Wish me luck! Tomorrow I meet b/f 's parents, and siblings, and cousins, and nieces and nephews. All. At. Once. I guess it is only fair as he has met virtually all of the relatives that I seen in any given year, and some that I only see occasionally (at my brother's wedding reception).
After thinking we were going to make the 9 hour drive to El Paso, b/f threw me a curve on Thursday by showing me the airline tickets. Not that it was a bad curve ball. Just not what I had been mentally adjusting to. I had bought several books on tape, and had visions of us having nice, long relationshipy talks. Visions of one less afternoon/evening with his family :) But this will be good. He can finally try out the cool sound blocking head phones I got him for his birthday. Yes, that was in August. Apparently they work so well he can't use them at work, because he needs to hear some sounds like his phone, or his girlfriend talking to him.
And it will be good - less wear and tear on my car (he drives a totally uncomfortable truck), and less of a sore butt. Ask me again after I return from two of the most busiest airport days of the year. I may have wished we drove :)
Anyway, here it is almost 10:00 and I haven't started packing yet. Our flight doesn't leave until 1:15 tomorrow, but I still have a lot to do. But I can make it. I'm on vacation. Sort of. I will ignore the fact that I just got finished working. But at least my work gives me the laptop, so I can bring it and just surf when I need to get away from all this family togetherness. And my wireless data card will be a real life-saver as well.
I feel that if I think it will be a bad trip, then when it is fun, it will totally beat my expectations. I have a sneaky feeling that his family will be so much funner than mine, so I'm probably deep down jealous.
Oh! And b/f got me a GPS ! So now I can try to go back to Luke's Locker without getting lost the next time I need shoes. And he totally loved the gifts I got him. Two I was unsure about, but he loved them! I think if I focus and pay attention and have money, then maybe I can be a good gift-giver after all.
Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanzaa! And God bless us one and all!
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The snow is always snowier on the other side of the snow pile
Everytime we come to Minneapolis for business trips in the winter, we joke to our clients that they must either be crazy or gluttons for punishment for living up here (It was about 15degrees F. when we landed). And they laugh and say that while it is cold, it's not that cold, it could be worse. The people up in Delouth, off the shores of Lake Superior, are the really crazy ones. It may snow as late in the year as June. They will wear shorts as soon as it gets above 30 degrees. I wonder what the Delouthians say when people ask if they are crazy. What, -20? That's nothing. You should go to Canada. Those people are crazy!
Of course, we get the same comments in reverse in August. 30 consecutive days of 100+ temps? You must be crazy. Yes, we in Dallas are crazy, but you should try living in Houston. Oh, the humidity!
Of course, we get the same comments in reverse in August. 30 consecutive days of 100+ temps? You must be crazy. Yes, we in Dallas are crazy, but you should try living in Houston. Oh, the humidity!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
1 Out Of Every 5 Statistics Is Made Up
This month, I paid off my second mortgage! My original goal was to put down 20%, but I only put down 12%. I possibly could have put down more, but then I would have had no money to buy the cool electronic lawn mower I needed. So long story short, I took out a second loan for 8%, at a much higher interest rate, and a weird 15-year balloon term. I didn't like the terms, so I wanted to pay it off as soon as I could. Turns out that took me about 15 months. That is a bit of a relief.
So I now own 20% of my house! One-fifth. Which is about 300 square feet and some grass. I'll say it is my living room. Hands off! It's all mine. I wish I only had to clean 1/5th of the house.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Eco-what?
I did it. I finally remembered to bring my recycled bags INTO the grocery store. You don’t save the earth by leaving the bags in your house. Or your car.
The nice people at Kroger still act a little surprised that I brought in bags. The lady asked if I only wanted the chicken in there. I was like, no, put everything you can. All the heavy stuff.
I bought $70 worth of groceries, and it all fit in 2 recycled bags and 2 plastic. It probably would have been about 6-8 plastic bags normally. It hasn't become a habit yet, but I'm working on it.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Anyone else?
Is anyone else excited about the temperature change...because we can now wear corduroy pants? I am! That is all.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Instead of cleaning the house
I will tell you about my wonderful weekend. After being disappointed about not going to the fair on Thursday due to bf not getting off work, we planned to go Friday. After being disappointed about not leaving as early as I wanted, we finally left for the fair about 3:30. Which meant we did hit some traffic, and we didn't enter the gates until almost 5. But we had all night. And it was pretty much perfect! The weather was amazing. I brought a little jacket, but didn't need to put it on until about 9pm.
We didn't see many shows, but we did eat. and eat. And ride rides. I didn't know my bf was a ride kinda guy. I guess I shouldn't assume with him anymore. He used to work in the summers at an amusement park, so he ran the rides. But not in a carney type of place. A regular place. Makes a big difference :) Anyway, the rides we did were pretty tame. But still expensive.
After getting a lemonade, on my recommendation, we watched a dog show. It was Dancing With The Dogs. Kind of lame in my opinion. I've seen better dog training at the fair before. A few were pretty good. A little wiener dog walking backwards was pretty precious. Anyway, then we went on the hunt for corny dogs. We were going to attempt to eat only pork and corn products all night :) We were mostly successful.
