Hail

So, I'm sitting in a hotel in Yuma, Colorado......listening to at least golf ball size hail rain down on the roof above me and periodically smash into my window.....please pray that this storm will pass quickly and that there will be no major damage or injuries.

Hail appears to be done for now.....still raining and thunder, though.....

Fun Texas Geography Lesson

A little geography lesson for all - Here's a list of actual places to travel in Texas :

Need to be cheered up?
Happy, Texas 79042
Pep, Texas 79353
Smiley, Texas 78159
Paradise, Texas 76073
Rainbow, Texas 76077
Sweet Home, Texas 77987
Comfort, Texas 78013
Friendship, Texas 76530

Love the Sun?
Sun City, Texas 78628
Sunrise, Texas 76661
Sunset, Texas 76270
Sundown, Texas 79372
Sunray, Texas 79086
Sunny Side, Texas 77423
Sunnyvale, Texas 775182

Want something to eat?
Bacon, Texas 76301
Noodle, Texas 79536
Oatmeal, Texas 78605
Turkey, Texas 79261
Trout, Texas 75789
Sugar Land, Texas 77479
Salty, Texas 76567
Rice, Texas 75155
Sweetwater, Texas 79556

Why travel to other cities? Texas has them all!
Atlanta, Texas 75551
Detroit, Texas 75436
Colorado City, Texas 79512
Denver City, Texas 79323
Nevada, Texas 75173
Memphis, Texas 79245
Miami, Texas 79059
Boston, Texas 75570
Santa Fe, Texas 77517
Tennessee Colony, Texas 75861
Reno, Texas 75462

Feel like traveling outside the country? Don't bother buying a plane ticket!
Athens, Texas 75751
Canadian, Texas 79014
China, Texas 77613
Egypt, Texas 77436
Turkey, Texas 79261
London, Texas 76854
New London, Texas 75682
Paris, Texas 75460

We even have a city named after our planet!
Earth, Texas 79031

Exhausted?
Energy, Texas 76452

Cold?
Blanket, Texas 76432
Winters, Texas

Like to read about History?
Santa Anna, Texas
Goliad, Texas
Alamo, Texas
Gun Barrel City, Texas

Need Office Supplies?
Staples, Texas 78670

Men are from Mars, women are from
Venus, Texas 76084

You guessed it... it's on the state line...
Texline, Texas 79087

For the kids...
Kermit, Texas 79745
Elmo, Texas 75118
Nemo, Texas 76070
Tarzan, Texas 79783
Winnie, Texas 77665
Sylvester, Texas 79560

Other city names in Texas , to make you smile.....
Flower Mound , Texas 75022
Frognot , Texas 75424
Bigfoot , Texas 78005
Hogeye , Texas 75423
Cactus , Texas 79013
Notrees , Texas 79759
Best, Texas 76932
Veribest , Texas 76886
Kickapoo , Texas 75763
Dime Box, Texas
Telephone , Texas 75488
Telegraph , Texas 76883
Whiteface , Texas 79379
Twitty, Texas 79079

P.S. Whoops, left out
Muleshoe
Cut N Shoot
Hoop And Holler
Ding Dong
Farewell

And, of course, there is a place in Texas that is......
KNOTT, TEXAS

Mold

Did you know that coffee can mold? I certainly didn't. I guess when my parents were here for Mother's Day (yes, two weeks ago), we didn't empty the coffee pot on the way to church. Daddy dumped the grounds, but I never noticed that there was still coffee in the pot. I glanced that way just now and realized there was quite the mold colony growing. Gross.

Some assembly required

I know there are a lot of folks that are scared by those three little words.....but generally not me. I am sitting typing in my new desk chair....which took me about 30 minutes to put together. It's not rocket science, but comforting to know that I can follow directions and assemble something! The story of the chair itself is a good one -- I've been looking for a new chair for months and found a great one -- but it was a little more pricey than I wanted to spend. However, never did find another that matched up. So, finally decided to bite the bullet yesterday -- and what do I find out when I get up to check out? The chair is $90 off! Plus I had a $20 coupon, so it was less than half price!! Yippee!!!

Quick catch up on my reading - I've finished all the Harry Potter books and am now waiting anxiously for both the movie from book 5 and the release of book 7 later this summer. Also finished the Uncommon Heros series by Dee Henderson. Quick reads, but fun to see a glimpse into military life.

My parents are in town this weekend -- anticipating the thought of a long holiday weekend without seeing their girls caused a spur of the moment trip. They are staying with Heather & Phillip this time.....we're off to see Pirates of the Carribean at the Studio Movie Grill in a little while.

