HAPPY NEW YEAR!

My Brother is getting married this week, so I am here at my parent’s house with most the rest of my family, and we have been having a pretty good time. We have been getting a few things ready for the wedding, and getting ready for new years with the fam. It is nice to come and spend time with my family; I do not get this chance very often.
Landon is playing this weekend of course as it is a big weekend for music. I hope that we both have a good new year in our separate parts of the country, and will be able to celebrate when we are both together again.
I hope that all my friends and family have Great new years, and here is to the New Year.
Out with the old, in with the new.
HAPPY 2009 everyone!

Christmas 08

We feel so blessed to be able to celebrate Christmas together. I am not going to write a whole lot, but I am going to post some pictures of the day!
We hope that each of our friends and family have a great Christmas, and get to spend time with their families. We have had a fantasitc time.


The Spread.


Turkey


Fruit and Cheese Tray


Veggie Tray


Ready to Eat! (Yes we are still in our PJ's it is Christmas!!! Who gets dressed?)


Before we started Unwrapping, but after Santa came!


Another picture of before


Opened Gifts
Thank you everyone!


Closer Shot of opened Gifts!


Butch's new stairs


Landon playing with his new stuff!

Where is the spirit?

I have been very reflective of late, With Christmas right around the corner, I am missing that Christmas spirit that I need. My mind has been bogged down by everyday problems, and reminiscence.
I have a friend who got married this year, and this will be her first Christmas as a wife. This made me think back to my first Christmas as a wife. It was a grand Christmas. We had very little money, yet it was probably the best Christmas we have had as a couple. Even without kids, it seems that life has taken over, I sometimes wish that I could go back to that time, and walk around, and feel those wondrous feelings again. Even go back to being a child, and the wonder that Christmas held. Time spent with Family, and traditions.
Perhaps the spirit will come, and we can have another grand Christmas!
I am for sure looking forward to next year. Perhaps I can make more of it than I did this year. 2008 has been very taxing.
I have to continuously sit my self down, and have a pep talk. I could have it so bad.
My husband could be off fighting a war instead of off playing music. I could have lost my home in the loan crisis. Or everything for that matter. I have a very full life! If guess sometimes I just catch myself feeling sorry for myself for the trials that I have, and forget to look around and see how good I really have it.
Perhaps tomorrow.

Now what

Today was my company’s Christmas party. Last year the Christmas party was lavish. It was at night, and it was all the food, and drink you could want, as well as games of all sort. And some live entertainment.
This year with all the cutbacks that everyone is doing, the Christmas party was during the day. They still provided lunch. There was still lots of games, and entertainment. I was sad that my Husband would not be able to come and hang out with me at this party (he was probably thrilled that he did not have to come hang out at my work party!)
About 2:00, after the party was winding down, our boss came around and told us that if we wanted to, we could go ahead and go home for the day.
Well, of coarse if your boss tells you you can go home, you do. My problem was Landon is gigging, and so I really did not have any reason to come home early except to surprise the dog to let him our of his kennel early. (like he even understood it was early!)
So I came home wondering what to do with myself. This is probably the worst part of being married and not having any kids. When my better half is not home, sometimes I am incredibly bored. Then I start to think since that is all I have to do.
When I start to think, I usually get myself in trouble, so once again, I should have found something productive to do today instead of thinking.
I thought of all sorts of things that upset me, and so here I am at 10:00 blogging about nothing, because there is no way that I could blog about my thoughts. So I am trying to waste time so that I don’t keep thinking!

Tis the Season

Every Year at my place of employment they have an “angel tree” where you adopt an angel for Christmas and get these kids some Christmas gifts. For the last two years I have been the chosen one of our team to choose the angels, and collect the donations, and do the shopping.
This is something that I do not mind doing at all. Which goes against everything I do mind…I hate to shop, and I hate to spend money.
Difference here, is it is not all my money, and it is for a child that otherwise may not get anything. So I really enjoy going out and getting these gifts.
They are so sad in some of the things they put on their slip as “needs” We “adopted” 3 year old twin girls, and got they a coat, and shoes as well as little sweatshirts, and we got the Barbie collections movie(three movies) and a pink Barbie CD player. So they got everything that they asked for and a bit more.
It is always hard for me to do these things on my own without a little nudge.
Not because I don’t want to help, but it always seems like I go through the season thinking of where the money is going to come from for the gifts that I need to buy, and where all the time is going to come from to do baking if I am going to give that sort of gift, and to go to all the “parties” that we are invited to, and still decorate the house, do all of that jazz, and I don’t even have kids!!
Anyway, it seems that the season starts, then it is over, and I never even took time to really “give”.
I always strive to be a better person at seeing those in need, and doing something for them. And usually the rest of the year I really do pretty good, but the time when perhaps they need things more because of the cold and such, is when I don’t think I have the time….
There was a tradition that my family did when I was growing up that I have tried to continue in some form since I have left home, and that is…
We would get two or three big cardboard boxes, and fill them with food. Turkeys, potatoes, you know the such, and then if we had anything else, gift type things, we would include those as well. Then we would carry each box to a family’s house that we felt would benefit from this, drop it off, ring the doorbell, and run.
We had such a great time doing this, and we never really knew how the family felt, or if they did indeed benefit from this gift, but we always had a good time doing it.
That is the type of giving I like. The kind that is anonymous.
I hope that this year when things are tough that we can all find the true meaning of Christmas, and enjoy our families! I am certainly going to do my best.

Thanksgiving the Oklahoma Way

This was Last years goods...





As it turns out, Landon had a gig on Thanksgiving day, so we threw tradition out the window, and headed to Oklahoma to a Casino to spend our Holiday.
We got everything ready to go, and realized that we had not yet ate breakfast, and it was getting closer to lunch time, so we planned to grab some fast food once we were out of town…Easier said that done on Thanksgiving day! We stopped at 4 places before we found one that was open. As it turned out, it was one of my least favorite places, but we made due!
We than drove another 5 or so hours, and got to the Casino, went to check into our room only to find out that the Casino had been without power for a few hours, so there was no TV, and no Thanksgiving dinner…We were not even sure there was going to be power for the band to play.
But they worked feverishly, and got the power back on, that is when the fun really started…because there were people gambling when the power went out, the casino had to match each of these people with the machine they were on (via the security cameras) Then get them all their money.
The gamblers were quite restless, and the Casino’s do not sell any alcohol on Holidays, so everyone was double mad…That is when the Casino decided that if they could not sell it they would give it away. So there was beer on the house all night for everyone…It made the band happy, because the beer of coarse was only to be had in the “bar” area where they were playing, so they had quite a crowd!
Lets go back to the No thanksgiving Dinner part. I was sorely disappointed since I was looking forward to good dinner.
Well, since the power had been off, the band actually went on an hour later, so Landon and I went in search of a Thanksgiving dinner! We figured that most regular places were closed, so we headed down the freeway to find a truck stop with a diner. We found one, and lo and behold they had a Thanksgiving dinner Buffet. It was definitely Truck stop food, but I was so happy to find thanksgiving dinner, that I did not mind at all!
All in all, it was a Thanksgiving to go down in the books as definitely out of the norm. But we really did have a good time! I was content to be able to spend it with my husband.

