Tumbling in a bus

This weekend was my niece Sydney's 4th birthday. 



Isn't she cute?  For the occasion, Steve and I, along with his mom, drove down to Corpus Christi so we could attend her birthday party.  When we got there Friday, as usual, the girls (Sydney has an older sister named Emily) were acting very shy and did not speak to us much.  I hate that we don't see them much because it always takes a day or so for them to open up to us.  Saturday, while we were preparing the house for the party they came around.  Sydney was really excited about her party and kept asking me when the Tumblebus would get there.  I kept asking the girls what the Tumblebus was because I could not fathom what it could possibly be.  I couldn't imagine a school bus holding gymnastic equipment and have enough room for kids to use the equipment.  A few kids started showing up and finally the bus arrived.  The party was on.  The kids ran inside and I followed so I could check this thing out.  Turns out it is perfect for kids 3-6 years old.  They started on the right hand side of the bus.  They would flip on the rings then run to the wall and climb up it.  On the other side of the wall was a trampoline for them to jump on then the would cross to the left side of the bus where they would swing from bar to bar on the monkey bars and then slide down the slide.  Once they did the slide they had their choice of hopscotch or a balance beam and then it would start all over again.   I was amazed.

The party lasted 2 hours but the bus was only there for an hour.  The people that owned it live across the street from my sister-in-law and said that once they were down with their other party they would bring it back and park it in their driveway.  Once it was back our nieces and the neighborhood kids played in that thing until the sun went down.  Sydney didn't even care about any of her presents!  That night we just hung out.

 

The next morning the girls were a little cranky from having such an eventful day Saturday so it was back to not really talking to us.  As we were leaving we were trying to get hugs from them.  Emily hugged us without much of a fight but Syd wasn't giving Steve or his mom one for anything.  When I walked over to where she lying on the couch and bent down she reached up and grabbed me around the neck and squeezed.  That's my girl!!  She totally made my weekend with that hug.

We finally finished the yard! Yay!!

Friday I went to Lowes and got the rest of the flowers and got some for the backyard too. A couple of days ago Elaine would not stop barking no matter how much Steve told her to stop. He gave up and brought her inside and put her in her kennel. The next morning when he let her and Gizmo out he found the hibiscus plant that I had gotten for the deck had been knocked over and eaten. We are thinking that Elaine was barking at some critter and keeping it off the deck. When he brought her inside, the animal must have gotten on the deck and eaten my plant. I was really upset because 1) it was kinda expensive and 2) it had 5 blooms on it that were about to come out. I bought a huge terra cotta pot to put it in so that it can’t be knocked over anymore and that will hopefully keep this from happening again. After repotting the hibiscus, I planted a rose bush next to the deck and a jasmine bush in the back corner of the yard. I am super excited about the jasmine. Once it blooms it should make the backyard smell really nice! After working on the backyard I moved to the front. I only got through planting the geraniums before the sun went down.

Saturday morning Steve and I got up early and got back on it. I finished planting the rest of the begonias, spread the left over dirt and then spread the mulch. Steve collected a bunch of stones while the house was being built. We used them as decorations in the flower bed. After we were done it seemed like something was missing; we decided that a birdbath would look good and some solar lawn lights. Off to Wal-mart, Lowes and Home Depot again! We got the birdbath from Home Depot and just one light from Wal-mart so we could see how it looked before we decided on them. Here is finished product:



The begonias are the ones in the front with no flowers. We had to prune them right away because they were wilting from sitting in the garage for so long before being planted. They should come back pretty quickly though. Other than that I am really happy with the finished product and so long as everything lives it was totally worth all the work!

Owning a home is hard

I have been working in the yard for the past 3 days and am so tired! We are re-doing the landscaping out front. It is times like these that I think maybe our apartment wasn't so bad after all.

Friday I had the afternoon off so I decided that I would get a jump start on things and get all of the flowers. I went to Lowes and got Knock-Out Rose bushes and Begonias in various shades of pink along with some lawn edging to keep the grass from growing into the flowerbed. As I was looking around I saw that the Hibiscus trees were on sale so I got one of those for the deck. I also found some window boxes that could be hung on the railing of the deck so I got those and some Annuals (Feather is what their tag said) in a bunch of different colors to go in the boxes. I was so excited about the plants for the deck that I started working on those as soon as I got home. While I was working I realized that I didn’t have enough potting soil so I ran up to Home Depot and got some more. While I was there I found some super cute pillows too. The deck is really starting to look fun!





