08/11 a special day

Today is my youngest's birthday.......

I've always said that if he'd been born first -- I would have never had another one!
This one never slept, was into EVERYTHING, and always wanted to be the center of attention.
Funny.....24 years later - not much has changed!



As far back as preschool he was the class clown, but they thought he was cute and funny and let him get away with everything.
Not much has changed there either, although the teachers in high school didn't think he was so cute and funny!



Now he's grown, on the pathway to a good career, found himself a good girlfriend (fingers crossed), the BIGGEST procastinator I have ever met, and still is my baby.



So how are we celebrating? The "Birthday Boy" and I will be going out for lunch (since he has plans at dinner time to bowl with his co-workers) and eat the favorite food we both love.......SEAFOOD!



Then Friday night he's taking off with that "special" girl and a couple of other friends and going to Louisiana for a couple of days.....hope he wins :)



Thank you Aaron for making me laugh, sharing so many great memories and a special relationship with you, and for growing into the adult I hoped that you would (although there could still be a few minor changes).



Happy Birthday!

One more thing....

Just thought of another word to describe myself (see previous post)

Oh and this one is a biggee:

Spontaneity

Like when I met my husband on the internet and flew to Houston to meet him after a month (look how GREAT that turned out)and the wedding came 6 months later!?!



Like when we decided one afternoon to spend Christmas in Florida at Walt Disney World
and left that very night.....and we lived in Arizona!?! I have to say my family and MY children were very surprised with that spontaneous decision.



Like when we quit our jobs and moved to Houston only to buy a house and start a business one year later!?!




Like when we decide on Monday that we're just going to buy the cheapest Last Minute Vacation deal that we can and leave on Saturday (that REALLY has been fun and exciting)!?!





The definition of spontaneous is "said or done without having been planned or written in advance". What a fun way to live life!

What's up for Tuesday?

Bet ya you're wondering what the Tuesday journey will be this week?
Well sorry to disappoint.............because............

my husband has decided that we needed to have a Wild and Crazy Week at Pizza Zone!

So here's what our week is going to look like:

Monday Meatball Mania: yummy, yummy meatball subs for an insanely low price



Terrific TWOSday: Buy 1 pizza -- get 1 free! This will be a crazy day!



Wild Wednesday: 6" Cheese or Pepperoni pizza for $1.49. Yes....this will be a WILD one!



Thursday is Middle Child's Day -- honoring the "poor forgotten" middle child. Going to feature mini cheese pizzas for that special "middle" person!

Thursday night we've staffed up the stores so that we can FINALLY attend a trivia game again. Since they stopped doing it at our favorite spot on Tuesday...it's been hard for us to get together with our "trivia friends" and play. So Thursday night the Village Idiots are going to surprise everyone and show up and take 1st place!



And last, but not least. Friday the 13th....the ONLY one this year. Have got to come up with a special $13 special for this day.......



That's our week in a nutshell......of course, there will be 100 other things that need to get done as well!

What are you?

If someone asked you that question.....what would your answer be?

Funny, I've been thinking about this recently and have decided I would describe myself as Nerdy, Romantic, and Sentimental.

Nerdy:
I never would have admitted to this earlier in my life, but just in the past few years discovered how much I love knowledge, learning, and trying to figure things out. Probably some of it happens to be because I married a nerdy guy.....or maybe I finally found out for myself who I was instead of what I thought I wanted to be??? My love is touring museums, learning the history of the places we visit, and challenging my brain with trivia. There is so much out there to learn and I want to make sure I go everywhere and learn everything!



Romantic:
I love quiet moments and special time with my husband. Funny as it sounds, it doesn't have to be a lavish meal, formal clothes, or exotic location for us to have a romantic moment. Sometimes it's just the simplest of places, a funny joke, or a cheap pizza and we have a great time. I've recently started keepsaking some of the more simple parts of our travels (which will appear in a future blog), but looking back at the pictures and treasures I collected on these trips make me smile. It doesn't take a lot to romance me -- just a special and quiet moment alone with my husband, wherever that may be!



