed. However, what frustrates me the most is UTT’s inability to give a faithful full-time student the time of day.

I understand the state of Texas’ need for budget cuts. However, I don’t think those in office realize that students like myself are being reprimanded for crimes we did not commit. I beseech you, Mr. Gohmert, to take swift action in standing up for the students in the state of Texas. We are the future leaders, but we cannot lead when our schooling cannot be fully funded.

Thank you,
Melody Rich
——

Hope you guys are having a great Monday. 🙂

Oil and Gas

- Melody

So many times I think I should always have the windows up when I’m driving. When I’m consciously thinking about it and wondering why the car is so stuffy I finally roll them down. And I never regret it.

Today, on my way home from school, I was stopped behind an old Jeep at a red light. With my windows down I smelled gas and oil. That smell took me back. Way back. My grandparents on my mom’s side lived in White Oak for as long as I can remember in a log house on a dead end road. An oil derrick sat on the left side of the house creaking and squeaking at all hours of the day. If you live in East Texas you know that White Oak has a very distinct oil smell on account of all the oil there. (duh.) When I smelled that Jeep’s exhaust I remembered her. I remembered my grandmother. I remembered that log house and that old Chevy suburban that sat in the grass. I remembered that squeaky black derrick and that row of trees outside the bedroom window.

I remembered Chety, or as I knew her, MawMaw. And I missed her. Not in a there-is-a-lump-in-my-throat kind of way. I missed her. Who she was. All the parts I knew and all the parts of her I didn’t.

So I stayed behind that Jeep for as long as he’d let me to smell that smell. To smell her. To smell that log house and the inside of that suburban that smelled like sweet tobacco and oil.

My whole way home I smelled memories. Sweet tea with lemon, cow pastures, and her.

The Pop-In

- Melody

Saturday night the fam-bam and our BFFEs popped over for a little spaghetti and chit chat. The BFFEs decided they needed to buy out WalMart’s stock of soda! They will be regifted… 🙂

From top to bottom:

1. Gavin and Holley!
2. Dad SHOWING US UP with his Indian song.
3. Making fun of me for taking pictures.
4. GOTCHA RUDY!
5. Apparently spaghetti wasn’t enough for Holley…
6. The drinks..
7. Ahh.. a fire to counteract the torrential rain we were experiencing.
8. Jason fell asleep.

Things I Did Instead of Studying

- Melody

Tried to put the stuffing back into a chair.
Daydreamed.
Doodled.
Daydreamed.
Watched a lady walk around in the art gallery.
Daydreamed.
Wondered who left their keys on the table.
Wished it would rain.
Remembered some other homework due Monday.
Regretted not studying earlier.
Regretted not bringing my music so I could sing along with the University Singers.
Regretted not studying earlier so I could bring my music to sing along with the University Singers.
Said hello to a friend.
Daydreamed.
Deliberately stared out the window.
Made this list.