Shannon/Ideas

Haven't blogged since before Shannon died. Haven't really had the heart to log back on. It's been a year now. I still can't believe she's gone.

For the first time since, I perused her blog today. And I have an idea. I'm probably not the first or the only one with the idea. So, girls, if you read this and someone is already doing it let me know. But I want to publish her blog. Not to sell. But for us. Her wisdom, her humor. Her memories. Our memories.

When Shannon was still here, I read through a couple of months of her blogs. I remember feeling like I'd discovered so much about her. I knew her such a short time. Maybe I'm just wanting to rediscover her. For all of us to rediscover her.

If someone has a copy, I want to include our Eulegy.

It's just an idea. But I think I have to do it. I think I need to do it.

Small Blessings

So a couple of weeks ago, several things happened to both LJ and I. The first was my car.

It died. A couple of times and the once for good. Every indication said fuel pump. And that was gonna cost a pretty penny by the time it was all said and done. So...it was sitting in the driveway and LJ and I were pretty much operating on just his vehicle.

The 2nd was his car.

We were on our way to visit a good friend of ours in Austin. We drove up 290 and were about 30 min from Austin when out of nowhere the RPM guage on his car starts bouncing, bouncing, bouncing then the engine just dies...as we're driving 70-ish mph on the highway. Bad, bad things...

So we call his brother - who lives just south of San Antonio (3 hours away). I think LJ was more calling him for advice or ideas about what to do but instead he didn't even hesitate - he just said "Stay where you are, Bubba. I'm on my way."

So LJ and I pushed the care just up the road to a convenience store so that we were off the side of the road. Then - since we had quite a bit of wait time, we walked a quarter of a mile up the road a little farther to a nice little steak house called - of all things - JW's (LJ's best friend's name is JW). We had a nice dinner and then went back to sit with the car until Ross got there to pick us up.

So to cut to the chase, Ross took LJ's car to see about getting it repaired and we took Ross's wife's car back to Houston.

So now we had 2 cars out and were operating on a borrowed vehicle.

THEN...a couple weeks later, after LJ's vacation and a trip home to see family and friends, we were at home unpacking and unwinding. LJ was just settling down to go to bed and I was still up milling around the house.

I caught myself staring at my engagement ring - as I often do. But for some reason something looked a little off. I looked closer and one of the prongs on the ring had been bent to where the tip touched the tip of the one next too it. I Panicked. I ran to get LJ and we both looked at it and tried to figure out what to do. It's a 6 prong ring, so the diamond was still held securely by the other 5 prongs but we didn't want to chance it. So I put it in the box to see about taking it to get it repaired later when we could afford to. We bought the ring at Zale's but we used a diamond from a ring he already had. So Zales would not give us any kind of a warranty or insurance policy on it. So that meant the repairs would be out of pocket.

So....now to the good stuff!

My car.

My dad helped us get the car towed to a mechanic in North Houston. He was a friend of a guy that dad went to school with. Four hours later, we get a call from the mechanic. It was not - in fact, the fuel pump. A couple of wires behind the battery had burned out. Instead of costing nearly $1000, it only cost $200 and that's including the cost to have it towed 1/2 an hour across town.

Then My ring.

Zales was NO help in getting it fixed and if it's not covered by a warranty or something, I would rather not go through Zales' Assembly line approach to repairing my ring. I'd rather go through an actual jeweler.

So about 2 weeks ago - just after discovering the issue with my ring, I started a job at Methodist. On the main floor of the building that I work in there is a jewelry store (with a private jeweler) called The Jewelry Box. I stopped in there one day to ask them for an idea of how much it would cost to repair the ring. I didn't have it with me but I described what had happened. They told me approx. $200. I was devistated. We just don't have that kind of money right now so it just seemed like it was going to take some time before I could wear my ring again.

So fast forward a couple of weeks to yesterday. I had put my ring on (longingly) a couple of days before and COMPLETELY forgotten to take it off. On my way out yesterday, I realized I still had the ring on. I thought, well I'll just stop and see what they say about it when they see the ring. The guy I spoke to before (who I think is the owner) recognized me. I showed him the ring. He said "It really looks a lot worse than it really is." I told him I was concerned about bending metal back and the metal being prone to bending in the same spot again. He looked a little closer and said "That's true but because this is a soft bend - more a curving of the metal rather than a sharp bend, it shouldn't cause you those problems."

