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Events
SOOOOOO—
This past weekend was eventful. We started Thanksgiving week by going to Lubbock to celebrate Gran Gran’s 90thbirthday! The whole Waters/Neal family was there and it was great to get to catch up with everyone. Traveling back, we got in a pretty bad car accident…my first one. There are lots of details to the accident…that will be a separate post. The jist of the whole thing is that we are all fine (amazingly) and the car is getting repaired…maybe…I haven’t heard the latest update on it today. We had Thanksgiving with Michael’s parents and my brothers and Ashley at our house…it was great. David and Michael fried a turkey for the first time and it turned out better than my roasted turkey which took 9.7 years to cook! Lindey and Thomadam’swedding was on Friday and lots of fun! Saturday we shopped. Sunday was church, a 4-tear-old ballerina birthday, practicing my flute for the Christmas concert next week and then putting away the fall decorations….breath!
It was busy busy busy and I was/am tired tired tired. But I did manage to read book3 of the twilight series and am almost finished book 4 now. Oh yeah, and I saw the Twilight movie with the girls on opening night. That will also have to be another post.
As I end this brief run-down of our past week, I would like to give a shout out to Stacey…a loyal blog stalker and now “official” group member…and Jeff too…although he does have to read Harry Potter book 1 and present a book report to me by January 15th. Then we make his membership “official.” HAHAHA!
Christmas Shopping
This year, Michael and I have started our shopping early. We have 1/2 the family complete already! Awesome for us! We do like Christmas shopping though. There is something about getting out in the busy, decorated malls and having the driving beat of Chrsitmas music guide our every step. That feels like Christmas to me.
This year, I feel like everyone is ready for the Holidays. A lot of crazy things have happened this year, and in the City of Houston, and I feel like people are just needing something to look forward to. Even my mom–who set the rule of no Christmas music or decorations until AFTER Thanksgiving–my mom who’s rituals and traditions are thoroughly ingrained on both me and my brothers–even she is already listening to Christmas music. Normally I would put up a fuss and talk about the commercialization of the holiday, but this year, I will sit back and quietly enjoy the lights and sounds of Christmas that start to early.
Ok, I do have one comment about the commercializaton of the holidays ( I was trying sooooo hard!). Why in the world is it necessary to put holiday decorations up in the middle of October?!?! There are shopping centers all around town that already had their decorations up on Michael’s birthday (Oct. 11). That is going a little far! I know that with the downturn in the economy that retailers are trying to coax people into spending money…cause after all, Christmas is a perfect reason to spend money you don’t have right?
Alright, I’m done with that. I’m zen again about the holidays.
We’ve done lots of shopping on-line this year, so in my next post I discuss the topic of virtual trust…yes I’m gonna get a little techy on you…can you keep up?
And the Addiction Continues
I got book two of the Twilight series yesterday. I read about 130 pages during the day. We had some dinner plans with a group from church and all I could think about the whole time we were eating was that I wanted to read my book!
Anyways, at about 9:30, I picked up on page 134. At 4:45 A.M. I had finished and finally went to sleep. What was I thinking? I’m really gonna pay for that, but as tired as i was last night, I couldn’t put the book down! Its so bizarre to me that even though the book is so fantasy based (come one…the girl is in love with a boy who she finds out it a vampire) that there is enough HUMAN realistic feelings that you totally can relate and just get caught up in it.
Now, I have been into may other series of books. Many of you know mine and Michael’s affection for Harry Potter…and though I will never bash those books, it is SOOOOOOO make believe…Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? In the twilight series, the heroine, Bella, goes to a regular high school with regular friends then throw in the mysteriously handsome boy and his secret life and BOOM! You’ve got a series that every girl in America (high school and older) can identify with.
I know now from the second book that the movie pulls some from it as well, so I beg you…please read the books BEFORE you see the movies. You will not be disapointed in these little page turners!
My New Addiction
Ok, so I’m on the bandwagon. I’m officially a fan of the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer.
