Tour the State of Texas

Celebrating our western heritage:
Cut n Shoot, Texas
Gunshot, Texas
Gun Barrel, Texas

Need to be cheered up?
Happy, Texas 79042
Smiley, Texas 78159
Paradise, Texas 76073
Rainbow, Texas 76077
Sweet Home, Texas 77987

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

Feel like traveling outside the country? Don't bother buying a plane ticket! (Unless you are going to fly Southwest Airlines)
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

And a city named after our State!
Texas City, Texas 77590

Exhausted?
Energy, Texas 76452

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

Other funny city names in Texas :
Beeville, Texas 78102
Bigfoot, Texas 78005
Buda, Texas 78610
Cactus, Texas 79013
Mercedes, Texas 78570
Nixon, Texas 78140
Telephone, Texas 75488
Whiteface, Texas 79379
White Deer, Texas 79097
Muleshoe, Texas
Loco, Texas

And last but not least, the Anti-Al Gore City
Kilgore, Texas 75662

Baby Season

by Holly

Well… It seems to be baby season in Texas. Our friends from Tech, Charissa and John, are the proud parents of a baby girl born on the 8th, Gianna Joy Ludlow. She was a little early but is doing great. Charissa is reported to be doing fine. For pictures and more info, check out their blog under H’s buddies. (That is pronounced GEE-ah-na).

Abbey and Nathan, friends from church, had their baby boy yesterday the 10th. His name is Jachin Rei Mulder and is doing good as well. Jachin has cleft lip and palate, but is healthy and there were no complications. Abbey is recovering fine from her c-section and is expected to be home by Saturday. (That is pronounced JAY-kin Ray).

Thank you all for your prayers for Abbey and Jachin yesterday. They were felt and appreciated. We hope that each of you are enjoying babies and new life in general as well. I’m sure Trey and Viki can’t wait to see their nephew!

God bless!

Here's Where I Am

By Holly

Although Justin has set the bar pretty high for this new year, I will try to be just as sensitive and gracious in my own soul-searching.

I ended 2006 in a tailspin, not knowing where December had gone. I spent 2 ½ weeks on a federal jury 40 miles from my home, which was both intriguing and exhausting. I am thankful for the experience, and for the kind judge and security officers, but I wish that it had come at a different time of year. You see, it lasted from December 4th to the 20th, causing me to miss out on the usual languishing in Christmas joy that I usually partake in. I don’t want to start out the year complaining; I did enough of that last year. I just hope that I can recover from the anxiety and caffeine-induced high that I was on, before it truly takes its toll on me.

So as I look forward to this season of both physical and emotional renewal, I have spent a good deal of time, as Justin has, contemplating what is truly important in my life. We have made a few observations/decisions/commitments together, but I want to share today my personal ones. Bear with me, as I do best with lists (you understand, Aimee!).

1. I need to simplify my life. This means limiting my church, social, financial, emotional commitments. I feel that the things of my life are all important and good, but too much of a good thing can still wear you down and distract you from your focus, mine being my relationship with God, and my marriage.

2. I want to be a more positive person. While our society as a whole, and me in particular, appreciate both sarcasm and good-natured ribbing, I do not feel that they are the most appropriate or Godly of ways of personal interaction. This said, I aim to use my posts on our blog to be either informative or reflective. Disclaimer: if you find me gossiping or tearing down someone’s character, please call me on it. I want to know.

3. I want to recognize and appreciate the blessings in my life. There are issues in all of our lives that seem to consume us and overtake any other semblance of thankfulness for the lesser items around us. While these issues are important and will not be neglected, they do not need to take precedence every hour of every day. This may be my hardest battle, and yes, I’m leaving it vague intentionally.

So that seems to be my short list for now. I won’t apologize for the somber mood, but will say that’s where I’m at today. And I will leave you with one last piece of food for thought…

My friend is having her baby today, her baby that has cleft lip and palate. This should be a time of celebration and extreme joy, however it is filled with anxiety, nervousness, fear, sadness, anger, frustration, helplessness. I could go on and on, and I won’t pretend to know what she and her husband are experiencing. I just tell you this to help you reflect on your own lives, to think about your own blessings and to thank God for what you do or do not have.

Happy New Year to you all and many wishes for happiness for you.

The New Year in Paradise,TX

Perched atop a hill, overlooking the tree lined valley to the west, sits my boyhood home. My parents bought this house close to 19 years ago. It is a home full of memories of laughter, crying, discipline and pride. A home like I want my kids to grow up in.

The nature of the beast of getting married is the inevitable figuring out of holidays. Absent of children, Holly and I alternate which parent we spend Thanksgiving and Christmas day with. This year we celebrated Christmas in Paradise over New Years weekend. I wrote extensively about my reflections over Christmas of the farm. While I have learned a lot on the farm, and have a deep respect for the rural way of life, I cannot deny that I am who I am because of the value and virtues of growing up in Paradise.

My dad would say that he is a humble man. I would say he is a proud man. He has a lot to be proud of. He taught me early on, mostly through action, that there is no reason to dodge hard work. He worked long hours, in every imaginable condition, to bring home a wage that we could live on. Rarely did he say no to reasonable requests, and even if it was a little out there he would explain why we work hard not to waste our money.

He taught, mostly by action, that you stand up for yourself but you don’t trample the people around you to do it. He work toward the future, but not at the expense of today. You think about every action and the reciprocal reactions. You love your family.

If dad was the provider, Mom was the executor. She was the one who worked to let the family enjoy itself. She freely gave or horded her salary to pay for the superfluous. She was the nurturer.

I have always been a moma’s boy. That is not to say that I wasn’t dad’s kid, but Mom and I always connected. She would put up with the random requests in whatever game I was playing by myself in my head. She would encourage and push, mostly in nonverbal ways, each and every whim I talked about. She was the voice of the wide open future.

This New Years, I reflected on family. The successes in life caused by two parents who chose to escape the city and raise their family in a small rural community. Parents who, for whatever reason, choose to nature and guide their kids towards far greater success through every means possible. Whether it was through feeding and raising the animals, figuring out the calculus problem or achieving the next merit badge, their non-verbal lives of discipline have made me who I am and will be.

New Years is a time of looking forward. I think you need to look back down the road traveled, to make sure the vision ahead is clear.

Christmas in Texas

On the flat open plains of Texas, where farming and ranching still are king, Holly’s parents have established a homestead. It is a place that seems removed from time. It is a place of peace, quite and stillness. It is a home filled with things that are hard to find in the suburbs of Dallas. grew up in rural Texas.

I count many of my virtues and who I am as a person based on this upbringing. It is one of many things that drew Holly and me together. It is a common bond that is understood; a common set of morals that are taught on and by the land. This Christmas, on the high plains of the Llano Estacado, I reflected and appreciated this more than ever.

Holly’s dad is a farmer and rancher. He is a man of tremendous virtue and hardworking ethics. His whole life has been in cultivating, nurturing and growing things. He might be planting wheat, nursing a new born calf or raising grandchildren, but he is always at work. His whole mind revolves around how to help other people and things achieve their best.

I have learned a lot on the farm. I ask Galen thousands of questions. Sometimes I trip him up a little bit and ask a question that is so blatant to him that he has to stop and think how to explain it, like “How does a windmill really work?”. Other times the years of experience let the answer roll off like poetry, “Is a feedlot inhumane to cows?”. He never dodges a question or gives you too much to digest. He never dulls it down or makes it too simple. He shoots from the hip, and challenges you to grow in your understanding.

My many days on the farm have given me a lot of firsts. I saw my first new born calf. I saw my first dead calf. I herded cows by pickup truck and sorted cows onto trailers. I learned how to blow dirt out of radiators. And most importantly, why we don’t wear sandals on the farm. This Christmas I learned how to ride my first tractor. In the truest of styles, Galen gave me an option, drive the pickup back to the barn, or drive the tractor. I picked the pickup, so did Galen. He made me sit in the seat, explained the controls to me and drove in a big circle. Three minutes later and he left me alone on a tractor for the next hour. “No time like the present to learn” is Galen’s heart for growing his children. Even though they might not be his own.

