Thankgiving Introduction

Another introduction.

Meet Jori. She's 30. Bet you couldn't have guessed that.

She will probably kill me for putting that on here. But, she will love seeing herself on here more so I am pretty sure I'll be in the clear.

She's foxy. Don't you think? And smart. This was at her graduation party to celebrate finishing her Master's. It's not in math. BUT she loves math. I mean really, really loves math. She's not just good at it, but she has a passion for it like I can't even describe. It baffles me. But seriously, how cool is a girl who is foxy and loves math? Cool to the millionth degree, my friends.

She has a sweet tooth. No, I am NOT kidding! I wouldn't do that to you. Rarely will you find her without a stash of M&M's or Reese's cups tucked in her purse, car console, pockets, dresser drawers, kitchen cabinets, or pretty much any little crevice she can find to stash a little chocolate goodness.

Hello. You say you are a Tech fan? Nope. Not even close. Jori is Tech. No Phoenix here. Only Tech. It runs in her veins.

Know what else she loves. Dancing. She has a special fondness for synchronized dancing. So much so that she became a certified Jazzercize instructor this summer.

Unfortunately, my picture library doesn't have any of her dancing moments captured. But here we are after a night of dancing. We don't get to play often, but we play hard when we do. Can you tell?

Along with her fondness for dancing she has an unwavering love of music. This might be the one thing that took me most by surprise when getting to know this sweet friend of mine. She tends to lean toward the left a little on her selection of music. Her most current playlist probably includes a little Jay-Z, Rhianna, Lil' Wayne, Kanye, 50 Cent...shocked much? I was.

Other things that are important to know about her: 

Her heart belongs to Jesus. She LOVES Christmas. There is a soft spot in her for mission work in Russia. She adores shopping. Sometimes she thinks her mom can't hear her, but she can. She has excellent taste in friends.She loves to make up Limericks!

This is the exact reason I wanted you to meet her. She has a talent, I tell you. It's amazing what she can do with a few rhyming words. So without further ado, I'll let the words speak for themselves.

A Thanksgiving Limerick

Oh wow, look around--what a blessing!

The turkey, the pie and the dressing

We'll give so much thanks

We'll have to buy spanx

The holidays are here, but who's stressing??

Do you love it? Let her know and leave a note. Possibly we could get her started as a regular part of this blog. Limerick's just make this world a better place.

From deep down in both of our hearts, we wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

A Heart of Gold

When I was in the ninth grade, I began to spend some time with this crazy girl I met on the bus. I had no idea then the treasure of a friend she would be to me through out my life. At least until this point...so, let's be careful not to screw anything up now D.

I could write a book about what this girl means to me and all of the things she has taught me and a few of the things that I have taught her (wink, wink). But, today I find myself reminiscing about her sweet, precious mother.

Good memories of an endless supply of Little Debbie powdered donuts, sweet tea, antique pictures and sweet lullaby's of children's music being hummed or tinkering on the piano warm my heart when I think of her.

In what seemed like the wee hours of the morning to a teenage girl trying to get her beauty sleep and recover from the adventures of the night before, there would be the aroma of coffee in the air and a plop on the bed and a familiar voice saying..."girls. girls. wake up and talk to me." She would gently rouse us to somewhat of a conscience state and we would rehash our adventures as best we could and nearly always with limited details because she was a parent, of course. We discussed everything from our friends and boyfriends, church, our choice of hairspray and lipstick colors (which happen to be Rave and Coral Rust or Wild Berry lip pencil plus from Merle Norman) and the happenings of the neighborhood pool where we both lifegaurded, calculus homework and when the next occasion would be to hit Casa Ole for our fix of chips and salsa.



Doesn't she look like she has a heart of gold? and be an early riser? and want company to rise with her? Just wait Blake, your day is coming too. (Photo compliments of your facebook page Kathy...thanks for sharing.)
As I was saying though...Words really can not express how important these chats have become to me. Priceless is about the closest thing I could ever say to describe how I feel about them. Of course when I was 16, priceless was not the thought that crossed my mind.

So priceless in fact, that my own child gets the pleasure of early morning wake up calls and chats of his own. Too bad I don't keep the endless supply of Little Debbie powdered donuts to ease the pain of those early mornings. No matter to me, I cherish this time with him and I know one day he will too.

Today marks the beginning of a new journey for Martha Ladd. At this moment, she is in a hospital in Maryland about to undergo a most significant, open heart surgery. She has had a sick heart for as long as I have known her and had gradually been deteriorating over the years. Her case has been through countless diagnosis, treatments and even lack of treatments because Dr.'s have been at a complete and utter loss for her condition is so rare.