Seriously, I have been more captivated, intrigued and flat out addicted to Twilight than I have any other book that I’ve read…and I read a lot! If you haven’t read it, I HIGHLY recommend it. The movie of the first book is coming out on November 21st and Amy and I are going! We love Edward and want to meet a vampire…you won’t get that comment unless you too are a Twilight addict!
Here is the trailer for the movie…this should get you intrigued if nothing else.
http://www.twilightthemovie.com/
Seriously?
Ok, so I am not be the most logical person in the world about everything….I’m a creative (hence my job) so linear thinking isn’t always my stong suit.
HOWEVER, that said, I do think that there are some things do not even require logic, just common sense. Today has been a day filled with dealing with vendors who are neither logical nor have common sense. Needless to say, it is only 1 p.m., I’m exhausted and have a headache that only a Dr. Pepper can cure. Which brings me to my next issue…our fridge at work is out of Dr. Pepper. I am having to settle for a Diet Coke. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing (it is my normal soft drink of choice) but nothing can cure a headache like a Dr. Pepper.
Enough of my lamenting over logic/common sense-less vendors and Dr. Pepper-less refridgerators. Alas, I will move on to a new topic.
The weather has been B-E-A-UTIFUL the past couple of days! I mean its just been awesome all around. It is warm and sunny during the day (beween 70-80 degrees) and gets cool at night. The past two nights were supposed to have been down in the low 40s or even 30s! Brr! I love taking the dogs out when it is cold. They get all frisky and have an extra spring in their step. Which makes Dixie Girl more like Tigger because she pretty much jumps everywhere any ways. Oh Dixie! We sure love our pound puppy but boy is she a spaz! She isn’t as jumpy as she used to be, but still scares herself half to death any time her tail wagging gets out of control and carries her into a wall, door, table, chair, couch, person or stair railing. The dogs are very funny. When we come home, we can always see them peering out the big window at the top of the stairs. A few days ago, I could see Dixie sitting on the top step and when she realized it was us in the car, we saw her leap down 4 stairs. It was really funny from our perspective becuase we saw her jump really high in the window then she disappeared. I’m afraid that from Kona’s perspective it was also funny because I imagine that Dixie the proceeded to fall down the rest of the stairs.
Ok, I just laughed out loud in my office! You know who Dixie reminds me of? Molly Shannon! Particularly Molly Shannon playing Mary Katherine Galagher. Look at this video…tell me that Dixie doesn’t move like this…all spastic and uncoordinated….
Lunch-time Update
It has been quite a while since I did a lunch time update. Work/life have been crazy busy, but I really am trying to live by my new motto and simplify.
We had a great weekend. We went to the A&M v. Tech football game in College Station with friends/family (Andy and David) and had a great time. It was a beautiful day for football…the sun was out in full-force and we have the burns to proove it. My burn isn’t too bad. Mostly on my right shoulder, but I have been tan on my shoulders all summer and from running outside in tank tops, so I have more or less tanned over already. My make-up and moisturizer also have sunscreen in them, so my face is fine. Michael was covered by his polo mostly, but the right side of his face took a beating. He’s kind of like Two-Face from Batman…one side is totally normal , but when he truns the other direction, he has a MAJOR racoon eye from his sunglasses.
Sunday was a restful day. I stocked up our fridge/freezer/pantry with a trip to HEB then we went and watched football and cooked dinner at David and Ashley’s house. The weather was beautiful! While at Dave’s, Michael checked his e-mail and found out that his boss awarded him a bonus for his work on one of his recent projects. I heard lots about this project and I know it got old fast for Michael, but it also was a long drawn-out project. It is such a great feeling to be recognized though…especially by your boss! So I am SUPER proud of my Hubby!
This morning was a great fall morning! Once again, after 6 weeks, coffee is brewing at our house. It is one of the greatest smells in the world to go downstairs on a cool morning and have coffee brewing. I also decided that the weather is finally right for a pot roast, so this morning I prepared the roast in the slow cooker. I am SO looking forward to walking in the door this evening and taking my first whiff of the pot roast scented air! Nothing says welcome home like a nice pot roast, ready and waiting to be eaten! YUMMY!
