Summer

Have I mentioned that it is practically summer where I live? It has been so hot and humid this week. Ugh. Does not bode well for the next 3 or 4 months....

I was going to mow my yard on Tuesday because I couldn't remember when I mowed it last. Thankfully, I don't have those tall weed like pollen machines that look yucky in the yard -- I have pretty solid St. Augustine grass that doesn't even look too bad when it is too long. BUT, it stormed and rained on Tuesday and the ground was really wet and muddy when I got home, so no mowing for me!

Then I had planned to mow tonight, but it was soooo hot when I got home. A phone call from mom this afternoon telling me that she was planning to come and spend the night with me tomorrow had me pondering if I wanted to already have the yard done or plan to get up when it was (slightly) cooler on Saturday morning. The need to sleep in won out. I did eat dinner first and wait until about the last minute to start in order to get it all done before dark. I finished about 8:00, set the sprinklers for 30 minutes and whew, the yard is done for this week. It might be this summer that I break down and hire someone to do this for me. But maybe not.....

So. Mom? We're sleeping in on Saturday!!!

Back in the world of technology

The past two days, our internet connection at work has been down. That meant no work email, no personal email, no blogs, no time-killing surfing the net.

It also meant that our connection to our corporate headquarters was broken. Thus, several of my main sources of work were unavailable due to the location of the data and servers. Made for a couple of interesting days trying to stay productive. And, of course, there were folks that griped and whined all day long.

But, tonight, it appears that we are back in business. I was able to check work email from home a few minutes ago, and (thankfully!) only had 37 messages to wade through.

Kinda funny to think how crippled we were without internet and email. I think people forgot how to use the telephone and traditional fax machine!

Catching up.....

So, things in the bathroom remodel are still rocking along and nearing completion.....jump over here if you want to see more.

We are now 10 days away from baby Ratliff's anticipated due date.....baby is in position, but nothing is moving yet.....(at least that is what I am told!)

My parents came into town this past weekend.....we hung out at my house on Sat afternoon and watched the three original Indiana Jones movies (taped off the Sci-Fi channel) before heading to the theater to watch the new Indy movie on Sunday afternoon. It was good, though a little more sci-fi than action in some spots. Our speculation is that this is the last Indy movie.....but we'll see......

I met my good friend Sarah to see the new Narnia movie, Prince Caspian yesterday afternoon. I still need to re-read the series, but quite a bit of the movie is based on what I remembered from the book. Not all, but a lot.

I'm halfway through the Anne of Green Gables book series.....midway through the first book, I wasn't sure if I'd want to read the rest....but now I can't stop! Four more books to go.

It is now officially summer in my part of the world....high temps and humidity made for a miserably hot Memorial Day weekend. Thank goodness for air conditioning! (Yes, I am a spoiled girl who loves my a/c!)

Invisible

I spent the first couple days this past week at a conference in Austin. This conference includes a lunch where you sit at tables of 10 with perfect strangers. Well, you sit with strangers if you don't have any co-workers or friends with you at the conference.

I think of myself as somewhat outgoing. However, those two days, at those two meals, I felt completely invisible. The first day I was not even spoken to at all. The second day, I was barely included in a couple of comments because I inadvertently sat in between several folks from the same company.

I generally don't mind being by myself and enjoy traveling to these conferences as a change of pace from the normal routine of work. But, for that hour those two days, I wanted to run screaming from the room. Which, of course, I didn't do. I did eat as quickly as possible and then left to find other things to do for the remainder of the time until the next session started.

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Last night I was invited to a middle school choir program. The kids picked songs from the 1960s and choreographed a routine with the song. It was cute, but made me feel old! I dimly remember middle school....and wouldn't wish going back to that era on anyone.

What's in My Fridge?

