conclusion to another weekend

Here I am on Sunday night again. The weekends go so fast.

I think it's because all week we look forward to Scott being home & the 48 hours are just not enough. Especially when he has to cut his time with us short by a few hours.

Scott went to Houston early tonight because he found a rental room & tonight is his first night there. It's more affordable than the last room, but it's another 20 minutes away from his work. Luckily this is a month-to-month lease & he's not obligated to stay if it doesn't work out. I hope he feels comfortable there & that he's safe.

Dillon is staying home this week instead of working in Houston with Scott.
Dillon attended a leadership retreat Friday night & all day yesterday. I'm talking ALL DAY. They went on a 'ropes course' where they had to climb trees & walk along ropes and stuff like that; both individually & using teamwork. Then they went swimming & had a barbeque all afternoon and concluded the day by going to the Round Rock Express baseball game. Needless to say... he's quite sore today.



Madison & a friend went to see the movie Space Chimps yesterday. She said it was a good movie, but definitely a KIDS movie. Then both of them went to another friend's house for an over-nighter birthday party. Ummm.... sounds like it got a little out-of-control.... like the adults in charge of the party ended of drunk as skunks. I wish Madison would have called me to come get her but she said it was quite entertaining to all the girls. Gee.... I'm not sure I should ask.... ummmm.... (Mental note: No overnighters at that girl's house EVER. )

Jared finally had a day off from work. He's been working full time this past month at Kaleidoscope Toys. (that's a word you don't spell everyday.... ) We've been encouraging (more like demanding) that he needs to save his money for his own car. This week we will give back the car we've been borrowing fromthe neighbor (thanks jessica!) for the past month; which puts a cramp on Jared's work schedule since I work in Georgetown. I guess we'll see what happens there....

I had the interview with the County on Thursday. Not real confident about it. I interviewed with a panel of 4 women; the executive secretary for the dept., the CFO, the CFO's assistant, and a parole officer. They were conducting interviews for 2 days with a STACK of applicants, so I'm one of many.... They're supposed to make a selection this week for the position. I already know in this type of environment it's more "who you know, not what you know" so I'm not getting my hopes up too high (even though I would really like to work in Round Rock!).

Howie & Tyler have been getting familiar with Round Rock & spent much of the week contacting rentals & looking up jobs in the area. Tyler's transcripts are on their way to Stony Point so he can attend high school next month. I hope they aren't getting too frustrated at the heat here... it's been over 100 degrees almost everyday. Yuck!

another shhh....

jared thinks i don't know about his new girlfriend, 'kelly'. shhh.... heehehee
(moms have eyes in the backs of their heads, right valerie? it's true....)

shhh...

Okay, I said I was going to try a new, larger font, but here is something I wasn't too sure about broadcasting to loudly... so pretend I'm whispering....
I have an interview tomorrow for an administrative support staff position. It's still with Williamson County, but it's in Round Rock. Please pray that it goes well. I would love to forego the $4-per-gallon-20-miles-per-day commute. But we'll see what God's plan is....
By the way, my boss knows about this internal interview but the people in my office don't... yet.

trying a new font

One of my friends has a blog & she posts almost daily (trunnell news). Her font is really big, and really easy to read. Now that I'm going to try posting more often (mostly words... sorry Damon) I'm going to test out this new font. See what you think.

normal stuff

It's been really, really hot here. The daytime temps are 100 each day, yesterday was 103 on my way home at 5pm and when I went to bed at 11pm it was 90. Whew! That's hot! The only good thing is that the humidity is only about 35%. Oh... and we have a tropical depression coming up the coast to bring us some rain at the end of the week. Ahhh.... much needed rain.

Howie, Tyler & Dillon left for Houston this morning. Howie & Tyler will return tomorrow & Dillon will stay the rest of the week to work with Scott. They are going over there to visit with Scott & see where he works, lives, stuff like that. That's nice for Scott to have a mid-week visitor. I think he gets pretty bored during the weekday evenings. Plus Dillon will stay with him the rest of the week now.

