Monday, December 29, 2008

Christmas 2008, Part 4

On Friday, we went to my Granny Foster's for lunch. Jane, Dad and my brothers were all able to meet there. We had pizza and had a great time laughing over lunch. Again, more great presents. Landon got a frog tent from GJ and Grandpa that he and Kallie loved. They ended up playing in that for the rest of the afternoon.

That night we went to Clovis to spend some of our giftcards. Then another meal at the Leals there, Jana and Burl were able to meet us. then it was back to mom's.

We finally got packed up on Saturday and headed back to Midland. We spent the night there and headed on to Houston

(Lan's asking to watch madagascar, so i'll have to finish this later.)

Christmas 2008, Part 3

Wednesday night we had steaks and fixings at Sharon's. Landon didn't want to go at first, he wanted to stay at Grammys so Santa could come. We finally convinced him that there were presents at Sharon's too. Of course, that kind of backfired on us when it was time to go to church. He didn't want to leave, we weren't doing presents til we got back from church. Finally, Kallie and Abby convinced him to go with them. We had singing night at church. There was lots of family, the singing was great. Then back to Sharon's.

Again, we got great stuff. Then we played games, Bryan worked more on the puzzle, Apples to Apples was the hit. Then it was time to go home to wait for Santa.

It took a while to get Landon to sleep, but he finally went to bed around 1.

Santa came overnight. We all woke up early, but Landon didn't. We he finally got up, he ran to the living room, saw all the toys. Then screamed that he didn't want to wear his Christmas pajamas. After getting dressed, he ran back to the living room. He was so excited to see his bat cave, batman and friends, his new golf clubs and especially his tool bench. We were soon making a bird house and playing with batman and joker.

We went over to Sharon's for a late lunch. Landon loved playing with his cousins. Every morning he'd wake up and ask if Kallie and Abby were going to be there.

Christmas 2008, Part 2

Tuesday night was Christmas at my mom's house. We always have meatloaf and twiced baked potatoes. Since we had spent the day in Muleshoe, my mom made the cookie dough so it'd be ready to go when we got there. After dinner, I started roll it out...but it just wasn't holding up well. Mom realized she forgot to double the flour. LOL. So we doubled it for the next roll out and kept going. The kids love it, but I try to make sure they are space efficient and don't waste cutting space. LOl. Didn't work so well. But we got lots of cookies rolled out and ready to be iced.

Finally time for presents. Landon got a dart gun, an electronic pitch pipe, gloves, a pillow with his name, an airport set, so many things I can't even remember them all right now. We got giftcards, a great bracelet from my sister, a neat cracking recipe book from my sister, coffee and chocolate stirring spoons.

After presents, we convinced the kids to stop playing with all the toys and ice cookies...not to hard to convince. Mom had bought icing with special tips, but also made home made icing which we usually use. We had fun decorating, but finally tasted the store bought icing - it was gnasty. Mom and I scraped it off all the cookies and replaced it with the home made stuff. Much better.

Christmas 2008, Part 1

After leaving Midland, we went to Portales, made it there in time to enjoy huge crabcakes left over from Sunday Dinner. Everyone was surprised to see us; apparently they thought we'd left Houston that morning. LOL. Not the case. We had just enough time to go to Moms, unload and change our clothes for church.

On Monday, we finally got to Muleshoe to take measurements. We ripped up the bathroom carpet to see what the damage was...not as bad as we thought. We had Alex and picked up Trevor and headed to Clovis. First stop was Lowes. We found a dishwasher on sale, a door, some extra tools and what not. Then it was on to Walmart for paint and painting supplies. We finally made it back to Muleshoe around 4, TJ and Kallie were home and told us that my sister was at Therapy (little stinkers - she was at physical therapy, but they think its hilarious to call it therapy.) Bryan started in on the bathroom floor and I started on the painting. Jill soon got home and was able to roll while I cut in. My best friend from high school came over and we ate at Leals. Yummo. Then back to work, which wasn't as easy since we had full stomachs.

We had to call it a night and return the next day, without Landon, thanks to Grammy. Landon and Abby stayed with Emma and Grammy at the house. We finished up the painting, Bryan finished the floors, Kip had finished the dishwasher the night before, and then Jill, Kallie and I did the floor tiles in the bathrooms. Lots of work, but it looks so much better. Even if it did take the span of 3 months. There's more to do, but that was an improvement for the time being.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Cold Start

We got to Midland about 10 on Friday night. Landon did really well in the car, even though the trip was only 9 hours, it seems so much longer. Especially when we drive during the day and I don't get to sleep. (Bry didn't think that was so funny.)

Landon didn't sleep at all. I really mean, none, at all. He cried all night, telling me that daddy put gum in his ear. I gave him Tylenol and benedryl, to no avail. We finally got out of bed around 4 and went to the living room to watch TV. He fell asleep about 7 and we got back in bed. I got up at nine, but Landon slept til almost 11:30. And yeah, he woke up fine. Ear didn't hurt...happy as a lark. Of course, I was exhausted the rest of the day, as was Bry since he'd driven all the day before, then we kept him up til 4.

We met GJ for lunch and then did a little bit of shopping. I had ordered prints to be picked up at Walgreens. I finally got to the counter, told him our name, and they guy pulled out a envelope. I paid, then decided to take a look. Yeah, not our pictures. I told the guy, he checked the outside, but yes, that was our name, but, really, not our pictures. He didn't believe me, so I finally showed him what was in the envelope....a nice black family of five. He laughed, and went to the back and found our pictures. I told him I didn't think my Granny would quite understand the other picture.

Grandpa picked up steaks to grill. We started a fire in the fire pit, but the wind soon picked up with the cold front coming through. My brother came over for dinner, which was delicious. Brats, steaks, corn on the cob and beans. (You'll notice a theme of food for my next several posts.)

Lan slept great last night, we stayed in bed til past nine this morning. Awesome. The cold front has come through. It was a windchill of 15 this am...compared to 80 degrees yesterday! That's Texas for you.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Train Table


Since we're heading out to New Mexico soon, we let Landon open his gift from Grandpa and Grandma Rhodes. They got his a train table and train set, Thomas and Percy. He LOVES it. We're going to have to do something about the tracks falling apart, guess we can glue them or tack them or something. But its great.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Couldn't sleep

Well, I guess there's just so much going on in my head, I just couldn't shut it off last night. Even though I was totally exhausted. I only have a little part of one project left and I'm done. That's a great feeling. But now that I'm done, I'm wondering if everyone's going to be happy with the gifts.

So, I finally got out of bed at 5am. Went through my closet...I now have huge piles of clothes for my sister and my niece and goodwill. There are still things in there that I haven't worn in a while, but just can't seem to get rid of them. I also have a huge bag of shoes to go to goodwill.

Our work holiday luncheon is today. I'm hoping there's lots of yummy food so I can gain even more weight and my clothes can be even more uncomfortable. Yay to holidays.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Your hair

Yes, my hair is still Landon's security blanket. This week, we thought we'd try out the fake ponytail hair we bought when he was little (it never really worked then.) It was dark in the bedroom, so I clipped it to his pillow and he played with it for quite a while...

Until it came unclipped. He sat straight up, "Mom! You're hair fell off your head!" And me? yeah, I just cracked up. Poor kiddo, prolly freaking out that my hair fell off and I'm just laughing like a madman. I took the hair from him. He says, "I don't want that hair, I want the hair on your head."

Good family dinners

Bry found a roast on sale this week, we ran out of time this weekend since we both put hours in at work, so yesterday morning, I loaded up the slow cooker and headed to work. It smelled so delicious when we got home.

We had roast with onions, carrots and mushrooms, real mashed potatoes (yay to my new mixer! thanks, bry!) fried okra, and dinner rolls. Which, by the way, I love, love, love Sister Schuberts rolls. I have the recipe, but you can get them in the freezer section now. We were laughing and telling stories, and sure enough, I snorted just like Grandma! Or Aunt Sharon, or Jana or Micah, or pretty much any woman in my family. Then, of course, I was laughing so hard I was crying.

