Back to reality after a great holiday!

Time to get back up to date! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We started off the week with a LAZY day – Abby only got out of her pajamas in order to take a shower and get into a clean pair. Mom and dad headed home and it was just the 4 of us……
Tuesday morning we got up and headed to Houston. Encountered our first delay when Tom got a call from work and had to pull over to take it (company policy). Then we needed to stop so that he could respond to a priority e-mail (yes, you can assume this request came from a non-American not on holiday). The girls and I sat quietly and patiently for the 45 minutes this took. The second delay was in Lake Charles where we were diverted onto the loop around the city. A bit of googling on the trusty Blackberry advised that there had been a propane truck that overturned on an exit ramp (on the way home we saw that this particular exit occurs immediately following a TALL bridge – imagine making a sharp turn coming off a steep ramp in a propane truck – NOT a pretty picture!). So another hour behind. Made it to Tom’s brother’s house a bit after 4. PHEW! Had dinner at their house and a relaxing evening.
Wednesday we enjoyed a movie day – we all went to see “2012” and were disappointed. The action lived up to the reviews, but the story was pretty lame. But nice for an afternoon of entertainment. Stopped at the grocery on the way home – what a NIGHTMARE – in order to procure the appropriate items for the feast the following day. Enjoyed dinner at a Thai restaurant and another relaxing evening.
Thursday we all headed to Tom’s other brother’s house for a day of football, family, and food. For me, the highlight of the day was watching Tom perform the “Hoedown Throwdown” with his niece providing music. He won the talent competition (need I mention he was unopposed?). We also did the annual Christmas gift exchange with the Webbs. You can tell the kiddos are all getting older as most of them received some sort of gift card! Headed back to our home away from home full and sleepy. Some got in the hot tub, the rest of us watched a movie and digested.
Friday morning the boys took off on some sort of adventure. The girls headed out shopping to an accessory store. A few dollars later we returned to the house for some lunch. The girls headed out for movie-afternoon – 4 went to see “Precious” and the rest of us to see “Blind Side”. Apparently, those of us who chose the “happy” movie were more satisfied. Truly a great story of how a family really helped a young man succeed. And true as well. We all met up for Chinese buffet afterwards (best way to feed 20+ people at once, no?). And once again back to the house. A rousing came of cards for a few of us and another evening of rest.
Saturday was time for us to head home. Again we met with a delay, though this time for tragic reasons – a flipped over mini-van with 5 fatalities, including 4 children. I-10 had re-opened by the time we hit Baton Rouge, but there were still delays. What a sad ending to a joyful holiday and, in this particular instance, what was a “new beginning” for a family returning to New Orleans.
Tom left to fly to Dallas Sunday morning for a training class. The girls and I headed to church and the grocery. Then home. I’d bribed them that we could do a bit of shopping IF their rooms were straightened up. They met my terms and we did a bit of crazy shopping with all the other crowds. They were able to use their gift-cards from their Webb cousins and I was able to FINALLY find some casual gym-type clothes for me that fit. And I got a new coffee maker – my old one was new 13 years ago. It’s lost a spring, leaks water, and has build up from hard water – I broke down and replaced it. Used the new one today and am quite happy with it!
We truly had a great holiday with the Webbs. Good to see everyone, good to be able to spend time with them, and good to have a nice place to stay. THANKS to all of you! Hope we didn’t inconvenience you too much!
Now onto the rest of the holiday-season mayhem……

Football Weekend.....

What a week! It was certainly crazy-busy around here, but it's that time of year! Abby's school show was this week for the 1-4 grades (lower school). As a 4th grader, her class were the "stars" of the show and had the featured numbers. Along with 3 songs with the entire grade (Sea Cruise, Thriller, and Celebration) she sang with 4 other girls "We Are Family" -- complete with pink shiny dresses and fuzzy boas and silver shoes. The girls were all miked and were adorable. For the other grades, each class had a song/dance routine. The school puts on great shows every year and each year seems to be better than the last. The highlights for me were many -- I loved the 1st graders in bathrobes and shower caps singing "Splish Splash", the second graders as the Beatles (complete with body guards and screaming female fans), the Limbo 1st graders who knew how to improvise when their limbo stick didn't make it to the stage at the beginning of their song, the third graders in western wear doing the "Boot-scootin' Boogie" and "Hoedown Throwdown" (which Tom knew was Miley Cyrus even though I didn't!) AND, the costumes (wigs!) for the third graders who sang "Hair". I took mom and dad to the dress rehearsal Wednesday, the performance Thursday AND the performance Friday. My aunt came to Thursday's show and Tom made it back from Houston to go Friday.