The finished product after only 4 years

This has been a project that we started when we lived in Springfield MO quite a few years ago.
It is nice to finally have it done.

Poor Butch

Last week, while I was out traveling, Landon had to take Butch with him to his gigs. While out there, Butch sprained the tendon that goes in front of his knee. It I guess keeps going in and out of the position which it is supposed to stay in, and looks to be painful. Landon took him to the Vet on Monday to have it looked at, and he gave him a steroid shot in his leg, as well as gave us some pills to help the pain, and swelling. I had been giving him these pills since Monday, and thought to myself only yesterday, I wonder what is in these pills. So I look them up on line. They are Rimadyl. Apperantly they have had mixed reviews. It said when they were doing the clinical trials that 39% of the dogs had reaction that caused medical care or death. Yet they still approved it.
I know that there are people out there that don’t understand how I feel about my dog, but I love him like he is my child, and to be having him take a medication that 39% of dogs either had to go to the vet because of liver and or kidney failure or died was very upsetting.
With those of you with children, think about finding out these odds on a medication that you were giving to your child. You would freak out!
Now. What is the difference between pills for animals and pills for humans? A 39% bad reaction rate was low enough to pass this drug. Here is what they have to say in an Update about the drug.

“Of all the ADE reports CVM received in 1998, thirty-nine percent (39%) or 3626 involved Rimadyl®. The number of ADE reports received by CVM for Rimadyl® is considerably more than that received for other animal drugs. For any one ADE report, there is no absolute certainty that the suspected drug caused the effect. The adverse effects in these reports are consistent with those expected for NSAIDs. They typically involve the gastrointestinal system, renal/urinary system, hematopoietic (blood) system, neurological system, and the liver. Approximately 13% of the 1998 Rimadyl® ADE reports for dogs involved death of the dog, either on their own or by means of euthanasia.”
Here is the link:
http://www.srdogs.com/Pages/rimadylfr.html


13% died. Nice. Anyways, I have not seen any adverse reaction to the drug yet, and I do not know what to do. It is helping his pain, and it is Saturday. All the vets are closed. Do I keep giving it to him, or do I stop, and let him suffer? I think I would rather him suffer than die. But so far he has been fine. Ah dilemmas

Weekend

It is ready to be stained. (this dresser used to be the same color as the bed in the first picture)














Stained


















This weekend I am going to having to be productive. I have stained a dresser that we sanded all the paint off of, and will varnish it tomorrow.

I have also gone through all my books and cataloged them online so that I have that, as well as making a pile of ones that we need to get rid of. That was actually quite a chore since I have 3 five shelf bookshelves completely full of books. I have just finished this, and have freed up 4 shelves to put the wood carvings that my parents brought home from FSM. The trick was, the shelves you can see on top there are actually 3 books deep! I just fit 3 times as much on one shelf!

Northern California, and Southern Oregon

This last trip that I went on was to a few stores in Oregon, and a few in Northern California.
Past the town of Weed and all



I was only there for 3 days, but hit the ground running, and did not stop until I was back in the airport on my way home.
There is not a direct flight from Dallas to Medford, so on the way out, I connected in Los Angeles. After that experience, I have told myself to remember to NEVER connect out of LAX again. It was very time consuming, and odd. I had to wait for a bus to take me from terminal C to Terminal B, then wait on another bus to take me to terminal A. Not to mention, there are really no signs that say what needs to be done. You have to ask, unless you are lucky enough to see the one sign that has an arrow and says gates 30-40 here. You follow that sign to an empty room thinking “ok now what? I don’t see any gates. Then a bus pulls up outside of the terminal (where all the planes are driving around and taking off) and you figure that must be your ride.
It was odd. Oh well, I am a seasoned air traveler, so I was pretty calm. I was just looking at those first timers, and feeling bad for them.
I luckily connected out of Salt Lake on the way back.
Going to the west coast always seems to take so long, then you think about it, and it does take a long time. I left on Tuesday morning from Dallas at 6:00. I landed in Medford at 11:00. With the loss of two hours, that is 7 hours of travel. It seems like Oregon is not that far from Texas! But it is!
While was there, I was in awe almost the whole time. It is so beautiful up there. Each time I went through Grants Pass, It was raining, and foggy but you could still see the splendor through all of that. I am sure glad I took this trip in the fall, and was blessed to not have to drive Grants Pass in the snow!
I sure do miss mountains.
I am now complete with my travels for this year. We are now going to let the stores focus on the Holiday Season, and hope for the best! I am a little relieved that I am done with travel now, because the Region that I am over is not a fun Region to traverse in the winter! Plus I am a little wore out from the travel! So no I can get ready for all the holidays myself!

Another Post from Landon about Pres elect

Last night, President Elect Obama gave one of the all time great speaches. As most of you know, I've been fairly vocal in my support of John McCain as President. I believe Obama demonstrated to us last night what makes him so appealing to so many...he inspires a belief that tomorrow will be a better day than today.

It's time for all of us to embrace our new President and look towards the future. I'm on the record as being skeptical of Obama because of his lack of a track record. If he continues the path he's demonstrated over the last 60 days, he will be a solid President for everyone.

As he said in his speach last night, "for those of you who didn't vote for me...I'm going to be your President too." If he truly means that, and will govern like that...I believe our country will again be headed in a good direction.

As much as I like John McCain, I believe Barack Obama offers the very best possible chance to really inspire Americans and will challenge many Americans to look within themselves and realize status quo has changed.

There are many reason why I believe that the best decision was not made. Hopefully, (and I truly mean this) I will be proven wrong. But don't expect me to be easy on him. :-) There are many serious problems that need attention NOW! I hope he can come through with the promises that he made so many people believe. What a salesman. Now I just hope he comes through with the guarantee!

God Bless America. I hope and pray President Elect Obama is the man he wants America to believe he is. If he is...Americans made the right choice tonight.

Side note post from Melanie:
Isn't my husband wise? He and I are on the same page here.

