2008 Wrap-Up

2008 was a very busy year for me! Since I started this blog in October, I thought I'd put my year together in pictures (the ones I could come up with anyway).

The year started off promising, with a fantastic kiss to ring in the New Year!

Then, birthdays followed. Stacy & I both turned (gulp!) 29 this year!

In March came Jason's 31st birthday. I made carrot cake again, but the dang icing still wouldn't set! (No one complained, though)

Then came the first wedding. We went to Nicassia's wedding where Jason showed off his engineering abilities with plastic champagne glasses.

I also had an awesome internship at an event planning company. Here are a few of us celebrating with beer after a hard day at work!

In May came Deseere's bachelorette party and wedding! You can spot Deseere easily because she was the queen pimpette of the night. I also graduated from grad school, but I didn't walk the stage so there are no pictures.

Stacy also got married in May and I was honored to be her Maid of Honor. I had the most perfect speech put together in my head, but was too busy to write it down. Of course, I forgot most of it when I opened my mouth.

In the midst of finishing school and going to weddings, Jason & I volunteered in the American Diabetes Tour de Cure. (photo courtesy of Joel Spring, Rx Design) This picture was taken early in the morning.....it was cold and the coffee was a must.

In June, we bought a house!

My parents also bought a new car so that they could save money on the wear, tear and gas on their other car. Wait, did that make sense? I decided it was very important to check how much their trunk could fit. It could accommodate my junk well:

In July, I had my bachelorette party in Austin:

July was the best month of all because Jason & I finally got married!

We had a fabulous honeymoon in St. Lucia:

We tried to hide from everyone for the next few months so that we could get our house together, but somehow we managed to find enough time to act stupid in a bar in Austin.

September brought the first part of the dead tree removal:

October brought Halloween Party Numero Uno and Numero Dos y Tres and also a trip to Port Aransas. Obviously, Jason & John were the life of the party:


November brought Wurstfest antics, Ren Fest and finally, my neice's 8th birthday:

December brought Cassius's health problems, our Christmas tree conundrum and Christmas.

I am so thankful for all of my friends and family that made 2008 a wonderful, busy year! And also the awesome doctors that saved our little guy! Happy New Year everyone!

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Christmas

Sorry folks, but I forgot to take pictures at Christmas this year. It was a very emotional year for me because of all the changes this year. In sports terms, it's what we would call a rebuilding year.

For the past two Christmases, my younger brother was unable to come home for the holidays. He was stationed at Fort Irwin, California and had to work. We were able to visit him in 2006, but not last year. This year, he moved to Fort Hood, Texas and was able to come. Unfortunately, he had to work an overnight shift on Christmas Eve. We waited for him to make the 2 1/2 hour trip to our home on Christmas morning so that we could drive him the rest of the way (another 2 1/2 hours) to my parent's house while he slept. Obviously, we were all very excited to see him!

As usual, things couldn't go as planned. I had switched vehicles with my aunt the day before so that we could fit people, luggage and gifts comfortably. My brother pulled into the driveway around 11am and informed us that we had a flat. On Christmas Day. You've got to be kidding me.

He & Jason then went to the driveway and pulled the tire off to inspect it. My aunt had the tires rotated and balanced the day before, so nothing should have gone wrong. Meanwhile, I went in the house to feverishly search Google to find any auto shops that might have been open. Of course no one was open, not even Wal-Mart. I think we all know that if Wal-Mart closes, then everyone closes.

Luckily, Jason & my brother were able to figure out that the tire was flat due to a leaky valvestem. They found an o-ring and a cap, put it on and aired up the tire. Hooray! It worked! We then loaded our things into the van and got on our way. But, before we could go, I made my very sleepy brother take a picture of Jason & I in front of our Christmas tree on Christmas day. He had no patience, so I had to get it right the first time. Not bad, huh?


We then made our way to Woodsboro around 4pm that afternoon. My sister and her two girls arrived about 10 minutes before us and they had already discovered that Santa had paid a visit. In fact, my oldest neice was already riding her new pink bicycle. We missed the girls seeing what Santa left them, but we were able to open gifts as a family.

Afterward, we had the traditional Christmas Eve dinner on Christmas day: tamales, chili, beans and tortillas. Since no one was around on Christmas Eve this year, my parents saved our special dinner for us!

