Finish What You Started

Here it is, the last day of November, and the last day of NaBloPoMo. I can't believe I actually made it this year!

Hopefully now I can get back to more meaningful posts, rather than the play by play day to day stuff I've been writing. Though I have to say, I like having to write every day for the most part - I think it helps keep things flowing. So often during the rest of the year I think of all these great things to write about, and then have no motivation to sit down and write it. Perhaps I should challenge myself more with the blog.



Speaking of challenges, since it is Monday, I am supposed to do a Gratitude Monday post.

There are so many people I can post about, I just don't know how to choose. God has placed so many amazing souls in my life. And to say something about them here simply won't be enough - I could never express in written word what they mean to me. They would have to hear my inner most self; they would have to feel the things I feel and get inside my head to truly understand. But still, I try. The post for Kim a few weeks ago was only the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more I can say, but the words are never quite right. I will someday write about a life long friend, Rhonda, and a new friend, Rachel. When I can find the words that are right; when my head can focus and I can wrap my mind around something more than the immediate "to do" list on my desk, I will talk about them too.

On her private blog, Julia wrote a post about me and it was so moving and touching that I get weepy every time I read it (and yes, I go back and read it often). Her post encourages me to write one about her, and when I try to focus on Julia and the impact she has had on my life, my thoughts fly out in a million directions. She blows. my. mind. on a weekly basis. I have never known someone so giving, someone so brilliant, so intuitive and kind; someone so incredibly amazing. Julia has a heart that is immeasurable. Her soul is a soul of true giving and uninhibited charity. And her mind, my goodness, her mind is open to everything, full of ideas and thoughtfulness, facts and figures.

She speaks rapidly but with clarity and intelligence. She is funny and clever. Her body and mind knows no stillness, yet she is still able to make everyone around her feel welcome, relaxed, appreciated and wanted. She is an amazing hostess; thinking of everyone and everything and attending every need. She is a great mom to 2 amazing and gifted children and she beams with pride whenever she speaks of them. She is observant, a planner, a problem solver and critical thinker. And she has encouraged me and lifted me up on so very many occasions. She has shown me what giving really is. In observing her life, she makes me aware of how selfish I can be and how being charitable doesn't always mean giving "things" or money, but instead it can mean giving time, giving encouragement, giving knowledge and giving support.

She makes me want to be a better person.

She is a blessing to my life, and for that I am so grateful.

There is so much more I could say; so much more I want to say but I just can't find the words.

I hope that you, my readers, are able to find the words today about someone in your life. Pay forward the gratitude - tell them what they mean to you.

Bless someone with your thoughts and feelings today.

Until,
D :)

Throw It Up

We drove back home from Houston yesterday, and walked in to our home to find a horror scene. Our cat, who usually is great with being left alone for a few days, completely destroyed our house, Linda Blaire style, by vomiting all over the living room, dining room (our office) and the bathroom. The only other room she had access to was the kitchen, and shockingly she didn't do anything in there.

And when I say she vomited everywhere, I mean everywhere! It was all over the 2 big area rugs we have in the living room, all over the hard wood floor, all over the dining room floor, Hubby's brand new office chair, my office chair, the kid's toys, the computer desks, the bathroom counter, the bathroom floor and all down the side of the cabinet. I don't know what the heck happened to her, but the house was like nothing I've ever seen. We had to pull up both rugs and a bunch of the kid's toys, throw what we could into the washing machine and hose down the rest in the driveway. It was absolutely disgusting, and totally not something anyone should ever have to come home to. We couldn't even let the kids in the house until most of it was cleaned up.

Today we decided to have a true day of rest. After 5 days on the go and the disaster we faced when we got home, Hubby and I both just wanted a day that we didn't have to worry about going anywhere or being anywhere on time. I worked on photography stuff and Hubby worked on his computer stuff. The boys played really well together most of the day. I think being away from the comforts of home and all of their toys made them appreciate everything more. They barely argued and actually played together as opposed to their usual parallel play.

Tonight I went with Kim and Shannon to see New Moon. The movie was excellent! I can't wait to see it again.

Until,
D :)

Strange

Ok so last night Hubby and I had ourselves a little date night. We left the kids with the inlaws and headed to downtown Houston to one of our favorite restaurants.

It was a place we used to go when we were dating, and a place we often went to on special occasions when we were in town. The place was always great; with amazing spiced tea, fried mushrooms and the best crawfish etouffee and fried crawfish around.

It had been about 4 years since we had been there, and it occurred to me on the way into town that we probably should have checked to make sure it was even still open. Thankfully, it was, but we were both surprised to find the parking lot practically empty when we got there. Now, it was just before 6:30, but it was also Friday night, so I really expected the lot to be it's normal, buzzing self. But then again, it was also the day after Thanksgiving...

