December Festivities

December 3rd:
Spent the day at mom's for Johnny's Birthday and I brought over a project I wanted to work on without B seeing, cause it was a surprise. The TV nook next to our fireplace has always bothered me. The TV sat off to one side and the TIVO and DVD player, etc. sat stacked up to the other side and just looked messy to me. I've always thought that it needed doors to cover it all up or at least some shelving to organize it. And since doors are beyond my skill level, I made a shelf. It's now assembled, painted, and in the nook....and B was definitely surprised! We decided to switch the TV with the one that used to be in our bedroom since it's bigger.

This evening we put up our Christmas tree. It's tradition that I decorated my tree on the night that the old Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer cartoon comes on. So this was the night. I also, have to have chocolate chip cookies and eggnog while I decorate. It's the rules!

December 6th:
Went with mom to a Ladies Tea at her church. We had lunch and everyone brought a Christmas ornament and we did a White Elephant kind of exchange.

That night we went to a Christmas party for our Church Small Group. It was a lot of fun and we laughed so much that my face started to hurt! I love when that happens!

December 7th - 12th:
B had to go out of town for work, so Harley and I had the place to ourselves. Of course as usual when B's out of town, I opened up the sofa bed and slept in the living room since it's the only bed Harley's aloud to sleep in . He must have thought he was some kind of special not having to sleep in his kennel all week. Also, this week, I started working on my Craft/Crap Room. It's really gotten ridiculous in there. I rearranged all the furniture and got some things together to donate. Baby steps. It's a work in progress.

Unfortunetly the snow referred to in the previous post occurred while B was out of town, so he missed it. That pic is the one I sent him to show him what he was missing. Of course he's seen plenty of snow, just not in Texas.

December 13th:
We had B's company Christmas Party at our house. Another good time and it was great visiting with everyone.

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

It's a Christmas miracle! Yesterday this strange white stuff fell from the sky.........

I'm still here! Below is a post I did a few months ago, but never posted. So, I'm posting it today!

How I Spent My Summer

In an attempt to catch up on my blogging, I thought I'd put out this post since it was written months ago. I never posted it because I had never gotten around to finishing it (only has June and beginning of July). But at this point, I'm too far behind to remember any more. So, here's some of the highlights (and lowlights) of my summer.

June:

One of my mom's goats, Ginger, died. She was pretty old when they rescued her, so it was not a total shocker, but sad none the less. She had stopped eating and had to be hand fed. We thought she was regaining her strength, but I guess it still wasn't enough._______________________

And now on to the fun stuff....

Micah and Lisa, brought this cute little guy into the world....

We had a crawfish boil at Mom and J's.... Eric got the crawfish from New Orleans and brought it when he came to visit....yummo!
June 28th - Went to Jim's birthday party.....(and they made me do karaoke)....here's some of the gals...
June 29th - We went over to Micah and Lisa's and made them dinner and got in some more "baby time".....
July 1st - The boys played hookie from work and came over to our house. B made sushi and we got to use some of the goodies that Rob and Marlena brought us back from their trip to Japan...

The July 4th weedend was spent at my aunt's lakehouse. We had a blast and watched a great fireworks show on the water.

The boys had matching t-shirts.....
.....the girls did not. (yay)

everybody.....

July 8th - Went to Trisha's birthday luncheon

July 9th - Girls Trip! We stopped in Boerne, TX for a bit and had lunch. It's a cute little town just north of San Antonio that I love visiting. They have a street full of cute little shops and antique stores. (I've been there a few times with B for business trips and he would drop me off and I would go to all the shops while he did his meetings. And if my memory serves me correctly, we've made a trip there with Ben and Jenn as well.)

Then we went to Hunt, Tx. We stayed at Trisha's friend's house along the river. It was really pretty out there.

We found a "mini Stonehinge"

Happy Birthday Harley!

My boy is 10 years old! Oh, they grow up so fast...... (hehehe)

Wednesday, June 4th (over a week ago)
So, when last I wrote, B was preparing a dinner feast. This evening Micah, Lisa, Tom, and Rob's brother, Eric came over for dinner. We had pork that had been marinated in B's special pear reduction sauce. I have to say, I usually don't eat pork, but I liked this pork. We also had sliced pears marinated in the pear sauce (it was like dessert!), asparagus wrapped in prosciutto, and zucchini and squash. I think he was trying to get in as much pork as he could while he had the opportunity, since I usually won't eat it.

