It’s been almost a year since she passed away.  I know some of us got real close with her.  Her husband, along with some friends, are running in the Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society.  I thought I would share his link for anyone that wants to donate to a cause that has touched the Housewives very directly.  If you click on the link you will also be able to see a picture of her and see just how beautiful she was and read her husband’s paragraph about his wife’s treatment.

Remembering Lulu

Obviously I’ve edited out some of the details that just don’t need to be aired online.  But I think it still is a beautiful read.  Please continue to keep Lulu and her family close to your hearts.  If you have any questions or want to send flowers please email me directly.

Lulu passed away peacefully at her home in Little Elm on Saturday morning, May 2, 2009, surrounded by her family after a courageous 4-year battle with cancer. A Celebration of Life will be held.   The eulogy will be given by her brother, Karl Hudgens.
Lulu was born Dec. 30, 1978 at Darnell Army Hospital in Ft. Hood to Bobby and Rita Stein. She graduated from Honey Grove High School 1997 and attended Grayson County College. She married Chad on March 13, 2004 in Little Elm. They had a beautiful and loving relationship together. We are very grateful for the love that he gave to her. Together they have two beautiful children, Trent and Coral. She truly loved her family with her whole heart. She taught them to believe in themselves and encouraged them to follow their dreams.
Lulu’s life choices and treatment options were selected very carefully, always keeping her family in mind. She desired to live a life of quality vs. quantity, which we will be forever grateful.
She is survived by the loves of her life
Lulu chose to be cremated. In her love of life she requested a celebration of her life.
She wished for any family member or friend to come speak at the celebration and share your memories of her.

Lulu passed quietly away this morning at 10:21am.  I was just minutes too late to say good-bye.  But the family was kind enough to allow me to share in a moment with her as we all told Lulu stories around the bed where her body lay.  I thank them very much for allowing me that opportunity.

Please remember her family in this very mournful time.  And, please remember Lulu the way she would want to be remembered – happy and hysterically funny and snappy.

I loved her.

So, I was sitting outside having drinks with the neighbors, and the subject of conversation was politics. It seems to have been a pretty smart debate – Obama this and Hillary that. Voices raised and arms flailing in passion. A rip roaring debate that lasted well over an hour, I kid you not. All in good taste, of course, because we are fabulously civilized in Collin County.

Guess what? I don’t give a shit about politics. There, I said. I DON”T CARE. I don’t care who the next president is, or what’s happening in some other country. I don’t care that Hillary gives women hope, or that Obama talks circles around his questions, without actually answering them. I don’t care who the PTA President is screwing, or that’s its not “in good taste” for a board member to drop her kid off at school in her pajamas. And I most certainly don’t care that it is politically incorrect to use the word retard on a daily basis.

Who. Gives. A. Shit?

As long as whatever political decisions being made doesn’t interfere with prime time television, my air conditioning or the ability for me to raise my children how I please, I’m alright.

Good thing I had my Collin Countini to sip on, , ..

I went to the store today looking for fresh corn. They did not have it, so I went to another store , but it looked pretty bad. Even the corn at the farmers market hasn’t been so great this year. But dammit, my family wanted GOOD corn, and mama was going to deliver. I decided that the only way I was going to get it, was pick it myself.

This would make me a corn thief.

I felt guilty as I drove to the corn field by my house. My heart actually started pounding in my chest. But my greed for sweet, fresh corn was much more overwhelming.

I parked and looked around to see if anyone was looking. I had to cross the street, and the people in the cars driving by were looking at me like I was an escaped mental patient.

Keep in mind I know NOTHING about corn except that it is good grilled with olive oil and salt.

Once I get across the road, I realized that I would have to cross a steep, brush and weed filled trench to get to the corn. But super mommy was going to f-ing deliver. I figured taking it at a slight run would be best.

After I made it across without busting my butt, I was finally face to face with corn. Fresh corn! Corn growing right out of the ground! But it smelled REALLY bad ~ rotten.

What. The. Hell!!