Holly’s mom is the epitome of a southern mom. Never a day goes by that a home cooked meal, with dessert, isn’t served in her home. Over years of childrearing and herself holding down a job, her kids always came home to a hot meal, with dessert. She is a woman of God. The church door swing, and she is there with a casserole and a smile to welcome you in. You walk into her house and her bible is on her bedside for her daily devotional. You stay through Sunday and you will attend her Sunday school class. She reared her kids this way, and it shows. Hers is a family marked by God’s blessings, and it shows.

This Christmas, she showed me how much love she really has for her family. Selecting everyone a perfect gift, favorite dessert and taking the time to sit and talk to each and everyone of us. She was busy, tired and sick but she didn’t let that spoil her Christmas with the family.

Christmas is special. This year I understand more about Christmas. How the farm makes it special, and how family makes the farm.

It was Christmas,
On the farm,
In Texas!

Waiting

I took Holly’s car to work yesterday for the one reason of getting her oil changed. The traffic was delightfully light on the way home, so I arrived at our normal oil changing place around 4:30. I put my name on the list and sat in my car, waiting for my turn to go into the bay. Around ten minutes later they still haven’t got to my car. They ‘invite’ me to wait in their lobby. Being a very nice day outside I decide to stand outside the store and call my grandmother. I hate people who have long personal conversations on cell phones in public. I was on the phone no less than twenty minutes when I noticed that my car had not moved. I looked at the car in the bay and they had it hooked up to a reader trying to determine why the check engine light was on. They were taking that teenage girl to the cleaners, changing her differentials, oil, filters, everything. Besides that I had been waiting for forty minutes with no movement whatsoever. I kindly asked the guy behind me in line to back up so I could get out, this is suppose to be a ‘quick’ lube.

I then headed over to get my haircut. I drove by my normal drop-in place to find eight people in the waiting room reading magazines and three people cutting hair. Not a good ratio in this place. Having lost out on all my chores for the day, I went home. I snuggled up on the couch and watched TV till Holly got home. What a waste…

Doing the Most Good

That is the motto of the Salvation Army. Every quarter my department tries to complete a charity event. Sometimes they are small, sometimes they are simple cash donations, other times we donate our time. Such is the case today.

The Salvation Army’s Dallas and National headquarters are really close to Dallas Love Field. Today we went to a local sorting house where all of the gifts give for the Army’s Angel Trees are stored and sorted. We spent the day double checking families bags to ensure all the toys were in the right place.

This event was very humbling and eye opening. We would see bags for an entire family with no donations or toys in them, although someone had picked their name off of a tree. We would see bags just stuffed to the brim, over flowing with everything imaginable. You would come across bags where the entire family was one child with an unpronounceable name, while your next bag would have eight children with very pronounceable names. Lastly you would come across one bag with three children and three boxes of diapers. It was a moving and worthwhile experience.

While I do not agree with all of what the Salvation Army does or believes, I can truly say that I full heartedly agree with their Christmas spirit. The next bell ringer I see, I won’t ignore.

One Word: P-A-R-T-I-C-I-P-A-T-I-O-N

A few lighthearted jabs at those of us who choose not to participate:

Armand – “So there I was…” not participating in the Blogging network I invited everyone to join

Ethan – “E”verywhere but here.

Jelaine – “The music in my head…” is not compatible with my Blog, obviously

Scott – “Scooter0979” has not Blogged since Sept1306

Andy – “The AB Show” is a no show

Amanda – “Wow! I can’t believe I am doing this…” well take heart because you aren’t

Tom – “OldGoat Ramblin’” must be inaudible, old guy, mumbo-jumbo

3:07 PM

Well that was going to be my last blog of the afternoon, but this is just so dang blogable.

The guy that sits to my back in cube world has serious sinus issues. It is so bad that he blows his nose obnoxiously loud at least three times a day. Some days more! It is so gross that sometimes you can hear the ‘obstructions’ move. Today, probably since no one is here, it seem overly loud. It is too much to ask to go away from your desk to do that? It is also interesting that we were in our 1.5 hour meeting and he didn’t blow his nose once. It is an issue or a habit?

Now I am done; or am I?

3:00 PM

Well this should be my last blog of the afternoon. I am heading out right before the 4pm buzzer hits. I hope you have enjoyed my return to the blogging world, even if only Jenise and Viki were the hourly winners! Thanks Ladies.

Have a great weekend and I promise more normal blogging will return.

bd..bd.bdddd That's All Folks.

2:00 PM

So I was so excited about my apple pie, remember? I finally dove in. I was looking forward to a yummy gooey mess. It turns out that the pie was stale and past due. The inside was dried out and the pastry was crunch. Major Letdown!

In my disgust I went to a friends cube to complain. I was in mid explanation when she interrupted me to tell me about her problems with tax provisions and how we are not adequately addressing the exposure drafts. Wait we went from apple pie to exposure drafts? Now that is the sign of a really bad afternoon.

1:00 PM

Well we are on the downhill slide into the weekend now.

A friend just posted all of her pictures to our Team’s Holiday Party. We had our party December 1^st in the Uptown district of Dallas. Now if you don’t know Dallas, this is where all the trendy people hang out. Holly and I aren’t that trendy. We both went out and bought clothes, just for this event. We had a lot of fun getting dressed up and going out, as we never do that.

The party was a good time. It was a culinary art school, so we had several stations open with both students and instructors cooking at all the stations. We had pizza, sliced beef, a soup and gourmet macaroni and cheese. Yeah you heard me. The student told me that the head chef likes to play around with simple things so he made up a big vat of macaroni and cheese. They served it to you in a martini glass and you had the option of adding several toppings including bacon, chalets, raisins, etc. Amazingly enough it was pretty good. Wash all this down with a hefty free bar and the night was a blast.

On top of that the CEO and President of SWA attended the party. In this first picture you see Holly and I with the President.
We also spent quite a long time with the CEO and his wife. After some general introductions and chit chat he inquired as to where Holly was from. After the ‘West Texas’ explanation Gary (the CEO) dug deeper. We found out that Gary started his auditing career on a client in Friona, Holly’s hometown. They started speaking about the CO-OP and the feedyards, etc. We left on cloud nine, having spent a good 20 minutes in one on one conversation with Gary and his wife.

This last picture is one of a gingerbread Southwest Airlines Boeing 737.

High Noon

I just spent the last hour and a half in a committee meeting. One of the great things about SWA is that the company as a whole is charity conscious. Our department hosts an annual tournament which benefits the Scottish Rite Hospital of Texas. I am the department treasurer so I am in the middle or helping run all the finances. My first meeting as treasurer was an hour and a half over pricing strategies. What did I get myself into?

No I am off to lunch, well not really. I am having leftovers at my desk. Meatloaf, potato salad and a regular salad are on tap. My good surprise was that I forgot that I get a Mrs. Bairds fried apple pie each Friday for breakfast. So when I opened my lunch box and saw it I was very pumped.

mmmmmm……

10:00 AM

I worked this past hour. It is amazing how you can stretch a 30 minute task into 60, isn’t it?

I was wondering what people want for Christmas. My mom is bugging me for ideas, but I honestly can not think of things I need or want. Maybe I should cut back ‘treating’ myself through out the year so I will have a Christmas list.

What do you want for Christmas?

9:00 AM

For the last hour I have been socializing. It seems that everyone is gone today. Out of 24 people in my office, I think I am 1 of 10 here. A super quiet day leads to a super long day. I will put my headphones in an pass some time.

It is super cold today. I think the overnight low was 19 with a high in the lower 40s. It may be winter, but this ain’t a Texas winter. Fear not we return to overnight lows in the 40s and highs in the 60s next week. Plus they are calling for rain, yipeeeeee

8:00 AM

Yesterday my audit was canceled. It seems someone else within the department had already completed most of the items we were going to do. That’s fine with me. The problem is now it is Friday and I have little if anything to do. With that in mind I thought that I would try to get back on the band wagon and blog every hour or so about what I have been doing this fine day (or whatever is on my mind at the time). So if you are having a lazy Friday day, check back often. Hopefully my experiment will work.

