Sitting

I have spent an unusual amount of time sitting and listening to people talk lately. Here's what I did the last 2 days:

Sunday
Church (2 hours)
Fiddler on the Roof (3 hours)
Church (1 hour)

Monday
Neverending meeting (9 hours)

I think I should get a medal for patience!!

Conversation

I was going to write my next blog about my recent travels. But I had the funniest conversation with my sweet niece today and decided to blog about it. Here's how it went:

Jenny: What are you doing?
Mia: Playing with my lady bug rock.
J: What's a lady bug rock?
M: It's a rock that I painted to look like a lady bug for Nana (that's what she calls my mom)
J: Why did you paint it to look like a lady bug?
M: Lady bugs are on of my favorite bugs.
J: Really? What are your other favorite bugs?
M: Butterflies, lady bugs, dragon flies, and fire flies.
J: Well, that is quite a list.
M: Aunt Jenny, love bugs, too.
J: What? You love bugs?
M (laughing): No, I mean love bugs are one of my favorite bugs, too.

I love my niece.

Scatterbrained

That's my new title...Miss Scatterbrained! In just the last 8 days, I have misplaced my Garmin GPS watch ($300) AND my brand new bank card. I also have a weird noise coming from my car, need to clean my house, and I'm leaving for Nashville Friday morning to go run the half-marathon. I have trained for the half-marathon distance-wise, but have not run on what anyone would deem a "hill" in two years! This should be quite a weekend...

Update on Me

Whew, it has been a long time since I've written on this. I spend too much time on Facebook nowadays! Here are some random observations I made recently. It's not much of an update, but oh well. While driving between Houston and Alexandria for Easter, I observed the following:

-If I lived in a small town, I would have a love-hate relationship with my situation. I would love the fact that, on Good Friday, there is nowhere to park in town because everyone is at the Parish fair and is parking anywhere they can fit a car. I would hate the fact that the local Exxon station closes whenever the cashier has to run an errand. True fact: I went into the Exxon to buy a bottle of water. When I walked out, the cashier (who was very nice) walked out behind me, closed the door and put up a handwritten sign "Closed. Back in 5 minutes."

-Some people are in no hurry to get anywhere. Some are in way to much of a hurry!

-My family is hilarious! I almost spit out my food at dinner on Friday night when my sisters had the following conversation: "I'm going on a mission trip to Honduras." "Cool. Where is Honduras?" "I don't know...near Spain?" We all laughed really hard at that one, then it got better. "It's in Central America." "Where is that?"

-This one wasn't specifically on this trip. I used to be very independent. I preferred running by myself, living by myself, a good road trip to sing at the top of my lungs by myself. Not so much anymore. I'm spoiled by having company. I am scared when my roommate is out of town (which is ironic since I had to wake her up to ask her if she was OK the last time our alarm went off in the middle of the night), I prefer running with someone to talk with to pass the time, and I just outright dislike traveling alone. I don't know when all of that changed. Weird.

I guess that's all. Lots has gone on in my world, but there's not enough time to go over the minutiae of detail here. I'll try to keep up better from now on!

Cooking Group Fun!

Tonight was our last cooking group for 2008. It was wonderful as always. We did a gift exchange and all brought appetizer-type food. We usually each bring a different course of the meal, so this was a change of pace for us. Here was the menu tonight:

Maradee - homemade crab dip with crackers
Erika - Ham & Cheese pinwheels and spinach dip with Hawaiian bread
Heather - Wassail
Rachel - Pepperoni and jalapeno bread
Cindy - Pork-on-pork : ) bacon wrapped little sausages covered with brown sugar...delish!
AnneMarie - Bris with apples, crackers, and walnuts
Me - Bacon and corn easy bake (kind of like a quiche)
Shannon - Buffalo chicken dip
Mandy - Homemade peppermint patty double chocolate cookies

I wish I could say that we don't always have this much food, but...we do. It's just usually an entree, appetizer, side dish, dessert, salad, drink, bread, and whatever else someone brings. I love cooking group! This is all of us in front of the Christmas tree at my house. Fun times!

Carter is Here! And other happenings...

My precious nephew, Carter Paul Allen, was born last Monday, December 8, 2008 at 5:01pm in Shreveport. He is ADORABLE!!! I can't wait to see him again soon. My sister did wonderful during labor, delivery, etc. Following my family's normal tradition of being silly in any situation, we had a contest to see who could guess the closest to the time, weight, and height. There were like 12 of us sitting around the waiting room, so it was a good way to pass the time. Another classic moment...I looked up and there were FIVE of us on laptops (free wi-fi at the hospital) and everyone else was texting or on their cell phones. We were all playing on Facebook when Carter was actually born and missed it by 2 or 3 minutes...very funny!

In other, less important news, Thanksgiving was fun with the fam. We went up to Laury's house because she couldn't travel (Carter wasn't quite here yet).

