Mother's Day

Time to celebrate Mom....the boys and John took me out for dinner on Saturday and on Sunday we celebrated in our traditional way....the boys make breakfast, church, and then the guys make dinner.

This year, as we have in the past, we invited friends over to celebrate with us...Jeanne and her family came over in the afternoon and we, as the mom's sit and talk and maybe watch a movie and our husbands take control in the kitchen and direct our children in preparing dinner. 

Yep...my boys can cook.....it's a life skill they'll be happy to have!!

New Truck

Last year Alex took my car to college....that left us the red truck and one other car at home for John, Jacob and me to share. Not surprisingly, Jacob took over the red truck and John and I re-arranged our schedules to share the remaining car. It's not exactly a hardship but it is often inconvenient...we're spoiled, ha! So after much discussion on what our next step should be we decided to throw caution to the wind and do what we wanted instead of what made sense.....and John wanted his own truck. For years John would seen a nice Toyota Tacoma in a parking lot and drag me across the lot to peer into a stranger's windows.....it was time to buy him a truck of his own.


















We had a few false starts....looking at trucks that didn't work out....but then we found this little beauty. She's not perfect....but we're working on that, ha The previous owner had invested in nice rims and off-road tires and put a 7 inch lift kit on the truck ....

7 inches was a bit higher than we wanted....it's a good thing we're tall but some sort of step is one of the first things we're going to add.

Inside the stereo has been upgraded to include 6 surround speakers and two sub-woofers. We're upgrading the radio to a touch screen gps/ XM radio/ rear camera/ ipod connection little radio...it's going to be a beaut!














Jacob's truck looks small next to John's, ha! And John's isn't all that big....it's a Tacoma not a Tundra but it's perfect for what we wanted. We had a great time last year in Big Bend and we're looking forward to planning another trip there. Only this time we can really explore the park by going off road. We are going to have so much fun!!!














And no...it's not a mid life crisis...John says it can't be a md life crisis if it's something you've dreamed about since you were 11 years old, ha!

My Birthday

I am now 47.....and I like 47. I had a wonderful day....My friend Jeanne and I went to a "Top Chef" cooking demonstration, had lunch, and shopped.....I added two new pairs of shoes to my closet and a new suit...for when I get a new job, ha!

After a day of shopping I went home and dressed up for a nice dinner with John. Unfortunately we had major thunderstorms that day so John and I decided not to make to trip into downtown and went out to a local Indian restaurant....very good!!

It was a great day and I'm so very blessed!

Bowling

Alex came home for a visit....we took the boys bowling. We've taken them bowling all their lives but now we can usually finish without tears or fighting ha! The only part they hate is me taking pictures, ha!

Texas Wildflowers

Spring time in Texas means Texas wildflowers. John and I took a Saturday off from the usual household chores to take a drive into the country and check out the local color.

As you can see....the color was good. We had a lovely lunch in Brenham, walked around town a bit and then once again hit the road in search of fields of flowers.

The state of Texas spreads seeds every year....

This little guy screamed his little beak off at us until we realized we were too close to his nest. We backed off and he settled down on his little nest with 4 eggs.....I guess he didn't expect tourists.....

Unemployed

Sorry it's been a while since I blogged. There's been a lot going on and to be honest I simply didn't want to talk about it all....too many emotions and conflicting feelings. Anyway, at the end of February my company did lay-off's and I lost my job. It's more emotionally difficult than anything else...I didn't handle it well, ha! I cried for a couple of days but then pulled myself together...much to John's relief, ha! I miss my job, my co-workers and my pay cheque, ha, but I'm actually fine.

So keep me in your prayers as I try and stay disciplined in looking for my next job...which is a job in itself, ha! Anything to avoid housework, ha!

Hawaii and...Alex?