We had a wonderful time visiting our family and can't wait to do it again. We are excited about our new Dust Buster and can't wait to try it out on some cat litter in the hallway!

Thank you Mom & Dad!

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Merry Christmas, ya'll!

Hope everyone is having safe and happy day with their loved ones!


~~~Comic pulled from comics.com~~~

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Ugh.

I'm sick. Yesterday, Jason & I headed to my Grandma's for her annual Christmas dinner. Along the way, I started sneezing uncontrollably. Of course, I knew it had to be my arch nemesis, Mountain Cedar.

You see, Mountain Cedar and I have had a long battle. Each year since I have moved here, MC has made my winters miserable. MC causes much sneezing, nose blowing and brings many tears. I have tried many weapons in my 11-year battle including, but not limited to: Kleenex, hot showers, Zyrtec, Claritin, Allegra, Benadryl & Flonase. Currently, I'm fighting MC with Nasonex and Astelin.

Clearly, the effectiveness has worn off this year so I found myself in CVS yesterday begging the pharmacist to tell me what else will work. All I could take was Benadryl, which made me look like a drunk at the party, dozing off on the couch after dinner.

So again I find myself wishing that I lived farther south where MC cannot reach me. I don't think there is much more hope for me except to try immunotherapy (shots). But, if that works, I'm going for it. Anyone have success stories? I would love to put the Puffs down......

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Overdue Post - Renaissance Festival

About a month ago, Jason & I went to College Station to visit our friends, Sylvia & Jake:

We thought it would be fun to go to the Renaissance Festival in Plantersville, TX together. Because of my sheer laziness in typing Renaissance, we will call it Ren Fest from here on. This festival is full of English (as in British-English) speaking people dressed in crazy attire. You see many fine people such as this man:


And of course, we can't forget this enchanting, lovely couple:


We walked around, taking in the weirdness of it all, when suddenly Sylvia & I saw something that we just had to do. We saw elephant rides! Now, I have no idea how elephants impacted the Renaissance era, but I'm not complaining. We immediately got in line to hop on. Sadly, we couldn't convince the men to accompany us. Oh well. Someone had to take pictures. Just see for yourself how we wrassled and tamed this elephant:

We also feasted on turkey legs, pizza (definitely Renaissance-inspired food here), lemonade and the biggest funnel cake ever. We saw axe-throwing contests, a dunking booth, a tomato booth and even sword fights. Then, Sylvia & I saw yet another thing we just had to do: a slingshot ride.

On this ride, they just slip a harness on you, attach giant rubber bands to either side and lift you in the air. Then, a Ren Fest-dressed man pulls you up and down while bouncing on a trampoline. You just get higher and higher. It was a blast! Sylvia tried it out first. She even snuck in a flip!

Just when you've gotten in the air, another Ren Fest-dressed man will sneak up and get you double!


Then, you go doubly high in the air!

Afterwards, we decided that we should go see a show. We decided to watch a Mud Fight. We sat in a small outdoor theater towards the back. There were two men on the stage, complete with a mud pit and a narrator. They divided the audience into two groups: the Trojans & the Spartans. For the record, that could be wrong and I actually have no idea what group we were in. Either way, each man challenged the other in different stunts. Here you can see our guy on the right & the other guy on the left with the narrator in the center:


First, they challenged each other with mud. Our guy ripped off his shirt and spread mud all over his chest and the other spread mud all over his face. Then, our guy said he would insult the other half of the audience by finding the most beautiful woman and kiss her. Sure enough, he found a woman and with his nasty, muddy chest, he kissed her.

The other guy (the one with his face covered in mud) said he would find the ugliest man on our side of the audience and kiss him. He walked around making us wonder who he would pick. All this time, Jason is hunching down as low as his 6'8" frame would go, eating his turkey leg and thinking "Don't pick on the tall guy. Please don't pick on the tall guy." So what happens? He stopped by Jake. (By the way, Jake isn't ugly. He was just an easy target.)

The mud guy then covers Jake with a sheet and plants a big one on him!

Jake, being the good sport that he is, took it like a man. (See? Not ugly.)


After this bit of emasculation, we headed to yet another show. I have no pictures from this show because it was pretty darn lame. Jake was hoping that Jason would get picked on, but no such luck. I admit, I was hoping he would get picked on too.

After this, we decided to leave as it was starting to get chilly. But before we could go, we had to convince a lovely couple to take a group picture.

