It's Emily's World, We Just Live In It

26 weeks and counting...

2012-02-06T15:03:00.000-06:00

I cannot believe that Emily is due in 96 days!!! I remember when it was 200+ and all of a sudden we are here. WOW! Here's a quick update from the doctor last week:

I'm 26 Weeks! (and ALL baby)

Pregnancy Highlights:
How Far Along: 26 Weeks, 2 days

Size of Baby: Size of an eggplant (Approx 13 1/2 inches long--a little less because she's on the smaller side of normal-- and 1 1/2lbs)
Total Weight Gain: 13 lbs
Maternity Clothes: Yes!

Gender: GIRL!!! Emily Catherine

Movement: Yes. She pushes up against my belly, kicks on car rides, and pokes back when we push on her

Sleep: Once I can get to sleep, I'm fine. The constant need to pee once I climb in bed makes that hard, and I have to sleep with a pillow between my legs to keep pressure off my hips and also stay on my side
What I Miss: feeling like my body is mine, bending over

Cravings: sweets, fruit, sandwiches
Symptoms: growing belly, general discomfort as I get bigger
Best Moment this Week: Emily pushing back at us when her Daddy and I push on my belly. It's become a game we play every evening!

A Life With A Purpose

2012-01-30T14:15:00.006-06:00

I'm not sure where my somber mood has come from today. Maybe it's the dull weather outside. Anyway, I started thinking about Emily and how her presence has already had an impact on many lives, without her even being "here" yet. Every child is a gift, but I think Emily is more of an angel and a blessing than we could ever imagine. Miss Emily was an unplanned planned surprise for us. We PLANNED on having a baby, and soon, but that plan came to fruition about a year earlier than expected! Nevertheless, Chris and I were overjoyed with the news that we had created a baby and waited a long 6 weeks after our first positive test to get in to our doctor.

The day we heard Emily's heartbeat for the first time was an extremely emotional day. I wrote about it after we got home from our appointment knowing that I would want to record everything about this pregnancy to keep forever. Here's what happened:

I say the other girl was pretty far along, but I don't know how far. She definitely had a bump, but I have heard that when it's your second (or third or fourth) pregnancy you show
earlier...either way, that doesn't matter, it would be equally terrible no matter how far she was.

She arrived (with her mom to watch her little one) right after Chris and I did, and for a bit we were the only people in the waiting room so I overheard her tell her mom it was just a heartbeat check and maybe measurement so it would be a quick visit.

After I got called back to fill out initial paperwork and sign consent forms she got called back and put in a room. They took me to do my urine test and gave me my confirmation that I was pregnant, and then had Chris and I wait in a kind of interim waiting room (not the intitial one) for an empty private room. The little area just happened to be right outside this girls room, so as everything happened, we heard it. Initially we heard the hysterical crying. When I say I have never heard anything like it, I mean it. It was the most painful sounding...words don't describe it...Chris and I looked at each other in a bit of shock. We could hear them say "there is no way you could have known. There was nothing you could do." My OB walked out and was sniffling...I knew it was bad. I DIDN'T know it was the girl from the waiting room until they brought her daughter out. Hearing her daughter repeat "Mommy, don't cry" broke every heart in that place. Then you could tell she made a phone call because we could hear her say "they couldn't find the heartbeat" over and over, and then pause, like someone was answering her. Chris just took a sharp inhale and said "ohmygod", as in "how terrible for this woman, this is awful". I'll be honest, I think every person--the doctors, the nurses, and all of us patients were as in that moment with her as we possibly could be. I am grieving for a woman I do not know, but we all went through that experience with her.

A nurse kept coming by and telling Chris and I that our room wasn't quite ready yet, and we totally understood, but we didn't know if we should leave or what to do. It felt like
a total invasion on this womans privacy to be sitting there. We moved as far from her room as we possibly could.

Her mother walked out of the room and a nurse asked her a question and she answered something about how she was in total shock and couldn't even begin to think of the answer.

Chris and I got put in our room and my OB (who I have seen for years) was right there with us. She told us straight up that they don't normally look for the heartbeat on a confirmation appt
but she NEEDED to do it after this. She apologized profusely for us having to hear what happened, and tried to reassure us that what happened with that lady is not the norm. She also cautioned that even though we are 11 weeks we are right on the edge of hearing the heartbeat and not to freak out ifwe don't, but I think Baby knew that something big was going on and we all needed a little miracle right then. We heard her little heartbeat, sounding as strong as a train, and we all teared up; Chris, the doctor, myself...it was SO strong! I wonder if that's why I cried...to go from a total low with this other woman who didn't even know she had a bunch of people supporting her to the most incredible high hearing what I definitely think is the best sound imaginable this far in a pregnancy. I even more believe Baby knew she needed to step up because when the doctor did the ultrasound that followed (also unusual on a first visit) she said the way she was positioned should have made it harder to hear her, but the doppler just picked her right up.

To second-hand witness someone else's loss is terrifying. She sounded exactly what I would imagine a person, madly in love, would sound like if they lost the love of their life. In a way, she did.

Tonight I will say a prayer for this unknown woman, and thank God that my little gift is strong and healthy for now and pray that Baby continues to be the little bit of happiness in everyone's day.

So Chris and I were firm in our belief that our baby was a gift with a purpose (as I'm sure every parent feels). Emily's purpose that day was to bring happiness and the promise of new life, on a day when one woman's child was taken.

And then today I started thinking again... Mom's cancer is back. That is such an ugly way to say it, but cancer is an ugly word and an even uglier disease so I'm not going to make it pretty. It's still treatable now, but one day it won't be. Anyway, I started thinking about how wonderful it is that Emily is on the way and how mom has something to look forward to. Emily provides an amazing distraction (this woman LOVES baby clothes) now and will bring so much happiness and joy come May. Your attitude with cancer can make or break your recovery from it, and I think that once again Emily is coming through at just the right time. I am so thrilled that our daughter brings so much to so many people.

My heart is just a little overwhelmed (in a good way) with how much I love her already. If Chris and I had waited another year to grow our family the happiness that we've seen on the faces of others would not occur...Emily has a purpose. She has started out with such a positive impact on everyone around her and I cannot wait to see how she continues to impact others along the way. Chris and I are proud and priveleged that this is our daughter and we cannot wait to meet her.

(my blogger is messing up so I'll have to come back later to fix paragraphs and editing...sorry)

Time To Go Private?

2012-01-25T12:10:00.002-06:00

I'm strongly considering taking this blog private. I think that with personal info out there about Chris and me, as well as information about our baby girl, it might be best to protect our privacy and be somewhat aware of who is reading the information I provide here.

In order to go private I need to enter in an email address and send an invitation for you to be able to login and read this blog. So, if you would kindly leave an email address in the comments section I PROMISE I will not publish it for all of the blog world to see. It's just a formality and I think that when you sign in once, you don't need to do it again. So use the email you use for junk mail or something, just check it because you'll get an invite you need to click on! Even if you just check in occassionally or you found your way here through someone else's blog, please leave your email so that you can continue visiting. I'm trying to cut down on visitors from countries I cannot pronounce! Not YOU!!

I hope this doesn't hurt any feelings. With so many friends and family spread from state to state keeping a blog is the easiest way to update everyone, especially when Miss Em arrives and we have to share 1,569,775,348 videos and pictures of the cute things she does as she grows. I love my blog readers and love sharing our happenings with you, especially because life is just getting better and better with the best yet to come!

Hey baby, I think I wanna marry you

2012-01-24T10:08:00.003-06:00

Yay!! We have finally set our wedding date for February 10!!

Our ceremony will be at the civil courthouse downtown (it's prettier) and the dinner reception is at Cafe Benedicte, (www.cafebenedicte.com), which Chris and I discovered recently and LOVE. We decided to limit the guest list to family only in order to keep things from getting out of control and will individually celebrate with our friends over the next few months. (I think our couples baby shower will also be an extended celebration of our wedding.) We have reserved the wine room; it's a decent sized room with wine bottles on all of the shelves with french doors closing off the room from the rest of the restaurant. We are leaving the menu open instead of creating our own so that everyone can choose what they like. We will have a photographer to capture the memories of the day so I will post those once we get them back. Chris and I have known for a very long time that when we got married we would do something small and very simple, something that required very little stress. This is exactly what we wanted!!! (Well, once we realized that the other option of flying off to Vegas wasn't the best when you're 6 months pregnant!)

After dinner we will head off to the hill country, to the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort & Spa, for a weekend of pampering. We will indulge in spa treatments on Saturday (I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about my prenatal massage and pedicure--seriously, where did my feet go??) and then have dinner on the riverwalk in San Antonio. We will do the late check-out option and possibly head in to Austin or back to San Antonio on Sunday but we're pretty flexible and are looking forward to just being together as husband and wife. Maybe, if the weather is nice, we'll explore the hill country a little bit before heading back to Katy.

We have a doctor's appointment on the 1st to see little Emily again. She's growing quite a bit and I get the pleasure of feeling her move and kick on a daily basis now. I swear on some days it's like she's doing barrel rolls in my tummy! She loves car rides and kicks quite a bit while we're driving down the road...each time it cracks me up. Her latest trick is to bounce on my bladder, which is the weirdest feeling--"I need to pee! Oh no, nevermind. Ooops, need to pee! Hmmm...maybe not..." Chris got to feel her kick for the first time the other night. --Insert HUGE smile here!-- I've always try to give him the best description possible of how it feels because I know he's a little jealous that I get to feel her, so when he finally got the opportunity...well, it was just awesome! He is SO excited about his daughter and he is going to be THE MOST incredible father!

Mommy was right!

2012-01-04T20:21:00.000-06:00

On December 29th we had our anatomy scan. Upon entering the room I told the ultrasound tech that we definitely want to know the sex of our baby. He squirted the goo on my ever growing belly and said "girl". No "congratulations it's a girl!" like we kind of expected, just "girl". Chris asked "how can you tell?" and our tech, Mo (no lie), said "she has girl parts." Ahhhh, so THAT'S how you could tell! So the announcement didn't have a lot of fanfare, but it was incredible none-the-less. I have been saying since our first scan at 13 weeks that I thought Baby was a girl, so mamma was right! Introducing Emily Catherine, the most spoiled little girl in the world!

Other memorable moments from our ultrasound include me asking if she had all 10 fingers and toes and the ever elusive Mo responding, "that's the least of your worries". Ummm...ok? Emily has both kidneys and we were able to see her brain (when I asked if it was big so she would be smart Mo said "that doesn't matter; it's whether she uses it or not!") and--according to Mo, who we learned has a dry sense of humor and likes to tease his patients, and the doctor--is perfect, just petite like her mommy but totally proportional so we have nothing to worry about. And no, she does not have two noses as it appears in her picture above. So I guess we won't be getting in Ripley's Believe It or Not. She is weighing in at 10 oz and is right on track.

Today we had our regular checkup with the doctor and went over our ultrasound (and got more reassurance that Emily is perfect). My belly measurements are right on track and my doctor is pleased. Emily wasn't as squirmy today as she was at her anatomy scan or at previous appointments ~~because mommy hadn't loaded up on sugar to make her more active~~ but she did show us that she has found her toes and was playing with them and gave us a mini-fistbump. Our child fits right in with her daddy and me!

Fistbump!!

I also learned that I have NOT gained 12 lbs, I have only gained 6 and have to gain a pound a week from here on out. I thought that would be easy until I realized that I have only gained 2lbs since Dec. 5th, and to be honest I haven't been watching what I eat so I guess I will have to think about eating more. I suppose that's not an awful problem to have...We also realized that my total meat aversion is a bit of an issue. I'm supposed to have 75 grams of protien A DAY. Yeah, I haven't been getting anything near that because meat is not my friend so I think we will be adding protien powder to my smoothies and I'll be eating a lot of eggs...yuck. I have made an honest try at meat; I still crave it and even tried a bite of Chris's chicken fried steak tonight. I couldn't even swallow it. If it's not one thing it's another, but I am so thankful for our darling healthy girl and that makes everything else secondary.

Here are the current stats:

I'm 21 Weeks!

Pregnancy Highlights:
How Far Along: 21 Weeks, 4 days
Size of Baby: Size of carrot (Approx 10 1/2 inches long--a little less because she's on the smaller side of normal-- and 10 oz)
Total Weight Gain: 6 lbs
Maternity Clothes: Yes...SO comfy!

Gender: GIRL!!! Emily Catherine

Movement: Occassionally. Still not consistent but she's little so I don't expect it full time for a couple more weeks.
Sleep: sleeping well!
What I Miss: meat

Cravings: sweets, fruit, fruit smoothies, potatoes, limeade, black beans
Symptoms: none this week except for a growing belly
Best Moment this Week: watching our daughter play with her toes during the ultrasound today!

Gooo-in' to the courthouse, and we're, gonna get MA-A-A-RIED!!!

2011-12-27T01:04:00.000-06:00

We're engaged!!!! Yeah yeah yeah, I know, you're thinking "well, duh, you've got a baby on the way", but it's still super exciting to have the question officially asked and answered and the ring on your finger (at least to me)! This was also a huge deal to Chris, who, when we found out about Baby, felt like he was going to be gypped on getting to do the whole proposal surprise and I was going to be gypped on having a real engagement. Soooo... we did things in our own time knowing that this was always the plan and not worrying about anything.

Our engagement period will be short--we just cannot wait to be husband and wife--and if it wasn't for work schedules and family's who want to be present we would be saying our vows tomorrow, seriously. Unfortunately, court cases don't go away just for us so we are planning on getting married at the end of January when Chris's schedule opens up a bit and our families can make travel plans to be with us as we start the next chapter in our fairytale.

Because it's special to us, I don't really want to share details about the proposal except to say that it happened on Christmas Eve, by Christmas tree light, just slightly before midnight, and it was wonderful. I am honestly the luckiest girl in the world, living a perfectly wonderful life, all because this incredible man loves me more than anyone could ever imagine. There are not enough words to ever completely define our relationship, but I believe with all of my heart that it is what everyone is looking for and only a few are lucky enough to find.

1.5 CTW of bling on my finger. The center stone is a cushion cut square diamond, & the surrounding diamonds are round. LOVE.

May Your Days Be Merry and Bright...

2011-12-20T23:53:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas from US to YOU!!!

Baby furniture and other stuff

2011-12-13T11:52:00.000-06:00

The Baby's furniture has been purchased, delivered, and set up! Chris and I, along with my parents, went window shopping for cribs a few weeks ago with no intention of buying anything at the time. On our last walk-through of Baby's 1st Furniture we came across a set--crib, changer, and 5 drawer dresser--on sale for $999, regularly $1500. It also happened to be the very last one! Knock off another $100 for that and we got an incredible deal on furniture that will last our child through college. The pieces are solid cherry with dovetailed drawers and it looks gorgeous in the nursery! The crib is feminine enough for a girl, but masculine enough for a little boy.

Speaking of boy or girl, at our 16 week appointment on Dec. 5th we set our appointment for the anatomy scan, where we will make sure baby is developing as it should and also find out the sex (assumming baby is cooperative)! On December 29th we will find out if we are having an EC (or EA) or an AT!

We also ordered our fetal doppler so we can listen to Baby's heartbeat whenever we would like! Chris and I have really enjoyed this, and I have been able to locate Baby on the first try 99% of the time. The heartbeat is consistently in the 140-160's, and is very strong. Baby likes to move toward the doppler to check out what is going on to cause those sound waves it feels (I guess). We like to call it "The Little Inquisitor".

As for me...I am finally over the cold that hung around for 2 1/2 weeks. It was awful! On top of that, during bloodwork last week my doctor found out that I have developed anemia, which totally explains why I have felt so sluggish and awful for a while now. I am taking an iron supplement for the anemia and a B6 vitamin for energy and immune support. I have also developed a nasty meat aversion...it's so bad that I actually can't even TALK about meat anymore...

And I figure it's time to start this:

I'm 17 Weeks!

Pregnancy Highlights:
How Far Along: 17 Weeks, 3 days
Size of Baby: Size of an onion (Approx 5.1 inches and 5.9 oz)
Total Weight Gain: 12 lbs (totally within the normal range)
Maternity Clothes: Yes...the pants are just more comfortable. I don't need maternity shirts for work, but the bump definitely shows.