We walked in, and there were only 2 other tables occupied in the entire place. The bar was completely empty and the patio was barren as well. We sat in a booth and ordered our "usual". One table left immediately after and by the time our food arrived the other table was gone too. At 7PM the entire restaurant was empty except for us. It was eerie. The food seemed about the same as we remembered, but we were slightly worried that we might be headed for food poisoning, just because there was no one else in the restaurant.

We were done and out of there in only about 40 minutes and tried to go over to Transco Tower to see the fountain, but the streets were blocked off. We decided instead to head to the opposite end of town for dessert at the Cheesecake Factory. The van was low on gas, but we had enough to get there and back home, so I didn't worry with stopping for a fill up. When we got on the freeway, the emergency alert signs were warning drivers of an accident ahead. We managed to exit the freeway just before the accident, and after sitting through several lights several times each, driving past 2 blocked entrance ramps and missing our highway exchange, we took a through street that cut over to the freeway we missed. We were stopped at the light in the turn lane to the freeway and I noticed there were panhandlers on every corner. Being from Austin, it was not an unfamiliar site, and Hubby and I were amusing ourselves by reading the sign one particular man was carrying. It was a strange mix of Spanish and English and really didn't make much sense. While Hubby was talking about it, I noticed another man on the corner, staggering around a real estate sign.

As I watched in disbelief, he turned toward the sign, unzipped his pants and assumed the stance...

We got back on the freeway and headed toward the Woodlands. The digital alert thingy on the van was telling us we had about 45 miles left on that tank of gas. We noticed it go down to 42 then 41 then it changed to "Low". The needle in the gas gage was well below the "E" line. But again, we discussed the fact that we didn't have far to go, and we headed straight for the restaurant. The Cheesecake Factory was great - fully seated and hoppin' as a restaurant should be. Hubby and I split a slice of lemon raspberry cheesecake and a slice of dutch apple, and were full, fat and sassy by the time we finished. We walked over to the Barnes and Noble to browse the books for a while - something we used to spend many evenings doing before we had kids. I picked up a thick book from the shelf that contained several hundred pages of business logos. It was in a different language, but the chapter headings were in English. I flipped through to the creative arts section and was perusing the many varied logos when one in particular caught my eye. It turns out, it is the logo for one of Hubby's friend's businesses! We tried to call him but were unable to reach him. He had no idea his logo had made it into a book containing the world's top 2000 logos!

We left the bookstore and walked back to the car. While driving through the parking lot, I noticed the digital gas display said there was 50 miles left on the tank. I looked down to the regular gage and the needle was resting comfortably on 1/4 of a tank. For a minute I really thought we had gotten into the wrong car! When we got back up on the freeway the digital display kept climbing. It was so strange that we decided to go ahead and stop for gas. We pulled off and into a Shell station and Hubby got out to pump the gas. He put his card in the reader, punched in our zip code and suddenly the pump started beeping. Then on the screen the words "ALL PUMPS ARE NOW SHUT DOWN" appeared. The entire gas station went silent. Patrons at the pumps looked at their screens and then to the clerk in the store. The clerk was going about his business, ringing someone up inside. There was no glance into the lot, no signal that things would be back to normal, nothing! So everyone got back in their cars and headed across the street to the Shell station on the opposite corner (why are they always on both corners??) and tried once again to get gas.

One full tank later and we were headed to the inlaws house. I exited the freeway to turn on to a street and as we rounded the corner at the turn, the van started dinging at me! "ding! ding! ding! ding!" No lights came on, nothing changed to indicate what the problem was; it just decided to ding.

Thankfully we made it home safely, shook our heads at such a bizarre night and went straight to bed.

Until,
D :)

Rest

After the most awesome night's sleep all week, Port woke me up at his "normal" 7AM this morning. I'm not sure if he was up in the night or not; I was so exhausted from the week that a freight train could have come through the room and I probably wouldn't have heard it. Kiddo did wake up coughing around 6AM, but a dose of benadryl put an end to that rather quickly.

I know it sounds like I give him benadryl a lot, but honestly, this week is the first time he's had any in months. Whatever is bothering his allergies is really doing a number on him this week.

Of course, it probably doesn't help that he has been sleeping on the floor everywhere we go. That can't be good for anybody for more than a day or two.

So today was just a lazy day. The bigger boys went to the autorama (car show) downtown and Grammy, Port and I just hung out most of the day. It was very nice not having an agenda, and it was even better knowing that I wouldn't have to pack everything up and drive for several hours.

