Whew...

Everything is done. We are settled in for the holidays and we do not have much else planned. All of our plans have come to pass and we can finally relax. Thank goodness!

I had surgery today and am recovering very nicely. Maybe it's just the pain medication hiding the pain and I will be surprised tomorrow when I wake up and see how sore I really am.

This has turned out to be a wonderful holiday time for us. Well except for the mishap CDM1 had last weekend. More on that later. We have enjoyed so many good times with family and friends. We have worked ourselves until we were so tired we could hardly move, but it was worth it. We have been very blessed with wonderful family and great friends.

We had a nice dinner with MSH's kids last weekend. We really enjoyed ourselves and I think everything turned out great. We have had so many blessings this holiday season, I can hardly believe it. God has truly been wonderful to us this past year and we are very thankful. Life could not get that much sweeter for us!

Now for CDM's accident last weekend, it has derailed our plans for today and tomorrow, hopefully he will be able to make it over here in the morning. If not, it will be the first Christmas we have not been together since he was born. I just hope his injury heals fast and he is up and around very quickly.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a very blessed New Year!

Words to live by...

Philippians 2:4 (The Message)

1-4 If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care — then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

I love this passage. To me it tells you exactly how to live your life. If everyone lived like this, then this world be a much happier place.

I see and hear about so many people who only think of themselves. They are number one in their lives and there is no room for anyone else. They let everyone else and everything else fall in behind them. These people are incapable of putting themselves aside and thinking of others first. They would never think of helping someone else out. Especially if it meant helping someone get ahead. There always has to be something “in it for them”. People who live their lives like that are not very pleasant to be around. They take...take...take and never give anything. It’s pitiful to watch them and I feel sorry for them. The only way they can have a relationship is to bully people into being around them or to enable those who need enabled.

I wish that everyone in the world could be happy, completely and totally happy. I think that first you have to love yourself and then you can love others enough to put them first in your life. If you do not love yourself, then you are constantly trying to fill that void and it's usually with negitive things.

I wish that everyone would read the Bible and take it's words to heart. They are great words to live by.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow....

Well Blog Fan, since the last time I posted alot has happen. Starting with our wonderfully weird December snow last Wednesday. On Tuesday afternoon, we were wearing sandles here in our part of the state. Then Tuesday evening, a cold front came through and it continued to get colder and colder. Around 3:30pm on Wednesday it started snowing!!

Here are a few pictures:

It was beautiful. Short lived but every minute of it was beautiful. (just like my life, I know gag, but it's true!)


We were invited to a really nice party on Friday night at a good friend's house. She has recently under gone surgery for cancer and was not up to cooking her usual wonderful dinner. Everyone pitched in and brought a dish and it turned out great. Everyone had a great time.


Saturday night we had our annual Pregressive Dinner at church. We signed up to host appetizers. We had 15 people and it turned out really great. I only had four types of appetizers and there was hardly anything left over! It was great to get to visit with everyone and see some people we have not seen in a while. For dinner we got to go have a wonderful dinner and let me tell you, I am glad I hardly ate anything at my house, so I was able to eat at the other Kim's house! After dinner everyone met back at the church building and as usual the gift exchange was so funny. This year we had two "hosts" and they were a scream. We had a great time and I ended up with a beautiful stained glass heart and MSH ended up with a wonderful (insert a loud laugh) electric hot dog cooker that looks like a radio. Nice! I know what we will be re-gifting soon.


Sunday we got up and went to church and then went to a birthday party for a friend who will be 98 on December 24! (yes she has the same birthday as MSH) After that we went to my office party. Then we went home and fell in to bed we were so tired. It was a wonderful tired.


This week is going to be much calmer. Thank goodness!

Told you so...

The price of gas is going down down down!

Here are some pictures from our corner gas stations:

The no name station: (Could you tell that by the sign?)And this is were we buy gas:
And here is a really cool picture of my dashboard: (consider your self blessed that you got to see my dashboard)

We had a great weekend packed with many activities. Some were fun and some were not. But, anything with MSH means it was a good time. This coming weekend we will be super busy. We have four parties to go to. One is at our house, so we will also have alittle house work to do.

How do you find your inner beauty? Do you have enough self esteem to actually find beauty within yourself or do you base how you feel about yourself on your relationships with others?

Almost...

The price of gas at our local stations is down to $1.51!!! Maybe by the end of the week it will be below $1.50. Then I can start the countdown for it to be under $1.00. Whoohoo...life is grand!

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful. I can not say enough about how much I enjoyed it. We had fourteen people and everything turned out so well. The food was great and everyone helped out by bringing something. Our lives are so full of good family and good friends and I am thankful for both.

We missed CDM2 on Thanksgiving, she had to work and then made dinner for her boyfriend and his family. Maybe we will get to see her next year!

CDM1 came a few days early to help out. We enjoyed his company so much. That kids is so stinkin funny! I can't wait to visit him at his house over Christmas vacation. We are going to help him do some work around his house. Hopefully we can help him get alot done while we are there. I am really looking forward to that!!

We got up early Friday and drove to Abilene. MSH "needed" to do some more deer hunting! He shot his second deer on Saturday morning. I am so gald that MSH and my brother get along so well and that they have common interest.

I have been put on "buying meat probation", I am not allowed to buy anymore meat unless it's under about $.50 a pound. Which will never happen. Apparently when MSH went to clean out the deep freezer to make room for all the deer meat, he found a ton of meat. I guess when I go look in the deep freezer, I open the lid, look around and shut the lid and the next day I go to the store and buy all the meat that is on special that week!

So, I will admit I am usually the last to know the latest trends and things that are popular. Today at work two of the guys were talking about ordering these, I must have had a blank look on my face, because one of them said "she has no idea what we are talking about". Well as soon as they left, I did a google search. Within 20 minutes I had ordered some. They will make a great Christmas present for our sweet granddaughter! I ordered the monkey, duck, cow and chicken! I can't wait to play with them. With the sweet granddaughter, of course!

We have so many plans over the next four weeks. I feel so blessed this holiday season. MSH and I are in such a great place. We have setteled into our married life so wonderfully and every thing is so perfect. We could not have written a better story for each of us. There is not much we would change at this point.