The freaking “fresh, sweet corn” was ROTTEN?? I scraped up my feet and legs running through brush and risked getting busted for stealing corn for NOTHING!

When I got home I told my husband about it and the field I tried to steal corn from. His response: “I could have told you that you wouldn’t get the kind of corn we eat in that field. That’s feed corn.”

Yeah, I’m a retard, , Lulu

How was I to know that one email would change the course of my life?  A simple email sent out to find writers for this little blog I wanted to start.  The first response was from a gal writing about trying on bathing suits.  She hooked me with the first line, “It is the most dreadful time of year for me–time to try on swimwear.”  I hired her before anyone else.

As time went on, we met, we wrote, I realized that this woman was changing my life.  I was making a friend.  A friend.  Not something I have many of, by my choice, at least I think so.  She put in my place when I needed to be slung there.  She was my confidante when my most precious relationship teetered.  And she made me laugh , at everything.

I knew she had cancer from the beginning.  She was fighting it and had been fighting it for 3 ½ years.  She was a pillar of strength.  She was amazing when she spoke about it.  And she had a light around her that made her glow, like a beacon in what can be rough friendship waters.

I nibbled her ear once.

As time passed, she let me more and more in to her Cancer World.  I went with her to a doctors appointment, hardly a month ago.  But, at the end of March she received the news she’d been fighting off for 3 ½ years.  Her tumor on her liver had grown, she had tumors in her lungs.  She has one, maybe two months left to live.  And why she hasn’t shouted from her rooftop, “Why the fuck ME???”, I’ll never know.  Because I know I’ve asked God why.  Why does he have to take her from me?  Knowing that the more important question is why does he have to take her from her husband, her 4 year old daughter and her 9 year old son.  We celebrated her 30^th birthday party recently.

Knowing her has changed the way I look at life from the little things to the monumental.  And it’s funny how little monumental things really are.  I love her.  I love what she has brought to me in my life and I love the little time I have been able to love her.

You all know her as Lulu, I know her as Friend.

More than anything her family is in need of financial assistance.  The Real Housewives of Collin County has donated this month’s ad revenue directly to The Lulu Fund.  As you can imagine, her medical bills are skyrocketing, and her family could use our help.  If you could please donate any amount of money to assist her family, I know it would be greatly appreciated.  If you can’t, but you can spare a prayer, please remember her.

You can make checks payable to:

The Real Housewives of Collin County

P.O. Box 683

Frisco, TX 75034

Thank you,

Sabrina

When the Catwalk Salon offered to give us “the royal treatment,” it took me about 2 seconds to decide that I was in.  I LOVE massages and facials and anything where anyone is rubbing me for an extended period of time.  I would have let them do my hair, but I had just had a highlight and a cut, so I passed on the hair.  I was supposed to have a mani/pedi, a facial and a massage.  Sadly, the manicurist had a family emergency and had to leave before I had a chance to review those services.  Caty (one of the owners/managers) was so apologetic over this, as if it was her fault the manicurist had just gotten a devastating phone call.  I wasn’t upset.  Those things can’t be helped.  Plus, I was still in a haze from the massage.  It wasn’t the most delicious massage I’ve ever had, but like with pizza and sex, even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty damn good.  Not that it was BAD, it just wasn’t the best massage I’ve ever had.   The facial, however, was divine.  And the girl who performed the facial was just as delightful as the treatment itself.  The girls working in the salon were all very kind and helpful.  Even when this horrid beast of a woman charged in for her appointment, only to find out she had come two hours early, started ranting and raving about how she had busted her ass to get there on time, the staff were kind and patient and helpful to her.  I would have told her she was ugly anyway, and the haircut wasn’t going to help her that much,  but not the Catwalk staff.  They worked with her and managed to calm her down with a Coke.   God bless anyone who deals with hateful customers because I could not stay graceful in that type of situation.  Anyway, the bottom line is this:   If you are looking for a full day of beauty, look no further than the Catwalk salon.  I can’t speak about the manicurist or the hair stylists, but the masseuse (not their usual, I was told), the facial lady (what are they called again?) and the receptionist, owners and staff were wonderful.  Check them out soon! 