Verrrrummmmmmm

WHOA…. Did you see that? It was the last ten days. I better go catch it. I’ll let you know what happened as soon as I do…………

The Physics of Driving

By Justin

I have a fear of my blogs turning into Viki’s Flip-Flop-Girl, but when you drive as much as I do every day it dominates your thinking. So with that I offer the following assessments.

1.) The most direct route between two points is a straight line. People should understand this. Unless your vehicle has 18 wheels it is NOT necessary to turn left prior to turning right. Swinging out to make a curve is simply stupid. I drive a full sized pickup and I can make every turn between my house and my work without swinging out to make turns. Short of straight parking spots it just is not necessary.

2.) The Laws of Inertia are still true while driving. I truly wish people would understand that their Ford Focus does not weigh near enough to tip over during turning. The laws of inertia would tell you that you would be required to go astronomically faster than 10 mph during your turn prior to reaching the point of tipping over. So please while making that turn from the light, accelerate just a little bit. Please do not swing out to make the turn.

3.) For very action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If you are football fielding in the left lane and forcing me to be a butt kisser and you become an unnecessary braker you should expect to hear my horn. Your stupidity and lack of caring deserves my reaction. It is a simple law of physics. :)

Some Sad News...

by Holly

Our kitty Trigger, who is more accurately referred to as My Baby, has been diagnosed with feline diabetes. He is seven and has been overweight most of his life, but I had no idea that we were contributing to such serious problems. I should say 'I' here instead of 'we', since Justin was not the one giving into Trigger's meowing/begging for more food. I don't like to hear him cry.

Well, cats' blood sugar is supposed to be similar to humans, less than 120. Trigger's maxed out the glucometer so we're not sure what it is, but its greater than 450. Not good. The vet basically told me my only option is to give him insulin injections once or twice a day, based on the results of a fructosamine challenge. What's that? I don't know because I didn't ask. I didn't ask because we are not going to give our cat insulin injections once or twice a day. I came home about $200 less wealthy than when I went and started doing some online research. I stumbled upon a website for PetRemedy, a supplement for cats that is touted to fix the problem rather than treat the symptoms. Hmmm..... that sounds too good to be true. It comes in capsule form which you break open and mix in with canned meat-based catfood and Voila! your kitty is good as new.

What could be the problem? Trigger does not eat canned food, or tuna or any treats or people food. He wants his dry carb-based food, and nothing else. So, we're currently on Purina Diabetic dry catfood, but it still is not the best choice, according to this website. I've ordered the supplement which is supposed to be accompanied by dietary recommendations, so we'll see what their suggestions are for abnormal kitties who don't like the good stuff.

Poor baby. We can tell he doesn't feel good and we feel incredibly guilty that he is sick. So, that's our drama for the time being. There may be another chapter when we do get the supplement. Stay tuned...

Traffic Terminology

By Justin

So I drove a lot this weekend. All that driving gives a man some time to think. I realized through all of this driving that I have come up with a few ‘choice’ terms for specific types of drivers, so I thought I would share.

Football Fielder: This is the person who wants to drive a constant speed in bumper to bumper traffic, so they will get in the left lanes and leave an entire football field in front of them. This person can be of any age or type of automobile. Why this person drives me nuts: The entire traffic pool behind them wants to get around them and most do, so while driving the constant speed they are letting hundreds of cars beat them home for the sake of speed and saving some brake pads.

Tennis Courter: This is the person who leaves about a tennis court in front of them, but as soon as someone gets in the lane to pass them speeds up. They will eventually slow back down and you can get in, but not before a few more revs of the engine. This person is typically a middle aged person, driving a Honda while talking on their cell phone.

Idiot: This is the person who is completely unaware of their surroundings and when the 60 MPH traffic comes to a grinding halt feels the need to overreact and use the shoulder as excess stopping room. The idiot doesn’t realize that shoulders are not stopping ramps and doesn’t realize that some shoulders contain dangers. This person drives me nuts because if you didn’t have room to stop, you were too close to begin with.

Butt Kisser: This is the person who is so close to my tailgate that I can’t see their headlights. It is beneficial to be able to see your car before I slam on my brakes for you to test your brakes.

My All Time Favorite…

Unnecessary Braker: This person hits their brakes in bumper to bumper 70 MPH traffic for no apparent reason. Sometimes they are on their cell phone and can’t talk and drive at the same time. Sometimes the lane next to them hits their brakes, and while our lane is not braking, they feel the need to react. Sometimes they are a two footed driver and accelerate while their brake lights are lit. Sometimes they are just plain stupid.

The fun in all of this is that I use the terms so much Holly knows what I am talking about. I will be on my cell phone talking with her in traffic and I can say I have a tennis courter in front of me and she understands. She also is now an expert, like me, with pointing out Unnecessary Breakers.

Good luck and happy naming!

A Southwest Airlines Halloween

by Justin

Holly spoke recently about Halloween at Southwest Airlines. No other holiday could fit the corporate culture better than Halloween. In fact, most of headquarters was doing nothing but working on Halloween for the week leading into our celebration, Friday Oct. 27th. On that Friday, literally the entire HDQ was shutdown for the day of fun. Skits were put on by department, carnivals held inside the building for employee's kids and more candy than you can shake a stick at. In the truest of Southwest forms, it was BYOB the whole day. Below are some pictures. Enjoy.This is me. I went dressed as Michael Jackson. Most departments have a theme. This year Internal Audit hosted a Skaryoke Bar. To go with our Bar, we all dressed as musical stars. Notice he one gloved hand, the broach and my pale white skin to pull off the dress!

These are the fearless leaders of Southwest Airlines. On the left you have the person my Team reports to (Departments are Teams at SWA), CEO: Gary Kelly as Jack Sparro. On the right you have the face of Southwest Airlines, founder and Chairman: Herb Kelleher as Perry Mason. In the center you have the kepper of the Culture or our Mom and President: Colleen Barrett as Della from Perry Mason.
And finally a picture of the whole team in the Bar. Notice the pregnant Brownie Scout and the white trash and pregnant Brittney Spears, front and center!

Now back to work.

It’s beginning to look a lot like…

By Justin

My attire at work today would not meet Viki’s standards. While I did wear flip flops to work yesterday, I am quite sure that I am competent enough to fill those flip flops excellently. ;) However, it is November 9^th and I am wearing shorts and tennis shoes. Did you get that? I am wearing shorts and tennis shoes.

It is November for crying out loud. The leaves are turning, but the grass is growing? Our fall pumpkins are out, but the flower beds are blooming.

I walked into work today and a lady was wearing a sweater. I asked her if she had heard the forecast (high today of 88). She said she had but she just couldn’t put the sweater down because it is fall.

I just want to know where fall is, because it is not in Texas.

Deadlines

by Justin

Why are deadlines so imposing? Why do they always seem to work against you? It always seems that no matter how far off they are, they get here quicker than they need too. It always seems that no matter how hard you work to not be stressed against the deadline, the deadline moves closer.

I hate deadlines.

One More Thought...

by Holly

This one is for you Aimee, in response to your post about the four D's. For those of you that missed it, she heard a sermon about how to handle life's demands which included Delete, Delay, Delegate and Do It Now. I read this quote, author unknown, on my perpetual calendar and it seemed to fit perfectly.

"Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials."

Happy Deleting!

Random Stuff

by Holly

We are still alive, I promise. I kept thinking Justin would post about Halloween (I don't know how to put pictures on the computer!), but he's been a little busy. You see, he has a new computer!!!! He built it instead of buying it and is so excited. It is pretty cool, but I don't have that guy fascination with all things electronic.