Gender: not a clue and we don't have a preference

Movement: occassionally. After dinner at Maggiano's the other night Baby was quite active.
Sleep: sleeping well right now!
What I Miss: not having headaches, my flat tummy
Cravings: sweets, fruit smoothies, potatoes
Symptoms: round ligament pain, sore breasts (hurts to walk), tired, headaches
Best Moment this Week: listening to Baby's heartbeat and knowing it's growing nice and strong

12 week Baby Pics (3 weeks later)

2011-11-27T20:07:00.001-06:00

On November 7th we had our NT Scan to check on Baby and make sure that s/he is progressing on track. Baby's due date was officially set for May 19th and the doctor seemed pleased with its progress. Everything measured great and Baby is developing perfectly. S/he was VERY active and was kicking off of my uturine wall and floating backwards, waving as s/he went. Chris and I joke that we have a swimmer on our hands and s/he's practicing the backstroke. We won't find out the gender of Baby for a few weeks but we have already picked out names that will feel would be excellent for a future Supreme Court Judge. While neither one of us would prefer one over the other, right now my mom-sense is telling me it's a girl. (If I am wrong, I apologize in advance, dear son.)

Here are a couple of pictures of Baby. I think s/he looks like a stuffed Winnie the Pooh doll with the fluffy tummy and little stumpy legs. S/he also has an adorable button nose :). We are absolutely in love with our little gift and cannot wait to meet her/him in May!

Little legs kicked up ready to push off with a wave hello!

Guess What?!

2011-11-13T19:00:00.002-06:00

Our little family is growing by 2 feet!!!

Chris and I are expecting our new addition to arrive in May! The official due date is May 19th...we'll see if I can make it that long!

Almost Home

2011-11-02T00:08:00.000-05:00

We're moving! This weekend Chris & I will pack up two houses and two storage units and move into our first house together in Katy. We are beyond excited! We looked at houses for over two months, would find one we loved, and would turn around to have our realtor contact the listing agent only to find that the house JUST had a contract put on it. I was getting extremely frustrated. On a VERY rainy day in October we walked in to this house and just thought "YES, we're home". It's a four year old 3 bedroom 2 bath D.R. Horton with a formal dining room, a covered back patio, and a little front porch that I am imagining a bench and potted plants on. The builder threw in upgrades like double paned windows, arched doorways, and staggerd height cabinets in the kitchen, and the master closet is H U G E. I cannot wait to christen my garden tub either. I am envisioning lots of bubble baths with candles and a good book! The backyard is a really good size so Parker will have plenty of room to run. After we get unpacked, curtains hung, and relatively settled I'll give you the grand tour, but for now here's a picture of our new home!

Day 4 (posted only a couple of days after Day 3!!)

2011-10-23T17:33:00.001-05:00

Hey, it’s me. Chris. Guest-writing about Day 4 of our adventure in Maine. The day that I think it was conclusively proved I should be kept far away from boats.

The day began like the previous days had begun: atypically beautiful. It was hard to imagine, but in the three days that we had been in Maine, I hadn’t really shown Beth around the property, and so I took her on a little tour of what had been some of my favorite places as a kid. Places like this rock formation that appears when the tide goes out:

After poking around the house for a while, it was off to the lobster pound to pick up some for dinner that night. Yes, even though neither of us like seafood, we were gonna give lobsters a go. After all, how often do you get to eat a freshly caught Maine lobster for less than seven bucks a pound? Not often!

All of us climbed into my folks’ car and headed off to the pound near the Beals Island bridge. When we got there, I gave Beth a fun fact. When I was younger, maybe 12 years old, I participated in the annual Fourth of July lobster crate race. The race involved stringing a row of lobster crates together and running the string through the water between the lobster pound and the rocks abutting the bridge. Then you run across it (wearing a life vest, of course). To the complete surprise of my entire family, I actually made it across. One time. On the way back, I slipped and went flying into the icy water. That was more like it. When I was four, I was running along some rocks under the bank, and went tumbling into the water. I thrashed about a lot, screaming out “Look! I can swim! I can swim!” in between periods of going back under water. That’s when my mom thought I might be old enough for swim lessons. So, when I slipped off the crates and had to be pulled out of the water, order was restored to the Choate universe.

Beth was unimpressed by my story of running the crates, but she did find the pound interesting. Despite the stench. For example, she was impressed by the guys chopping fish up into chum (lobster bait).

And she liked the little float where the lobsters were kept for purchase.

After Dad got the lobsters, we headed back to the car where I noticed and pointed out a seagull dragging a crab across the pebbles down below.

“Hey, look!” I said. “That seagull has a crab.”

Everyone thought that was pretty cool. But what was cooler, is that the seagull dropped the crab on its back, squawked a little tune, and then hopped off backwards. At that point a bigger seagull came waddling down from his perch to inspect the crab. It was like an offering. And that’s when we dubbed the larger gull “The Gullfather.”

He took the crab and dragged it back up the shore, and then proceeded to circle-of-life it, poking its belly with his beak and shaking it from time to time.

Mom was dismayed (this from a woman who enjoys eating crab), but the rest of us were pretty fascinated. It isn’t often you see seagulls picking apart a crab. You’re much more likely to see them dropping mussels from the air to the rocks below to smash them open than you are to see a gull taking apart a decent-sized crab. Hooray for nature!

After we got the lobsters back to the house, we started to get ready to take the boat out. Now, I teased this the other day; I don’t do boats. I don’t like them, and I have never had an uneventful experience on one. Over the course of my life I have: dropped more oarlocks into the ocean than I can count (at least 5 sets); had to jump into the Penobscot River during a fishkill to chase down the dinghy that had just slipped out of my grasp as I was tying up; been nearly drowned by the Samaritan who tried to help me retrieve the dinghy; seen my uncle sail our sailboat right into the ONLY pile of rocks in a cove; had to scramble to drop the sails after the boat’s steering wheel just came off in my father’s hands; and a whole slew of various other disasters. I don’t like boats. Earlier this summer, when Beth took me to visit her family’s lakehouse, I was coaxed into getting into the ski boat with her uncle at the helm. Her uncle is an able seaman, who knows what he’s doing. And yet, we hit the wake of another boat funny and water came flooding over the bow, nearly sinking us all. I apologized to everyone in the boat, but I still felt like saying “I TOLD you I shouldn’t get in your boat.”

So, why then, would I agree to go out on the boat with my family? Well, three reasons. First, Beth wanted to go, and that’s reason enough. Second, I would have been left at home alone, and I didn’t want that. And, third, at some point, I figured, my luck would change, especially since my parents don’t have a sailboat anymore.

When the tide was high enough, Dad and I headed out across the cove to the boat, got it opened up, and then headed back to pick up Beth and Mom. Then, it was time to head out and into Moosabec Reach. The weather was, once again, glorious, and since I hadn’t fallen into the water yet, I felt pretty good. So good, in fact, that I even managed to smile.

(We’re on a boat!)

Everything was humming along, and I began to relax and enjoy myself. And who wouldn’t enjoy themselves with this scenery?

There’s a nice lobster boat giving us a nice wide berth.

Hey look! There’s a seal:

(You’ll have to enlarge the picture and just trust me that that little speck in the middle is a seal head.)

Right after this picture was taken, an alarm started screeching and the temperature dial for the port engine started to climb.

*Sigh* Not again.

For some reason, the port engine was overheating, and it was time to head back. Dad shut the engine down, and we turned around to head back to port.
On the way back, and after the engine had cooled enough to be fired up again, Beth got the opportunity to see something that not many people get to experience. An up close view of a lobster boat in action. Like, really up close.

That boat is the Money Shot, and it is so close, and the rope looks like it’s going under us, because it IS going under us. Yes, as we were navigating a channel, Mom got the port side propeller caught up on a lobster buoy. And, as luck would have it, we just happened to hook a couple of Money Shot’s traps. Now, in her defense, the channels are supposed to be relatively clear of traps so that this doesn’t happen. In reality, though, you have to navigate a minefield of buoys and lines. So…. It happens, even if it isn’t fun that it happens. And, at least the Money Shot was able to pull its traps, which had a few lobsters in ‘em, and no one was the worse for wear, except for us, who had to limp our way to port with some line wrapped around our propeller.

So, once again, I got on a boat and bad things happened. Could have been worse, I suppose. I could have had to jump in the 40 degree water and untangle the rope from the propeller. Nonetheless, though, I clearly can never go on a cruise to Alaska because I can’t bear the pressure of having so many lives on my shoulders.

Later that afternoon, we took a nap, and then had a lobster boil on the deck as the sun set.

Now, it bears mentioning that Beth is decidedly NOT a fan of lobster. I’ve already touched on how neither of us is a seafood eater, and—seriously—I want to know what was going through the mind of the first person who decided that THIS was a good thing to eat:

(“Hey, that thing looks like something from another planet. It’s also mean as hell, and wants to slice my fingers off with its claws. I think I’ll eat it.”)

But, after Dad showed off a strange hypno-trick to make the lobster fall asleep and go limp,

Beth made a good game of it. She thought the claws were okay. And the tail was tolerable if a bit chewy. The swimmerettes weren’t objectionable. But then she saw the inside of the body. Where there is a disgusting, foul, wretched, nefarious thing known as the tomalley. Which is the lobster’s liver, apparently. And it’s green. And gooey. And absolutely disgusting.

And that’s when Beth was done. The lobster was pushed away, a couple of huge gulps of water were swallowed, and Beth was more than content to never touch another lobster again. I don’t blame her one bit. I went for about a decade without eating a lobster, and if I go another decade, I’m sure I’ll be fine.

One good thing about the end of a lobster dinner? (That it’s over? Hey-o!) No, you get a table that looks like this:

A fine end to an eventful day, and we decided we needed to do something a little less death-defying the next day. With that in mind, we settled in for the night with fond thoughts of mustard and of heading off the next day to Eastport and Machias.

Day 3! (six weeks late...)

2011-10-21T17:52:00.000-05:00

Beth’s right; we’ve been slackers. But not without good reason! Things have been mondo crazy the past month and a half, and about to get crazier. Like, really crazy. And it wouldn’t do to start blogging about the crazy without wrapping up the epic. Sorry, Beth, but I think it fits!

So… hi there! I’m Chris. The Lawyer. Beth asked me to write about days 3, 4, and 5 of our trip to Maine. There’s a slight problem with that: while I remember what we did in Maine, I’m having a small amount of trouble remembering the exact order in which we did things. But I’m gonna give it my best.

Day 3 was, if I recall correctly, a Thursday and this meant that we were going to visit Bar Harbor. Bar Harbor is a quaint little village on the Eastern tip of Mt. Desert Island, and—in addition to be an attraction in its own right—is a jumping off point to visit Acadia National Park. Back in the day, one might run into JP Morgan, the Rockefellers, the Vanderbilts, the Astors, or Henry Ford. These days, though, you’re more likely to run into vacationers having fun with the Maine accent by saying “Bah Hahbah.” (Full disclosure: we had fun with the accent, too.)

The weather was glorious, which is saying a lot. Normally, coastal Maine weather is hit or miss; one writer for the Bangor Daily News, for example, wrote about how he spent a long weekend on some island trapped inside because of choking fog. Which will happen. Often. So quitcherbitchin’. For us, though, the hurricane that blew through just before we got to Maine had left crystal blue skies in its wake, and we were treated to absurdly gorgeous weather. That hurricane, though, also meant that the harbor--normally jammed with yachts, sailboats, and lobster boats—only had a sprinkling of boats bobbing up and down in the little wavelets.

There was one nice boat tied up, though, an elegant schooner, which will make an appearance later in this post.

After we tooled around the marina, getting a baby blue hoodie for Beth (who needed a little more protection from the sea breezes than my arm around her shoulder) in the process, we looked for some lunch. Neither of us are big seafood types, which is both a blessing and a curse. It’s a curse because just about every stinking restaurant wants to offer exclusively lobster, lobster, and more lobster for lunch. “Howya doin’, deah? You want a lobstah roll, a lobstah salad, or a whole steamed lobstah? And would you like a side a’ lobstah with that?” It’s a blessing, however, because, when you DO find a restaurant not insisting you swoon over the two-pounders at the table next to you, there isn’t much of a wait to get served.

We managed to find a GREAT restaurant: the Side Street Café, where we enjoyed an awesome black bean quesadilla and a tuna sandwich. (Honestly, that quesadilla rocked harder than it had any right to rock.) After we had lunch, we walked down the street and got a blondie and a brownie.

We took a couple of bites (they were so good, that’s all we needed to feel like we just ate a piece of awesome) and headed into Acadia National Park to stand on top of Cadillac Mountain, the tallest point on the Eastern Seaboard, though not technically tall enough to be a proper mountain.

The view from Cadillac Mountain did not disappoint, starting with the drive up:

Once we got to the parking lot on top, we hiked around on the rocks to the summit and took in the amazing scenery.

(See that tiny white speck in the middle? The schooner from earlier is right there next to it.)

(There’s the schooner again, in the middle right.)

(Waaaaayyyy off in the distance, you can see—if this was a bigger and better picture—Great Wass Island which is right there near Jonesport, and which is, as the albatross flies, about 35 miles away or so.)

Clearly, as you can see, there is a reason why so many people trek to Acadia every year, and why Chevrolet decided to name an SUV after it. Fun fact: the word “Cajun” comes from Acadia.

We stayed on top of the mountain for about an hour, and it was such a wonderful feeling to finally be sharing the views with Beth, watching her experience all the things that I had looked forward to sharing with her when I floated the idea of coming with me to Maine so many months ago. It filled me with such satisfaction and peace. Oh, hush, Beth; I know it’s sappy, but it’s true!

After we had our fill of Cadillac Mountain, we headed back to Jonesport. I decided to take us the non-coastal route through Black’s Woods. It’s not AS scenic, but it’s a fun road that winds up and down and around through a forest, and at one point, the trees open up on Fox Pond.

Beth is really fond of this picture, because it makes her think of her dad. And, after spending a lot of time with her dad, I completely concur.

The other benefit of taking the route through the forest is that you end up driving through Cherryfield, which has a number of excellently maintained and interesting houses. Houses like this one, for example:

(Which has been expanded with addition after addition over the decades, and now sports an awesome Silver-Spoons-esque railroad coursing all throughout the field.)

This house, just up the street, is pretty sweet, too:

As is this one:

Yeah, Maine has some cool houses.

After we oohed and ahhed at the houses, we finished up our drive back to Jonesport, had dinner with the folks (I think Mom made a salad with berries on it, which is something that is only beginning to grow on me), and basically conked out for the night, too tired to do anything but marvel at the beautiful day, and wonder what we would do the next day.

The next day—day 4—would prove to show once again why I hate getting on boats. But you’ll just have to wait for that story.

We're slackers

2011-10-13T15:31:00.000-05:00

It's Chris's turn to update the blog. He said he'd take care of days 3-5 in Maine but life has gotten busy and we just haven't had time to sit down and take care of it. I promise Bar Harbor, Cadillac Mountain, East Port, and Machias will eventually get blogged about. Here's a sneak peak from Bar Harbor:

And Teagan, as promised, here is a picture of the Maple tree I found that made me think of you. :)

So what has kept us crazy busy? Househunting. I am SO tired of looking at houses. We have looked at tons, found the perfect one only to find that a contract had just been put on it (probably while we were looking at it), and had to start all over again. We think we've found the next perfect one and are getting everything put together to submit to the listing agent on Monday. Fingers crossed!!!

Lot's more exciting things are coming up the pipes in the next couple months and I cannot wait to tell everyone about them soon! :)

Day 2: Portland,Camden, Bucksport, Jonesport

2011-09-16T13:59:00.000-05:00

Chris and I woke up early (for me) and headed to Portland to visit his grandparents, Nanny and Buppa. We visited for about an hour an a half and then it was time to hit the road, but not before a stop at Trader Joe's. This was the first time either of us had been to this magical place and we were not let down. Rumor has it, Houston is getting one and we are totally going to be "those people" that will be faithful shoppers.

