The Muir 2

Finally

2011-01-21T06:15:00.000-08:00

Finally the date has been set, Al and I are going to be sealed for time and all eternity. We are getting sealed March 26. I'm so excited, but a little overwhelmed at the same time. I really wish my mom and dad were able to help me and answer questions. So you have to forgive me if I ask you dumb questions because I'm not really sure what I am doing.

Living Social

2011-01-19T06:49:00.000-08:00

Do you ever use groupon or those coupon websites? I've bought a few things, but today's deal is great. For $10 you can get a $20 Amazon gift card. If you get three people to buy one under you your deal is free. Awesome. So here is my link if you would like to use it and then you can send out your new link to your friends. http://livingsocial.com/deals/21336?ref=personalized-link-box-3976211&rpi=3976211

I Made This

2011-01-12T09:20:00.001-08:00

last night and I don't even like chocolate. It was too delicious not to share....

Microwaved Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

(serves 2)

Combine:

1/4 c. flour

1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 tbsp. cocoa powder

1/4 tsp. baking powder

small pinch salt

1/4 tsp. vanilla

1 tbsp. melted butter

2 tbsp. milk

optional: chopped pecans or walnut in desired amount

Mix together above ingredients and split evenly between 2 large ramekins or wide coffee mugs.

In another bowl mix together

1/4 c. sugar

1 tbsp. cocoa powder

Sprinkle half of the mixture over each ramekin.

Pour 1/4 c. boiling water over each ramekin.

Place one ramekin on a small plate (in case it overflows) and microwave for 1 min - 1:30 min.

Serve with icecream.

It was so yummy and could be made during a commercial break.

source: www.remodelaholic.com

Ooops.

2011-01-03T08:48:00.000-08:00

I messed with my neglected blog thinking that if it looked nice them maybe I would update it every once in awhile, but all I did is manage to make it look worse. I don't have the patience to fix it. Oh well.

I've Never....

2010-08-24T10:52:00.000-07:00

I have never entered to win giveaway I've read about, but I really want to win the binder from mylitterofsix.com I've recently started couponing and I am SO disorganized. I think the organization part is holding me back a little from couponing more. I've tried a few "systems," without success so I really want to win this binder and get organized!

Garden 2010

2010-03-22T12:44:00.000-07:00

Well, it's that time again for our annual garden. I love getting my garden ready, I love even more watching my plants grow, and then eventually producing vegetables. I have a slight problem when it comes to eating them though. I love veggies, but when they come from my garden I feel really bad eating them. I don't know why. This year I have a goal to eat everything my garden produces. I only grow stuff I like, so this shouldn't be a problem.
This year Al made me a larger garden box and we decided to let it go into the ground. Our old garden box had a ground cover so things couldn't take root in the ground. I planted 2 tomato plants, one bell pepper plant, 2 onions left over from last year. I am also going to try growing things from seeds this year, so I planted corn, green beans, peas, and carrots.
Hunter has taken it upon himself to "water" the garden for me and Curly has decided to "help with the weeding." Now, I have to stand out by the garden whenever they are outside so they can learn to leave the garden alone since it is no longer growing just weeds. Wish me luck. I'll post pics later.

Date Night

2010-03-22T12:31:00.001-07:00

One of our goals this year is to get out of debt or at least work on it. So we have decided to start living like there is a recession (just a little late). It is killing me. I used to be perfectly content to sit at home on the weekends and relax, but now I feel like I am being tortured in some fashion.
At work I have A LOT of free time to explore on web and I recently came across a really cute blog http://loveactually-blog.blogspot.com I've been using my spare time to find cute, creative ideas for cheap date nights. Most of them are too cutsie for Al, but I found a few that will work for us.
So this weekend was our first "at home" date. I got home from work, did a quick clean of the downstairs, started dinner, and moved our king-size mattress from our room out to the family room. After I moved the mattress I was exhausted, it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Al came home on time for once, so I wasn't completely finished with dinner. I was hoping to have everything done by the time he got home, oh well. We ate a delicious dinner and then we watched romantic movies in the front room on our bed. I set up a little movie theater concession stand for our treats. Overall, it was a great evening and it cost less than $10. Hopefully, we can make this a monthly thing and my recession will be a little more bearable.

Want To Adopt A Puppy?

2010-02-24T12:55:00.000-08:00

Well I guess the need to "mother" something has been getting to me lately, so I started volunteering with a local animal rescue. Animals have always been a passion for me and I love having them around. As I have gotten to know people in the rescue community I have learned the awful truth about people breeding thier animals and what happens to a lot of innocent aniamls, so I have decided to help out in a small way.

Pals for Pooches is a rescue agency in Houston. They usually get their animals that are on "death row" in the animal shelters. 90% of animals in shelters in Houston and the surrounding areas are put to sleep. Houston area has the highest rate of animal euthanasia in the country. Anyways, I am now fostering an adorable puppy named Curly. She is available for adoption, fully vetted, spayed, and microchipped. She is fully grown at 35lbs, the perfect size. She is a lab mix, but she is really short and they think she may have some hound in her. There were 4 pups in the litter and they all look like a different breed of dog. One of the rescuers found them after listeing to the owners complain about the price of $50 per dog to put them down, so they were going to take them to the shelter. The rescuer saw how sick they were and took them in (two had to have blood transfusions). Curly is a really calm puppy. She can be shy, but she is really friendly too. She loves other dogs, cats, and kids. She is potty trained and crate trained. She is also learning her basic commands. She is just a great puppy and we've enjoyed having her. I am not keeping her because I would like to keep fostering and helping other dogs and unfortuantely Al doesn't want to move to a farm and keep 100 animals (I'm not sure why). If you are interested in adopting her or know someone looking for a puppy let me know and I can give more information. Remember 1/2 of all shelter dogs are full breed dogs, so look to a shelter for your next animal and save a life.