Looking forward to slowing down a little bit in the next few weeks. This next week will mark 4 in a row that I'm out of the office 2+ days. Nice to have the change of scenery, but it makes for craziness trying to make sure that everything continues to flow as intended.

And maybe, if it stops raining, I'll mow my yard sometime soon!

Married

Well, they've done it. My friends Brad and Laura are now well and truly married. After a breathtakingly beautiful heartfelt and poignant ceremony, we adjorned to the Tower Club for a quite atypical CofC wedding reception. Truth be known, it was an all out party. So fun. Good food and drink, good music, lots of good friends and fellowship time. Now, I'm off to sleep.....to dream of my prince charming and someday wedding.....

Onion

According to Spirit magazine (on Southwest Airlines), the onion is apparently the state vegetable of Texas. Did anyone else know that we have a state vegetable? Learned that on a flight to my state capitol tonight. Of course I believed Southwest's research department, but I googled it anyway. Lot of other interesting state mascots.....you can read all about them here if you are interested.

Traveling for work....CPE conference. Hopefully the two days of learning will actually be useful and I won't regret the craziness that work became in getting me prepared to be out of the office!

Ran into an old schoolmate in the airport.....Andy was a year ahead of me but we went to school together throughout middle/high school and college. He's a sucessful attorney, married, with a 19 month old baby girl living in Amarillo. I don't think I'd seen him since he graduated and went off to law school. He's in town for CLE --- at the same hotel as me I think. How random!

The 7 Meme.....

I've been tagged by Sarah to complete the following meme.....

Here are the rules: Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. You need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. Habit -- I am a habitual snoozer.....seriously. I'll set my alarm 30-60 minutes ahead of when I really need to get up so that I can punch the snooze button repeatedly.

2. Fact -- I have my motorcycle license and plan to own a Harley-Davidson some day.

3. Habit -- I pop pretty much every joint possible - neck, back, knees, toes, and especially fingers.

4. Fact -- I do not have a green thumb. Though I enjoy live plants, I have a really hard time keeping them alive.

5. Habit -- I talk to myself .... often ..... out loud.

6. Fact -- I collect thimbles.....I have almost 200.

7. Habit -- I got sucked into soap opera watching in college - General Hospital in particular. I still record it every day (though I do skim through some storylines now).

So, here goes the tag....if you want to play, please do!!

Interesting.....

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Hi

Hi, y'all. Long time, no post. I know. Sorry. Busy at work + lingering yucky stomach ailments + low motivation = no blog posts.

Catching up on my Spring Reading Thing......since my last post, I've completed all the books on my list. My friend Sarah told me that when I finished Voice in the Wind I better have book 2, Echo in the Darkness on hand because I was going to want to dive right in. She was right. I finished Voice in the Wind one day last week on the train and drove straight to the library to get Echo in the Darkness. So good. I'd highly recommend them.

Now, I'm re-reading all 6 Harry Potter books in anticipation of Book 7, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows being released this summer. So far I've finished book 1 and am about halfway through book 2.

Not really anything else to tell....just living life, learning how to maintain a yard through the spring/summer (not loving it, but it's one of the burdens of home ownership, I guess).

In a few minutes I'm off to my small group bible study, then to pick my friend Kelly up at the airport. Have a great Sunday evening.

Curves

I really don't like to exercise. But, I like food -- a lot. And not the really good for you food. I like fried stuff and chocolate. So, if I'm going to get healthy, I decided that it was time to start a real, committed exercise program. And I just found out that my company will subsizide a 12 month gym membership at any fitness facility (previously, it was only at a certain chain).

So, I joined a gym today. I've never done that before by myself. Yes, I joined onto my friend Jenny's YMCA membership for a little while, but I've never walked in somewhere and joined. I've always been intimidated by gyms. It's either a class at a set time period or you have to figure out how to use all the equipment by yourself. Neither of which is very appealing to me or fits well into my schedule.

So, today I joined Curves. It is only women. It is a set circuit of resistance training with cardio between. Two times around the circuit is 30 minutes. And I got a pretty good workout for the first time. I think I'll be a little sore tomorrow.

My plan is to go straight from work. If I come home, I won't want to leave again - plus they close at 7:30. One reason I don't do well working out at home is that once I'm home, I don't want to change and workout. So, going on my way home is really the only way I'll do it.

Or I'll get up and be there when they open at 5:30 am. Which would put me back home around 6:15 - enough time to shower and get ready for work to still make it pretty much on time. I'd rather do this option, but I'm afraid my snooze button might continue to call my name. Plus, I'm not sure how well my body moves first thing in the morning.