After buying some of the BEST ginger snaps ever we drove to Brunswick, where we hit a McDonalds for lunch (and I learned my lesson about ordering something new off the menu). We continued on to Bath, where we saw a couple Destroyer ships at Bath Iron Works. From Bath we drove through: Wiscasset to Damarisotta to Thomaston up to Rockland and Rockport and then to Camden. I wish I had pictures from all of these places, but every time I saw something I wanted to take a picture of Chris would say "Oh, you'll see that everywhere", to which I responded, "You keep saying that!", and my sweet love quickly replied, "And you keep seeing it!".

We arrived in Camden and noticed a gorgeous church. The sign to the side of it said "The Episcopal Church welcomes you" so we thought this was an Episcopal church. Nope, Baptist. We assume they Episcopalians put the sign there because the Baptists aren't so welcoming.

We walked around Camden and Camden Harbor and took a bunch of pictures.

From Camden we drove to Bucksport, were we crossed that bridge.

We actually crossed the bridge three times so we could take pictures from both sides! Anyway, we continued traveling up the coast and finally arrived in Jonesport around 6:45.

Day 1: Cleveland, New Hampshire, & Maine (finally)

2011-09-01T20:00:00.001-05:00

Our vacation has begun!!! The Lawyer and I woke up at 5:30 this morning and managed to get out the door by 7:05. On the way out the door, The Lawyer (can I just call him Chris at this point?) announced "I have to admit it, you were right". Um, what might I be right about? The fact that there was NO WAY we would be able to go on an 8 day vacation with JUST CARRY-ONS! Both of our suitcases are packed to the brim, and if we buy anything while we're gone, we're gonna have to ship it home. I'm serious.

Anyway, we dropped Chris's car off at my parents house and my dad drove us to the airport. Terminal E was blissfully empty. We went through security, I got body scanned (big surprise), and bought some magazines for the boring part of the flight when you can't use your electronic devices.

We boarded our flight, me on the aisle (claustrophobia issues and a fear of being stuck by a stranger who won't shut up thanks to an awful flight from Vegas several years ago), Chris in the middle, and some guy in the window seat. After taking the obligatory "we're on a plane!" pic, we settled in and soon were allowed to pull out the iPad, which we thoughtfully filled with movies to occupy us. Our row-mate watched along (without sound) and laughed at all the funny parts, telling Chris, "This next part is great" throughout.

We landed in Cleveland (I'm not impressed) and went in search of our gate and food. We found our gate in terminal D, but no real food, so we hiked back to terminal C for sandwiches and headed back to terminal D.

We boarded our second flight, on one of those 2x1 express jet things (ugh), took our second "We're on a plane!" pic and watched 1/2 of "How Do You Know".

We landed in Manchester, New Hampshire and were amazed that a hurricane had been through the area just days before and you could only tell by how high the river was.

From Manchester we drove to Kennebunkport to visit the Bush's. :) On the way, I had to put on a sweater because I'm not used to it being 74 degrees. I couldn't tell you the last time I felt that temperature. On the way through Kennebunkport Chris and I marveled at the gorgeous houses and have already planned on spending a night there when we come back to Maine next summer.

We took pictures of houses on the coast...

and right before sundown we made it to Walker Point and the Bush Compound.

Our navigation on Chris's phone chose to die at this point so we made our way to our hotel in Saco mostly by Zen, but we got there without too much trouble and got ourselves checked in around 8:30. We headed to Ruby Tuesdays down the road and returned to the hotel, (after the obligatory visit to Wal-Mart) where I began this post...3 days ago! It is now Thursday at 7:57 pm. I have a TON of catching up to do!

Leavin' on a Jet Plane...

2011-08-29T12:05:00.000-05:00

That song has been running through my head for days. In less than 24 hours The Lawyer and I will be boarding our plane bound for Maine. To say we are excited is an understatement! We LOVE traveling together and try to get out of town at least once a month, even if it's just for a night. In June we went to Austin to celebrate my 31st birthday, and in July we went to the lakehouse. We're barely sneaking in the Maine trip to August, but it counts and I guess it could count for September if we don't get to San Antonio or Galveston towards the end of the month. Since September is looking to be pretty crazy for us, that's probably how it will go.

Anyway, tomorrow we will be changing planes in Ohio and landing in New Hampshire, where we will rent a car and drive to Portland, ME to spend the night. On Wednesday we will visit The Lawyer's grandparents and then continue on to his parents home in Jonesport, via "the scenic route". We have a bunch of day trips planned throughout Maine while we are the enjoying the 70 degree weather all week. :) The following Monday we will pack up and leave for Vermont, where we will spend a couple days with one of The Lawyer's good friends from high school and her husband. On Wednesday we will head home and back to this gawdawful heat.

This is our weather forecast for our trip. HA!!!

This is the forecast for HOME, while we are gone.

There's a bunch of little stuff we need to take care of before my dad takes us to the airport tomorrow morning, so I'd better go hop on that! Tons of pictures to come! :)

The Best Nachos EVER

2011-08-26T19:24:00.000-05:00

Pardon the iPhone pic, what can ya do?

It's been a weird week so the best way The Lawyer and I could think of to end it was to make The Best Nachos EVER. I am proud to say I created this recipe all on my own. :) YAY ME! These nachos came out "restaurant good", they are that awesome. Definitely better than Friday's, which I happen to really like. This is most definitely a great party recipe, ya know, since football season is finally back and all. Here's how you do it...

Ingredients:

Round Mission corn tortilla chips
1 lb ground beef
1 can refried beans
1 package of sharp cheddar cheese
1 package of Mexican cheese blend
1 packet of Old El Paso taco seasoning
1 container of Pico de Gallo
Sour Cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 F
Brown ground beef and add taco seasoning following the directions on the packet
Spread the refried beans on each individual tortilla chip and place the chips on a large baking sheet, create multiple layers if desired
Spread about 1/2 the bag of Sharp Cheddar and 1/2 the bag of Mexican blend on top of the chips
Evenly distribute the ground beef over the cheese and chips
Spread the rest of the bags of cheese on top of the meat
Put the baking dish in the oven for 7 minutes, or as long as it takes the cheese to get all melty
Transfer nachos from the baking dish to a large platter
Spread the container of Pico de Gallo over the nachos
Spread sour cream over the Pico
Serve, and induce a cheese coma

Seriously y'all, these are AWESOME!!!

Raindrops on roses...

2011-08-23T19:24:00.000-05:00

This afternoon I made my favorite snack of strawberries smothered in poppyseed dressing and thought, "hm, I wonder if anybody else out there dips their strawberries in poppyseed dressing?" And then I thought, "damn! its freakin' hot outside!", but that's neither here nor there, really. Anyway, I was inspired to write a post about my current favorite things.

1. This guy.

Meet The Lawyer. A 34 year old criminal defense attorney that has a sword in his closet. That was not an innuendo. He actually has a sword. I forgive him for his nerdiness.

This man is amazing. He is kind, handsome (I think REALLY REALLY handsome), compassionate, understanding, hilarious, trustworthy, brillant, and giving. Right after we began dating ~~I was disfigured~~ my wisdom tooth chose to finish growing in and somehow I got a terrible infection in my mouth. (This happened the day after our first kiss, and in his cuteness The Lawyer said, "Did I break your mouth?") Luckily (if you want to think of it that way) this happened on a Friday, and The Lawyer was able to take care of me all weekend. Since the right side of my face was swollen and I couldn't even open my mouth wide enough to get a spoonful of pudding in, he made me milkshakes with homemade whipped cream, and potato soup that he blended in to a cream so that I could suck it through a straw. We spent the whole weekend on the couch and bonded completely. I think that's when I realized he was a keeper.

I am spoiled rotten. I don't think he has let me want for anything since we began dating. The other day I actually told him, "It's okay to tell me no every once in a while. I don't need to get my way all the time." In all honesty, he just loves me SO much he can't help it. I know this, and I can see it in every look he gives me and every little gesture he does for me.

What's even better is that I love him just as much. He lets me be myself, without all the "show". I don't always have to be ON, I can just be me. It is so nice. I can honestly, from the bottom of my heart and with total confidence, say that this is the man who I am meant to spend the rest of my life with.

2. This guy. He's a Jack Russell/Chihuahua mix and I adore him. He is living with my parents right now and I miss him (and cuddling with him) tremendously, but he will soon be living with me again when The Lawyer and I make our final move in October.

3. Peonies. I ~~hate~~, ~~want to vomit when I see~~, do not care for Roses at all. They are so cliche and overused. I think Peonies are the perfect delicate, ladylike flower.

4. These websites: The Nest, Hills2City, TMZ, & TWOP. I should be embarrassed to admit the last three, but I'm not. We all need our guilty pleasures. The Nest is a super-informative community of women. You can localize your message board to your general area, or you can participate in messageboards by topic, like the Starting Over one that I lurk around sometimes. I have had many questions answered by these ladies and I respect them a lot.

5. Strawberries with poppyseed dressing. Darnit! I ate them all before I took a picture. Oh well, try it for yourself. It's UH-MAY-ZING!

6. New York & Co. Curvy Low Rise Flare jeans. They make my butt look awesome!

7. MAC Turquatic Perfume. The Lawyer bought me both the spray and the roll-on,which is super convenient to keep in my purse. I had a ~~major~~ freakout when the MAC lady told me they discontinued my perfume this spring, but apparently the backlash they received was enough for them to bring it back.

8. Candy. My favorites are Dove Milk Chocolate squares, Lemon Flavored Gummy Bears, and Sour Strawberry Straps. We go to Dylan's Candy Bar at the Galleria every couple months and spend about $40 stocking up for a few months. It makes my mouth happy.

9. The Good Wife. I am obsessed with The Good Wife and am lucky that The Lawyer loves it just as much as I do. I am counting down to its premiere on September 25. Do not call me during the hours of 9 & 10. I will not answer. In fact, I may never speak to you again. OK, that's a little harsh, but seriously that's how much I love this show. (So don't bother me!)

10. Texas Longhorn Football. I love college football. I am the type of girl that gets super in-to the game and I yell at the TV and the players when dumb things happen. I can make penalty calls before the ref makes them. I am unique like that. Though I attended Texas Tech, Texas A&M, and Texas State (and every other Texas school except The University of Texas--kidding) I am a HUGE Longhorn fan and I am super bummed that we will be in Maine for the first game of the season. :( Hook 'EM!

So that's my list of top ten current fave's. Honestly, this list could go on forever. I asked The Lawyer what some of my favorite things were, and besides listing what I have listed here he also included: Reese Witherspoon, Emma (my really old car), Rockstar - the movie, Le Madeleine Grilled Chicken Ceasar Salad, Lemon Drops, music, talking, lemons, iced tea, Double Dave's cheese pizza with Double Dave's ranch dressing, and chicken tenders with Friday's honey mustard. He's right. And he could have kept going but we needed to finish making dinner, so we did that instead. Oh, and we had my favorite--sweet cornbread!!!

New Blog

2011-08-16T17:49:00.000-05:00

The Lawyer and I talk constantly. For example, when we watch TV, say, an hour long show, it usually takes at least twice as long because we pause the show so much because we have something to say. Sometimes it's not even about the show we're watching but about something else interesting, like, "I fell out of bed after you left for work this morning". (Yeah, it happens.) Last night, after the third time in about an hour I wanted to post a transcript of our conversations on my facebook we decided it might be fun to create a blog strictly for our funny conversations and funny things that happened together. Thus, http://conversationsatourhouse.blogspot.com/ was born. Hopefully we haven't jinxed our funniness and comedic chemistry by doing this. If we did, I'm sure I'll still continue to walk into walls and fall out of bed...

They call it love, love, love, love, love...

2011-08-10T15:14:00.011-05:00

So, The Lawyer and I are heading in to our next month of perfection. It sounds so silly to put it that way, but honestly, that's what it is. The Lawyer and I have such amazing communication that if a problem could possibly even begin to arise, it is discussed and difused before it can even become an issue.

We have been living together for 2 months and 2 days now. :) We love coming home to each other, cuddling on the couch watching tv, and just sitting up at night talking to each other. I have gotten him hooked on The Good Wife, Big Bang Theory, and Jersey Shore, and he has introduced me to Castle. We have been watching previous seasons of each show to get the other one caught up for September season premieres.

Two weeks ago we went to my family's lakehouse for the weekend, just the two of us. We spent hours floating in the lake, talking. It was "The Perfect Weekend". It was 100 degrees both days we were there, but on the water it felt like 80. At night we would sit on the dock and marvel at how many stars we could see, and one night we even saw a satellite fly over. The lake was pretty busy that weekend and one of the houses a little furthur down from ours had great lake music playing each night, so we had background music.

Three weeks from yesterday we are flying to Maine. The Lawyer's parents have a summer home there that they escape to for the hottest months of the year. I think the high where we will be was 70 today. Yeah, I can't wait!!! I've never been that far Northeast so it will be a totally new experience. We will be spending 9 days there and also making a quick visit to Vermont to see some old friends of The Lawyer. I'm sure the pictures from the trip will be gorgeous!

How do you know you've found "the one"?

2011-06-27T10:52:00.000-05:00

You just do.

The Lawyer and me...

2011-06-22T00:47:00.003-05:00

Perfect... that's all I can say. I won't post every detail, won't let you in on us...but we're amazing. HE'S amazing. I can't explain it, but maybe the rings describe it. We're it for each other. I love him so.... I love his voice, his hair, the way he wakes me in the morning. His touch, his smile, his gorgeous eyes (blue with brown around his pupils). I love the way he loves me, the way he takes care of me, the way he's there for every moment I need him. He is everything I need.

It's been a long time...

2011-05-24T20:24:00.002-05:00

I haven't really blogged in almost 10 months. There hasn't been much to say. I guess I only like to blog when everything is going my way! And I guess right now, it really is. :)

I began a new job in November. I'm back in retail and am SO happy! I love going to work because it's like I'm going to hang out with friends. For the most part, my coworkers and I really like each other and have a great time together. I received my first promotion to what I like to call "Baby Manager" in April, and am looking at my second one in July. I work a lot but love what I do, so it pays off in many ways.

Recently, I met The Lawyer. He is AMAZING. I am so spoiled and so well taken care of by him. And he says that I spoil him!!! He dotes on me, making sure I have anything I might possibly want, and bends over backwards to accomodate me if he doesn't have something on-hand.

We talk CONSTANTLY. For the past month or so when we have been apart we have texted ech other from the moment we've woken up (or I have, because he'll let me sleep in until 9) until it's absolutely impossible to keep our eyes open at night. We finish each others sentences, and have the same thoughts at the same time and speak in unison. We are so in sync with each other...we ARE that couple that no one can stand because we are just so in tune.

We are planning to take our first mini-vaca to Austin this weekend but those plans may need to be post-poned, which I will write about in my next post. But I get to spend the weekend with him either way, so I don't care if we go to Austin or stay home. I'm happy wherever I am with him!

New Beginnings...

2011-02-15T16:08:00.002-06:00

"When you feel that you have reached the end and that you cannot go one step further, when life seems to be drained of all purpose; what a wonderful opportunity to start all over again, to turn over a new page." -- Eileen Caddy

My return to dating...

2010-06-17T14:43:00.004-05:00

Over the past 10 months I've dated several guys. I haven't gotten really serious with any of them but I have enjoyed having fun with them. Trust me when I say that some of these guys have been better than others, but even the 'toads' taught me something. (Like not to be such a pushover because he WILL suck you dry).

I have recently started dating a new guy--we'll call him MBA. :) We talked and txted pretty much constantly for a week or so before we finally had our first date. Sunday night MBA took me to eat at Lupe Tortilla's, which EVERYONE knows is my favorite, and then we went back to his house. We talked and talked and talked, and watched Paranormal Activity (stupid) and Wedding Crashers (to ease any jittery nerves I may have had from Paranormal Activity), and we talked some more. We kissed for a bit and then I headed home. It was a really simple, really great first date.