Someday I'll get around to updating my blog with some of our events.

Weird Story

2009-12-23T14:10:00.000-08:00

So I am an office assistant at a small commercial construction company. I really like my job and most of the people I work with. I do have some interesting encounters with people, but none like the one I had today.
We are getting a new security company and today they stopped by to finish up some paper work so they can install it on Monday. It was a husband wife team that came by. They seemed friendly and were up in the waiting area with me while they were waiting on my boss. I am pretty bad about entertaining people. I usually have them sit while I continue on with my work. Well today this did not happen....
I was filing some paperwork and the man comes up to me, inches from my body, (definitely an invasion of personal space) while I am standing (luckily) at the filing cabinet and he says to me, "I have a weird question.....then he proceeds to put his hand in front of his crotch wave it around like he is peeing and makes a "PPIIISSSSSSSSSSSS" sound. He is practically touching me and I am speechless. Am I really watching this? He says nothing else and I make some sort of sound and point down the hall. I felt so violated, it was the weirdest thing. He never asked for the restroom. My friend was standing up there watching this whole thing and asked me did he just do what it looked like. I nodded silently and she left me to go laugh outside. It has been a big joke all day here in the office. Seriously who does stuff like that?

NOLA

2009-12-03T09:02:00.001-08:00

Well I finally made my first trip to New Orleans. It was a really, really quick trip. Our friend was meeting his mom there to pick up his dog. So he invited us to ride along with him. We left early Saturday morning and we had terrible rainy weather the way there. It took about 6 hours to finally reach the city. We got all checked into our hotel and made our way down to ACME Oysters. Everyone raved about the chargrilled oysters and poboys. I ate 3 oysters and that was plenty for me. They weren't as bad as I had envisioned, but they definitely won't become a staple in my diet. While we were at ACME our friends from Houston happened to be in town so they met us for lunch. After lunch we had plans to visit the aquarium (I can never pass up an aquarium, something about them I love), but it closed at 5:00pm and the last ticket was sold at 4:30pm so we would have never been able to make it. So instead we took a much needed nap at the hotel.
We decided we needed a nice dinner out so we made plans at Emeril's New Orleans. It was delicious. The cheesy grits were to die for and I don't even like grits. After dinner we hit up Harrah's so I could get my gambling fix. I was doing pretty well for awhile and instead of cashing out while I was ahead I ended up loosing all my money. I tracked Al down and he was up about $15 so he let me take over for him. I ended up loosing all his money too. Good thing we set limits or I would have gone crazy and lost a lot more than $40. We ventured down the street to Hard Rock to get Al a shirt and a hat. We saw some drunk guy get arrested, so that was interesting.
The next morning we headed to the world famous Cafe du Monde for beingets (french donuts). They were delicious. We wandered around the Mississippi River and back into town and met up with Ron and his cousins and took the street cars up and down St. Charles street. The old homes were absolutely gorgeous. I could have looked at them all day. After that we had to leave good 'ole NOLA. I definitely want to go back there seems like a lot more to do to see. Also, we managed to escape with out being mugged. We probably had 30 people tell us to take taxis everywhere and watch everyone around us. Overall it was a really fun trip. I'll post pics when I get home.

Happy Anniversary to Us

2009-10-17T18:47:00.000-07:00

September 4, 2009 brought our 5th anniversary. I can't believe we've been married for 5 years. It seems the older we get the more time flies by. The night of our anniversary we went out to dinner at Carino's. It wasn't very exciting, but we brought our friends Marianne and Blake with us. We did a small dinner because we were leaving early, early the next morning for our cruise. I LOVE you tons and tons and millions, Allen. Here's to many more years together.

Hunter Turns 2

2009-10-17T18:10:00.000-07:00

It's no SECRET we Love our dog, Hunter. So last year I decided that if I didn't have a baby or was preggo by the time Hunter turned 2 we would throw him a party. Well August came and I was having no luck in the baby department so Hunter got a birthday party. Every year we have an end of the summer bbq, so this year if tied in to Hunt's birthday (we don't really know when his birthday is since he's a rescue pup). Al preferred to call the event out Summer BBQ, he thought it was dumb to have a dog party. We sent out evites and invited our friends to bring all their dogs. I thought it would be fun to fill up our little pool and have dog toys all over. The toys were a great idea, but the pool was a really bad one. The dogs kept tracking water all over the floor. I finally decided all dogs had to stay outside and the pool had to be emptied. We got Hunter the cutest baseball birthday cake (he was named after Hunter Pence who plays baseball for the Astros). It was adorable. We also got carob dipped milk bones and a little goody box of treats and toys for all his puppy guests.