I really enjoy having good friends so close that we can share meals just like family. I love cooking food and having people in the house. When I first moved to Houston, I cried, a lot. I missed being around my family. I hated it here. It upset me knowing my sisters, cousins, family were all home together. I missed it all. So much has changed in 10 years. I believe I've finally found my home. I still miss my family, and I still get sad when one of my sisters calls and I know they're all hanging out together. But now, I have great times here, with my "family." Thanks guys.

And back to the story...

After dinner, we were going to head back over to see the lights in Dickinson. Of course, we got there late, and the boys were preoccupied with Justice League, so we decided to opt out of the walking and went to drive around a neighborhood on the other side of the freeway. We were almost finished and Maddox says something like, "I'm going to get sick of this place...I'm sick of being here." So, of course, Landon says, "I'm going to be sick in here too." They're too funny. And even funnier together, feeding off each other.

As soon as we woke up this morning, Landon wanted to know where Maddox was...and then had to ask "why" 398 times.

So...

Last week I took two pregnancy tests...one on Monday, one on Tuesday, since I was supposed to start around Thursday, I figured it would be late enough that it might show up...big fat negatives. Oh well, another month. Since last week, I've been having some cramping, headaches, back pain, all the normal stuff you'd get with a period, (sorry male readers!) but I hadn't started. One of my friends in on BC, so I figured she was messing up my hormones - being in an office full of women, that does tend to happen.

This morning, I figured, why not...so I grabbed another test, went to the bathroom...I thought I started to see a line, but thought maybe my eyes were too tired, so I closed them, finished my business, opened my eyes and



two lines.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Long Morning

Last night we celebrated a friends bday a day early. After some Mexican food, we took the boys over to see the Festival of Lights in Dickinson. Unfortunately we got there as they were closing, so we had to hustle through...though, Bryan didn't have a coat, so I don't think he minded going quickly. We parked at a church down the road and rode a bus over to the lights. Landon kept telling us, "Buses are fun!" LOL. Uh, yeah, remember that Lan when we're making you ride it to junior high.

The software I admin at work upgraded this weekend. Which meant a long morning for me (and others - Thanks guys!) Starting around 6am, I got to working. Luckily, Landon slept in this morning. When he finally woke up, he sat with me for a while...but then got tired of me trying to type around him, so he and Bry started wrestling. Bryan watched him all morning, thankfully. Testing went a lot longer than I expected. And now that I'm finished, they're both upstairs playing cars. I'm hoping landon's ready for a nap, cause mama sure is.

But yay to the upgrade. Everything went well and we're a go. Now I have to get back to Christmas gifts. I did get two more projects done last night. Thankfully. i might can get another two done if I get the boys to sleep.

Friday, December 12, 2008

And the snow is gone...

Back into the 60s for us. Should be in the mid 70s by Sunday. The snow was so much fun and great while it lasted, but this city can not handle that kind of weather.

Yesterday, after my PA (which went well btw, and I'm happy and, I know, blessed to be getting a good raise again this year) Bryan and I decided to take the afternoon off to get some shopping done. I think we're almost finished with everyone. Shopping that is. I need to have a very productive weekend with my other projects. Which means I'm going to have to hide my Nintendo DS or I'll never get anything done.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Snow fight





After explaining snowball fights to Landon he decided that maybe he did need to go back out. We bundled up and headed to the back yard. Nicole walked over and we had a great time watching the huge flakes come down.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Snowy Night




It snowed, in Houston! Clearlake got a good amount, they said 2-3 inches. It snowed for about five hours tonight. Of course, it was 80 yesterday, so I don't think it will stay for long. Although we're supposed to stay below freezing, with wind chills in around 18-19. Yeah.

Landon thought it was great that he had snow in his hair, but he didn't really want stay out...too cold.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Weekend in Review (Go Gators!)

On Friday, I purchased a new game for my DS - hence a weekend that wasn't as productive as it should have been. I did get one more project done. And am still loving my Grandma's sewing machine.

The Grinch was on TV - Landon refers to it as the Bench. Mean, mean bench. Not sure why because he can see ggg. In fact, he'd say, "Gggg, ggg, bench." (He loved it so much, we ended up going to the store and getting it on DVD.)

On Saturday morning, Landon and I made cupcakes (orange and blue) and peanut butter cornflakes. Add that to hot dogs, bratwursts, peppermint pretzels, cookies, dips, chips...big smorgasbord for the SEC championship game. I ate SOOO much this weekend. The game was great. Go Gators! Landon slept through the whole thing, over three hours. He woke up just in time for the win, and then Mel, Maddox, Lan and I headed down to the Christmas parade. We squeezed in to a spot and sat for a while. We were after the judges, so the parade had some lapse time between floats/bands. After about an hour, we realized the kids were done with the parade, so we headed back to the car. (And I should mention here, Mel had two backseat drivers. Maddox was telling her to watch out for the cars coming at us, and Landon was telling her where to turn.)

On Sunday, Nic and I worked in the studio for a couple hours. I did some decal work which really turned out great. and I made like 1000 pendants. Or so it seemed. They should be finished by this afternoon, we have so much more to do. (that list I need to make still hasn't been made.)

Bry grilled some brat's for us, and we sat outside to eat. It was gorgeous out. We just got finished taking Landon out for a ride to see the lights in the neighborhood. I'm not sure if its due to how late Thanksgiving fell or due to the recession, but there's about 1/3 of the lights this year. Maybe half. But the people who did put up lights...I think they're trying to make up for those who didn't. Some yards were really out of control. Maybe I'll take some pictures tomorrow. (Cause I so have time to be doing that.)

Friday, December 5, 2008

One very productive day down...

Yesterday, food wise, AWESOME! I ate really well, and didn't have to eat one tums. Plus, when I finally laid down in bed, I wasn't sick at all. yay! Just shows you how eating right makes your whole life better.

I didn't, however, run yesterday. I take full responsibility for that. But, the time spent not running, I was able to finish one whole project last night. I was blessed to get my Grandmother Calton's sewing machine, along with her sewing table and it's contents. Let me just say, her machine is about 30 times better than mine. At first, I couldn't even get it threaded and working, so I went back to using my old one. Well, its done. Some thing's wrong with the tension - I'm going to have to take it apart to look at it. So, I dig through the table, and sure enough, she has the manual for the machine! I get everything set up and away I go...like a sewing fool. The "projects" turned out really great, I hope my family thinks so.

Tonight, I start my second set of sewing projects. These might take a little bit longer since it requires a lot of hemming. I have everything set up in the guest room. It actually works out really nicely, probably because the room is huge.

I still haven't completely made a good list for everything I need to get done, but I'll do that today, since I know some of my tasks require shopping.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Tractor Time



Grammy and Bubby got Landon a tractor for Christmas. It came in this week, so Bryan and Aubrey worked on putting it together.

Christmas Giving

Good grief...did y'all know that it's December? Yeah, December. I keep thinking, oh, next week I'll do this or I can order that then. But, no, I'm running out of "next week" and really, I have two and a half weeks to get stuff done. which really means only two weekends before we leave for the Holidays.

Sounds like list time, huh? Well, I can't list what all i need to do, since some family members read this and it would spoil there Christmas surprises, so I'm going to have to get serious with a list on my own. And that includes doing some shopping. Luckily for me, none of my shopping is anywhere near a mall. Thank goodness.

I still need a few ideas for Bryan. I have some smaller things for stocking stuffers, but he really hasn't mentioned anything else he really wants. Any great ideas would be welcomed.

And now I'm off to make my list.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Santa



Santa was in the mall in Tallahassee and there was NO line! Seriously. Landon wasn't afraid at all...went right up to him, sat in his lap and asked for a tool bench like Daddy's and a batman cave. And, of course, he promised to be good.






Some random pictures from this weekend. Landon playing with Grandma Purvis' dog, Cocoa. The dog jumped in Aubrey's lap too, well, he actually jumped in everyone's lap. Landon ate some tangerines on the porch with Grandma. And then of course, Landon and Daddy resting after a long night drive to Fla.

Sing a song

Landon no longer wants to hear Jingle Bells or Twinkle Star at night.

He now asks for "our song" - which when asked what our song is, he replies:

"you know, the one with shrek and donkey and landon and mommy, and a princess, and a dragon and a lion."