The next week, I got to go to a Texans game. It was very fun. I really like sporting events and I really like football...good combo! This was the first time the Texans had played on Monday Night Football, so there were lots of festivities. It was cold because they kept the roof of Reliant Stadium open (it's still damaged from Hurricane Ike). We left the game early because it was getting late. The Texans were winning 16-3 and there was only 12 minutes left in the game. After we left, there were four touchdowns scored...FOUR! There had only been one touchdown and four field goals scored in the whole first three and a half quarters...craziness. The Texans still won, but crazy that so much happened after we left.

The weekend before Carter got here, I had a wonderfully relaxing weekend doing not much of anything. I took the whole week off of work because I had a lot of vacation left (I'm only working 5 more days this year!!). I was in Louisiana for a few days and missed the snowstorm in Houston :(. I did have to drive through a Winter Wonderland to get back from Louisiana.

This past weekend, Heather and David hosted a poker night. It was so much fun that I decided to stay there until almost 4:00am...I know, I know...how old do I think I am??? There were nine players in the first game, so it lasted a LONG time. We took a break and five of us played a second cash game. I lost my money in the first game and broke even in the second game. The pics below were taken around 2:30am, so they're a little scary. David suddenly realized (after 6 hours of poker) that he wanted to wear his sunglasses. Also, I had four of a kind for the first time EVER! It was only 2's and I only won like $3, but still...four of a kind!!

Much Overdue Fall Update

Once again, it has been a whirl wind of activity in my world (is whirl wind one word or two?). Let's see, since I last updated you I have:

-Seen the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans
-Gone to a million parties (OK, maybe not a million!)
-Ran a few races
-Visited family in Louisiana and dear friends in Dallas
-Started going to a sign language class

So, details...

I went to Louisiana for Laury's baby shower. How can my baby sister be having a baby? I remember seeing her in the nursery at the hospital on the day she was born! What is the world coming to? Here is a picture of all 3 of us at the shower. We also celebrated Mom's birthday that weekend and watched LSU lose to Georgia (boo!). It's always so nice to go home. I just love my family. Mandy went with me and got to experience all the craziness of my family activities. We are constantly "doing" something...cleaning, celebrating, cheering, playing, reading...it's a never-ending roller coaster at our house. Well, until about 8:00 when we all tucker out and go to sleep watching TV : ).



The day after I got back from Louisiana, I headed to Los Angeles for a work meeting. It was actually a pretty good meeting. I got to meet a lot of people face-to-face that I had only talked to on the phone or emailed with. We went out to dinner at a couple of nice restaurants and went to the Santa Monica Pier one night to watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean...gorgeous!




The next weekend, Cindy and I hosted a costume party (the day after Halloween). Unfortunately, I left my camera at home, so I'll let you imagine what it was like. If you know my friends here in Houston, you know that it was super fun! I dressed as an Environmentalist. Translation...I found a bag that said "Tree Hugger" for $2.50 and a shirt that said "Plant Flowers" that I bought with a gift certifcate...all about 3 hours before the party. There was a costume contest...we had two men in kilts/barbarian costumes (JB & Jim), a redneck with fake teeth (Dick), Sarah Palin (Jana), a devil with strangely realistic horns (Maradee), some pirates (Laura & Isaac), some farmer-type costumes (Tim & Ashley), WonderWoman (Cindy), Batman (Jeff) and lots of other costumes that I don't remember because I didn't have my camera with me! The night ended with Jeff, Cindy, Shannon, Maradee, and I talking while we snacked on what was left of the food (Cindy REALLY like the dip!)...fun times!

The next weekend, Mom, Dad, and I headed to the northeast for a racing trip. We ran in Rhode Island and Connecticut (states #18 & 19). We saw Plymouth Rock (it's disappointly small) and ate at Mystic Pizza (like the movie!). The races were fun. The one in Rhode Island was sponsored by a community club and they were cooking clam chowder to serve after the race (which started at 11:00). So, the place where we had to go to sign up smelled hideously of onions...not a good smell right before a race! There were only 25'ish people in that race and we were the last people to make it in. Our papparazzi (Mom) was there waiting at the end. The race in Connecticut was in Hartford and it was HILLY!!!! In case you've never noticed, there are no hills in Houston and not too many in all of Louisiana, so we did not do so well on the hills! We went to Mystic Seaport, which has lots of boat stuff, so Daddy was in heaven. We saw the Atlantic Ocean and took pictures (with Mom's camera, so I may never see them). It was a kind of exhausting, but fun trip!

This past weekend, I went up to Dallas to visit my dear friend Cara and her family. I go see them about once a year and it's always so fun. This was the first trip in a while that didn't involve some special event for their family or friends (I've been to engagement parties, wedding receptions, baby showers, all for people I don't know). The kids are adorable. Jacob is 6 and is sooo smart! Joel is just 18 months younger than him. Joel is such a sweet boy! Anna is the baby and she is 2. She has quite a personality and is beautiful! Here are some pictures from the weekend. Anna took the one of the boys!



