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!

Never mind about my last post, I am not getting a hurricane for my birthday. Thank goodness!

We had another great weekend. I am getting very used to having all our weekends turn out great!

Friday after work MSH had to take care of the yard at the Dickinson house. It did not take him very long and he was back home in no time. Saturday we slept in and then got ready and left for Bryan. We went to the wedding of the son of some friends from church. The wedding and reception were beautiful. As we were leaving town we went by a store that every time we pass a chain of the same store in Pearland, I yell out...I looooooove that store and I neeeeeeeeever get to go in there! It is an accessory store. So as usual I yelled what I usually yell and MSH turned into the parking lot and let me go in! How awesome is that! They were having a GREAT sale. I got eight necklaces for $36. They are all beautiful. They all were 50% off and then another 50% off and then 10% off and no tax. (The store paid the tax!!) So basically I got about $200 worth of necklaces for $36. It was so fun picking all of them out. If we had more time, who knows how much $$$ I would have spent! Anyway it was great and MSH was so kind to let me go in and patient with me as I was picking out the necklaces.

Sunday was kind of a weird day. First off my phone was getting text messages that CDM2 sent me from the concert she went too. It only took about 4 or 5 hours for them to get from her phone to my phone. It sent each text 2 times so I got 6 text messages. It kept me up for about 30 minutes. Then we got a call from MSH’s youngest at 6:30am!! It woke us up, so that was weird. So we decided to sleep in, so I could get some rest. We had our Sunday tickets for the Astros. It was a good game. They were retiring Biggio’s number, so there was a big ceremony. We left after the 8th inning. We made it to our car just before the rain. Then we had our Financial Class at 5pm. It was another great class and I am looking forward to putting into place everything we are learning.

This week everything is falling back into place with both of us going to work everyday. We are still trying to car pool when we can.

I picked this restaurant http://www.yaorestaurant.com/ to eat at for my birthday. It should be good and I am really looking forward to it.

The price of gas at the station closest to our house is $3.35. Isn’t that great? Except we don’t buy our gas there but if we did, that would be a great price.

I am learning how to create my own blog designs. I am really excited about learning this.

Ta Ta for now!

Woo Hoo! Guess what I am getting for my birthday???

The forecasters told me today that the computer models say I am getting a HURRICANE! How unawesome is that?!? In case you are wondering...it's storm #2 that is forecast to come to this area in about 13 days. (I updated this from earlier when I thought my birthday was next week...another blonde moment!)

What is Forgiveness?

What is forgiveness?

There's no one definition of forgiveness. But in general, forgiveness is a decision to let go of resentments and thoughts of revenge. Forgiveness is the act of untying yourself from thoughts and feelings that bind you to the offense committed against you. This can reduce the power these feelings otherwise have over you, so that you can a live freer and happier life in the present. Forgiveness can even lead to feelings of understanding, empathy and compassion for the one who hurt you.

How do I know it's time to try to embrace forgiveness?

When we hold on to pain, old grudges, bitterness and even hatred, many areas of our lives can suffer. When we're unforgiving, it's we who pay the price over and over. We may bring our anger and bitterness into every relationship and new experience. Our lives may be so wrapped up in the wrong that we can't enjoy the present. Other signs that it may be time to consider forgiveness include:

• Dwelling on the events surrounding the offense
• Hearing from others that you have a chip on your shoulder or that you're wallowing in self-pity
• Being avoided by family and friends because they don't enjoy being around you
• Having angry outbursts at the smallest perceived slights
• Often feeling misunderstood
• Drinking excessively, smoking or using drugs to try to cope with your pain
• Having symptoms of depression or anxiety
• Being consumed by a desire for revenge or punishment
• Automatically thinking the worst about people or situations
• Regretting the loss of a valued relationship
• Feeling like your life lacks meaning or purpose
• Feeling at odds with your religious or spiritual beliefs

The bottom line is that you may often feel miserable in your current life.

What are the benefits of forgiving someone?