In addition to THAT, Wednesday was Bible Study and Maggie had ballet, Thursday was drawing class and Maggie had ballet, and FINALLY on Friday there was more than a 30 minute stretch to sit down and relax. After taking Maggie's high school application in, picking up our Girl Scout fall products, and dropping of Maggie's camping stuff. She went on a 2 night camp out -- first one without her leaders (with GS provided counselors). She was really looking forward to it and I hope they had fun despite the rain we've had.

Yesterday mom and I watched OSU -- Tom and dad got Maggie's Christmas present, then took Abby to piano lessons (unfortunately getting a flat tire on the way), got the tire fixed. Tom and I met a friend for coffee in the afternoon -- her husband has worked with Tom, they used to live here but are now in Calgary. She's a concert pianist in town to study with her former teacher. She's also from Japan (her husband is British). Really nice for me to meet her. THEN to pick up the repaired tire and THEN for dinner.

Oh yeah, also -- this weekend my church is having a Bible Conference. I was able to attend Friday evening and really found it fulfilling. Today I'm going to both the 9 and 10am services to hear more. THEN for some Saints and a relaxing day. Mom and dad go home tomorrow, we leave Tuesday for Houston. WHEW!!!!!!

i cannot spell

Just realized I've misspelled the "title" to the last post. sigh.

The week is off to a GREAT start. The most exciting news is that I've committed to going to Mali with my dad in January for 2 weeks on a "volunteer vacation." My dad went on this same trek last year with my uncle and signed up to go again. When I heard that, coupled with the fact that my uncle wasn't going again this year, I though, "why not me?" Then I realized that we'd need someone here to take my place (not that I'm THAT indispensable, but if you've ever done the single-working-parent routine, it's TOUGH. SO, my mom got volunteered (THANKS MOM!). She's questioning what she's gotten into a bit! But she'll get time with the girls, the girls will get time with her, I won't be around to annoy anyone, and Tom and the girls will also get time together. AND I get to be with my dad.

That all got finalized last night. Today we got the girls off to school and walked/jogged. Mom and I went to a meeting with my new mom's group regarding boundaries. Something we're all aware of to some extent, but interesting with regards to the conversations that arose from it. Also interesting for me, hearing my mom's comments, to learn how many of our boundaries are learned! We're home for a short bit, then off for car pool, violin, and then ballet.

Oh, I also got my car fixed yesterday. Thankfully all but the 25000 service was still warranty! I got a new motor for my power window, a new brake light, some fixing of parts of the front axles that were "squeaking" AND my sunroof now works properly. Convenient to have mom and dad's car here so that we could drop it off in the morning and have another vehicle available. My parents ROCK.

Have a great day!

biginning a busy week

Happy Monday! Another jam-packed week here. WHEW! But a great weekend. Friday after school Maggie went home with a friend to spend the night. Abby brought a friend here. Quiet evening had at our house, Maggie went to a fair with her friend and rode rides all evening. I picked Maggie up Saturday for ballet class and went to purchase sweats for me at Academy -- tried on about 8 pairs and didn't find any I like. I had to get rid of my navy ones because they were both stretched out and bleached from assertive laundering. In any event, didn't find any I liked. So I picked Maggie up at ballet and we went home for a quick bite to eat and then a trip to piano lessons. After that stops at the gas station and Walgreens (so what else is new?). Then home for the evening -- two girls the night after sleepovers makes for relatively quiet evenings!

Yesterday Tom left early for Houston for a workshop and meetings and presentation there. The girls and I went to church. This week we're having a Bible conference with Charlie Bing. I'm planning to attend at least one of the extra meetings, probably Friday night. After church we headed to the store as Maggie is growing out of all her clothes. It was a VERY quick trip as we "had" to be home by 12 for the Saints game. She managed to find 4 shirts that fit, but after trying on 10 more pairs of sweats, I still found none that fit me. Sigh. The other good news was that I figured out what part of the problem with my car is -- it's going in the shop today for a variety of things, but one of them is now "fixed". The problem was that the automatic passenger doors and the rear hatchback weren't opening automatically with the buttons in the car next to the doors -- only via the key remote and the buttons above the rearview mirror. I went to shut Abby's door at the store and noticed a button that is labelled "ON/OFF" that was in the pushed-in position. On a whim I pushed it and whoo-hoo! problem fixed. We sat in the parking lot and tried out all the buttons. So now I only have 3 concerns for the shop -- my window, the sun roof, and a burnt out brake light.