Later in the week.....

I finished reading the book "Into the Wild" and then we rented the movie and watched it this past weekend. It is a true story and when I bought this book, I knew it didn't end well, but I thought that there would be some sort of inspirational story in there somewhere. But no. It really just ended up making me mad. I actually found myself getting frustrated and talking out loud to myself while I was reading it. B would think I was crazy, I'd explain what I was ticked off about, and then he would agree with me, and I'd carry on with my reading. And then I still watched the movie! However, I have to say that I actually liked the movie. Not the story line, of course, but how it was done - the cinematography and such. And the music. Eddie Vedder pretty much did all the music in the movie, so if you don't like him, I suppose your opinion might differ. If you just see the movie without reading the book, you may not be as frustrated with the story because, while the movie does a great job of following with the book, it doesn't quite paint the whole picture. I don't want to go into details, because I don't want to ruin it if anyone reading this wants to see the movie. Plus, it would take too long to write out all the many things that annoyed me. hehehe -But I would love to hear other people's opinion of it.-
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And while we're on the subject of being a lazy blogger, I'm skipping over the rest of this past weeks "journaling" because I'm being lazy and because I don't particularly want to write about this past week. But I did have another fun "girls night" on Wednesday with Mandi and Nicole!

Tuesday, June 3rd
B came home from work early today, yay! He was in the mood for cooking, so we went back out to the grocery to get what we needed. Rob's brother, Eric, came over for dinner. He lives in New York, but is in town house-sitting and dog-sitting for Rob and Marlena while they are in Japan. (We offered to fold ourselves up in their luggage and go with them, but they declined.) We had stuffed mushrooms, chicken, squash, and zuchinni. Yum! However tonight was nothing compared to the feast he's preparing for tomorrow night. He's already started the two-day process for it, as Eric and I stood around getting swatted away for trying to dip our fingers into it. After, we went to get gilato. Then we returned so the boys could talk about work till the wee hours while I zoned out and played around on my computer.

Wednesday, May 28th
Went to the doctor today for another shot at trying to figure out this baby makin' business. I was pretty please seeing as this doctor actually sent me on my way with a "plan of action" as opposed to all the others that just said "I don't know what to tell ya, just keep trying." Yeah, those other doctors are sooooo fired!

I already really liked this doctor because last year she got me off of what I bitterly refer to as "the fat pills". For 6 years I had been asking doctors why I couldn't stop gaining weight and why nothing I did helped me to loose it. And every time I was told that it was me. - They said I was not eating right, not exercising right, blah, blah, blah. I tried to explain to them that I really was trying, but they just kept blowing me off. I even specifically asked them if it could be my medication and they denied it. Then my pal Becky referred me to her doctor and I figured I give it a shot.

This is basically how my conversation with this doctor went:
DR. - "What are you in for?"
ME - "I can't stop gaining weight and nothing I do helps. I'm taking medications A and B."
DR. - "It's your meds. Try this instead."
ME - Ok!

That was it! In less than 5 minutes! And then I lost 20 pounds!
Let me reiterate....those other doctors......sooooooo fired!

Thursday, May 29th
Spent the day with mom. We went to a restaurant called The Pizza Shack in Willis that I had never been to and it was really yummy! Jason and Hannah had recommended it to me for the bread pudding, because I happen to be a very big fan of bread pudding. They were right, it was very good. Still doesn't top The Whistle Stop, but very good none the less. And the pasta I had for lunch was really good too. After we were sufficiently "carbed", we made the rounds to the antiques shops in the area.

Friday, May 30th
I met my friends, Mandi N. and Nicole for lunch at Kobe, and well, let me just say that the 3 of us can do some major talking! At one point Mandi went to the restroom and upon returning said "Did you realise that the restaurant is closed?" Apparently this particular restaurant closes for a while between lunch and dinner, and had done so with us in it, and we hadn't stopped talking long enough to even notice. She had run into the owner on the way back to the table and he told her we could stay....so we did....until they brought us dinner menus. At that point we had been there for a little over five hours, and decided we should give up our booth. So we walked across the parking lot to Martinis and More to have ourselves a martini. When we went pay for our drinks the waitress said that they were already paid for. The guy next to us at the bar had paid for them. Now before you go getting the wrong idea, let me say that he was with his girlfriend/date and she was in on it. They were just being nice, so we chatted with them for a bit. After about 3 hours there we called it a night since a band started up and we couldn't hear each other talking any more. After I got home B and I watched a movie.

