Spring Break

Another Spring Break has come and gone. It was nice. I tried to get us a camping trip scheduled, but every stinkin campsite from here to Arkansas was booked. Lesson learned. It was nice though, we slept in everyday and then the kids hung out with friends mostly.

I did have my first foray into the SXSW world. A girl I knew growing up was going to be performing down on 6th Street Thursday, so I thought that would be a perfect thing to do. I have to say, the people watching was amazing! After she sang we bar hopped a little just to see the other bands that were playing. I guess one of these years I will really have to try out the whole experience.

We did have one mishap that very nearly broke our hearts. The first weekend of Spring Break, one of our two brother kitties, Rum Tum decided he wanted to be an outdoor cat. Every opportunity he got, he tried to escape. We had to retrieve him from the neighbor's bushes more than once. On St. Patrick's Day he had run out about four times. Finally, the last time I just said, leave him out. Since he is neutered I didn't think he would go far. He didn't come back....

Friday we loaded up the car and headed out to our friend's parent's house on Lake Limestone. It's about two hours from here. It was such beautiful weather and such a nice place. We pulled up to find their house on about an acre of land that was fenced in with several dogs. We had brought our dog Buddy with us and Tony and Michelle had their two as well. It was quite the Dog Whisperer's pack! There was a Great Pyrenees, a yellow lab, an Australian Shepard, a Golden Retriever, a Beagle Mix, 3 Rat Terriers, and Charlie the cat. Buddy fit right in and had a great time. He isn't used to so much space to roam in, so it was a treat. Our treat though was the littlest rat terrier Diva who was only six weeks old. She had the most pictures taken. Teeeny tiny thing.

The middle picture is of the biggest dog, Whiskey, a Great Pyrenees, and Diva. I just had to get the size difference here!

We relaxed and enjoyed our time, however short. Saturday we got up (Thank you young boy next door who decided at 8am to ride the lawnmower the 60 feet from your house to the dock!) and made breakfast. Leon had procured a neat wood cutting machine that the boys all got busy using to cut up some trees they had cut down recently. Here are Michael and Justin earning their keep.

Later that day we looked over at the next door neighbor Larry's boat dock and saw him trying to real in a HUGE fish. I told Jeff he should probably go help. Once they got the fish out of the water, I took this picture. AMAZING!

Mighty HUGE Catfish!

We had to come home on Saturday evening because Michael had to be at his baseball tournament early Sunday morning. As we turned the corner to get to our house I saw what I thought was Rum Tum running into our yard. We pulled in and Jeff jumped out and Rum Tum ran into his arms just meowing away! He was completely unscathed and happy to be home. He ate about three times in that first thirty minutes and then passed out. Poor boy!

He hasn't tried to escape once since then. I guess he's realized how good her has it, at least for now!

Parents, Weekend and Possible Trips

I am sitting in the Monument Cafe in Georgetown, TX, one of my kids very favorite places to eat. Second only to Luby's for Michael. Actually it is just Michael and me today. Audrey spent the night with a friend and Jeff needs some extra rest for healing purposes. I thought it would be a fun treat for the two of us. I brought my computer because I knew they would have wifi and I am trying to plan some sort of trip for us this week. A little adventure. All the camping places here in the central Texas areas are booked, so we are thinking of heading north to Arkansas and camping our way up to visit my parents who were just here for the weekend. We'll see if I can talk Jeff into this. He is worried because he can't help much in the camping set up department, but I keep telling him that before I met him I did it all by myself and am still perfectly capable.



The three of us slept until 9:30am this morning....oh it was really nice. I guess we needed it. We did stay up quite late on Saturday night and my parent's being in town is always tiring. They came in to town to watch Michael's baseball tournament, which was subsequently cancelled due to the much needed rain. My parents arrived Friday just in time to see Michael in his hoedown at school. Mom arrived just in time to be invited out for a line dance, what fun! That night I made venison chili and we hung out and enjoyed eachother's company. Saturday I spent really worried about Jeff who was still in ALOT of pain. We changed his bandage and it was a big ordeal. Fortunately he got some pain meds in him and it helped some. My sister the nurse also told us some other ways he could take the meds to get the most out of them. He was a little better yesterday, but it sure is slow going on this healing thing.