Raccoons got into our garbage yesterday. :( We have egg shells & ziploc baggies floating around the yard. Frustrating.

It has been so hot during the day that swimming after 10pm is the new fad at our house. The kids went swimming 2 nights in a row - the water is so warm that it feels like a bath. Nice. Last night the kids & the neighbor (who is a cop) caught some teens putting the new pool chairs in the pool. I'm so glad we have a cop-neighbor. :)

'roommates' have arrived!

Howard & Tyler arrived safely on Friday! Here are a couple of cousins.... Tyler & Dillon.

craigslist

By now you should all know what craigslist is.
It's wonderful.
It's got GREAT deals.
Local deals, like in your neighborhoods (mine is craigslist in Austin, TX).
No waiting for auctions to end.
Awesome.

This is the tool Jared used to find both of the jobs he's had since we came to Texas (Chili's & Kalidescope Toys).
I've bought 3 dressers, a computer desk, fax machine, color printer, dining room table, and a refrigerator on craigslist.
I also found the 3-month rental house on it last summer and Scott found the room he's renting in Houston on craigslist.

We're in the market again for a room or apartment for Scott in Houston. The room he's in right now is temporarily available until Aug. 1. We just found out Monday. Yikes!

Wednesday's plans

As it turned out Madison's trip to Schlitterbahn didn't materialize today. Her friend's mother opted for another plan. They have decided to wait until tomorrow & go on a 3-night camping trip to Lake Livingston in east Texas. Wow! What a change in plans! Apparently Kelsey's grandpa is a ranger & lives at a lakehouse, so that's where they'll be. Madison has packed bug spray & her swim suit. I think she's going to need it.

Jared left sometime early this morning for his full day @ Schlitterbahn. The park closes at 8pm & it's about 2 hours from here, so I'm expecting him home in the next 1 to 1-1/2 hours. It would be convenient for me to call him on the cell phone, but he 'accidentally' left it here. Hmmm..... pretty hard for me to track him down. Wonder how accidental that was.

latest obsession

Deadliest Catch is Scott's newest obsession. He's CONSTANTLY watching this show on Discovery. Whatever. At least I don't have to worry about scantily clad women on the show... hahah. Scott & Dillon are too busy watching the newest episode tonight to talk to me on the phone.

A day in the water

Jared & Madison will both be going to Schlitterbahn Waterpark in New Braunfels, TX tomorrow!
The funny thing is that they will not be going with the same group. Weird.
Jared is going with a group from his Debate Class, and Madison is going with her good friend, Kelsey.
I've heard it's a pretty cool & a pretty big place, so I don't know if they'll even see each other at the park. Hope they have fun!

honesty

Today, in a fit of honesty I told my supervisor that I had applied for an internal transfer for a County position with a department closer to our home. Right now I travel about 20 miles to get to work. The job I applied for is about 6 miles. She told me she understands & that the gas prices are hurting everyone. I didn't want her to be surprised if I get a call about the job. Not sure I will, but just in case I want to be honest with everyone about what I'm after... a job closer to home. An administrative job closer to home. A flexible, administrative job closer to home. An office with windows that has a flexible, administrative job closer to home.

New construction in the 'hood

Madison & I have been taking the dogs for a walk each evening. Each night we comment on how much new construction has been going on in our neighborhood. Once we were the only house on the street. Here is the view from in front of our house tonight. There are 12 new homes under construction on our street alone! Sometimes it's annoying to come home to hammers pounding & mexican music blaring from the sites, but at least we're getting it all over with at once. How exciting that we'll be getting new neighbors!
In addition to the new construction homes, these large boulders appeared today on the empty lot next door to us. We were going to climb on them so you could see how big they are, but Madison & I both chickened out because there are snakes in the fields sometimes. Yikes!

