It's SnOwInG

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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.