I guess I should explain to those of you who don't know what happened. Last Tuesday was going to be a super busy day for us. Or evening really. Michael had a program at his school at 6:30pm and Audrey had her first softball game at 7:30pm, but had to be there at 7. I had to run out to Academy to get Audrey new cleats and socks and a mouth guard and I got back home around 5pm. I jumped in the shower as Jeff was working on getting dinner ready so we could eat before we all headed out. Jeff was using a mandolin slicer to slice some potatoes and I guess got in too much of a hurry. He wasn't using the guide he was supposed to use to keep this kind of accident from happening. His hand slipped and instead of slicing a potato, he sliced off a big hunk of his thumb. He came to me in the shower telling me we needed to go to the hospital, so I hurried out and off we went. They had a difficult time stopping the bleeding, but it still didn't take too long at the ER. Unfortunately, it did take long enough that I missed Michael's program. Thankfully my awesome neighbor's stepped in and picked Michael up and took him. We got out in time to get Audrey to her game. What an evening.

So Saturday Mom, Audrey and I went to go find Audrey a dress for her spring dance. She wears between a size 0 and a 4 depending on the dress, so she looked good in everything she tried on. Oh to be that young and skinny again....they just have no idea! Anyway, it was good three generation bonding time and we found a great dress. We spent the evening hanging out with Jeff's brother James and his wife Regina, Mom and Dad and our neighbor's Tony and Michelle. It was a really fun night before I made the mistake of debating politics with my Dad and a little with my Mom. I should have known better.

My Mom has always been a VERY liberal Democrat and my Dad has been middle of the road, but alot of the time leaning more toward conservatism. My Mom was utterly destroyed when I expressed my more conservative views when I was younger. I don't think either of my parents ever thought my views were my own, they thought that my X husband had controlled me into those beliefs. I will say that one of the best things Rich did for me was to challenge my beliefs. When he would ask me questions about why I believed certain things, the only answer I could come up with was that my parents believed it. Once I began thinking of things for myself, there were alot of things I felt differently about than I had once thought. Of course, life experience helps with that alot as well.

Now though, what irritates me most is that people are so one side or the other. I count myself a conservative and I won't budge on something like abortion, but that is a very personal thing to me. I lost a baby once and it was a HORRIBLE experience for me. I will say no more on the subject except that our personal experiences do tend to color who we are politically. I am very supportive of gay rights, but am not for too much gun control. I am all over the place, and that is ok. What I get so upset about is the fact that some people just follow whatever the Democrats say (and some people Republicans). I am a firm believer that the picture has never been and never will be completely black and white. You have to pay attention to all those politicians. There are good ones and bad ones on both sides.

Anyway, I tried to state some facts and my Dad just ran all over me. Yelled at me right in front of my family and friends. I almost cried. It was embarrassing. He wouldn't even let me have an opinion. He apologized later, but it still stung. I guess I will forever be their kid. I love my parent's dearly, and I understand that no one is perfect. After that though (and a shot of tequila), the night was alot of fun. I am so thankful to have such great family and friends to share my time with.

My car is in getting the brakes fixed now, I will be relieved when it is fixed. I've been driving around for weeks with it making this awful noise. I knew it was going to be expensive and had to wait until we had the money. Woo hoo, no more grinding!

Anyway...I guess that's it for now....signing off:).

I Pimped My Campsite:)

Soooo, the pictures didn't turn out very well since my camera isn't very good at taking night pictures, but it really looked neat. You'll have to take my word for it. I have always loved Christmas lights. I always put WAY more than I need to on my tree because I enjoy the way they look. It just makes me happy. Many times when we have camped, we have seen people with lights up in the trees or on their shelter and this time I actually remembered to take some. It didn't take any time at all to hang them and then at night they just looked so neat. Jeff laughs at me because I am such a girl and little things like this make me smile ear to ear.