Tuesday evening I met him at his house after work and we went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. We split nachos, got sandwiches, and split an Oreo Cheesecake slice for desert. :) Afterwards, we had about an hour and a half before our movie was going to start, so we walked over to the fountains on the waterway and watched them dance (VERY mini Vegas, haha!) and talked (of course) and laughed. When the mosquito's started getting to me, we walked down to a bar on the water and sat and had a beer, while sharing funny stories from our pasts and people watching. Afterwards we went to see Killers, which was funny if not kinda corny at some points. The little kiss he snuck in the middle of the movie was really cute too, and he held my hand and rubbed my arm through the whole thing. :) After the movie we went back to his house, kissed in the driveway for a minute, and then I went home to my house. I text-ed him when I got home to let him know I made it, and we text-ed back and forth for another hour or so. Considering how much we talk I'm really surprised we haven't run out of things to say, but we never do! Anyway, date #2 didn't feel like date #2...it felt comfortable and easy...and it was perfect! :) If you saw my facebook status and wondered, this is why I Can't. Stop. Smiling.

Tonight I am meeting MBA's son (who's 9) from his previous marriage. The plan is to grab sandwiches at Which Wich and then play an intense game or two of Phase 10. Since I think all 3 of us claim to be THE BEST this should be very interesting. On the one hand, should I let the kid win because he IS a kid and I want to get in good with him, or should I be my normal competitive self and whoop on their butts? :) If you know me at all, you know what I'm planning!!!

SO much is going on!

2010-06-17T14:35:00.002-05:00

It's been months since I have blogged. There is no way I can sufficiently update you on everything, so I'll stick to the main points I guess.

First things first. Nope, I'm STILL not divorced yet! Hopefully that will be this next week--like MONDAY.

Second thing... I quit my job and I am SO happy with that decision. I am so burnt out on teaching. It's been rocky, and with the kind of kids I have worked with for the past 5 years it's made the job even more stressful. I am now looking for something more oriented towards adults. I'm thinking hotels/hospitality, events, or an office job. We'll see how that goes.

Austin!!!

2009-11-12T10:35:00.005-06:00

The first Friday in November I packed up the Saturn and headed to Austin to visit a very old friend. We'll call him ATX. He and I had gone to school together since, like, forever. When he suggested a visit up to the greatest city in the state of TX, I didn't have to think twice. Soooo...here's a recap of the weekend, because I know that some of you are DYING. However, if you want the dirty details...well...we'll just have to talk! This blog is not yet private!!!

So, I met ATX and a buddy of his up at Doc's on South Congress. After a long hug--its been years since we've seen each other-- we settled in. He had a beer waiting for me, such a sweetheart, and I kind of got over my nerves while some small talk was made. I'm not sure if I was shaking because I was SOOO super nervous, or because of the two Monster Chaos's I drank on the drive up! Anyway, the beer helped! We left and head back to ATX's condo so I could change and then we went out to Nutty Brown to catch Randy Rodgers. I loved the venue and the music was great. The company was awesome...

After the show we went to some hole in the wall, G&S I think? Anyway, I wasn't loving it, so we left and somehow ended up at Aussie's. I ran in to 2 of starter-hubby's old roommates/coworkers and had the pleasure of sharing the big D news with them. Brooke was cool, Barry seemed a little...I dunno...Barry probably hadn't had his latest drug fix. He and I never really got along anyway. Memories of course flooded back because I spent so much time at Aussie's, but in a way that makes me so happy my life is not like that anymore. It's really sad to me that B&B are 30 and 32-ish and all they've ever done is work at Aussie's.

After Aussie's we went back to the condo and attempted to watch The Big Lebowski... but at 3am after a bunch of beer, that doesn't work well. So...

Saturday we woke up and went to some taco place to get breakfast tacos. We took them back to ATX's condo and watched the UT game (of course). After the game finally ended (seemed super long for some reason), he took me on my 2nd ever motorcycle ride. I definitely think this was the highlight of my entire trip, after I relaxed and figured out how to trust his driving of course. I totally believe that on the back of a motorcycle is the best way to see Austin! We drove through Zilker, up and down some hilly, windy roads, through Tarrytown (HA!) and up to Mt. Bonnell. We climbed Mt. Bonnell so I could take pictures. I haven't been up there since Christmas '01. It's a gorgeous place. Then we headed up the road to this completely out of nowhere, cash only bar that serves cans of Pearl Beer and you give your empties to the guy that works at the counter. Dry Creek something-or-other, I think. Anyway, its got this tiny little balcony that you sit out on, and while we were sitting there these 2 deer go heading down the road! Beautiful to see... nature can be so peaceful.

From there we headed to 2222 & 360 for the most beautiful drive home (can you tell I loved it?) , where I changed and we left to meet up with another friend from high school and his GF at Trudy's!! My Mexican Martini was awesome! From there we headed to Barton Springs and then somehow, according to a text message a sent, we ended up at Doc's again. I'm not really sure how that happened, but whatever. Anyway, we made it home.

Sunday morning we woke up semi early and went for breakfast tacos again... I liked these better than I liked Saturdays. We chatted for a bit as we ate and then I headed back to Houston. This was definitely a fun trip, and hopefully I'll make another one soon. It was great to see an old friend and even greater to be back where my heart is. I am more sure than ever that I will be moving back...just not sure when.

Happiness...

2009-10-25T11:19:00.006-05:00

Happiness is relative, but I think i'm full of it. I have really been able to see just how blessed and lucky I really am. This divorce has brought turmoil to my life, but at the end of the day, I haven't let it consume me or change my outlook.

So here is a list of things that make me happy:

~I have a wonderfully supportive family who only want me to be happy. My parents have been rock solid, have respected my privacy, and patiently waited for me to come out of my hole. They have not felt the need to bash my ex-husband to me (but I think it happens when I'm not around) and have respected my wishes for people to "leave me the f*ck alone!" when I freaked out and felt pressured.

The rest of my family has been pretty awesome as well. My sister and her hubby have been sweet and protective, and if I am in the GCC-bashing mood they will happily join in. My Grandmother has been great for long phone calls where I can just talk and she will just listen. My cousins and my Ak & UB have all expressed concern for me-it's nice to know that people care.

~I have the MOST AMAZING and FUN job. I teach eleven 7 & 8 year olds and I have the time of my life every day. They are absolutely perfect in my eyes. They are sweet, caring, and compassionate towards each other. They love their teacher and try so hard to please me. Each day we take time for community circle, and we discuss how we are feeling that day ("What color are you?"). It is an amazing bonding experience. At dismissal, my kids hug each other goodbye--boys and girls both. It is heartwarming to see. I love the people that I work with. Everyone is nice and friendly and helpful. It definitely feels like a "team". I seriously laugh everyday and I think I have a smile on my face most of the time. (Oh, and there is this cute maintanence guy... it's nice to have eye candy at work!!)

~I have a cute apartment with plenty of space for me. I have 2 bedrooms & 2 bathrooms, enough closet space for me (don't know what would happen to their clothes if I had a roommate), and a HUGE kitchen (by apartment standards). My furniture is nice and I am able to keep this place clean. I am equally close to my family and to work, the two places I spend the most time at. I am NO WHERE near fast food places or my bank, but that's a good thing, right? Now I just need to decorate my new home!

~I have great friends and am having so much fun reconnecting with old ones. In fact, I see an Austin trip in the very near future to visit a very old friend from elementary school and on. He was also my "boyfriend" for a bit in 9th grade. :) I'm planning a Dallas trip to visit Miss Allison as well. I'm SOOO looking forward to a weekend of girly fun, and Alli always seems to have an awesome time!

~I love my dog. He is just the best. He has become even more wonderful since the separation. I think someone in my house was mistreating the dog.

~This weather has been amazing. Well, except for the rain on Thursday. But otherwise, it has definitely made me happy!! I wish it were like this year round. It makes me miss Austin even more because I love the weather there.

~My self-confidence is on the rise. I think that my marraige was really affecting how I felt about myself. I had a very negative self-image. But I think you get that way when your husband says things like "I'm just not attracted to you", and he stops looking at you and starts looking through you. I seem to be finding myself again and I like it!

Overall, I'm happy. And I am so excited about my future. I do believe that a family is down the road there for me, if I want it. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to die an old, crazy, dog-lady with rollers in my hair. I have a lot of life left and a lot of time to have the happiness I deserve and so wanted to have with my ex. I will from now on refer to GCC's and my marraige as my "Starter Marriage". He was my "starter husband". Now it's time for the real deal. Well, I mean... it'll be time when I decide to start dating again!! ; )

Well, here I am...

2009-10-18T12:44:00.005-05:00

Well, Over the past two months I have gone through some MAJOR life changes... I figure its been long enough that I am ready to start talking...maybe start healing...and shed some of the tears that haven't fallen yet.

I am no longer a part of a couple... yup, you read it right. I'm getting divorced. Wow...that's a major thing to say there. I'm not sure I'm wrapping my head around it completely yet.

Collin moved out very unexpectedly on August 28th. He didn't know that I was staying home sick on that day (and I didn't know he was taking off of work that day), so at 9 when he showed up in my bedroom--yes my friends, we had been sleeping apart for quite a long time--and said, "I was planning on doing this while you were at work today, but since you're here I'll go ahead and tell you, I'm moving out today", I was a little bit (understatement) shocked. The only thing that came out of my mouth was "OK".

I txted a friend, told them what was happening, and they told me to leave. Where was I going to go??? I hopped in my car and drove in circles for 3 hours, before said friend offered to leave work early to buy my lunch and drinks and to just sit with me. Sounded MUCH better than driving in circles.

Cut to 10 pm that night. I had had a rally of friends show up at the bar to sit with me and try to judge whether or not I was going to drive my car off of a bridge or handle this like the woman I'm supposed to be, I had finally told my mother what was happening, and I was ready to head home. I was emotionally exhausted and I also knew that drinking another beer was NOT going to help.

My house, 5 minutes later, Collin and his brothers are STILL moving stuff out of the house. I exploded. I believe I screamed, "Get the FUCK out of MY house". I think that's all I said over and over, except I may have used the words "prick" and "you're just like your father" a few times, too. Who at that perfect moment walks in the door?? My hero, my Daddy. It was his turn to wail on Collin, and dad had some choice words for him, attacking his manhood and his character. Finally they left, and went and stood outside of my house for about 30 minutes... probably plotting how they were going to come back and take the rest of the furniture (yes, jointly bought and paid for furniture) etc. My sister came over to show "support", and dad made plans to come change my locks the next day.

After about a month I started returning to "the land of the living" and am finally talking to friends & family again. I kind of shut down and wanted to be alone. I have had friends who have swooped in to take care of me though. "Oh he cleaned out your joint account and you don't have gas money? I'll take care of it", "You need food? I'm on it", "you need to cry? I have a strong shoulder". A special shout out goes to those people...they know who they are.

I'll fast forward a little bit, to September 21, when the divorce papers were officially filed (by my lawyer) and HE was served this past week. Yeah, it seems that it takes a while. When I received the email that he had been served on Wed. I felt like crying. Whoa, this is official. The whole thing should be final on November 21, ironically 3 years and 1 month to the day of the week after our wedding.

Some times we have been pretty amicable and have chatted about work and other things... I think I was willing to be amicable because I was in the denial stage of what's going on. And now I'm sort of moving out of that. Actually, I think I'm in EVERY stage right now... 10 minutes ago I wanted to cry. Now, I'm pissed off. So my dear friends and family, this is where I stand today.

I'm constantly saying "I'm fine" and "I'm ok", but that's not the truth at all. That's just the polite thing that you tell people when you don't want to unload your problems on them. Who wants to have someone elses problems on their mind? Truth is, I don't know WHAT I am. If I wasn't already on anti-anxiety meds I would probably be a whole lot worse. I feel such a massive range of emotions; resentment, remorse, pity, guilt, bitterness, anger, excitement, joy, positiveness, bubbly, sadness, peaceful...

I'm sort of out of things to say now. I am still having a hard time putting all of this out there. Since when have I EVER been a private person???? I will say this... while I often miss Collin, I don't miss our marraige, and I do not miss him. I miss what we USED to have, I miss who he USED to be, and I miss the things that I thought we could have in the future. I want him to be safe in his job, and happy in his life, and of course I hope for the best for him, but he is not the same person I fell in love with. And I'm going to have to come to terms with that.

I hope that updates you all sufficiently on what happened and how I'm feeling...I know I have left a lot of you in the dark. Check back...this will be my healing place for a while at least.

Paxton's 1st Birthday!

2009-06-21T11:00:00.004-05:00

Here are pictures from Pax's first birthday with all the Craig's. We had lots of fun, and Pax got some much needed 2T clothes. He's a bit of a chunky monkey. :) He also got his swimwear for our New Braunfels trip later this week! Whoo hoo! We can't wait!

Pax, Skylar, Phillip, & Valerie

First bite of cake

He got it-with a little help from dad

Yummy!!!

Collin & Addison reading a book about babies. It was too cute!

The first video is Addison & Nolan attacking Collin. Usually this is the "game" I play with them, but I was happy to pass it off to Collin this time. The second video is Nolan singing The Wheels on the Bus. It was too cute not to video.

Hubbs survey

2009-06-15T13:56:00.002-05:00

How well do you know yours?

1. He's sitting in front of the tv. What's on the screen? football, guy movies, a really stupid tv show (usually animated)

2. You are out to eat. What dressing does he get on his salad? ranch

3. What's one food he doesn't like? corn on the cob

4. You go out to a bar. What does he drink first? Coors

5. Where did he go to high school? Cy-Creek

6. If he were to collect anything, what would it be? UT stuff

7. What shoe size does he wear? 9 1/2

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? he eats a lot of turkey sandwiches, but he likes beefeaters and philly cheesesteaks

9. What would he eat every day if he could? FreeBirds

10. What would he never wear? pink--but he WILL wear coral

11. What is his favorite sports team? Texas Longhorns

12. What is something you do that he wishes you didn't do so much? what DON'T I do???

13. How many states has he lived in? Just TX

14. What is his heritage? British (I think)

15. You bake him a cake for his birthday. What kind of cake would it be? yellow with chocolate icing

16. Did he play sports in high school? football, but then he joined Encore and theater

17. What could he spend hours doing? SLEEPING!!!!

Survey time

2009-06-15T13:21:00.005-05:00

65 Things About Me!!

1. First thing you wash in the shower? my face

2. What color is your favorite hoodie? burnt orange...but it's my hubby's hoodie

3. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? yes!

4. Do you plan outfits? yes, to prepare for work

5. How are you feeling RIGHT now? bored and restless

6. What's the closest thing to you that's red? a heart on a bear from V-day

7. Tell me about the last dream you remember having? I had triplets. OHMYLORD

8. Did you meet anybody new today? no

9. What are you craving right now? togetherness

10. Do you floss? LOVE flossing

11. What comes to mind when I say cabbage? doesn't it make you gassy?

12. Are you emotional? um, yes

13. Have you ever counted to 1,000? I count my steps...

14. Do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it? strange question. I don't think either

15. Do you like your hair? not really, thanks

16. Do you like yourself? sometimes

17. Would you go out to eat with George W. Bush? yes

18. What are you listening to right now? tthe tv in the background

19. Were your parents strict? yes

20. Would you go sky diving? Hell no!!!

21. Do you like cottage cheese? no, and nothing makes it better

22. Have you met a celebrity? Dax Shepard at a bar in Austin. His big line was "I saw your boobs". He didn't.

23. Do you rent movies often? I go through phases

24. Is there anything sparkly in the room you're in right now? my eyes?

25. How many countries have you visited? 1

26. Have you made a prank phone call? yes

27. Ever been on a train? does the airport train count?

28. Brown or white eggs? eggs are eggs

29.Do you have a cell-phone? yes, but I need a new one

30. Do you use chap stick? when my lips are really dry

31. Do you own a gun? no, but my hubby owns 2

32. Can you use chop sticks? no

33. Who are you going to be with tonight? it's just me and the dog until hubbs gets off work at 10

34. Are you too forgiving? yes

35. Ever been in love? yes

36. What are your best friend(s) doing tomorrow? some are working, some are resting

37. Ever have cream puffs? don't think so

38. Last time you cried? it's ben a few weeks

39. What was the last question you asked? I asked hubbs how the gym was...

40. Favorite time of the year? spring (but without teaching)

41. Do you have any tattoos? no

42. Are you sarcastic? Never! (I do realize that it is hard to hear the inflection in my voice...but just right then I was, in fact, being sarcastic!)