Trey was the only one who got into wearing the birthday hats. We had hotdogs and some other dog friendly food. I think Hunter enjoyed having all the dogs over to play. By the end of the night we was worn out. Overall it was a great day with friends.

Where to start?

2009-10-17T18:07:00.000-07:00

I often do things and think oh I need to blog about this, then I never end up blogging and then I forget all the fun things we have done. So thinking back on the last couple of months I feel like I've had something every weekend to do, but now none of it seems to exciting or blog worthy. So this will be a short blog update.

Happy Birthday to Me

2009-06-29T16:48:00.000-07:00

Well I turned the big 28 this past weekend. I don't really know how I feel about 28 yet. I thought I'd be further along with my life, but what can you do. For my birthday we met up with some friends and headed over to New Braunfels, TX (outside of San Antonio). We floated down the Comal River. This year it was so, so crowded. We had to wait almost 2 hours just to get a tube. It hasn't rained in over 30 days, I know that's not too long for you west coasters, but here it is a really big deal. The river was pretty low and I think we all got our bums scratched by the big rocks, but it was really fun. It was a really long, hot day. Then Al and I and our very best Houston friends went up to San Antonio to celebrate a little more. Al and I celebrated my birthday and Jeff and Cindy celebrated their first real break from their kids. We met up at Boudros (my most favorite restaurant in San Antonio) for dinner and it was absolutely delicious. Then we wandered the Riverwalk for a little while, but we were all exhausted from the day, so we headed back to our hotels and we crashed. Then Sunday, Al and I went to the Quarry, it's a really nice outside shopping area that we like to visit. We had some lunch, caught a movie, and headed back to Houston. It was a great weekend. I'll post pictures of the river later, but here we are at dinner.

Sandcastle Competition 2009

2009-06-29T16:40:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago we went to Galveston Island's Sandcastle competition. We weren't too sure if they were going to actually hold the competition this year because a lot of sand was washed away after the hurricane and the beaches were left pretty barren. But, they had one this year and we were really excited. We got a really late start, so we decided to go hang out at the beach and then we would head over to the other end of the island and check out the competition. We had a great time relaxing and swimming. We then went down to the competition and had to wait in line for nearly an hour to get in, eventhough the competition was already over. This year, "green" was the theme and they didn't get to use generators to pump the water. They were a lot smaller than usual, but still most of them were cool. They have a couple different catagories such as: traditional castle, world events, entertainment, etc. Here's some pictures of our favorites.

Our Favorite Sunday Activity

2009-06-29T16:35:00.000-07:00

Is napping....

Not Meant to Be...

2009-05-05T15:21:00.000-07:00

Well, don't get your hopes up just yet. That's what I did, then I had to be horribly disappointed. As most of you know Al and I have been trying to have a baby FOREVER. Not really, but 4 years feels like forever when practically every person you know is popping out a kid. We had worked with my OBGYN for a while and finally it got to the point where she wasn't able to treat us anymore, so off we went to a Fertility Specialist. Our doctor has been rated one of America's top 100 doctors a few times, so I knew we were in good hands. I find him to be a great doctor, easy to talk to (I always ask a lot of dumb questions), and very supportive. I've been seeing him off and on for the last 2 years. When we found out we were going to have to do the shots we took some time to save up (they cost A LOT of money). Well we recently started the shots. I didn't feel like telling anyone because I didn't want someone asking me every other week if I was pregnant. Well we did one round of shots and an IUI (insemination) and everything looked good, but no luck. So we did another month of shots and I developed so many follicles that they decided not to do an IUI because the risk of multiples was too great. So they told us to go home and try the "old fashioned" way. Al was upset because he felt like we wasted our money on the shots. Well 2 weeks later I took a test and it came back negative. Surprise, surprise. I decided not to go to my doctor for a blood test. I wanted to rest my arms. I was averaging 4 blood tests a week and I looked like a druggie. Plus my doctor is a good 30 miles away, so I decided to save on gas. Well a few weeks later I went back to my doctor to get a prescription to start shots again and he said since I hadn't started my period I had to get a blood test. Ugh. So I gave some of my blood and my nurse told me she'd call me in the morning.
Well we were having a work lunch-in and one of the guys answers the phone and proceeds to tell me and everyone else that my OBGYN was on the phone...Thanks. So she says, "well the test came back positive." I reply, "oh ok." It didn't sink in. I have gotten 48 months of negatives. So then she says, "You're pregnant." I immediately start crying and shaking. Everyone in my office knew right then. I couldn't wait to tell Al. I even went and bought an Astro's onesie, wrapped it up and gave it to him when I got home. I set up a profile on babyzone. I was ready to go. I only told 3 people (besides my work group), but I wanted to shout it from the rooftop. I'm pregnant. The infertile one is pregnant! Well a few days later I went back into the doctor, more blood work and the nurse called with the results. My HCG levels and rose, but not doubled like they were supposed to. I immediately got on the Internet (bad decision) and tried to find out all I could. Everything was leaning towards a miscarriage. I was devastated, but tried to remain hopeful. I went back a few days later for more blood work and my HCG levels plummeted. My doctor told me I was beginning to miscarry. I got the news at work and had to sit there all day while my heart was breaking. I lost the one thing I've always wanted. I had such a bad headache while I was at work from trying not to ball my eyes out. Some of the guys started making cracks like "Oh you'll never make it 9 months, I feel bad for your husband, etc, etc." I wanted to kill all of them. I hadn't told them yet, so it wasn't their fault, but still it was like pouring salt into an open wound. I felt like it happened so fast I didn't get to enjoy it. Part of me wishes I had never known at all. Then again I was ecstatic because I actually got pregnant. It's been a week now and I haven't started miscarrying yet. I go back for blood work on Thursday to decide what the next step is. I am praying I don't have to have a D & C, but it wouldn't surprise me if I did. I also heard about these pills that make your body contract and force a miscarriage. I don't know what's worse, they both seem awful. I've been so sad about this miscarriage, but I am holding onto the hope that we can get pregnant. There is always the next round of shots and it may work again. Keep us in your prayers and we'll keep you updated.