Oh, you meant that song. Yeah, cause now I have to make up a song and its amazing how quickly my imagination shuts down at 10pm while trying to get a kid to sleep.

Thanksgiving 2008

We had a lunchtime feast. Bryan's grandparents have worked and lived on Ted Turner's plantation for EVER. Well, Ted's son, Beau (Beauregard), has built an awesome covered area, with a huge playground, a life size doll house filled with toys, and, uh, a huge hunting practice area or something. Anyway - that's where we had our Thanksgiving feast, with all of Bryan's family. Minus Bryan's sister and kids who went to California and his brother, who didn't get up in time to ride with us. Landon had a wonderful time playing on everything and with all the toys. Who wouldn't, right?

It was perfect weather. In the low 60s, with a nice breeze. There was a ton of food. I spent most the time visiting with Bryan's aunts. Its funny how similar his family is to mine.
After lunch, we went by Grandman and Granddad Purvis' new house. Bry's uncles bought a dump and turned it completely around. It looks really great. His grandfather quit working out at the plantation, so they moved into town. I think they're both sad to be stuck in the house all day, but Shorty (that's bry's granddad) did tell Bry that he might just sleep all day now.

On Friday, Bry and I got up early and did some shopping. Found some good deals, waited in some long lines, had some delicious Krispy Kremes and wonderful coffee. That night Bry's Granddad's uncle had a fish fry out in the middle of nowhere. Seriously, nothing but woods around us. The food, once again, was great.

After that, I was exhausted. Bryan went out with friends, Landon and I went to bed. Unfortunately, I got sick and had to visit the porcelain god. Landon comes in, "Whatcha doin' mommy?" - Uh, nothing, could you hold my hair? LOL. Finally got everything out and got Landon back to bed, not a fun night.

The rest of the weekend was fun - I'll do the Gator game in a separate post. Landon had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa. We started out late on Sunday and didn't get home until midnight last night. It was a long, long drive. The drive seems easier at night, probably because I don't have a two year old jumping on me, going crazy in a 3x4 back of a SUV.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

UF vs FSU 08

The forecast was 30% chance of rain...yeah, well, turned out to be 100% for 90% of the day. Bry's friends picked us up and we headed over to Chad's friends house, that's, lucky for us, located about 5 minute walk from the stadium. We hang out for a while, watching Georgia get embarrassed by Georgia Tech. We decide we'll head out at 3:09 (yeah, I'm serious.) It was sprinkling, and at 3:09, the bottom broke out, and it started pouring. The first 10 steps, we worried about trying to stay out of puddles, after that, it was pretty much useless. It was pouring, and we were walking through a river running through the apartment complex. We actually saw a kid bite it, and fall into a 4 foot ditch full of water.

The whole walk its pouring, people are in rain gear, sloshing towards the gates, everyone chanting and talking trash. We finally make it into the stadium, my shoes are no longer just wet, they're basically holding ponds.

Our seats were great, we were near the south end zone, and we actually had some room around us. That might have been due to the fact that right in front of us was an obnoxious, uh, jerk. He tried talking trash (he was Florida state) for the first three minutes, then realized they were going to get their butts kicked, so he kind of backed off, talking to us at least. And, no lie, he hit his friends on the butt like 15 times. And not just a slap, like you're playing football and did a good job, he did a whole grab-lift move. Never quite understood what was going on there.

Towards the end of the first half, I notice a guy across the tunnel from us...at first he looks, "mentally challenged" but then I realize he's just drunk. And then, THEN, then he pukes all down the bleachers! I'm so not kidding. And does it several times.

The rain was off and on most of the game. Just when we thought it'd be okay to take our hoods off, we'd see more rain coming and a wave of people trying to get back in their rain gear. We were soaked. I finally tied a trash bag around my waist, wearing it like a skirt to keep my legs dry and warm.

The most ridiculous thing I've ever seen....the whole stadium cheered...I mean, seriously cheered when Percy Harvin got hurt. What is that? Seriously? You have such low class that you cheer for someone getting hurt. But, Tebow said that's what got him going...he asked coach to give him the ball so he could hit someone.

After the game, the rain kicked it into high gear again, started pouring. I've never stood in the rain that long. My feet were numb and cold. But what a great time.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Thanksgiving

Some things I'm thankful for...
Bryan and Landon - Bryan is the perfect guy for me. And even though he gives way too much details, he's a great husband and a wonderful dad. I love that we spend most of our days together (apart from while we're at work and even then, we usually IM or text.) I'm thankful we enjoy the same things, want the same things in life, appreciate the same things. Landon is lucky to have a dad who is always there for him, who plays with him, who wrestles with him, eats with him, gives him baths, sings good night songs to him, cuddles with him. I'm thankful for Landon, that God gave us such a great child, one that we are teaching to live just like us, that hopefully one day he will be a great a father and husband as Bryan is to us.
My family - my sisters, my brothers, my parents, my step-parents, my grandparents, all my aunts and uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews. I've been blessed to have a large family and even though we don't all agree on everything and most of us are very stubborn, we still love each other very much. Since I don't live close to them anymore, it may be weeks or months before I see or talk to some of them, but they're always ready with open arms to welcome me when we get to visit.
My friends - they're my family away from home. Always there to listen, to offer advice, to vent with me, to laugh with me, to cry with me. Even for Landon, he gets to have "family" here in Houston, people to spoil him like my family would if we were back home. (Thanks especially to Nic and Danny - who love Landon more than anything and I know he feels the same way about his Me-Cole and Ma-Dee. He loves you guys.)
My job - even with complaints about my office, my co-workers, etc...I still really enjoy what I do. I love figuring out things and correcting them, making them better, getting everyone to be happy with our products (yeah, so Docm is going to take more work...lol)
Landon's Grandparents - Landon is lucky to have his Grammy and Bubby, GJ and Grandpa Foster, Grandma and Grandpa Rhodes, Granny Foster, Grandma and Grandpa Purvis, and he was so very lucky to have two years with Grandma Calton. We live several hours away from all of them, but even from afar, they love and still manage to spoil him. (Have to add in Nana Sharon too - cause she definitely adds to the love - and the spoiling.)

There are so many things I'm thankful for...I need to be more aware that I realize that and don't take any of them for granted.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Saturday with Friends


Lan got to have a grand weekend with his friends. Maddox came over on Friday for the fire-roasting hot dogs and marsh mellows. He and Landon were nuts the whole time, they had a wonderful time playing together and watch Scooby Doo. At one point, they were in the backyard and wanted to get up on the slide without crawling all the way around. They tried getting their from the window ledge - no good. Then Maddox says, "Wait, I've got an idea!" and starts dragging their little table over. We all laughed and convinced them both that going around and climbing up was the better way.

On Saturday, Seth and Sage came over for the afternoon. Lan coo'ed at Sage and thought it was hilarious when he talked back. But most of the afternoon, Seth, Landon and I played together. We went outside for awhile, playing in the hammock, and then taking turns playing baseball. Seth would pitch to Landon, then Landon would pitch to Seth. It was pretty hilarious to watch. Then we went back inside and played with cars, blocks, and animals. Seth and Landon had a great time, and from all the coo'ing from Sage, he enjoyed sitting and talking and playing with Bryan. They watched the Florida game together. Fun seeing Bryan with a little one again. He loves kids, you can really tell he enjoys making sure the kids are having a good time, not focusing on himself. Big man coo'ing at a little baby, too precious.

The pic is of Landon after Seth left...he wanted to see if "Seff" was coming back.

Give Thanks

I know this will be a recurring blog theme this week, but two things I want to mention.

First, my little brother's girlfriend was in a car/train accident. Basically, her car got stuck on the track, she tried to get out just as the train hit her. And no, no alcohol was involved. She's doing much better now, lots of stitches and pain, but she's alive and coherent (started out in a coma.) Tanner's helping her as much as he can, with physical therapy, eating and just keeping her going. Both of them really need prayers right now.

Second, one of my Chi O sisters passed away this weekend. She died from carbon monoxide poisoning. She left two children and a husband.