Post From Landon

Well, I guess it's time for me to chime in with my two cents worth on what's going on with our current financial crisis. Let me prefice this by saying it's just my opinion! Hopefully this will bring some insight to you as I explain my position on this interesting situation.

Point 1 - Politicians are incapable of making these decisions.

I've come to the conclusion that most of the politicians trying to work this entire deal out on our behalf don't have the skills to really do what needs to be done. Seriously, I've come to the conculsion that most of them are incapable idiots. For instance, take a guy like Joe Biden. For the record, I'm not using him as an example because he's a Democrat. I'm using him because he's the first person that happened to come to mind. I'm sure there are Republicans just like this example.

Joe Biden has really done nothing in his life except be a politician. That's it. He's lived in the fantasy world of Washington DC for the last 30 years. He's never built a business, ran a company, led an organization, or made a decision that he directly had to be accountable for. He gets to "vote". He's one of 100 votes. He might be totally inept at making good decisions, but because he's never really "flying without a parachute", we have no idea if he's truly an excellent and informed decision maker. The only skill we know Biden and others like him posses is an ability to get elected to a job that I doubt the sharpest people in America would ever take.

Point 2 - Why the people we elect aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer.

Who the hell would really want to be a politician? Think about this for a minute. The best, brightest, and most capable people would never consider running for senate or congress. To get elected, you go out and beg for money making promises to people along the way you may or may not keep. Then if you're lucky and make it far enough to get on the ballot, you get to spend a few months hearing how crappy of a person you are on television and radio ads. Oh, but you get the satisfaction of saying crappy things about the other person vying for your job. Then, if elected, your job is in Washington DC. Most likely far away from where you call "home". But don't worry, before you know it you have to start the process all over again to keep this job.

All for 160k a year. Let's be honest...that's not much money. I believe there are a small portion of politicians that get in to it for the right reasons, but I believe there's a larger number of them that do it to fuel their need for self importance. I think most of them would fail miserably in the real world. Seriously, when's the last time you saw a help wanted ad that said -

"Wanted: A kiss ass glad hander that is capable of talking out both sides of their mouth. Must be loyal to one way of thinking (insinuating Republican or Democrat here) whether it's right or not. Must feel free to criticize their coworkers when things do not work out, but be willing to take all the credit with success. Company will never ask the successful applicant to make a decision and be held accountable; because all decisions in the company are done by a vote."

See my point here?

Let's throw a bunch of men and women in a room that probably are incapable of running even a simple business and allow them to figure this mess out. Have you ever sat around and watched CSPAN and listened to some of these politicians talk? It bothers me.

Point 3 - The truth about the "bailouts"

There are very few people that either...

1. Are describing what is going on accurately. Or...

2. Actually understand what these bail outs entail.

First, let me say. Our country should never be in the position it's in right now. Period. I beleive there is only 3 things that truly motivate people in our world. Sex, Greed, and Fear. I think if you stop and think about that for a minute you'll find that's true. Greed has caused the problem we are facing. Why it happened is an entirely different blog. Let me just say it shouldn't have happened, but the reality is it has happened. This blog is about what's going on now.

I'm sick of hearing the media and politicians talk about this bailout as a "burden to the taxpayers". That's the media playing the fear card to get more ratings.

As for why the politicians are saying it's a burden - I'm not sure if it's because they don't understand business well enough to know what is really going on, OR if they are just playing politics.

Folks, the government got a great deal on AIG. For the record we taxpayers BOUGHT an equity stake in the company. We now own 80% of it. Purchased at a depressed price. The time to be a buyer in business is when everyone else is selling. Ask Warren Buffet. He's rich because of that philosophy.

The reason for the bailout is simple. A tremendous amount of money is tied to real estate backed loans. Let me explain how this process works...

You go and borrow money from a bank to purchase a home. The loan is backed by real estate that's considered to be worth a certain amount of money. You agree to pay the bank a certain interest rate over an agreed to amount of time. Because of all of this, your mortgage has a certain "value" to an investor. Your loan is then packaged up with lots of other loans and sold on Wall Street to other institutional investors. AIG for instance, would be a company that might by notes like this. This process is called "securitization".

This process works because actuarians (smart math people that calculate risk) know what these notes are worth based on many calculations. There is an accepted value to these bundles of mortages. This value is as real to the investor as the money you have in your wallet.

What's happening is because of past greed corrupting the process, everyone is now unsure of what these bundles of mortgages are really worth. This was caused by overly optimistic real estate appraisals, lending policies that weren't based on common sense, and other factors. Oh, and by the way...before we start crucifying these banks for making these loans let me say that they were all hailed as heros for making affordable loans available to the masses.

That's another thing that really pisses me off and makes me shake my head. These banks were criticized for being "predatory", but now it's looking like the banks should have charged A LOT higher interest rates doesn't it? Higher interest rates help the bank offset risk. These loans obviously held more risk than people realized.

To finish the above thought - A person I respect a great deal and is much smarter than I am about economics and fiance said something recently that I believe to be true. He said, "Some people are just not cut out to be homeowners. They simply don't posess the life skills to be responsible enough to own a home." The fact is folks, nobody twisted people's arms in to accepting the loans these banks are being blamed for. Just like nobody twisted the banks arms in to extending the loan offer.

Anyway, back to my explanation. The situation we are now faced with is we need someone to come in and say - hey, we believe these notes are worth "xyz". When the notes were sold, they were sold for 100% of their face value. (They weren't exactly sold for that...but for the sake of this explanation they were), but now we need to establish a "corrected value" of these notes. The problem is, there isn't a single investor out there large enough to help establish that amount....except for the government.

I've talked to trusted people in the industry that are telling me that some banks are selling off these notes for as little as 25% of the face value. This is why the system is failing. Nobody knows what they are worth and it has caused an over reaction. I can tell you this, they are certainly worth more than 25 cents on the dollar.

The governments "bailout" isn't a gift of money to these companies. It's creating a buyer for these bundles of mortgages. They are helping to create a new value so the notes can be traded with confidence again.

As taxpayers, we'll own these mortgages or a portion of the companies that have own these mortgages. Let me ask you a question. Go outside and look around at the houses in your neighborhood. Almost all of the houses probably have a mortgage. If you had enough money, wouldn't you like to own all of the houses for say....50% of the amount owed on the current mortgage?

Of course you would. That's all we are doing with these "bailouts" that the media and the politicians keep howling about. It also illustrates why these people shouldn't be trusted with this decision.

I think that's the biggest injustice being played out in this whole "bailout". The average person thinks this money is just being pissed away. The truth is quite the opposite. If it's not screwed up by the politicians, this will be one helluva real estate investment. I swear on Waylon's grave to that statement. Hopefully we can take the profits from this and pay something down on our national debt.