Garden Try #2

2009-04-22T19:49:00.000-07:00

Well I really like gardening for some reason. I think it was because I was never aloud to have a garden growing up. My dad thought it would ruin his yard. He used to be really picky about his yard. I believe this is how my love of gardening truly began because I was denied as a child. Well, off to college I went and I befriended a girl named Randee. The summer of our freshman/sophomore year her family so graciously took me in while we were waiting to begin work at the Reid Ranch. I guess I had to earn my keep, so one day we ended up in her family's huge garden. I was in heaven. We had to weed, plant, play in the mud, shell peas, all the "normal" garden stuff I was deprived of in my childhood. So now that we have a yard Al let me put in a garden. It is a small box garden, but a garden none the less. I love it. Last year it did pretty well. My only problem is once is produces food I don't want to eat it because I feel like I am ruining my garden in some way. So a lot of food went to waste last year. This year though I am really going to use it. I planted things we would actually eat. We cleaned out the garden's soil from last year and found it to be home to a ton of worms. Question: Can one have too many worms in a garden? I wouldn't let Al throw any out, but now I am wondering if too many will ruin my garden. So all you gardeners out there let me know. We also came across 3 cocoon type things. They were about 2 inches long, red, and mostly disgusting, so if you know what this is: let me know. I threw them away because they were just too ugly to have in the garden. So hopefully it is not some super garden bug. But, here are a few pictures of my garden. The cabbage plant is leftover from last year. It took a long time to mature.

Our Austin Easter

2009-04-22T19:04:00.000-07:00

This year for Easter we went to Horseshoe Bay, TX. It is about an hour west of Austin. We went with my parents and had a really nice trip. We got in late Friday night because Al's boss wouldn't let him leave early...lame I know. Then Saturday we explored the hotel and their grounds. It was really crappy weather. We did find this amazing hot tub at the Yacht Club and we spent a while in there. Kids took over so we left the hot tub. The rest of Saturday was spent relaxing and hanging out with my parents. That night the hotel had a s'mores bar set up, so we ate lots of marshmallows. Sunday Al and I got a nice hot stone massage ate lunch and headed home. We didn't really focus on Easter Sunday sadly. When we got to Brennan we ran into the most beautiful field of bluebonnets. Hundreds of people were pulled off the freeway taking pictures in the field. Overall, we had an easy, relaxing weekend that we desperately needed.

BlaH

2009-04-16T19:37:00.000-07:00

Do you ever just feel blah? I have been feeling this way for awhile. I need to get out of this funk. Maybe I'll plant my garden this weekend.

Rowdy

2009-03-19T06:46:00.000-07:00

We've recently acquired a new puppy. He is a little red nose pit bull. We took him in for some friends who found him on the street. We can't take him to a shelter because the automatically put down pit bulls no matter the age. So if someone is interested in the cutest puppy let me know. I'll ship him wherever he needs to go.

My 2 Best Friends

2009-03-15T16:24:00.001-07:00

About nine months out of the year I have 2 best friends. For those of you unaware Houston is a giant swamp. That's where we get the name the Bayou City. Houston is extremely humid. Gross humid. Some days in the middle of summer you can't even get completely dry after you shower. Moisture hangs in the air. I have one battle that I fight over and over and it is MOLD! I hate mold. It's nasty, gross, and it seems to be everywhere. I think that I am generally a pretty clean person. I like to clean and sometimes list it as something I do for fun. I am one of those people that likes quick results (that's why I can never lose weight). Cleaning gives me quick results: your house is dirty a few hours later it's spotless. I love that feeling. Anyways, back to mold. Mold loves my bathrooms. Every 3 days or so it starts growing in the toilets. I should invest in Scrub & Bubbles stock because I go through their toilet bowl cleaner like crazy. I've never seen mold grow in toilets like it does here. I've tried everything I can to prevent it, but nothing works. We even have the problem in our shower. Now if I never cleaned my house then I would understand this, but I clean all the time. So this is where my 2 best friends come in. I have to say that a deadly concoction of Tilex Mold and Mildew and Bleach will wipe it out with minimal scrubbing. I also add a little CLR To help with the hard water. Yesterday as I cleaned the shower the fumes were burning my throat, but it was a good burn and I knew I had won the mold battle this week!