Came home to watch the Saints win. Not too bad! Mom and dad arrived about an hour later and we spent quite a bit of time talking about Africa. I actually cooked dinner (pretty good -- mashed taters, roasted brussels sprouts and onion, and pork roast) and had a quiet evening. WHEW!

Today is the car shop, grocery, yoga, carpool, and ballet.......Have a great Monday!

almost back to normal

Nothing like a bad cold to get you down! It's been in our house for the past couple weeks and hit me like a semi Sunday morning. Sigh. Did have a fun Saturday -- managed the ballet and piano runs, then Tom and I went to an auction for my ladies' club. Both a silent and live auction were held. The "bigger" part of the evening was the fact that we'd left the girls at home alone for the first time in the evening. Maggie took the red cross babysitting class last January, but this was the first time we'd actually left them. No problems........

Sunday, however, came on hard (and no, I didn't even have ONE drink Saturday night!). Managed to get up and take Tom downtown to pick up his car (he'd left it downtown Friday). Got home and collapsed back into bed. Woke up again about 11am, in bed with my jacket AND shoes still on. And not quite recalling the drive home from downtown. Perhaps I shouldn't have been driving???? In any event, spent the bulk of Sunday in a horizontal position. Abby went to a friend's house to practice for their school show. I stayed horizontal and watched football (go Saints!). Tom and the girls managed dinner and clean-up and I managed to get to the table to eat some of it. Nice to see them come together!

Monday I was able to take the girls to school and make a quick grocery run. Home and back to bed for a while, though I managed to sit up on the couch for the bulk of the day rather than lying on it. Tropical Storm Ida was making its way north and the news channels were in an uproar that it would come here and be horrible. So the ballet teacher canceled class for Maggie. One less trip to make. Of course, all we ended up with was a tiny bit of rain and lots of wind. And my storm shutters are still closed, making my house rather dark.....Tom is definitely "Mr. Be-Prepared".....

Tuesday I again took the girls to school and headed back home. Lazy day sitting on the couch yet again. Took Abby to violin after school and Maggie to ballet in the evening -- ALMOST back to normal....Wednesday morning I actually managed 20 minutes of a yoga video and enjoyed being out and about (and in clothes other than sweats!) at Bible Study. Errands at the mall followed, then picking up the girls for our weekly Chinese dinner. Ballet again in the evening.

Yesterday was even better -- I was able to ride the bike at the gym for 20 minutes, then ran home for a shower before heading back to the JCC for my drawing/painting class. The other two students came in and I recognized one as having a Dutch accent -- she was surprised as most people assume it's German. I explained we'd lived there 3 years. The other gal is from Belgium and her accent is sort of a cross between a French and Dutch person's (makes sense given the country's history). Yesterday we learned a bit about Matisse. Later in his life he lost his eyesight and became bedridden. Unable to continue painting, he turned to making cut-out art with scissors. Our assignment was to deconstruct one of his paintings (a portrait of his wife) into pieces of construction paper -- head, neck, ears, hair, eyes, nose, mouth, dress, collar, decorations on dress, etc. -- each with a piece of paper that we then glued onto a final piece of paper. And then the three of us evaluated what we'd done. Overall I'm pleased with my results. Our homework assignment is to sketch 3 pictures of our hand in a relaxed position with a sharpie -- no erasing allowed! Yikes! I've done two of them and given my left-brained-ness, I'm actually pleased with what they look like. In any event, the class is challenging me in ways I'm not normally challenged!

Today I'm almost back to normal. Tom braved sleeping in our bed again last night and I didn't cough too much for him to leave. I managed both riding the bike for 30 minutes AND my yoga class today, followed by a run to Michael's for charcoal and the grocery. Picked up Abby and her friend at school today (to spend the night) while Maggie dropped her stuff in the car and is spending the night at a friend's house. Tomorrow is ballet and piano. Sunday mom and dad come! Looking forward to visiting with them very much.

Anyways, no great deep thoughts today, just quite thankful for several things: that I'm feeling better, that I didn't have any sort of flu, that my family loves me, and that I have all that I need and more. Hope you are all so blessed......

Just a quick one....