43. Have you ever seen The Butterfly Effect? yes

44. Ever walked into a wall? yes...

45. Favorite color? red

46. Have you ever slapped someone? yes

47. Is your hair curly? not at all

48. What was the last CD you bought? Britney bitches

49. Do looks matter? No, but they help!

50. Could you ever forgive a cheater? mmm...not sure

51. Is your phone bill sky high? I don't pay it so I don't know

52. Do you like your life right now? there is always room for improvement

53. Do you sleep with the T.V. on? sometimes

54. Can you handle the truth? not really

55. Do you have good vision? not at all

56. Do you hate or dislike more than 3 people? probably

57. How often do you talk on the phone? not much, I'm not a big phone person. I get bored easily

58. The last person you held hands with? my hubbs

59. What are you wearing? shirts and a tank top

60. What is your favorite animal? my dog parker

61. Where was your profile picture taken? in Vegas

62. Can you hula hoop? not so well

63. Do you have a job? 2nd grade teacher

64. What was the most recent thing you bought? drinks Saturday night

65. Have you ever crawled through a window? yes! (heeHee)

Missed me yet?

2009-06-13T13:07:00.006-05:00

I have been out of the blogging world for months and have a TON to catch up on...

First things first: I HAVE A NEW JOB!!!!! I am moving to a new school in SISD~it is brand-spankin' new--and the principal is supposed to be a wonderful man. In fact, I thi

nk they get the keys to the building on Monday!! It will be so exciting to touch completely new materials. One of the coolest things is that we all have a Starboard (Smartboard) BUILT IN to our walls--no more rollable ones that we have to share among the level. So So excited! Oh, and the coolest thing? Mr. H hired me 23 minutes after my interview. Yes, I am that good! (Just kidding!!)

My New School

Next: Parker had another run in with the Labs from hell...and suffered the indignity of 3 drain tubes, 15 staples, and the cone yet again. However, Parker's a tough little guy and has recovered, though his hair is still growing back from where he was shaved.

Finally: I had my 29th birthday on Thursday. Scary, because I'm one year closer to the big 3-0 and am realizing that life goes super fast. However, this was a FABULOUS birthday because I was able to spend it with some of my dear friends from high school; Aimee, Erika, Lisa, Bethany, Mike, and Jo-nutt. It was interesting to see how we all just sort of fell back in to our roles that we played in HS, even if it has been 11 years since we have all been together.

I took my hubby along but after a couple hours I let him leave--he was not having the best time ever. So, I had a great birthday dinner at Cheesecake Factory with some old friends and sometimes that's the best thing you can ask for!

Collin has been doing really well on probation. He passed his first assessment phase and received some VERY high compliments from his sargeant and super-tough assessor. What do you expect though? He's the best!!

funny...kinda

2009-03-03T21:42:00.003-06:00

So, I'm a second grade teacher. And we teach everything. During our science lesson today, about plants, I asked my kids what kind of food grew on plants... Here's how the conversation went...

Kid 1: Bananna's grow on trees.

Kid 2: Apples grow on trees.

Kid 3: Pumkins grow on pumpkin plants.

Me: Well, yes, they grow on vines.

Kid 4: Pineapples!

Kid 5: Coconuts!

Kid 6: Chicken!

Me: Chicken? (VERY strange look on my face) Honey, chickens come from the animal, chickens.

Kid 6: No, not the ANIMAL, the FOOD!

After my utter shock and disbelief wore off, I explained that chicken does in fact come from the ANIMAL, beef comes from cows, and pork comes from pigs.

And then I heard..."Turkey comes from chickens that turn in to turkeys!"

I'm still in such disbelief...

updates

2009-02-15T15:13:00.002-06:00

I figured I would post a little update on Parker...especially to move those nasty pics of him down the page a bit!

Parkie is feeling much better. He had his tubes taken out about 2 weeks ago and was able to stop wearing the cone. His eating and playing habits immediately went back to normal! Tomorrow he will have his stitches removed and this drama will be over!

Collin and I had a low-key Valentine's Day. He got me some adjustable weights to use during my step aerobics (how practical!) and I got him a gift card. We're not big fans of Valentine's Day...we both feel that you shouldn't have to have a special day to let someone know you care about them.Anyway, we ordered in Chili's (NOT on the diet, but I only ate 1/2 of my Grilled Chicken Sandwich and fries) and watched movies. I highly reccommend my Best Friend's Girl ONLY because of the scene with Jason Biggs at the hairdresser. I almost cried I was laughing SO hard!

My kids spoiled me rotten with chocolate and roses, but I have resisted all temptation to dig in--I have even ignored the huge box of truffles. (Thanks, Sedrick). As of Friday the 13th, I have lost 12 lbs. since Jan. 8th. Whoo hoo for me. I need to go buy new under-clothes...everything is too big! :)

Warning...scary pics ahead

2009-02-01T12:35:00.004-06:00

just home from the hospital

smallest bite and right tube

shaved with bruising

"no pictures please, mommy"

biggest bite and left tube

Well, we had a very eventful night last night. Parker and I left Officer Sexy at home to study for his big test Monday and went to my parents house for dinner and some family time.

About 2 hours after Parker and I got there we had to suddenly leave for the Emergency Vet Hospital. Ash & Dale's dog Sabre (a 60 lb. Lab) attacked Parker, tearing some pretty good sized holes into Parker's neck and back shoulder area. After assessing the biggest hole (you could see straight through to Park's muscle) we decided the best course of action was to see about getting him stitched up. Off we go to 249 Emergency Animal Hospital.

We (Ashley, Dale, and myself) got there about 8:30 and they took his vitals pretty quick. He had a bite wound with a puncture and a small sq (I think that means sqaumous?) pocket on the right shoulder area, and a 3mm open bite wound on his left shoulder, and significant bruising around his neck. He was given morphine and they brought him back to me to wait for the doctor. Parker was pretty out of it, but would cry whenever I would leave him to go to the bathroom.

3 hours later we were called into one of the little exam rooms that we had been watching people enter and exit all night. Each time people would come out they would be teary, and we would speculate that their animal must have had to be put to sleep...and then we'd hear that no, the animal needed to stay overnight, or in another case, the dog was brought out in kind of a full upper body cast... I figured a few stitches, no tears for me right? HA HA HA.

The Dr. (a very nice but obviously tired woman) came in and gave me the course of action: full sedation--totally asleep--and stitches for both wounds, and a drain tube for the wound with the pocket. She also said she wouldn't know if Parker would need the tube until she got in there. So We decided that this was the best idea...the other option was to wait until Monday and hope the wounds (especially the big one) didn't get infected, and then take Park to the vet. I chose what I thought was the best for my baby. THEN she says (and this is kind of a blur because I freaked out), "We need to caution you that there is some risk during surgery and the dog might not wake back up...what are your wishes?" Tears flow immediately. I kind of looked around the room, looked at Parker, looked at Dale...finally said I didn't know what to say. Dale immediately stepped in and said "BRING HIM BACK!", and we all kind of laughed...and then I cried and cried...They also informed me that I would be leaving Parker and would be going home, that they would call me when his surgery was finished and he was awake, it could be hours. Well, now I'm crying even harder because I have to leave him and he's hurt and now he's having surgery. UGH, I'm a MESS! So they let me give hom hugs and kisses and took him away. I'm actually tearing up now remembering...

I went home, sent Dale and Ash to their own house, and sent Collin to bed. I got home about 12 and I think she called me at 1:15-ish. She said that they had to put 2 tubes in Parker because the sq pocket connected and needed to drain out of both sides. (Apparently the fluid builds up and gets infected inside the body). He was "quiet", not your usual way to describe Parker, but he was ready to come home.

I woke Collin up and together we went to get our baby. I don't think Collin realized the severity of his wounds until he saw Parker. It didn't help that he was still covered in blood and his hair has been shaved so you can see the bruising everywhere. Plus, 2 tubes sticking out of your dog is frightening. So, 13 stitches, 2 tubes, 1 cone, a painpill prescription and an antibiotic prescription, and $425 later, our little family came home.

We were going to put Parker in his kennel to keep him from "leaking" all over the house but he wanted absolutely nothing to with that, so I covered up the bed (white sheets and all, you know) with blankets and towels and let him sleep up there with me. Collin was sent to the guest room, which I think he probably appreciated because I was up ALL night with a crying, moaning dog. Hopefully this will only last until Tuesday, when he can have his tubes removed and I think the cone can come off. Otherwise, I'm going to be one tired mamma. Good training though, right?

Today Parker has been pretty mellow. He took his pain pill and antibiotic with wet, canned cat food from a spoon, and has had a sip or two of water. He is not interested in going to the bathroom, or doing much else, except lying on the (blanket-covered) couch, moaning, and crying. He does not like having his wounds cleaned, and moans loudly through that, but otherwise he just lays there...it's really pitiful.

2009-01-31T12:57:00.003-06:00

25 Random Things

This has been all over facebook.....it was fun to do, but hard to think of 25 things...I'm boring people! Also...consider yourself tagged...it's your turn!

1. I have lived within the same 20 miles in and around Houston all of my life (excluding college). I know that we would love to move back to Austin, but it's just not in the cards right now. :(

2. I am no longer sure I want to have kids...or rather, I'm not sure i want to start trying when we have planned to.

3. I went to Texas Tech, Texas A&M, & Texas State, but I am a HUGE Texas Longhorn fan.

4. Most people that I teach with have, or are working on attaining, their Masters degree. I have NO desire to get mine. To the point that if they said, "you can only teach if you have a masters" I would quit.

5. I secretly erase shows that Collin has DVR-ed if he leaves them there too long to free up space for my shows. And when he comments on what happens I play dumb. He thinks our DVR has gone crazy.

6. I have an addiction to reading other peoples blogs. Even strangers. I'm nosy like that.

7. Until a month ago, I thought Facebook was for high school kids, and couldn't figure out how it works. Now, I still can't figure it all out, but I like it so much better than myspace.

8. I do not know how to take a good picture. It doesn't matter what side of the camera I am on.

9. I'm terrified of roaches, sometimes to the point of paralysis.

10. Terrified of snakes.

11. Having trouble thinking of 25 things...this is hard!

12. I lied...he WAS the reason I transferred.

13. I wish I had known about Child Life Specialists in college.

14. I am addicted to HAR, and have probably looked your house up.

15. My mom is my best friend.

16. Would eat Mexican food almost every night if gaining weight wasn't a side effect.

17. When people ask me what music I like to listen to I always vaguely say "Oh, everything", but I really enjoy Britney & 50 Cent quite a bit.

18. I read Pink is the New Blog almost daily, and I'm addicted to US, InTouch, and People. I love celeb gossip, even though I know 1/2 of what is printed isn't true.

19. I love watching my husband play with, feed, and change our neices and nephews!! I can see what kind of daddy he will be. :)

20. I love going away, even for a weekend, with my hubby. I'm always very sad when we return.

21. I hate writing things like this, but love to read everyone else's list.

22. One of my favorite things is when my nephew Nolan says "An' Bef, c'mere! Take yor shoos off", and then proceeds to tackle me and we have a tickle war. I ADORE this kid.

23. My faith is extremely important to me, but I don't like to talk about it.

24. I have lost about 7 lbs since Jan. 8

25. My self-image sucks.

New Year, new toys...

2009-01-04T17:20:00.007-06:00

Saturday we went over to my MIL's house for dinner and some family time. I hadn't seen Pax or his parents since before Christmas so we were overdue. After they left for the night, M&E got out the Wii Fit, and we played until 1 am. Officer Sexy was going to get me one for Christmas, but apparently it has become the new 'Tickle Me Elmo' and they can't be found anywhere. However, this afternoon, while looking on Craigslist he found an add for a WiiFit that someone just purchased ot Toys R US. He comes running downstairs and announces that he's leaving to go get us one of our own. He comes home from Toys R US 2 hours later... with a WiiFit AND a Playstation 3. And he only wants the PS3 for the Blueray player... so now, my happy little NO GAMING house has become game central! Now we need Guitar Hero World Tour and we'll be set.

Here is a video of Erik on the WiiFit last night... do not be alarmed...

Christmas in Pictures

2008-12-26T12:07:00.007-06:00

Merry Christmas from the Craig's!

Early Christmas morning we headed over to Collin's moms house to watch the kids open presents...

Apparently, we got there too late, because we walked in on CHAOS!!! Toys, wrapping paper, bows, bags...
I guess the highlight for the family was Guitar Hero because I think it was played constantly while we were over there!
E just got back from Russia, and brought this fun hat--modeled by Nolan--with him.
We paused for about 20 minutes to open the gifts from Officer Sexy and I, as well as some other family members! Thank you SO much for our gift card Aunt Joanne and Uncle Tony! :)
Addison took a break to chew on a finger. Try to ignore that massive scratch on her face. Apparently that is what happens when you get in your brothers way!
Georgia dug right in...
...and Nolan loves his remote control Batmobile from us! (Yippee!)
I wish you could hear this child screaming about the Hannah Montana Wii game she just got!
It took Addison 15 minutes to open just this present! She had to get EVERY B I T of paper off!

We ate lunch at KK's, and then headed home, where my parents would be joining us for more Christmas fun! We opened presents, my favorites either being my Slanket or the thing from Taste of Home, and ate dinner. I completely forgot to take any pictures during this time...but everything was really nice. Mom and Dad brought the turkey, stuffing (from the box, my FAV!), rolls, and sweet potato casserole, and I provided the mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and jello salad. We have yummy leftovers in the fridge today!!!

After dinner we busted out the Wii for some family competition! Here is mom and Dad playing tennis. Mom's pretty good at it for someone who has never played video games, or tennis, in her life!
And then the bowling began...Dad worked out a bracket system and I think Collin, who claimed to be the worst bowler out of all of us, took the championship. I'm sure there will be a rematch very soon. We're a very competitive bunch!
Today we have one more family Christmas with Collin's cousin, and then I think we will be finished. Good thing, I guess, because I'm pretty exhausted! I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday!

December catchup

2008-12-21T15:10:00.006-06:00

A couple weeks ago we celebrated the twin's 30th birthday. Since E would be in Russia on the real day, the boys wanted to celebrate early... Val and I decorated for the big day, and then I headed over to the restaurant to decorate the table there too. I had to call Officer Sexy and lie about being stuck in holiday traffic at the mall, could he just meet me at Los Cucos. He seemed kind of put out, but didn't have a clue. It was a nice surprise. Afterwords, we headed to Val & Phillip's house for cake and presents. It was a fun, family-filled evening. I have no pics b/c I thought I left my camera at home...later, I found it at the bottom of my purse. Oh well...

On Officer Sexy's REAL birthday we were both SO SO SICK and decided to just stay in, order out, and watch Dark Knight (one of his gifts). It was low-key, but isn't 30 when you start sliding down that hill? :)

Collin's dad and his wife also came in to town for a quick trip, so we celebrated an early Christmas with them over at P & V's house. Here are some pics from the evening...

The Twins & Their Dad

Collin & Pax

Addison

Val, Pax, & P-daddyNolan

Miss Meaghan

Georgia

Wiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!

2008-12-20T10:33:00.005-06:00

I am the proud new owner of a Wii! Thank you for the early Christmas present, Mom & Dad!!!!

Last night Officer Sexy and I spent the evening over at Mom & Dad's because Ash and Dale are finally back in town. I can't believe I haven't seen my sister since JULY!!! Anyway, they are leaving on Sunday to head to Miami to visit D's family so we are celebrating Christmas with them early. Originally we were going to open presents on Saturday, but somehow they ended up opening their presents last night. We were all enjoying the deck and mom brought out 4 bags...one for all 4 of us kids. A & I opened our bags and we each got the Wii game system, and the boys each got an extra Wii-mote and something that has 9 other games on it. We were all pretty excited! Afterwards, mom went and got the rest of D&A's gifts--Officer Sexy and I will open ours on Christmas day.

The rest of the evening was spent playing the Wii...I liked tennis...wasn't so good at baseball, and rocked at bowling (go figure), but by far the funniest game to watch people play is BOXING! I was crying it was so funny to watch these guys swing at the air! Here are 2 video's for you to enjoy!