Background…well, Alex has this friend, Trevor. Trevor and Alex became best buds in 2nd grade when we lived in MA. In the summer after 3rd grade Trevor moved to CO…the boys were heart-broken. But they stayed in touch…and every summer Trevor would spend a week or two at our house in between visiting family. Then we moved to TX ….and since we wouldn’t be there when Trevor visited MA we flew Alex to CO…the next summer Trevor came to see us in TX…and so forth. Last summer, for the first time, the boys didn’t visit one another…Trevor’s family was moving again…this time to San Francisco and summer jobs just got in the way. So after Christmas we were talking and I had this brilliant idea…Alex didn’t need to be back at college until the 20th…I figured Trevor was the same…air fares are low so why didn’t Alex find out if Trevor was in San Fran and fly out there to spend a week with him before they both headed back to school….

A couple of days later (Saturday evening) Alex comes bounding into the living room and says “Hey, I finally got in touch with Trev…he lost his cell phone so we finally connected by computer!”

I said “Great…so is he in San Fran and did you guys talk about getting together?”

Alex says “Ah…Trevor’s back at school already… but he wants me to fly out there…so…what do you think about my leaving for Hawaii on Tuesday?”

Ya, Trevor goes to the University of Hawaii in Honolulu…John and I just stared…stunned. Alex said he’d already been checking out flights and costs and he could afford it. I think we said something like …wow, that’s a lot of money…but mostly we were still processing “Alex” and “Hawaii” in the same sentence. I asked if Trevor was good with the idea…Alex said the conversation went something like this ..

“so..Trev, I don’t start school until the 20th…what would you think of getting together between now and then?”
“ahh DUDE…hop on a plane tomorrow!!”
“That would be so sweet dude”
“Do it Dude…really”
“I’ll check into things and get right back to you…Ahh DUDE I’m freakin!”
“cool…lets do it dude, we’ll have a blast!”

So dude took off upstairs…a little slower than he came in. After a few minutes I looked at John and said “So…what do you think?”

And John said “I think he should go but it’s up to him”

I told John that I think Alex had been asking our permission….and we didn’t exactly make it clear that he didn’t need to….So we called the boy back down and John told him that we think we may have not have been clear…that the decision to fly to Hawaii or not was totally, 100%, Alex’s decision…he’s 18, has his own money and that John and I have nothing to offer other than an opinion…but our opinion would be…hell yes you should go…dude

Alex was a bit surprised…he’s not used to doing major stuff without our “consent”…other than thinking of joining the marines…but we’re not talking about that for now…indecision on his part, terror on ours….so Alex checked everything out with Trevor and then booked his first independent, paid for by him, flight. I drove him to airport on Tuesday morning for 12 glorious days in Honolulu.

Life is not fair…John and I have jobs and have never been to Hawaii. Yes, I’m pouting….

So, since being in Hawaii he’s called us a couple of times…he’s doing what he went there to do…hang out with Trevor…sightseeing? museums, gardens, luau’s? snorkeling? Nah…they’re strolling, drinking, girl watching, watching movies and playing x-box.. They’re staying up all night and sleeping until noon. They’re making fun of each other, arguing, laughing and tormenting one another so that by the time Alex leaves the boys will be happy to get away from each other, ha!...for a week or so….and then they’ll start planning another week together.

Don’t get me wrong…Alex loves Hawaii…and it’s a real treat to go there…but he could be anywhere and if he was in the company of his best friend…that’s cool.

Update

The Christmas decorations are down, boxed, and stored…it’s not even February…YES! It may not be a miracle…but its close!!! John even vacuumed! It’s rather unbelievable all around. I even lost the 2 pounds that I gained when I started exercising and watching what I ate!! So after weeks of effort I’m back where I started!!

Other news…Alex is home from his trip to Hawaii. He had a great time just hanging around with his best bud….he took the red eye home and discovered that babies don’t sleep like their parents thought they would, ha! Therefore, he’s a bit tired, but he’s young so he’ll be fine within 24 hours…which is good because he begins classes tomorrow, ha!

Jacob starts the spring semester this week…with naked teeth, ha! He also begins track season, and SAT prep…it’s going to be a busy year for him. John and he are beginning to plan for visiting different universities to help Jacob make some choices for life after high school…hard to believe it’s time for all that….but before we know it Jacob will be applying to enter the world of higher learning…and John and I will be empty nesters…cool

Jacob...no braces

Cute aye?