Please keep her in your prayers today and her family. They are hopeful that the Dr.'s will be able to repair and restore her heart to a condition that she has not known in a very long time.

You can keep up with updates on Martha's status and post messages for her and the family here.

JORI!!!!

I know you like seeing your name up there. Can't imagine how excited you are to see it in all caps!

This post is especially for you. Enjoy!

And you are required to leave a comment.

The Swinging Door

Have you ever gotten yourself involved in a project that seems to never end? I'm in the middle of this never ending process to replace my patio door. It seems to be one nightmare after another and I just can't get a minute of peace about the thing.

The back door project is becoming a regular time bugler in my life.

Sad thing is, that I did not intentionally decide one day that "I would really enjoy changing that patio door because...

...it just isn't the right style for me
or
...i'd really like my back patio door to be another color
or
...i'm feeling uber industrious with tons of my time on my hands, so I think I am going to dive into a home improvement project of my choice."


No. Not anything even close.

I have this really great neighbor that lives around the corner from me. He loves me. Really. He. loves. me. One of those guys that would do just about anything for me. He is sort of like having a honey around to do the honey do's, except he my honey.

The deal is that my sweet, dear friend knew that I had been having some problems with water seeping in around the back door during torrential downpours, like hurricane Ike or the recent flood days we had here in West Houston just wanted to do something nice. Something helpful to remedy the situation. Something as simple as replace the weather stripping on the back door.

So, when he showed up unannounced with tools in hand one day and waltzed right to the back door and started working with hardly a word spoken I thought nothing of it. It took him no time at all to remove the door from the hinges and strip off the old weather stripping, when he turned and somewhat solemnly announced that the door was rotted and he would not be able to replace the weather stripping.


You know what that means, right? My ten dollar weather stripping replacement job (that I did not even initiate- keep that in mind) was turning into a door replacement project that I soon found out would run upwards of $700.00 with installation.


Can you say YIKES!?!?

To make this rather lengthy story a little shorter, I'll just tell you that after picking myself up off the floor when I received that extraordinary quote, I humbly picked up the phone and called my real knight in shining armor and household fix it all friend and kindly offered him multiple home cooked meals to help with the door installation process. Guess what? He accepted and I just knew it would be a breeze from here on out.


But I sit here now, writing this post to tell you that I have never endured so much agony in all my life! This door situation has left me thinking that it may have been easier to put a for sale sign in the front yard and just pack up and move to a new home with a nice, tight fitting, weather stripped back door.


The tedious problems that I am having at this point though have nothing to do with said, knight in shining armor who is actually being ever so patient with me, but with my own stupidity. From the shopping process to the transportation of the door home, I have had multiple challenges.


But, the icing on the cake was my painting mishap. I picked out this really great red color to enjoy on the exterior when I am sitting on the patio enjoying a nice cold beer or glass of wine. Hoping that it will enhance the whole patio experience that was actually my original home improvement project for the season (but I was thinking more along the lines of a few potted plants and repainting the patio furniture).
Didn't I say I was making this lengthy story shorter? I need to work on that.
Needless to say, the door was painted, ready for install and looking rather like perfection, if I do say so myself. The knight in shining armor came with tools in hand to replace the door while I was not home. But, I fortunately (or not) came home just as the install process was being finished to see the red side of the door not facing the exterior in order to better enhance my patio experience, but staring straight at me in my living room. ARRRGGG!!!
The door was removed and set carefully back in the garage for yet another round of painting and will then go through another install process. Hopefully, this time without incident.
But, I promise to keep you posted and hopefully pics coming.

Valentine's Shmalentine's

Today awoke my inner cynicism regarding this overly commercialized day that is deemed a holiday. Yesterday, wasn't so bad and I was highly encouraged by a friends sweet words and still am, so don't take all of this the wrong way. But, this day is just not the same for those of us still stuck in the world of singledom.

Maybe the cynicism has been unleashed because I have returned from the movie "He's Just Not that Into You." Spoiler alert: The movie ends with one who is just as into her as she is to him. So, girls, if you are looking for solace in your state of aloneness this valentine's day, this may NOT be the movie to see.