Aun' Feet

2008-11-28T09:43:00.004-06:00

Apparently, to my darling 2 year old nephew Nolan, who's bottom I have diapered and who's boo-boo's I have kissed and patched since he was born, I am no longer Aunt Bef (Beth). My new name is Aun' Feet. I'm not kidding.

The day started with this little prince calling me Aunt Collin...okay, he gets that Collin and I come together... Well then, Nolan overhears his sister Georgia and I in a playfully heated discussion about her stinky feet and why they should NOT be near me (leading to lots of giggles). All of a sudden, I'm Aunt Feet. And he was dead serious.

"Aun' Feet, c'mere! C'mere Feet! C'mere!" He wanted me to watch a movie with him, I wanted to watch the Texas game. This went on for the ENTIRE football game. Since I love my nephew, I would watch the movie at commercials, and then go back to the game, only to be followed by the sounds of "Aun' Feet!".

Officer Sexy says to me "He's saying please." I said "NO, he is calling me FEET!" Finally, Mindy starts telling Nolan to quit calling me feet, reminding him that I am in fact Aunt Beth. So he practices with Aun' Bef a few times. "Aun' Bef c'mere! C'mere Bef!"

After a while, Nolan is playing with his trains and he turns around and looks at me...very seriously. He says "Miss Jaime?" (his momma's befri), and I said "I am not Miss Jaime", and Nolan says... get this... "Miss Feet?"

So...from now on, or at least until we see them again (very likely this weekend) I will be known as Aunt Feet. Lucky, lucky me...

2008-11-27T10:31:00.003-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my family, real-life friends, & blog friends...I hope that you have a very blessed day!

Here's some Thanksgiving humor to add to your day!

Announce that you would like to start a new family tradition, and proceed to take off your clothes at the dinner table.
Open the oven, shove hunks of Velveeta cheese and Spam into the turkey while it cooks. Tell mom/grandma/your wife that it adds the coolest flavor.
Whenever someone at the table says a word beginning with the letter R, make a loud "BUZZ"ing noise.
Bring along old recorded football games, pop them in the VCR when Dad's not looking.
Suck your cranberry sauce loudly through a straw.
After soaking a napkin in some turkey gravy, simulate blowing your nose, letting the gravy drip onto your food.Start eating ravenously.
Hold your nose while you eat.Make soft gagging noises after every second or third forkful.
Recite the tragic and abusive conditions known to exist at turkey farms.Emphasize the negative health and sanitation aspects of the story.
Mid-meal turn to mom/grandma/your wife and say, "See, I told you they wouldn't notice. You were worried for nothing."
Load your plate up high, then take it to the kitchen, toss it all in the blender, and take your "shake" back to the table. Announce that you've got a new fear of choking.
When you arrive, promise that your date won't be more than an hour late, he/she just has to wait for the warden to get together all the necessary release forms, and then they are free go.
Come to the table dressed in a toga.
Midway though the meal, excuse your self from the table.Go into the next room and make loud gagging, vomiting sounds.Return to the table and ask for another plateful of food.
Observe aloud how much the stuffing and gravy resemble the contents of Uncle Ed’s colostomy bag.
When giving the “Thanksgiving blessing”, be sure to express how thankful you are that you only have to eat at the same table with your in-laws once or twice every year.
Turn the topic of conversation toward recognition of the early symptoms of food poisoning.Demonstrate these symptoms, just for safety’s sake.
Insist on having paper bags wrapped around the wine bottles at the table.
Bring the turkey from the kitchen to the table dressed only in a jock strap.
Before everyone begins eating, announce loudly that both turkey legs are yours.Place a loaded revolver on the table in front of your plate to show that you're serious.
Call the local Salvation Army mission to ask if the residents are enjoying the rice noodles, spam, sauerkraut and fruitcake that you donated for their dinner.
Start a food fight at the table.
Present your guests with an itemized bill for the food, making sure to add a 15 percent gratuity.
Engage your brother-in-law in a belching contest before dessert.Ask someone else at the table to judge volume, tone, duration and “viscosity.”
Drink copious quantities of wine, washing each spoonful of food down with at least half a glass.At the same time, sip out of your water glass sparingly, ensuring that it’snever more than half full.
And finally, the number one way to have fun on Thanksgiving Day:
Call the local Salvation Army mission and tell them that you’ve prepared a massive feast that you and your family can’t possibly eat by yourselves. Tell them you can feed at least twenty-five hungry and homeless people if the Salvation Army can bring them to you. Give them directions to your obnoxious next-door neighbor’s house.

AudreyCaroline...

2008-11-26T12:36:00.003-06:00

If you find yourself needing something beautiful to read, take a few moments to visit http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com. This website is about a beautiful, God-loving family who are very blessed...but are put through many trials... I have been sitting here, tears streaming down my face from the very first entry. Take some time to visit this family and read their story.

Giving Thanks...#5

2008-11-24T12:51:00.007-06:00

Now I'm giving props to my friends. I am blessed to have some great ones...you know, the kind you don't talk to forever but when you reconnect it's like you never missed a day? I love them so much! We're spread far and wide, but I'm thrilled to have them in my life. Each one has a little piece of my heart.

Giving Thanks...#4

2008-11-24T12:42:00.005-06:00

I am thankful for my job. In these tough economic times, knowing that I have job security and a steady pay check means that I can sleep well at night. Though some days are rough, I am lucky to have a job that I enjoy doing so much this year!

Can you identify my talker, my finger-sucker/ear-puller, my "little nugget", and my sweetheart?

Giving Thanks...#3

2008-11-24T12:28:00.004-06:00

I am thankful for my husband. I have married someone who puts up with me...good or bad. While he may not like some choices I make, he loves me, and wants the best for me...through good times and bad. I thank God every day for bringing this man, my best friend, in to my life.

Giving Thanks...#2

2008-11-24T12:10:00.004-06:00

I am thankful for my incredible family; the Voit's, the Craig's, the Ferrer's, the Abbott's...Whether it's dinner/game night with my side, or football watching/Wii playing/kid chasing with my in-laws, whenever we get together we all have an incredible time! There is nothing greater than a family's love and support, and I have been blessed many times over.

Giving Thanks...#1

2008-11-24T11:41:00.003-06:00

I am thankful for the roof that is over my head every night. Officer Sexy and I are so blessed to live in a fantastic townhouse with tons of space and lots of things to fill it up. Even though our heater is still broken, we are lucky to have our place to call home. So many people do not have the same luxury that we have.

It's freezing!!!

2008-11-16T12:32:00.002-06:00

Woke up this morning to frosty toes...headed out to the AC thing and noticed it was 63 in our house. Brrrrr....switched the switch over to HEAT...and nothing happened. Cold air continued blowing out. You know that smell that the heater emits the first few times you turn it on? The smell that tells you it's COLD outside? (I love this smell, by the way). Well, I didn't smell it...and 4 hours later...I still haven't smelt it. Why? Our heater is apparently BROKEN! I convinced Collin to go check things out and after about 10 minutes poking around in the attic he came down and said "Yeah, it's broken". Well, DUH! I love how obvious he can be sometimes...

This has motivated me to online shop for long sleeved stuff, so I will start that after this blog. Anyway, here's a survey to keep me warm...

You can only answer with 1 word:
1. Where is your cell phone? bedroom
2. Your significant other? downstairs
3. Your hair? short
4. Your mother? strong
5. Your father? hero
6. Your favorite thing? family
7. Your dream last night? crazy!
8. Your favorite drink? tea
9. Your dream/goal? mommy
10. The room you're in? gameroom
11. Your hobby? reading
12. Your fear? bugs
13. What do you want to be in 6 years? mommy
14.What you're not? skinny
15. Muffins? Blueberry
16. One of your wish list items? Greece
17. Where you grew up? Spring
18. The last thing you did? lunch
19. What are you wearing? pjs
20. Favorite gadget? celli
21. Your pets? Parker!
22. Your computer? HP
23. Your mood? intense
24. Missing someone? sister
25. Your car? done
26. Something you're not wearing? makeup
27.Favorite store? ATLoft
28.Like someone? hubby
29. Favorite color? red
30. when is the last time you laughed? yesterday
31. Last time you cried? awhile

Announcement

2008-11-09T15:16:00.003-06:00

My dear friend Allison refers to her sweet hubby as Dr. Sexy. It really makes sense...he's a dr, and she thinks he's sexy. I have known Marc for too long to have an opinion about that...

Anyway, I have decided that from here on out, Collin will be known as "Officer Sexy". :)

That is all...

SURPRISE!

2008-11-02T08:57:00.003-06:00

Last Sunday we held a surprise 30th birthday party for Mindy at Jayme and Jamie's house. Erik did a good job of getting this organized in about 2 days! Mindy and Erik have been going through a rough time, being completely displaced from their house due to Ike, so this was something Mindy definitely deserved.

October...

2008-10-26T10:00:00.004-05:00

Things have been busy here in Craig-land. Collin is getting really in to the police academy stuff. He has done extremely well on all of his tests--I think his lowest score has been a 95--and he is at the top of his class. Since Collin likes history so much (and graduated with a history degree from Texas) he is enjoying learning about the laws and WHY they were made. If he's happy, I'm happy.

However, all of his successes with the academy do come with a sacrifice, and needless to say, I don't see my hubby much right now. I try to leave him alone when he is studying (which is every night, except some Saturday's) so that is the one sacrifice that we have made. We really need to make more it more of a goal to have date-night on Saturday so that we get a chance to just talk. It's easier said than done if you know how family-oriented we are...we are usually either at his mom's house or my parents house on the weekends...but we like that...

School is fabulous right now. I LOVE being a second grade teacher and I LOVE my kids~even my stinkers. They constantly make me smile and laugh. I get so many hugs and I love yous every day...one child, not even a student of mine, calls me "mommy" and has said on many occasions that she wants ME to be her mommy. We took our kids to SHS's performance of Peter Pan (no words can describe THAT) and this child sat next to me, leaning on me the whole time. Sweet (but kind of hot).

Last Friday night I met my mom for dinner and we spent over an hour just talking about our 2nd graders and the funny things they do/say. My principal even said that she has noticed a difference in me. I am truly happy this year!!!

Just in case anyone involved reads this, I can't post our plans for today...but hopefully I will have some nice pics to post later this week!

My New Obsession

2008-10-05T12:07:00.001-05:00

My Little Quirks

2008-09-23T11:19:00.002-05:00

I have been tagged to share my quirks. I cant think of any right now...but I know if I think really hard...I can EASILY come up with MORE than 4. :)

My quirks:

1.) I never put the lid back on the toothpaste. It drives Collin crazy because it hardens the toothpaste at the tip. I don't know why I don't complete this task...

2.) To put my makeup on...I sit not on the bathroom counter... but in the bathroom sink. It is MUCH more comfortable that way.

3.) When I am cold I wrap my pink blanket from childhood around my waist like a sarong and walk around with it.

4.) I hate, H.A.T.E, the feel of unpainted or untreated wood. Just the thought of it makes my toes curl.

yIKEs!!!

2008-09-16T22:17:00.007-05:00

I just posted a massive post, and lost it, so let's see if I can redo my thoughts...

First, my thoughts are with the residents, current and former, of Crystal Beach, Bolivar, and Gilchrist. Your loss is unimaginable.

On Friday the 12th I headed to my parents in NW Houston, about 5 miles from my house, to settle in for the storm. Collin was required to be at the academy as a first responder and I didn't want to go through the hurricane alone. We settled in as the winds grew in the evening. We went to bed around midnight--me on an air mattress in the living room, mom on the couch to keep me company. We woke up at 3:15 when the power went off, and i rolled over and went back to sleep. I am a HARD sleeper!!! Around 6 Saturday morning dad woke me up and we all headed outside to see what we could see. If I can figure out how, I will post a video that I took so you can hear the wind--it was DEAFENING!!! Back to bed mom and I went, and I didn't wake up until 10-ish.

My parents didn't sustain any damage aside from a teeny leak that had already been there, and we thought, Hey! This is nothing! Then dad and I went for a drive...

My parents neighborhood looked like a bomb had exploded. Trees...maybe a hundred, maybe more...were down at every turn. I cannot believe how God spared our house. We have been so blessed. Pine Trees that you would never think would fall, great big Oaks...all down. Across power lines, over houses...it's incredible. I took pictures as well as I could (moving car and rain don't make for a great snapshot) and hopefully you can see what we saw.

Of course, our neighborhood looks nothing like Galveston or the surrounding areas look like...

We start and end with the cleanup, because that's how my computer is.

Traffic Light

Cypress Creek (?)

Yes, we drove through this

Deck

Standing water

the golfcourse at the back of the neighborhood

a tree in the espanade

Dad being a goof and pics from our front porch

The deckFront of my parents house

the neighbors yard

neighbors

My Classroom

2008-08-30T14:20:00.003-05:00

This year I am teaching 2nd grade. So far, I L.O.V.E. love it. But We've only been in school for a week. I have 18 kids so far, but we usually get more after Labor Day. They are all very very sweet little people. but there are a couple that I just want to take out back and... :)

I am in a temporary this year--the other 2nd grade teachers refer to our level as the "stepchild" of the school. For example, I didn't have AC for the first 4 days (hence the fan that you will see in upcoming pics) but once it was fixed it has been nice. 19 bodies in a small room with little to no AC is torture. Anyway, here are pics of this years classroom. I tried to do a panoramic kinda thing.

Needs

2008-08-17T15:31:00.003-05:00

I saw this on someone else's blog and decided to create one for us. You enter your name into google, followed by the word needs and then copy and paste the top 10 entries.

1.Beth needs to come chill. (Where should I go to?)
2.Beth Needs Sleep. (I never ever get enough!)
3.Miss Beth Needs a Logo! (I suppose I am cool enough to have my own...)
4.Beth needs a considerable raise in salary. (This is SO right)
5.Beth needs advice. (Sometimes)
6.Beth needs to do absolutely nothing to enhance her beauty. (Why thank you very much!)
7.Beth needs our prayers. (Prayers never hurt)
8.Beth Needs a Laugh. (Hopefully I will laugh while I'm 'chillin')
9.Beth needs some cool shades! (Actually, yes. I never find cute ones!)
10.Beth needs it, so it will be done. (This is how everything should be.)

1.Collin needs a manicure.
2.Collin Needs to poop.
3.collin needs mental help.
4.Collin needs to find consistency.
5.Collin needs one more state championship to match Lance’s four titles.
6.Collin needs more experience and is somebody to watch in the future.
7.COLLIN NEEDS TO STAY.
8.Collin needs me. (my favorite)
9.Collin needs an alternative to hitchhiking. (guess we'd better get him that car then...)
10.Collin Needs a Timeout. (LOL)

Meet the Cadet!

2008-08-17T14:23:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow I return to school as a 2nd grade teacher (yipee!) and my dear hubby begins his new adventure...allow me to introduce the newest member of HPD's Police Academy Class #201. Collin is now one of approximately 75 men and women to join Houston's finest. This past week was spent attending orientations, getting his clothes and equipment, and shaving his head. Yes, his hair is now military short :(. He has come home with his club, which I am fascinated with, but does not yet have his handcuffs. Heehee, can't wait for those! Here are some pics of Collin in his Cadet uniform. Upon graduation in February he will receive the 'real deal'.

He looks SO excited

Eventually he will get a hat badge and a shirt badge

This is his supercool rain jacket. He also has matching pants.

Tropical Storm Edouard

2008-08-05T10:52:00.002-05:00

The way the newscasters and reporters were acting, this was going to be a cat5, Katrina-like storm. All regular TV has been pre-emted so they can provide us with minute by minute raindrop coverage. Channel 2 thinks we could have a "serious flooding issue". At our house we are only getting some steady rain. We haven't seen any wind yet, but the storm is still a couple hours away. I am posting some pics of our "flooding"--a little on our back patio and in front of our house.

I read on a friends blog that someone called in to a radio station to report damage...a patio chair had blown over. A few minutes later there was an update that the recovery and clean up effort had begun --the lawn chair had been turned upright. I love reports like that!

Oh, to be 2 again...

2008-08-05T10:34:00.004-05:00

My brother-in-law, Erik, is leaving for Kuala Lampur for 3 months on Sunday, so this past Sunday we had a small going-away get together for him. It was HOT and the kids were caked in dirt, so we turned the hose on to clean & cool off Nolan and his best girl, Vivian. It was not intended to be entertainment, but it turned in to a really cute show! Here are some pics...