This weekend we are headed to East Texas to go 'camping' which is really our Sunday School class staying in cabins. I'm a little relieved though because it is pretty cool today and colder at night. I know, you people up north think we are a bunch of wimps, but that's okay. At least I live in Texas! :)

It seems the holidays are right around the corner. November kind of snuck up on me this year. I love the fall, the cooler weather and the holiday excitement, so I'm like a kid all excited about a new toy (or like Justin with a new computer). For those of you counting down, there seems to be 58 shopping days left till Christmas. ONLY 58?! That is not very long!! I'm the kind of Christmas shopper that starts months in advance to pick just the right gift for each person. Okay, so I bought the first gifts in June, but who's keeping track?

I promise some pictures are coming. I am going to get Justin to show me how to get our pics from the camera to the computer and then to the blog. It can't be that hard, right? Justin is shaking his head reading this I'm sure, because he knows how hard I make simple computer tasks. ;)

Hope you all have a great weekend, and congratulations Scott and Laura!

Be Prepared

So the way I see it, we shouldn’t be caught with our pants down, EVER. With that in mind I propose the following Posse, just in case we need it.

Ethan: Since you have access to the bat phone that actually reaches California, you will initiate the posse. The last I checked the bat signal wasn’t bright enough to reach across four states, so you will start the phone chain by calling Armand. After calling Armand, grab some food and head to NAS Fort Worth.

Armand: As chief pilot, you will fuel the plane, log the flight plan, arrange for refueling in route (because that would be cool to see) and prepare to teach the posse how to sky dive in route. Next call Trey then go pick him up.

Trey: I ain’t jumping out of a plane sober. You are to run to Binny’s. Pick up a bottle of something hard and then a glass of wine. Every good posse starts with an appropriate gentleman like toast, but I will need more alcohol in my system prior to jumping. Next call Justin. Finally, head to the closest airfield for Armand to pick you up.

Justin: I will get to NAS Fort Worth for pick up by Armand and Trey. Along the way I will grab the extra underwear I will need once I jump out of the plane as well as the Google maps satellite picture of California and Scotts house. I will meet Ethan at NAS.

Finally: Armand will do his in flight “How to Sky Dive in One Easy Lesson” and fly the plane at the same time. Our respective wives will huddle and pray for our sanity. We will jump when the red light goes green (that is how it works in the movies). Armand will land the plane, avoid being arrested by the MPs for breaking some pretty serious rules and head over to Scotts house.

We will arm ourselves with imaginary swords and take to the streets of California looking for Scott. He is near a Target somewhere, I promise.

There now you can’t say we aren’t PREPARED.

Speaking of a Posse search party, anyone heard from the President?

Is California Still Alive?

Has anyone talked to Scott in the past month? He hasn't blogged in a long time. I called him over the weekend, with no answer. I am starting to get worried. Do we need to send out a search party? Lets assemble a posse, just in case...

Race for the Cure

by Justin

Let me start by saying this: “I am in no way trying to be hurtful with my commentary on this subject.” Let’s get that over with.

If you read Holly’s previous post, and I hope you did, you know that she walked the 5k Susan G Komen Race for the Cure on Saturday. I opted to sleep in on one of the precious few Saturdays we are at home. I also had a silent reason to stay at home as well.

I hate big name fundraisers. I know the the Jerry Lewis MD telethon has raised ‘awareness’ and millions if not billions for research. I am sure the Susan G. Komen foundation has done amazing things, but I can’t get over the meer cost of running these outfits. Don’t think that I stop there. I refuse to participate in ‘Friends of Scouting’ activities as well. Why support the council or national council with money when very little of it, in my opinion, does more than go towards raising more money?

While I disagree with the ‘Wal-Mart’ approach to fundraising I will say that I can see how an event like ‘Race for the Cure’ is healing and helping. Holly came home with amazing stories of survivors, family and friends and those with no direct associations and the emotional healing of seeing 18,000+ people gather to support the cause. She talked of people wearing shirts with ‘In Memory of my Wife or Mom or Sister’ on the back. She was pulled to tears as her work friend talked of losing her Mom and now her Aunt being diagnosed. It was great to hear and see the effect of these stories from the outing.

While I still disagree with the conglomerate concept, I have a much deeper appreciation of the overall effect of the event.

Blessings

By Holly

I haven’t posted in a while because I haven’t felt like I really had anything of importance to share, but it’s a blog, so I can write anything, right? So here are some random happenings in my world these days.

I went on a Ladies Retreat with our church last weekend to Lake Texoma. The topic was Thankful for the Thorns, which is misleading, but it was an amazing experience. Our speaker is a DTS (Dallas Theological Seminary) professor in the Women’s Ministry department, Joye Baker. She shared so much from her own life and how those hard times were necessary for God’s sovereign plan in her life. She made it clear that we don’t have to be thankful for the bad stuff, but to be thankful that God is with us through the bad stuff and that He has a perfect plan for each of us. What made this so powerful is that I was with my friend Abbey M, who is pregnant with her second child who has a cleft lip and palate. She’s of course having difficulty with this on so many levels. But we came away from the weekend with a renewed sense of hope and thankfulness. What a blessing!

Tomorrow I am doing the 5K Race for the Cure Walk in Dallas with a friend from work, whose mom died of breast cancer 2 years ago and whose aunt is going through chemo now. We’re excited to be doing something, but also a little emotional too. Pray for us as we do that together.

Justin and I have realized that the last few months have been the best yet. While we’ve been busy and overcommitted, we also have enjoyed our marriage and friendship more than we ever have before. It makes each day brighter knowing you are waking up next to your best friend and coming home to them every afternoon. I love you Justin!

Okay, so this has been a serious, mushy-gushy post, but thanks for getting through it.

Hope you all are enjoying life and appreciate all of God’s blessings around you!

POS

by Justin

Some people have an acronym for POS, which we won’t use here in my blog. Southwest Airlines, my great employer, uses the acronym POS to stand for positively outrageous service. So here is to continuing the theme of customer service on these blogs.

Not that myself or others in the company do not slip up, but I think we are way better than average. For instance just the other day it was actually raining here in Dallas. I know, I know amazing. While snowing in Chicago it was raining in Dallas. We dang near declared a statewide holiday. I was running late for a Twin Arrows meeting and decided to run through Jack in the Box for a quick lunch. I approached the speaker for the drive thru and rolled down my window. I waited for a good 15 seconds with no reply. So I started rolling up my window a little more and more to keep out most of the rain. A full two minutes later the lady comes over the speaker to get my order. While ticked, I remained calm.

When I got to the window to get my food I waited till I had all the food and decided to let the teenager manning the drive thru know that we were getting wet waiting on her. I very politely told her that while waiting for the intercom, people were getting wet. She snapped and said well we are short staffed and I am running both inside and out so deal. SO DEAL?

I was now furious and speed away. POS, POS…she might be a P….oh why waist the words.

To top it all off I didn’t get what I ordered.

Passing of a Scouter

Mr. Bill Wies passed away this morning. He was a long time supporter of Troop 37, a life long Scout and a great man. Mr. Wies died from complications with cancer. His battle had been a long one. He died with his loving and caring wife at his side. His funeral is planned for Friday near Corsicanna, Texas.

May God bless him and keep him.

A Weekend in Charlotte

by Holly

We spent this weekend (actually Friday through Monday) in Charlotte, North Carolina with some long-lost friends, or at least it feels that way. We miss you Clint and Erin! We hadn't seen them since June of last year and had some catching up to do.

Friday we got to experience Pike's and their famous milkshakes- me: Peanut Butter, Justin: Strawberry. Wonderful! That evening we were treated to true North Carolina barbecue at Smithfield's Chicken and Barbecue, which is anything but! We enjoyed it, but I'm still not sure how they decided to call it barbecue. For anyone not familiar with the delicacy, it is shredded pork with a vinegar/red pepper sauce. We did actually bring a bottle of the sauce home with us for the times we really miss Erin the most- I'll even make sweet tea to go with it Erin!