Just appreciate the family you have...give them a hug and a kiss today. And tell them how much you love them.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Pacifier?

We had a good cold front come in last night. The high today is only in the low 50s. I searched and found my orange wool coat...reached in the pocket and found one of Lan's old pacifiers.

Which, yeah, I guess the last time I needed a coat - last January, landon still used a pacifier. Seems like forever ago.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Broken Boot

This morning, on the way out the door, the heel of my brown dress boots came off. Well, not the whole heel, but the cap part of the bottom of the heel. Landon and I turn around and head back into the house. I explain to him that my heel broke and I have to go change.

I change clothes and go back in to the living room, sit down to put on my black boots.
Landon: "you can't wear those."
Me: "why not? these aren't broken"
Landon: "outside will break them. they'll break outside."
Me: "lololololol...ahem, uh, no, these are good, only the brown ones break."
Landon: "yeah, the brown ones, no good."

Monday, November 17, 2008

My turn

Bryan had to go to work early, so it was my turn to take Landon to school. Mondays are always hard, but especially if Mom's doing the dropping off.

This morning, Landon and I went into the kitchen and I said, "oh man, dad forgot to make some coffee." Lan replies that we have to go to Bucee's. LOL. Smart boy.

It was pretty cold this morning, somewhere in the 40s. But all Landon will wear is crocs. So, jeans with crocs...and then I wrap him up in his blanky. Bryan calls us on the way to make sure we're up and going. Lan yells "you forgot the coffee dad!" Landon spotted some gummy worms while at bucee's so we had to pick up some of those.

Then to school. I had to fight to get him out of the car. Today was Spanish class. So I got to sit and count to 10 in spanish, then sing "Feliz Navidad" - but when the teacher brought out a video of Rodulf in Spanish, I made my exit. Poor Lan. I know we need to get him there earlier so he'll have a chance to play before going straight into school work. And that's all on me.

He's really excited about Christmas. We got a Santa blow up this weekend for the yard, along with a winnie the pooh and tiger that pop out of a present. Lan had a great time punching them, then bouncing off.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Beautiful Morning

It's beautiful out today. After a very windy night, the cold front has moved in. I think it's in the 50s out now.

Last night, we decided to do some prelim Christmas shopping. So, off to the mall. And then we waited. and waited. Traffic was horrible. And its not even December yet! The mall was full for a Friday night. We wondered around, didn't find much. Headed over to Toys R Us which was also packed. They were having a late owl special or something...again, didn't find much. Landon wanted a Thomas bike, but Bryan really tried to push the spiderman bike - which, turnedd out to be too big for Lan to peddle.

Don't have big plans for the weekend. I got some glass yesterday, which I'm hoping to cut and fire for pendants this weekend. Have some more returns...and of course, we've got another turkey in the fridge waiting to be fried.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Pictures - if we lived in the past...



I love this "feature" on my photo software. Here's two pictures of Landon - how they would have looked had I taken them with a camera back in the 1800s.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

An end to the day...

So, I mentioned that it was Bryan's birthday. We decide to meet the gang out at Saltgrass at Kemah. A lot of that area is still recovering from Ike, but the Kemah boardwalk is "mostly" open - all the restaurants are getting back on track. So, yeah, we sit down, and we have a waiter in training. Or a waiter, with a waiter in training following him...you couldn't really tell which one was supposed to "know the ropes."

Then - THEN - then! the fire alarm goes off. We look around...none of the staff are addressing the situation - the chefs' obviously aren't running from the kitchen...so we stay seated. The screeching alarm goes off. We all laugh.

THEN - it goes off again. And again....and AGAIN. I'm talking 20 minutes of it going off, stopping for a while, then going off again. We're holding our ears, shouting to each other, holding the kids ears. Not once, in that whole time did the manager address anyone in the dining area. We mention this to our waiter, he apologizes over and over...half of us go outside, wondering if we should just leave (which would suck for the waiter...but come on! 20 minutes of deafening alarms!?) Oh, and did I mention that the fire department NEVER showed up. Good thing it was a false alarm. After it was finally over...we sit back down to eat our salads, which have been waiting at our table. Our foods also ready, so we cram those plates on the table too.

And, never, did we get addressed or an apology from the manager. Our poor waiter (in training?) apologized over and over and was probably scared to death we were going to rant and rave. Which we did, just not to him. LOL.

So that's how this day ended.

Today

Why today is crappy:
1. Incorrectly linked everything on one of our major web pages to one link. My software only let me "undo" four of the links. I had to manually replace all the others, that's somewhere around 175 links.
2. Several XML files are missing on our server. No explanation.
3. I have a document due for a meeting this afternoon. Found out at noon that what I had put together wasn't anything like what was requested.
4. Aunt Flo came, early.
5. I dropped an earring in the toilet.
6. The ceiling in our office has water stains, again. Apparently, the roof hasn't been fixed from IKE.
7. Did I mention having to fix 175 links cause I jacked up somehow?

Why today is going to turn out okay:
1. It's Bryan's birthday
2. We went to IHOP for breakfast.
3. My BFF went home with me at lunch and we both got to vent about our day (and yeah, it was only half way through.)
4. I'm eating a Sonic cheeseburger (and I have reese's in my purse.)
5. It's not raining and its not hot.
6. Because I'm going to choose it to be...

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

I'm not so young anymore

Man, I hurt.
Old Lady hurt.
Old Lady, out of shape, hurt.
Old lady, out of shape, with no lung capacity hurt.

Last night was playoffs. We placed first in the season, so we had the first game. I kid you not, there was no AC running in that gym. By the end of the match (3 sets) I was soaked from head to toe. My shorts, my shirt, my sports bra, knee pads, I think even my socks were soaked. And I was exhausted. We had to set a match and then we played for the championship, which we lost in the third game. By the time I got home, I could barely move. I wasn't even sure I'd be able to lift my arms to shampoo my hair.

And this morning? Yeah, I feel old. We used to play 5 times a week. Seriously, for like 4 hours a night. (Then we'd go eat Mexican food or Taco Bell or some other crap.) But that, yeah, that was at least five years ago. Back in my twenties. LOL. And I'm definitely not that age anymore.

So, once I recover, I'm going to spend the next few months (the season won't start again til next year) getting back into shape. And maybe, just maybe this will become a running blog again.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Suite 300

We're on the second week of Landon being in suite 300. The teacher over there are great. But every morning, Landon cries and begs to not go to school. Then every afternoon, I have to drag him out of the class...he never wants to leave.

Bryan had some insight and thinks its due to the fact that when he gets dropped off, its usually story time or spanish class. So all the kids are sitting in a circle. So instead of playing when he gets to school, he goes straight to the learning aspect and has to sit and be quiet.

So...

We can get him up earlier, and try to get to school earlier. Which, in turn, would mean we'd have to get him to bed a little earlier, so that he'd wake earlier. I think this is definitely what needs to happen.

Oh, and every day, he tells us, "No jakey at school today" - his best friend Jakey hasn't moved up yet. I know he misses him.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Officially Bronchitis

Yep, after 1 chest x-ray, 4 viles of blood, 1 shot in the booty, a second antibiotic, an inhaler, and some cough syrup with codeine, I'm FINALLY down to only about one coughing attack an hour. Yay-who! And amazing, it hardly hurts to breath now.

Wow, what a difference. Thanks to my friends and husband who convinced me to go back and get a check up. And Target pharmacy has been so helpful.

Its late now, I'm off to bed, I'm so excited about getting a good nights sleep, as I'm sure my husband is too.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Halloween 08

I went home from work sick on Friday, but managed to wake up in time for Landon's halloween party. It was his last day in that class...he's potty trained and that means he gets to move up. The party was chaos. Too much food for little kids. Most of them were no longer wearing costumes, which was probably a good thing since they were all making a mess with the cupcakes, cookies, juice and candy.

Landon and I came home and fell asleep on the hammock outside. After about an hour, we moved inside. Landon stayed asleep and after getting a few trick or treaters, we decided to wake him up. He was in no mood to go out. He didn't even want to put his batman costume on. After several more trick or treaters, he decided that yeah, maybe he did want to go out for some candy. It only took two doors befores he had the act down pat. We went around the neighborhood, making it over to Mr. Danny's before Landon started getting picky. Then he'd only go to houses that had some kind of halloween decorations. Any house that wasn't decorated, he'd tell us, "they went night-night" even though their lights would be on and sometimes, they'd even be at the door.