We had originally planned to go to a new state park that we had never been to. Colorado Bend. Then we found out that Jeffrey and Natalee had soccer games on Saturday, and with Colorado Bend being more than an hour away, we decided just to go down to McKinney Falls. Jeff and I camped there in January one weekend that we didn't have the kids. It's a really neat place. And apparently all of Austin knows this too. I drove down on Thursday afternoon after seeing Michael get safely home (that a whole other story). When I got there the attendant told me that they were booked up for the weekend. We could take our chances and stay Thursday night and hope someone cancelled, but that was just not worth it. So, off I went on the tollway to Georgetown to our old faithful campground at Jim Hogg Park. Surprisingly, we got a great campsite and no one even camped remotely near us. We expected that on Friday night there would be tons of people coming in to camp since the weather was so nice, but that didn't happen. Audrey and her friend Katie were REALLY disappointed that there were no cute boys...lol. We had a great time though.

Jeff is really tense right now. We have done really well and have been able to completely support ourselves since we lost our jobs (with the help of unemployment of course), but things are beginning to look bleak. I don't know if we can afford to pay our mortgage this month. I think we can swing everything else. We really debated paying it last month with all this so called mortgage help people are supposed to be getting, but we really don't want to screw up our credit that way. This month though, we may have no choice.

We did call our mortgage company in January and let them know what was going on, and please excuse me if I've already told this story. Our mortgage company is Countrywide. I repeat, Countrywide. They have been bailed out by the government already. We wanted to know if they had any programs for people like us, such as maybe deferring a payment to the end of the term or something like that. You know what they told us? No. There was no help for us at all. WTF! I'm sorry, I don't usually use that kind of language, but are you freaking serious? The government bails your butt out because you screwed up, and here we are honest hard working people who have fallen on hard times and YOU CAN'T HELP?

Jeff and I are not in the group of people who bought more house than they could afford. Yes, we do have a huge house, but we did not pay a fortune for it. The bank qualified us for ALOT more than we spent. We knew what we could afford and we found an amazing deal. I bet if we quit paying our mortgage they will find some way to help us, but as per usual, big business just doesn't care about the little guy. Obama ain't gonna pay our mortgage as some people seem to think he will. Sigh. I am just riding the wave and watching to see what will happen next. I hope it gets better soon.

I have a job for the summer that pays well and I really hope that Jeff can find something soon. He's going nuts with feeling like he isn't providing. He's doing everything he can, but it just isn't happening. Ohhhh to find him a nice Monday through Friday job with regular hours. Is that too much to ask? Ya'll keep your eyes peeled and let me know if you hear of anything. We'll take all the help we can get.

On a quick sidenote...our cats are so entertaining. Right now they are laying on the dining room table, the two of them laying exactly opposite of eachother making the shape of a heart. Heads bowed together and feet touching. SOOOO cute!

No News is Well....No News

Ugh, stealing Internet from your neighbors can be such a drag! LOL! Sometimes we just have days at a time where we just cannot get online at home. So, today i resorted to coming to a little tea shop in Round Rock to sit and get Internet access and drink Earl Grey. Ok, so that's not so bad at all!

On the job front, no news. Jeff turned Mesa Rosa down because not only was it a HUGE paycut, but they wanted him to work a 6 day week. Which is ridiculous. He has an interview tomorrow with someone else, a second interview, so we'll see. I had an interview yesterday, but when I got home Audrey scraped something off one of my teeth which, if it was in my teeth during the interview, I'm sure did me no good. How embarrassing!