And now I'm back in Houston. I only have 16 more work days in 2008 because of all my vacation...yay!!!

My Encounter with Ike

I didn't ever write about my Hurrican Ike adventure. I feel bad because I escaped very unscathed after the storm and so many people lost so much. Recovery is ongoing and it's tough to think that my life is completely back to norman when so many people are still devastated and merely coping. Here is what I did during the Hurricane. Some of it is funny. You may think it's boring. But it's what I did.

On Wednesday before the hurricane, I was determined that I was not going anywhere. The thing that stresses me out most about the threat of a hurricane is the potential traffic jams. So, I really just wanted to watch the storm coverage in my PJ's in my house. However, by the time I left work on Wednesday I was in a panic. We had had 3or 4 meetings to try to decide what we were going to do at the plant and I became more and more frantic as the day went on. Our management team (which includes me!) decided that we had to meet at 5am on Thursday morning to make a final decision. Of course, I only had 1/4 tank of gas and there were gas lines everywhere.

So, Maradee, Mandy, and I decided we weren't going to evacuate. We're so far inland that it seems silly to leave. However, I got really stressed out and only slept 2 hours Wednesday night. At 2:45, I finally gave up and got out of bed. I decided that it would make me feel better if I had a full tank of gas and a bag of clothes just in case I couldn't go home after work on Thursday. So, I went to get gas. There are not many people at the gas station at 3:30am!! At work, we had our meeting and decided that we would stop all work for the hurricane. So, then we were in full preparation mode. I walked around the plant with a co-worker making a list of all the things that needed to be tied down or moved inside a structure. This is a surreal exercise. You are literally looking at things and saying, "That's heavy enough. 100 mph winds won't pick that up. OK, tie those other things to it now and they'll stay down, too." It's just weird!

Around 7:30 that morning, Maradee called me. Our house was in a mandatory evacuation zone due to potential storm surge from one of the bayous near us! I was totally not prepared for that. The house wasn't ready at all and I had only packed a few things. Fortunately, Maradee's school was already closed for the hurricane, so she was able to get things ready around the house and bring me some extra clothes. I was a basket case (mostly from not sleeping). Maradee planned to go to the Woodlands to stay with a family she knows from her time at Baylor. So, I invited myself along because I really did not want to drive to Louisiana! Since I was freaking out so much, I left work about 9:30 that morning and just drove up to the Woodlands. There was very little traffic and I got there around 11:00. So here I was in the Woodlands at 11:00 on a Thursday morning with nothing to do (Maradee wasn't there yet). So I went shopping at the mall. It's a really nice mall and it was very quiet. I bought some face stuff and a suitcase and some books. It was just funny that, in the middle of a hurricane evacuation, here I was at the mall!

The family we stayed with were wonderful. The dad is a chaplain at Hermann Memorial and had to go in for the hurricane ride-out crew at the hospital, so it was just Maradee & I with the mom and their 3 kids (18, 15, and 12). On Friday, we decided to go out into the traffic and get some necessities like brownies and milk (we had a pan-a-day brownie habit during the hurricane), but everywhere we went had closed just before we got there...very amusing/frustrating. We had a "last meal" at Raising Canes. We found a Target that was open and got what we needed. We also moved our cars to a parking garage so they'd at least be away from flying debris (thanks to Brent for that plan because our cars would have been toast if we'd left them on the street!). The storm hit the Woodlands around 1:00am Saturday morning. We were all staying in the living room downstairs. There wasn't an interior room in the house, so we covered the sliding glass doors with a mattress and hunkered down (a very popular term that week!). At 4:00am, we were all woken up by the transformer blowing (it sounds like a shotgun if you've never heard it). We all looked outside...it was crazy! The wind was so strong! When we laid back down, we could hear what sounded like more transformers blowing around the area. Every time, there would be a bluish light in the sky. It was eerie. And then it was very dark.

This is a crazy thing to say, but I'm kind of glad I stayed and rode out the hurricane. I've lived on the Gulf Coast for my entire life, but I've never really been through a hurricane. We were so blessed to not have been hurt, but it is crazy when the wind is blowing 90 mpg outside the window that is 4 feet away from where you are laying!

The storm didn't completely pass through the Woodlands until about noon on Saturday. The house we were at had minimal damage. One leak in the roof, fences down, and lots of branches on the ground. We discovered the leak because we were bored and flashing the flashlights onto the ceiling and noticed a tiny spot of water. We ventured into the attic and tried to stop it. Our efforts seemed to help. No one had any power. We had a radio to listen to and lots of flashlights (we were prepared!). We played cards and did a puzzle. The highlight of the day was when Karen (the mom) and Garrett (the 18-year-old) tried to get the dog to use the bathroom in the storm. Smoky (the dog) was too scared of the rain. So, Garrett pulled him outside in the rain by his leash while Karen held an umbrella over him. It took him forever to go. I took a picture because it was so funny! Anna, the 12-year-old, made a "flashlight chandelier" attached to the existing light fixture over the table so we could see the puzzle really well. After it got really dark outside, she did a show for all of us. It was kind of like charades. We mostly laughed a lot.