Mutt Strut 2009

2009-03-07T13:23:00.000-08:00

Today Al and I participated in the Mutt Strut. It was a noncompetitive 5k. It's only the second one of 2009. I am not doing too well on my goal of running more, but Monday is another day and we are going to start waking up and running again. We were able to take Hunter with us today. I think he enjoyed it. We got home around 10:30 and it is now 3:30 and he has been asleep since we got home. They had tons of dogs there. I didn't run today, but I did walk. It was really cool because it was at the airport and we actually ran on the runway as planes were coming in to land. Of course we were on a separate runway that wasn't being used, but the planes were landing probably 30 feet away. There was tons of airport security around. I've always liked animals, but ever since we got Sophia I have felt that we need to get rescue animals. All of our animals are rescue animals now. I've been really educated by some people here who are all about rescue animals. So now I am anti backyard breeder. I think it is so selfish and irresponsible when people breed their animals to make money off of them. There are so many innocent animals who die in shelters everyday. It makes me so sad to think of all of them. Doing this 5k we were able to raise money to donate to the HSPCA (the Animal Cop show on Animal Planet). So I want to thank those that donated money to our team. We almost reached our goal, but either way I hope we were able to save a few animals today.

Go Cardinals!!

2009-01-31T20:42:00.000-08:00

Since I am from Arizona I need to give a little shout out to the Cardinals. It's their first Superbowl ever. I don't really like football, but I have to root for my home team. If anyone feels like making a little jaunt over to Houston we are having a small Superbowl party. Steelers fans are univited. GO CARDINALS!!!!!!!!

The First 5K of 2009

2009-01-31T20:32:00.000-08:00

Well staying true to my getting in shape goal, I ran the first 5k of the year. I don't mind 5k's because they are only 3.2 miles. I hope to be up to a 10k (7 miles) by April. Today I didn't run the whole time. I had been trying to run every morning and then I had a few medical issues which put running on hold for 2 weeks. So Al and I jogged a few times this week to try and get ready. I figured since this is the first race I could be slow so I can improve on my time and then maybe feel good about running. I still don't really find it enjoyable, but each morning I try to jog just a little further then the day before and when I do it I feel pretty proud. So my time today was 45 minutes, which is pretty slow, but I'll improve on it. Since January 1st I have lost 8lbs. I know it's not too much, but it is a start. I think we may run a 5k next weekend, but we haven't decided for sure yet. I'll keep working at it though.

The New Year (A Little Late)

2009-01-17T20:04:00.000-08:00

Well I guess I should start off by saying that we had a great holiday season. It was spent with family and friends. We had a really low key Christmas. My parents and sister came down and we spent the holidays together. I then said goodbye to Sarah and off she went to Taiwan. She will be teaching English there for at least six months. If you want to read the blog she struggles to update it is http://sarlil.blogspot.com. I've talked to her once and she seems to be enjoying her time there so far. New Year's was spent with our really good friends Jeff and Cindy. There were fireworks, drunk people (not me or Al), games, and resolutions. We had a great night and stayed up way past our bed time.
Not too much is happening here right now, so I thought I'd write my resolutions down. If I write them and people read them then maybe, just maybe I'll stick to them.
My first goal is to lose weight. I think this is my goal every year and hopefully I do it this year. Due to the situation at work and our very good saving skills we now have enough money to work on infertility stuff. I think I will have the best chance at it, if I lose weight. So far, I have been waking up at 5:30am and running. Even on Saturdays. I have only missed 2 days (not including Sundays) since Jan. 1. I am just about up to 2 miles. I know it's not a lot, but when I started I could hardly run at all. It's not a fast run, but I need to start somewhere. I think I would like to be able to run a 10k by the end of the year. That's only 7 miles, but I'm not setting out to be a big marathon runner or anything.
Next, I really want to work on getting out of debt. I have been reading Dave Ramsey's info and watching Suze Orman on Oprah. I hope that Al and I can make this our number one couple resolution.
Lastly, I would like to be pregnant or at least try everything we can to get there. I am currently working with 2 great doctors. We are hoping to start trying in the spring. I have some problems right now that have to be cleaned up, but soon as they are we will start. This is something Al and I want badly. I am trying to stay as positive as I can and have faith that it will happen for us.
Well those are my resolutions. Feel free to check in on me from time to time to keep me accountable.

It's SnOwInG

2008-12-10T19:01:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe it's SNOWING!!! Now I know that this isn't a big deal for most and even a few years ago it wouldn't have been for me, but now I live in Houston. Some parts of Texas get snow, but hardly does it ever happen here since we are on the coast. Today it was bitterly cold and there was a rumor of snow and then a little after 4pm soft flurries fell from the heavens. I of course alerted the whole office since I had a window view. The last hour of work we discussed the snow, so not too much was accomplished. I was convinced that it would soon melt away, but as the night has continued on the snow keeps on coming. We are now close to an inch. I made all my animals play in it and I even built my first Texas snowman. It's a great night I hope it doesn't melt away by Christmas even though I know it will and it will probably be 80 degrees, but I would love to have my first White Christmas.

Christmas...Here I Come

2008-11-29T20:39:00.000-08:00

This year I am not getting into the spirit of receiving. I can't think of anything that I truly need. Why waste money on thinks you don't need? So Al and I aren't exchanging presents with each other, but we are going to go get a whole bunch of pet supplies and donate some money to a local pet shelter. I am really excited about Christmas this year. Even though I probably won't get too much. I guess it is true that it is better to give rather than receive.
Al and I finally got a fake tree. I am not excited about this because I love that real pine scent. Al's been begging for 5 years. We ended up buying a 9ft tree. It is huge. I've been listening to Chirstmas music for a few days now. Usually I am not even a fan of Chirstmas music. I can hardly wait for all the lights to go up around the neighborhood. I think this will be a great Christmas. This is just a short random blog, but I am really, really, excited this year.