Sheer delight!

Just a little drink

UGH!!!

2008-08-01T15:13:00.001-05:00

Why is it SO DARN HARD for Collin to put things where they belong??? He leaves his dirty dishes in the sink so I can come along and put them in the darn dishwasher for him. NEVERMIND that all you have to do to put them in the dishwasher is lean a little bit to your right. I have decided that I am no longer doing HIS dishes. Let me clarify this really quick: I'm talking about dishes he uses for a meal he eats that I don't eat with him, not a meal that we have eaten together; and I also understand that if the dishwasher is full of clean dishes and he is running back to work after lunch then he doesn't have time to empty the DW. BUT THE DISHWASHER IS 1. NOT FULL, and 2. HAS DIRTIES IN IT!

I got home at 9:30 last night after spending the day with my mom...what did I find? DISHES in the sink. TODAY, came home a few minutes ago to find...yup, dishes in the sink!

It's not even dishes...it's his ties--apparently the back of the kitchen chair is a great place to hang them...I even moved his tie rack to the downstairs hall closet to help him with his little problem. Did it work? NO.

Don't even get me started on clothes. Why use a large walk-in closet when the floor is a perfectly good place?

I am SO tired of being his maid! UGH. Note to Collin: You're about to turn 30...CLEAN UP YOUR MESS!

Secrets

2008-07-27T15:25:00.006-05:00

I have been reading this blog, PostSecret (http://postsecret.blogspot.com ), for quite a while now. Every Sunday it's updated with new secrets that people anonymously send on postcards to this address in Maryland, and Frank uploads them for the world to read. Sometimes I read a secret similar to one of my own and feel a camaraderie with the author, like I'm not alone... and sometimes I am creeped out by what I read...

I look forward to every Sunday, and reading the new round. What hooks me the most, though, is that each one of these postcards makes me feel something.

I'm Becoming Domestic!

2008-07-23T12:57:00.003-05:00

This week I have turned over a new leaf. Maybe it stems from working in the flowerbed (yes, we have only 1) with Collin this weekend. We trimmed our out-of-control Sago palm (anybody want one?) and yanked ferns out of the bed. We also trimmed back the roses & trees that are growing in there. It's probably not the right time of year to do any of this, but it was necessary.

Then, I finally got down and dirrrty and cleaned the heck out of our downstairs. The upstairs is still rather daunting, but at least we are now presentable to guests. :) (Like we have so many with Cujo--oops, I mean Parker!)

All of this domesticity must have done something because now the cooking bug has attacked me, and I have been a cooking demon this week. I realize it's only Wednesday, but I have cooked more this week than I have cooked all summer! I don't know what or how we eat normally.

Monday night I made Salmon Croquets with a tossed salad and sweet corn. Tuesday night we had homemade Chicken Pot Pie, homemade fruit salad, and for desert we ate homemade Peanut Butter & Chocolate bars. Tonight I have a reprieve from cooking because Collin has a late work meeting, so we will have leftover CPP, but tomorrow night we will have homemade Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and steamed veggies. After all this cooking, I think I deserve dinner out on Friday.

I have already started my menu for next week too! I'm on top of things. If I keep this up I may start posting recipes & pictures of my creations. I really wanted to take a picture of dinner last night because it was so pretty with the fruit--strawberries, cantelope, and pineapple--but I thought Collin would have thought I was weird. He doesn't understand this blogging thing.

Here's to domesticity!

P.S. ELLE: if you are reading this, I want wedding details!!!!! NOW!

Our new furniture

2008-07-21T13:23:00.004-05:00

It's been almost a year since we got our new living room furniture at Star & Gallery, but I found pics as I was uploading all the recent goings-on onto the computer so I thought I would go ahead and post them now. We got a new couch, love seat, and chair for the living room, as well as a new TV. Looking at these now, I can tell I want to get some covers for the kitchen table chairs until we buy a new set, and i really need to figure out what to do with those shelves!

Addison's Princess Party

2008-07-21T12:57:00.006-05:00

Addison's family birthday party was this past weekend. It was hot and we were afraid of rain, but we all had a very good time! Here are some pics of her (2nd) FIRST Birthday!!!

Addison & her daddy, Erik

Jamie & Jayme's little girl, Vivian

Nolan

Erik...my brother in law... hmmmm...

Collin & Addison-doesn't he look good with a child? (Tick, tick, tick, tick...)

Mah BA-by!

She figured out the present thing pretty quick

mmm...cake...again

New Braunfels '08, Pt. 1

2008-07-21T12:05:00.008-05:00

Get ready for a ton of pictures!

On July 10th we loaded up the cars...

...stopped by Kroger...

Karen, Meaghan, Georgia, & Skylar

...and headed to New Braunfels for the annual Anthony/Matthews family reunion. (We are Anthony's through Collin's mom). This year there were 113 of us in attendance. This includes several sets of twins about 10 children 1 year or less, a TON younger than 18, and lot's and lot's of adults. Next year they want to have T-shirts. Apparently the families have been coming to NB, and pretty much the same cabins, since 1936.

Upon arrival we discovered that they had closed Schlitterbahn and the pool at the resort we stay at due to a power outtage, but since Addison turned the big 1 year old that day we had her little birthday party instead.

The birthday princess

grandchildren/nieces & nephews

Nolan what are you doing?

Nolan was so sweet to show Addison how to do it!

Mmmm, YUM!

Pax & Valerie joined in the celebration

After birthday cake and presents we learned that the pool had opened back up so we put Addison in her flo-ta-tion device...

...and headed down to the pool for the rest of the afternoon.

That night we ate at Pat's (dinner at 10...ugh) and then headed home to crawl into bed to prepare for the next day. We spent Friday at Schlitterbahn and Saturday floating the river. Those pics will be up shortly--I need to get the water camera's developed. Sunday, we reluctantly packed the cars and headed back to Houston...but our rooms are already reserved for June 25-28, '09!!!

5th of July

2008-07-21T11:34:00.006-05:00

On the 5th we went to my parents house for one of our last "Family Nights" until who knows when. Ash & Dale have just moved to Yukon, OK for school and I don't know when I'll see them next. Anyway, we cooked out and then played some games. I won Trivial Pursuit 25th Ed. (of course) and Collin and I were the Buzzword champs. Here are some pics... (Mom is still in OKC at this point so she is absent) OH! Collin had to change shirts because he cleaned the grill and got mess all over him. Dad handed him the most white-trash shirt he owns...I think it's a "workin' out in the garage" shirt...my husband usually dresses MUCH nicer!

Collin & Dale fixing the radio in the Accord

Ash, Dale & the Hubby

My Hubby rocks (and looks SO WT)

Dale & Collin

Why do they have to be stupid?

Sabre needed a drink

Dad & Ash

June '08

2008-07-21T11:02:00.004-05:00

June was a pretty busy month here. Our new nephew, Paxton Ian, was born on June 8th! Yea to Valerie & Phillip for bringing a cutie pie in to our family!!!Next came my 28th birthday...I can't believe I'm 28. Why do I still feel like I'm 21? We went to dinner at Lupe Tortilla's with all the family (minus Pax, Val, & Phillip), and had a great time.

2 days later my Grandfather passed away. My mom and dad had just arrived in OKC the afternoon before, so they were able to see him one last time. Collin and I headed to OKC the following Sunday for the memorial service/family time. All of my cousins were there and we had a great time together! Some of us had not seen each other in 15 years! Each night we would say goodbye to the parents and head out for drinks and conversation. Hopefully we will all be able to continue to get together and stay close. It's sad when it takes a funeral for everyone to come together.

EXTREMELY TALL (6'7") cousin Justin (26)

Cousin Dane (22) and his wife Lisa (23)

Cousins Steve (25) and Allison (27)

Anyway, with the exception of a few dog bites (I'm SO sorry guys!!!) we all had a very good time. The memorial service was very nice and I think that our Grandfather was honored well. He was an amazing man.

A 1930's Housewife

2008-07-14T09:16:00.000-05:00

As a 1930s wife, I am
Poor

Take the test!

2008-06-29T14:42:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday to me!

2008-06-24T12:14:00.003-05:00

Wednesday the 11th was my 28th birthday. Good lord I'm creeping up on 30. I actually like being 28--I feel as if I am "older", however I do not feel much more mature. This is something I must work on.

Anyway, Collin bought me an HD LCD flatscreen TV with DVD player for our master bedroom. It definitely takes up less space than the other TV/DVD setup we had.

We went to Lupe Tortilla's for dinner with my parents, sister & bro-in-law, and Collin's mom, brother & sis-in-law, Nolan, Georgia, & Skylar. I LOOOOOVVVVEEEE me some Lupe Tortilla's!

Baby Paxton is here!

2008-06-12T12:28:00.003-05:00

On Sunday, June 8th at 4:16 am Paxton Ian became the newest member of the family! At 6 lbs, 7 oz and 19 inches long, Paxton came in to this world awake and very alert! Congrats to Phillip and Val on their new baby, and Skylar now that she is a big sister! He is PRECIOUS!

The Fab 5

2008-06-06T16:51:00.004-05:00

Fab Five

5 things under $5 that I cannot live without:

People magazine
Lemons
Ponytail Holders
US Weekly
Dove Milk chocolate

5 ALL TIME Favorite Movies:

Serendipity (first movie Collin and I saw together)
Pretty Woman and almost all other Julia Roberts movies
Sweet Home Alabama
Steel Magnolias (I cry every time)
Beaches (another tear jerker)

5 baby names I love:
Ethan Abbott
Aiden Anthony
Catherine (Cate)
Abbigail (Abbie) Claire
Nathan Anthony

5 things that are always in my purse:

wallet
cell phone
gum
loose change
pen

5 Moments that have changed my life forever:

Fitzwilly's on Thanksgiving night 2001
Marrying Collin
working at Heritage
graduating from TX State
Being confirmed

5 things always on the grocery list:

lemons
slimfast
bread
chicken
turkey

5 places I would like to go:

Greece
NYC
Australia
London
Italy

5 appliances or kitchen tools I cannot live without:

Computer
Can Opener
measuring cups
dishwasher
air conditioning!!

5 Celebrities I hate to admit I keep up with:

Britney
Brangelina
TomKat
Reese/Jake
Lindsay Ho-han

5 Most exciting things about this summer:

SLEEP
New Braunfuls
Baby Craig is due
My Birthday!!!
cleaning my house from top to bottom

5 Goals I am currently working on:

losing weight
being more patient
keeping the house clean and clutter free
learning to cook-and enjoying it
finding a new job

Get to know Beth & Collin

2008-03-29T15:46:00.002-05:00

1. Who eats more?
Generally Collin, but I will eat my fair share of mexican food
2. Who said "I Love You" First?
He did, on Christmas Day 2001
3.How long have you been together? 6 1/2 years, married for 1 1/2
4. Who sings better? Me! But Collin can sing if he wants to...
5. Who's older? Collin, He's 29 and I'm 27
6. Who's smarter? It depends on the topic. I find myself fascinated by Collin's knowledge though
7. Whose temper is worse? We both have tempers, but usually don't flip out over the same things, so there is always one sane person in our house. :)
8. Who does the laundry? Me. But he helps with folding, and an occasional load here or there
9. Who does the dishes? neither of us. KIDDING!! We're 50/50
10. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Collin
11. Who snores? Me and Collin will ocasionally
12. Who's hair is longer? Definitely mine.
13. Who's better with the computer? That would be me
14. Do you have pets? Parker, our dog was Collin's gift to me for my 24th birthday. I love him like a child
15. Who cooks dinner? Collin, but I have definitely gotten better
16. Who drives when you are together? We are probably 50/50 here too.
17. Who pays when you go out to dinner? it's our joint account, so we both do
19. Who is the most stubborn? We are both EXTREMELY stubborn and hard-headed
20. Who is the first one to admit when they're wrong? never Collin, that's for sure!
21. Who's parents do you see more? We see both sets equally. Well, not Collin's dad since he lives in San Marcos
22. Who named your pet? we both did
23. Who kissed who first? He kissed me up against a dryer in someone's house
24. Who asked who out? I called him and left a message, and he called me the next day to ask me out
26. Who's more sensitive? Being the girl, I'd say me.
28. Who has more friends? I have let a lot of my close friendships slip away, so probably Collin. I don't know, maybe we're equal. Our friends are the same.
29. Who has more siblings? He does, a twin and an older brother
30. Who wears the pants in the relationship? We both have our moments.
31.Who's more sexy? I definitely think Collin in
32. Who sleeps naked? Thanks for playing!
33. Who's the better cook? Better is not the right word, maybe me because I actually will COOK. Collin just makes, like, Hamburger Helper
34. Who has more money? we share ours
35. Who has more tattoos? Neither of us!! Yuck
36. Who eats more sweets? Me!
37. Who is closer to their family? We both are. Just in different ways.
38. Who has the older car? Collin I guess. He's driving my old mazda, and I'm driving our new Vue
39. Who has bigger dreams? We dream together
40. Who cries more? Me, for sure. I am SUCH a softie!

Hello from Parker

2008-03-18T16:50:00.002-05:00

Hi, this is Parker mommy's baby and daddy's dog. Today I will be writing this blog for my mommy, because she does not really feel like blogging now.

Mom and Dad just picked me up from Nana's and Grandpa's house where I have been staying for a few days. Mom and dad had to go out of town on Friday. Anyway, boy was I glad to see mommy when she walked in to the kitchen! Nana and Grandpa's house is great and all, but my mommy is the BEST! She lets me snuggle with her, but grandpa doesn't like that so much at night. Plus, my cousin Molly lives there too. She's a shit-su, oops, I mean shi-tzu and is rather snobby. She doesn't like to play rough and run around like I do. She barks at me a lot. It hurts my ears.

I was so excited about the car ride home that I tried to jump from the back seat to the front because mom and dad forgot to buckle me in like normal. I missed the first time, but I made it the second time and crashed into the radio and accidentally turned it off. Daddy let me ride home in his lap after that.

Mom sure is happy to see me--she keeps giving me kisses and rubbing my tummy, but I think I heard her say something about flea's and a bath. I am SURE she is NOT talking about me!

I have to run now-I have some sniffing I need to do. Who knows what mom and dad changed in this house while I was gone, but I need to go find it!

~Parker Thomas

2008-03-13T13:38:00.002-05:00

I chose to edit my previous post rather significantly--not because my feelings have changed, but just in case someone comes across it and I lose my job. :)

On another note, my evaluation went really well. Surprise surprise.

A Letter

2008-03-03T19:57:00.003-06:00

I get it that you don't like me. You call me in to berate and belittle me on every occasion possible. But here's what I have to say.

You say that my kids don't like me. that I "yell at them". Well...

I am the first one these kids come to to talk about what happened to them over the weekend. I am the first one these kids come to to give a hug to. I am the one these kids ask "can I come home with you?" "would you be my mom?"

I am the first person these kids turn to, when they feel like there is no one there. I am sympathetic to their needs. I listen when they are upset, and I empathize when they are sad. YOU don't promote that with your teachers. You, and the rest of your staff are cold. A kid is having a bad day? Brush them off. A child needs someone to hold their hand-NO, they are in third grade, we don't do that. A child needs someone to tell them (strongly) that they are misbehaving? You're yelling. Our kids--MY BABIES--have NO person at home trying to teach them right and wrong.

I care more about these kids than you ever could. i know their names. I know their home life, and I know what my kids deal with.

My WORST behavior problems? They're the ones I'm closest with. They act out because I'm NOT giving them the attention they need-so they do whatever it takes for me to focus back on them. Do you even give them a chance? NO.

My partner-you know, the one you think is SO great? I love her, but I'm tired of being compared to her. We are NOT the same.

I have given my heart and soul to these kids this year, and you'll never notice it.

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-27T11:21:00.001-06:00

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful holiday season so far! Collin and I are so blessed to have our wonderful families-though all of mine went away this year. This was my first Christmas without my parents. I realize that I'm 27 and married now, but I still look forward to spending Christmas day with my folks. And though my mom's stuffing comes from a box, it's the best ever and this year I missed having it.