More later!

Just maybe...

the price of gas will continue to fall. A few months ago I would have never though that gas prices would be under $1.50. We have been watching the prices fall for a while now. I was hoping that they would fall get under $1.50. The small station by our house is $1.53 and the station were we buy our gas is down to $1.55. Now I will wait and see if the price goes under $1.00. Who would ever have thought that the price would get that low again?

I will post more later about our weekend. As usual it was wonderful!!

F.I.N.A.L.L.Y...

Bauer Power is back!

They are offering a two hour movie this Sunday

to get us back in the mood for my favorite show.

I can't wait!!

In other news, everything is going great as usual!!

Ha..Ha..Wink..Wink..Barf..Barf.

The End!

Video Games

Everyone who knows me knows my view point on playing video games. I have always thought that they were a complete waste of time and waste of the mind. I will admit that back in 1982 I went out and bought an Atari. I liked playing a couple of the games. I still like playing a couple of video games, such as Bejeweled. But my situation back then, was that I worked all day and came home to take care of my two year old son. He went to bed around 7:30 pm and then I was alone for the rest of the evening. I enjoyed the Atari when I was alone. That was my first and last video game system that I purchased for the home. As my son was growing up all the kids had a Nintendo. I did not want to buy him one or even let him play it. He saved up his money and bought his own system and the rest is history. He has NEVER stopped playing video games and now gets paid for playing them! That’s fine with me! He has done great and I am very proud of him.

I think video games are for young people or people who do not have a life. I can’t imagine myself or anyone I know that’s around my age sitting around playing video games all the time. I would have never sat around playing the games when my kids were growing up because I was busy taking care of them and working. I felt like it would have been selfish of me to sit around playing video games all the time, when there was so much other stuff to do.

I will admit I am a semi crafty person. I have done a few different crafts over the years. I like them because they are productive. You have something to show for your work at the end of the day. You have something to give away to family and friends. If you sit around playing video games all day, what do you have at the end of the day? Maybe you got to the next level in your game, but who really cares abut that?

I just read a news story about an online game called “Second Live” and married couple who met because of their shared interest in the game. They got married and are now getting divorced because she is accusing him of having an "virtual affair" with a female character in the role-playing game. Oh my goodness!! Talk about just plain crazy!

One final thought on playing video games...my son tells me that we used to tell him all the time “stop playing video games, it will get you no where”, and look where he is today. Playing video games as a part of his job!! So in his case, playing video games actually got him somewhre!

Where has sitting around playing video games gotten you? Except in a very few, very rare cases, I think that video games are for people who are social losers. Seriously!!

Well that’s enough on my views of playing video games. Next time I might share my thoughts on treating others as you want to be treated and those who are too blind to see what their actions are doing to other. But that’s a whole other post for another day!

The Russians

I think the Russians have taken over our satellite service or at least intercepted the signal to the satellite. We are playing show that have been DVRed and other shows are breaking in. It's very weird.

How could over 900 people be brain washed into killing themselves 30 years ago today. I heard that they had trial runs on "pretending" to take the poison and they never knew if they were taking the "real" poison or not. How can one man have so much power over so many people. He must have been a very good speaker and charismatic. Hummm it kind of reminds of someone in the news now. Watch out America.

I search all over my area for Tyler candles. I can't find anyone who carries them now. The weird thing is that I looked in the phone book and wrote down five different gift shops near my work and then was going to call them to see if they carried the candles. All of the gift shops were out of business. The never effects of a hurricane are far reaching and seem to be never ending. I am meeting with the first roofer tomorrow. He is the only one to return my call. We are not going with a "storm chaser" company. We are going with a company who has been in the area for years and is listed with the BBB. Smart move when we get another hurricane next year or even a rain strom this year!

I have wait almost 18 months to watch a new episode of "24" and finally this Sunday I can. There is a two hour special on. I CAN NOT WAIT!!!

I am really really looking forward to Thanksgiving. It will be so nice to have so many family and friends over for the day.

Our deer is ready. I am super excited. Well maybe just for the car trip, so I can crochet for 14 hours!!

The weekend update...

We had a great weekend. We ended up baby sitting the sweet darling ARL again. What a cutie. She had us laughing all weekend. She is such a sweet little girl and very smart. She knows so much and is very verbal. That girl never stops talking, except when Dora is on. We enjoyed every minute of her this weekend. Grandkids are priceless. I feel sorry for people who do not enjoy their grandkids.

I got a little cleaning done on Saturday. Yesterday was a semi - lazy day.

We are getting the house ready for Thanksgiving. We have fifteen people coming over. It's going to be so much fun. We are going to fry a turkey and I am also making sweet potato casserole, a sugar free chocolate dessert and whatever else I can think of.

I love love love watching football on TV. NOT!

Imagine this if you will...

I am in my usual hurry getting ready for work this morning. Since it was supposed to rain again today, I decided to flat iron my hair. I plugged in the flat iron to heat up while I put my make-up on. When I was ready to do my hair I grabbed the iron and started straightening my bangs, which are long and swept to the side. After about two or three swipes over the hair, I start to feel stuff on my hands and it was burning them. To my absolute horror I realized that while the flat iron was heating up it was touching a plastic basket I have on the counter and the plastic had melted on one side of the iron and now the hot plastic was all through out my bangs and hardening fast. It was a nightmare, especially considering that I had just spent a ton of money on Tuesday getting my hair cut and highlighted. It took me forever to pick out the pieces of plastic from the hair and then I also had to cut a few hairs because the hair would not come out of the plastic.

That was the highlight of my day and it went downhill from there!

Weekend Update

We had a great weekend. It wore me out and it was a good way to be worn out! We had our first born grand daughter, ARL. She is a complete hoot. MSH was working on the shed at the other house and was gone all day Saturday and half of Sunday. That did not stop ARL and me from having too much fun. Saturday we went shopping. I had a bunch of things to return at four different stores. I also wanted to buy her some stuff for her birthday. We had many funny moments and made some fun memories.