Point 4 - What I would do

If it were soley up to me, I wouldn't let the politicians sort this out. I would create an executive board of real world business people with experience in these areas. I would also make sure the executive board's number one criteria for admission would be character. People like Warren Buffet. Let them hammer out a couple of different solutions and then demand the politiicans approve one or the other. That's it...no changing. You get one of two choices...now take your pick because we know you'll screw it up with politics if you go changing it.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few days with all of this. I hope as you watch it unfold, you'll think about some of what I've said in this blog. I hope it helps you keep it all in perspective as the politicians over complicate it and grand stand for their own puffery. It's a serious problem no doubt, but one that can be simplified and managed if we remove politics and would just allow honest business minds to make the decisions.

NASCAR

We were really debating on whether or not to go to the races this year, because of our budget constraints.



We had still not bought any tickets a week before the race, when at one of Landon’s Gigs, one of his friends that lives in Kansas won a couple of tickets to the Nationwide race. She gave them to Landon, saying that she was not interested in racing and would especially not be driving down to Texas to watch it! So we were very lucky to have such friends, and went to the Nationwide race. Which our boy won!
It was a great time. Landon and I always have such a good time at the races. The fans are some of the best that we have ever encountered in all of our tailgating at sporting events.

So while we were parking and getting ready to go in, Landon gets a phone call from a guy that he has worked with here in Texas saying that he has a car pass to get into the infield (the center of the circle where all the cars go around) and if we want it that it is ours, because he is not interested in going. So we took him up on this as well.

We got to experience the infield of a NASCAR race. It was a great experience. The NASCAR race is about 4 hours, and a little long for me, but I still had a good time, and Landon had an excellent time. We met a few more fans that we made friends with while we were standing on the top of the RV watching the cars go around.

Great fun! I feel we are so lucky to have such friends and co-workers that we got to go to two races for free. This was great since we probably would not have gone. Thank you friends!

Halloween

I know it is a little late, but I decided that I could still catch up with past new.
For Halloween, Landon and I decided to try something new, and went to another couples house to celebrate the evening there, so we turned off our porch light, and left.
We grilled, ate, and watched scary movies all while giving candy out at their house to the trick or treaters.
We had a great time, and now have done many different types of things on Halloween.
It also came to light that I have been gone for most of the Halloweens that we have not gone out, and Landon has done the treats. Crazy!

Hail to the chief elect

How about that election. I guess we have a new president elect. I hope that he can keep up with all of his promises (as I do every election).
I am glad that we made history in a few ways yesterday, and I always hope for the best to come in the next 4 years.
Here is to change, and hope.

I've fallen and I cant get up!

It seems like sometimes we get behind due to a nature of things, and sometimes like for me for the past few weeks, we cant dig ourselves out from under it.
I went to Utah and Idaho for a week a few weeks ago for work, and was lucky enough to work it out that I could see many of my family.
I made it to my parents homecoming which I was very glad I was able to do that, since I missed their farewell. I also met my brothers fiancée for the first time.
It was a little sad to go there, just because none of my nieces or nephews know who I am. (my own fault.) I need to find ways to visit home more often.
When I got back from Utah, I was not doing so hot! All this traveling get to me. I spent that weekend sleeping as much as I could, which turns out that I slept almost the whole weekend.
Then I could not catch up.
My house has not been dusted, or vacuumed, my dishes get done only to the minimum. I finally had to go grocery shopping yesterday, because we had nothing to eat.
I am going to get out from under this though I know it.
This past weekend we went to the race, and I will have highlights on that later once I have time to get the pictures from the camera set up.

Can't we all just get along?

Ok, another what is it with people blog.
I was traveling for business the past few days, and I was up in Wichita KS. While here, my flight that was supposed to get me home yesterday at 7:00, was delayed, delayed, then cancelled. So here is where it gets crazy, and before I go into it, please know that I understand there are all sorts of reasons why everyone on that plane needed to be in Dallas last night.
I knew that my flight was delayed before I left where I was, problem is I have to turn in the rental car at the same time still, or be changed a late fee. So I have to go to the Airport three hours earlier than my flight is not supposed to leave to turn this in to avoid a fee.
So while I am sitting at the airport, I find the one place that I can get a sandwich (municipal airport like 10 gates) While heading to the “café” I see that it is overflowing with people. It happens to be the airport bar as well, so everyone has to stay within these roped off areas and are not allowed into the rest of the terminal with their drinks, so I think to myself…hmmm how hungry am I, and which flight are all of these people waiting for?
Turns out the flight that most of them were waiting on announced it was now leaving in 10 minutes.
So I wait the ten minutes, then belly up to the bar to get my sandwich. While doing this, I get caught in the middle of friendly banter with the four guys left in the area and the gal running the café.
So we become what I like to call friendly strangers. They all happened to be on the same flight as me, so we just joked around, and sat until the time our flight was supposed to board. We then walked the 50 feet to the gate, to sit there for about 2 more hours past the delayed time. Eventually they cancelled the flight due to mechanical issues (from a plane that had just landed…did the guys who were on it before know that there was a mechanical issue that would prevent even a take off?)
Anyway, back to the story, it is now about 9:00, and we find out that we need to stay the night, because the next flight to Dallas is in the morning at 6:30. So me and my three stranger buddies start calling all of our hotel contacts (other business frequent travelers) and find that every Hilton, Hampton, Hyatt, Radisson, and so on is completely booked. This is where the what is wrong with people part comes into play.
There are probably 50 passengers who need rooms (hence not from Wichita). Some are royally pissed, some are mildly irritated, and some are like me. The situation sucks, but what choice do you have? Go with the flow, and figure out what you can do to get it resolved.
So a few of the guys that I have been around cannot believe that we will have to stay at a hotel that the Airport deems acceptable. (which turned out to be a little older, but completely fine hotel). So they call and call and yell at these poor hotel people until they find a room somewhere they feel is acceptable.
The other few, are in line with me waiting to get rebooked.
Now comes my flight being canceled dilemma. Butch my dog is in his Kennel in my house. Landon has left a noon that day to go to a gig reliant on me to be home that night to let Butch out of his Kennel. So I call my neighbors, which although we are friendly, and have been over to their house, they have not been to ours, I did not know how comfortable I was asking them if they could please let my dog out, since he is not the nicest dog when it comes to strangers. Not only that, but they have to find the hidden key, go into our house with the key to a blaring house alarm, find the room that the alarm is in, remember the code that I gave them, all the while in the dark in an unfamiliar house, let the dog out without getting bit, and get him back into the house. Kind of a lot to ask someone right. But Once again, not a great situation, but one that has to be handled.
This all gets taken care of without any major hiccups (that I know about!) And I finally get to the hotel about 11:00. They say that since we had such a hard time getting there, that they would pay 5 bucks toward a dinner, and open the kitchen again for us, as well as have breakfast out at 4am instead of 6 since we had to be at the airport so early, as well as have taxi’s and shuttles waiting for us to take us to the airport.
So all in all everyone that is able is trying to make the best out of a rough situation. Yet there are still those few that completely lay into the people trying to help yelling at them like they could fix their situation. Why? Does it make them feel better to yell at a person that is doing their very best completely going out of their way to do so? I really don’t get it. Why cant we all just get along. Deal with what is given to us, and make the most out of it. We were all tired, all had situations that needed to be dealt with. Yet some were kind, others were terribly rude and others just were.