I think I'll alternate the options for a while to see which really works best, then settle down to a routine. Some of you out there, please email me in a few weeks and ask me how it's going. I'm gonna need a little accountability to keep it up.

20/20

I went to the eye doctor today for my first regular exam since my LASIK surgery. Good news! I'm still at 20/20!! And besides the fact that I can still see great, the doc said that my eyes are healthy too. Whew. Glad to have that confirmed. Not that I was really worried - I'm still seeing just fine. It is just nice to have an authority tell me that.

Brrrr

It was SO cold over the weekend.....and it snowed!! I went home for Easter and the high was 30 all weekend long. Saturday it snowed lightly off and on all day. Fun weather to have, but not on Easter weekend!

When I got home today, it was 53 degrees in my house. Brrrr!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I finished a couple more books:

Heartburn Nora Ephron -- decent book, but I do prefer her screenplays. I was on the elevator one day as I was finishing this one up and a lady in my building just was so excited that I was reading it and told me how "outstanding" the book was. I wouldn't agree with her assessment - it was only passable. But I did finish it.

The Pocket Muse: Endless Inspiration Monica Wood -- I got this thinking that it might provide some blog ideas....alas, it was more for the "real" writer. So, I really just skimmed on through.

Alexandria & The Morning Star Nick Bantock -- continuation of the series. Excellent. Will definitely need to put these two on my list to own and re-read the whole series several more times.

Trip to the Library

When I was younger one of the highlights of summertime was trips to the library. I remember sometimes leaving with 20+ books. I feel like I'm reverting to a younger me.....

Dropped off the last three library books this afternoon and came home with 8 more:

currently reading:
Heartburn Nora Ephron

on tap:
Voice in the Wind Francine Rivers
Where is Joe Merchant? Jimmy Buffett
The Pocket Muse: Endless Inspiration Monica Wood
The Forgetting Room Nick Bantock
The Museum at Purgatory Nick Bantock
Alexandria Nick Bantock (book 5!)
The Morning Star Nick Bantock (book 6!)

If you aren't familiar with Nick Bantock, he wrote a wonderful unique series about Griffin and Sabine, two people who exchange letters and illustrated postcards. I was introduced to this series in high school and was astonished to find there are two more books!! Plus he wrote several other things, which I decided to explore also. I'd recommend the whole Griffin and Sabine series to anyone. It's definitely a stretch for your imagination.....

Reading update.....

Finished:

Lord John and the Private Matter -- I absolutely love Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. This book carries forward the character of Lord John Grey from those books. Sad to say, I really didn't like this book. If you've read the Outlander series you know the particulars of Lord John and his lifestyle preferences. This book explored that part of life much more than I really enjoyed. Plus, the book just didn't draw me in. So, I wouldn't recommend it and I don't think I'll be reading any more in this series.

The Accidental Bride -- decent modern romantic fiction. Wouldn't read it again, nor would I really recommend it, but it was okay.


Currently reading:

A Salty Piece of Land by Jimmy Buffett. So far so good - different than what I "normally" read, but I'm enjoying it so far. Not quite as quick a book to read, though. We'll see how it ends up.

The Gun

Since I know many of you will be curious, here's the story behind the gun that is the focal point for the decoration scheme in my guestroom.....


It is a 16 gauge double-barrel shotgun that belonged to Joseph Smith - my great-grandfather. He passed it down to his son, Howard Smith (my granddaddy). When my grandparents moved from their home to assisted living in Abilene, Granddaddy passed down one of his guns to each grandchild. Granddaddy estimated that the gun is about 100 years old (my granddaddy just turned 94 last August)


I was showing it to a policeman friend a few months ago and he was agog at the age and how good of shape it is in. So, I decided that it would be cool to somehow display the gun in my house. Thus began the idea for decorating the guest room.


I've got several photos from my granddaddy of his dad and friends with their guns - even one on a hunting trip (which I can't seem to find to post right now - update: thanks Mom for sending me the picture!!). My great-grandfather is center back in the first photo, and far left in the second - and I'm not exactly sure which one he is in the last photo.

Finished!

The headboard and guest room are (for all intents and purposes) FINISHED!!! I still need to hang some photos, but the majority of the work is done! Here are some photos....























Pickets in the trunk of my car.....

















In progress on the driveway.....




























Ready for paint......

































Headboard in place......

The complete package!

Weekend Recap

Busy, busy weekend. Wait, let me back up.

Busy, busy last week. Monthly staff / board meetings at work, plus babysitting auditors, trying to help them learn our business --- kinda difficult when they have a hard time asking a question. Quite frustrating, actually. I get the distinct impression that because they don't understand what I do, they assume that I am trying to hide something or lie to them. Maybe that is a little harsh, but it is the feeling from across the desk. I'm so hoping they wrap up this week on schedule and are out of my hair.