We stayed up late talking and then of course had to sleep in Saturday. We got a late start and then indulged in Clint's yummy French Toast and bacon. Yes, he spoiled us! That afternoon was spent at the Renaissance Festival in the drizzly, cold weather. We had a good time, with the highlight being our photo taken in Renaissance costumes! That was followed by supper at RiRa, an Irish pub in downtown Charlotte. We had traditional meals- me: Shepherd's Pie Boxty, Justin: Bangers and Mash. (Use your imagination.) We then headed to the mall for Cold Stone ice cream and a fabulous time at the Halloween costume store.

Another night of late-night chatting followed by another morning of sleeping in. We took it easy on Sunday, as it rained most of the day and we were being lazy. Clint cooked breakfast again, and our entertainment for the afternoon was walking to the model homes in their neighborhood to look at how they were decorated. Yes, we are a cheap date. We grilled burgers and fried fries that evening and made ourselves get to bed at a reasonable time.

We had to get up at 4:30 (Texas time) to get to the airport on time and so they could get back to work on time. It was a sad goodbye, but all good things must come to an end. Thank you so much for your hospitality guys! We love you and wish we could see you more often.

Drum Roll Please

This month's star blogger of the month is...

NOBODY

That's right, no one. It is my not so private protest over a lack of blogging and commenting. If we could award it in to the same person two months in a row, which we decided we wouldn't, then Aimee would have blown us all away. Sadly we will have to try again next month.

-Justin

Random Quote

"Diplomacy is the art of saying ‘nice doggie’ until you find a rock. "
- Will Rogers

I ran across this the other day and loved it. Just my random quote of the moment.

Justin

Why I Love My Husband

by Holly

I've been inspired by Aimee's lists (if you've missed them, check them out- good stuff!), so I've decided to do my own.

Top 28 (because that's how old I am) Things I Love About Justin:

1. His unwavering love for me.
2. His laugh, especially when he gets so tickled he cries.
3. His devotion to his family.
4. His desire to center our marriage around God.
5. His effort to better himself through reading, Bible studies, prayer...
6. His love for Trigger.
7. His eye for design and color choices.
8. His fascination with the Discovery Channel.
9. His willingness to take care of me when I'm sick.
10. His acceptance and love for my family.
11. His appreciation for real country.
12. His humble spirit.
13. His bum in the new jeans we bought!
14. His encouragement to have my own friends and hobbies.
15. His responsibility with our finances.
16. His leadership abilities and use of them in...
17. His mentoring young men in Boy Scouts.
18. His determination to further his career in looking long-term.
19. His impulsive purchases for others (flowers for me, his mom...)
20. His beautiful eyes.
21. His knowlege and willingness to learn new things.
22. His political stances.
23. His sense of humor.
24. His love of all things vanilla!
25. His appreciation for the things I do for him.
26. His willingness to do the things I ask of him.
27. His seriousness in being the spiritual leader in our marriage.
28. His tender spirit.

I could go on and on, and these are in no particular order.

I love you Justin!

National "Whatever" Day

By Holly

At least once a week on the radio, I hear that that day is proclaimed National [insert your favorite culture/animal/laundry soap/you get my point] Day and we are to celebrate. I don’t know who comes up with these or why, but if they make me laugh or appreciate something in my life, I try to participate. Well, yesterday as I was driving to work I heard that it was National Pancake Day. Seriously?

I don’t normally buy breakfast in our cafeteria, but yesterday I was running late and actually had some cash on me, so I did. What did I order? Pancakes, of course. I was met however in true Seinfeld fashion with, “No pancake today! Come back tomorrow!” What? Did they not get the memo? What good is National Power-of-Persuasion day if its not publicized? So, I defaulted to my usual: two scrambled eggs (which is essentially two ice cream scoops of eggs) and two pieces of wheat toast, no butter. I could have done that myself, Radio People!

It gets better though. This morning I was again running late and still had a couple of bucks, so I indulged in cafeteria breakfast again. As luck would have it, I got the same lady. She remembered that I ordered a pancake yesterday and asked if I wanted one today. I appreciate the sentiment, however the moment has passed. To celebrate my triumph over said persuasion though, I changed up my order. I’ll have one egg, one sausage patty and one biscuit, thank you!

Now I declare this National Hug Your Fish Day!
Have a good one!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AIMEE!

It's Aimee's birthday today! Just in case you missed it on her blog (if you did, you should catch up on her week!) and on Abbey's blog too. I absolutely love my birthday and appreciate all of the celebrating that you've done this week A! Hope you have a fantastic weekend at home with your family and that you get a chance to hang out with Abbey too!

Holly

A Little Rest in the Schedule

Justin has posted about our crazy fall schedule, which is really just a continuation of our crazy summer schedule, but since the seasons are changing, so will our terminology. But I digress. I've been feeling weighed down, like I'm dragging myself through each day, just making checkmarks on the calendar of never-ending activities. I can honestly say that about 98% of the things on our calendar are things I really enjoy, but too much of a good thing can run you down too. So, I've been praying that God would give me rest in the midst of the insanity.

Here's His answer, which I did not expect at all, but are we ever really able to anticipate His actions? No, I think not. I had been invited to a new Bible study by my friend Abbey at church and was debating between quality time with her and another commitment. But I said yes and then things started happening! Our group was too big, which is always a good problem to have when you're studying God's word, so we split into two groups and the second moved to meeting at my house. This opened the door for a few more people, so I was able to invite my other Abbey (who blogs with us) and another friend, Erin. Our first official meeting was Tuesday night and I was blown away with the content of our study (strengthening your marriage) and how well everyone got along. There's five of us meeting in our group and we laughed, got teary and seemed to just click. I felt like I had been given a renewed spirit and genuinely felt rested, although I was still tired. There is a difference there, just hard to explain!

So, I hope that you all have as much fulfillment in your life as I do, and the support of a spouse that means the world to you as it does to me. Thanks for your encouragement Justin, and for your prayers. (And for wandering the streets of Allen without a wallet so we can have girl time, but that's another story!)

Holly

Rain delay

by Justin

Man I am tired today. A very fun weekend ended on a pretty long note. It is like holding the fermata till you run out of breath and then one more beat. That was for you Trey and Viki! For the rest of you, well let me just tell the story.

Holly and I jumped ship a little early on Friday and hopped on the plane to Amarillo. We were greeted, with much surprise, at the airport by Holly’s parents and our nephews Jared and Tyler. We weren’t expecting them, so we had a lot of fun playing in the back of the car on our way back to Friona.

Once in Friona we headed over to the Homecoming game. There is nothing like high school football in Texas, or so they say, and I would agree. We rooted on the team, talked with friends in the packed stadium and participated in the band cheers. When we left in the third quarter the score was like 42-0, Go Chieftains!

Saturday was a fun packed day of celebrating Friona’s 100 year anniversary. The annual Maize Days parade was extra long; with one man saying he couldn’t remember a parade ever as long as this one. I have many opinions about the Maize Days parade, but it is all about love and loving the small town Texas lifestyle. All my comments are taken bad, but really it is envy and longing to live back in the small town life.

Sunday rolled along with church. We attended our first Sunday school class with Holly’s mom teaching. She is a great teacher and a great lover of the Lord. We followed the main service with a good Baptist pot-luck lunch. Something about those pot-luck lunches that are just hard to beat.

Next came the delay.

We headed to Amarillo in plenty of time to get on our plane. While Holly insisted we had time to stop and eat a quick bite, I was eager to make sure we made our flight. As we entered the gate to check our bags I noticed that our flight and the following two flights were all listed as delayed. This is never a good sign. I quickly handed my phone to Holly and told her to call her parents, we might have time for dinner. Sure enough it was showing the plane to depart at 7:30 instead of 6:55. We went through the process to get our passes (it is different for employees) and we were told that Dallas Love Field had been closed for 2 hours for weather and our plane diverted to Oklahoma City. Never a good sign, either. The new depart time was 9 o’clock.