Saturday we woke up later than we wanted to so we tired to hurry through the last few errands we need to run before getting to work. We let the grass grow way too far into the flowerbed that the builders created so we went bought an extension to Steve's weedeater that would make it a tiller and then went to Geo Growers for some organic soil. We got home around noon and got busy. First we pulled some bushes from the flowerbed that the builder put in. We decided to pull the ugly bushes that were around our utility box and put these ones in. Then, while Steve was tilling the flowerbed I was moving some Lillies that have really sprouted away to each side of the garage. When I first planted them, there were only 3 flowers so I put them on the left side of the garage; now I have over 10 so I moved some to the right side of the garage to even things out. As Steve was finishing his first pass of tilling, the tiller stopped working. He had hit a piece of brick buried in the soil and it had logged itself in-between the blades and we think that caused the gears to burn out. Ugh! We had to pull the rest of the grass by hand. This took the rest of the day. Around 6 we started getting really tired so we planted the rose bushes because they seemed to be drooping, cleaned up all of our tools and called it a day.

Sunday morning we got up at 8 and head back outside. It was freezing!!! I continued to pull grass while Steve started digging the trench for the lawn edging. At about 10 I was an icicle so I came inside and made us breakfast. Steve finished the edging and then came in as well. After breakfast we read the paper and got ready for Shawna and Oliver’s wedding reception. It was so pretty! It was exactly what I pictured an afternoon wedding to look like. After the wedding we headed back to Home Depot for more lawn edging and it was back to work for us. As I was planting the begonias I realized that we had made the new flowerbed bigger than the old one and needed more flowers. I decided to line the front of the flowerbed with them and then find something else to put between them and the rose bushes. I got through almost all of them before it got dark.

Last night I went out to finish the begonias up but it was windy and cold again so I didn’t. Hopefully tonight the weather will be nicer so I can finish up. Friday I am going to buy geraniums to fill in the rest of the flowerbed. I am not going to take pictures until we are done so keep your fingers crossed that it will be Friday!

Omigod!

This post is kinda long; I actually did a lot for once! Friday Steve took me to see Legally Blonde the Musical.



I loved it! It was my first time ever going to a musical/play and Legally Blonde is one of my favorite movies so it was perfect! I was surprised to see so many younger people there. It was slightly annoying actually. That is my only complaint. The music was great, super upbeat and fun. The stage decorations were amazing. You almost forget you are watching a play. And the costumes!! O.M.G. Her pink sparkly shoes were phenomenal. I was totally memorized by them. I have been trying to find out who makes them so I can get a pair for myself! No luck so far.

Saturday, we ran errands. Well, I did. I dropped Steve off at Third Base to watch the OSU basketball game with some friends and then went to the mall and to BestBuy to return some stuff. While I was out I finished up his Valentine’s gift. I got him a panoramic picture of the OSU football stadium online and needed to get it framed.



I could have bough it already framed, but $150 was a little more than I wanted to spend considering I just spent that on his birthday. So I got just the picture for $50. Guess how much it cost to get it framed? $167!!! For the frame alone!! WTF?!?!?!?!?! And that is with a 50% off coupon! I had no idea how much it cost to get stuff framed. So much for saving money I guess. That night we barbequed and did our taxes. More annoyances. Steve and I decided that we would apply for the first-time homeowners’ credit so that we could pay off my car. As we began to do our taxes, we realized that we were going to have to pay taxes on the sell of his town home last year. That took the whole $7500!!! We keep having to tell ourselves that at least we are not having to pay. It is super depressing though. After that we watched season 3 of Entourage.

Sunday we got our first delivery of the Statesman. I love the Sunday paper! Mostly because I like to find all of the good deals in the ads. BestBuy was advertising the Wii Fit so we got dressed and headed straight over. As we were walking in we saw a lady walking out with one and another lady walking towards the register. I was kind worried that maybe they were all gone already. Luckily there were a couple left when we got to the aisle so we grab one and a cute pink cover.