Sentimental:
This is probably the biggest descriptor of me. I love memories, keepsakes, and photos. I love sitting around and discussing the fun I have shared with friends and family. I love to spend the afternoon looking through my old cedar chest at the artwork of my children in elementary school, the pictures from high school, our old family photos and smile at all the memories and happy times. I love creating new memories and documenting the times so that other members of my family will someday be able to remember the fun and joy from those photos. I seem to be the "gatekeeper" of memories in my family. A position that I love and want generations from now to enjoy. This task is especially difficult since I have lived with all men -- and they are not really into that. Hopefully, they will marry and their wives will convince them otherwise!



I lead a blessed life. Sometimes I don't feel like it when I'm overly stressed and overly worked....but when I really look deep into my life I see that I can't let the small stuff stress me out. I am very thankful for the people in my life, the roads that I have traveled to get where I am, and the endless possibilities that still await me.

Good Deed or Good Scam?

A really unplanned quick trip to Lake Charles, Louisiana led to an interesting chapter in our journey.

We left the casino and headed home to Houston. Typically it's a 3 hour drive and about a little over a half tank of gas if we're driving the Mustang (which we were). We had a 1/4 tank of gas when we left and Paul made the decision to just start driving home and we'd fill up in Texas. Well when we got to approximately 4 miles from the LA-TX border, he decides to pull over for gas. While we're taking our time checking the oil, throwing away the garbage in the car, and just taking our time.....this young girl and her dog pulls up and asks if we have a map.

Well amazingly enough we did have a map and she was trying to find the shortest route to Dallas. We gave her our map and she proceeded to start writing down all these little back roads and towns trying to map out her route. After several minutes she asked how many miles we thought it was...so after plugging it in our GPS we told her and she said "oh it can't be that far". Well after some conversation it was discovered that she had her wallet and cell phone stolen in Baton Rouge at a gas station and was trying to make it to Dallas on what gas she had left and that's why she was trying to find a short route. Her debit card had been in her wallet and she had no money. Paul and I had a side conference and really felt like she needed help so we told her we would give her gas money to get to Dallas along with our business card and when she was able she could pay us back. She was borderline "really upset" and seemed very thankful and told us she would send us the money within a week.

We really don't feel like we were scammed and that we were helping out this girl who really was upset and trying to do the best she could to get to her parents house. Sometimes I think we are meant to be somewhere at a certain time for a certain reason and that by not following our "normal" routine of filling up with gas before we left Lake Charles, meant for us to be there to help her out (my husband thinks I'm crazy to believe this way). Either way, we felt good about what we did and are optimistic that we will receive our money in the mail. Maybe there is also a part of us that wants to believe that there still are mostly good people in the world. I would like to think that if one of my children was sincerely stuck in a predicament -- some kind soul would be there to help them out. Time will tell.......let's see what happens.

On another note -- hooray for a day off! Amazing how long you can play penny slots when you don't have a lot of money to spend. I do think though that sitting on the deck of the casino boat and gazing at the scenery is relaxing in itself and I was glad that me and my "best buddy in the whole world" got a chance to get away....albeit briefly. Enjoy the pics and be jealous :)


View from the Deck of the Grand Casino in Lake Charles


View down the Deck of the Grand Casino in Lake Charles


View from the deck of the Grand Casino -- the long bridge in background is I-10


The Grand Palais Casino - Lake Charles

Out of here!

I'm excited

we're leaving now

24 hours of no stress and acting like a tourist somewhere


We are outta here


Auf Wiedersehen


Arrivederci


Adios


Aloha


they all mean the same thing.......good bye!
See ya in a few!

Tuesday....my new favorite day!

Can't wait for Tuesday.
Our new favorite day of the week.



This is the day that we've designated as a "no work" day
So this next Tuesday will be a special day



And we've picked a special place to go
It can't be too far.....It can't be too expensive......someplace we've never visited



Wanna know where?



I'll tell ya on Wednesday!