I got up early on Sunday morning and took a shower and headed out before anyone was awake. I ended up driving through lots of standing water (I am a complete moron, I know!) and made it home after a couple of hours of driving. There were lots of people on the road. I stopped at a Lowe's that was miraculously open, but left after a few minutes because the line to check out was wrapped around the inside of the store. I didn't need anything that badly! My house was basically untouched by the storm, but I didn't have any power. There were a couple houses of friends close by that had power. We went to one house with power, but as soon as we got there, the power went out again. So, we ended up staying at the house of some dear, sweet guys from church, along with 9 other people. It was a party! We ate all the food from everyone's refrigerator that was going to spoil. We had a good time, but I had to go to work the next day to help the plant get going again. I got power back on on Monday and have been enjoying it ever since! I was very fortunate. My house had zero damage. I think that it was protected by all of the 2-story houses down the street. They all had roof damage, but my little one-story was perfectly fine.

Well, that was really long. I though you might enjoy some random details.

Simple Sights

Today, I met a friend of mine for lunch. To get to the restaurant (which is worthy of it's own blog post), I had to drive about 12 miles on country roads. I wish I had a camera with me. Here is my description of some of the "simple" things I saw that made me smile:

+Two older gentlemen sitting in the side yard of a house, shaded by a portable metal building, with laundry drying on a line close by, whipping in the wind. I wanted to pull over and ask them what they were talking about. Here is what I think they were saying:

Man #1: "Weather sure is nice today."
Man #2: "Sure is. It's supposed to get hot this afternoon."
Man #1: "Yeah. Humid too."
Man #2: "MmHmm"
Silence for at least 5 minutes.

+An American flag blowing in the breeze on what appeared to be a 2" PVC pipe in front of a kind of run-down house.

+A white picket fence in front of a long line of houses that were very clearly not part of any neighborhood development project...just neighbors who wanted a white picket fence.

Nothing exciting, just things that I like to see are still somewhere in the world, even if they're not really a part of my world.

It's Been Too Long...

Yet again, I have failed in my blogging. I can't begin to go into all the details since July, so I'll hit the hightlights.

Barb Got Married! One of my former roommates and dear friends got married in Houston on August 9th. It was a beautiful ceremony and a lovely reception at my favorite restaurant in Houston, Brennan's (which burned down during Hurricane Ike). The cake was the coolest thing ever! Barb's co-worker Devanshi made and decorated it and it was so neat. I'll try to add a picture later.

New Job. I got transferred to my company's Mont Belvieu Plastics Plant as the Maintenance Supervisor. I started on September 1 (just in time for Ike!) and am getting adjusted to a different site. I had been in Baytown for 6 years, so it's a change for me. It's going fine, though. My official title is Mont Belvieu Plastics Plant Maintenance Section Supervisor. I have 70 people reporting up to me...yikes!

College Football is Back!! In case you didn't know, I LOVE college football. It's second only to tennis in my list of sports that I love to watch. Since my team is LSU, it's been an uneventful season. This coming Saturday will be the biggest test so far this season. Unfortunately, I won't be able to watch it live (birthday party at the same time), so I'll DVR it and come home and watch it at midnight. If you know the score, don't call or text me before Sunday afternoon!!!

Hurricane Ike. As you may or may not have heard, there was a hurricane that hit Houston. It was very bad for some people, but not so bad for most of us. I was very fortunate and didn't have any damage to speak of, just no power for 2 days and a little fence damage (very minor...I haven't even touched it to fix it!). I'll write another blog later this week with the random details of my Ike adventure. In case you have never ridden out a hurricane or had to evacuate, it is more stressful than you might imagine. At least it was for me. More on that later.

Missy & Scott Got Married. My sister got married in September. It was a beautiful and sweet ceremony at their house in Hineston. My niece, Mia, was the flower girl (and only attendant). Missy was beautiful, as always, and the ceremony was short (always good!). We had a dinner reception there in the back yard and everyone had a good time. It was nice to meet some of Scott's family for the first time.

Luau Murder Mystery. The Young Adults ministry at my church had a fun party. It was a luau murder mystery. Everyone really got into their parts and hammed it up. I loved it! I was part of the "Mermaids of the Land". We were a "synchronized" "swimming" team. I use quotes (which would be air quotes if I were telling you this story in person) because we weren't so much synchronized and we weren't swimming. We just made up a cheesy routine to a song that I would hum for you if I were telling you this story in person and you would totally recognize. I was the murderer, by the way. Apparently I was embezzling money and killed my boss. Very exciting!