After that we went to Rudy's for lunch and then to go see our second Oscar movie – Benjamin Button. I liked it but I don’t know if it is what I would consider Oscar quality. It was really long, and Steve had a hard time staying comfortable so he kept shifting in his seat. If you haven’t seen it, I would wait until it comes out on DVD.

When we got home we painted the bathroom finally. We comprised on the color – I got to use my dark purple if I only did one wall. It was probably a better idea because I do my make-up in there and I don’t want the color to bounce off the walls and make me use too much or too little. We painted the wall that the shower and tub are on. Since it was just one wall we got the small can of paint. It wasn’t enough so we ran out and couldn’t finish. I am going to get the rest of the paint tonight and finish. I will take pictures and post them later.

I think this will be a good week. Work is finally starting to quiet down, and Sharla’s happy hour and my party are giving me something to look forward to. Hope everyone else has a good week too!

What a week!

I know. I suck at the blog thing. I do so well for awhile and then I just pitter out and stop writing. In my defense, work has been crazy busy and I wanted to upload pictures from last weekend but they are at home and I keep forgetting to move them to my work computer.

Last weekend was great. It was Steve’s birthday Friday. During lunch I went and got him his birthday present – a new grill.



Some friend from work helped me get it home. He left work earlier than I did so I had to tell him to stay out of the office because that is where it was hiding. When I got home I wheeled it into the living room and brought him in with a blindfold. When he took it off, he was super excited. We went to Wahoo’s Fish Tacos for dinner. It was my first time there; I wasn’t super impressed. Then to the Paperwork show where we got to spend time with Shawna and Oliver. After that we went to the Alamo Drafthouse for the Master Pancake version of The Matrix.

Saturday we stayed in bed until 4:30!!! It was awesome. We watch crappy TV and cuddled and slept and it was the perfect way to spend some quiet time together. We got up and met Carrie and Matt at Salvation Pizza for dinner.



It was ok. Not as good as we were hoping. I don’t recommend it. After pizza, we went to Amy’s and got some ice cream. That was delicious!

Sunday we went to Steve’s parents out in Rockdale for lunch and the homemade cookies his mom made him for his birthday.

This week has been so stressful. I had file reviews to complete before Wednesday for a transfer to the client, a client in town for an audit, and my review looming over my head all on top of my normal day to day stuff. I came in Mon-Wed at 7am just to make sure I was getting everything done. I have been stressing so much about everything I end up with a zit and a cold sore. Boo! On top of that, I only lost 0.4 pounds on Monday. Double boo!

I am happy to report my audits were completed on time, my client was happy with what they saw in the files, and my review went well considering everything that happened last year. Now I can look forward to a quiet relaxing weekend with no stress. Happy Friday!!!

Did you miss me?

Sorry I have been totally MIA this week. Work was so busy and I was exhausted when I got home at night.

Let’s see, what happened…

Monday, I went to WW. I lost 3.2 pounds!!! I was so excited! When I got home, Steve and I took my measurements and then I copied the Four Fat Chicks and took my Biggest Loser picture. Advert your eyes if you’re weak stomached.



Eww, gross.

Tuesday, we didn’t do anything. Wednesday was bowling. I did ok and we won 2 games. Thursday was quiet as well. Friday we went to Rudy’s and had dinner with my friend Adrian. I hadn’t seen him in a while so it was nice to catch up.

Saturday was the PPD Holiday Party. That morning I went to my sister’s so that she could do my eyebrows. She is the only person that seems to understand just how much work they need. Whenever I get them waxed at a salon I come home feeling like they are still bushy. Then I went to get my hair cut. I just got a trim and added bangs. Then it was off to the party.

They weren’t serving dinner this year so we went to Manuel’s for dinner before hand. We met Amy & Johnny, Angie & her friend Susan, Alma & her date, this guy Jake & his date, and another co-worker named Kelly. Our reservation was for 7:00 but half of our party didn’t show up until 7:30. Luckily, they sat us before everyone got there but we waited to order. I was starving by the time the food came. When we got to the party they informed us that it was open bar until 11:00. Woo hoo!!! Of course, open bar was only beer and wine, but it was still nice. Everyone in our group gambled except for Angie, Susan, and me. We were bored waiting for everyone to finish so that we could dance. Once they were finished half of the group left to go downtown and the rest didn’t want to dance. Steve and I ended up getting in an argument making the night end on a very sour note. I think I had put too much stock into it being really fun. And to top things off, the only picture we took came out alittle blurry.