Last weekend was of course filled with baseball. Three miserable games on Saturday and one on Sunday. They won all three on Saturday which was the only fun part about it. It was cold and the wind kept gusting dirt in our faces. I couldn't wait to get into the shower when I got home. Of course this weekend it is supposed to be beautiful. No baseball. But hey, we're going camping and for once it won't be cold!

I started Weight Watchers in earnest last Thursday and as of today I have lost 11 pounds! Over the last few years I have tried many things to lose weight, but I've never gotten farther than maybe six pounds, so 11, that is huge! I have to say, Weight Watchers really works and I am excited since I have a whole closet full of clothes I want to get back into. I've got a long way to go, but at least I am on my way. Skinny jeans, here I come:).

Ok, so I guess that's about it for now. Hopefully I will be able to get online more often...or maybe I'll just have to get up here to this cute little place for tea. Friar Tucks Pantry in downtown RR, next to the Library. Amy, they even have a little children's area, so maybe we should meet here for a pot of tea sometime soon.

To Share or Not to Share....THAT is the question!

I overthink blogging. Blogging is supposed to be about the everyday things in life that have been going on.

I am first going to try to do that for the time I have had since the last blog. Lets seee, lets see, what's been going on. WELL, last night I took Audrey to Stony Point Ninth Grade Center for FRESHMAN ORIENTATION! Woohoo, High School, here we come! Seriously though, whoa, it's a pretty intense deal. I told her last night she has no idea how much harder school is going to be and how much work she is going to be in for. I'm a little scared.

Michael had another baseball tournament. Did really well. It was intense though, as always. Sunday I was completely wiped out! I can't blame that completely on baseball though. We had a really fun weekend hanging out with friends and staying up way too late both Friday and Saturday. Great times:).

Yesterday Jeff got a job offer, but it's kind of a bitter sweet thing. He was offered an assistant manager position with Mesa Rosa. Pros: It's a job, it's not fast food, he likes the place alot, IT'S A JOB! Cons: It's a $25,000 pay cut (ouch), it's assistant managing, oh did I mention the $25,000 pay cut? The deal is that they want to open another restaurant sometime in the near future and would be using him to GM that, so there would be a raise involved, which is good. I just don't know how long it would be until that actually happens. I suppose that is something we need a more solid answer to (and a promise of) before he makes his choice. I will keep you updated.

I am still looking. I have an interview today, but I'm not really sure if it's going to be something that's worth doing. It was set up by one of Jeff's friends, so we'll see. I was pretty proud of myself last week though. I had to take a test in order to apply to work for the 2010 census. Yes, the government wants to test you before they hire you. Oh and it's not any silly easy test either! Thankfully I took the practice test online first. I couldn't believe how much they tried to trick me on that thing!

I am not a confident test taker. I get REALLY nervous. Not to mention the fact that I haven't taken a test in oh, say five years. I was really nervous. More so when I got into the room and half the people there were RE-taking the test. Even a guy who has a masters! The test is twenty eight questions long and you get thirty minutes. I really had to fight my nerves as the time started because my mind was telling me to run screaming out the door. That's how nervous I was. But I was REALLY proud of myself because not only did I finish, but I only missed two questions! Still haven't gotten a call though:(. I guess if it's meant to be, it will be.

So, on to the meat of my thoughts. As I saw on my friend Todd's blog not too long ago, I am pondering the depth in which I bare my soul while blogging. I have already deleted a sensitive post because I worried about certain people seeing it. I am torn. I started this blog to bare my soul because writing is great therapy for me. It's a great way for me to work out how I feel. Much like talking things out, for me, sometimes I just talk or write with no idea of what it is that is really bothering me. Eventually though, through that, it comes out.

I love that people read my bogs and love the support with which you readers have blessed me. My worry? Those people that may also have access or knowledge of my blog that I really don't care to share ANY of my deepest feelings with. There are a few people out there who have hurt me so deeply in life that to share any of my feelings with, well, it's not appealing. On some level I want to throw caution to the wind and say I don't care. If they care enough to read, then maybe their hearts are not nearly as cold as I thought. On the other hand, I do not want to give them fuel. I don't want to give them any other way to hurt me. I hope this is making sense.