New Garage Door. Back in the summer, my garage door opener stopped working. Apparently, before I moved in, someone had run into the door and that knocked it of the tracks which, over time, burnt up the motor in the opener. So, since it hasn't been working, I have to get out of my car, open the door manually, and then drive in and close the door manually. Reverse for when I leave the house. There are just a couple things about this that annoy me: (1) wasting gas while my car is idling, (2) the whole personal safety aspect when I leave in the morning at 4:45am, and (3) there is a lizard that lives in the lip of my garage door and falls out every morning when I open it. I am OK with the lizard living there because he does not come into my house and lizards eat bugs. However, one day I wasn't thinking about it and opened the door and he fell into my hair. I FREAKED OUT, as you can imagine! So, all of that to say that I got a NEW door and opener on Saturday. The
door is insulated which will help the house not get so hot in the summer and the opener is crazy quiet...like almost silent! It's awesome.

OK, that's about all I have to report out. My next blog will be about Hurricane Ike (in case you haven't heard enough about it!).

What I Did on My Summer Vacation, Part Deux

Part Two of my summer vacation was a few days spent in Houston. I had planned for this to be a relaxing couple of days, but of course I crammed in as much as possible.

Sunday afternoon, I celebrated Kristy's birthday with her. Our entertainment was Kristy & Jess playing the Wii...very amusing! Nothing too exciting!

Monday, I had planned to meet Heather for a mani/pedi in Rice Village. However, her car broke down and I dropped my phone in the tub, so we had to scrap that plan. I did manage to make it into town for lunch with Shanna and Madelyn. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at Chuy's (I love Tex Mex!) and then I got to see their new beautiful house. That was nice and relaxing. By the time I got back down to Clear Lake, it was time to get ready for cooking group. We had a great time at Cindy's...we think it was the best cooking group ever. I made cheddar garlic biscuits (kind of reminiscent of Red Lobster's). Cindy made chicken marsala, Shannon made risotto, Brittany brought veggies and dip, Maradee made a great black bean pizza for an appetizer, and Mandy brought salad. Then, to top all of that off, Kallae brought homemade ice cream sandwiches...soooooooo good!

Tuesday, Mandy and I headed downtown for a Vacation in Houston day. We started off at the Menil Collection. This is supposed to be a great museum. However, we didn't get to experience it because it was closed (you'd think I would have looked into that!). We still took some pictures of the art in the front of the museum. From there, we went to lunch in Midtown. Yummy burgers at Farago's. After that, we went to Hermann Park to go to the Japanese Garden. It was a little different than we expected...and it was really hot, so we didn't stay too long. The kids at the park were playing in the reflecting pool. We're not actually sure that you're supposed to play in the pool, but they were. From there, we did some drive-by sight-seeing, including some odd houses, giant presidents' heads, and a 50-foot saxophone. I found all this on www.roadsideamerica.com. I highly recommend this website if you're going on a roadtrip! After we got done with all of that, we headed to meet some more UBC folks for the Astros game. It was a great game. It was the first time I've ever seen a grand slam in person...really cool!

Well, that was about it for the Houston portion of my vaca. I have lots more pictures on my Picasa site, if you'd like to see them (look at the President's heads!). I'm in Louisiana now...more on part 3 of my summer vacation in a few days.

What I Did on My Summer Vacation, Part One

I know it's been forever since I posted and I know that you're all dying to hear what I've been up to. This summer has been really busy and I'd love to give you all the details, but there are too may. Instead, I'm just going to tell you what's going on now.

I decided to take a week off after the project at work finally finished and this is the week. This past weekend, my first phase of summer vacation was a weekend trip to Charlotte, NC. I went to visit Ann & Eddie to cheer them on while they biked in 24 Hours of Booty (that's them in the red jerseys). This is a cool event where they block off a popular 3-mile biking loop in the city for 24 hours. Cyclists can ride as much as they would like. It was to benefit cancer (I think?). Anyway, I decided to take Air Tran for the first time because it was a lot cheaper than the other options. I got to Hobby in plenty of time (a little over an hour ahead of time) and got in line to check bags (I always check bags...I'm a high maintenance packer!). There was only one person checking people in and she was NOT fast and kept answering the phone. By the time I got checked in and through security, I had to RUN through the airport to get on the plane...run! Can you believe it? Craziness, that's what it is to me! Anyway, I made the plane and the connection in Atlanta and got to Charlotte without much more fanfare.