Alone time

Ok. Explain this to me. I have for many years now been pretty much of a loner, and I have not minded one bit just hanging out at home by myself, either reading a book, or watching TV, whatever. But lately, I have craved company. It is weird. I always enjoyed my time to myself, and now I sit around wishing that I could call someone to go do something. Anything. I think I am bored.
I must need more friends…:) But do I really need more, or in a bit am I going to get back to normal, and like having my space back?
I am thinking it must be due to the fact that I used to deal with the public everyday, and not having to talk to anyone, or have anyone bug me was so pleasant. But now that I do not deal with the public, and I am cooped up in a cubicle every day, I crave company, and just to be with other people…the public (ick!)
Hmm. Something to think about.

Truth or Non-Truth

What is it with Trust?
Everyone wants everyone to trust them…
Politicians, Strangers, Family, Friends, Co-Workers,
When is it ok to tell someone to their face the truth? We have become such a society filled with lies and deceit, that telling the truth has become taboo.
Think about it. Let give a very innocent example. Let say that there is a get together at your neighbors house that you are invited to, and go. Now lets say said “party” was not fun at all, and you just did not have the “click” that needs to happen for you to want to be their friend.
Here is what then usually happens. You do not tell your neighbor that you would prefer to keep your relationship on the “neighborly” level, you lie, and say that you had a great time, and “lets do it again sometime!” However, when those times arise, you conveniently always have something else to do, or go, and have another terrible time.
We have been trained to lie to save others feelings. Why? Are people so scared of rejection that they would rather you lie?
Why couldn’t this scenario instead go like this.
After the “party” you are polite, and say. You know, thank you so much for inviting us, good night.
The end. Do not feel obligated to say hey lets do it again, or any such jargon. Especially when you do not mean it.
If asked to come over again, once again, politely say no thank you.
IF you say this enough times, guess what, they will stop asking.
In doing such, you did not tell them that they were not your type of people, or that you were uncomfortable in their home, or their beliefs put you off. You simply thanked them for thinking of you, and then politely turned down their offer.
Now, here comes the part that I think most people have a hard time with…
If I do this, what will they think of me?
Who cares. What do you think of them? There must be a reason why you felt compelled to lie.
So if you do not care for them, why do you care what they think of you?
Perhaps they feel you are a stuck up yahoo, and would never invite you back again anyway!
I just think it is so dumb to lie to people and then in some cases suffer through your lie, like when they ask you to come over again, and because you lied in the first place, you feel obligated to lie again, so you go, and have a miserable time, then lie again…see the cycle. Stupid.
Sorry about this, but I have had this stuck in my craw, not because of my neighbors! But because of the whole presidential debate. I thought it sucked, and since I am a person who currently has no idea who she is going to vote for it really pissed me off and put me in this who don’t lie and cover things up mood.
Tell me what you are really going to try to do, and don’t tell me what you have already done, or what your opponent has not done. UGH.

Memories

It is that time of Halloween again.
I was at work today just working along, and I was thinking to myself that I have not done anything for Halloween yet. We put a couple of cheesy decorations up around our workplace, and it made me remember a time when I was younger that my Dad did one of his crazy things that he really did not do that often.
We were having family home evening and it was a bit after he had had knee surgery so he was on crutches.
In the middle of the home evening, he was in the kitchen while everyone was in the living room, and he put something on, I really can't remember what it was a robe or some sort of costume, but he started coming into the living room all scary like (as much as he could on crutches) while he was singing a Halloween song. It made us all laugh hysterically, as my dad did not really do many things like this.
So as I was thinking about this, I decided to write the Halloween song out on a white board outside of my office, just so I could have a good memory each time I went into my office!
Thank you dad for giving us this memory!

Fact or Fiction/Dream or Reality

I have always had vivid dreams. Every since I was a little girl. In fact the first dream that I remember was when I was very young. I would dream about monsters, and at the end of the dream, I would dream of the end of the Looney Toon shows where they have the circles of different colors, and the pig would come in the circles and say “that’s all folks“. Well, instead of the pig, it would be the monster that I had just had the terrible dream about. I had this happen to me in almost every bad dream I had when I was little, and it would always be the monster that I had the dream about that came through those circles. I think this was probably a pretty average bad dream for a child, but when I started to get a little older, my dreams got significantly worse.
I think that I had abandonment issues, or still do perhaps, because I would always dream about my family leaving me somewhere, like at a rest stop while we were traveling, or even at home while they went on a trip.
Then came the dream that I will not ever forget as long as my mind is sane. I really do not remember how old I was, but we had just either watched a show, or gone to a museum about Hitler. Which ever it was, I had a dream that Hitler captured my whole family (there are nine of us) and made me sit and watch while he killed every one of them. In different ways. Some were gassed, some where hung, and some were burned, and I watched while each of them died terribly. I woke up after this, and I don’t think I was ever the same. My pillow was absolutely drenched with my tears, and I got out of bed, and went into every single brother and sisters bedroom, and my Mom and Dads room, just to make sure that it had in fact been a dream.
After that dream, the tone of my dreams changed. The were no longer about made up scary monsters, they were about real life events that were terrible.

I also had very productive dreams. You know how many people say that they have a specific place that they come up with their ideas? Some in the shower, some while driving, mine come in my dreams. They always have.
My dreams also fix my problems that I am having. Such as when I was in school, and had to write a book report, yet could not come up with a topic, I would dream about doing a book report, and what I would do it on, same for hard math equations that I had struggled with. I relied a lot on my dreams to help me in my everyday life. I also had dreams that ended up being true. Such as my boyfriend breaking up with me, or someone asking me out. Things that my conscious mind could not see because it was too busy, but when it was at rest, these things that I saw came out.
Dreams…I still have them often and they are still quite vivid. They still come up with resolutions to problems, they still come true because they point out things that I have been to busy to see, and they are still about people I love dying, or leaving. I also dream about things that make me incredibly mad at people for no reason other than they pissed me off in my dream. (Landon loves those ones!)
Dreams. Why do we really have them? Are they so that our minds can slow down and process all the overload that we put in them everyday? Or are they just anomalies that we have?