We made it back to the house, divided up the candy. We had a few more trick or treaters, but not as many as I thought. Needless to say, we have a ton of candy left over.

The rest of the weekend was spent convincing Landon not to eat all his candy at once. I think he's forgotten about it now. I'll have pictures to post tomorrow.

Sick and Tired of being sick and tired

Yes, another post about coughing. Seriously, when is this going to end. I went to the chiropractor yesterday thinking the pain I have under my right breast was simply a rib head out of place. Unfortuanately, the adjustment didn't solve the pain and it looks like I've pulled an muscle from coughing.

And six days of antibiotics later? Still coughing, still blowing my nose, still feeling like crap. And now, the coughing really is a pain. Every time I feel a cough coming on, I hold my boob and brace myself. LOL...I'm sure I could get volunteers for this job...but once they heard the hacking they'd prolly run. I'm actually out hacking the old smoker in our group. Now that's impressive.

As for the rest of my life...wait, there is no rest of my life right now. I'm putting everything on pause til I can get over this junk. I came home early from work today and took a much needed nap. Then Landon and I got some ice cream and now Bryan's going to grill some steaks.

It should be an interesting night. I hope its a final decision and we don't have to go through recounts. Nice...the news anchor is talking to us during the national anthem. I'm so ready for this to be finished and decided.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Coughing

Okay, after 12 days of coughing, I'm still at it. made it in to see Dr. D last week. I have a upper respiratory infection and an ear infection. Antibiotics and a decongestant waiting for me at the pharmacy. And five days later, I still feel like crap. I used the weekend to sleep as much as I could. Landon and I actually fell asleep outside on the hammock on Friday. We had to wake him up to go trick or treating.

Didn't do much the rest of the weekend...tried to keep Landon from eating candy all day long. And tried to sleep as much as I could. I love the time change. its nice to get into bed before 10:00, of course, I could have gone to bed at 5 yesterday.

Hopefully the meds will kick in soon and I can stop being such a downer.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Catching Up


  • I'm still coughing. I think it's getting worse, but I do not have time to go to the doctor.

  • I learned you can't buy NyQuil with an expired drivers license

  • Your husband can buy it for you

  • If your license expires, you can not renew it online, and have to go to the office and wait in line and hope you pass the eye exam.

  • Mom and sis were in town. Stayed at the Westin with them and shopped the Galleria yesterday. Ate at Baba Yegas...had a great day off of work.

  • Introduced mom and sis to the Great Chiropractor. They were singing his praises all night


That's it. Short and, well, short. I have to see if Dr. D can get me in today and if I can get to the DMV some time.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Tootsie Rolls


Tootsie Roll from jodielea on Vimeo.

Cold Weather

Morning Coffee


Here's Landon drinking his morning "coppee"

Weekend Update

Saturday

Landon woke up at 3, asking for his mommy, so I headed up there...fell asleep until 5, I knew my alarm was going to go off at 5:30, so I went ahead and got up and starting packing up everything for the day. Nicole walked over and Mr. Loi and Ms. Kristine pulled up to follow us in the car. Lan woke up as we were backing out of the driveway and told us he needed to go potty. So I jump out and let him go in the grass. It was cold enough that it was steaming!

Down to the race. We park in a good lot we found during Luke's Half a couple years ago, but ended up walking way out of the way, when the actual race start was just a block down from where we were. We tallied it up to a warm up for us. Got our packets, milled around, realized the finish line was going to be uphill (hello?!) and finally got ready to start. I knew I started out pretty fast, since you immediately go downhill after crossing the starting line. There were lots more hills than I imagined. I can't really remember all my thoughts during the race. I know after the two mile mark I wanted to walk, but didn't. There were two guys ahead of me that I was trying to keep pace with and managed to do that til the very end. I finished somewhere right under 30 minutes, my nano said 29:49, I'll look for official results later. (Just checked the web, I ran a 29:46!)

(some guy dressed up as prefontane - it was Hilarious! he had the hair, the tiny shorts and i think he was even in flip flops.)

The rest of the group came in soon after that. We grabbed some food bags and headed back to the car. Ms. Kristine told us about a place for breakfast so we loaded up again and headed over there. Its Baba Yega's - and it was beautiful. They were serving a brunch, so we found a table by the back patio and enjoyed a wonderful spread. They had a small creek with fish and some water fountains. Lots of trees and plants.

Sandy and crew found us as we were finishing up, off to the zoo. Oh. my. gosh. It was so crowded. We ended up parking in the hospital parking garage on the back side and got in quickly. We did things a little bit backwards and were very ready to go before we'd seen half of it all. After getting to the elephants, Landon told me he needed to go poo-poo...so I took off at a slight jog with him back to the bathrooms by the koalas. We made it. Landon was sitting on the potty, bent over trying to poo...when he nods off! Yep, fell asleep while pooping. I had to wake him up to get him to finish. I carried back a sleeping child and we decided to call it a day.

When we got home, landon woke up and asked where the animals were. We had to explain and he started crying. Poor guy, but he fell asleep again, so lucky us. We ordered pizza and just hung out at the house.

Sunday
We brought Landon down to our bed in the morning. I reminded him that we were going to see the airplanes, and he replies, "Not yet, mama, not yet." LOL. The crew show up to the house and we load up the car. 8 people, 2 strollers, 2 professional cameras and lots of bags...we did it. We head out to the air show. Thanks to Runge, it was a great event. We got into the VIP tent. It was hot, hot, hot yesterday. We tried to find shade everywhere we went. The kids loved it. But we had to call it a day before the the Thunderbirds came out. Just too hot for everyone. So we over to Marble Slab. (Pumpkin ice cream with graham crackers.) Then back to the house.

We unloaded the car and were getting Ms. Sandy's stuff ready to go, when I heard a commotion on the stairs and then screaming! Sandy's oldest son had fallen down the stairs and cut his cheek on the bottom of the banister. Sandy grabs the older son and I get her other son in his carseat and we head to an emergency clinic down the road. Short of it - her son has to have 6 stitches...fought us the whole time, he definitely hates not being the one in control, but was a pretty good trooper after it was all over (and we weren't holding him down anymore.) I'm sure he's bruised up today, and a little sore. But I know he's so happy he gets to stay home with him mama. The doctors were very good and very patient in the given circumstances and it looked like a good stitch job.

(think the weekends over yet? not hardly.)

It was Mr. Danny's birthday, so after the ER trip, he picks Habachi for dinner. Landon loves to watch the chefs throw around the cooking utensils and food. He even tried to catch rice in his mouth, twice. We ended up at a table with two couples that were totally wasted and working their way on being plastered. And, lucky us, they wanted to talk and share stories. Seriously? How do we find these people? One of the guys was a total jerk and kept shooting off his mouth. It was so embarrassing...for us, since apparently they didn't notice how obnoxious they were.

And that wraps up the weekend. After sweating in the hot sun yesterday, its very cold and windy here today. Crazy Texas weather. I have tons of pictures, I'll try to get posted soon.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Pre-school

No, that isn't a typo. Landon is officially moving up to the "preschool" side of daycare. Wow. He hasn't yet had any trouble transitioning, as long as his friends get to move up too. Yesterday when I picked him up, he told me was doing spanish. Took me a while to figure out what he was saying.

Daddy was playing golf, so Landon and I had a fun night together. Its not often that its just the two of us. We wrestled and read and watched scooby. We were going to go for a walk, but Landon told me it was too cold, so we went back in.

He slept through the night in his bed last night. Didn't wake up and call for me until 7:30 this morning. Wow. I really do miss snuggling with him, but I don't miss him pulling my hair at 2am.

Zoo Boo tomorrow and then an Airshow on Sunday. Should be a great weekend.

Air Show and weekend plans

A friend is like King of the air port out there, so he was able to get us a car pass for the airshow this weekend (see my Meez on the sidebar.) I'm way excited about it. I've never been to one before. Plus Landon will love it.