Tonight my inlaws gave Hubby and I a chance at a date night. It was so great being able to get out and have dinner kidless, but it was by far one of the most bizarre night's I have ever had.

More on that, tomorrow.

Until,
D :)

Thanks That Was Fun

Well not long after last night's post, we went to bed, only to be woken up by the baby screaming at 3AM. Kiddo was still breathing erratically, and so neither one of us was sleeping very soundly to begin with.

So when the baby cranked up, I tried to comfort him and put him back down. No dice.

He was up, up. He didn't want to snooze in a chair or on the couch, he wanted to play and explore. My parent's house is extremely quiet and extremely well lit at night - the total opposite of the white noise blaring, pitch black house Port is used to. And just as I had given up and was about to put him back to bed, he spotted my mom's cat that had been hiding all day and all he wanted in this great big world was to pet that kitty.

Of course, when she heard his squeal, she promptly went back to her hiding place. This action, of course, sent Port into a tailspin of epic proportions.

The screaming went on. all. night. long.

*yawn*

A little after 8 we hit the road to head down to southern Louisiana to have lunch with Hubby's family. We stopped to get gas on the way out, and after an altercation between a cranky store clerk and Hubby, we ended up only getting about half a tank of gas*. According to the clerk, they "do things differently here in Shreveport." Soooooo, one ticked off Hubby, $30 in gas and a giant coffee for me later we were on our way. We took an old highway for a while to avoid any traffic that might be headed the same direction, and enjoyed a nice, scenic drive.

About an hour into the trip Kiddo started complaining that his eyes were itching, then his nose, and then the coughing started. I didn't have my children's liquid benadryl handy, so we had him swallow one capsule. It was his first ever attempt at swallowing pills, and he did great. He passed out sound asleep about 15 minutes later! lol

It took that seriously huge coffee for me to stay awake.

We made it to the family lunch just as everyone was gathering around the table. The food was great, the conversation was lively, and it was all a blur to me. I was so sleepy, I'm not even sure I spoke to anyone. After lunch, we headed over to Hubby's grandma's house to spend some time with her. 5 minutes in one of her comfy chairs and I was out. I'm not sure how long my family let me sit there, eyes closed and drooling on myself, but when I woke I felt much better.

We hung out with her for a couple of hours and then had to get back on the road to go to Houston. Since we were once again out of gas, we stopped at the nearest station to fill our tank. 10 minutes later, only $8 of gas had pumped. We decided that since we actually wanted to get to Houston within the next 24 hours we should probably find a different station. We went to the big station near the freeway, and I left the boys to pump the gas while I went inside in search of coffee. (ok, so the little boys stayed in their seats and the big boy got out to pump gas. ;) ) Coffee fetched, I was surprised to find Hubby already back in the van.

The station didn't take the type of credit card we use for gas purchases. doh!

So, back on the road and up the block to the next station, and we finally are able to fill the tank. Mercy!

We finally hit the freeway and Port decides the ride to Houston is the perfect time to practice his spontaneous yelling skills. Other than that, the trip was pretty uneventful. We enjoyed a late dinner, more cheesecake from lunch and are about to crash for the night.

It was a great but tiring Thanksgiving. I look forward to a lazy couple of days here.

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday!

Until,
D :)

*So the whole story with the gas station clerk... My parents gave us a gift card for gas, but I forgot to ask how much it was for. The card is only good in Louisiana and eastern states (not Texas) so we needed to use it while we were there. We went to the gas station and Hubby tried to use it at the pump but it didn't work so he went inside. I guess the clerk was cranky (I would be too if I had to work on Thanksgiving, but there was still no reason for him to act like this toward my husband); he asked Hubby how much was on the card and when Hubby said he didn't know, the guy gave him attitude about having to look it up. So then, he asked Hubby how much we wanted to use. Hubby again didn't have an answer because we needed to fill up and he didn't know exactly what total $ amount that would be. There was some tension in the exchange and when Hubby asked the guy if he could just pump till the tank was full and take that amount out of the total, the clerk told him that "no, we do things differently here in Shreveport." {and my question in response to that snide remark would have been "as opposed to where??" but alas, I wasn't in the store.) If Hubby told him we were using the full amount, and then pumped less in gas, the balance would be lost. So Hubby needed to tell him exactly how much he was going to spend. Not knowing how much we needed, and getting quite frustrated with the situation, Hubby told him $30 and so that is all we were able to use. It takes a lot to get Hubby riled up, and when I saw the look on his face (and the words he mumbled - eek!) as he came out of the store, I knew things were bad.

That's the long of it; just in case you wanted to know. ;)