What am I going to do with kids??

This week has been one of those weeks where we had to let the kennels take Butch.
Landon has been on the road all week, and I have been in Minnesota working.
So that means that Butch had no one to care for him. So he got to go to his not favorite place.

Landon dropped him off there on Tuesday, and I picked him up on Friday. Just 4 days you say. That is not a big deal.
To Butch it is almost the end of the world. I am not sure what happens at the kennels, but this is Butch’s behavior after I pick him up. (everytime)

First thing in the car on the way home, he runs around jumping into the back seat, back into the front, onto my lap, back to the other front seat, into the back all the while getting so excited that he is going home that he starts to pant. Amid his panting, he is making little whining noises.
Once we get home, I let him out of the car while I unpack all of his stuff that we have to take to the kennels, as well as all my luggage, and ect. While I am doing this, he is happily peeing on every bush he can find.
Once I get the car unloaded and get him in the house, he runs as fast as he can to his dishes. where he will drink until it almost makes him puke, then whines to go outside again. (Where does all the pee come from?) Where he pees on the new trees we planted outside.
I get him to come in the house, and he runs to his dishes again this time to start hogging down his food.
Then for a while he seems back to normal again. Until it is time to go to bed. He happily goes outside, then comes and jumps on the bed to go to sleep. It is about 10 - 10:30. At midnight he cries to go outside. I get up let him out, he once again goes to his food bowl after he gets back in the house and starts hogging again.
Fast forward to 2:30am. Cries to go outside again. Same scenario as above.
Text Landon saying his dog is crazy.
Hour later Landon calls. Not so sure what he said, because I was mostly asleep.
Fast forward to 5:30am. Butch cries to go out again. Let him out. hogs food. Back to bed.



Then onto 7am Butch is now just bored I am sure of it. But I let him out anyway and he once again does his business.
Did he ever go to the bathroom at the Kennels? Or did he hold it all in until he could come and let it out on his own turf? If not, I am really not sure where it all came from.
At this point I just get up. Now that I have gotten up, and spent hours playing with him, he has not had anymore sudden urges. They only come when I am asleep I guess!
keep in mind, he is four pounds. Can you see how much food he has eaten? That is almost his weight in food...

Life of Music

In reference to our slogan on this page. Our life is lived for the love of life and music. Landon loves to make music whether it be writing it, or playing it, either way he is happy. Me, I used to love to play. In a little bit different venue than him, I loved to play the violin, I truly did. Not in a solo situation, but with an orchestra. I loved the rehearsals, I loved the performances. Lets just say I loved to hear the results of hard work and dedication. I also loved to sing. Once again, not in a solo situation, but with a group. To hear the harmonies take shape, and turn out awesome. Both Landon and I were in many musical venues growing up. He was more into Piano, and Band, where I was into Choir and Orchestra.
I can no longer play the violin like I would like to due to injuries that I sustained, and have no venue that I would care to sing in, so I cope with this by listening to others make music.
Landon now plays for a living, and I could spend hours listening to music. Mind you, I am not really fond of the live scene unless it is blues ( I love listening to blues live) I do like to go watch Landon in his element, sometimes it just a bit too loud for my taste (yup I am getting old!) but I usually enjoy it immensely.

I found this playlist.com from my sisters blog, and I am now addicted. Because my taste in music has so many ranges I could build so many players with so many different kinds of music. I do try to keep it mostly clean for the songs I post to my page, but I feel that music has always been an outlet for me of sorts. When I am feeling in the dumps, I just put on some crazy lively music, and it helps. If it is one of those moods that lively music is not what I want, I put on depressing music, and just wallow in self pity for a while, event that usually brings me out of my funk.

You know that game that people like to play (mostly men [lol]). Where you will be listening to the radio, and the person you are with says. Hey can you guess who sings this song? I always hated this game, because regardless of my passion for music, my passion to know who sang it, the name of it, and what year it was recorded was not included in that. In fact in most cases, I can listen to a song for years, and never know who sings it. I just don’t care.
Well, My husband used to love to play this game, until I turned it around on him, and started asking him who sings it. He now does not like to play so much!
I have been pestering him most of the day today as he has been watching the race to guess who, and to tell me some songs by particular artists that he likes so I could add them.
Mind you, he is really good at the guessing game, and he knows so many songs it would astound most people.
But he has not wanted to play today, so I have kept putting songs on a new play list. (the one that is now playing).
And I have enjoyed putting it together. This one turned from 80’s to 70,s but still the same, they are songs that I like! If you do not like them, I put my player at the top of the screen on purpose so that anyone could quickly hit pause.
My blog will always have music attached somehow, since it is a big part of my life.

Wedding Bells

(picture of what C to the R has to look forward to!)
My youngest brother is getting married. He called me last night about midnight, and the first thing he says is “are you tired?” Crazy kid, I was in bed, and half asleep. Of coarse I was tired!
I am so excited for him, and hope that he knows what he is getting into! :)
(did any of us really know?)
From what I know, My parents newly home from the forgotten lands of nowhere went to visit my brother under the gist that he was going to help them find a new car. Little did they know that they were going to be roped into helping him pick out a wedding ring for the now engaged woman who will now be know as C to the R.
He asked her last night, and gave her the above mentioned ring which I heard her talking about to her mother while I was on the phone with J. I think she likes it! Good work J.
I guess I now no longer have to wonder about when I am going to use my last week of vacation.
Thanks J and C to the R for giving me a reason to come home!