So I asked him how much he thought it might cost to fix it. He said, "Well, I can probably have it back to you tomorrow, and it should only cost you about $12.00" That's right you read that correctly. Twelve dollars. 12. That's all. I was shocked. He said all he would really have to do was work the prong back in place and then make sure the rest of the prongs and the diamond were secure. He'd clean it and have it back to me tomorrow (now today). I couldn't believe it! Sooo stinkin' excited to get my ring back!

Then last night LJ's mom called. The original prognosis for LJ's car was that the timing belt went out, probably bent the push rods, and would probably cost around $2000 to fix. Well LJ's mom called to tell us that it was the timing belt and a couple of other belts on the car, but that the push rods were not bent and as soon as the mechanic put the new timing belt on the car started up right away and ran smoothly. And instead of a $2000 fix it would be closer to $500. HOLY COW!!

I couldn't stinkin' believe it. Major major good things going on. It's a GOOD DAY!

Seasons

It's getting Colder. Even in Houston. And before the temperatures warm again, I'll be getting married.

All at once, time seems to stand still and yet move too fast. There doesn't seem to be enough time to get things done for the wedding and yet it still seems so far away.

Things are getting done. I know they are. But I feel like I'm at a stand still. The next several things on my list include making significant purchases - invitation pieces, centerpiece items, decoration items, etc. etc. Our budget is tight, so I find myself hesitating to make a purchase with budget money. Part of me is afraid to purchase the wrong thing. I don't want to make a hasty decision and regret it later. But I know these things have to be done and need to be done relatively soon.

Someone tell me where to begin!

Blog Awards!

I have received the Premium Me Award from Yoda! I have to post 7 random things about me and then tag 7 more people. Yay!

1. I'm addicted to Nora Roberts books. I just returned 7 books to the library that I'd read in a little under 2 weeks.

2. I'm a fabulous cook. I love to cook and rarely use recipes (except for baking and a few family recipes passed down from my grandmother - which I have memorized). I was even accepted to Culinary School.

3. I have a Genius IQ. When I was in the 2nd Grade, my school counselor administered an IQ test that was interpreted by my pediatrician. I was answering College-level questions at the age of 7.

4. I'm a gamer. I started playing D&D in San Angelo about 6 years ago and have been playing ever since. I recently joined a D&D group here in Houston and love the guys I play with (all Aggies).

5. I play 6 different musical instruments. French Horn, Marching Horn (trumpet on steroids), Trumpet, Sax, Piano and I sing.

6. I'm addicted to logic puzzles and griddlers. (www.griddlers.net)

7. I have a not-so-secret crush on Alyson Hannigan (the flute chick in the American Pie movies, or Willow from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer). I would TOTALLY jump the fence for her...totally.

Tag: (I don't have 7 followers) so...ummm...all of you...do it...NOW! ;-)

Ahh the "New-ness" of it all....

The House...

Starting July 1, it's officially ours (renting - not buying). But to fully grasp what the house means to LJ and I, I feel it's probably best to first describe the apartment we were in before.

The Apartment...

800 sq. ft., 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, 1/2 a kitchen (seemed that way), no yard and a constant battle for parking within a mile of the apartment.

Add to that, two not-so-average sized people, 2 male (fixed) cats, 1 male dog and 1 female dog (both fixed) and you officially have a full house.

Add to THAT the fact that the previous occupants had animals and apparently didn't see the need to take them outside in the limited pet friendly potty areas. And if you have animals, you know that where 1 has a problem, they ALL seem to find the need to follow suit. It didn't seem to matter how often we took Milo and Maddie out, they always seemed to have problems.

Needless to say we were ELATED to be leaving this behind. ESPECIALLY when you consider what we came to.

The House (take 2)...

2000 sq. ft., 3 bedrooms, 2 bath, large eat-in kitchen, 2 living areas, Hardwood floors in every room except the den/tv room, HUGE fenced back yard (and I really do mean Huge...), built in doggie doors (no more taking the dogs out every 4 hours - they come and go as they please), built in gas grill, Large enclosed patio, Washer and Dryer hook ups...all on a corner lot, in a great neighborhood with fantastic, down to earth land lords (who live next door), a much shorter commute and door-front parking!!

This place is the freakin' taj mahal.

The indoor area that we've designated as "pet friendly" [den, kitchen and office (3rd bedroom)] is roughly the size of our apartment.