About that run tomorrow...LOL. I'm trying to find off a nagging cough, and the cold air (yeah, its actually going to be cold...well, in the 40s) is going to not be good. But its always a fun run and my friends are either going to be running or cheering so I'm starting to look forward to it. Oh, and the lows in the mid 40s, not the high...the high is 80 or something tomorrow. So much for the cold front.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

No, I can't...

Last night was volleyball...Mr Danny has an ear ache, so he volunteered to watch Landon while we played. Bryan picked up Lan from day care and noticed his report said that he never fell asleep during nap time. yay. LOL.

Bry tried to prep Landon about the night, saying,
Bry: "Guess who's coming over?"
Landon: "Maddox!!!!"
Bry: "No, ma-Dee" (that's mr danny)
Lan: "No, maddox coming."
Bry: "No, Daddy has to go to the gym, so Mr. Danny's coming over, you can play with him."
Lan: "I can't. I need go too."
Lan: "I can't dooooo it."

Of course, when Mr. Danny got there and asked if Landon wanted to go outside...all was forgotten. He gave Daddy a kiss, said goodbye and told him to go.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Blacky the Koala


At the mall this weekend, we decided to do build-a-be.ar. Lan picked out a Koala (who knows why?!) He loves, loves, loves this store. And they have batman T-shirts for the bears now!

All weekend, Blacky was with Landon, he rode in the car, he ate chicken nuggets and candy with Landon. And Lan really, reallly wanted him to take a bath with him. Yeah, had to explain that furry animals don't take baths. Its really cute to watch him taking care of the koala. And funny to see what things he decides to do with him.

BTW - this is his new "cheese" smile for the camera.

PreHalloween

Lan wanted to try out his new Batman costume. It barely fits. But better than being too big. He loved it!


Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Wonderful Day

I had a wonderful birthday. Thank you for all the birthday wishes. Bryan took me out for a delicious lunch, where the pork chop was the size of my head...okay, maybe Landon's head. After work, I came home to even more delicious treats. We had yellow cake with chocolate frosting, decorated with pumpkins, orange sprinkles and candy corn. Bryan and Landon gave me a new watch, its really pretty...and 'very me.' I also got great gifts from friends and family. Thank you all so much. My Granny found the dress she made for me for my first day of first grade. She sent it to me. It is so cute, I'll have to take a picture.

After eating cake (yummo!) it was off to volleyball. The league's been off for four weeks due to damage from Ike. And yeah, we played a little like we'd had four weeks off. But we won all three games and I used muscles I haven't used in a while.

Lan has a bad cough, so we were up most of the night. I ended up hitting snooze on my alarm for over an hour and a half.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

10, 8

Today, Landon wanted to wear his Elmo watch. And he wanted mom to have her watch on too. Both wearing our watches, I ask him what time his watch says...he tells me 10, 8. I laugh, then look at his watch...it is 10:08!! Seriously? Did my kid just read numbers?!

I quickly text everyone that Lan could read numbers. A little while later I ask him to tell me what time it is, to which he replies, 7,8,9. So, he can either read numbers or got a very lucky guess.

As for halloween, he keeps telling everyone he's going to be a friendly ghost, but when I try to get him to wear a ghost costume, he wants nothing to do with it. He's also mentioned scooby doo and spiderman, and of course, superman and batman. So, I guess the real decision will come down to game time. let's just hope he wants to BE something on Halloween.

And he really does like the "smell my feet" line after trick or treat...if I say that, he scrunches up his nose and say, "Noooo, that's stinky piggies"

Friday, October 10, 2008

Baby Jesus

I have a great necklace (from squidglass on etsy) that has a lady sewing. I love, love, love this necklace. It reminds me of my Grandmother.

I was wearing that necklace this week and Landon asked me about it. I said that it was just like Grandma Calton, but that Grandma Calton was now in Heaven.

Landon's reply...

"Oh yeah, with baby Jesus"

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Pumpkin Walk

Tonight, after Daddy got home. Lan decides he wants to go for a walk to see the Pumpkins (i.e., the inflatable blow ups around our neighborhood.) We ask if he wants to go to the store to get his own...and yeah, he's way excited about that. So we get everything packed up, bag, purse, etc. and head to the car. But this is where confusion sets in. Lan wants to walk to get a pumpkin, obviously not understanding that we live in Texas and 1)there's no normal public transportation and 2) there's not any stores in walking distance. So we compromise, go for a short walk around our block, then jump in the car to find a yard decoration.

Yeah, what were we thinking? It's like that time on Thanksgiving when we realize ALL of our neighbors had Christmas lights up and we go to the store, only all the house lights are already sold out...on Thanksgiving. Anyway, just two weekends ago, they're were Halloween blow ups EVERY WHERE! Tonight, none. Not a single one. But, Landon understood and was just as excited to see the Santa blowups. I'm thinking we better snag one of these before they sell out.

And before you go "white-trash" labeling me, you have to understand our neighborhood. EVERY SINGLE HOUSE has lights or inflatables or cut outs or all of the above. Every. One. The first year we lived in this neighborhood (at our old house) there were only 5 houses on our street that didn't have lights and two of those were still for sale.

Also - Lan pee'ed on Mr. Danny tonight. LOL. But probably not as funny to Danny. We used to have two cocker spaniels and every time Mr. Danny came over, he'd get Mason (the boy) all riled up and inevitably, Mason would pee all over the kitchen floor. I was kind of thinking he did the same thing to Landon. Lan just gets so excited when Mr. Danny comes by.

Catching up

I realized I've really let this blog slip. Which is sad, cause Landon is always doing something memorable. So this is my attempt to catch up.


  • He loves to tell me "one minute mom" and "i be right back" while holding his finger up for me to stay where I am.

  • We're in big boy undies, but still have the occasional accident. He really only lets me take him to the potty, which kind of gets to be a pain.

  • He loves the bathroom at Don Julio's because it has a huge black leather ottoman that he wants to lay on (how disgusting - I'm gagging just thinking about it) so if we ever eat there, it's a guaranteed 6 trips to the potty

  • He's discovered Baby Scooby. Bryan's now working the 10-6 shift, so he gets to spend mornings with Landon.

  • While laying down now, he says, "I need your hair." Yeah, he still loves to play with my hair to go to sleep. If I say no, then he'll either say, "I not hurting you" or "your hair is so pretty" I really should get these on tape because his accent is hilarious.

  • He's also learned to say, "Yes it do" which is now his remark whenever he doesn't believe us.

  • I'm starting to work on getting him in his bed upstairs.

  • Its going to take forever.

  • Because I love snuggling with him

  • Landon's had a great time with family for the last couple weeks.

  • He LOVES to run. Loves it. I hope that continues.


That's a good list for now. With my other blog, I usually try to keep family stuff out of it, meaning to post that stuff over here, but then I never do.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

My little gentleman

I was so proud of Landon today. Well, I'm always proud of him, but today was an awe-inspiring moment. I went into his classroom and he was picking up animals. He was actually THE ONLY one picking up animals. He asked me to help. So together we started picking up all the dinosaurs, alligators, bugs...while all the other kids continued to run around the room playing. The teacher kept saying, "everyone pick up the animals please." But Lan was the only one doing it. So, then the teacher gives Landon a sticker for helping - at which point all the other kids realize they should have been helping and try to get a sticker. Lan politely says, "Thank you" and gets his bag.

We walked to the front of day care and every day Landon gets a sucker. But before he gets a sucker, he knows to ask Ms. Donna "Please" - so Ms. Donna is busy talking with a parent, Landon just stands beside her until she acknowledges him, then asks "Peeesseee?" Miss Donna says that yes he can have a sucker. Lan picks it out and then goes and stands next to Miss Donna until she looks at him again. He quickly says "Thank you" and smiles his flirty little smile and runs over to me, so excited he got a sucker (which he gets every.single.day.)

He's so cute and adorable, I just want to smother him with kisses.

Oh, and before I left to go shopping with Miss Cole tonight. Bry was sitting on the floor in front of Landon who was on the couch. I bend over and give Bry a kiss. Lan says, "my kisses" and puts his arm around my head and pulls me to him and kisses me! LOL. It was the funniest thing. Then he and Bry "fought" over who got mommy's kisses. Ahh...I love my guys. So incredibly love them.