Up until now, I hadn't realized that we lined up kindergarten-style: tallest to shortest. Our overall take of Ren Fest was that it was fun, unique and spread out enough that it wasn't too crowded. Would we make a day trip from San Antonio? Probably not. But the 30 minute drive from College Station was worth it.

The next morning, before we headed for home, Jason & I went to the Texas A&M campus so that he could reminisce about his college days. It has been several years since Jason had seen the campus, so I obliged his request. We toured campus for almost two hours in misty weather and had a good time. We walked through several of the buildings and he told me about many of the traditions. We even took a self-portrait under the century tree:

It was a busy weekend, but we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Thank you Sylvia & Jake for allowing us to crash at your house! We love you guys!

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Cereal Rant!

I'm on a roll tonight! Three, yes three, blogs in one night! See how much of an effect having my kitty home has on me?

Anyway, I went to HEB (our grocery store for you non-Texans) to do my weekly grocery shopping. The store my house is huge. It's four times the size of the one I used to go to. Yet for some reason, they don't carry Jason's & my favorite cereal, Kashi Cinnamon Harvest. The little store carried it, but not the humongous superstore.

Note: if you have not tried this cereal, I urge you to soon. It is not only yummy, but it's also USDA organic and good for you too!

A friend of ours works for the company and told me that all I have to do is request the cereal on their website and they will carry it for me. So, I made my request. To my surprise, within a couple days, the manager gave me a call to let me know that my cereal had arrived and if it wasn't on the shelf to please ask an employee to get it for me from the back. He said that they were supposed to start carrying it in the store anyway.

I then went to HEB and lo and behold, it was on the shelf. Actually, it was on the top of the shelf. Stacked facing down so that you couldn't read the box. Stacked so high that even me, in all my tallness, couldn't get it down without knocking five other boxes down in the process.

But they had my cereal:

The next week, it was in the same place, facing down. The week after that, it was M.I.A. Same goes for the next four weeks.

So today, I was so aggravated that I couldn't find it that I asked an employee to please find it for me. I asked them to please not make me drive to the evil empire that is Wal-mart just to buy cereal.

The HEB employee goes to the back and returns bringing me nothing. Then the grocery manager goes to find my cereal. Again, he comes back empty handed but takes my name and number so that he can reach me if he finds it. Finally, about ten minutes after all this has occurred, the store manager finds me (I suppose I have left a WONDERFUL impression for him to spot me) and tells me that corporate dictates what they carry and that they will not be carrying this cereal. He said that they can always order it just for me and all I have to do is get a store employee to go to the back and fetch it for me.

Wonderful. So I have to waste my time finding a store employee and wait around while they drum up my cereal. So I have this one question for HEB:

Why must you torment me? Why can't you just carry my favorite cereal like Wal-mart and the tiny store by my old house? Why can't you just diversify? I mean, really.....you only carry one Total brand? And it's not even the good cranberry kind? Even CVS carries the Kashi Cinnamon Harvest, but they overcharge! Work with me, people!

That is all. I almost feel better.

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Our boy is back home!

We were finally able to take Cassius home today. He still has to go into our regular vet daily for IV hydration and is on antibiotics for an upper respiratory infection. He was sent home with a halo on and his catheter still attached to his leg, but he's back to his old charming self. The staff at the Emergency Pet Clinic were sad (but happy!) to see him go because he is such an affection hog. Here's a picture of he and I tonight:

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Our first Christmas Tree!

Last Tuesday, Jason & I finally went to buy our Christmas Tree. Now, I like doing green things, but I draw the limit at Christmas. I just love the tradition and the pine smell. Monday night was a nice, warm night. But not Tuesday. Nooooo! Tuesday was freaking cold! It was also misting, but we're troopers, so out we went.

We picked out a lovely fat Douglas Fir that smells just delicious! And yes, it is taller than Jason!!! It measures out at 7ft. We get our tree home and get out the stand that Jason's parents have given us. Lo and behold, the stand is only for FAKE trees. We end up cutting a gallon milk jug and filling it with water. Then, we set it in the stand and lean the tree on the wall. If you look closely, you can see the tree sitting in our milk jug stand with other various stand parts lying around.


Normally, I would have immediately gone to Wal-mart (it's about 2 miles away) to buy a stand, but by this time, it's hailing. Apparently, some of Texas got snow. Not us. This is all we got:


