Where am I?

Hi there....it's been a long time! Are you looking for me?



Here I am!

Things have been busy......

I'll be back soon!

The fruits of Spring

Yesterday at the grocery store they had a great price on fresh strawberries. Isn't it a wonderful thing when you can go from this:



To this:



And, finally to this:



I don't think there's anything more to say about this other than..............YUMMY!

What a Fabulous Week!

What a great week this has been!

Monday: Won 4 tickets to Sea World - San Antonio. Yippeeee.....a mini vacation to look forward to!



Tuesday: Did an e-mail special to our customer's trying to boost business on usually slow Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Wow....what a great response we had!



Wednesday: Bought a lotto ticket hoping to win the big one. I won!!!.......$3.00.



Thursday: Was interviewed for an article spotlighting Pizza Zone in the Constant Contact (e-mail marketing company we use). Newsletter will be sent out to over 600,000 people. Will be e-mailed on April 20th.



Friday: Just found an article in this month's Pizza Monthly Quarterly with comments from us concerning our security system at Pizza Zone! If you are interested: www.pmq.com/digital/201004/54.html



I can't wait until next week!

"Each day is a new canvas to paint upon. Make sure your picture is full of life and happiness, and at the end of the day you don't look at it and wish you had painted something different." -- Author Unknown

Happy 13th to us!

Okay, I know you've all been waiting with baited breath to find out where the BIG & SECRET anniversary celebration was........(drum roll please)..........Galveston!

Now it's not exactly the beaches in Hawaii, California, or Florida....but it's close, it's quaint, and it's the best we could do with the time that we had!

Since this was a secret trip planned by me -- Paul woke up Monday (March 22) morning to his bags already packed and a secret envelope containing the unknown details of our trip.



Inside the envelope contained an itinerary of where we were going and the choices of things that we could do once we got there. I drove the car and didn't tell him where we were headed. He had the option to open the envelope whenever he wished -- he actually waited until we were going south on the freeway and the only place left to go was the southern end of the United States!



Rather than bore you with all the silly details of everything we did on the trip......several of the things we did do were listed on the itinerary.

The hotel was FABULOUS!! We stayed on the harbor side of Galveston (instead of the usual seawall hotels facing the Gulf). It was an old converted warehouse right in the middle of the harbor area, near the historic Galveston downtown Strand shopping district, near fantastic restaurants, and near several of the museums we wanted to visit. The room was comfy, nautical, FANTASTIC view, and perfect for a little romantic getaway. We highly recommend staying here if you visit Galveston.



Our room was second floor, second window from the dock.

Our trip was spent doing several leisurely activities - like watching a giant chess game in the Galveston strand district.



Enjoying our breakfast of bagels and croissants while enjoying the view out our window.



Watching a really BIG ship being pushed around by two very small tug boats. It was fun to watch all the different activities that occurred on a daily basis at the Galveston Harbor.




What a great way to celebrate our great marriage! Thanks to my wonderful husband for giving me such an interesting and different life. Every day with you is a journey and we never know from one minute to the next what we'll be doing, but it's always fun (well not always).

The next surprise trip is his to plan.....I think he might have a tough act to follow. I can hardly wait!

I have A.A.A.D.D.

I received this in a recent e-mail. I would have laughed at it, but it seriously describes a typical day in my life. Thought I would share.........
___________

Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.

This is how it manifests:

I decide to water my garden.
As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.

As I start toward the garage, I notice mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.

I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.

I lay my car keys on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.

So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.

But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only one check left.

My extra checks are in my desk in the study,
so I go inside the house to my desk where
I find the can of Pepsi I'd been drinking.

I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Pepsi aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over..

The Pepsi is getting warm, and I decide to put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the Pepsi, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye--they need water.

I put the Pepsi on the counter and
discover my reading glasses that
I've been searching for all morning.

I decide I better put them back on my desk,
but first I'm going to water the flowers.

I set the glasses back down on the counter,
fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote.
Someone left it on the kitchen table.

I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV,
I'll be looking for the remote,
but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table,
so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.

I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on to the floor.

So, I set the remote back on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.

Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do..

At the end of the day:

the car isn't washed
the bills aren't paid
there is a warm can of Pepsi sitting on the counter
the flowers don't have enough water,
there is still only 1 check in my check book,
I can't find the remote,
I can't find my glasses,
and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.

Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all damn day, and I'm really tired.

Happy Birthday Penny!

On March 17, 1963.....my mom blessed me with a little sister. Even though I was only five years old, I can still remember the phone call my mom made to us at home announcing the great news. I remember the discussion we had on why we couldn't call her Debbie....I was so disappointed, but my mother pointed out that if she had two Debbie's we would never know which one she was calling. So we called her Penny. Growing up we always had to share a room, but there was always an age difference that put me ahead of her in a different school, so we never really had the chance to hang out.



But then we both entered adulthood and that changed everything. She was there when I was in the labor and delivery room trying to have my first son and she was the official photographer when I had my second son. In fact, she was a BIG part in naming my second son! I shared in the joy when she gave birth to her daughter and I came and visited her when she was hospitalized waiting to give birth to her son (I actually snuck her in junk food).

We have shared so many fun lunches (eating tacos), laughing about our crazy family, and sharing the joys and sorrows of raising our children. Unfortunately, most of that ended when I moved to Texas. But I truly miss spending time with her!

Now my sister has raised two wonderful kids, has a great husband, and is the best hostess in the world. She always makes us feel welcome when we visit and the time we've spent apart seems to melt away when we get together and laugh about the good times!



So on this special day, I want my sister to know how much I love her and glad that she's part of my life (albeit 1000 miles away). I look forward to sharing many more memories with you!



Thank you mom and dad for giving me such a crazy sister!

There is no better friend than a sister. And there is no better sister than you. ~Author Unknown

The joys of March

Like the previous 10 times we have lived in this house during the month of March, the leaves are falling off of the oak tree in the front yard. It looks more like Fall out there than Spring, but it happens EVERY time in March.

Since today is the first day of Daylight Savings Time (I love Daylight Savings Time), a warm and sunny 80 degrees outside, and an urge to get out and do something -- I decided to rake the leaves in the front yard. Last weekend the yard guys had the task, and they got three bags of leaves. Since they aren't coming again until next Saturday -- I decided that I would take care of it myself this weekend.

With rake in hand, I proceeded to rake up over 6 piles of leaves.



It always feels like a monumentous task when the breeze is blowing and you sit and watch the leaves continue to fall off the tree. I always hope that they are landing in one of my many piles.



But thankfully the trees are full of budding new baby leaves and it looks like only 40% of the "old" leaves are left to fall -- so maybe only one more weekend of cleaning up leaves. Of course, I always of lots of help to do my chores around here...and today was no exception!



Of course, the final reward is the "trophy" of the job well done and finished! (Don't look too closely at the grass -- next weekend will be the big job to fertilize the grass and kill the weeds!)



Next lesson will be about the yellow pollen that coats every car in Houston twice a year!