And here's the kicker! I get my own scrapbooking room. The other living area is all mine. I plan to take a few cues from the fantastic space of my dear friend and Scrapbooking Diva Extraordinaire - Yoda. And hopefully soon, we'll be able to get a regular "Banana's Foster" group going (Banana's -Houston Edition).

Soooo stinkin' excited about this house!

And there are plenty of small (and cheap/free) DIY projects to do around the house that really start to make it feel like it's OURS...

And I can just hear some of you cringing at the thought of the jump in electric bills going from an 800 sq.ft. apartment to a 2000 sq.ft. house but we've been very diligent about lights and we close off the majority of the house that's not in everyday use (the scrapbooking room and the back 3 bedrooms. My parents also brought a window AC unit for our bedroom so at night be turn the big AC up and just use the window unit. We've managed to keep our electricity costs to about the same amount as it was in the apartment so far. And during the "winter" months we ought to be able to keep that down even more.

But most of all, the house just feels good. You all know what I'm talking about...it just feels RIGHT. This is the house that we'll come back to after we get married. The house that I hope we'll be in for as long as we're in Houston. And it's a house that, if given the opportunity to, we would seriously consider buying from Betsy and Gary if they got ready to sell it.

Our First House...

Oh the places you'll go..........

This is a message that I got on my Myspace from the 10 year old daughter of one of my co-workers.

"...anatomy is pretty fun and interesting.
im really looking forward for u to be my teacher for college"

Breanna spent a couple of days hanging out with her mother and I at work during Spring Break. She's INCREDIBLY bright for a 10 year old and actually reminds me a lot of me when I was her age. One day while she was there we were chatting and she asked me what I wanted to do when I grow up (hehe). I told her I wanted to teach Anatomy. Her response: "Anatomy?! Like the body and stuff?" And from there our conversation just rolled on. I was teaching her little bytes of A&P. i.e. How blood flows through the heart, Ratchet theory of muscle contraction, nerve conduction, etc etc. All my favorite little tidbits of anatomy - simplified a bit but really not all that much. We talked about the stomach and what happens with different weight loss surgery (Her mother has the lap band and is about to get a "sleeve"(?)). She was getting it...I could see the lights were on and somebody was home and she was having fun and enjoying what I was telling her. I felt more at home and in my "zone" than I have in months! Earlier that day she told me her least favorite subject in school was Science. At the end of our conversation I pointed out to her that all of what we'd been discussing was science. She was really excited and said she wished I was her teacher right now. I told her to look me up when she gets ready to go to college and to add me on Myspace so we could keep in touch. That's when I got the message.

So Breanna...I can't wait to teach you again when you get to college. And I can't wait to see all you dream of now become possibilities and opportunities for your future. Oh the places you'll go.......

Been a While...

So I haven't blogged in a while. Things have been kinda slow I guess. LJ and I went to SA in February. Both our families went with us to the Prickly Plant Motel. *That* was an adventure for sure. My dad was more interested in the kitchen (since his friends will be cooking the meal for our wedding) my mom doesn't like the idea of us having the wedding at the Prickly Plant Motel so she was a big fat stick in the mud and his mom was just a little clueless about the whole shebang but she was at least supportive and was making suggestions...which I totally appreciate.

The afternoon before our appointment at the Prickly Plant, LJ's brother in law - La-Di-Da's husband - apparently fell at work. He broke his wrist and had a pretty bad bump on the head - no concussion fortunately. So we drove straight to the clover hospital from H-town.

But the best part about the trip is that I think we finally convinced my mother that we're not letting go of the idea of the Prickly Plant so she finally just gave in. YAY!! We decided to wait to set a date until after LJ and I know where we're going or *if* we're moving somewhere in June. We'll know on Monday *IF* we're going somewhere and if we are we'll know on Thursday *WHERE* we're going. So next week is gonna be crazy and exciting. YAY!!

I started a new business venture. I'll tell you more about it when I get a little deeper into it. But I'm excited about it and I can't wait to get it going. I'm also jumping back into my uber nerdiness and playing in a game tomorrow. Well tomorrow is just the start up/planning session. But I'm excited none-the-less. The last game I played was over a year ago, so I've been jonesing a little. This is a new group and new groups can be...hmmm...interesting? I'm also a little spoiled with my group from SA. Totally miss the old games! *sigh* So wish me luck with that!

I'm heading to bed. The apartment complex is giving a free breakfast tomorrow. Free food...I'm totally there. But that means I have to get up a little earlier than normal on a Sat...damn...

G'night all!!