Saw this little meme (sorta) over on Amateur Gourmet. So, just for fun, I decided to show you a little peek:

the top two shelves......a box of baking soda (that needs to be replaced), one lonely piece of apple pie (bought at the Butterfly Cafe in Goodland, KS for my phillip-in-law's birthday earlier in the month), some rice leftover from our Chinese food run when the girls were here back in March, a bit of Smart Balance and a jar of starter for a fun 30-day friendship cake.



















beverage options.....skim milk, chocolate milk, tea, diet coke, cherry coke zero, Corona light.....and some string cheese



















bottom two shelves of the door - various salsas, mustards, salad dressings, ketchup, bbq sauce and worchestershire sauce....a bottle of champagne bought for New Year's and not opened yet, water bottle, parmesean cheese (not the good stuff, but does okay for sprinkling on pizza), fat free miracle whip, and TWO kinds of chocolate syrup - what you don't see is the moldy jar of applesauce that I tossed tonight!



















top shelves of door - homemade jams that were a Christmas present from my boss, spray butter, lime juice, maraschino cherries (I could just eat up that whole jar!), caramel sauce (bought for a Pampered Chef party in Feb 07), hot fudge sauce (gift from my preacher's family in Dec 06), and a jar of jalepenos.....some leftover parmesean cheese from Papa John's, and butter.

That's it.....what I have in my fridge as of today.

Home Again

Yes, you guessed right....I was in Austin for a couple of days for a CPE conference.

I had a rental car while I was there.....a nice, new Nissan Altima. It was the first time I've driven a car since I got my Durango before Christmas. Kinda strange feeling....the really strange thing, though, was this is what the key looked like:

It's not even a real key! It was very strange to have a push-button start and not really need this key for anything once I was in the car!

While I was gone, my shower is back!

View from the window

Interesting photo.....

know what this is? jump over here to see!

Remodel update

We're 5 days in.....things are starting to take shape, but there is plenty to do still! If you want to see more photos, jump over here.


I worked from home this afternoon and was able to catch a photo of David and Alfonso in action....
























......and at their lunch break on my back patio





















Why was I working from home this afternoon? Well, it is because I was waiting for a TV repair guy from Best Buy. A few weeks ago, my 10 month old TV started turning itself off randomly. The power would completely blank out. Then it would be back on later all by itself. Annoying.

So, I called it in, and of course, the first day the tech came out, the TV was working perfectly. But he ordered a new circuit board anyway. Today he came out to install it.....15 minutes later my TV was back in operation. I took a quick snap of the inside of my LCD tv. It's pretty amazing all the guts that are required to make it work!

7 Random Things

My friend Sara tagged my for this 7 Random Things Meme.....

1. I get grief from many people about the extent of my organizational skills - I guess the spreadsheets to plan my annual Christmas party just push me over the edge :-)

2. I have issues with textures of several foods - mushrooms amd tomatoes are at the top of the list. I might enjoy the taste, but can't get over the texture, so I avoid these foods like the plague.

3. I have an interesting collection.....one that most people are surprised at, so I'll consider that a random fact about me. I blogged about that collection here.

4. I like motorcyles - I have my license and hope to own a Harley someday. This seems out of character for me, so most folks are shocked by this.

5. I will complain about doing yardwork, but I'm too cheap to pay someone to do it for me. (I watered my yard for the very first time tonight - I've been in my house for 18 months.....) I will also complain about housework, but I am NOT too cheap to pay someone to do it for me! :-)

6. I'm a pretty tech savvy girl, but I still ask my tech-genius daddy for help all the time!

7. I have a decent eye for style and design, but the idea of picking out tile (and now paint!) for my bathroom remodel has about put my stomach into knots.

Ok, enough for the random-ness today.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!! I love you so much and am so very thankful for all you have done for me! I enjoyed spending "normal" time with you this weekend!

























new silky pajamas!




























two dozen pink roses

Tattoo.......

or not to tattoo......that is the question.

This has been percolating in my mind for several years. There is a big part of me that wants to get a tattoo. BUT, I don't really know what I want or where to get it so that as I age it doesn't look funky.

any thoughts???

Too late now......

Well.....my first MAJOR house project has begun.....too late to go back now!


The master bathroom was redone sometime in the past -- probably 80s or 90s. Pink/white tile and gold shell shaped fixtures and accents. Not my cup of tea.....see this is before:

and after DAY One:



























I've also started another blog to compile/chronicle various house projects.....I'll put some photos here, but will put complete photos over there. So check it out!