One funny story: We were driving and I apparently went a little too fast making a left had turn. ARL yelled "Wow Granna", and I said "Wow is right, Granna went too fast", and she said a little louder, "Wooooow Granna", and I said "Woooooooow ARL" and then she yelled "Wooooooooooooooow Granna", so finally I turned around and looked at her and apparently as I made that left turn (a little too fast), her entire car seat fell over and was laying across the back seat!!!! I had to stop and sit her and the car seat back up!!

The shed at the other house has been repaired from the storm. The contract we signed on Tuesday, was canceled on Saturday. This time it was because the buyer got scared of the closing cost. We even offered to pay about one third and also provide a washer and dryaer and the buyer still backed out of the contract. Please keep this problem we have in your prayers. We really would like to sell this house by the end of the year. Well actually, we would like to sell it ASAP!!

We are hosting Thanksgiving this year. I am looking forward to it.

I was right...again!

The price of gas in our town did go under $2.00 last weekend and has continued to go down. The no name station is $1.89 and our Valero station is $1.90. I think we will see gas for $1.50 in the future.

I am always trying to have a positive outlook, no matter what the circumstances. MSH has perfected this attitude and I am learning from him. Hopefully, I can continue to be positive and not let the little stuff bother me.

Remember to keep our new President in your prayers. Being the President of our great nation must be the hardest job in the world. You have to have a very thick skin. It's easy to play the blame game and that is what most do. I think it's the easy way out for most. One man does not have that much power, remember that everything he does has to be approved. Anyway, just keep our country in your prayers, we are going to need all the prayers we can get.

I am looking forward to a wonderful long weekend. I need it. I have been feeling so tired this week. It's a fatigue that can not be described. It's not sleepy tired, it's more like I do not have the energy to move. It's very weird.

Enjoy your weekend and remember to look at everything in a positive way and consider each thing that happens to you a blessing!

So much to blog...so little time!

I have so much to blog about but it never seems like I have any extra time. First let me tell you about last weekend. MSH killed his first Bambi...I mean deer!! He went with my brother to his father-in-law's ranch near Ballinger. They did not kill anything on Saturday, but on Sunday morning MSH was able to finally get his first deer. They did whatever it is you do the the deer out in the field and then brought it by the house so we could see it, then they took it to the processor. MSH is hooked on hunting now. I think it's awesome...it'll opens up a whole new world of gifts I can give him.

Here is MSH and his first deer.

I am looking forward to the sausage. A sweet older lady at church used to make a dish that had deer sausage and rice and it was wonderful. I am going to ask her for the recipe.

We are going to watch our sweet granddaughter this weekend. It will be lots of fun, I will see to that.

MSH is finished with football practice and now basketball starts. I am so glad about that. I love watching basketball!

I am falling asleep as I type this, it's good night for me!

Peace out!

I am definately going to have these ladies design a new layout for my blog. You should too!

It's coming true...

On the way home from the game tonight we, I mean Dan saw gas for $1.99!! That does not count for my earlier prediction because it was in Friendswood......BUT at our local Valero we paid $2.12 tonight and the no name station was $2.05!! I still think we will see gas under $2.00 by the end of the week.

Dan's team did not win tonight. Enough said on that subject.

We will get to experience "Get some" this weekend. I will expain that next week!

I got to go to lunch with Bill R. today. He is in town for a conference at Rice. He has some funny stories from Miami.

Pray...Pray...Pray...for good things to happen to us tomorrow concerning the Holly House. This is the first interest we have had since the hurricane.

Speaking of the hurricane...did you know that if you drive between here and Florida you can still see trash in trees and bushes that has never been cleaned up since Katrina, Rita and Gustav? Weird.

That's all for now!

My prediction is $2.00 or lower gas by the end of the week!!

My prediction is that by the end of the week I will be paying less than $2.00 for a gallon of gas! Our corner Valero station is down to $2.19 today and another no name station close by is $2.15! We don't buy gas at the no name station because we are not sure what we are getting. I am waiting as long as I can to fill up, so I can get the cheapest price.

Life is sweet...sometimes a little weird...but mostly sweet!!

Oh My Goodness...this really had me going!

I am trying to find a new Internet provider. I Googled "wireless Interent service" and this came up. I actually read most of it before I figured out it was...well...whatever it is!

http://www.google.com/tisp

I clicked on the "Getting Started" and kept reading. I feel silly!

We Voted...have you?

We voted after church yesterday.
There was not much of a line, so we got in and out very quickly.
Our vote will count, so now we have the right to gripe about politics.
If you don't bother to vote then don't bother to gripe!

Road trip to Ausin!

I am completely embarrased that I planned two events for the same day and that day was yesterday. It seems to be happening often lately. I planned on going to a craft show and I planned on going to Austin. I realized I had not canceled the craft show plans until I was in Austin. Oh well I guess the mind works in weird ways. Sorry.

MSH had to stay home and get some work done on the storage building. We are in kind of a crunch to get it done. We have been short on funds and finially got some extra money and were able to buy the rest of the stuff. All we need now is the primer and paint. After this building is finished, works starts on the other storage building at the other house. Plus yesterday MSH woke up with a cold and was not feeling that good. But he pushed himself and got the work done that he needed to do. I just hope that he did not make himself sicker.

I left early and got to Austin in about 3.5 hours. Not bad. I was sorta sleepy on the way over so I drank lots of coffee. I am so glad I got to finally see his new house. I really like it. It's open and airy. It has an awesome back yard with two swings! He has a deck off of his bedroom on the second floor. The deck is build around a tree. So you can sit up there and you are up near the top of the tree. It's awesome. I took some picture of the downstairs and the front of the house.

We had made plans to go to the CWGS and as usual it was awesome. I got some great finds for a reasonable price. I love shopping at this sale. Some of my favorite bead people were there but I did not buy anything from them. Nothing and I mean nothing had a price on it. I got tired of waiting to ask, so I did not buy anything. This seller has two daughters who own a bead shop in Austin, so we went there. I found a few great finds, so that was well worth the stop. THEN....
we decided to stop buy the GoodWill Store and boy did we ever find a great deal. There was a couch and chair in mint condition that had just been dropped off and CDM1 was able to buy. He was almost as excited as I was for him!