2009

Yep…2009…a new year…same old problems, ha! And yet we have the opportunity to maybe look at the same old problems with new eyes, a new determination that it will not be a problem when we celebrate 2010…that we’re going to make some changes, be better, kinder, thinner, healthier, richer people in 2009…and for the first week or 2 of 2009 we feel empowered…ahhh, it feels good…but for most of us we’ll be back to normal by February and saying ‘I don’t know what I was thinking…”

My wish list…

I want to pack up the Christmas decorations right after New Year….o.k. within a couple of weeks after New Year….at least before February…no later than Valentines day…I’ll be very disappointed if it’s after March 1st….sigh

Well, my weight is no longer a big issue but my health is…I need to work out and exercise instead of being such a coach potato…build muscle and maybe lose that last 20 pounds…

My attitude… is still an attitude…I would like to be less critical, kinder, a nice person…more Christ-like in my dealings with very stupid people…maybe with all people….

I’d love to organize the house and do those projects I’ve been meaning to get to for the last 5 years ,,, maybe after the super bowl, ha!

I want to keep in better touch with my friends and family…I just never seem to have the time….guess I need to manage my time better

I want more shoes

To organize the photos

To write more and dream less

To keep my bedroom from turning into huge, cluttered, just throw it in here, mess (that one may require divine intervention)

I want to spend some time every day reading the Word of God and not just praying for a miracle in regards to the shape of our bedroom.
So…..
We’re a couple of weeks into the new year and how am I doing so far?
Well….
Christmas decorations are still decorating…..
I’m spending time working out every work day during lunch and eating right…sort of…
It would be easier to be nicer if I wasn’t so hungry and cranky from doing the dreaded exercise hour….and not eating chocolate….
I can’t organize the house with the Christmas decorations still up…that doesn’t mean I won’t get to it….be positive!
I’m blogging!!
I bought a new pair of running shoes….
Ya o.k…..I need to organize my time better before I can get to the photos and writing and I’ve decided dreaming is a good thing
I’m still praying about the bedroom and I’ve yet to read a single verse…

so…I guess I’m doing better than expected, ha!

And well, …ah, …It is still just barely the New Year ya know….the new smell hasn’t even worn off….I have a whole year and I’ll keep you posted

New Years Eve 2008

New Years Eve

I actually was scheduled to work Dec 31st. So I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed while John snuggled down with a contented sigh. There are a few things in life that make me unreasonably violent. John, all warm and cozy, peacefully sleeping while I’m getting ready for work…and I’m cold and tired, is apparently one of them. I understand that I have less vacation time than John…I’ve only been back in the work force for 3 years…the many years I worked prior to staying home don’t count. Like any other employer, my employer does not recognize that I ever worked before working for them…normally I accept that. But on New Years Eve…with a thousand things to do and a full work day ahead of me I wasn’t feeling fair and reasonable. So when the alarm goes off and I make my way into the bathroom to change for the day ahead, and my husband stretches out to occupy every inch of the bed that he can…and steals my still warm pillows…well, it just makes you want to find the nearest blunt object and beat him with it…..on the other hand, blood is so hard to get out of pillows and linens and the sooner I get to work the sooner I can come home….and then work like a fiend to prepare for the company I invited to celebrate the last few hours of 2008 with us…

So to work I went…and after 3 hours of frustration with a computer that refused to operate properly, I began to wonder if I should have just stayed in bed. Finally, with the IT guy and myself as witnesses, my computer peacefully passed on….and since the head IT guy wouldn’t be back until Friday, and he was the only one who could get me a new computer, and I couldn’t work without a computer, I decided to just go home and make up the time over the weekend…not ideal but at least this way I could get to the grocery store and clean up the house and cook some food with a little more time and less frustration.