My younger daughter Abby makes me smile. Most of the time. But here's my sweet Abby story:

Like many people, I take a "list." to the grocery. And like many people, it is constantly getting added to, even in the car on the way to school. So I'll have one or the other girl add to it -- usually Maggie as she sits in the front. However, a couple months ago Maggie wasn't in the car, so Abby got to add to my grocery list. After she was done, she folded it up and wrote "Grocery List" on the outside. When I opened it up, along with the items I needed to purchase, she'd written "I Love You! Abby" at the top. The next time I asked her to add something to the list, she instead added a typical Abby-witticism -- unfortunately, I threw away that list and don't remember what she'd written. But this morning, once again I needed something added to the list (in this case, milk). Although Maggie was in the car, I had Abby write it on the list and didn't look until I got to the store after dropping them off and going to yoga class. So here's the message:

"milk (I LOVE you!!!) (Even though you make us drink ucky blucky yucky clucky mucky (you get the picture) milk.)"

Where does she come up with this stuff (and yes, both my girls are like me and HATE milk)........

Have a great weekend!

Thursday again

It's already November 5? WOW! Yet another busy week -- they are all that way, I'm afraid!

Monday was the typical carpool/yoga/grocery/cook dinner/eat mine for lunch/car pool/ballet day, EXCEPT Maggie has either had a cold or a reaction to the flu vaccine and was feeling terrible, so she took Monday off. PHEW! Nice to not have to make the extra drive! Tuesday morning I went to the dentist (look mom, no cavities!). Then to a meeting where we had a discussion on raising children in today's society. Quite interesting, lots of "take-aways" for me, and wonderful to be with a group that shares a lot of the same parenting values Tom and I do. I'm certainly not a perfect parent, but some things I see/hear from my daughters alarms me. Or else I'm just becoming even more square in my old age.....After school Abby had her violin lesson AND started the second book! She's playing the last song in the first book (quite a difficult one) for the recital in December and allowing me to accompany her as well. The first song in the second book is quite easy -- she's already got all the notes, needs to work on the rhythm and bowing.....Maggie was still feeling poorly, so I kept her from ballet and we had another early night.

Yesterday was my Bible study -- always uplifting for me, even when we end up sharing personal tragedy -- there's something to be gained from every situation and finding that nugget is what strengthens us. After that I headed to find my sister's Christmas gift -- I'm quite happy with it, we'll see if she's as happy or if it will become MINE! hee hee. Then to get the girls and stop for Chinese food on the way home. Tom was working late, so Abby and I spent the time during Maggie's ballet class at Starbucks and we were home for the evening.

Today is my doctor's appointment and the girls see the dentist this afternoon. Another ballet class this evening, but it's the one time during the week we're able to carpool as there is no Nutcracker practices (the girl we carpool with is Clara again this year). WHEW!!!!!!!

Have a great rest of the week!

I'm it, apparently (thanks, Lauri!)

Here's how the game works: answer the following 5 questions and then keep the game going by tagging 2 more people. Here goes...

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?

In 1999 I was working on getting pregnant with baby #2 (working being the operative word as Tom was at that time in a job in which he traveled about 50% of the time). Since Abby was born in 2000, it was a successful endeavor.

I was also working for Shell in a programming role (yikes!). Living in the Montrose/Museum District area of Houston.


2. What are 5 things on your to-do list?

Finish reading the Bible (3rd time through -- taking me a while this time)
Put photos in picture albums
Practice patience with my family
Keep my mouth shut more and my ears open more
Package up a BUNCH of stuff for Goodwill


3. What are snacks you enjoy?

On a popcorn kick right now. Need to have a bit of chocolate every day. Also like soy crisps.


4. What are the places you have lived?

Born in Pittsburgh, PA
Worthington, OH from 4-10
Westlake, OH from 10-18
Toledo, OH for undergraduate (summers either in Westlake or Charlotte, NC after my parents moved in 1989)
Columbus, OH for graduate school (1991-1993)
Houston, TX from 1993-2001
The Hague, The Netherlands from 2001-2004
New Orleans, LA for part of 2004
Metairie, LA from 2004-now, aside from six months in 2005 when we were back in Houston (after hurricane Katrina)


5. What are 5 things you would do if you became a billionaire?

Figure out how much our family "really" needs (college, retirement, how much could be put in trust to allow for living off of interest).
Enjoy more frequent pampering (spa vacations, massage, pedicure)
Hire someone to do more chores -- laundry, ironing
Provide for our extended family
Vacation more often


OK, well my game of tag is up! Since the only one I know who actively blogs tagged me, unless some random person picks this up, I'm a dead end.........my life is so lame!