We are also beginning our backyard transformation. We have this little patch of grass…well had a little patch of grass in the back. We sprayed it for bugs and all the grass died. So the backyard is looking pretty gross. So, we have decided to turn the whole back yard into a patio area. We are going to pull out the grass remains and put down crushed granite, build a water fountain in the corner, and tonight, we are buying a fire pit table. I don’t really know if that is what its called, but its basically an outdoor table and the center of it is such that you can build fires in it. It’s going to be awesome. Of course, David is going to help with the transformation. He offered! And he enjoys that type of thing. We’ll let you know how it goes.
Short lunch break…gotta get back to work now. Have a wonderful fall day!
Simplify
That is my new motto in life. I’m tired of being so busy that I have to schedule dinner with my best firend 6 weeks in advance. I’m tired of having something to do EVERY SINGLE night of the week. I’m tired of being tired (as I write this after 10pm…haha).
So here goes…I’m going to work on simplifying my life…get back to the basics…the things that are important. And not be busy for sake of being busy. Everyone suffers when my life is a whirl wind…I’m exhausted and I’m not giving 100% committment to the things I’m “committed” to. So, here’s to being whole hearted and simple in the way I live my life.
On that note, I’m going to go to bed now…Good night!
This one is for my mom…
We were watching the SNL Thursday night election special this evening and were CRACKING up. On the Weekend Update report session called “We Liked It,” some of Amy Pohler’s comments were…
We liked how you kept talking about Joe the Plumber. I think that teachers are underpaid, but plumbers…There’s one career that is recession proof. When the economy is bad, we may not be buying new cars, but one thing Americans will not stand for is being ankle deep in their own poop.
McCain, I liked how you compared Obama to Herbert Hoover. Herbert Hoover? Way to connect with America’s youth by dropping a Hoover reference. Hey kids you don’t know about Herbert Hoover…what about James Ayers. No? That’s because your teachers get paid worse than plumbers.
Very funny!
Also, one of our new favorite TV shows is called Kath and Kim. Here is dialogue from last week’s episode…
Kim: Why do people keep talking about global warming?
Kath: Well for one thing Kim, the polar bears are burning up.
Kim: Well they should move some where colder.
Kath: I must say that I enjoy being able to get a savage tan in 5 minutes.
We are enjoying having new shows/episodes to watch. 30 Rock (best show ever) starts on October 30th…and WTF…24 Redemption on November 23rd? Oh snap!
On a non-TV note, the weather is changing…hooray! Will be so helpful on my long runs…which this weekend is up to 9…have I totally lost my mind?
Official Texans
Erika is not a native Texan. We are now officially true Texans though.
Friday night, I was walking back from a neighbor’s house when I heard a series of about 9 gun shots. I don’t consider our neighborhood all that dangerous, but hearing gun shots is never a good thing. I called the police and saw that they came to check out the neighborhood. I didn’t think much of it though.
Last night, Jim, Alex, and I were sitting outside playing dominoes when I again heard gun shots. 6 this time. I immediately called the police again but this time, I requested that the officer come talk to me. When he arrived, I told him what I heard. I told him that this was the second night in a row, and asked what was going on when he told me that someone had been shot and killed the night before. I checked the newspaper and found an article about an attempted home invasion where the intruder was shot and killed. The address was right around the corner.
Today I bought a gun. Erika’s brother had a surplus of shotguns, and I have wanted one to shoot skeet and maybe go duck hunting. This weekend pushed the budget constraints and wifely objections out of the way.
So I am now the owner of a Remington 870 Express. I would advise all those crazies who have thoughts of breaking into my house to choose another.
Writing a post from the car
So we got these new phones. They are really cool…and the coolest thing is that you can use them as a modem. So as we are in the car right now, driving to visit the Hoffmans/Bodiens in Arlington/Burleson, I am able to get on the internet and post on our blog. Are we cool or what?