Here are few pics of his house:

The happy new home owner!! I love love love the red door! Here is an interesting piece of art he owns. It's made of Army men! The second picture is as close as I could get without the picture becoming blurry. Some day I am going to learn how to take great pictures!It's a really cool to look at.

I am going to have a busy week this week. Lots of work to do at work and more medical tests. Please say a quick prayer for me that everything will turn out to be nothing at all.

We are planning a deer hunting trip! I am looking forward to the trip and the time away from work and home. Although I am only taking one day off.

We got weird news from the government agency that we have had so much trouble with this year. Since I used to work at that agency, I know for certain that one hand does not know what the other is doing. Whatever.

Well that's all for now.

Death of a crockpot and big time deal on a new one!

My beloved crockpot is history. I broke the lid. Even though the lid was plastic, it finally broke. I have had this cock pot for at least 15 years. It was the lovely blue and white that everything use to be. I was sad but I got over it pretty quickly when I scored this new one. It was priced at $59.99 and I got it on clearance clearance for $24.99. (Yes I said clearance twice, it was marked twice!!) It is the most awesome crockpot ever! It has three different pots, they are 2 qt, 4qt and 6 qt. I was looking for a 6 quart or bigger crock pot and this one has all three sizes. How awesome is that? All the bowels fit together so it does not take up that much space in the pantry. (Have I ever mention how totally awesome MSH is? Well let me say it one more time...he is totally awesome. This time it's becasue he organized the pantry, put up shelves and hooks.)

Well anyway, I can not wait to get started with some old and some new recipies in my new crock pot!

Great Conference!

The conference that I went to yesterday was awesome. I have a few complaints but over all it was a wonderful event. There was so much to do and so many people to talk to. The most emotional time was when Marcus Lutterell spoke. He must have talked for well over one hour. He told his story and there was not a dry eye in the room by the time he was finished. You can read google him to find out more about him. Here is a little bit from his bio:

Marcus Luttrell is the author of New York Times best-selling book Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10, which tells the harrowing story of four Navy SEALs who journeyed into the mountainous border of Afghanistan and Pakistan on Operation Redwing. An unparalleled motivational story of survival, the book is also a moving tribute to the friends and teammates who did not make it off the mountain.

I am definately going to buy his book.

There were over 6000 women at the conference. The women were from different backrounds. It was nice to see so many women enjoy the day together. I can't wait to go back next year.

I am going to Austin tomorrow to finally see CDM1's house. I am excited. We are also going to the City Wide Garage Sale. MSH has to try and finish the storage building so he won't be going.

Everything else is going great.

Awesome new song from Nickelback

Today I heard a new release Nickelback's new album that is due out December 1st, the name of the song is "Gotta Be Somebody". I love the lyrics of this song. Here is a link for the song on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woiRZBlDJHs

Here are some of the lyrics:

This time I wonder what it feels like
To find the one in this life
The one we all dream of
But dreams just aren't enough
So I´ll be waiting for the real thing.
I'll know it by the feeling.
The moment when we´re meeting
Will play out like a scene straight off the silver screen
So I`ll be holdin’ my breath
Right up to the end
Until that moment when I find the one that I'll spend forever with
'Cause nobody wants to be the last one there
'Cause everyone wants to feel like someone cares
Someone to love with my life in their hands
There`s gotta be somebody for me like that
'Cause nobody wants to go it on their own
And everyone wants to know they´re not alone.
Somebody else that feels the same somewhere.
There`s gotta be somebody for me out there.
Tonight out on the street out in the moonlight
And damn it this feels too right
It´s just like Déjà Vu Me standin’ here with you
So I´ll be holdin`my breath
Could this be the end?
Is it that moment when I find the one that I spend forever with?
‘Cause nobody wants to be the last one there
'Cause everyone wants to feel like someone cares.
Someone to love with my life in their hands.
There´s gotta be somebody for me like that.
Cause nobody wants to go it on their own
And everyone wants to know they´re not alone.
Is there somebody else that feels the same somewhere?
There`s gotta be somebody for me out there.
You can´t give up!
When you're Lookin´ for a diamond in the rough
Because you never know when it shows up
Make sure you´re holdin` on
‘Cause it could be the one, the one you´re waiting on
‘Cause nobody wants to be the last one there.
And everyone wants to feel like someone cares.
Someone to love with my life in their hands.
There has gotta be somebody for me

These song lyrics are so true, no one wants to be alone. Everyone one is looking for the "right one" for them. I have been blessed to find the right one for me. It was love at first sight for the both of us. From the first date we both knew that this was going to be something special and it certainly has been. Even through the nervousness of the first date we both were very relaxed and the time just flew by. It felt like we were just meant to be together. It seemed like we could not wait to spend more time together. Each day is more perfect than the day before. These lyrics make me realize just how lucky we are that we found each other and get to spend the rest of our lives together. It breaks my heart to know that there are lonely people out there who can't find their soulmate. My prayer for those people is that they find the love of their life like I have, if that is God's plan for them.

I am sure that there are those who will laugh at the idea of "soul mates or love at first sight", these people obviously have never experience it. That is why they don't get it. I pray that some day they do get it.

Super excited

I am super excited about getting to go to the "Texas Conference For Women" tomorrow at the GRB.

You can read about it here:

http://www.txconferenceforwomen.org//

I have picked out all the breakout sessions I want to go to. I hope that this conference is a interesting as I have heard it is. I will post about it Friday.

I love reading through all the biographies of the speakers. You can tell when someone has a full and meaningful life when they mention everthing they are involved in or have ever been involved in. The ones that sounded like they do not have a life are the ones who mention their family way too many times in the bio. And I mean WAY too many times. They mention their husband/wife and children. Especially the ones who mention their adult children. You know the adult children that are the center of their world. What??? How can someone have their adult children as the center of their world? I don't get it. Well maybe I do. Hello people...get a life! And try getting out there and doing something good for a change and get a life.

Enough preaching!