Family Ties

I was just perusing some of my families blogs, when I came across some pictures of one of my cousins daughters.
First, she is darling.
Second, It put me on a path down memory lane.
I remembered some great times with my family (extended and immediate)
Every year for almost every holiday we would get together with all the Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins at one of our homes. We met at Grandma and Grandpas house quite often.
We would play all day long with all the cousins. We had our own age groups that would break off due to age, but we would all be in the same house, and we were always quite a crew. We would always eat tons, I am not sure how things did not end up more messy while we were there. (Perhaps they did, and I was the child so did not notice those things)
Those were such fantastic times. I am so grateful that my Mom and Dad made it an important part of our lives to know our whole family.
I often feel so inadequate in this aspect of my life.
I spoke to my youngest brother yesterday, and so many things that are big and important are happening in his life, and I knew nothing about any of them. This made me feel so very inadequate as a sister.
I hardly ever talk to him, and the last time I saw him was Christmas.
Now the sadder part, He is the last person in my family that I have seen.
I really think about them often, and wonder what is going on but have let the money situation get in my way of going to visit. It is so spendy to go from the South to the North West.
Yet some of my family make the effort, and seem to be able to afford it. I don’t know how.
I then called one of my other brothers that I had not spoken to in a while, and made sure I knew what was going on in his life. I care about my family deeply, and want them to know that even though I am not the sister that keeps in touch the best, or visits. I want to. And it makes me sad when I feel that I cannot afford it, because they are very important to me, and I do not think that they realize that. I have not been good enough at letting them all know. I will try to do better. It is always my goal in my life to strive to better those things that I find faulty in myself.
I will continue on, and one day I will be able to say. I am not near perfect, but I have become who I wanted to be, and those who matter know that they matter.

What can I do that will spike my interest?

I am unsettled. I have been roaming around aimlessly for the past few weeks thinking what can I do that will interest me?
I am having a terrible time at work trying to stay on task. I really put myself to the task for at least an hour at a time getting my work done, but that is about the length of my attention span lately, I then have to get up, and roam for a few minutes before I can stand to force myself to get back to work.
At home, I am hardly interested in anything. I cant figure out what to cook for dinner, because nothing sounds good…I am not too interested in any of the shows that have been on, and they have all been season premieres. I want to get out and do something, but I am not sure what to do, and the things that I think would be good are too much money for me to afford right now…
I was so excited to go camping to get away and do something, and it was great, but went by so quickly. Now what can I do? I cant think of a book I want to read...That is when I know it is bad. Reading is my outlet, and my passion.
So I finally put a word to my feeling today. Unsettled.
I guess that all the uncertainty in my life is starting to get to me. Our adoption processes are at a point where we are almost done with all the pre-work, so we may have children in our home in a few months, or two years, it is so unpredictable. I am still a little unsettled at my job, because I am still not 100% comfortable with my responsibilities, and what they encompass. I am getting closer, but still not there. And Landon seems to be a bit unsettled himself, which does not help things! Two people going crazy in the same house.
The world around me is driving me crazy with its uncertainly, and so here I am not sure what to do with myself.

Campout!

We had a great time camping this weekend! Landon and I went up Friday afternoon (I got to flex at 12:00!) so we found the campground that we had reservations for, we were not able to camp at the campground we had previously stayed, because it was full, so we had to camp on the other side of the lake.
It took another 40 minutes to get to the other campground, but we eventually found it, got a site that we thought would be good, and set up.
The last site that we stayed at on this lake was really quiet. Not too many dogs, or many young kids, it was nice.
This side of the lake, or it could have just been the time of year…There was a dog at almost every campsite, as well, as tons of little kids. And by the sounds of it, not too many of them were having a good experience.
We are going to be there with the noisy kids someday, but right now, it is nice to go camping, and not have to be woken up by a screaming child.
However, I will give them this; it was probably the crows that woke the child! Those darn things were loud as.
After we got set up, and made a quick dinner, we just hung out for the rest of the night, it was great. The next day, our friends (who will henceforth be known as LC and SC) came up with their boat, so we went out on the Lake for most of the day.
We played around in a nice cove, and then later after asking Landon and me if we wanted to ski, and us declining! SC decided that he would go ahead and wake board, then ski.
After telling us that he was terrible, and not to be too disappointed by his performance, he went out and showed us his stuff.
Just one thing to say to SC. Whatever, you were awesome. You can’t tell us again that you are terrible, and have us believe you! And as for LC, maybe next time for the tube ya?
It was so great to have company on our camp trips. Not that we don’t like to go by ourselves, we do, but it was also very nice to shake things up a bit, and have friends.
The weather could not have been better. And the company was superb. I would say that we had an excellent time.
It was a great day! After we got back to land we went back to camp, made tinfoil dinners, and then just hung out, played some games, and just relaxed!
Sunday was pack up day, so we ate, and then packed up.
LC and SC went back out on the Lake, while Landon and I finished striking camp. We then went down to the beach to see how it was. There was a “No Dogs on the Beach” clause so we ended up not swimming. It was too hot to leave poor Butch in the Truck.
And if we tied him to a bench outside of the beach area, he would be one of those Dogs that I spoke about earlier. One that would be way worse than any crying child too!
So we went home, unpacked, started the wash and watched the race.
Ahhh. Another great weekend with my husband here.

State of the Union

My concern for the state of the Union has been steadily increasing. My husband and I make a pretty good living, we have a modest house, with modest vehicles, and have been able to always eat, and fill our cars up with fuel, and still have a bit of money left for a bit of entertainment (such as camping!)
But recently, we have had to really start cutting back, using coupons, and not going to a campground in Oklahoma because it is too far to drive with fuel prices the way they are.
Here is the point I am getting at. We…a two income family with no children are starting to feel the real pinch of the prices at the pump which in turn have raised the price of almost everything. Some things significantly.
What are families doing that were already living paycheck to paycheck?
They are not getting paid any more at work, and some of them do not have that little cushion that they can just do without. They are having to choose whether to fill up the car with fuel so they can go to their job, or feed their kids dinner.
This is what I am concerned about. All the higher ups in the country say…”this is not a recession, we have not hit that level yet…” What do we have to see to hit a recession “level”?
Perhaps I am not as up to date on the true state of the economy, but I am worried about those that are less fortunate than my family, yet now that I have had to use any extra income I did have on needs rather than wants, I do not have that much left to give to others. I still have my weekly pay check deduction that I give to United Way, but I have very little else to give. I am now living paycheck to paycheck.
So when there is the most need for support, there is the least to give.
The food banks are crying for people to give, yet people are struggling to feed their own families, so the usual people who always give, no longer can, and the people who really need help have no where to go.
I am admittedly a little ignorant of the whole Fannie May, Freddie Mac thing, and how the government spending all that money to take over helps us, and perhaps it was the best move out there for families to keep their homes, but pretty soon they are not going to be able to keep them anyway if we don’t quit what we are doing as a country and focus on getting alternate methods of fuel, what ever happened to 100% solar cars? I know that we could not drive too far at night, but for those that could have a “commute” car that was all solar would save so many natural resources.
If we can come up with new ideas every month on new fangled things for our cell phones, and ipods, why don’t we focus these creative intelligent people on finding a way to get rid of our dependency on oil.
And if someone of something is standing in our way, who is allowing these companies to have that much power?
Just electing the right president is not going to fix this.
We have a country where we are free, yet we are still shackled by our government and their choices.

