Don't get egg on your face...

Ugh - I really hope this isn't a precursor to how my day is going to end up. I just dropped my egg white scramble all over the place downstairs in the cafeteria. The cook had to make me a new one. :(

I was trying to get my toast cut in half so that it would fit in my container, then realized I didn't want it with my eggs b/c it might make it soggy - so when I went to get another container the first was apparently teetering on the edge and then flop - over it went. Yuck egg mess and some no my shoe - which is open-toed so that means egg on my toes. Ewwwwwww....

I'm just glad I hadn't topped it with the salsa yet.

August CD Calendar Page

Well, I'm not really putting these in the jewel case anymore...a

nd maybe b/c I haven't made one since February...but I made a calendar page for August with my sweet girl's picture! Instead of putting them in the jewel case (b/c I am trying to reduce the number of items on top of my desk) I am putting them on my

message board. One wall of my hutch part of my desk has a place to use push pins or clips and now I just add one each month to that. I am such a calendar whore anyway - it's not like I really look at it for the date anyway b/c I have about a dozen other calendars that I use. I know, it's an obsession - calendars and storage tools! Such a freak!

Baby's First Internet

I love it...these two are my favorite:

Wonderland Avenue - Live Tonight @ Notsuoh

My nephew plays bass for Wonderland Avenue and they are playing downtown tonight - check them out! Their music is awesome!

Sit Down!!

So, Emma is a climber - big time! She climbs on top of everything & wants to stand on everything! I'm constantly having to stop her from crawling up on top of something to keep her from falling and hurting herself. I guess if she fell she would learn a lesson - but I have to say, honestly I don't think that would stop her!

The most irritating and cutest is her high chair. She climbs up on top of her high chair, over the tray, sits down in her seat and loudly announces "Onna ea" (baby talk for "I want to eat")!! It's a losing battle right now - I cannot break her of this. This high chair may not survive Emma so that her little brother or sister can use it.

Last night while climbing on her high chair she had an audience so she threw in a little something special at the end!

Circus Joy

Emma saw her first circus yesterday! We all (there were fifteen of us) had a great time. I think we enjoyed watching the excitement on all the faces of the kids (Emma and her cousins) as much as the show! She got a little wiggly for a while, but when she got a flashing clown nose to wear all was good again!!!!

At the circus

We said our goodbye's

but it sure wasn't easy. It still isn't real that Uncle Charles is gone. It's very surreal - you're with your family saying goodbye to a loved one and then a couple days later you get up to your alarm clock and get dressed and go to work like any other work day. And you drive your same route and go through your same routine and still eat, breathe, live - like any other day. Life goes on even when you have to say goodbye to someone.

Everyone is still having a pretty hard time - there are still lots of tears. The service was beautiful. There were tons of flowers and tons of people that came to say goodbye (or see you later) to Uncle Charles - that is a testimony of his life right there. And even Uncle Charles had some final words for us as they played one of his CDs during the ceremony. He had such a beautiful voice. My grandfather did, too so maybe now they are singing together again. It was so sweet and sorrowful at the same time to hear his voice while at the funeral.

Uncle Charles had Coronary Artery Disease - so did my PawPaw. He's had it for years so we all knew this was a possibility I guess. But over the years Uncle Charles had sustained many other near death events. He got hit in the head with a baseball as a teenager and was paralyzed over half his body for a while. After that he suffered seizures for many years - but he overcame that. He had a 2,000lb log fall on him and break his back - but he overcame that. He suffered a couple heart attacks, once actually being legally dead on the table for a couple minutes - but he overcame that. He has had bypass surgeries - but he overcame that. So, you see why it was hard to believe that he didn't overcome this.

We're going back to East Texas in a couple of weeks for my niece's wedding. I'll be glad to visit some more with my Grannie and Aunt Elaine. Aunt Elaine's kids are with her now and Grannie stays with them or has people stay at her house with her at night. She was already living alone, but Aunt Elaine is going to have to adjust to that. I know that has to be so hard to do after living with someone for so long. I've only lived with Michael nearly four years and I know it would be awful to go to bed every night knowing he wasn't there. I know she'll be okay in time, but that's just it - it takes time. She has a lot of support, though and she is a strong lady.

My mother is also having a hard time adjusting and I think it's a little harder for her b/c she is here in Houston while Aunt Elaine and Grannie are up in East Texas. They are in the middle of a big home remodeling project, but I think as soon as it's over she'll go back up to stay for a little while. This was her baby brother after all so it will also take time for her to heal as well.

Life is never the same after losing someone, but it still has to go on. That's the design of things.

Some things are so hard to understand...

Last night around midnight my phone rang - I jumped out of bed to grab it & it was my father so right away I knew something was wrong b/c he was calling so late. My first thought was that something had happened to my mother, but what he said was the furthest thing from my mind. He told me that my Uncle Charles (my mother's brother) had passed. I honestly could not believe it and am still in that "this isn't real, is it?" stage.

People were lucky to know my uncle - he was an amazing man. Uncle Charles could do anything; he could build anything; he could fix anything. And he had more patience than any man I've ever known. He was a fantastic singer. He was 67 years old when he passed away. My mother's little brother and my Grannie's baby boy. I feel for my Grannie - I can't imagine how hard it is to lose your child. He was a husband, a father, and a grandfather.

And I will miss him so very, very much.

To Do Tattoo

This is too crazy...but pretty cool, too!!