Star light, star bright...

I actually got up this morning and ran. Yeah-huh! Mostly because I didn't run last night, my legs were hurting as in, "uh, why did you think you could let us get lazy for months and then take us out and abuse us" hurt. And I convinced myself it was too warm to run (being 88 at 8pm.) So, this morning it was.

I had to get my clothes out of the car, and I thought, well, I'll see what the temp feels like and if its nice, I'll change and run, if not, then I'll get ready for work. While getting in the car, a mom and her daughter (under 12 years, I'd guess) jog by, chatting away. (Totally made me think of Viv for some reason.) So then, I'm thinking, if this girl can get up before the sun and run with her mom, then what's my excuse. Quickly went inside and got ready. Only my nike+ sensor was sensing (i hate apple) so I had to go find Bry's to make a switch.

Started the run, my hammies were screaming at me, so I just turned up the iPod to try to drown out their pitiful screams. Then I look up and see stars - get out - I"m up so early, that stars are still shining? So, as I'm looking up, I do the whole, "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight (or this morning) wish I may, wish I might, not die on this run tonight." And as I finish up the wish, I look back down to where I'm running and totally almost run into a parked truck. Yeah, Parked. Truck. LOL. So much for my wish, right.

Finished in 21:11, not quiet as great as my last two miles (not counting the third mile) but then again I didn't die when I finished, so that's a good sign, right. I even had the abilities to make coffee.

As for cracking, I'm not enjoying the maintenance week. I guess enjoying isn't the word. I don't know, I feel like without carb down days I'm never going to lose any more fat. Like I'm cheating eating two carbs a day or something. But its all a program and its specific, so I'll do my maintenance weeks, enjoying carbs in the AM and see what happens. I can always do another 8 weeks after this. I'm mostly happy with my size/weight right now, but another 5 pounds would be nice. I have four to get to my "what i always thought was a good" weight. But my clothes are all fitting nicely again, so really if I can just maintain, it'd be nice (oh good grief, see duh - maintenance week - hello.) Anyway...going to drink my coffee, with a tad bit of pumpkin pie syrup and enjoy today.

OH! totally thought about this during my run. For you morning runners, do you eat before you run? I could totally tell a difference this morning not having any food, where as when I run in the afternoons, I have a day full of energy (food) already in me, verses mornings when I've been "fasting" for 10 hours while asleep. Beachrunner - you have a good following, maybe you can do a poll one of these days. Time of run: Morning, Afternoon, Evening and depending on the time of your run, do you eat before?

Monday, September 29, 2008

Here's just a few pictures from our evacuation trip to New Mexico / West Texas.



Cheese!!

Spider Man

Sports with the family



While vacationing from IKE, we got to see a few of our niece and nephews games. We made it to Muleshoe just in time to go to Trev's junior high pep rally. It poured most of the day and his game that night got cancelled. On Saturday we headed over to Clovis to watch TJ play.
Funny store - at the previous game, TJ saw that one of his players was about to make a late hit, so he went and tackled his own player before the kid could hit the opposing team.
On Monday, we put on our orange and headed to Santa Rosa to watch Emma play volleyball. Unfortunately, they'd just built a new gym and our nav didn't have it. So we were 10 minutes late and missed almost the whole first game. Emma served the winning points, so that was neat.



On Thursday, we went to Littlefield to watch Trev play. It was nice and hot and he almost tied the game, missing the end zone by inches! It was fun to get to see all the kids play. Made us realize how much we're missing out on by living so far away. Too bad there's that whole part about needing a job and income.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Mornings, schmornings

Okay, so I didn't get up this morning to run. My alarm went off at 5:30 and I just couldn't do it. Plus, in my defense, the humidity was higher than yesterday morning, and yeah, I could tell that from the coziness of my bed. Whatever. So my new reasoning is "if its cooler in the morning, it has to be cooler in the afternoon too, right?" So, I have my bag packed (my new bag that I got on clearance at Targ.et 75% off!) and plan to run tonight.

The thing is, I really, really enjoy running. So why have I gone through this dry spell? I have no idea. Pure laziness I guess. And now that I haven't been running, I'm sort of nervous about starting again. Not nervous that anything will happen, just kind of like a pre-race nervousness. Which is totally stupid, but still, my stomach is all knots. It's like being back in high school and waiting all day for a really hard athletic workout. Ugh.

On the cracking front...this diet is very easy, when you have the right food, when you don't have the wrong food, and when you have mostly planned meals. My younger sister reminded me of a recipe my mom used to always make....but she changed it, crack-style. Turkey wienies, slice length-ways, put a sliced dill pickle spear in the middle along with a slice of cheese. Then wrap it all in turkey bacon and secure with a toothpick. Broil in the oven until ready (yeah, don't know the exact time.) Delicious. Oh man, I forgot how much I loved these.

cooking with grammy


Thursday, September 25, 2008

Beautiful

It is really gorgeous outside. I'm kicking myself for not getting up early and running. And I think that may be the new plan. Especially since Bry is getting Landon ready for school in the AM, and I realized this morning that is way easier if I'm already out the door.

We had a carb up day yesterday, we celebrated Nic's bday one week late, thanks to IKE. Yummo steaks, thanks to Bryan. Along with squash casserole, broccoli and oh-my-gosh cheesecake. We were all in a carb-stupor after that. But it was delicious and I tricked my body into thinking it needed to burn some calories. Yay-who.

Okay, so goal for self. Wake up early, run. I'm going to put my clothes out in the bathroom tonight so it'll be easy to get up, get dressed and head out the door.

Oh! Grey's tonight! Awesome.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Moldy Monday

Well, it's back to work we go...unfortunately when I did get back to my office, there was an over powering smell of musty, moldy, mildew. And then I noticed the water stains down one side of my office...then the papers, photos, awards, near that wall all had water damage. I move my trash can, and sure enough, the floor is wet under neath it. So apparently, someone came in, dried up some of the floor and replaced the ruined ceiling tiles. Unfortunately, they didn't 1) report the damage to anyone in my building and 2) didn't really do much about cleaning it up. Luckily my manager's manager was in the building and, instead of trying to dismiss the damage, realized mold in the work place was a problem and wanted us out of the room. So about mid-day I moved my PC to another desk and kept a workin. I realize I'm probably far down a list of repairs, but hopefully they'll be able to clean it up before mold becomes a real issue in there.

Other than that, it was pretty much work as normal. Plus a week of catch up. Not too bad. Things are getting back on track quickly.

Bry's at work right now. Apparently with the roof damage in his building, his desk was the second worst on the floor. He called earlier to tell me that all the ceiling tiles above his desk had disintegrated and fallen on to his area. All of his pictures and papers out were ruined, and one of his drawers was actually still full of water. He bagged his PC before we left, so that survived. Thank goodness. He's still on the 3 to midnight shift, but is going to see about working on-site during normal hours.

Cracking went very well today. I was starving by the time I got home. Made the boys (Landon and Seth) meals and then Sandy and I had crack-slaw. We went for a walk around the neighborhood, but Sage got hungry and wasn't happy about being out. We ditched the stroller about half way through at a friend's house and booked it home. After baths, the kids decided they were still hungry and wanted pizza...luckily we actually had some left over. We got to bed by 9:30! Can you believe it?

Then I remember Heros came on tonight, so I'm up again, watching it, waiting for Bry to get home.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Back Home

We got back last night, unpacked and went to bed.

Today has been a day full of work. We removed all the boards from the windows, mowed the yard, worked in the garage, tried to revive our plants, etc. Our fence is just going to need a few nails and maybe a new post. We need some shingles, but Home Depot doesn't have any more.

Sandy and her boys arrived last night. They still don't have power on their side of town and could no longer take the heat. Glad that we have room for them. And I'm sure it'll help to have Seth and Landon playing together while Seth's school is still closed.

Bryan found steaks, so we grilled for our Houston family. We had steaks, carrot souffle, corn and baked beans. It was nice to see everyone again and swap stories. We've all been very lucky. We have two friends with major house damage, but they're both with family or friends and working through this ordeal.