I have been accused of over analyzing things in my life. Such things include statements people make (sometimes from people I know and sometimes from people I don't know) or how someone is dressed or how they act and their mannerisms. I analyze friendships, familial relationships, dating relationships (both committal and noncommittal alike) and pretty much anything that ends in "ship." So, when I was being ever so productive Friday afternoon at work and surfing my favorite rude, crude and socially unacceptable greeting card site to find unspeakably sarcastic valentine's day cards to make me feel better about this over commercialized day, I came across the following:

My immediate response was to share this little gem of a card with my dear sister, who happens to be the above mentioned accuser. My message attached read something like this...

I have been sitting here patiently all day watching flower, chocolate and balloon deliveries be made to all those around me consoling my self with bits of chocolate I have hidden in various crevices of my cubicle for such a day as today. Of course, I knew you would get a kick out of this card, so I could not resist sending it your way and letting you know that my current Valentine's Day plans include my favorite pj's, frozen pizza bites, ice cream and copious amounts of wine. Happy Valentine's Day, Sister!

Of course, I got an immediate response that she shared in the humor of this card and I would bet, hands down that she found it to be even more entertaining than I did.

As Gigi so eloquently said in the movie today though, "I'd rather be my way than yours!" Without spoiling too much of the movie, I'll just say that she too had been accused of over analyzing and freaking out about men and when they would call and if they would call and what they said, when they said it, how they said it...

What woman in her right mind can relate to that?! I know it may be a real stretch for some of us.

What she was saying though makes so much sense. If being disengaged to such a point all in an effort to spare your own feelings a little worry, stress, heartache and pain, I don't want any part of it! It's totally possible that you might miss 'it.' That moment of connection with someone when you wonder how it might all turn out, those butterflies in the pit of your stomach, the sweaty palms and sleepless nights due to racing thoughts and fantasies. What would life be without all of that?

If you know me well, you might not consider me to be a hopeless romantic and you might even think of me as that girl who doesn't wear her feelings on her shoulders; the one who is sensible and practical and does everything just so to prevent too much heartache and suffering in her own life; analyzing everything to a tee. It's true, that can be me at times. I know what your thinking now...'most of the time in fact."

Under all of the tough exterior, there is a heart inside. One that flutters when the phone rings on occasion, butterflies in the stomach from a stolen glance with a cute guy in the grocery store, curiosity overwhelms me when there is someone new and I don't know if they will call again and I do even check my phone obsessively sometimes when there is even the slightest possibility that a call from someone on the 'interest' list might occur. I chatter the ears off of certain friends about what might happen, why it did not happen, how it could be or could have been and the like.

And even though I am still single and have a heart that's been through the ringer a few times, I refuse to let go of the dream that Mr. Right will come along some day and release that hopeless romantic fully and completely that only bubbles at the surface. And I'm happy to say that I like doing it my way, too!

She Ain't Tellin' Lies!

I think you’re a really great friend
Fun’s always just ‘round the bend
The time always flies
I’m not telling lies
I know that the laughs will not end!

Aww, sweet stuff right there. Written especially for me by a dear, dear friend that is one of my true valentine's this year! How can a single girl's V-Day miseries be so bad with a friend like that!

Sick Day

G: Hey mom, know what e-colee is?

Mom: You mean e-coli?

G: Yea, whatever. You know what it does to your body?

Mom: Tell me.

G: It's a bacteria that turns your organs to pudding. (very exaggerated on the words 'organs' and 'pudding')

Mom: Hmm...do you know where that comes from?

G: Cow patties.

I think we are safe to just leave it at that for now. Don't you?

Today is a sick day. Not for me, but for my son. So after enviously watching him saw logs on the sofa until nearly 9am (can you detect the motherly compassion there?) he rose to read a little out of this book. (BTW, Every child should own this book. Their knowledge base is just not complete without knowing all the gross and disgusting things in this world. Especially if they turn your insides to pudding.)Thus, the conversation excerpt from above.

Note: Began this at 9:45 am. Picking back up here at 3:30pm.

So, we have been to the Dr. and back and have a case of "acute onset wheezing." Funniest thing I have ever heard. We chuckled about it some in the Dr. office while waiting for our educational lesson on using an inhaler and spacer. Do you know, they even bill the insurance for that education session? Yes sir. Marked clear as day, "teaching session" to be coded in for insurance billing. Unfortunately, the equipment used to inhale the medicine is not billable to the insurance company, but the 5 minute lesson on how to use it, can be. Can you tell I am on a soap box about this yet? I'm stepping down now.

So, we are now non-wheezing in the late afternoon. Laughing and able to finish a sentence without a coughing fit. Thank goodness, because while watching Blackbeard's Ghost, one can only help but laugh a time or too.