Researchers have recently become interested in studying the effects of being unforgiving and being forgiving. Evidence is mounting that holding on to grudges and bitterness results in long-term health problems. Forgiveness, on the other hand, offers numerous benefits, including:

• Lower blood pressure
• Stress reduction
• Less hostility
• Better anger management skills
• Lower heart rate
• Lower risk of alcohol or substance abuse
• Fewer depression symptoms
• Fewer anxiety symptoms
• Reduction in chronic pain
• More friendships
• Healthier relationships
• Greater religious or spiritual well-being
• Improved psychological well-being

Forgiveness takes away the power the other person continues to wield in your life. Through forgiveness, you choose to no longer define yourself as a victim. Forgiveness is done primarily for yourself, and less so for the person who wronged you.

Forgiveness brings a kind of peace that helps you go on with life. The offense is no longer front and center in your thoughts or feelings. Your hostility, resentment and misery have made way for compassion, kindness and peace.

Thank goodness I am living in total peace and happiness!

Super- llelujah

I just made this word up and I like it! I FINALLY got someone to listen to me about my ongoing problems with a certain government agency. I took matters into my own hands and contacted my Congressman. Someone on his staff is looking into this problem I am having.

SUPER - LLELUJAH

I spoke with him this morning and he said that this problem was totally ridiculous.

Thank you...Thank you...Thank you.

If he can get this problem solved for me, then I will vote for his boss from now on!

Our weekend news:
We started our Financial class last night. So far it looks like it going to be very interesting.

Our sweet granddaughter came over last evening. What a cutie! She is getting so big and is talking lot more than when we saw her the last time. She is so funny and super smart. She does not miss anything going on around her.

Ramblings

We had a really nice dinner with my parents yesterday. It was a very late Father's Day present for my Dad. I cooked dinner and I think it turned out great. We had our favorites...steak, fried okra, fruit salad, smash potatoes (a new recipe I found from PW) and sugar free layered chocolate dessert.

We are starting a new class at church tonight for the next 13 weeks. It's a financial class by Dave Ramsey. You can check out his website here. I am excited to do this class. I have wanted to do it for a long time.

I wish I could have deep thoughts. But since I don't you can read MSH's blog. He always has some really great thoughts and ideas and opinions.

I finally found a black rug for the kitchen. We have to have something that is as dark as you can get because we are in the kitchen alot and cooking alot. We are always spilling or dripping something on the floor. This is the new rug, the greens will go nicely with my depression glass and we have lots of red in the kitchen, so this rug will work out perfectly for us.
The new hurricane outlook is for an above average season. Two storms have already hit the Texas coast. Hopefully this is it for us. I do not wish storms on anyone else, but I hope we do not get one here.

John E$wards is such a liar. I can't stand anyone who lies. For the most part when people lie everyone knows. Those who lie will get what is coming to them in time.

That's all for now!

Wow...this is not good...

http://money.aol.com/special/retail-stores-closing-doors

Back in the Saddle again...

We are back in the saddle again. MSH starts back to work tomorrow and we should be back into the school routine again. I love to be in a routine. We are going to try and carpool as much as we can to save money. It will mean that we will have some really long days.

We had a great time in Abilene. Here are some random thought from the trip to go along with the slide show. We took lots of drives for Dan to look around the area. He says he really likes it. We both liked being able to sit outside and not sweat. The mornings and evenings were wonderful. It was incredible to see all the windmills that have been put up in West Texas. They go on for as far as you can see.

The H’s have two new puppies. They are sisters and could not look any more different. They were fun to play with and watch. “Al” (as Dan calls him) was not very happy with the new dogs. When they came outside, he went to the farthest part of the yard to get away from the puppies.

One day WWH and MSH went fishing in one of the tanks in Ballinger. They had fun catching the fish. I stayed in the truck because I was afraid of rattlesnakes attacking me as I walked down to the tank. I had I own fun with my camera. I love to take pictures, especially of flowers and other things in nature. I think I took some pretty good ones.

The chicken fried bacon was delicious. It’s not something I would go out of my way to get again, but if I was in the area...

We had a nice lunch and a great time visiting with MSH’s friend, Kathy. She was so sweet. I can’t wait to visit with her again. It was fun for both of them to meet in person after talking on the Internet for nine years.

We got to see Alli and she is keeping her spirits up. Yesterday they found out she has to stay in the cast for at least eight more weeks.

We got home to a storm headed this way. We had to hit the ground running when we got home. The stores were pretty much cleaned out of necessary supplies. We only needed to get a few things. Thank goodness we were spared this time. I got the day off from work. That’s all for now.

Enjoy the slide shows !