We also ate grilled corn on the cob (roasted is much better, this was kinda soggy). Then we did the Ferris wheel. I didn't know it was the tallest ride in the western hemisphere. It was pretty nice...at sunset. On a cloudless day. Did I mention the weather was perfect? Not even windy up there. Then we went on the hunt for the deep fried bacon. You heard me correctly. It was good, but not exactly something you want to eat every day. We ran into bf's old boss and his wife. I never run into anyone I know. We missed the pig races though :( Then we did the tall slide going down on a sack. You have to climb all the way to the top! It was tiring. Only because you would do something like this at the fair and no where else...we went into the little booth with the sign that says World's Smallest Horse. Every time I have been to the fair, I have always wanted to go look. Because the people coming out never have a readable expression, like ha ha that was lame, or OMG that was incredible. So my curiosity bloomed. I will leave it for you, and not spoil it with my opinion. Other than to say, I'm guessing miniature ponies must not have counted in the contest.
We headed over to the little pond to the swan paddle boat. It was fun, although the water was pretty rank smelling at times. But again, it was perfect...we hadn't been in the water very long when the fire works show began. And we could see most of them from our spot. The show was very short and disappointing, but I wouldn't have picked a better vantage point to watch it. Then we saw the pyramid sand sculptures...pretty neat.
Then it was time for dessert! I let him pick, and we got the fried peanut butter and jelly and banana sandwich. I'm not a big fan of bananas with stuff, but this was pretty good. The second section I had had more jelly and less banana, and it was yummy. The bread was like french toast consistency. The milk beverage choice was the best decision of the night. It was ice cold and very complementary to the sandwich.
We did walk by the main stage to see Jessica Simpson. I wasn't impressed for the 2 minutes we listened. And it wasn't overflowing with people, like I expected. After breezing through the car show, we had spare tickets. We were stuffed, so we decided to do one of the fun houses. Again, not something I would have done on my own, but that's the fun of it, right? We did the house of mirrors. It was hard to get the maze! So much harder than I thought.
We left a little after 10, and it was a very short walk to our car since we got there when lots were leaving. It was perfect!
We didn't see many shows, but we did eat. and eat. And ride rides. I didn't know my bf was a ride kinda guy. I guess I shouldn't assume with him anymore. He used to work in the summers at an amusement park, so he ran the rides. But not in a carney type of place. A regular place. Makes a big difference :) Anyway, the rides we did were pretty tame. But still expensive.
After getting a lemonade, on my recommendation, we watched a dog show. It was Dancing With The Dogs. Kind of lame in my opinion. I've seen better dog training at the fair before. A few were pretty good. A little wiener dog walking backwards was pretty precious. Anyway, then we went on the hunt for corny dogs. We were going to attempt to eat only pork and corn products all night :) We were mostly successful.
We also ate grilled corn on the cob (roasted is much better, this was kinda soggy). Then we did the Ferris wheel. I didn't know it was the tallest ride in the western hemisphere. It was pretty nice...at sunset. On a cloudless day. Did I mention the weather was perfect? Not even windy up there. Then we went on the hunt for the deep fried bacon. You heard me correctly. It was good, but not exactly something you want to eat every day. We ran into bf's old boss and his wife. I never run into anyone I know. We missed the pig races though :( Then we did the tall slide going down on a sack. You have to climb all the way to the top! It was tiring. Only because you would do something like this at the fair and no where else...we went into the little booth with the sign that says World's Smallest Horse. Every time I have been to the fair, I have always wanted to go look. Because the people coming out never have a readable expression, like ha ha that was lame, or OMG that was incredible. So my curiosity bloomed. I will leave it for you, and not spoil it with my opinion. Other than to say, I'm guessing miniature ponies must not have counted in the contest.
We headed over to the little pond to the swan paddle boat. It was fun, although the water was pretty rank smelling at times. But again, it was perfect...we hadn't been in the water very long when the fire works show began. And we could see most of them from our spot. The show was very short and disappointing, but I wouldn't have picked a better vantage point to watch it. Then we saw the pyramid sand sculptures...pretty neat.
Then it was time for dessert! I let him pick, and we got the fried peanut butter and jelly and banana sandwich. I'm not a big fan of bananas with stuff, but this was pretty good. The second section I had had more jelly and less banana, and it was yummy. The bread was like french toast consistency. The milk beverage choice was the best decision of the night. It was ice cold and very complementary to the sandwich.
We did walk by the main stage to see Jessica Simpson. I wasn't impressed for the 2 minutes we listened. And it wasn't overflowing with people, like I expected. After breezing through the car show, we had spare tickets. We were stuffed, so we decided to do one of the fun houses. Again, not something I would have done on my own, but that's the fun of it, right? We did the house of mirrors. It was hard to get the maze! So much harder than I thought.
We left a little after 10, and it was a very short walk to our car since we got there when lots were leaving. It was perfect!
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