We did a bad bad thing

This is wrong on so many levels.

This is what happens after you decide to go get some dessert after eating chicken wings and beer.



This is what happens when you hit Walmart and they have all their Valentine Candy 50% off. Can't pass up a good deal.......can you?

Good news......we didn't eat it all in one night.

Sticks and stones may break my bones....but not my rock

I am so lucky to have a rock

He is the person that I can lean on when I'm feeling stressed and need someone to talk to

He is the person that I tell EVERYTHING to

He is the person who lays next to me in the dark and we tell each other our inner most personal feelings that no one else in the whole world knows

He's also the one that cracks me up and makes me laugh

He is the person that I went running to today when I really needed to let off a little steam and some pent up frustration

He is the one that is my husband forever.....and I am so thankful that I have him

It felt good to lean on your shoulder a little today.

You know I'll be there for you when you need it too....that's what rocks are for!

Wordless Wednesday: things I got from my kids this week

This is from the oldest:



And this is from the youngest:



These might not seem big to you.....but to me they are ENORMOUS!

Happy Valentines Day 2012!

Just look around and you can see all the love in your life.

Be thankful and grateful for what you have. Because no matter how little you think you have or how bad you think your life is.....there are LOTS of people with things worse than you.

I am loved.....I know it.

Today....
my oldest son brought me flowers
my youngest son called me for advice
my husband will come home to a box of chocolates, his favorite beer, and a candlelight dinner homemade special by me (he's not gonna see that one coming....the candlelight -- he is expecting the dinner)

I look around and I see.....
...a house, belongings, and security that my husband works hard to give me
...pictures of a loving husband, children, friends, and fun vacations
...piles of work because we are fortunate and have a successful business

I am blessed. I am loved. And I love each and every one of them.

Happy Valentine's Day!

You shouldn't judge people....so don't judge us

Don't judge us, unless you've walked a mile in our shoes....is how the saying goes.

Don't judge us.....unless you know what it's like to live our life.

Working 9-5 Monday through Friday is not the same as running your own business.
UNLESS you are running a business that is open 9-5 Monday through Friday. The pizza business is NOT 9-5 Monday through Friday.......it's sometimes 24/7!!

Running your OWN business is nothing like working for someone else.

We can't even enjoy time off if our business is open. We are always ON CALL. That means carrying our phone with us all the time to make sure we're ON CALL if someone gets busy and needs help. It means checking your watch when you're eating at a restaurant. It means not going to a movie......because you could get called out.

We jokingly refer to it as being a doctor and being on call....it's just about the same. When that open sign is ON.....so are we.

Don't judge us if you think we go out of town too much.

What you don't see is that we NEVER get a day off if we are in town. There is always something for us to be doing that's related to our business. We can go 2-3 months without a day off. It's not uncommon.

The ONLY way we get a day off is if we take off somewhere -- This is the only way we can get some time off. Being away from things also take some of the stress off and we really make an effort to not worry about things.

Not only do we have to worry about paying our own personal bills from the business we own.....we also have to worry about paying the 30+ people that are on our payroll. Some of these poeple live paycheck-to-paycheck and need to get paid each payday. It's OUR responsibility to make sure that everything is taken care of so that our business can meet it's financial obligations.

If our business is not being taken care of properly -- WE have to be the ones to come in and cover it.

If someone calls in and it's a busy night -- WE are the ones that have to cover it.

If someone quits or gets fired -- WE are the ones that have to cover it.

Owning your own business is full of stress and headaches. We don't get sick days, we don't get vacation days.......we get snippets of free time now and then WHEN there is enough staff to cover us being gone.

I'm not angry. I love my life and my business. But don't judge us because we can't be there or do the things that everybody else may get to. Sometimes it's not our choice.

This is the life we chose --- this is the life we're living.

What shall I do today?

Well the husband is working open to close today. That's 10am until midnight.

The good thing about that: he's not here all day to bother me so I can get stuff done
The bad thing about that: he's not here all day to bother me so I can see him

He hasn't had to do one of those in awhile. I feel sorry for him.....I wouldn't want to do it.

So now that he's not going to be here all day.....what should I do today?

I would love to sit in front of the TV and watch Lifetime Movies for Women and cross stitch all day. Boy, I sure do miss those days when I could do that.

Instead I have an array of tasks to choose from. So which is it:

Laundry
Clean Carpets
Clean every room in the house
Organize every room in the house
Grocery shopping
Get my hair cut
Redecorate, paint, and remodel every room in the house
Yard work: bamboo that needs cut, weeds pulled, bushes pulled and new ones planted
Catch up all the OLD paperwork from last year that needs entered into Quickbooks
Catch up all the NEW paperwork that needs done
Work on the new website
Work on the plans for our 15th anniversary trip
Work on the stacks of stuff sitting on my desk
Work on the Valentine's Day E-mail and type instructions for the stores on the heart shaped pepperonis and Cinnazones
Work on a poem for the Facebook contest for Valentine's day
Work on the renewal paperwork for all our business insurances that are due 3/1/12

Is it a cursing or a blessing that I have so many things to choose from?

Either way.......I have lots to do.

Wish he was here and then I wouldn't have to do all this boring stuff I really don't want to do.



Maybe some day we'll be able to get to do stuff like this again? (see picture above). Miss you baby!

Is 14 hours really long enough?

Well we managed to sneak in a partial day off this week.

We haven't had a day off since Christmas. So the plan was to get out of town for the night and part of the next day.

We left Houston and got to Aaron's house in Surfside at 11pm. Time for us to crack open a beer and Aaron and I walked down to the beach. How heavenly -- the beach was only across the street and two houses away. We stayed down there for a little while, but it was really windy and really cold.

Aaron settled us down in one of the guest rooms and that was it for that day.





Paul and I got up around 9am and Aaron was already long gone for work. The plan was to meet for lunch with Aaron. We had some time to kill, so we went down to the end of Aaron's street and there was a park with the LONGEST jetty I had ever seen. We walked all the way down to the end of it, snapped a few pics, and then walked all the way back.







We still had a little time before lunch, so we drove over to the neighboring beach town of Freeport. There we found an old Ace hardware general store. Unfortunately we only had 5 minutes to explore -- so it's another field trip planned to fully investigate this store.

We met Aaron at Pirate's Alley Cafe -- the only beachside restaurant in Surfside. So we sat, ate fish and chips, and looked out the window at the spectacular view in front of us.





Aaron had an extended lunch, so we went into Clute and found the free sea aquarium. The bad thing.....it was closed on Monday. The wetlands area was open so we took our time walking through it and looked for alligators. Didn't see any.



But the time had come to head back to Houston, the Restaurant Depot, and a big pile of stuff on my desk that had to get done. We thanked our host for letting us stay and really having a great time with him (albeit short). Our plan is to head down that way again and do some more exploring.

Oh boy.....can't wait for the next vacation -- maybe we can double it to 28 hours!