Cassius didn't seem to mind the make-shift stand. He liked hiding underneath it anyway.


I had to take Cassius back to the Emergency Pet clinic on Wednesday, not too long after that picture was taken. Jason & I were so busy worrying about him that we didn't even decorate the tree until Saturday. But, it's done and now I can show you our very first Christmas tree.


There's no tree topper because I couldn't find one I like. We don't have a themed tree; just a collection of ornaments that we used as kids. I appreciate the perfectly matched, perfectly decorated trees, but I love the sentimentality (yes, I made that up) of going through ornaments every year and remembering who gave them to me and when I received them. I look forward to it every year! Enjoy our tree.........that's now in a real stand!

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Minor setback

We took Cassius back into the Emergency Pet Clinic last night. He was getting progressively more sluggish and still wasn't eating. I had to take him into the vet Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to get manually fed. On top of that, he was also given a subcutaneous injection of saline on Wednesday because he was dehydrated. By Wednesday afternoon, I noticed that he wasn't drinking any water and I got worried.

We decided to take Cassius back to the kitty ER. They ran blood tests where they found out that he was in renal failure. His creatine levels were 15. Normal levels for a cat are between 2 and 2.5, with 12 being severely critical. He was immediately put back on an IV to help jump start his kidneys.

By this morning, he was already looking better. He was more alert and had actually eaten on his own that morning.

When we checked on him tonight, he was more like his old self, purring away and trying to convince every worker in the clinic that they should be loving on him. His creatine level dropped to 6.3, which is good. The vet had warned me that he may not drop quickly, but he did. By tomorrow, we hope that his creatine levels will be back to normal.

We will still have to keep him on an IV for his duration in the ER. Then, we'll have to follow up daily, then every few days for subcutaneous injections to keep his kidneys working. If all else goes well, his kidneys will heal back to normal, but it's still too early to tell. We just know that we can't take Cassius off of the fluids too soon or he could crash again.

I will visit him again tomorrow morning and night. Hopefully, we can take him home on Saturday morning. I'll update again as I get more news.

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So you think you know your husband!

Yesterday I was cleaning in the kitchen and I flipped on the radio. Normally, in my car, I listen to XM (now Sirius XM....ugh.....that's another story) Radio, so I'm not really in the know on the local stations. I found out that Jack FM (102.7) is the best station to listen to while doing the kitchenly and other householdish duties.

Now for anyone who's never heard of this station - or for my out-of-state bloggy buddies who, bless their heart, don't realize that you can't live until you live in Texas - it's a mix of everything. And not in a cheesy soft rock kind of way. I mean, it's like I'm playing a mix from my own collection. I admit, Jack does like the 80s a lot, but so do I!

So, while cleaning, I hear the illustrious voice of Elton John. And then Billy Joel. And then Elton. And then Billy. And I'm loving it to the core. Childhood memories all come back and waves of happiness wash upon me. In honor of their upcoming concert, Jack was playing Elton & Billy for one solid hour.

I call Jason to tell him to make sure to set his radio for Jack FM on the way home because they are playing Elton & Billy! He says okay, we hang up, and I go back to being giddy.

About half an hour later, Jason comes home. And me, in my girly silliness, asked him if he listened to Jack. I wanted him to tell me how awesome he thought it was, too.

Instead, he tells me that he only listened to it for a little bit. When I asked him how this could be, he replied: "I hate Elton John. I don't like any of his music. Except maybe Candle in the Wind. That one was pretty good."

I had to take a step back on this one. Candle in the Wind?!? Really? That's it? While I happen to think it's an okay song, that song would definitely require me to push the Skip button should it come up on my playlist.

So there you go folks. We've known each other for over 5 years, dated for almost 2 and a half, and have been married for 5 months. You'd think I'd know who I married. But for a brief moment, I had to wonder who this 6'8" man was standing in my kitchen denying Elton John his dues.

At least he likes Billy.

We'll always have Billy.

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Cassius Update

Cassius is doing better. He's home and has been meowing up a storm when he's awake. He's been sleeping much more than usual. Jason & I were worried because he's still not well when the realization hit us that he almost died and that people nor cats bounce back from that quickly. He has to take a pill twice daily that will help jump-start his bladder. He still doesn't have complete control and will leak a bit. He is making frequent trips to the litterbox which means he's trying. The doctor said it will come back with time. In the meantime, we have all furniture completely covered in plastic and sheets!