Sorry for that rant, but it just goes to show that you can always tell when someone needs to get a life.

Communication Ooooops...

I guess MSH and I had a bit of a communication oooops this weekend. Nothing earth shattering but I am in mourning for the redtips that once stood tall in front of our house! It all started with me saying that we needed to get the new Sago Palms in the ground. We had gotten three of them on clearance at HEB before Ike. We talked about where we wanted to plant them and agreed that they should go in sorta a triangle shape around the tree in the front yard. We already knew that we had to cut down the two bushes that grew on each side of the front door because they got beaten down by Ike and they were laying out flat. These are the items that we agreed on.

Sunday when we were coming in the house from church, I mentioned that the redtips needed trimmed back, because they had really grown in the last few weeks. The is the item that we some how did not communicate very well on.

Sunday afternoon after the football game was over, MSH said he was going outside and did I want to come help. I said no because I did not want to get hot and sweaty right before church.
He went outside anyway and did some work.

When we were leaving for church I got a mild shock when I saw the redtips. They are now about 18 inches high. Sunday morning they were about 7 feet tall. At least we know that since they grow like weeds, it won't be that long before we are having to trim them again!

With the bushes that were either trimmed or cut down the front of the house looks like it did when it was new and the bushes were small.

I will be picking out two new bushes soon to replace the one that Ike destroyed.

The Browns won last night! I slept through the win, so I found out this morning! I am happy for MSH and his beloved Browns.

It was a really great long weekend.

Unfortunately I have to return to work tomorrow after a wonderful long weekend. I spent most of today by myself working around the house. It was a nice quiet day. We had my parents over for dinner on Saturday to celebrate by father's birthday. It was nice. Our weekend was awesome and semi busy and most important it was enjoyable. We had good times with family and friends (friends that are just like family) and that's the things that are important. We enjoy our time that we get to spend with our family/friends.

My good friend was in town over the weekend. We had a great looooooong lunch on Thursday. I miss those days of having lunch with her. Then we saw her again on Sunday and a bunch of people including her and her daughter went to a local BBQ restaurant after church. It was sad to say good bye again. Hopefully we will continue to get to see her every few months.

We are watching MSH's favorite football team tonight, the Browns. I am super excited about getting to watch this game. Whatever! I will be way more excited tomorrow night when I get to play Bunco.

Have a great week!

Why don't people listen to the warnings?

The big question being ask around here alot during the past month is: Why don't people listen to officials when they are warning about hurricanes? Here is a good article about this subject...

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/09/080926-hurricane-ike-evacuation.html

I think alot of people are just stupid. Why else would they stay? I am kidding, sort of.

A lot of people have the false sense of security. Maybe they think it won't be that bad. I don't know people think that nothing can or will happen to them. I can guarante that any time a storm comes this way, we are out of here. I believe that it's better to be safe than dead. Speaking of dead, there are still over 200 people missing from the hurricane. I guess they thought it might not be that bad.

Ramblings

The adjuster came out today and our roof damage qualifies for a new roof. Also the fence and some of the gutters will need to be repaired. I was pleased with the report. Now we will wait and see how much the check is. That should be in three to five weeks. It's still going to cost us a ton because they make the deductible so high. At least everyone is in the same boat. MSH is waiting to hear about the Holly house.

The past Saturday was nice. We went to a really nice wedding. The new Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart is beautiful.

I do not let the current state of our economy stress me out. There is nothing I can do about it, so I will not hurt my body worrying about it. I do not focus on the things I can not do anything about. This too shall pass. I still have a great job and most importantly I have a wonderfully sweet husband who I just adore!

I sure would not want to be earning my living with anything to do with health care. Especially in this area right now. UTMB is struggling to stay open and just might close. It employees over 4000. Wow!

More later!

Restauant to Nowhere!

Katie's Restaurant to Nowhere

I am not going to waste my time commenting on the lie he told last week during the VP debate. The restaurant has been closed for years and

it's on a different street then he said it was.

Amazing!

I think hair plugs must affect the brain.

Speaking the same language!

We got a kick out of me doing this!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Consequences

Disclaimer:
If you read this blog and the shoe fits, please just ... forgetaboutit (say with an Italian accent). This blog is not now or ever will be about you! Well, maybe someday it will be about you, but not today! Seriously...when it is about you, I will let you know. Then you can get mad and blow steam outta your ears. If that does not help then you can cry your eyes out or better yet...just forgetaboutit!! Now go out and get over yourself!!! :)

Consequences - a phenomenon that follows and is caused by some previous phenomenon.

I have been thinking about consequences a lot lately. Everything a person does has some kind of consequence. If a baby cries, someone will react to the baby by picking up, changing a diaper or feeding and or rocking the baby. If a child touches a hot stove and gets burned then you can pretty much count on the child not touching a hot stove again.

As children get older they start figuring out consequences. If they do not do a project for school, they can count on getting a bad grade. If they talk back to a parent they can usually count on getting punished by the parent. As a child matures they show their maturity by NOT doing things that they know will have a bad consequence.

What I am concerned with is teenagers and young adults that do not consider the consequence before they do something. They have no thought process about what the outcome of their actions might be. If they have unprotected sex...hey guess what...you have a pretty good chance of getting pregnant. If you do not pay your cell phone bill...hey guess what...your phone gets turned off. Of course I could go on and on about all the dumb things that teenagers and young adults do that have significant consequences. Usually someone else has to pick up the pieces because the teenagers and or young adults are not mature enough to take care of themselves. They do not think past the next thing they are doing. They do not see the consequences their actions might have.

Everything in life is a learning experience. I think those of us who have been around for a while know that bad decisions usually have bad consequences. I think that a sign of maturity is that you do not make bad choices because you can see the other side and is.

Sometimes I wonder why some people just get it and others do not.

Forrest Gump says: "Stupid is as stupid does"

Forrest Gump's version of the saying means that stupidity is not just a surface thing derived from a person's appearance. Stupidity is a matter of deeds, not looks. It comes down to this: judge people by what they do, not by how they appear.