71 Things

2008-10-31T15:35:00.000-07:00

Out Of 100

I found this on Randee's page....

I didn't do too bad, 71 out of 100. All the things I’ve done are in orange. Copy this list on your own blog and come clean on everything you’ve done. Do it. You know you want to.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty-I've been there though.
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill: They were mental health days.....
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon- Just a short one, I'm working on a 1/2
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice-Do you know how expensive it is??? I tried to do it.
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted-Does a caricature count?
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud - Love the mud volleyball!!
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie- a homemade one.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check...eeek I hate to admit that one
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt: doing one right now
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100.Visited Italy

Happy Birthday Baby

2008-10-27T19:33:00.000-07:00

Well, my wonderful husband turned 30 this past week. Every year we say we will downsize on birthdays, but this year I had to go all out since he was turning the big 3-0! So I decided that he needed to have a surprise party. I started to plan this party in May. Keeping my mouth shut for months was so hard, so I told anyone who would listen to me about the party. I decided to call my mother-in-law and invite her and Al's sisters out for the party. They had never been to Houston before and I was so excited when they told me they were coming.

Al's birthday was on Tuesday and we went to Outback because that is his favorite restaurant. We had a few friends come with us. Then we went home and unwrapped presents. I sent Al on a little scavenger hunt to find his "big" present. He is really in need of new shoes so I got him a gift card for new shoes. It was funny because you could tell he was disappointed, since I had built up his birthday. I wanted so badly to tell him that it would be better this weekend.

Well Friday came and I had so much running around to do. I had to pick up the rental equipment (I didn't have enough matching plates for 15), pick up the most delicious cupcakes, wait for the house cleaner who was 2 hours late and nearly gave me a heart attack waiting for her. Pick up the family from the airport, take them to lunch, and then set up the party. Luckily, I had Marianne who was able to go across town and pick up the floral arrangements. I called Al's boss the week before and asked her to keep him at work until 7:30pm. All his work friends were in on it. I called Al at 5pm and pretended to be on my way home from work, he wasn't feeling well and he really wanted to come home. His boss ran out of work for him, so he got stuck in the warehouse, I felt really bad for him. He called me at 7:30pm on his way home and he was in a horrible mood. I was so excited I couldn't stand it. Well right before he got home we sent his family upstairs and everyone gathered in the dining room to shout SURPRISE when he got home. He was shocked, I showed him around the party, introduced him to the chef who made us an AMAZING dinner, and then sent him upstairs where his family surprised him. It was a great birthday for a great husband. Here's to 30 or more birthdays. I love you Baby!

I've Had My Slackin Time...

2008-10-19T07:41:00.000-07:00

Well we survived the hurricane, for those of you who have been waiting anxiously for our news. Having a hurricane is great for procrastination. Everyone will tell you, "oh I couldn't get that done because of the storm, or our bills were lost in the mail because of the storm, etc." The list goes on and on. Even over a month later you still hear the excuses. So I'll tell you a little about our storm experience. We were prepared pretty well. I have to say I am grateful to the church for teaching us about food storage. Every time we go to Costco we get an item for our storage. I knew we wouldn't starve to death. Now for a tangent... I began to notice and despise those in this area who were so unprepared for the storm. The best thing about a hurricane is that you know it's coming for days or weeks in advance. Yes, they may turn at the last moment, but you still know it's coming close to you. I began to hate the whiners on the news/radio who acted like they were the only ones affected by the storm and who had not prepared at all and then expected everyone to help them out and then complain that it didn't happen fast enough. It was so annoying, I wanted to just scream at them. OK enough of that.
Well we started out by filling our tubs with water. You have to do that in case you loose water so you can flush your toilets and I guess you can use it for other things. We did loose water for a few hours and I began to cry. That was my one luxury was a hot shower, but it came back on. We made a lot of ice and froze milk jugs with water. We went to Target and bought lots of munchies. About 10pm the winds started. We decided to sleep in the front room because it had the least amount of windows. Our power went out about 2am. By this time the winds were out of control. I have to admit it was so scary. It was pitch black outside and if you felt the windows you could feel them bow under your hand. We didn't sleep at all. Finally around 5am we slept while the eye passed over. The other side of the storm came back around 8am and continued for a few more hours. We were on the dirty side, so we were hit with collecting rain bands all day. We were extremely lucky, all that happened to us was our pine tree tipped over and our fence in the back broke loose. Some people in this area had trees on them, roofs ripped apart, and of course those by the coast completely lost everything. This was only a category 2 and it did so much damage. I would hate to see a bigger one. After the storm we were without power for about a week. I have to say that most of the time the weather was just beautiful Not your normal hot sticky Houston weather. Al had to go back to work on Monday so I stayed in Houston instead of going up to Dallas. My wonderful parents did buy us a generator and we met halfway and picked it up. We didn't run it too much because gas was hard to come by. We lost most of the food from our fridge and freezer. But, the first couple of days we had great meals trying to eat stuff from the fridge so it wouldn't all go to waste. I got to know my neighbors better and meet some new ones. I began the Twilight series, and I took a lot of naps. All in all it wasn't the best experience, but we survived, our house was fine, and now we know how to prepare better for the next one. I can't get my storm pics to load right now, but when I figure it out I'll update this.