He also takes an antibiotic to help stop the infection. Luckily, this is syringe form and is fairly easy to administer. Finally, Cassius wasn't eating much (or anything) so I took him back in. The doctor gave me another pill to give him that will make him hungry. So far, no good.

He looks at the food, but then just walks away. They fed him yesterday through a tube down his throat just to get him some nutrition. Now I have to take him back in this morning to have it done again. This may be a side effect of the antibiotics, so we also may switch to a new one.

Other than these problems, Cassius is still his lovable self. I even had a nurse call me from the Emergency Pet Clinic to check on him because she liked him so much. So, to wrap things up, here's a picture of him sleeping in my lap two days ago. This is his most favorite things to do. You can even see one of the places where he was shaved. :(

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Podunktown, USA

On Friday, I went down to my hometown of Woodsboro to help judge an elementary UIL contest. What? You've never heard of it? I can't imagine why.

Woodsboro is a tiny little podunk town in South Texas. We had just 1,571 people as of July 2007. Our school has moved down to 1A (we were 2A while I attended). There may not be much to do in town, but there's always someone you know. People in the closest large city have never even heard of us. As funny as that sounds, I kind of like that.

My mother has been teaching at Woodsboro Elementary School for over 30 years. I spent a lot of time waiting for her in the hallway. She taught tutorials after school every day so we couldn't go home until 4pm. I would watch our janitors sweep the hallways every day. They would always speak to each other in Spanish and I remember wishing I could figure out what they were saying. Believe it or not, one of them still works at the school. I didn't have the pleasure of running into her, but every time I see her, she reminds me of how I would sit on a little step and count to 100. I'd tell them that I'd already counted to 100 and that my mom STILL wasn't done yet. Obviously, I had issues entertaining myself. On to the original subject.

This year, the elementary school agreed to host the UIL meet finals. My mom, being the wonderful person she is, agreed to plan this entire event. In case some of you forget what some of the UIL events may be, I'll provide a list from memory:

• Storytelling
• Oral Reading
• Number Sense
• Art Smart (the one where you have to memorize paintings and painters)
• Readywriting
• Maps & Charts
• Spelling
  

Those are the ones that I can actually remember. Obviously, scheduling is pretty tough. Also, there must be people that can judge the events and grade tests. Finding judges proved to be the hardest part for mom. Somehow she suckered me into it......I mean, asked if I would help her out. Hey, it's $40. I can listen to some kids for that.

They were so darn cute! I judged Storytelling for 2nd and 3rd graders. They are read a story by one person, then each enters our judging room separately and has to retell the story. We grade them based on details remembered/created, hand gestures and animation. Some stuttered and couldn't remember a thing, others were hilarious and incredibly talented. It was so refreshing to listen to the kids tell stories.

After Storytelling was finished, I helped grade Maps & Charts. This was definitely an event that I would have never entered. Blah. The grading was tedious, making your eyes cross continuously. Each exam has to be graded twice, with the top 6 graded three times. We had to regrade several because scores weren't matching. Talk about getting a headache. After these were graded, the UIL meet came to a close. Everyone went home and drank lots of wine and slept. What? You wouldn't do that?

In case you're wondering, the only UIL event I remember competing in while in elementary was Number Sense. It's a timed test where you have to do all the math in your head. I received 2nd in our district meet in 4th grade. Yup, I was a smart kid. That's my bragging rights for the day.

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We've had quite a scare this week.

No, not the kind you're thinking.

Our kitty, Cassius, is very sick. After coming back from the Thanksgiving holiday, Jason wakes up on Monday to find him laying in his litter box. Not only is this weird and disgusting, it's really out of character for Cassius. We decide to take him to get a bath to get rid of the "ick" factor when petting him. He acted a little strange, so we searched for vomit, but luckily he spared us.

He did vomit while at the vet's and they gave him some anti-nausea medicine. When I got him home late in the afternoon, he vomited again. Cat vomit is not all that strange, so we decided to watch him. He tried to drink some water that night, but couldn't keep it down. But then again, water is hard to keep down on an empty stomach. Hangover memories anyone?