The weekend was very relaxed. Once I got there, I met up with Ann & Eddie and cheered them on at the starting line. Matt drove up from Clemson to hang out, so we watched them go by on their loop a few times (3 miles go by quickly on a bike) and tried to take some pictures, but they were mostly very blurry! After a great dinner and staying up late to watch a movie (Good Will Hunting has lots of bad language in it!), I was tired and ended up sleeping in late, so we got a late start to the day. That afternoon we went to the Billy Graham Library. I don't know what you would personally expect there, but I was very impressed. It is such a wonderful tribute to Dr. Graham's ministry, including his wife who passed away last year. I highly recommend it if you're in Charlotte. Back at the house, among other things, we were entertained by Shadow, Ann & Eddie's dog. Shadow is a 2-year old lab/boxer mix and is very hyper. She jumps ALL the time. Matt was able to actually hold her, which even Ann & Eddie were amazed by. I was very fortunate and only had to watch her through the windows while everyone else managed her. I'm terrified of dogs, you know. There wasn't much else exciting...we ate some great pizza and ice cream and played Mexican train dominoes late into the night. Dominoes was a little loosey-goosey...we kind of made up some extra rules as the game went on. I won even though it was the first time I'd ever played. Sunday morning, we ran...in North Carolina...yay!! The weather was awesome. We had a good 3-mile run. As we were leaving, a man was getting ready to run on the trail and said, "How'd you like that sauna?" Sauna?? Really? It was like 75 degrees and <75%>

So, now I'm back in Houston for Part Two of my summer vacation...more on that later this week!

Fun vs Productive

I got back to work this morning only to find a Post-it note still stuck on my desk. I wrote it Saturday afternoon before leaving...my list of things to do on my one day off (yesterday). It's not a very helpful list if you don't have it with you : ) !

Here is what was on the list of things I needed to do yesterday:
-laundry
-shop for groceries
-work on the lock on the garage door
-download my bank transactions to Quicken on my computer at home.
I really did need to do all of those things and none of them were too terribly taxing on me. They just weren't very fun things to do.

Here is what I actually did on Sunday (after going out to eat with friends Saturday night):
-awakened at 5:00am by my pager from work...crisis managed after 3 or 4 phone calls
-go ahead and get up for a short run
-go to church
-lunch at Tiera Luna (yummy tortilla soup that I was treated to by someone who is nicer to me than I deserve!)
-play Ultimate Frisbee (two hours...great workout, so much fun, and such a sunburn!)
-dinner at Cafe Express
-ice cream at Ben & Jerry's (I am in love with the Chocolate/Peanut Butter Swirl)
Somewhere in there, I did manage to do laundry. But the only motivation for that was to have clean clothes to wear to Ultimate Frisbee (my motivation should have been to have clean coveralls for work this week, but I bet I wouldn't have done laundry if it hadn't been for Ultimate Frisbee).

So, fun vs productive...I wonder which I was supposed to do, in the grand scheme of things? I can go to the grocery store tonight, download to Quicken tonight or tomorrow night. And the garage door lock...it's just something annoying I need to take care of. I'll get to it soon enough. I am never good at balancing between fun and productive. It's either one or the other for me. This weekend, I think I needed some fun. Work is...not fun. I just needed a break. I am so thankful for my dear friends who made it a fun 24 hours away from work!

Quote of the Day(s)

To liven up this project, a friend of mine and I send each other quotes of the day each day on our pagers. Some of them are only funny if you work here, but I'll share a few that we've gotten a laugh out of:

"He's got the prettiest mullett you've ever seen." I really overheard someone say this. I don't know what the conversation was about or if they were serious or not, but I almost started laughing out loud right there in the hallway.

"I've been hornswaggled." This is mostly funny because of who said it, but it's still amusing to the outside world, I think. Who uses the word hornswaggled?

On being put on a different type of job (bus duty), "I'd just as soon have somebody kick my ***." This one is funny because it was said in a meeting of 30-40 people. And because that's kind of how everyone feels about bus duty.

"There's probably going to be a yelling match at the 10:00 meeting." To which I responded, "Awesome!" This is mostly funny because, well (1) I crack myself up more than anyone else and (2) it reminds me of a scene from The Office (remember when Dwight showed up to Michael's awkward dinner party and Pam said, "Awesome"?).

This is a geeky one..."This number can't be accurate to 2 decimal places...after the integer." First of all, "to 2 decimal places" implies that it's after the integer. Second of all, the person who said this paused before explaining, which means they thought about it. And third, who uses the word integer??

Well, that's all I've got so far. Hope that some of them make you laugh!

All I Do is Work

That's pretty much all that I do these days. We've started the project and it's going OK, but it makes me tired to work so much. One thing that is my fault is that I go to the gym before coming in to work. I have to or I would never work out, since I leave work so late every night. To get to the gym before work, I have to get up at 4:15, which means I have to go to bed around 8:00 every night...putting a major cramp in my social life, but that's the way life is, I guess. It will be over soon enough (early July), so I'll get through it. Today is just really tough to be at work. I really want to be hanging out with friends for Memorial Day. Oh well.

On the bright side, I did get to have a great day off yesterday! I went for a 4-mile run. It was a little hot, but I got through it without stopping. A good running route close to my house, which makes me happy! Then church, lunch and a trip to Target. Then I went home and sat in the backyard and read a book...it was wonderful. The only way it could have been better was if I had gotten my car washed (that's one of my favorite things to do on Sunday), but I decided that I'd rather go home and chill than sit at the car wash...I'll get it done next Sunday instead...something to look forward to : ) !