As I am writing though, at least right now, I think I will just keep baring my soul. I am, just as everyone else in this life, imperfect and flawed in many ways. I like to think that I have taken some of my biggest life challenges and I have become better for them. So, if you happen to be reading this, and you know who you are, you're missing out. You loved me once before, and I'm stronger and wiser now. I could be your friend. And I'd be a damn good one too.

Home Improvement

As promised I am going to share pics of our home improvement/ art projects thus far. We have now not only been to the Georgetown Habitat For Humanity Re-Store, but also one in Austin. We have heard there is another one and will visit that one most likely tomorrow.

This is a pic of the cabitnet doors we bought in the AS IS section at IKEA. The idea here is to keep the kids feet from scuffing up the wall. I think it looks pretty cool!

Here is the "new" lighfixureI bought yesterday at the Austin RE-Store. It's a bit hard to see the green color, but it's really neat looking. WAY better than the boring one we had and for $20 a total steal! We got it installed today.

We have also painted and floored our downstairs powder room. The picture you will see is one I painted on one of those old windows I bought last week.



Today we pulled out the carpet in our dining room and plan to install wood flooring. That will take some time, but as soon as we have it done, I will post pics!

Next I am posting some art projects that I have worked on over the past few months. I am not the best artist in the world, but I do enjoy using that side of my brain, it relaxes me.

I got the idea for these on a recent visit to my friend Amy's house. Her mother made some AWESOME things for her kids rooms and I stole her ideas! Here again, I used cabinet doors bought at the Ikea AS IS section and flowers, ribbon and buttons I got on sale at various places.

Well, I guess that's it for now. Keeping busy. After ripping the carpet out of the dining room today Jeff looked at me and said "I gotta get a job!" I said, "Why, cause I'm killing you with home projects????" Yep. LOL!

Manic Mondays & Home Improvement

So, Monday was a BAD day for me. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get out of my head. I could not escape the feelings of failure and the re-living of the experience. I guess I needed to do that. I needed to so that I could put it behind me. I woke up Tuesday and felt much better thankfully.

That's when I decided that Jeff and I needed something to do while waiting for the phone to ring. Why not work on the house? I had done alot of this between Thanksgiving and Christmas and paint can be found pretty cheap. If anyone can find a deal, it's me. For instance, you can go to Wal-Mart or whatever paint store and go to their "oops" section and find plenty of discounted cans of paint. Usually I can find a color I want for a fraction of the price. Also, the "As Is" section at Ikea has been great. I have made some cool art pieces using cabinet doors I found there.

I mentioned this to Jeff and he was excited about the idea, so off we went. First we went to the Habitat For Humanity Re-Store. Oh my gosh! It was so fun! The first thing I spotted was a bunch of old windows taken from really old houses. I have been trying to find these for a long time. Years ago at and art festival in Arkansas, my Mom bought one of these old windows that someone had painted with hearts. It is now in Natalee's room, but has been a cherished. Also, I knew I could re-create this. I was so excited and went in to ask how much they were, $5 a window! What a deal! I have high hopes of painting these and selling them. After I've gotten some done, I will post pics.

Inside was just tons more fun stuff. We ended up buying a box of Pergo that we plan to install in out guest bathroom. That only cost us $10. After that, we came home, unloaded and headed to Ikea. We have a bar in our kitchen that the kids eat at everyday. Their little feet always hit against the wall and it is always filthy. We've been trying to come up with a solution for a while now. We ended up buying 4 really neat cabinet doors that Jeff is going to hang down there which will keep the kids feet off the wall. I think it will look pretty cool too! Again, pictures to follow. So, this should keep us busy for a few days and in the process we can get some much needed improvements done to our house.

I am also looking into going back to training to become a childbirth educator and lactation consultant. It will take some time, but it is something I really love. I'll keep you updated.