The next day, we called the vet and they made an appointment for the following morning at 8:30am (Wednesday). She said to watch him all day (Tuesday) and see how he is. He still looked bad in the morning, but by afternoon, we thought we could see some improvement. He was weak, which we attributed to not eating and drinking, but he was moving himself around a little. He also kept trying to go the bathroom. We didn't think that was a problem. We just thought he was dehydrated from not having any water. We planned to keep his vet appointment and take him in regardless.

Wednesday morning comes and Jason checks on him. Cassius' breathing is very shallow and he's not responding too much. He's awake, but not by much. He wouldn't even pick up his head when we tried to pet him. At this point, we knew we didn't have much time. It was 7:20am. I got out of the house by 7:30am and raced (as best I could in morning traffic) to the Emergency Pet Clinic. We didn't think he would make it to his 8:30am appointment. I arrive by 8:00am and bring him in. They immediately take him in and start to work on him.

Right away, the on-staff vet knew what was wrong with him. It is called Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease or FLUTD. Please read about it here. It's an infection of the urinary tract that results from a blocked urethra. In males, it's even more dangerous because their urethra is so long and narrow, it gets blocked easily. This is what happened to Cassius. Once it's completely blocked (i.e. can't pee), they have 24-48 hours to live. We think we were on the last part of the 48 hours.

When I was able to see Cassius, he was under a warming blanket because apparently he was hypothermic. He had a catheter inserted with blood coming out and an IV inserted to rehydrate him. He had a halo on so that he wouldn't try to take out the IV or catheter. He had several blood tests taken so he was shaved in weird places. He was sprawled out on a counter because he had no energy. The vet told me very bluntly that my cat was dying and he was going to try to save him. I nearly lost it at this point. I felt like the most horrible pet owner ever.

We were very lucky that the Emergency Pet Clinic had such a great staff on board. I arrived during their shift change, yet it didn't affect how they worked on Cassius. When I came to see him with Jason that afternoon, he was already looking better. He was more aware and was holding himself up. He was still out of it due to the anesthesia, but he looked a little more like himself. The vet told me that we were very lucky and that he was already doing better.

I visited him today and he was almost himself. He saw me as soon as I walked in and responded well to all the love I gave him. Everybody knows that Cassius is a sucker for pets. I called in the afternoon and the vet told me that they had removed his catheter and that he was urinating well. We expect him to be released sometime tomorrow. I will pick up Jason from the airport in an hour and go straight over to see him again.

What we've learned is that if your cat has trouble urinating, then you need to treat it as an absolute emergency. It will back up his/her system, putting their pH level out of whack and begin to shut down their body organs. We will most likely have to change his diet completely and not deviate from that. But if it keeps him healthy, it's worth it. Had we realized what a problem this was on Monday, we could've taken Cassius in and simply fed him some medication as an outpatient.

I never thought I'd be the person that would throw back $1500 on a vet bill, but as Jason said, "He's family and you can't put a price on that." So please keep this little guy in your prayers. He will appreciate it.

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What's been going on?

Glad you asked. A few weekends ago, Jason & I visited our friends Sylvia & Jake in College Station. We decided to head out to the Renaissance Festival in Plantersville and had an awesome time! Details will be in a later post when I get all my pictures together.

Thanksgiving was yummy. This year, we hosted T-giving at our house. Since Jason's brother had to work, it was only his parents and us. I got up at 6am to put the turkey in the oven. Jason finally got out of bed when I yelled that the turkey was still frozen. He made his way into the kitchen and helped me out. Luckily, the bird was only frozen partly. And by partly, I mean the neck, gizzards and the general opening where I had to get those nasty parts. So, Jason ran the guy under some lukewarm water and solved the problem quickly. The turkey went in the oven and proceeded to tease Cassius with the scent for the next 5 and a half hours.

I also made a pumpkin pie and some crust to envelope some extra peach cobbler filling that my friend Shana had left over. Everything turned out well and our bellies were full.

After T-giving dinner, we collapsed instead of packing. Somehow, a few hours later, we got it together to pack our suitcases and get on the road to visit my parents. We arrived very late and pretty much went straight to bed.