I am looking forward to another nearly perfect weekend. Today is my Friday because of some things I have to do tomorrow. Then Saturday we are going to a wedding. The best part is that good good friends are coming into town for the wedding. I am looking forward to seeing everyone and spending a little time visiting. I will try to take some good pictures and post them next week.

Until then...be blessed!

Ike and the things I am tired of.

The first thing I am tired of is waiting for someone from Sta$e Fa$m to call me. I am not going to get upset or mad, I am just tired of waiting. You know the old story...just look around and you will see someone who is worse off than you. Well I can do that, I have a coworker who received major damage to his home. The shingles came off of his roof and he got a ton of water damage. Every where the water came in there is issues with mold, caved in ceiling, damaged floors, cabinets and computers, etc. You name it and it was damaged. He is STILL waiting on someone from SF to call him. If it were me, I would not be sitting and waiting, I would be raising all kinds of trouble. Well I have to admit that we are certainly blessed with little to no damage. I won't be making any kind of a fuss.

I am tired of hearing people telling their bigger than life stories of the storm. I am sorry, but my patience is a little worn. I wish EVERYONE would understand that we were very blessed in South East Texas. This storm could have been much much worse. It made landfall as a Category 1 storm. Granted the storm was huge and that made for alot of wind for a long time. Two or three hours of 60 to 80 mph of wind can do alot of damage. But come on people, the storm could have been a Catagory 3 or 4. The would be twice the wind speed. If that had happend, I don't think we would be able to reconzice SE Texas. A local energy company, Cent$rPo$int, issued a statement that this area came within 3% of having a total grid failure that would have taken months to restore. WHAT?!?!? This was a wake-up call. I hope everyone pays attention to it and will take the steps to get prepared for the "Big One".

I know that alot of people got alot damage and are suffering. But it's all just "things". As long as we are alive and did not have any loved ones that died, we should be thankful.

Sorry about the preaching...you have to consider where I work and who I work with.

Love and Peace!

PS...I am working on a post about consequences and those that do not think about the consequences of their actions.

PPSS...Have I ever mentioned how much I love MSH? Well let me tell you....I love love love MSH and am totally blessed to be his MDB! I pinch myself hourly just to make sure that I am not dreaming. We both know that this is not something to take lightly and that our past is what made us who we are today. Which is perfect for each other!!

Thank Goodness....

Alvin is back to 99.99% power. The only people left without power are individuals who have problems on their property. Our Internet is back! The company who provides our Internet sent a repairman out today. He said that we were back up and running. I ask him to at least change out the modem. He did. Anyway we are back in the saddle again!

I broke the lid to our crock pot two days ago. I have had that crock pot for over 15 years. Anyway I am really happy to finally get to buy a new one. I am getting a 7 quart one. Hopefully I will be able to cook 3 or 4 roast at a time with one that large. Most likely the next appliance we will have to buy is a new coffee pot. The one we have is still going strong, but who knows how much longer it will last.

Speaking of coffee...my favorite coffee is Community Coffee. It's from Louisiana and it taste awesome. In New Orleans they have coffee houses called CC's. You can read about it here. I have been able to sway MSH to love this coffee also. We used to grind our own beans and that coffee was very good. Anyway now we are stuck on Community.

Speaking of New Orleans...I really miss it. It has been too long since I was last there. Plus, I want to go there with MSH and show him around. I want to show him my New Orleans away from the French Quarter.

OMSG (Oh My Stinkin Goodness)

OMSG

That's all I am saying for now.

I will blog more later. Hopefully a really good update about the hurricane and other silly little things that have been going on in our nearly perfect lives.

Until then...

OMSG...OMSG...OMSG!!

S.U.C.K.E.R.S.

I know that calling someone a Sucker is not very nice. But seriously that is what my coworkers are.

I will explain...each year we have a "Hurricane Pool". There are usually 3 or 4 catagories, such as...date of the first named storm, how many named storms for the whole year and how close to Galveston Island a named storm makes landfall. Well lady and gentleman (yes, I know I did not use the plural form of these words, I figure that there are just a couple of you that read this blog!) guess who won the last catagory? I did! I said between 0 and 44 miles. And I won! Hey this is not rocket-scientist stuff. It's just good guess work, just like meteorology! Over the years I have won a few times. Not bad for just guessing! Maybe I too...could play a meteorologist at work. It does not seen to be that hard.

Have a blessed day!

MSH

James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Unbelievable!

Just so I can not be accused of singling out certain people or minority groups....I will make up a new race. They will be the “purple-people-with-depression glass green hair”.

Where are the local and national minority leaders for the “purple-people-with-depression glass green hair” when you need them?

As most know we had a hurricane 12 days ago. There are still many without power. There are about one million people who are still waiting on their power to come back on. Some have had to resort to using candles to see when it gets dark. I guess candles do not have warnings on them....such as...

DO NOT BURN CANDLES WHEN YOU ARE SLEEPING

or

CANDLES LEFT BURNING MIGHT CAUSE A FIRE

I know that these things are hard to understand. Who would have guessed that a candle left burning after you go to sleep might cause a fire? If there is no warning on the candles...how are you supposed to know that they might cause a fire? Especially if you are a “purple-people-with-depression glass green hair”?. Where are your community leaders? I think that maybe this whole hurricane hitting the Upper Texas Coast is racially motivated. I think that when you leave a candle burning when you got to bed and you wake up and your house is on fire and you get burned is all racially motivated. You would never have been burned if your power was on. Some how this just has to be some one else's fault. How can it be your fault? The only role you played was that you were the one who actually lit the candle and you were the one who actually went to bed with a candling burning in the next room. How can any of this be your fault?

I am just rambling...I think you get the point. Last night on the news a “purple-people-with-depression glass green hair” person was interview. It was beyond believable. If I had gotten burned because I had been stupid enough to fall asleep with a candle burning, I can guarante you I would not be interview on the news. I am pretty sure I would not tell anyone that I had been so stupid.

Awesome!

The message below was our latest telephone message from the City of Alvin last night. We have a great communication system in our City. You can sign up and they have the ability to send out broadcast messages. They have done a great job before, during and after the hurricane.