We went to dinner and went grocery shopping with Holly’s parents. We returned to the terminal to find our 6:55 flight had been delayed to 9:45. We landed at Love Field at 10:45. After running a quick errand on our way home, we pulled into the garage at midnight. Showers and a quick unpacking found us in bed at 1am.

What a way to start the week…

Music City USA

By Justin

So it was time to get out of town. Mom’s birthday was on Friday and she said she wanted to leave town. One of the extended benefits of my employment at Southwest Airlines is that my parents can fly for free as well. Flying free is not as simple as it sounds and there are plenty of risks of being stranded, so it is not for the faint of heart. Thankfully Holly and I have done it enough to be quasi experts, so it was time to explain the ropes to my parents.

I knew that my Mom had a fear of flying, but it had not clicked in my head that my Dad has only been on one round trip flight in his life. I had forgotten that fact, so it was fun to watch him rediscover the flying public in a post 9-11 world all over again. We had decided to hit the open skys to Nashville, Music City USA.

We left Love Field at 5 and connected through Houston, (freakin Wright Amendment). We landed in Nashville about 10 and jumped in our rent car and headed to the Holiday Inn. Good thing I got a discount on our rooms, because they weren’t worth what they were asking.

We got up early the next morning and headed to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. It was good food. We then jumped over to tour the OpryLand Hotel. It is a pretty amazing building. We then tried to find our way to a plantation home. On our very prolonged route we stumbled across a botanical garden that we had wanted to see, so we stopped. It was a very nice place, we were just out of season. We never found that Plantation

Afterwards we stopped at Subway for lunch and went downtown to see the Country Music Hall of Fame. I enjoyed our brief time there, if for nothing else the building is amazing. We ran to the hotel to clean up and headed to dinner before the 9:30 opry. For dinner we ate at a restaurant called Aquarium. It has this huge aquarium in the middle with sharks, stingrays, and a bunch of fish in it. It is a very cool environment, a very not so cool price.

I have to admit here that the Grand Ole Opry is probably my favorite thing to do in Nashville. It is well worth the $34 for two and half hours of entertainment for me. It is just plain old fun in my opinion. No big names were at the opry that night, but I didn’t care.

We got to the hotel around 1am. We woke up the next morning and headed back to downtown to visit the Ryman Auditorium. It is the original home of the Grand Ole Opry. An amazing building as well, we spent as much time as we could there till we had to head to the airport.

We got home to Dallas Love Field around 6. It was time enough to say our goodbyes and go our separate ways to our far off homes. We had a great time with my Mom and Dad, and hope this is the start of many more flights to far off places with the fam.

Are you serious?

Justin will be posting sometime soon about our Nashville trip, but I had to throw out a couple of items for you to ponder in the meantime.

First, we went to the grocery store a few weeks ago and there were no bananas. Seriously, not a single one, overripe, green, on the floor under the display, not a one. I could hear Dr. Seuss in my head as we looked and looked and could not find a banana anywhere. Before we made this discovery though, I was bagging a couple of tomatoes and sent Justin to pick out our bananas. When I caught up to him, he was holding an empty produce bag, pretending to place his invisible bananas in the bag. I laughed hysterically! People were staring, but it was late Sunday evening so our audience wasn't too large. (The time of day and that it was Sunday is probably the reason for this blatant omittance of my favorite fruit, but it was unacceptable nonetheless.)

Secondly, and this may be too much info for some of you, but bear with me for the humor in it. I started my monthly week of hell this morning and had to run to CVS on my break to purchase the necessary products, as I had none in my purse or desk. At the checkout, the cashier handed me my receipt, smiled and said, "Enjoy your purchase!" Are you kidding me?! Did you not just see what you sold me? Enjoy. Now that's a word I've never used to describe this occurrence.

So there you go. Just something to think about. (Trey, I have to give the cashier a couple of points for being pleasant, despite her ridiculous comment.)

Have a good day!
Holly

The Social Calendar

By Justin

Holly maintains an impeccable social calendar for the family. I work to keep the family budget in check, she works to keep us socially balanced. Both tasks are exhausting work. Over the next few weeks and months we have an extensive schedule to keep.

First up is a weekend trip with the Noble FAM. Tomorrow is my Mom’s Birthday. Happy Birthday Mom, even though she doesn’t read this. Hey Dad show Mom please! Sorry I digress. For Mom’s birthday, Holly, Dad, Mom and myself are hitchin’ a ride on the best airline in the world and headed to Nashville. Ahh Nashville… It’s the heart and soul of country music. It’s the home of the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame. Does it get better? Well Yes, of course. Texas is always better. Come on people, we’ve been through this.

After Nashville we are headed back to West Texas for Holly’s hometown homecoming and Maize Days. Now Maize Days deserve its own blog, so I will hold off on that. I foresee a he said/she said type of blog here. It is all about perspective.

Next up we head to North Carolina to visit our GREAT friends from the South. I have been promised Carolina Bar-B-Q, and I am looking forward to it. Not long after that trip we are going camping with our Sunday school class. Fun times camping and bonding are for sure here.

So that is just a snap shot of the thousand and one things on the social calendar for the weekends. Throw in bible studies, women’s retreat, and general friend outings during the week and we are running from non-stop. Man it is fun!

Now Booking for 2007!

Expanding Horizons

We would like to welcome another good friend to the Blogger World. Amanda is a life long friend of Holly's, who lives in San Angelo Texas! Holly and Amanda were friends throughout high school and like Abbey have crazy girl tales that should be told!

Welcome Aboard Amanda and good recruiting Holly!

Star Blogger

Drum Roll Please..

The star blogger of the month is Aimee!

For her timeless posts on her son's first day of school and her consistency!

Congratulations Aimee!

Wording

By Justin

Why are things worded the way they are? I have a knack for noticing word choices that are just insanely unnecessary. Like just the other night, we were enjoying a lovely meal with our friends Joel and Abbey in McKinney. I looked over Abbey’s shoulder and noticed the sign said: “If you have special needs notify your Server or the Manager on Duty.” My question is when do you notify the Manager NOT on Duty? At what point are you allowed to ask for the home or cell phone number of the Manager NOT on Duty to complain about a special need? Is there etiquette on this? Will Hints from Heloise know this one?

I also find the names of business and churches funny, especially churches. We have a church close by that is Greater New Birth Baptist. Is there a Lesser New Birth or a Greater Old Birth or is it Lesser Old Birth Baptist? We have also passed a Primitive Baptist Church that didn’t look so primitive. In Levelland (near Lubbock, TX) there is a big sign on the highway that says Primitive Baptist church with an arrow pointing to an open field, now that is primitive and hence the name makes sense.

I could go on, but I won’t. Let’s just say that my other pet peeve is names of cities. My parents live in Cottondale. There isn’t cotton within a hundred miles of there. Come on people work with me here.

Can you ever go back?

Holly says....

Is there ever a time when you can go back and relive something from your childhood and it be as good as you remembered it? I ask this because there is a commercial on the radio right now that uses Speak 'N Spell to spell out words. I don't remember what it's advertising, it doesn't really matter. Anyway, I loved my Speak 'N Spell and actually wore it out, causing my mom to buy me another one to get me to leave her alone. (The math one didn't do much for me.)

Anyway, I suspect that if I were to buy one now that it would be slow and silly and not give me that feeling of triumph I had as a kid when I spelled a word correctly and heard, "That is correct. Next, spell ____." So I think I probably won't try because I don't want to ruin a good memory.

This subject came about as I was lying in bed last night, wide awake, staring at the ceiling. What's nice about our ceiling is that I have an alarm clock that shines the time up above you. Justin bought it for me for Christmas 3 years ago and I can honestly say it is one of the best gifts I can remember (of my adult life anyway.) What's so great about it is that my grandparents had one in their bedroom when I was a little girl. If I had a bad dream I would run in their room and climb into bed with them, on Mom's side, and watch the time change on the ceiling. The only difference is that theirs shone orange and mine is red. I think this may be one of the few things that is just as good as the original memory.

