giving thanks

sorry it's been so long, but lots going on.

turkey day was great -- mom & dad arrived early, and we had a nice midnight chat. then i had a couple of days before the atlanta crew showed up. turkey day consisted of everyone cooking and kids running around and food (of course). i believe the tv was even turned on for a bit of football, but i'm not 100% sure...

friday everyone came here for dinner to celebrate mom's 60th birthday. all went well until dessert when i cut my foot open on a piece of glass. i had two great doctors (my music man and my father -- who could ask for more?!). and determined that no visit to the emergency room was necessary. i'm now walking with barely any limp.

saturday saw an early departure for mom and dad and the atlanta folks, i went back to bed and then proceeded to sit on the couch all day. felt good. my music man came over for dinner and to make sure i was staying off the foot. sunday saw another lazy day. and my man left late in the day. helping out to his car with clean clothes and some food for his evening meal, we found his driver door open, all the change cleared out and his ipod stolen. not only did i feel responsible for this theft, but it scared me since it took place in my driveway!

if only the flood light worked, if only he had brought his ipod into the house, if only, if only...but we do have to give thanks that neither of us caught the thief in action, who knows what could have happened -- no telling what they might have done if one of us had stood in his or her way.

so neither of us is harmed, and i give thanks that my family all arrived home safely, and so did his.

now i start preparations for a holiday party on 12/16, getting all my gifts purchased for christmas, and baking cookies!

hope everyone's turkey was moist and filling.

fini!

ok, ok, so here are the new chairs!


happy now?!

living room is clean, kitchen is clean, guest room is clean and bed is made. mom and dad arrive late tonight. will pick up my car (that i left at the airport for them) and drive here. i'm sure i will hear them come in, so will get up and chat for a bit.

my music man (he's called that tl and ben, because he likes music and he plays the guitar) got a WII system this morning -- the new nintendo game thingy. i went over and played for a bit this evening. so cool! if you get a chance to try one, you should. it's really neat.

not much else to report. gotta get some more stuff done before bedtime.

happy thanksgiving to all if i don't post again before then!

you've come a long way baby

i was just looking at photos from the conference my mom's organization had in SF. and of course, i was weeding through to find ones of my mom and anyone else i may know, and i came across this one...



and being someone who takes photos, i always try to look at them objectively, not easy. but this one just struck me. i looked at it as if i was someone who doesn't know her like i do -- a participant at the conference, perhaps, or a stranger, and then finally as a daughter who's watched her mom work her way up in the organization. remembering the wins and the losses.

and i was overwhelmed with pride. she looks so grown up (can i say that about my MOM?!) and so confident, and so able. not that she's never been these things, but now the mom that we (her family and close friends) have always seen is out there -- for the world to see.

i had a boss tell me one time that he was proud of me. PROUD OF ME. (of course i can't remember what it was precisely that made him proud of me, but that's not really important.) that has stuck with me for many years. how often does someone tell you that, professionally?! i mean we hear it growing up, in school, when we win a game, etc. but professionally, not only did it make me feel good, but it also felt very personal.

and so now i'm passing that on to you, mom. i'm proud of you. you've come a long way baby.

progress

the week was good. not much to update there. this weekend, i got 4 more banana trees taken down in the backyard. now there are only 3 to go -- that's on the list for next week. i took the front ones out last week, and wow. what a difference -- for the better! the backyard now has space to run (good thing since the neice and nephew are coming for a visit from atlanta), and it looks so much bigger.

i also bought 4 chairs for the kitchen table at goodwill last week. they were really nothing to look at before (see photo) but for less than $10 each, how could i resist?! if the needlepoint on the seats was in better condition i would have thought about just leaving them as-is for the time being. but with a coat of paint, recovered seats, they'll be darling in my kitchen. just wait til they're done -- you won't recognize them! they are all sanded and two have the first coat of paint on them.

oh and the biggey for this weekend -- my music man met my little sis and her hubby on saturday night. we went to huisache. a nice restaurant in new braunfels. on the way there, however, it took us 30 mins to go 1 mile due to a bad accident. of course, i can find *nothing* about it on the web. while driving home, police were still on the scene, but they had gotten the tractor-trailer upright, so it seemed they were making progress. i digress...the dinner was wonderful. everyone got along, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves! yay! the week after next he meets my mom, and maybe will get to meet the atlanta crew while they are here for thanksgiving. i will be meeting his mom the week of thanksgiving while she's in town. his step-dad arrives on friday, and they are off galavanting for the weekend, then back in town the week after thanksgiving for a day or so. i may get to meet the step-dad at that point. we haven't thought that far in advance.

oh, so my family is coming to texas for thanksgiving. mom and dad will stay at the little sis's, the atlanta group will stay with me. mom and dad arrive late sunday night, atlanta arrives wednesday evening. thursday we are at the little sis's new abode. friday, everyone is here. should be a fun time, for sure. but i'm sure i'll post another update before that.

have a great week!

check please!

i think i've just about lost it.

had dinner with some friends last night for a birthday, and long story short, i didn't bring a birthday gift, and there wasn't a pre-dinner email conversation about gift-giving. in new york, if we were going out to dinner for someone's birthday, everyone else pays for the birthday person, and that's the gift. UNLESS, there's a pre-celebration email conversation and we do a group gift thing. so i looked like the cheap-skate who didn't bring a gift.

but i also ended up paying more than everyone else for the dinner. in this age of plastic-everything, i paid in cash and it didn't work out in my favor. this isn't the first time this person has been responsible for the check and it's worked out in her favor.

then last night -- trying to fall asleep (and not succeeding) the darn sprinkler goes on again! so i didn't get much sleep last night. but i learned a few things this weekend.

the sprinkler is getting unplugged as soon as possible; it's not so easy to make friends in a new city -- at least not like those you've had for so many years; don't use cash, use credit cards whenever possible.