I am posting this message because of the awesome thing that is going to happen tonight in our city. Please read down to the last paragraph. I feel totally blessed that we live in the town that we live in and that a Christian infulence is so strong. Many times before and after the hurricane I got messages that said "may God bless you" or that some one was keeping us in their prayers. This was very comforting. Well mostly, except maybe when BR from the NHC sent an email the morning of the storm that said he was keeping us in his prayers. That was kind of scary! Also the last message from the Police captain before the hurricane made landfall said "May God bless each and every one of us". That was also kind of scary but yet comforting.

Message from Mayor Appelt - Hurricane Update #27

Posted: 09/19/2008 07:04 PM

Just seven days ago Alvin was hit with one of the worst storms in this generation. All power was lost, our large trees scattered like tooth picks and significant damage to our homes and businesses. The City encouraged its citizens to leave the area if possible.

Today we were notified that 65% of our electric power has been restored, gasoline is readily available, debris is being picked up curbside, and the City services are back to normal. The majority of our grocery stores and restaurants are now opened. The rapid return to our everyday life was due to a lot of preplanning, investment in emergency equipment and the dedication of a lot of City employees. I also recognize how our citizens jumped in cleaning up, putting things back together, and helping their neighbors.

I would like to mention several things:

First-please help us get the City cleaned up. Ten large trucks began picking up brush and debris Thursday. They will be passing through the City over the next several days. After they have picked up each street, they will start over again. If you miss the first pass, or didn't get everything out, don't worry-they will be out again. Remember to separate the piles of brush debris and building materials. They are picked up by different trucks.

Second-while areas of town with little or no power line damage have and will be engerized in a short period, those few areas with extreme power line damage may take another week or so to be energize. Every effort by the City to expedite the repairs.

Third- this storm could have been much worst. While damage was done and losses have occurred, by the grace of GOD we have made it through. The Community will be gathering at the Krogers parking lot Saturday evening at 7:00PM to pray. The Lord says that where two or more are gather together in His name, there He will be also. I hope to see you at the Kroger's parking lot to pray Saturday evening.

My observations...

First of all I am having a hard time getting used to some of my male coworkers sleeping at the office. Picture me sitting at my desk and suddenly a male coworker who has been sleeping in the copier room right next to my office or the conference room also right next to my office, gets up and needs to use the restroom or go take a shower. They come out of which ever room they have been sleeping and walk past my desk. Their eyes are barley open and their hair is all messed up and they have sleeping clothes on. Oh my goodness, I am REALLY getting to old for this job!!

Second observation is that everyone wants something for nothing. People who have not paid insurance or taken care of themselves or their families want the GOVERNMENT to pick up the pieces. I am getting tired of all the people on TV crying, screaming and throwing fits because FEMA has not written them a check yet. Get real people. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES. I guess this is what most of America has been taught. Don’t worry...the government will come in and pick up the pieces. Don’t be responsible...the government will come in and pick up the pieces. Give me...give me...give me. I am sure there are those out there who got very little damage who will try to make claims with FEMA. Those people deserve nothing.

I heard someone who lives on Galveston Island in a beach house on the beach whining about how FEMA has not contacted him about his loss. Hello Mr. Whinner, they have not even opened up the Island yet for people to come back to it. YOU are not even allowed on the Island...much less FEMA.

There...you have my observations for today.

Sometimes I crack myself up!

We are safe and sound from Ike.

As it turns out, Ike was not nice to the Upper Texas Coast. Galveston Island is about 80% destroyed. I still can not believe it. We had very little damage here. We have been without power since we got back on Sunday. Our power is back on today.

There have been so many surreal experiences it's hard to remember most of them. One funny thing that happened yesterday. I had to go to work. I could not make coffee at home. I need my coffee in the mornings. I drove by Kroger in Alvin and it was closed. All the restaurants in Alvin were closed. I drove to Dickinson and the Starbucks in Kroger was closed. I went to Target and the Starbucks was closed. So I arrived at my office without having any caffeine. There were hundreds of people there. I had a hard time finding a parking place. I got into the building and there were people and stuff everywhere. I finally got into my office and BR walked out of his old office...I froze...I thought that maybe this was all a nightmare...maybe he really did not leave.....maybe we really did not have a hurricane...just maybe. Then GH walked out. Never mind. It's all true. BR is just visiting the office doing a storm survey on Ike.

We were so blessed and had very little damage. It's awesome to have a generator. MSH has just about every tool and device known to man and it is totally awesome. The only thing I could not do at home before work was my hair. I did it after I got to work.

Just two weeks ago was hotter than anything here. We were again blessed with picture perfect weather after the hurricane. It has been beautiful here. I have even been a little chilly at night. It could have been so much worse by being hot and humid. We are very blessed indeed.

Our evacuation was mostly uneventful. The traffic was moving considering there was a lot of it. We stayed with my brother and his family. My parents stayed at the AFB in Abilene. We took my Dad on the drive to see all the windmills. It is something that you can't describe you just have to see it in person.

For more details about our "Ike experience" see MSH's blog.

Here are a few pictures of our trip and the damage to our houses:

Yikes Ike!!!

This is not funny:

Freakishly weird...

CDM1 has this posted on his blog. This guy is Phil Keaggy (who is supposed to be a really great guitar player) looks freakishly just like CDM1 (when he is growing his beard for a beard contest he is in every other year) on this ablum cover. I keep looking at it and it is W.E.I.R.D.!!!

I do not like Ike!

I know this is very Americana just like Apple Pie. I can't help saying this weekend....I do not like Ike.

Dear Ike, do not come visit us. We do not like you and we do not want you to visit the Upper Texas Coast. Ike please go visit some where else.

Love, Kim (or as MSH calls me MDB!)

I am very proud...

I am very proud of the fact that after my separation and divorce from my ex-husband I have not talked bad about him to our children. I have not made fun of, belittled, put down, made negative comments about or pointed out anything bad, sad, or negative in any way about him to our children. I also have not talked to the children about what went wrong between him and I. I made it a point to not say anything about him to them. Period. I have kept my mouth shut.