The next day, we sampled Mom and Dad's T-giving dinner leftovers. That afternoon, we decided to go to Crossfit in Corpus and got our butts kicked. Crossfit is a unique workout that tests your strength and endurance. That day's workout was:

• 3 Clean lifts (I did it at 37lbs since I had never done them before. The suggested weight for women was 95lbs - ha! - and for men, 135lbs.)
• 6 Push-ups (Because of my wrist problems, I did mine on my knees while holding onto dumbbells. My mother put me to shame and actually did real push-ups)
• 9 Squats

You do each round as many times as possible in 3 minutes. It only counts if you complete the entire round. Then, you get a minute break. We repeated this 4 more times. They then record your score so that the next time you go in and that workout comes up, you can see your progress.

In other words, we were all pretty sore the next day.

But wait! The story's not over yet, folks!

That night, Jason's dad drove in to Port Aransas with the boat. Jason, his dad, my brother and myself went floundering that night. This was interesting. You "troll" around the shallow parts of the water at night, shining light into the water, hunting flounder. When you find one that's the right size, you stick it with a "gig" and haul it in the boat. The flounder were hiding somewhere else, because by 3am, we had only gigged 5 flounder. My brother and I went home to sleep, while Jason and his dad stayed to find some more. They came back in the morning with 4 additional fish, including one that I had already gigged and lost!

My mom cooked up those fish on Sunday and we ate like kings yet again!

The only other event of note that I have been to was my niece's 8th birthday party. This was full of screaming little girls.....yikes! When we arrived, there were about 10 children and adults doing the cupid shuffle. So adorable. When we got tired of the screaming, we left and went home to relax.

And that my friends, was how my awesome holiday weekend went.

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Oh, the weather outside is frightful.........okay, not really......

Today, like most other days, I was very bored at the house. I knew that another cold front (read: 60 degrees) was blowing in, so I wanted to get some cheap long-sleeve shirts. Where does one head for this? Why, Old Navy of course!

Most of the time, I hate shopping for long-sleeve clothes. They never fit. Never. I have been blessed with ape-like extremeties, making it difficult for just about anything to fit me properly. Most people tell me to just push my sleeves up to make a 3/4 length sleeve. These people are almost undoubtedly short. Always. I've done this for years. In fact, I think I should be attributed for single-handedly starting the 3/4 length sleeve trend. But I digress.

I went to Old Navy and found myself 3 tees that were $10 a piece. They fit okay, even if the sleeves are a little short. But they're not as short as usual, making them much more tolerable. Of course, once I get home, I check out www.oldnavy.com and see that they actually carry tall t-shirts. Who knew? When did this trend start? But, be wary of online pricing. The t-shirts I bought for $10 are on sale online for $12 but only if you buy at least 2. Without further ado, here's my t-shirt.

Of course, the colors I bought are no longer available online, but you get the gist. These will be great for lounging around the house. Now if I could only find a great pair of jeans that actually fit my world would be complete.

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Poor, poor pitiful me.

So I've been feeling a little sorry for myself lately. Now that the house is fairly settled into, I've gotten bored. There's only so much TV and cleaning you can do in a week. I've been looking for a job, but there's just not much out there. And with companies like Citicorp that are laying off 50,000 people, this may not just be a short trend. It would be nice to have more disposable income, but the truth is that I'm just bored. I would like to have some more adult interaction and responsibility.

Yes, I admit it. I actually MISS responsibility. Thank God that Jason & I can get along on his income for now. He tells me there's no hurry, but I beg to differ. At least I have this guy to keep me sane all day:

His name is Cassius and he loves to cuddle and be petted. He is such a sweetie. But he doesn't pay enough!!!!

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Wurstfest: A Salute to Sausage!

On Friday, Jason & I made our way to New Braunfels to partake in their annual salute to beer, sausage and everything fried or on a stick: Wurstfest. For those who aren't familiar with the tradition, this is New Braunfel's 10-day version of Oktoberfest.

At this festival, a lot of drunk Germans can be found. People are eating giant turkey legs and holding stacks of empty pitchers. I even saw an older man wearing liederhosen giving high fives to anyone who would humor him!

I made sure to get one of my favorite things while I was there: Fried pickles! They are so yummy and just the right amount of salty. We met up with my friend Shana and her boyfriend, Ian and proceeded to pig out! Here they are with another friend, Bekah. The three of them decided to buy Wurstfest hats.