One of the things that I'm missing by having to work so much is that I can't schedule a pedicure. I haven't had one for 5 months because I injured my toenails back in December (it's pretty gross, so I'll spare you the details), so I haven't gone to get a pedicure for fear of doing more damage. Well, my injured toenails finally healed up a little over a week ago, but now I'm working on Saturdays, so no time for a pedicure. I guess it's not important since I can't actually go anywhere that would require wearing open-toed shoes. But I really like my toenails to be pretty...I'm a silly girl, I guess!

Well, that's all for now. Happy Memorial Day to you!

It's a Small World After All...

Admit it. That song is running through your head now, isn't it? Sorry about that. In the past month, I have run across the following "coincidences" or "small world examples" or whatever you would call them:

-Jeff, one of the ministers at my new church who is also one of my Sunday School teachers, went to seminary with my uncle in San Francisco in the early '80's. They knew each other and my uncle helped talk Jeff into Journeyman ministry.

-Jacob, who is in my Sunday School class now, was also in the same Sunday School class as me around 2001-02 at FBC Houston. It was Beth Moore's Sunday School class, which has about 500 people, so it's not unusual that we didn't know each other, but still...random!

-Mandy's best friend, Jenn Poe, was in town last weekend. We started talking about where we were from, etc. When I told her that I had gone to Louisiana Tech, she mentioned the only 2 people she knows who went there, a couple who she knew at Texas A&M while they were there for grad school. The wife was one of my college roommates, Chrissie! Now that is crazy!

Not Much Going On

Sunday started off wonderful. It was cool outside and I sat in the back yard doing my Bible Study for 45 minutes and got really chilly even though I had a sweatshirt on...I love it! After church, a few of us went to the chocolate bar and had dessert for lunch...it was heavenly!!! I got my car washed on Sunday (it desparately needed a good washing).

Monday, Cooking Group was at my house. I made yummy chicken cream cheese puffs...they were delish! Anne bought a blow torch for the occasion (we were celebrating lots of things in our Cooking Group!) and made creme brulee.

Work has been fun this week because it's getting closer to the project and so I'm busier and I like to feel like I'm actually doing something. Today I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off...and I LOVED it! Tomorrow promises to be just as busy and I can't wait!

Unfortunately, one of my co-workers had a death in the family this week. Even though I didn't know the guy that passed away, it still makes me sad to think about all the people whose lives are sadder because he's gone. He was only 22...too young!

Whirlwind

I realize I'm like a broken record, but I have been, yet again, ridiculously busy, so I haven't taken the time to blog. Here is a kind of brief (as brief as I can be!) recap of the last month and a half:

House - I moved into my house! Maradee moved in, too. We've had fun trying to organize things. I heart my house. It is so fun. Yesterday I realized that I still don't feel like I live here. I do really enjoy coming home to it and fixing it up and having people over. But it still feels like I'm giving tours of someone else's house. Oh well, I guess that will come with time.

Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo!!! I went to six Rodeo concerts this year...Alan Jackson, Martina McBride, Sugarland, Rascal Flatts, Clay Walker, and Brad Paisley. Alan Jackson was the best (mostly because I knew all his music and he didn't waste any time talking between songs!). Sugarland and Rascal Flatts were very entertaining, but I didn't know their music as well and they were on a Monday and Tuesday night, so I was worried about being out too late. Clay Walker was the most like a real "cowboy" (he rode in on a horse) and Brad Paisley really likes to play guitar...I think he played on over 10 of them during an hour and fifteen minute concert! Mandy went to every concert with me and Kristin was there for four of the six. We were very exhausted by the end of it all, but it was some good memories. We even got to ride some of the rides at the fair part of the Rodeo...I loved those!

Easter and Spring Break - I went home to Alexandria for Easter and had a great weekend with my family, as usual. I don't remember doing anything particularly special, just a lot of hanging out. We did Easter a little early (Friday) with Mia. She loved all the attention and egg hunts and presents. Dad and I started building a set of bookshelves for my house. We didn't get to finish before the weekend was over. I'm really looking forward to getting them finished! For Spring Break, Missy, Laury, and I went on a road trip to the Texas Hill Country. We seemed to mostly shop, eat, walk around, and watch Lost on DVD (Missy is catching up...she hasn't watched since Season One). It was beautiful (as it tends to be in the Hill Country) and relaxing.

Decorating - My grandmother (Maw) and two cousins came to visit for a few days to shop and fix up my house. Maw is a decorator, so she was very helpful. Here are some of the things I bought: bed, mattress, box springs, 2 tables, end tables, lamps, curtains, bookcases, pillows, paintings, CD towers, rolling drawer organizer...the list goes on and on. I am very happy with the results, but still have a list that is a page long of things left to do and buy!