Today we are watching the Eagles vs. Cardinals football game. I think I am going for the Eagles, I really like Donovan McNabb. Hope y’all had a great week!

Ahhh Monday...

...my least favorite day of the week.

And what a week to come back to! I don’t think I told y’all but the studies that I was covering for at work officially became my studies last week. It has put a lot on my plate but I think I am handling it well. The person who I was covering for came back to work today and I was told not to say anything. It is the middle of the day and I can tell management still hasn’t told them anything. They are answering emails and even came up to me to get an update. Luckily, this person is the brightest bulb in the lamp so they didn’t think to question my extremely vague update. I hope the managers talk to them soon because it is about to get awkward around here.

Steve and I had a good weekend together. Friday we had dinner with his parents at the UT Club where I made the biggest WW mistake. On Friday’s they have a shrimp happy hour. It is all you can eat cocktail shrimp and cheese. During the day I made sure to look up the points for shrimp but I couldn’t remember what else we ate with it. Looking at the cubes of cheese I thought they were probably only 1 point for 2 cubes. When we got home, I realized that I was waaaaaaaaaay off! It is 3 points per cube!!!! And I had 14 cubes!!!! 42 points just in cheese! Oy! On Saturday I ate as few points as possible so that I could still have something yummy at Carrie’s birthday dinner. I was able to do so; I just couldn’t have any cocktails. We had a great time and Maudie’s and ended up moving to the party to Carrie and Matt’s house to play Wii. It was so much fun! Sunday we went shopping for curtains. I found some I loved at Bed Bath and Beyond but they didn’t have the size I needed at the store so I am going to have to order them. Aren’t they pretty?



Tonight is my first weigh-in. I am thinking even though I was so careful this week (other than the cheese) I probably won’t lose much. Aunt Flow will be here any day now and I always gain 3-5 pounds. Wish me luck!

Feeling blah

I am so irritated today. I have been covering for someone at work for the past two weeks. And I use the word covering loosely as what I really did was completely catch them up on what they should have been doing all along on top of the mountain of work I had on my study. When I came into work this morning there was a sense of relief knowing that all I had to focus on were my 3 studies and no one else's. I wrote this person an email this morning listing all of the things I did while they were out. An hour or so after I sent it, my manager emailed me saying the person was in a car accident while on vacation and she isn't sure when he is coming back, didn't anybody tell me? No, no one told me!! What the hell is wrong with my department that people don't relay that sort of information? Especially when they have known for a week! It's not that I mind doing the work; I would just like to know that it needs to be done.

At least I had a great weekend to look back on reflect on during my frustration. Saturday, Steve and I met Steph and Jarrod at Firebowl for lunch. We always have such a good time together; Steve and Jarrod are so a like in their randomness that you never know where the conversation is going to go. Sunday was Carrie's birthday. We met up at Seattle's Best, our favorite coffee, and got pedicures. It was so nice spending time together; I hadn't seen her since the Paperwork show in November! Other than that, Steve and I cleaned all weekend. It is so nice to have the house back to normal and un-Christmasy.

This week - Weight Watchers! Steph and I are going to our first meeting tomorrow!

Over the hill

Today is my mom's 50th birthday. Steve, Dottie, and I are going to the valley this weekend to spend time with her. Tomorrow we are taking her to dinner at La Playa, one of her favorite restaurants. She is handling it fairly well. She tried to get out of celebrating once by saying "If 30 is the new 20 and 40 is the new 30, then 50 is the new 40 and we have nothing to celebrate". She still has the moves so I think she is gonna be fine. :)



I am super excited about getting some good Mexican food. I have yet to find a place here in Austin that I like as much as I like the restaurants back home. If they aren't homemade and 12 inches in diameter then they just aren't worth it!!!

Happy Friday!