How is it I never thought of that?

I love the mountains, I love the rolling hills, I love the fountains, I love the daffodils wheeeeen the lights are low boom diada boom diada boom diada boom dia.
I am so excited to get this party started! I am finally going camping. Get away from the hustle and bustle of daily normal life, and get out to the almost all natural nature!
I was talking to one of my co-workers today whilst thinking to myself, I sure wish it was Friday! Just as she said, happy Friday Eve…What? That is great. I love Eves, Christmas Eve, Thanksgiving Eve, Easter Eve, you know how that goes…I am so glad to have another Eve that I can look forward to EVERY week!
I will probably forget about this by two Thursdays from now, because there is just entirely too much stuff forced into my brain, that the unnecessary items have to fall out!
But until I forget! Yeah it is Friday Eve!
BURRITO day is coming!!! oops now known as omelet day. Too bad. I sure liked those burritos!

What has happened to Society? We have turned into Lazy unloyal debt mongers.

Where did Loyalty go? Where did the work ethic go? What happened with Space Travel?
This is a topic that has really bothered me of late. Partly because of my job, but it is rampant in every part of our lives.
Lets take the work force. 30 years ago, a person would stay at the same job for years. Usually ending up retiring in this job. But then we started needing things faster, and in more quantities, and these people who were loyal were getting laid off after 30 years of service. For Robots, or a younger more aggressive workforce.
So then their kids saw this, and said to themselves, I am not going to let myself get stuck in that rut. So now days it is not looked poorly on a candidates application if they have worked at 6 different jobs in six years…Why?
Is there is a reason why people switch jobs so much? Why not find a job, and put up with it? If there is a lot of Bull at that job, perhaps find another one, but if there is the normal bull, stick with it. The grass is definitely not always greener on the other side.
When I was in my previous position (in the same company!), I was in a position that I hired people for jobs in a retail environment. This is where I had the hardest time. I would have applicants come in that were very young, gave them their first job ever, and then saw them flounder when they realized that it was not a social job, it was hard work. They would come up to me and say, “I cannot work here anymore, you expect too much of me and pay me too little.”
What is going to happen to these kids? If that job was too hard, isn’t the next one going to be too?
I see this being rampant. Kids are growing up lazy, with no sense of loyalty. Getting into debt, getting married saying that is too hard and getting divorced. Getting a good job, then saying that it is too much work, with not enough pay, and quitting. They then get deeper into debt, because they now do not have a job, yet they keep up their same spending habits. Then they default on their credit cards, their home loans, ect. Say having creditors breathing down their neck is too hard, and claim bankruptcy.
Man…and we wonder what has happened with the economy. People overextending themselves to ensure they have nice things, yet not making enough money to pay for them.
This drives me crazy.
Life is hard.
Marriage is hard
Keeping a job and finding things you like about it everyday is hard.
Telling yourself that you dont need the things you cant afford is hard.
but staying in a marriage regardless of the hard times is rewarding.
Staying in a job and doing your best is rewarding.
Staying out of debt is enourmously rewarding. Not right away, but later when you can afford to put your kids through college.

Hopeful Camper

Summer is almost gone

Most times this would not be a great sentiment for me as I have always been a summer type of person. But that was back in the day when I lived in a more temperate climate! Now I live for Spring and Fall. Partly because we can go camping! Yeah!
I have been wanting to go camping so bad for a while, and have not had the chance to do it because it has been so incredibly hot, and humid. Camping in this type of weather is miserable.



I am hoping that I can convince Landon that this next weekend would be a great weekend to go. (I hope that it does not rain)
He once again has a weekend off, and I want to take full advantage of it to get our camper out, and go into the somewhat wild.
Here in Texas there really isn’t any place that I would call wild. But a good lake, and some trees will do for me now!
Maybe we can go to Ray Roberts again. That was a pretty nice place
Here is to hoping I can go camping this weekend!

Am I getting old?

Here it is the day after a whole night of playing Tennis, Bowling, Baseball, and Boxing on the Wii, and oh my. I am such a wimp. I can hardly move my right arm. Example. Lets go to me trying to eat some cereal this morning. First I have to get the cereal off the top shelf of the pantry, the whole 19 oz. was almost too much for me to hold on to, then go for the milk. Only a half Gallon, and it is almost gone yet was still a difficult task. OK here comes the most terrible part. Go to me putting in the spoon, and trying to make it to my mouth. I didn’t know I actually used any muscle to do that every morning, but this morning, it was rough! My arm hurts so bad!! :)
So on to other things, I went to bed last night around 2am, thinking, oh yes, I can so sleep in tomorrow! Nope. 5:30am Butch needs to go outside (I swear that I just let him out!) but I would rather get my sleepy butt out of bed then to clean up the results of not doing just that.
I then stumble back to bed, and lo and behold 6:30 Butch wakes me up again. This time I looked at him and said …really? I let you out 1 hour ago, and not only that you have not ate, or drank anything since then. I think he was just bored, because he had been in his kennel the whole time I was out yesterday. He was saying, you had your fun, now I want to play!

So just as I was getting up out of bed, I get a crazy charlie horse in my calf, so I drop to the floor, and start stretching it out, and beating the living daylights out of my own flesh to stop the pain! (I think back to one of yesterdays Ballgames and us making so much fun of the little wus that had to go to the sidlines for a little cramp!) but I eventually got up, and here I am now a little later throwing around the alligator so that Butch can chase it!
One of those responsibilities be it a dog, or a kid. They have their own time table, and you need to adhere to it, regardless of what you chose to do the day before!

Gotta love em though!
Here is a video of Landon and I messing around with poor Butch. We get our thrills so easily.

The results of the Hurricane IKE party

I had a fantastic night. Regardless of the fact that we saw almost no rain, and very little wind. The Hurricane party turned out to be a normal everyday get together. Sad to say, but it is not often that I get to hang out with friends, that I have so much in common with, and just have fun playing games, and exchanging stories. It has been so refreshing to find friends that I can feel comfortable with, and not have to worry about all of the politics with other people.
We watched college football, played the wii, and just had a good time. I am so glad that this couple came to Texas, I know that they both miss home, but I hope they can start to feel a bit better about living in Texas after a while!
I do not have too many people that I can just hang out with. I love that I can with them. And I hope that this is the start of a great friendship, that we can do this often, and not get bored of each others company.
Go Gamecocks! :)

New slide shows

I have changed my slide shows. If you want to take a look at the new ones.
I am going to have to continue to rotate them in and out, because if I put them all on here, the page would be veerryyy slooowww.