So I guess the answer is yes, you can really go back and its worth it sometimes. But don't expect every attempt to be as fulfilling as my alarm clock. Thanks Justin.

Open Invite to Ethan:

In response to the most gracious invitation, I humbly accept your invitation to have a meal together. I suggest we make plans for an afternoon or evening during this up coming Labor Day weekend. I am open any day but Saturday. If anybody else will be in town for the weekend and would like to join the cool kids, please let us me know. Now booking for Labor Day!

J

Messages from Armand

In all my life, I have never received so many phone calls and garbled messages from someone, yet never actually talked to them. Three times now, yes three, I have checked my phone to see ‘Missed Call’ proudly displayed on my screen. Most times than not these are from my father. In fact ‘Dad Cell’ is on my list so much that when I want to call him I simply enter into the Missed Call List and press send. Not that I am complaining. I am glad my dad and I talk as often as we do. I do wish he had better ESP and didn’t call while Holly and I are watching Big Brother on TIVO. I digress. Three times I see ‘Missed Call’. I check to see who it is and it is Armand! Cool, I don’t get to talk to Armand very often.

After I clear the missed call, I get excited to see ‘1 New Msg’! I love messages. I love messages so much that I go to great lengths to leave people messages in hopes that I get one in return. I love messages so much that if I leave you one and you don’t return it, I get ticked. I quickly hit the send button to hear the messages.

The first message was pretty clear. Armand was eating at some sort of fast food restaurant talking about Superman. I never really got the full gist, as it is hard to understand everything from the inside of a pocket. The second message was a little less clear. I think he was discussing home decorating. The final message was pure pocket.

So if you ever miss me, follow Armand’s lead. Stick your cell phone or Bluetooth headset in your pocket and dial me up! I love messages, remember?

Secret Stairwells

by Justin

Yesterday at work, around the 3 o’clock hour, the sirens went off and the lights started flashing. A very computerized voice came over the emergency system stating the following: “May I have your attention please? An emergency has been declared in the building. Please proceed to the nearest marked stairwell and exit the building.” To me these statements are absolutely hilarious.

First off it asks for your attention. What if I say no? Am I then able to not respond? What if I am on the phone, will it wait till I can give it my full attention?

Second it declares an emergency, but does not tell you what it is. Is it a fire? Is it a tornado? Is it a bomb threat? Has the executive office run out of cigarettes? It could be many things. Holly said maybe the cafeteria simply ran out of hotdogs. Could that be the emergency?

Lastly, you are to proceed to the nearest marked stairwell. That implies that there are unmarked stairwells. This intrigues me, secret stairwells in the building? Where do they go? How do you become an insider into these passages? If they don’t exit the building, why exactly have we built them? I am now on a new quest for secret stairwells.

All of this and it was 103 outside. We were told it wasn’t a drill, and it sure didn’t last long enough to be one. I for one think they sounded the alarm on being out of hotdogs a little prematurely. Wal-mart is around the corner, you know!

Mystery Date & Parent’s Weekend

One of the amazing benefits of working for an airline is at the last minute you can jump on any plane, so long as a seat is available. Holly and I have been taking advantage of this as much as humanly possible. Holly is also on summer hours, meaning she works longer days Monday thru Thursday and gets to take Friday afternoons off. So I took the afternoon off and we scheduled a much needed date afternoon.

Now I am neither the most spontaneous of persons, nor the most creative when it comes to ideas for dates. There is just something around familiar and regular that I like, thankfully my lovely bride believes so as well. But this was the exception. I actually kept our mystery date a secret right up to the turn into the airport.

Holly picked me up from work, I do work at the airport so that made sense. I then instructed her turn by turn towards the airport. Even after she realized that we were flying for our date, I didn’t let her know where until we were in the terminal. Once in the terminal she successfully guess that we were headed to the San Antonio Riverwalk for the afternoon.

On the Riverwalk we ate lunch at County Line BBQ, saw a 3D IMAX film on wild African animals, went into local shops, bought some Christmas gifts, then ate dinner at Rio Rio. We went back to the airport, caught the last flight to Dallas Love Field and were home around 10. What a good afternoon.

Saturday I planned a ‘Day In Paradise.’ My parents live in Paradise, TX well not really then live in Old Draco or closer to Cottondale, but alas their mailing address is Paradise, so we say they live in Paradise. Not really Paradise if you ask me, but that is another post. I hadn’t seen my parents since Mother’s day and a lot of birthdays and Father’s day have occurred since then.

I actually managed to round up my entire family and grandmother for this event. That is quite an achievement for our family. I hadn’t seen my brother since Father’s Day 2005 at the Ballpark In Arlington. Not even at Christmas or Thanksgiving last year. In that time he has gotten engaged, so I met my future Sister-In-Law for the first time.

My mom made hamburgers; dad cooked them on charcoal. My grandmother made her famous fried potatoes; Holly provided the homemade ice cream. I lost the first game of Yahtzee, but won the second!

Oddly church was a much needed ‘normal’ weekend event for us. After church our Sunday school group went out to lunch at this yummo Italian restaurant that is actually run by Italians.

We took a nap and enjoyed the evening relaxing.

What a great weekend.

Mysteries Outside the Household

I know that I am quite particular and stringently abide by most rules and laws (except for speed limits), however it never ceases to amaze me when people just blatantly disregard common courtesy because it somehow doesn't apply to them. Trey, this may tie into your entry on the anything-but-courteous-customer.

One of my biggest pet peeves is people leaving their shopping carts wherever they see fit in parking lots. This seems to be the worst at Wal-Mart, but does happen at other stores too. My first example was the lady last week that left it on the other side of the barrier. I assume she thought that by having her cart touch the cart return, she at least got partial credit. She didn't. When I came out of the store, it was rolling toward another car and I had to run to catch it. I had a few choice words for her, but alas, she was already gone.

My second example happened yesterday. Mind you, I shop at a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market across the street from our house, so it is small, but still has numerous cart returns. When I came out of the store, there was a cart parked about two feet behind my car. Now, if this isn't bad enough, its one that has the carseat bolted to it, so it didn't fit into my cart. Therefore, I had to push one with each hand to the cart return with the added help of a wheel that wouldn't turn. I'm sure people thought I was crazy as I proclaimed quite loudly, "Of course I don't mind you being lazy and leaving your cart behind my car. I would love to put that up for you!"

I was fuming when I got home. I think I scared both Justin and Trigger. What is it that exempts people from having to think about others? Don't you think they would be upset if a stray cart had scratched their car? Wouldn't they be put out if they had to move a stray cart before they could even back their car out? Please help me understand!

H

Household Mysteries

I'm sure you've all had experience with the disappearing sock in the washer and/or dryer, but has anyone heard of this...

Although I'm not the most thrifty of persons (I find clipping coupons a hassle and don't see the overall reward), I do try to stretch some household items a little longer than they may have originally lasted. Take the bar of soap in the shower, for example. Sure, it may be annoying to try to get a few suds out of a paper thin bar, but it can be done. I got in the shower the other day to find, that's right, no soap! Now, I know when I took a shower the day before, the bar was getting small, but it had a good two to three days left. I was truly puzzled. So, I washed with the shower gel and then later quizzed my husband as to this curious disappearance of the soap.

Any guesses? Yes, he had stuffed the soap down the drain to make a point that he will not use paper-flake soap and that we can in fact afford a new bar. Now, if I try to stretch the bar a little longer, he says, "I'll put it down the drain. You know I will."

So I ask you all, where does this rank when compared with not replacing the toilet paper roll? Is there some grand master list out there of household sins?

H

Here's to New Friends!

Happy Monday everyone! I wanted to take the opportunity to tell everyone how much I've enjoyed blogging with you all, even though I drug my feet at first and thought you were wasting time. :)

I hope that you all will take a moment to note that we have redone our buddies list, splitting it into Justin's Buddies and Holly's Buddies. The two ladies listed under my name our fabulous girls I have known since third grade, fellow Friona folks! Aimee and Abbey are excited to be on blogspot and Aimee has already commented that you guys are all funny. I know its different when you don't know everyone you're blogging with, but just wanted to give you a little background if you see their names on our comments.

