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So, last year, after I made my first country mix cd, I started collecting songs for volume two. I thought I had it finished around Christmas, but upon listening to it, not so much.

I did finally finish it, and I lamented that I had nobody to make a copy of it for, cause none of my pals are really into country music.

But last Friday, as Quilla and I were trekking to Eura Brown, she admitted that she’s been on a country kick ever since she and Jorel went somewhere and the only radio station that would come in was country. So today, she got a copy of Barefoot Roamin.’

Songs on the mix are as such:

“Play Something Country” by Brooks & Dunn
A rockin’ fine start. I mean, he even howls, y’all.

“My Give a Damn’s Busted” by Jo Dee Messina
I appreciate the therapy-speak in the lyrics. “Who’s your enabler these days?”

“As Good As I Once Was” by Toby Keith
Kris thinks the video for this one’s funny.

“Back to Me” by Kathleen Edwards
Jaimie says this song isn’t dirty, and I agree. However, I maintain that it sure means to sound like it’s dirty. Sample lyric: “I’ve got ways to make you come …(long pause)… back to me.”

“Bad Things” by Jace Everett
A freebie on iTunes and a nice companion to the song before it.

“Mists of Down Below” by The Duhks
If you like Nickel Creek, you ought to like this one.

“When In Rome” by Nickel Creek

“Personal Jesus” by Johnny Cash
A must.

“When the Music’s Not Forgotten” by Deadman
iTunes freebie. Not very country really.

“Travelin’ Thru” by Dolly Parton
Dolly, you were robbed! This song should have gotten the Oscar.

“Satisfied” by Ashley Monrow
iTunes freebie. “Why does it have to be wrong to feel right?”

“I Don’t” by Danielle Peck
The chorus kills me. It features the line “that’s because Jesus loves you. I don’t.”

“Closer to You” by Brandi Carlile
iTunes freebie.

“Wide Open Spaces” by Dixie Chicks

“Lot of Leavin’ Left to Do” by Dierks Bentley
I had to have a song by a dude whose last name is Bentley.

I started a bookblog. Expect it to be updated once in a blue moon, then weekly for fortnight, then not at all for three months, and so on and so forth.

Happy birthday, Lorna! Welcome to 28.

When I saw Lorna at church yesterday, I tried to make some joke about how she only had one more day to be a perfect cube. It was very lame. I am way out of practice at math jokes.

I feel like I worked in the yard all weekend. In reality, it was only a few hours each day, but that to me translates to “all weekend,” I guess. Transplanting moss, fetching more stones, splitting and repotting lilies.

I am giving up on having a bird feeder in the back yard. Done gave up. I am giving the feeders and seed to my grandparents tonight. Maybe since they are not real gifts, my grandmother will keep them.*

On the hook where the bird feeder was, we got the coolest cone-shaped hanging planter and a BOOganVEEyah. I’m sorry, that is how we always say it. Very dramatic. BOOGANVEEYAH!

*My uncle gave Mama Juanita a DVD player for Christmas. I know she likes the Gilmore Girls, so I sent her season one for Mother’s Day. She called today to tell me she has watched several discs (I don’t think she quite realizes she can watch one episode at a time) but hasn’t been able to finish so she can give them to me. She is a crazy lady and I will end up with her gift, but I know she’s enjoyed it.

I was hanging with a friend over the weekend who’s bummed out that she can’t afford to go on vacation with her family. I understand her plight.

In January, I e-mailed my mom’s cousin Phil and his wife Pat to ask if we could come visit in May. They’ve been asking us for 2 years to come up to their home in Sleepy Hollow, New York. Kris contacted his old youth pastor, who now resides in Pennslyvania, and we were going to visit them, too. A road trip through states neither of us have been. What fun.

We were supposed to leave on Memorial Day. Today, I e-mailed to say that we could not go. We can’t afford to.

I kind of thought this was coming. We’d already talked about just sleeping in the car on the way up there and back. We could cover the cost of food and gas, surely?

But the Honda Civic I bought last October would be our mode of transport, and she needs new tires to make a trip like that. Tires + Gas + Food + Misc = Not Happening.

I told GJ last night, since Phil is her nephew. She waited a moment and then asked if she bought us tires, could we make it?

No. Because Kris and I are grown-ups, and if we have to rely on my 91 year old grandmother to buy us tires, then we ain’t going nowhere. Plus, there’s only $50 in our Vacation Cash Stash, which would be mean charging all the rest and I am not cool with that.

Maybe we’ll go camping instead. Cause $50 will buy a lot of camping.