Facing our addictions

I've decided that it's time to face my addiction and get it out in the open.

It's a secret I've carried for so long and I'm tired of the burden it's casting on my soul.

I want to feel liberated from the secret that I've been carrying. But I do also want to say that it's all my husband's fault. He too is the problem and he assists me in making bad decisions.

It's traveling.

That's right -- I've come to realization that Paul and I are addicted to traveling. I didn't come by this diagnosis easily. In fact, it took another family member to bring it to my attention.

I asked Cris yesterday if he could watch the house if we choose to leave this next weekend (even though we know it's really a dumb idea to go anywhere right now because we are so behind in our work). He said that even though it did sound like a "crazy idea", travelling is what satisfies our need to go and do things.

Wow.....he's right.

So last night as we once again began the discussion "we need to go somewhere", we decided that maybe we can take a couple of days off and take a road trip to Waco, Dallas, or somewhere else reasonably close.

But then Paul (the perpetuator of my addiction), says "hey when does Continental post those last minute flights? Maybe we can take a random trip somewhere we've wanted to go". Oh yeah......great idea!

Okay, so now we are sitting with baited breath waiting for Continental to post their flights to answer the magical question:

"Should we go or should we stay?"

If we go --- I'm going to be one busy little girl this week trying to get all my chores done so I can "satisfy my addiction" for a couple of days.

P.S. stay tuned -- you know you're not gonna want to miss the next post!

Painting...Pondering....Phony Home Decorating Shows

Well I should finish up with the room today. In fact, I have 15 more minutes of painting left and then I can start moving stuff back.

While I am waiting for the paint to dry (literally) I was thinking how "unglamourous" painting really is.

It's all hot and sweaty -- not like they show on those TV decorating shows

You can't wear fancy clothes, high heels, make-up and a poofed up hair-do -- you would ruin your clothes, your feet would kill you by the end of the day and you can't climb a ladder in heels, and hair and make-up would be limp.

It doesn't take the 30 minutes to go from "ugly" room to "transformed" room - it takes minimum two days.

And there is never anybody knocking at my door or finding me in Home Depot that want to come home and tackle my chore for me.

Ok......enough of this -- I got a room to finish!

A funny thought conjured up from a tired mind

I've been painting all day.

The results of my magnificent handiwork will be posted very soon.

But for now, after a nice warm and well deserved shower, I am reminded of something funny one of my fabulous children once said.

Let me begin.....tonight Lucas is getting ready to take his two little ones on a trip to Lake Tahoe. This will be the first time they fly. Hayden is 4 and Tyler is almost 2.

These are the most awesome little kids and my "adopted" grandkids.

Well anyways.....back to my original thought. I remember the first time that me and that "other guy" flew with Cris. You know how you do the build up for a week ahead of time about how you're going to fly in the sky on a plane and the little kid gets all excited?

Well we did that with Cris. Grandma and Grandpa Lynam took the three of us to the airport for our first trip to Disneyland with our "#1 son". We all said goodbye at the gate and walked down the jetway to the plane. After our 30-60 minute flight to Phoenix (from Tucson) for our next plane to Los Angeles, we got off the plane and walked down the jetway. As we came out all of a sudden Cris says in a very loud voice "where's grandma and grandpa"? He thought we had just circled around and had come back to the same place. How funny it was explaining to a 3 year old about how we were over 100 miles from where we had left Grandma and Grandpa. Needless to say, we had to explain it all over again once we landed in California!

Okay.....time to get back to cleaning up all this painting mess. I just love to be able to remember all these tender memories of my kids while they were growing up.

My neighborhood is getting older and I'm not

I was out watering my yard tonight....because Mother Nature is not doing her job.....but that's a whole 'nother blog subject. So anyways.....as I was watering the yard. The same yard I've been watering for almost 13 years now (less in the years that Mother Nature is doing her job), feels so familiar.



Then the kids across the street come home.....they are now 25 and 20 and when we moved in here they were 12 and 7. And my own kids were 15 and 11.

In fact, almost every single house around us has changed residents except for 3 houses in our immediate area.



I look at our houses aging and how all the trees are so much bigger than they were when we first moved in. I look at the neighbors and they all seem a little older too. Most of the kids that live here are either older, newly moved in, or no longer living with their parents and have moved on. Wonder what happened.....because Paul and I don't feel any older.

But yet, when they are out watering their yards.......I'll bet they think that Paul and I look older too?

We'll be having some fun this weekend

Yayyy.......it's one of the only FIVE days of the year that we are closed. Might not be such a big deal to you --- but to us it means one day of not having to worry if everyone showed up to work, if the stores are giving good service, and if the sales are good. Really......it's a stress free day for us.