Holly gives Catwalk Salon 4 out of 5 Collin Countinis.

When I found out Catwalk Salon was offering us a spa day, I jumped on it faster than Amy Whinehouse on her crack pipe. J Who doesn’t love getting pampered and rubbed? I even passed up on going to a wild party so that I could get some sleep and be all fresh faced and ready to get some rubbin’s. 

The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the staff. They are all absolutely gorgeous. No joke! And there were several women standing around the front counter, the owner Caty being one, and they all greeted me with a smile. It’s not always easy going to a review as Lulu, but they immediately put me at ease.

I got my nails did first by Monica. She was easy to talk to and before I new it she had me telling her personal stories. It’s like we were old friends. And you know how important it is to feel comfortable with a person when they are rubbing and touching you. She did a great job on my nails , did my toes in a sassy leopard print. You will not find leopard print anywhere else , it’s all hers. And she made my fingernails look great, but the paint chipped off 2 days later. I knew it! I knew that a Real Housewife couldn’t have painted fingernails.

Then it was off to my facial. Sara put me at ease also and very quickly had me purring like a kitten. She performed the zillion steps to the facial, massaged my neck and hands then sent me on my way. My face felt great and looked even better. Even my husband noticed the freshness of my face. He said as soon as I walked in he knew I was pampered because I had no creases in my forehead; I just looked calm. The facial was the highlight of my morning, and I can’t say enough about Sara and her work.

Then I was whisked off to my massage. There was a different girl there than normal , Misty. The massage was just ok. I left with the same pain that I went in with. But to her defense, when she heard that I have cancer she didn’t want much to do with me. Said that a massage can make cancer move into lymph nodes or something. So she just rubbed and didn’t get into the deep tissue like I needed. But, she took me through this thing called a Life Line, and it was an amazing experience. Supposedly, a Life Line works because your muscles tell her where the problems are. So she would push on my arm, and if there was no problem my muscle would stay strong. But if there was a problem it would weaken. She proved it with this technique: tell me your real name, and reluctantly I did. My muscle stayed strong. Now, tell me a fake name , I said Lulu and my arm went down. Pretty cool huh? The whole focus of the Life Line was to boost my immune system and make it work at 100%. So she went through my whole body, doing these weird chants and found that my problems were related to specific stresses , selfishness, longing and the failure to let others love me. She nailed it! I cried like a big ol’ baby. Actually, I was weepy all day long, but it felt good to release. I would encourage everyone to go through this experience!!

Catwalk salon is kind of hidden, so make sure you go to their website, www.catwalksalonfrisco.com and get the address. 

Lulu gives Catwalk Salon 4 out of 5 Countini’s.  

An update from last weeks Stop Judging Me post:

Guess who got a new 32′ Flat Screen television?? On YES I DID. And HD and a DVR will be coming this week.

Moving on.

So I’m in my home, minding my own bidness…just got my baby girl down for a nap….settled into the couch with a bowl of Coco Puffs and one of my shows, and the doorbell rings. When the doorbell rings it makes my dog go ape shit, creating the possibility for my girl to wake up. It’s the middle of the afternoon. Who the fuck rings my doorbell in the middle of the afternoon?

A Jehovah’s Witness? Noooo, it’s a dopey looking salesman trying to sell me household cleaners. Are you out of your FUCKING MIND? If I wanted to buy a cleaner, or anything for that matter, I would go to a STORE and buy it myself. And don’t give me attitude when I tell you no and close the door in your face.

Seriously, door-to-door salesmen are some of the rudest people on the planet. I know it’s their job, but why the hell would someone even take that job? It can’t be a well paying job, because I’m certain that 97% of the time the door gets slammed in their face. That is, if the door is even opened.

Stay off my door, assholes, or I will have my dog eat your ball sac for a lunch.

-Lulu