Christmas morning Collin and I woke up early (for us) and headed downstairs. First we had to walk the dogs--we are dogsitting my sister & her hubby's lab, Sabre, while they are in Miami--and then we settled in to open presents. Collin liked his Cannon camcorder and I finally got my digital picture frame! It's 10 inches so the pics are big. Those were our 'big' presents, and our little ones were great too. Then Collin cooked a yummy breakfast of eggs, bacon, and hash browns on our new griddle (girdle).

We went to Collin's moms house that afternoon and had a nice dinner with his family. Erik and Mindy's kids were there and I was drooled on by Addison A LOT. At some point I handed her off to Collin and got busy doing something else. He walked into the kitchen carrying her and I suddenly had this picture of Collin with our baby...so now my 'clock' is tick-tocking away. I've been able to hit snooze before...but seeing him with her...

Yesterday we went back and had Christmas with the kids since all were present this time. Mindy, Valerie, and I received diamond and pearl necklaces and earrings from Karen--beautiful! We also got WONDERFUL soft throws, which I am very excited about because I've always wanted one like this, but have never bought one for myself, so Karen took care of that. Dinner didn't go as planned; the monkey bread burned and some other stuff didn't turn out right, but my turkey sandwich was great! :)

After Collin and I got home we talked a bit and have decided that...(drumroll please) we will start trying for a baby on June 11, 2009! Ordinarily this would be no big deal to post, but I'm super excited...a year and a half goes by SOO quickly! We have a lot to do in the next 18 months. I am convinced that we will either have twins or not be able to conceive and frankly I only want 1 (at a time at least), but Collin said twins wouldn't be so bad-HAHA.

We have one more Christmas to go with my family on New Years Day, and then we can pack all of the Christmas decor and start making lists for Christmas '08. It happens so fast...

It's Christmas time!

2007-12-09T12:47:00.000-06:00

I checked and I haven't posted any blogs since before Halloween, so there is plenty of blog reading for you to do (Elle!). Most are just little updates since I'm not as in to posting right now. Maybe I'll get back in to it.

I cannot believe that Christmas is in 2 weeks! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas time and I LOVE going to the stores and just seeing all of the 'stuff'! The school calendar has changed this year and we don't get out until Dec. 21st! Crazy! So I'm trying to do all of my shopping after work and I hate that because I really just want to go home. Oh well, such is life...

I'm hosting the 3rd grade team's Christmas party on Friday and I am super excited about that! We are having Chik-Fil-A cater (yum yum). Plus, I get to decorate for a get-together and I LOVE doing that! I have banished Collin for the evening so that we can just have girl time. :)

Birthday time

2007-12-09T12:42:00.000-06:00

The same weekend as Ashley's wedding was our Grandpa's 80-something birthday, so we all headed out to my Aunt and Uncle's house celebrate that. Here are pics of family time!

Ashley got married!

2007-12-09T12:30:00.000-06:00

My baby sister got married! She's not pregnant and they had my parents blessings. It was short notice (like a week) and Ash and Dale were married in the JoP. Mom, Dad, me, Dale's mom, Dale's sister, our grandparents, and a couple of Dale and Ash's friends were there. After the ceremony (he judge looked just like Dick Chaney!) we had a small hors d'oeuvre reception at my house, and then a big dinner at Saltgrass.

Kemah

2007-12-09T12:09:00.000-06:00

Collin and I took a mini-trip to Kemah in November. We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Seabrook, which I highly recommend. On Saturday we spent the day at the boardwalk. We walked around a lot, rode a few rides, and had lunch at Cadillac Bar, which has AWESOME mexican food. My absolute favorite part of the trip was feeding the Stingray's at the Aquarium. You hold this minnow in between your knuckles under water and they come up and slurp the minnow from your fingers. It is the coolest feeling! Then, the ray's kind of wave their little flaps over the side of the tank and let you pet them. They really are affectionate!

We also took a few hours and sat in a bar on the boardwalk to watch the UT game. Here is a pic of Collin watching his team.

Later that night we at dinner at The Aquarium. We had front row, dead center seats for the huge aquarium inside. Dinner was okay, but I think you mostly go for the atmosphere.

My soccer player

2007-12-09T12:04:00.000-06:00

Collin has been playing on an indoor soccer league. I have only been to a few games because they are usually during the week when I am supposed to be asleep (meaning the games start after 9) but I am posting a few pics of the games I have been to. His team is okay...30 year old guys running around after a ball...

No more negative posts!

2007-12-09T12:02:00.000-06:00

I was re-reading my previous post, and I have decided that I am no longer going to hate my job. I am blessed to have a job, and am surrounded by such creative little kids. I wish i knew how to harness that creativity to have them perform better, but I am still learning. So from now on I am going to look at my job as a challenge that has given to me by God and am going to do my best to BE the best I can at it.

grrr...

2007-10-18T16:33:00.000-05:00

I really despise my job. I leave the house in the morning and am overcome by this foul mood on my way to work which lasts until I step foot outside the building when it's time to head home.

I must have been crazy to think that this year would be any better than the last.

How many days until June 1?

2007-09-29T13:01:00.001-05:00

Work has really kept me busy! Already I have dealt with strung-out parents, crazy children, and drama in the workplace. This year is starting out to be a very tiring and stressful one.

My morning class has 21 children, mostly ESL and some SPED, plus a few 'regulars' just to make things more complicated. Scheduling is a mess because I have kids leaving for speech and ESL, and SPED co-teachers coming in...I'm not sure how I'm going to get these kids where they need to be though I am determined to figure this out. Luckily every one of these kids is super sweet and this class is SO well behaved! I really like my morning class a lot!

My afternoon class is the exact opposite of my am class. These kids are all considered "regular" though I am convinced I have quite a few SPED that have not been diagnosed. Maybe 2 kids in the whole class knows how to follow directions...my throat hurts and I am exhausted when I am finished with them. I dread the afternoon.

This is not going to be my favorite year.

Welcome to my classroom!

2007-08-14T16:33:00.000-05:00

After such a heavy previous post, I decided to lighten things up a bit! Here are pictures of my classroom. It is completely finished (until I get my class list next week) so I will be enjoying my last 3 days of summer vaca at home! I'm really excited about my room! People have said that it is "so me". :) I'm teaching 3rd grade Language Arts (reading, writing & spelling) & Social Studies this year and I am super-excited!

The view down the hallway-my room is on the right. The bathrooms and playground are at the end of the hallMy first window to the hallway

Another window to the hallway

Outside my door. Each child will have an apple with their name on it on Mon. the 27th!

Front of the classroom-notice my neat-o projector hanging from the ceiling (The door is adjacent to the red bulletin board)

MY area-I'm not using a teacher desk this year, just this big table (also for small groups)

Another view

Shelves and Reading Bulletin Board (I need to add the books)

Birthday & Helper Bulletin Board (I need to add the ribbon to the balloons)Writing Bulletin Board

Bookshelves

My rocking chair, the TV that we don't use...

You can't tell but I have a rug on the floor

The door is on the RH side of this pic

Kids backpack cubbies

Not title...just words...

2007-08-10T00:28:00.000-05:00

I spent a long evening with my mom tonight, and it got me to thinking...

Mom has been battling cancer off and on for 5 years. It started as endometrial cancer which has now moved to her lungs and lymph nodes. The first 2 diagnoses of it I cried...a lot. When the tests came back this summer--I was in New B--it showed a return. I didn't cry...I think I have handled things well so far... But then tonight I started to think. And now I'm starting to cry.

My mom is my bestest of all bestest friends. She is the first person I call when ANYTHING happens. We talk about work (she's a teacher too) and we talk about EVERYTHING else...

So now I'm thinking about my mom's cancer. Apparently it's stage 4. I learned tonight that that's the highest stage they go. I asked my mom if they give a life-expectancy--no, they don't. So I'm not sure if I have 5 years or 15 with my mom left. I just know that there is time put on it. It's not like I can say my mom will reach 90 years. We don't know.

I am filled with self-pity right now. Who do I call when my mom isn't there? Who do I talk to about EVERYTHING? She gives me advise and words of wisdom. She reminds me of who I am and where I come from.

My goals have changed since all of this. Now, not only do I want a child, but it is important for me to have one because I want my mom to experience being a Grandmother...having a baby that is part her. I want my mom to be able to do everything she has ever wanted--go everywhere she dreams and retire happily with my dad somewhere that is less complicated than life is now. I want my mom to live in a field of wildflowers, somewhere where the weather is perfect and there is never any sort of stress. Is that Heaven?

I'm not sure what I would do without my mom. That is why it is so important for her to be healed. In all honesty, I want my mom to live longer than I do, because I don't want to feel what it's like to be without her. My mom can be equated to Supermom. She knows how to do almost everything. She's amazing. Who is going to tell me how to cook chicken? Or how long you can keep eggs before they go bad? Or what medicine to take when you feel like crap?

I'm mad because I have to think about losing her. I'm too young. If I were in my 40's or 50's, maybe that would be better, but anytime before then is not acceptable!

Sometimes I wonder if my prayers are not being listened to...or if maybe I am not praying hard enough. Why would this happen to my mom, who has worked SO hard to be perfect???

This sounds so selfish, but again, this is MY blog. I feel...I'm not sure. I am so angry right now.

Heather's married y'all!

2007-08-04T14:40:00.001-05:00

My oldest friend Heather married her best friend Jason on the 28th and Collin and I went to San Antonio to witness the big event. We drove up on Friday and had a nice dinner on the riverwalk and walked around for a while. We just happened to be in the right spot when the Dallas Cowboy's bus pulled up at their hotel to let them off, so I got a picture of a Cowboy...I don't know who since I'm not really a Cowboy's fan.

Saturday we had room service for breakfast (yum) and hit the streets to find the Zoo. That evening we headed to the chapel at Trinity University for H's wedding. Her voice broke as she was saying her vows and she had to stop and collect herself...it was SO sweet. She looked the most beautiful that I have ever seen her. We all headed to the reception next--it was beautiful. The College Station group/high school friends were there and it was nice to see everyone since it has been so long!

All of us with Heather

Kelly, Me, Kenna, & Amanda--the 3904 Oaklawn roomiesMe, Kelly, Nina, Kenna, & Amanda

Anto, Me, Heather, & Nina
(we have the same picture from my wedding)

Kelly & Kenna

My be-fri Anto & my hubby

Nina & Anto

Amanda & Nina

Nina, Me, & Anto

2007-08-04T14:27:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures from the San Antonio Zoo. It was alright-not as awesome as I remember it being. It was SO hot and crowded with kids (what should I expect, it's the zoo) but I still love going. A lot of the animals were resting or hiding, but we did see a wide variety up and about. I feel badly for the animals stuck in these pens & cages. I wonder if they are depressed?

2007-08-04T14:15:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures of 2 of my nieces and nephew from the past few weeks...

Skylar & Addison

Skylar

Nolan

Dancing fool

Isn't she pretty?

Mmmm...peanut butter & jelly

I'm so cute (and such a mess!)

Product Rant

2007-07-21T16:22:00.002-05:00

Greatest product ever

Everyone has heard of the Magic Eraser from Mr. Clean, right? The blue and white one is awesome. After we moved into our house I went along the walls with it to remove the dirt and scuff-marks under the bartop and it worked perfectly. Greatest product ever, right?

Well, this being so great I decided to try the NEW Mr. Clean Magic Eraser with the foaming cleaser inside. The orange and white one. "Just squeeze the sponge to activate the cleanser..." I thought this product sounded great-safe to use on granite (whoo hoo!) and we can use it on our glass stove (a pain that i will never have again). So last weekend I bought this new sponge and tried it out. I read the directions--wet the sponge, squeeze, then wipe--and followed them completely. I'm not sure how many times you are supposed to squeeze to activate the cleanser but I squeezed quite a bit--NO foaming cleanser!!!

Now, I like to see bubbles or smell some sort of cleaning product smell because in my mind that tells me the product is working, but with this eraser there is none of that. I would stick to the regular blue and white eraser and not waste money on one that 'may or may not' be cleaning!

Just say NO!

Slow summer...

2007-07-21T16:02:00.000-05:00

Not much is happening this summer, therefore I don't have a lot to post. Collin and I are heading to San Antonio on Friday for my friend Heather's wedding. We are treating it as a mini-vaca since we haven't really had one in a while--family reunions don't count. We are planning on going to Sea World or the zoo on Saturday since the wedding isn't until the evening. We'll see. I don't really need to go to the Alamo again...we've done that each time we visit SA and I'm tired of it.

The following weekend we may be going to Dallas to visit our friends up there, whom I miss SOOO much! Bob and Heather are having a "Summer B-day BBQ", and we haven't seen Joey and Adrienne since they got engaged. Anyway, I guess I'll find out this week if we're going or not.

Other than that I have been working at keeping our house clean, and Collin has used the Dyson multiple times--I think he really likes it.

I'm in the middle of a really good book-- Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. It's kind of shocking, about a terrible school shooting, but in the case the shooter lives and goes on trial. This author tells stories from several different characters perspectives and all of her stories raise morality questions in your mind while you are reading them. She is a really good author and this is just a really good book.

Pretty in Pink

2007-07-12T10:54:00.001-05:00

Here are some more pictures of Addison...

She is SO cute and teeny tiny, but she has a LOUD voice! She and Mindy should get to go home today and I can't wait to see Nolan interact with his new sister!

2007-07-11T13:54:00.001-05:00

Addison

Nolan

I know these aren't the best angles-maybe I'll get a better picture of Addison today-but this is so you can kind of compare big brother and little sister.

Meet Addison!

2007-07-11T13:43:00.001-05:00

Erik and Mindy had a beautiful baby girl yesterday afternoon around 1:30! Addison Kay is 7 lbs, 8 oz. and has a head full of brown hair--where that came from we don't know since both Mindy and Erik are blondies. Aside from the hair, she looks very much like Nolan did when he was born. Here are pictures of Miss Addison on her birthday...

Proud daddy Erik

Absolutely in love Aunt Beth

Miss Addison's hair

Addison and her Uncle Collin

I have a Dyson!!!

2007-07-05T09:13:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since my last post--oh well! Summer so far has been relaxing...

So, BIG news!!! I am the proud owner of a Dyson vacuum!!! Mom and Dad bought one for themselves the other day, and when I heard about this I expressed jealousy and our dire need for a new vacuum. Then what do you know but I get a phone call from Mom saying how my "softhearted" parents were willing to buy us a vacuum too, though we do have to pay them back for half. Not a bad deal! Here is my new DC-17 Animal:If you can't tell, it's purple. We picked it up from the 'rents house on the 4th. I LOVE it! (Thank you Mom!)

We also picked up Molly, my parent's Shi-tzu, and dogsat her last night because she is afraid of the fireworks and my parents were going out with some friends. We took Molly over to KK's house and had dinner and shot fireworks with Phillip and Skylar. Well, Skylar, KK, and I watched and the boys did the shooting. No pictures because I forgot my camera, but we had a nice evening...the dog's did pretty well when it came time for bed. Only a minor fight and a small amount of barking. As far as I know, Molly slept through the night and did not wake to bathe at 4 am (as usual). Now Molly is upstairs with me and Parker is downstairs in her dog bed-nevermind that his is larger and more plush!

The countdown to niece #4's birth is upon us-- T minus 5 days...Addison will be born at approximately 8:03 am on Tuesday and I think we are all just as excited as Mindy to meet this little girl. Maybe E & M will be so busy with the new baby that they won't notice if I steal Nolan for a few days! (He is SUCH a cutie-pie!!!)

It's Gettin' Hot in Here...

2007-06-21T11:09:00.000-05:00

Our AC is BROKEN! I woke up yesterday a bit warm, which was odd because usually I'm freezing, but the AC thing said it was only 72. As the day progressed it kept getting warmer and warmer upstairs. I could hear the thing running, but the temp kept going up. Finally when our house hit 80 degrees even though the digital readout said the air blowing out was 75 I called Collin. Once he came home we crawled into the attic and poked around, but since we know nothing about AC units this didn't help much. My dad tried to assist over the phone, but since he wasn't here in the heat he couldn't help.

Now I'm home--I spent the night on the couch downstairs--waiting for the AC repairman who MAY come today.