Aimee is living in Edmond, OK with her husband Seth and two boys, Rhett and Noah. She is an avid scrapbooker and the coolest mom ever! Abbey lives in McKinney, just a few minutes from us, with her husband Joel and their dog Woody. Abbey is a Deaf Education teacher and is quite crafty herself. I love you guys!

Welcome to blogspot Ladies!

Holly

New Years 2007

So Holly and I have been wracking our brains over New Years plans. The joys of being married always include the inevitable switching of holidays between parents homes. Unfortunately for us our parental units live some 8 hours apart, still in the same state mind you! This causes us to spend Christmas with one set of parents and New Years with the other. With our limited time off, I just do not see any way that we will ever be able to avoid this.

Alas, I have a suggestion. It seems that getting everyone together on New Years is becoming difficult. Could we entertain a change of dates? What if we met the weekend after New Years, January 5-7th in Omaha?

Any thoughts?

The Mysteries of Self Consciousness

I am not an overly fit or attractive person. My wife thinks I am hot, and that is all that really matters. I try to keep balance between overly obsessed with looks and not caring at all. I believe this balance has been lost in our society.

There is nothing like working at a large company headquarters to see all the different realms of self consciousness play out. You have what my Team lead terms ‘over-groomers’ and you have those who you are pretty sure wore those same clothes yesterday. You have the perfume bomber in the elevator and stink bomb in the bathroom. You have the skinny mini and the not so skinny mini.

Now let me start by saying; “I am a true believer in being you.” I believe people should take care of themselves but understand that may be different than how I choose to take care of myself. All I really ask is that your style, or lack there of, shows that you care.

I do however have one piece of advice. If by chance you have inherited, or have acquired either by default or on purpose, the body style in which your rear end has expanded beyond you shoulders, please do NOT place a tied up jacket across it to cover it up.

It doesn’t work.

Today while walking around the building I was just in a mood of people watching. I was completing my normal analysis of people’s choice of personal appearance and noticed four ladies who choose to tie a jacket around their waste with the body of the jacket dangling over their rear end. Now I know not the reason, but if it is to hide this body part, it doesn’t work. It in fact draws attention to the area by the flipping and flopping of the hood. It accentuates your round middle part by creating a circular band around the section with the arms tied. It looks even worse if your can just barely tie the arms together in the front, making you look even larger than you are trying to hide.

My advice: “Be Yourself.” Get over the fact of things you can do little if nothing about. Choose clothes that do not require you to hide your body, but focus attention on your positive features. Please do NOT attempt to cover anything up, choose to focus on the positive. And if by chance you choose to wear the jacket in case you get cold, just throw it over your shoulder, it is a better option, promise.

Stacy and Clinton would be proud, right Holly?

Star Blogger

How to win Star Blogger for next month. Just a suggestion.

RFD-TV

Rural America's Most Important Network

Enough said:

Go Big Joe
http://www.rfdtv.com/shows/bigjoe.asp

Updated Links

Introducing the new reward program from the Urban Adventure Blog...

I have decided the in addition to keeping us on track by calling out failed participation in the blog world, I should also point out our star blogger. A positive for a negative is always effective, despite what the military teaches. Push-ups anyone?

Our first Star Blogger of the Month is Viki! She wins based on her outstanding participation, consistent comments on other's blogs, and hilarious out takes from train life. Thanks Viki for keeping the rest of us entertained.

All right, Scott and Ethan you have some catching up to do, so you better get bloggin'.

Fully Restored

Thanks friends. All persons have been fully restored to the actively posted friends list. Let's keep it that, less we return to passive aggressive tendencies.

Rules to Enter Texas

Rules to Enter Texas: Applies to each person as they enter Texas. Learn & remember: East Coast and California-types pay particular attention!

1. Pull your droopy pants up. You look like an idiot.

2. Let's get this straight; it's called a "gravel road." I drive a pickup truck because I want to. No matter how slow you drive, you're going to get dust on your Lexus. Drive it or get out of the way.

3. They are cattle & oil wells. That's what they smell like to you. They smell like money to us. Get over it. Don't like it? I-20 and I-10 go east and west, I-35 goes north and south. Pick one.

4. So you have a $60,000 car. We're impressed. We have $250,000 cotton strippers that are driven only 3 weeks a year.

5. So every person in every pickup waves. It's called being friendly. Try to understand the concept.

6. If that cell phone rings while a bunch of doves are coming in, we WILL shoot it out of your hand. You better hope you don't have it up to your ear at the time.

7. Yeah, we eat catfish & crawfish. You really want sushi & caviar? It's available at the corner bait shop.

8. The "Opener" refers to the first day of deer season. It's a religious holiday held the closest Saturday to the first of November.

9. We open doors for women. That is applied to all women, regardless of age.

10. No, there's no "vegetarian special" on the menu. Order steak. Or you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the 2 pounds of ham & turkey.

11. When we fill out a table, there are three main dishes: meats, vegetables, and breads. We use three spices: salt, pepper, and Picante Sauce! ; Oh, yeah.... We don't care what you folks in Cincinnati call that stuff you eat... It AIN'T REAL CHILI!! Chili was born and bred in San
Antonio....and real chili never met a tomato, or beans for that matter! Get them beans outta here!

12. You bring "coke" into my house, it better be brown, wet, and served over ice. You bring "Mary Jane" into my house, she better be cute, know how to shoot, drive a truck, and have long hair.

13. College and High School Football is as important here as the Lakers and the Knicks, and a dang site more fun to watch.

14. Yeah, we have golf courses. But don't hit the water hazards -- it spooks the fish.

15. Colleges? Try Texas Tech, Texas A&M or University of Texas. They come outta there with an education plus a love for God and country, and they still wave at passing pickups when they come for the holidays.

16. We have more folks in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, than any other state, so "Don't Mess with Texas," If you do, you will get whipped by the best.

17. Always remember what our great governor Sam Houston once said: "Texas can make it without the United States, but the United States can't make it without Texas!"

Texas is the greatest state ever!! If you are from Texas, you are one bad hombre!!!

Parental Motivation

Although I consider myself to be a clean, organized and generally motivated housekeeper, I find myself in a tornado of anxiety and list- making when my parents come to visit. Let me clarify that- when my mom comes to visit.

My mom is probably the best housekeeper this side of the Mississippi... well, perhaps in the whole country. She panics if there is an inkling of dust or my dad tracks one tiny clod of mud into the house. And don't even get her started on the bathrooms. I'm definitely not saying that this is bad; I've always appreciated her cleanliness and being able to find things in our house.

Needless to say, I've inherited some of her habits and compulsions. Justin would call them obsessions. Since marrying him, I have actually been known to leave a pair of shoes in the living room overnight, and perhaps even a dish or two in the sink for more than 10 minutes. I'm making a concerted effort not to drive my husband to the looney bin.

Well... my parents are coming to visit this weekend. Some of you may know that we painted our bathroom in FEBRUARY. Guess what I've had Justin doing after work the past couple of evenings? That's right- finishing the paint touch-ups around the ceiling. I could just hear my mom saying, "You mean to tell me you let people see your bathroom without the paint being finished?" Well, I'm not giving her the chance. Our to-do list before Friday afternoon also includes such things as: buying new pillows for the guest room (remember a few postings back about the Guest Room!), pulling grass around the trees in the front yard and deep cleaning the laundry room/Trigger's pooper area. Sure, these things have needed attention before now, but there's nothing like hearing your mom's voice filled with disappointment. Perhaps we will have a little energy left to actually enjoy the weekend with them.

We won't tell her that I had Justin research Betty Crocker's Cookbook to learn how to boil an egg! That's a whole different ballgame!

So, here's to clean houses and happy mothers!
H