The Greatest Show on Earth

I am so excited! We're taking Emma to the circus next weekend! I haven't been in years and I can't wait to see her expression when she sees it all for the first time. We're going early to the preshow so we'll get to see the animals and clowns and everything up close. I hope she isn't afraid! The last time I saw the circus it was at The Summit - which, of course, is no longer here. It turned into the Compaq Center, which also is no longer here b/c it is now Lakewood Church. Just to show how long it's been!

Article Worth Sharing

I found a good article today that I thought was worth sharing. Since I've started weight watchers (did you know I was doing weight watchers?) I've lost about ten pounds. My neighbor and I are doing it together and I have been pleased with the results so far! One thing I think is important when you're doing something like this is to do it out in public - don't do it on the DL like you're hiding it. You need the support from family and friends and the accountability! This is actually one of eight steps listed in the excerpt below to take control of your weight.

Here is the link to the entire article as I cut out quite a bit for space!

Living Life Overweight: 10 Reasons Why You’re Not To Blame

Anyone who is overweight will testify that losing weight is not as easy as it seems. The people that are lean, or have gone from fat to skinny will say it’s just a matter of motivation and elbow grease.

If you’re overweight then you’ve probably experienced the sharp end of the ridicule stick from many people in your life. It can’t possibly feel good, and that type of attention isn’t helping your weight loss goals either.

The fact is that such negative reinforcement creates a real psychological depression, and the very real scientific way that your body deals with this is my craving more carbohydrates. This is all part of the vicious cycle and part of the reason why being overweight, especially in America, is not just a lack of motivation.

1. Slowing Metabolism


2. McDonald’s Policy


3. Sedentary Jobs


4. Household Chores


5. Prepared Foods


6. Portion Sizes


7. Daily Workouts Not Enough


8. Fad Diets- Harmful


9. Fat Cells Multiply- Permanently


10. Genetic factors

The information provided above shows that it’s not a matter of having a lack of motivation. Our environments have waged war on us. Their weapons are sedentary lives and trans fats of mass destruction. All is not lost though, we can stand strong and fight for what we believe in. We can fight for zen, simplicity, and health for all, and here’s how …

8 Steps To Take Control of Your Weight

1. Substitute Water


2. Chew Your Food


3. Exercise daily


4. Publicize your intentions


5. Create a food scheduleDo not over eat


6. Choose your snacks wisely


7. Lifestyle

Emma Jamming in the Car

Classified Ads

This was posted in the ANIMALS/PET section of our classified ads at work:

We will have about 10 head to sell in the fall they are Angus stears and will go about 1000-1200 pounds that is around 600 pounds of beef per whole in white paper packages ready to shake and bake ranch raised and very good to eat All natural . $3.25-3.50 depending on the price of grain. Please Call

If they are dead, I don't think they qualify as a pet anymore!!

Five Day Weekend Update

Sitting here waiting on Emma to wake up and Michael to finish mowing so I thought I would give an update for the weekend...

I only had a two day work week this week - it was so nice!! I had hoped to go out of town for the long weekend, but sick kids changed that plan. Yes, kids plural - the neighbors' kids were sick, too (and even me a little and little Carlton's daddy) so I guess they did a good job of sharing this weekend. :( I'm well over the stomach part, but have a bit of a stuffy head. Michael woke up with a sore throat this morning, but I think that was just b/c of the smoke from fireworks last night. We had a block party on our street last night and had a wonderful turnout! Our neighbor Kim does an excellent job of being our "street captain" and organizing our little get togethers! She made up flyers and gave them out to everyone on the street and planned several games for all as well. I have pictures that I'll post later, but mostly I took video last night.

Since my sister came back into town this weekend (she and her husband have been in Colorado) and we are here mother planned to have us over to grill tonight. She told me the menu yesterday and she has a ton of food prepared. I still had some leftovers from last night, too so I am going to take that with me. I made my beer potatoes last night (Yum-O) and Michael grilled ribs, chicken, hot dogs, and corn on the cob. Everyone brought a ton of food last night that was all delicious! I had also bought us steak that was wrapped around feta & spinach that was awesome! I only bought two of those so that was one thing we didn't share with everyone!! It looked like something I could do myself, though and I think it would be yummy in chicken so I might try that, too. One neighbor brought a wonderful salad that was tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, & mozzarella that she drizzled with jalepeno vinegarette. I'll have to make that some time, too - it was so good.

Staying here we did get a lot of work done, though. I've been wanting to paint in our room for a while so this weekend we got it done. It looks so nice! I still need to finish working on the curtains, but I'll take more pictures when they are finished. We're getting hardwood floors downstairs except in the bedrooms, but now I wish we were getting them in our room, too b/c I think it would look so good with the new paint. I also think now I want to paint the wall that leads into our bathroom, too. We only painted the wall behind our bed and part of another wall that leads up to our windows - the wall isn't straight there so it was a perfect added accent to paint that portion.  If we do paint the wall that leads into the bathroom, though I won't paint it this same color, though - so we'll have to wait and see about that one.

So even though we didn't get to leave town this weekend we did get a lot done and had a good 4th of July right here at home! It looks like it is clouding up outside right now...I don't know if we're about to get some bad weather or not. Well, Michael is finished mowing so I guess we'll start getting things ready to go to my parents' house while Emma finishes her nap. I hope she'll be feeling better when she wakes up than when she went to bed...

Happy Independence Day

Cool DIY

A usual read of mine led me to this site with a cool DIY project for keeping cables in order...

Emma Times Five

Emma Blur(s)

More times than not if we're at home and I'm taking pics Emma is just a blur in my viewfinder!! Here she is many blurs in my viewfinder!!