HuRrIcAnE iKe

2008-09-12T16:45:00.000-07:00

Well we are about to ride out our first true HURRICANE!!! Hurricane Ike is close to the Galveston coast. The storm is expected to be a strong category 2 or a cat 3. We are a little excited and we have made some preparations. We have water in the tubs (in case we have to flush the toilets), battery operated lantern and radio, we have food snacks and stuff to cook. We have ice and we made some large ice cubes. Winds are expected to be around 90 mph here and we are about 50 miles away from the coast. If we loose electricity then we will head up to Dallas and stay with my family. The storm should be in this area about 11pm so hopefully we can get some cool videos. I am posting our prestorm video and will update it as soon as I get a chance. Take care, we love you all. Oh yeah we have a curfew starting at 8pm until 8am Saturday morning. It's like high school all over again.

Bladder Infection, Burnt Toast, and a Hurricane

2008-09-11T14:30:00.000-07:00

Well the title pretty much sums up my day.....ughhh. Well the bladder infection is not new, it is actually going away. I thought it would just help paint the picture of my day. Yes, yes I know it is more information than you really need, but oh well.
My lovely morning started with me waking up at 6:00 with a splitting headache and a realization that I missed boot camp this morning. We were going to do a push-up test and run a mile, so of course I was just devastated. I then rolled back over and went to sleep. Up again with Al's alarm at 6:50. I dashed to the shower and told Al to check the breakfast menu and then make breakfast, which since I am unemployed he never has to do anymore. Not that he did it when I was employed, but we are following a strict menu right now. It is for people with diabetes. We don't have diabetes, but we both need to loose weight and I really hate coming up with menus, so I found this one all made up already. Enough of that. After my shower I went to check on Al. Who know cutting up a kiwi and a mango would take nearly 30 minutes. I can't complain though since I wasn't doing anything. Al finished the fruit salad and went to take a shower. We were supposed to have toast with jam with the salad as well. So in all of my geniousness I put the toast in the toaster and went to blow dry my hair. I guess I should mention that I had an interview this morning with a large temp agency, since I am having no luck on finding a job on my own. Well I blow dry and straighten my hair and I smell a faint burning smell. I casually walk out of our room into the family room and I am greeted with a billowing cloud of smoke. I quickly unplugged the toaster and open all the windows and doors and turn on the fans. It smelled SOOOO bad. I wish I could turn this page into a scratch and sniff so you can understand the full effect. I am guessing the toast burned for at least 15 minutes. Our poor dog started shaking uncontrollably. I didn't yell, but I guess the smoke scared him. Poor little guy. Anyways we aren't having toast with breakfast. By this time it is almost 8am and I needed to be out the door. I felt really bad for going to the interview smelling like burnt toast. I mean I really stunk. The interview and tests took almost 4 hours. They liked me burnt toast smell and all, so they agreed to help me find a job. When I got done I had to wait in line to get gasoline since a hurricane is expected to hit Friday night.
We are not evacuating. We did that for our first hurricane. It took us 23 hours to drive to Dallas which is normally about three and a half hours, four if you stop for Dairy Queen. So we are riding it out. I am actually really excited. If we loose power for more than a day we will head up to Dallas after the storm. I would like to stay close though since my dear friend is supposed to have a baby any day. She is actually over due. I think it is the best time to have a baby. I also invited myself to the birth.
So there is a little bit of excitement and nervouness mixed into one. I hope to take some cool pics on Saturday morning. That is if we survive...hahaha. Winds are projected to be at 95 miles an hour when they get to our house. So, the positive thing is they will be slowing down. Oh the joys of living on the coast. I will post some pics soon as I find my cord for the camera. I need to head out and buy some essentials just in case and then fill the tubs with water. Just because there is a hurricane that is no reason to be stinky. By the way, my house still stinks like burnt toast.

Happy Anniversary

2008-09-04T06:16:00.000-07:00

Well today is our FOURTH ANNIVERSARY! I can't believe that I got to marry the man of my DREAMS. I think anyone who knew our original relationship may be surprised that we even ended up together. I am so glad we did though. Our marriage hasn't been challenge free, but I think it is stronger now more than ever. We have the house, the animals, and now we are waiting on the babies. I think we have come along way, but there are some days I wonder what we really have accomplished. I am trying to be more grateful and realize all the blessings we have. I guess since we are having so much trouble with the baby stuff I tend to forget that we have a pretty good life.

Our morning started off with Al getting up and getting ready for work (I get to sleep in since I am unemployed) and he kissed me goodbye. I rolled over and saw that it was only 7:15 so I got up and asked why he had to leave so early. I guess I ruined his surprise he was leaving early to get me Starbucks. I am glad I caught him and was able to give him my order. I quit drinking coffee :( but I guess I forgot to tell Al. When he got home we exchanged cards said our I love you's. Now I sit here blogging while Al is at work. When he gets home we are going to go out for a really nice dinner.