So I went home, started laundry, cleaned out Jacob’s room, picked up, cleaned up, vacuumed, cleaned out the frig, got groceries, reloaded the frig, and made enough food for an army….Our friends arrived, we all hung out in the kitchen talking, eating, drinking, eating, laughing, eating, drinking and eating…then we went into the dining room and played a couple of board games until nearly midnight. With midnight and 2009 approaching we went into the living room, turned on the tv and counted down the last few seconds of 2008.

2009!!!!!

Then we broke out the noisemakers and champagne (ginger ale for those under 21) and played along with the bands on tv with our kazoo’s …it was awful, ha! Alex and Porter left the room…they just couldn’t take it, ha!...by 2:30 we decided to wrap it up.. our guests left and we slipped under our warm blankets thankful for our many blessings.

Christmas Day 2008

Christmas was lovely. We attended the Christmas Eve service at our church on Wednesday afternoon. We watched “A Charlie Brown Christmas” that night as is traditional in our home. It’s a favorite…a reminder of what Christmas is all about.. We got up Christmas morning around 8 a.m….naturally the boys were still sleeping. John made up plates of different nuts and candy and an orange. In his family it was traditional to have a plate of nuts and an orange waiting for them every Christmas morning on the dining room table. We always carried on that tradition when the boys were little but we stopped doing it for some reason since we moved….we were talking about it and Jacob wanted us to start doing it again…so this year we did…..

I also told the boys that I wasn’t doing stocking stuffers this year…Jacob responded with “What! But that’s one of my favorite parts!!” Sigh….fine, o.k….whatever. So Christmas Eve day I was out buying shampoo and little flashlights and a nerf gun and pez candy and other little stuff and just to make a point….a stuffed toy. They loved the stuffed toy…so I guess they’re the one’s who made their point, ha! And they spent the morning shooting the dog (and me) with the nerf guns….our little big boys….


The boys are old enough that the gifts they get are expensive…so they only get one major gift…Alex got a camera and Jacob received an alarm/stereo/ipod docking station thing. They were both gifts that they had indeed asked for. But when they finally got around to telling us what they wanted for Christmas we had already bought their gifts and told them “Sorry bud….we’ve already finished the shopping but we think you’ll still like what we did get for you” …it just so happened that we had already purchased exactly what they asked for…we are so good!!. Yep…and we told them that too…you’re parents are gooood….!!!

After gifts we had a huge breakfast of waffles and eggs and sausage…that afternoon we played a board game we got for Alex called “Fact or Crap”











and then we had dinner that night…Cornish game hens, rice, veggies, fresh bread…it tasted great except Jacob kept complaining about feeling bad about eating a baby chicken…he likes his meat served on a plate without being able to distinguish what it once was…It’s hard to enjoy your meal with Jacob saying “I’m sorry little baby bird that I’m eating you and you had to die…” I think it’s that last time I’ll be serving Cornish games hens, at least to Jacob anyway, ha!

On Friday we took the boys out to a movie and then dinner….Saturday we went to see the play “the Fertle Family Christmas. It’s hard to explain but basically it’s a play about the Fertle Family Christmas reunion. The play is put on by 3 people who each play 3 or 4 different parts. They rotate through their parts so expertly and smoothly that you hardly notice. It’s incredibly funny and very entertaining. This was our 3rd year of seeing their Christmas show. The boys bought the tickets for the family as their Christmas gift to John and I…it was a wonderful gift.
And now it’s the final week of 2008. John is taking vacation time and hanging out with the boys. I’m working this week…but I enjoy work, and this way John will catch up on the laundry and vacuuming, if he can put down the PS3… he loves the game Mirror’s Edge…too nerve racking for me…lots of heights and jumping…awful! But, well, it is his vacation…and the laundry will still be there in 2009, ha!







I know many people are a little afraid of what the coming year may bring. I believe we could be in for some rough times. .…yes, the future is uncertain, but God is constant and faithful. I know that’s easy to say …but it doesn’t make it any less true. For now we’re looking forward to celebrating the coming of the new year with it’s usual parties and parades and snacks, ha! We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and we wish you a Happy New Year……