Normally on 4th of July we have a company softball game, but this year I made the executive decision that we were not going to have it. It never feels like a day off for me. I have to plan the menu, make sure we have all the supplies for the game and for the picnic, haul all the supplies to the park, set everything up, takes loads of pictures, set all the food up, clean it all up, take it all home, and sweat my a** off. By the end of it all, I don't feel like I got any time off.

So this year Paul and I are having a quiet pool party at our own house all by ourselves. We'll be laying by the pool, reading books, cooking on the grill, and just generally enjoying a nice peaceful day off.

BUT WAIT>>>>>>>>> we added another wrinkle to that quiet and restful day off!!!!!

We've made the decision to move my office out of "the cave" and taking it back out to the old dining room. But before I move out to the new office, that room really has to be painted. It is about the only room left in this house that hasn't been painted since we moved here. And since I am already moving furniture in and out of the space -- it's the perfect opportunity to paint the room.

So here is the updated plan:
Friday night -- pack up all the books and start moving stuff out of the space. Rip down the ugly wallpaper border in that room and prepare for painting. All paint supplies will be purchased sometime during the day.

Saturday -- paint, paint, paint

Sunday -- if all goes well, we should be ready to start moving the stuff back into the room. If it doesn't go right, we'll be moving stuff back in the room on Monday.

Monday -- living the life of luxury and catching up on any of the stuff that will still need to be done to begin "real" life on Tuesday.

Will post pictures of the before, during, and after of the room remodeling on a future post.

Gestern haben wir aßen Deutsch

Well unless you are totally proficient in German, you have no clue as to what today's topic is.

Well I must confess I don't know German either, except for a few snippets (snippets is not a common word that you get to use everyday).

Okay well today's title is: Yesterday we ate German

And boy oh boy did we!

I sincerely wish that you could have your relatives backwards. What I mean is when you are little and don't have the ability to understand or appreciate your relatives you miss out on so much of their heritage, their stories, and their experiences.

I had a great-grandmother who was full-blooded German. I never got to hear stories about her growing up and I can't remember ever eating any German food (which I'm sure she must have made). When you are a little kid you're just not interested in that kind of stuff. But when you become an adult you want to soak up all that heritage and explore every little tidbit of information about where your family came from.

Since I've married this man.....he has introduced me to a whole new level of cuisine that I probably never would have tried on my own. Yesterday we ate German and OH HOW I LOVE GERMAN FOOD! Next to Mexican....it's probably one of my most favorites.



So what and where did we eat? Lunch was at the most famous German restaurant in Houston -- Rudi Lechner's. It's been here for over 35 years and is so authentic it has live German music at night and the waitress was also very German herself. We feasted on the Sausage Sampler Platter which was comprised of Bratwurst and Polish Sausage, Red Cabbage, and Austrian Potatoes. We also ordered the Beer Weinerschnitzel with a side of Spaetzle and some more Red Cabbage (we've discovered that we DO NOT like Spaetzle -- tasted like mushy pasta). Yummy, yummy, yummy!! The only thing that was missing was the German Potato Salad which is absolutely one of my favorite German dishes.



Okay.....after 45 minutes of scarfing down our wonderful lunch -- we walked out of there like stuffed sausages ourselves. But what a fantastic lunch it was!

Are we having fun yet?

Well I guess today I'm going to blow off work and hang out with my husband for the day.

The stacks of paperwork that I'm three weeks behind in and the bills I need to enter into Quickbooks that I'm only one and one-half months behind in will just have to wait......because today's IT'S FUN DAY!

And what do you do on a fun day?

Well our first stop is the post office to mail off the 465 flyers I printed the last couple of days (we're really trying to get the marketing out every single week and thus far we are doing an outstanding job of it).



Second stop would be the Solutions store. Gotta get something for the gnats and ants that we can't seem to get rid of at one of our stores.



Third stop the store to buy cameras. Not the fun kind kind of camera. No we are talking about the cameras to hook up to our monitoring system so we can spy on the employees when we're not there.



I'm sure that he's got some more special surprises up his sleeve, but he's saving them for later (stopping at the printer and going to the restaurant supply stores). If I am out having all this fun the least he can do is treat me to a special lunch.........so we'll probably hit up one of our favorite places to eat. I vote for Greek food!

And then of course it's Tuesday night so we'll finish the night off with a rousing game of trivia.



But all fun days must come to an end -- so tomorrow I'll be hitting the real work once again!