The problems we had were between a husband and wife and not between father and children or mother and children. For all of this I am very proud. I believe I took the high road and I am very proud. Plus, I think that our children are old enough to form their own opinions. They are adults and I treat them like adults. Both children have a very good relationship with both of their parents and for that I am thankful and of course very proud!

Most people do not take the high road. They are too self-absorbed and too focused on themselves. They are scared of being alone. They think that if they put down the other parent then the kids will not like/love the other parent. This is pitiful in my opinion. Defination of pitiful: pathetic, distressing, miserable, heartbreaking, sad, deplorable, heart-rending and gut-wrenching.

So I will say it one more time, I am so proud of my children for being able to have great realtionships with both of their parents.

Finally an update!

We had another great weekend. Saturday MSH had to work, so I slept in a little and then worked around the house. We had a lazy evening watching movies and catching up on our DVR list. Sunday we had another Astros game. It was nice. We have found the perfect parking place and it's only $5. It's on San Jacinto, so it's easy to get to the freeway to get home. We have two more games and then the 2009 season is over. :(

Monday was spent working around the house and more just taking it easy. The yard got done here and at the Holly house. I did not fall asleep on Monday night. Not even for a minute. So I had to stay home yesterday because I was seriously sleepy. I only let myself take one nap from 8am to 10am and that was it. I went to bed last night at 10pm and was still awake at 11:30pm and then fell asleep shortly after that. Weird.

Today was a very busy day at work. I have tons of stuff to get done.

I can not wait to hear Sarah Palin's speech tonight. I like what I have seen and read about her. I heard someone being interviewed on the news that knows her and has worked with her say that Sarah was an excellent choice. She is a new champion, she is tough, she is smart and if she debates the other VP candidate that she will chew him up and spit him out!! We will see.

I love to talk to people who have know MSH for a long time. Today the person I talked to (whom I have known for about 15 years) has known MSH for a VERY VERY long time and she said that she always remembered him as being so nice, kind and easy going. How awesome is that? It's nice to know that he is the same now as he was then. I love these little insights to his life before we met. Also if you would like to remember this friend in your prayers as she steps into the dating world. Pray that she makes the right choices and goes with her heart and intuition.

The flower MSH sent me for my birthday are still beautiful. They are a week old and still going strong. Here are some pictures of them.

Long nights....

Once again I can not sleep. It does not happen very often any more (about 5 or 6 time in the last 7 weeks) since I started a new medication. So here I am watching Hope Floats and blogging.

We have our 4th Astros game tomorrow. I am excited about going to the game.

Thanks goodness Gustav is not coming this way. It looks like we were blessed once again.

When I was a senior in high school, I worked at a store called Schwegmanns. It was in New Orleans. It was a large grocery store that sold everything you can think of. On Saturdays the backwoods cajuns would bring the whole family to shop at Schwegmanns. They were a sight to behold. I could not understand them. And there were about 14 members to each family. To me it looked like cousins had married cousins. Enough said. Well now when I see families at the store and they look like cousins that married cousins, I say "It looks like Saturday at Schwegmanns". Well last night at Walmart it definitely looked liked Saturday at Schwegmanns!!!!

Today was another great day. I worked around the house and watched a few movies. MSH had to go to work and then worked a litttle around the house. It was just too hot to work outside very much. Life is calm, sweet and very comfortable. And it pleases me very much to say that!!

Run for the hills...

is what I want to do to get away from the coast.

The nine day forecast ... which is really a stretch .. predicts that Gustav will make landfall in La THEN about 4 or 5 days later it predicts that Hanna will make landfall in the same place. That would be crazy and terrible.

Yikes!

Oh man...not the way I wanted to start the day!

The forecast track has shifted to the left.
Not good.
Way too much stress around here for me!

My male co-workers are tired of me saying...

This is what a good husband does and then I point to these beautiful flowers.
MSH sent these to me for my birthday! He is the best!

I will add new pictures as they open up.

Insider Trading...I mean Insider Information

Since I have insider information about Gustav, I can tell you the latest...this current storm could go anywhere. Right now the models are all over the place. So do not let your guard down just yet. My state is already going a little bit CRAZY and I am sure that this confuses some people. It is like crying wolf too many times. I do know one thing, when it's time to leave I will be the first one driving out here!

I do not feel 52 years old. I am starting to look it. That makes me kind of sad. I want to be young. Only because I want to have many many years with MSH. Since MSH knows how to live almost stress free, he keeps me grounded and that makes for a very happy life. Living almost completely stress free is nice and should make us live longer. At least I hope it does.

I have had a great birthday celebration so far. From all the Astro's games I have gotten to go to and look forward to going to, to the special earrings that CDM2 gave me, to eating out with my parents last weekend to our annual "Chocoalte Day" yesterday at work, it has been nice. JL and I were the only ones who brought anything (which was fine since it was to celebrate our birthdays!), we had brownie sundaes. Everyone enjoyed the chocolate overload. I am not sure but I think some might have slipped away to catch a few minutes of sleep after eating all that sugar and chocoalte!

I am looking forward to this weekend since it will be a three day weekend. Also, SS is coming to town and we are planning on getting together on Saturday for some fun girl time. MSH will be at football practice all day. Then on Sunday we have tickets to the Astros game. They are playing the Cardinals. Too bad from MSH, he is missing all the games this week while they are playing the Reds.

That's all for now. As MSH would say..."Everything is lovely"!!

No Zipping!!

I am told many many times a day, well maybe a few times a week to not zip in the new car. I should have NEVER said to MSH when he ask me how I liked the new car "I love this car, it's very zippy". That was my first mistake! My other problem is that the dashboard display shows what the current MPG is. MSH can (of course, since he is perfect!!) get that number up to over 30. Sometimes way higher. Every time I drive the car the MPG falls below 30. I try to drive slow...I try not to let the rpm go over 2...I try not to let those other drivers frustrate me and cause me to zip.


Dear MSH, I am sorry I Zip. Maybe you would like to buy me one of these and then you can be certain that I will not ZIP!! No sir...there will be no Zipping from me one of these! Until then, I will try hard to not Zip!! Love, MDB


Have a great weekend!