Recap of the weekend

Friday:
Scott & Dillon came home! They got in @ 6:30pm.
Jared worked until 7:30pm.
Madison went to an over-nighter 'lock-in' at her friend's church. She left at 8:30pm.
We had 2 over-night guests.... Dillon's friend Cody -and- we babysat Dominique from next door.

Saturday:
Madison got home @ 7:30am. She hadn't slept all night.... she was totally wired until she hit the pillow, then she slept ALL DAY.
Jared worked 10am - 7:30pm.
Dillon & Cody worked concessions at the Stony Point Alumni baseball game from 10:30am - 2:00pm.
Scott & I went shopping for curtains in the living room/dining room. We found an awesome deal! I LOVE Goodwill!! We also got Scott some new orthopedic-type everyday shoes (NOT cheap!). I guess the savings on the curtains was used up on the shoes. Oh well!

We declared Saturday night as F.F.F. night! We haven't had one in many, many months. F.F.F. means: FORCED FAMILY FUN. That means the kids can not have friends over, no interrupting phone calls, no TV.... We play games & eat & be silly for the night. This FFF night we had grilled fajitas for supper & played 'Oodles of Doodles'. Madison & I won by a hair. We concluded the night with homemade ice cream. Yum!

Sunday:
Church at 11:15am - Scott went to his ministry leadership class & the kids sat in the front row with the other youth, which meant I got to worship with my good friend, Valerie. What a blessing to worship with those who love you!
We slam-washed all of Scott & Dillon's clothes so they could pack & leave for Houston again. They left at 5:20pm. :(
Madison & I took Macey to Pet Smart to buy dog food. Macey's toenails are too long that she couldn't get any traction on the cement floors so it was funny to see her slide around. We also met a very lovey cat that tried to play with Macey while we were there. I love to visit the animals at pet stores, but it breaks my heart to leave them there. I could never work at a pet store.
Jared got picked up by some friends & went to see a movie. He got home at 11:00pm.
Madison & I decided to go for a swim at 9pm. The water was so warm that it felt like a bath!

Pretty good weekend. Nothing too exciting & Nothing too boring. Typical weekend. :)

A new perspective

I've got a new perspective on blogging.... thanks to my mom. :)
And the Webster's definition (see below).
So I'm going to try to 'blog' more like a journal... or a letter... like from me to you.
I'll try not to bore you to death.
And for Damon's sake I'll keep entries short & include as many pictures as I can.


Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry:
blog
Part of Speech:
n
Definition:
an online diary; a personal chronological log of thoughts published on a Web page; also called Weblog, Web log
Example:
Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author.
Etymology:
shortened form of Weblog
Usage:
blog, blogged, blogging v, blogger n
Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English, Preview Edition (v 0.9.7)Copyright © 2003-2008 Lexico Publishing Group, LLC

concert for jared

Jared is in Selma, TX today (suburb of San Antonio). He is at the Vans Warped Tour, which is an all day music festival with 70 bands. I recognized many of the bands as rock christian bands, so this is why I agreed to let him go. Yes, I know you were wondering why on earth I would agree to let him go to something titled 'warped'.... but I gotta start letting him make his own choices.... this part of parenting is not so fun.

Hope you're enjoying it too

Ahhh.... the treasure of a few days off from work....

We enjoyed doing absolutely nothing yesterday. If we didn't have to eat we probably wouldn't have gotten out of bed (except to go to the bathroom).

We had a few guests over to watch the fireworks from our driveway. A woman we met from Stony Point choir (the mom of Dillon's good friend) came over with a youngster she's babysitting. Madison had her friend overnight too. So we had a nice small crowd.

The fireworks were shot off from Old Settlers Park which is located next door to our neighborhood. They were almost too far away. Typically the ones shot off from Dell Diamonds are closer & more enjoyable. But it was nice to not have crowds to deal with.

Happy Birthday America!