Shana & Bekah got traditional German hats while Ian opted for a non-traditional chicken hat. Unfortunately, his hat suffered from "limp hat syndrome" in most of the pictures. Somehow, they talked Jason & I into trying on the hats ourselves:


While walking through the Wursthall looking for more food, we were able to talk this nice gentleman into taking a group picture. He was serving up some type of pastry in his overheated booth. You see, Wurstfest is also a time of comraderie.


So here we are, enjoying the last weekend of Wurstfest together. Yes, that is me being lame with a water bottle in hand. To be honest, it's being used to cover the fried pickle oil that dripped on my shirt.

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The wheels on the car go round and round.....

I've known for a while that the tires on my car were getting a little old. I received a letter in the mail about a month ago telling me that the valve stems were faulty and caused the tires to lose pressure. Huh. So that's what's been happening the THREE years I've had the tires. So I wasn't crazy when I took my tires back and asked them to check for a leak. (They never found said leak.)

Anyway, on Sunday morning Jason & were about to leave to go visit his parents. Naturally, we planned on taking my car since I get good gas mileage. Apparently, Sunday's not such a good day. We found a bubble on the front tire that was the size of a grapefruit! It was friggin' huge! Let me tell you that Jason & I had driven all over the city earlier that day searching lighting stores. We also went to a housewarming party that was 40 minutes away in each direction.

When we returned from Jason's parent's house that night, the bubble was gone. In its place was a slit that was several inches long. The bubble had burst! I'm glad we weren't there because the noise would've been so loud. I bet it scared the neighbors!!

As most of you may have noticed, car manufacturers have gone el-cheapo and are only putting those temporary tires in cars to use as spares. Since the tire store was closed on Sundays, Jason was going to change the tire on Monday, then I'd meet him for lunch and get all the tires changed out. By the way, the tire store is 13.5 miles away!

Things went as planned this morning. I left the house driving just under 50mph. I had to get on I35S driving like a grandma. People were honking and giving me dirty looks and hand signals. It was the longest drive I think I've ever had to drive! I couldn't breathe until I was able to exit the highway (the highway was 90% of the drive).

Thankfully, we were able to buy 4 new tires and get them put on quickly. Then, Jason & I went to a romantic dinner (ha!) and grocery shopping. What a way to start the week!

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Just a friendly reminder.....

Make sure you VOTE tomorrow if you haven't already!!!!

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Halloween Party Numeros Dos y Tres

My Spanish is good, huh? Or, maybe......Mi Espanol es muy bueno. Whatever. I suck at foreign languages. Anyway, on Friday Jason & I headed out to a Halloween party just 1 and 1/2 miles from our home. How much better does that get?!? We heard that there might be a few people we knew there besides the party-thrower, but unfortunately, they were all too lame and didn't come. So J & I were left to mingle with people we didn't know. The house was decorated fully....spiderwebs, pumpkin & ghost lanterns, fog machine, Halloween music, Halloween food (yummy, yummy food!) and even spider ice cubes! We did our best to interact with everyone, but when we were asked what "group" we were from, I had to explain that we weren't from any "group." We were our own group....duh. That got a strange reaction. By the time the cops were called because of the loud washers tournament in the backyard, we were ready to head home. Here's a pic of "Mr. I Don't Do Costumes" and "Miss Diagnosed":

Halloween party Numero Tres was a Dead Hollywood Party. Everyone had to dress as a dead Hollywood actor/actress. Naturally, Jason rocked the "I Don't Do Costumes" shirt for the third time. I went as Marilyn Monroe, or as Jason lovingly nicknamed me, Marilyn Mon-hoe. Before we could even leave the house, I had a wardrobe malfunction! I learned that my husband has a hidden talent: he can sew! So, picture me sitting very, very still as Jason sews up the ripped seams. After that was fixed, we were good to go! The best costume idea of the night went to Amanda who came as Anna Nicole Smith. She had the giant hair, tiny blue jean shorts, a white tank top that said "Trim Spa Works" and giant pillow-like fake boobs underneath. It was hilarious! Runner-up goes to Deseere who came as the Oscar statue. She painted herself gold (even her hair and toes!) and wore a gold dress. It was awesome! Best hair goes to Jenn, who was able to make her beautiful red hair look like Lucille Ball's. We had lots of mystery punch and ended the night with smores! Here I am posing by my picture. Sadly, there was no air beneath my dress this time to blow it up, but I'm sure you get the point.

Hope everyone had a happy Halloween!!!

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