Time to get in bed for work tomorrow. Bryan is working the late shift since he no longer has a cubicle and has to use some one else's PC. Not sure how he's going to get anything done with out his own computer, but we'll see what happens tomorrow.

I un-cracked yesterday and today. So tomorrow, the cracking is back on. I did so well while in West Texas, hopefully it won't take much to get back on track.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Full blown sickness

I guess the week has finally gotten up with me. I started out with a small catch in the throat cough. As soon as we get out to West Texas we start taking Ale.gra...but it hasn't seemed to helped this time. Yesterday, my cough started turning worse, actually coughing up congestion. My lymph nodes are now the size of golf balls, I have an ear ache, a sore throat and my chest feels like someone is standing on it. Do I need some cheese with that whine?

Seriously, I'm not feeling good. And hopefully its just allergies turned sinus infection and not a relapse. But my lymph nodes are so swollen it hurts to turn my neck. So this morning, I may just forget about the WOE and see how much French toast I can swallow.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Day to Day

Everyone asks what our plans are, and honestly, we're not real specific on them. Yes, NASA is reopening JSC on Monday. But several things may keep us from returning by then. Number one being city officials asking us not to return. Number two being I don't want to be the one take food/fuel/water/sewage from someone who needs it. Which is why they're asking people not to return. Our daycare currently doesn't have power, but is updating their information every day. My husband doesn't have an office and they have yet to decide where he is supposed to go on Monday.

So do we return this weekend, in spite of recommendations not to? Do we take a hit from work and possibly vacation hours, in order to better serve the community? I don't really have an answer to that.

I do have friends at home, some are responding to city officials and staying home, conserving energy/water. But I've heard of others that seem to be oblivious to news reports; they're driving around, site-seeing, etc. Seriously? These are intelligent people too. I just don't understand. I don't know if they're bored, or just that selfish.

We plan to keep watching/listening to the news from our area and will make a decision by tomorrow evening.

Excerpt from NASA:
    Take it Easy! As the community comes back to life, traffic and tempers can be very difficult. If you can put off errands, stay at home. Let those with critical needs venture out as necessary. Share services and resources with your neighbors to help relieve congestion in town.

    Drive VERY defensively! If you must drive, use the utmost care and patience. Traffic lights are not all working consistently. Treat non-working traffic lights like four-way stops. Drive slower than the speed limit to allow for reaction to road hazards or debris.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Ike takes Jacobs ESCG

My husband just found out that the roof on his building is gone. He worked on the top floor (6th) and apparently most of the roof is missing. Not sure what will happen next week when they get the "return to work" message. I think there's talk about moving them to another facility. Hopefully our "bag PC" routine saved their work.

We also read that the Gumpy Hanger is completely gone.

On the cracking front, I'm down 5 pounds! 5! With home cooking! I'm excited to see what my home scale is going to say. I've been really good on the WOE, even in spite of all the good food around me.

Last night we went to watch my niece play volleyball in Santa Rosa. We were about five minutes late and almost missed the whole first game. She's in seventh grade. Even though the games went fast, it was good to see her play.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Hearing vs Listening

First, yes, we are blessed, and our neighborhood's power has already been restored. A big BIG thank you to all the lineman and power people who are working long, long days to get our city back on track.

Second, our prayers go out to our friends, Loi, and Alexa and her family. Both of their houses have damages, extent unknown. Please keep them in your thoughts during this long, long process.

Cracking Evacuee

We're still "on vacation" thanks to Ike. Luckily, I have the support of my sister up here and have been able to keep a crackin. Not easy when there's so many comfort foods my family cooks (like my mother's french toast! yeah, try to not eat that! oh my goodness.) Oh! My younger sister has decided to start Cracking too. She went to the grocery last night with a week one list and plans to start today. I think her main motivation is that my mom didn't think she could do it. I can't imagine trying to crack down here. Every Sunday and Wednesday they have family dinner, which includes home made rolls, cheesey vegetables, fried okra, and dessert! Always a delicious dessert! I don't know if I would have enough will power week after week.

Not sure how much longer we'll be out here. I'm not going back til there's power in our house and sewage...uh, hello, isn't that reasonable? Cause, really, who wants to clean a 2 year old's poo accident without running water and flushing toilets? Not me. And no Air Conditioning, well, you all know how I'd deal with that. I think Bry knows for every one's sanity (and safety) we're not going back til we need to. So far, our suburb is still asking people to wait til at least tomorrow.

The hard part is my son keeps asking to go to his house. Thankfully we do have a house to go home to, just not yet. Its so sad to hear him ask and/or cry to go home. He just wants something normal back in his life.

But we're very lucky to have so much family to visit with during all this. I get to see all my cousins, aunts, uncles. My Granny, my mom, and hopefully at the end of the week, we'll head down to my Dad and StepMom's and visit with them and one of my brothers. And the weather out here is spectacular. I think the low last night was 49 or something. Beautiful to wake up to 60 degrees. I don't even break a sweat. Should have brought running clothes. (yeah, yeah, whatever.) And I have unlimited txt. Thank goodness. Nic and I have spent the whole time texting back and forth. I actually got a little worried yesterday cause I hadn't heard anything from her...had to actually call her! LOL.

I really wish I would have brought my scale. Its hard to be OCD when you don't have the same scale. According to my mothers, I'm still down, and oh man, my nike casual shorts, finally button and have extra room! That's a great feeling.

Sorry that I'm not keeping up with every one's blogs...its going to be a while before I'm able to catch up. Hope you are all doing well. Be safe.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Answered Prayers


This is 146, in Seabrook, by NASA Road One.


This is 2094, down by Target, Chili's, Taco Cabana.


This is a picture of Kemah, under more than 6 feet of water. Notice the stop sign on the right of the picture.

I want to thank everyone who had us in their thoughts and prayers this weekend. It worked. We had friends who stayed (crazy); but they went by our house to give a report. A few shingles missing and some fence damage, no flooding. Thank you, thank you, thank you. The waiting was the worst part. I can not imagine staying in town wondering what was going to happen, and I can't imagine being there now without water, sewage or power. No AC in Houston? Seriously?

We live about a mile from Clear Lake on one side and about 4 miles from the Galveston Bay, up by Kemah. When you see pictures of the roads covered right where we live, its just a horrible feeling. Roads, completely covered, with boats and couches and junk. And then the downtown pictures. Everything is just overwhelming. But then you remember that you got out safely with your family and that all your friends are in safety.

Now, we need to pray for the recovery efforts, the power people (my brother-in-law may get sent out tomorrow.) Its going to be a long, long road ahead. Pray for everyone there in Houston without necessities will be safe.

Thank you, again, to everyone who thought of us and prayed for us. It worked.

We'll return to regularly scheduled blogging soon, I hope.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Evac Update

We're safely in West Texas. We boarded up the house on Wednesday, helped Nicole board up her windows, packed clothes and important docs and got out of dodge. The drive was easy, no traffic, everybody must have been waiting for Thursday's forecast. We're staying at my mother's house.

Please keep praying for us and everyone in the area. With the current forecast and surge storm models, it will not be good for our house. I'm really not handling it well, but am trying to stay with my WOE. Thankfully, my sister is cracking too, so I do have some support (although my mom made french toast this am! But, I had eggs and cheese, and the crust of landon's toast.)

Our plans aren't planned until we get more information tonight and tomorrow. I'll try to keep the blog updated. I believe all of our Houston friends got out of town and are safely somewhere else.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Swimming

We took Landon to the pool this afternoon. After getting in the water, it wasn't quite as warm out as I thought. But he soon wanted to go over to the hot tub and I was all for that. He played and played, but then told us he had to go poo-poo. Luckily I still had a swim diaper in the bag, I quickly put that on him, got him in the squat position and poo-poo happened. We cleaned up and were going to put his swimsuit on, but he quickly pointed to the sky and told me "Its going to rain, its getting dark, we need to go home." That's what we usually say when we're ready to leave the pool. Guess he caught on to that trick pretty easily. So we dried off and headed home for some Tom and Jerry and chicken nuggets.