I must say that I really love my husband! He is kind, he always does things for me, and he thinks I am hilarious, which means a lot. We have been talking about going back to church a lot lately. We have started family prayers, reading scriptures, now we just have to go back to church. Al asked me the other night if I wanted to get married in the temple. I was really shocked because church really hasn't been a part of our married life, but I was definitely all tingly after he asked me. So, now we are going to go talk to the bishop and get our lives on the right track. Hopefully, next year we will have been sealed in the temple.

I really, really, really LOVE my Husband. Who else would I trust to be my scuba partner????

Why do We have To work??

2008-08-26T21:18:00.001-07:00

Well, the past few weeks I have been seriously irritated with my "dream" job. As most of you know I thought I would love to have my own flower shop some day. Well, after I quit teaching (definitely not my dream job) I found a little shop to take a chance on me. I didn't have a lot of experience, but I was eager to learn. As some unfortunate events unfolded over the last 3 months I ended up spending A LOT of time in the delivery truck, which was not fun at all. Today, I decided I could not handle it anymore. I thought I was working in a flower shop to learn how to design, not to drive around in once of the worst vehicles imaginable. I think our van was a 1949 Chevy Astro, it was old, ugly, and hot, but it did have a radio :) So, after I did 30 something deliveries yesterday and then got reprimanded because I took too long I decided this was not the job for me. I kept holding out for them to hire a delivery driver, and they did, but she didn't even last one full day. So the responsibility fell mainly on me. I might have been fine with this if we had a delivery driver schedule so everyone in the shop had to deliver, but that never happened. So, about 20 minutes ago I sent an email quitting my job. I know it's tacky to do it via email, but I am a wuss, what can I say. So if you know of any job openings let me know.

Worst Haircut Ever...

2008-08-07T18:23:00.000-07:00

So I have officially had the WORST haircut EVER. I am so depressed about it. Al and I went to the baseball game on Friday and I saw this girl with a super cute A-line cut. So this got me thinking that I would get my hair cut. I knew the A-line wouldn't be cute on me and besides Al hates short hair on girls. So today at work I was cleaning up the front of the store and I found some coupons for a new salon. A girl I work with gets her hair cut there and she has been really pleased. So I told Al I was working late and I would be home shortly. I wanted to surprise him with my new cute "do." The guy (1st time I ever had my hair cut by a guy) seems trained and pretty good. So I tell him I want something new, but I didn't want my hair too short. He seemed to understand and off he went...things went smoothly at first, then I felt the back of my hair and I started to panic. He kept cutting and cutting and cutting. He then styled it and I saw the full damage. I told him I liked it and I was in such a hurry to leave because I didn't want to cry. All I could think about on the way home was how Al would kill me. Al was pretty supportive because I called him before I got home to tell him how depressed I was. He said it is shorter than he would like, but it is "not that bad." I am not going to take a picture, but I look like a girl oompa loompa. My one positive is that my hair smells nice. If anyone knows of a good place to get extensions let me know.

My Dear Husband...

2008-08-04T14:48:00.000-07:00

I should start off saying that I love my husband to death. He is a great person, treats me well, and he loves me. Sometimes though he can be a pain. I go to the doctor a lot. I seem to be one minor health problem after another. It's never anything serious, but I do go to the doctor a few times a year. Well, my dear husband doesn't go to the doctor very often. I feel like I have to force him to go when he is sick. But, when he gets sick, he gets really sick. For example, we'd been married a few months and his legs were bothering him. He thought he pulled a muscle, but it kept getting worse, so finally I talked him into going to the hospital. We spent all night in the e.r. when we finally got back and had a chance to talk to the doctor they almost laughed that we were there for a "pulled muscle," but they did some blood work and come to find out he had about 800 times more than the "normal" enzymes level (or something like that) in his blood. They admitted him and he spent nearly 9 days in the hospital. It was awful.
So back to the present...yesterday we were sitting in the office working on stuff and he kept complaining about his heart. Being the compassionate person I am I told him it was just heartburn or acid reflux (that put him in the e.r. last year) and to go take some medicine. Well, it didn't get better and he seemed to be in quite some pain and we decided (after reading of the internet) that he had some symptoms of a heart attack. So, off to the e.r. again. He had his vitals taken and the triage nurse assured us it was nothing and told us we would have to wait 6 hours to see a doctor. I was pretty frustrated and irritated. Well, she ran and EKG just in case. When she brought back the printout she showed me all the abnormalities and told us we had been moved to the front of the line. I sure felt like a bad wife for having doubted him and making him wait to go to the hospital. Well, we get to the back and they are so full they had to examine him in the hallway. We never did get a room, but they put a note on the white board above Al's head so they wouldn't forget why we were there.

After multiple blood tests and some other tests they decided nothing was wrong with him and sent us home about 9 hours later. I am glad Al's ok, but he can no longer complain about me going to the doctor.

It's About Time

2008-08-04T14:43:00.000-07:00

I keep getting invited to view all of these blogs, so I have decided to start one for Al and I. It's not that we have an exciting life, but we do have a lot of loved ones far from us. So, I decided this would be an easy way to keep in touch and let everyone know what we are up to. More importantly I never like to be left out of anything as most of you know, and I don't want to be left out of the world of blogging :) So welcome to our blog, sit, read, and enjoy your time here.