Church - I joined a different church. It is University Baptist in the Clear Lake area. I really like the church. It's mission-focused and has a great Young Adults ministry. I already knew almost everyone in my Sunday school class before I started going there, which made it easy to go to.

Work - Getting busy, busy, busy, in preparation for our upcoming project installation. I also have been doing performance reviews the past couple of weeks. These are almost physically painful for me. I hate having to confront people with their weaknesses, which are called "areas for improvement" which we soften even more and call "development opportunities." I'm done with the slightly painful part (and got a compliment from someone I really respect on how I handled them!) and now on to the really painful part...rating and ranking. There's not much else I can say about it except it sucks, but it's a part of my job. That's what they pay me for : ) !

Big news - My baby sister is having a baby!!! She's not very far along, so I'm probably not supposed to broadcast it, but it is so surreal...I remember the day she was born and now she's going to have a baby. I don't know what she'll be like as a mom...she'll be a great one, there's no question about that. I just can't picture her with a baby. I guess it will seem more real when I see her pregnant.

This weekend - Mom and Dad came to visit to see all that I'd done in the house. It happened to be the same weekend as the annual community garage sale in my neighborhood, so I had a garage sale on Saturday. It was very successful...I made a little $$, but more importantly I got rid of tons of stuff. Michelle and I had fun setting things up and making faces about the people that came. Ours was the bargain basement garage sale. There were really only about 10 items over $4 in the whole garage sale (and 3 of them didn't sell)!!! What we didn't sell went straight to the Goodwill. I was very relieved to have gotten it all out of my "world"! Mom and I went to The Container Store while Daddy went to a woodworking store. I found a few other things for the house, then I came home and crashed.

Today the ladies in my Sunday school class are going to the Chocolate Bar for lunch...yum!

Goings On and Such

I'm in Detroit for work. It is very cold here. We finished up all we needed to do today around 2:00, but my flight back home isn't until noon tomorrow, so I'm kind of stuck in Detroit. Not too bad, since I'm on an expense account and have a rental car. But I'd rather be home. Since I have some time on my hands, I thought I'd bring you up to speed on my goings-on. Here's a blow-by-blow of the last few days...

Thursday, I left work early to close on my house. The closing was so smooth...only 20 minutes! I took over two carloads of stuff and couldn't resist ordering a pizza. Since there was no furniture, I sat on the island in my brand new kitchen and ate. I think I also hollered "Woohoo" a few times, just to hear it echo throughout the whole house and not care if anyone heard. I couldn't hang out too long because I already had plans to attend a class that night.

Back in January, Rachel, Heather, and I signed up for some different Leisure Learning classes (Rachel has really gotten into them). So, I had signed up for this class before I even found my house. The class was "How to Write a Book in Three Weeks or Less." It interested me because my dad wants me to write a book about our running trips. Well, this was not the place to learn how to do that. The concept isn't actually a bad one and the formula for fiction writing is kind of neat. But the teacher wasn't my kind of person. She has written several books and they all seem a little crass for my taste. It wasn't miserable. I just would have rather been at my house. I did use the time (3 hours!) to write a two-page list of things I want done around my new house.

Friday, I left work a little early and managed to fill my car to the brim with stuff before meeting up with the UBC girls for dinner then went to my new house (are you detecting a theme?) and it was the first time I'd been there after dark. I was a little scared...it's got so many windows and it seems like someone could totally be watching you. I got it fixed up a little bit to make it feel a little more like mine. I kept thinking "I wonder if I can put this here." Then I'd stop myself and say (out loud), "Of course I can put it here...it's my house!"

Saturday, I loaded up another car load of stuff. But before I could bring it to the house, I had to go downtown and run a 5K (I signed up for this also before I found my house!). This is the second-largest road race in Houston. There were 8,000 runners in the 5K and 10K combined. I've run this 3 times now. It's a fun race because they have it immediately before the Rodeo parade, so there is a huge crowd and they cheer, which is encouraging. They're also all dressed up, which is entertaining.

After the race, I brought more stuff to the new house. Barb came over and helped me figure out things I can do around my house. I also had someone come to set up an alarm and the cable hooked up. There's still more stuff than furniture there, so there are a lot of knick knacks sitting on the bar in the kitchen (nothing else to put them on!).

Saturday night, I had an impromptu housewarming party. Everyone brought their own chairs. There were beach chairs mostly, but some brought other chairs. The most unique was a 100-year-old chair from JB's house. I don't know if it's really 100 years old, but it was quite funny to see him carry in a huge chair. We had fun playing Mafia and Outburst (I suck at Mafia, but I love Outburst). After cleaning things up, I headed home and crashed...it was quite an exhausting day!

Sunday, I went to church, then flew up to Detroit. So, here I am. I think that's enough for today...Daddy is coming to Houston for a couple of days to help me get some stuff done. Yay!

I am Now a Homeowner!

Not much else to say except Yippee!!!!!