Friday after work I ran several errands, including a long overdue trip to Target. When Wal-Mart wasn't convenient I started shopping exclusively at Target. Now that Wal-Mart is literally across the street, I haven't been in Target in a few months. I've missed it. Got a new front door mat, linens for guest bed, and bedside lamps for new guest bed, and a new cabinet for some of my seweing supplies. Very productive trip. Then came home and put the cabinet together - my arms are still sore.....

Yesterday I headed out to Forney to a strip of antique/junk stores along Hwy 80 hoping to find some recycled white picket fence for a headboard for my guest bed. Had called my sis and bro-in-law to see if I found something if one of their vehicles might be free to help me cart it home and they decided to come along. It was fun to just wander and hang out for a few hours. Came home after a trip to Blockbuster and watched movies all night. Saw The Departed and Come Early Morning. Two very different movies. The Departed was very harsh, but intriguing. And I love all the actors, so somehow it made the blood, guts and language easier to bear. Come Early Morning just looked interesting - I hadn't heard anything about it. Wouldn't necessarily recommend it, but it wasn't horrible.

Today after church, I headed to Home Depot. Since I hadn't found the fence in a recycled format, I decided to just build it. Getting kinda anxious to finish up this room and I'm tired of looking. So, bought pickets and braces - had them cut to size and came home to construct the headboard. Didn't take very long, thankfully. Now, I just need to paint it and I'm done!

Reading

I saw reference to this at Karen's site. Intriguing. The problem is, I don't know what I want to read! Now that I am riding the train every day, I'm flying through books. (Seriously, I read Angels and Demons in 2.5 days - just in 25 minutes each way on the train and at lunch.) Just for kicks, I'm gonna try to document all the books I read in 2007. I'm not sure I can remember everything I've read so far this spring, but we'll take what we can get and go from here.

Any book suggestions that you want to make would be welcomed. I enjoy fiction with a romantic or mysterious turn. Don't go for much that is really deep - I read (like I watch movies) to escape reality. And yes, I have a library card, so I should be able to get anything I want.

I am one of those people that can re-read, so I may fill in with some of that. I probably could use to re-read the Harry Potter series before book 7 comes out this summer

Here's the list so far for 2007 -- I'll keep a word doc and update you all periodically with a grand total recap at year end.

Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
The Color of Law Mark Gimenez
Deception Point Dan Brown
Digital Fortress Dan Brown
Da Vinci Code Dan Brown
Outlander Diana Gabaldon (quick note: this was a re-read....for like the 4th or 5th time -- I've read the whole series and it is one I pick back up when I have nothing else to read)
Angels and Demons Dan Brown
Primrose Past Caroline Rose Hunt

Currently reading:
Lord John and the Private Matter Diana Gabldon

On tap:
The Accidental Bride Janice Harayda
A Salty Piece of Land Jimmy Buffett

Tired

Whew.....another Saturday come and gone....and I'm beat....and SORE! Who knew owning a home would be so much work?!

I got up this morning after sleeping in until about 9:00, courtesy of my wonderful eyeshades! (my bedroom is the sunniest room in the house....ugh). I got dressed to work outside, even though I had NO desire to do so. I've just learned that is one task you really shouldn't procrastinate.

I spent a couple of hours pulling stuff out of my gutter grates that fell from the oak tree as it blossomed, raking dried out balls from my sweet gum tree that covered the front yard, trying to pull out dead stuff that I'd killed with Roundup, and last but not least, mowing. I don't think yard work will ever be something I look forward to, but it wasn't too bad today (except for the soreness factor). Of course, it was at most in the 60s this morning.....come summer when it is at least 80 overnight, no amount of yard work will be fun. I also met another neighbor .... from across the street this time .... she was out working in her yard too, and came across to say hello. Of course, I can't remember her name now! But at least we've met.

After I got cleaned up, I went and bought a mattress for my guest room bed. As soon as I get sheets, the official guest room will be open for business. And for the first time in about 5 years, my parents will be able to sleep in the same bed when they come for a visit, as opposed to the twin trundle bed they sleep on now. Hopefully, they'll like the mattress I picked out.

Ran a few more errands, then came home to wait for the delivery guys. Unloaded the dishwasher, unpacked a few more boxes, including the contents of my sewing machine cabinet, remembered how to attach the sewing machine to the cabinet, watched a little TV, and now I'm off to bed!

New phone.....

My old cell phone was dying.....so I got a new one today......isn't it pretty??






I'm looking forward to playing with all the new stuff I can do!!