Saturday, May 31st
Mandi and I went to the movies to see Sex and the City and we happened to run into Nicole (the other gal with us last night) and one of her friends, so the 4 of us sat together. I liked it even thought I was disappointed that my favorite character, Aiden, wasn't in it. I knew he wouldn't be, but one can always hope. I've always hated that "Mr. Big" and wanted Aiden and Carrie to end up back together in the end. Oh well, I still liked it. I've heard that some people were disappointed, but whatever! - It was just like the tv show. I won't say anymore so that I don't spoil it for anyone that may be planning on seeing it. Oh, and some people have only seen the TBS edited for tv version of the show - if the edited version is too racey for ya - might want to skip the movie. But surely that's no big surprise!

Sunday, June 1st
Today my sweetie and I did a little grocery shopping and switched out our Blockbuster movies that we have had forever. I think we are going to cancel our Blockbuster Pass since we don't rent movies enough anymore to make up for it. We're thinking we'll just do Netflicks, and if we want something right away, there's two Red Box's right by our house that we can rent from for $1. After shopping we went home and made ourselves a fancy dinner for two and watched one of our movies. It still counts as a date when you're at home, right?

Monday, June 2nd
So, my insomnia has been back in full force this past week, and I guess it finally caught up with me, cause I didn't have the energy for much of anything today. I did a little laundry, a little cleaning, had a really long IM chat with my friend in Alabama, updated blog, and played around on the internet. And I watched one episode of Top Chef that took about 5 hours because I kept stopping to do something, or read something, or write something. Basically, I did a whole lotta sitting on my tush today. But I was in good company.....

Picking up where I left off...

Wednesday, May 21st
I packed up me and B, then when he got home from work, me, B, Jeremy, and Mandy set out to drive to St. Louis. Since this was their official move they were driving both cars up, and we were going to be driving up anyway a few days later, we decided to go up a little early so we could save on gas and all take turns driving. This worked out well - I started out driving JB's suv w/ B in the passenger seat, and JB drove mandy's car w/ her as passenger. After about 4 hrs, we stopped for dinner and then B and I switched driving. After another 4 hours, we stopped again. B felt bad that JB hadn't had a brake yet, so they had Mandy come over to drive the suv w/ me as passenger and B drove the car w/ JB in it. I have to say that the last 4 hours of the trip flew by. It's amazing how fast a drive can go by when you have two people talking the whole time. Girls can do some talking!


Thursday, May 22nd
It was morning by the time we arrived at B's parent's house. We greeted his parents and then the 4 of us went straight to bed. Unfortunately, going to bed at this hour is not foreign to me.
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The next few days were spent visiting with B's parents and preparing for the party on Sunday.
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Goat Crossing! The neighbor's goats
This is standing in the street in front of B's parents house.

Sunday, May 25th - Family Reunion
About 60 people came out to celebrate B's Grandparent's 60th Wedding Anniversary. Other than being waaaay hotter than the nice breezy days leading up to the party, it was great.
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It's rare to have all 3 brothers and wives together, so we took the opportunity to get a family photo.

After helping clean up afterwards, we went back to JB and Mandy's new apartment for the night which is about about an hour and a half away. About 20 minutes after we left, we got a call from B's mom saying they had to go into the basement because there was a chance a tornado might be coming through! Thankfully, everything ended up ok, just some wind. They had one go through not too long ago and they've finally gotten things fixed up from that one.
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I took this from the car while we were driving. It's hard to see in this little pic, but I like the streeks of light from the passing cars.

Monday, May 26th
JB brought us to the airport at 5:30 (boo!) this morning. Nana and Harley picked us up from the airport. She dog-sat for us and said Harley was a perfect angel the whole time. (But, of course!)
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About 11:30 this evening, I was sitting up in the gameroom when I heard that memorable sound of a raccoon baby crying in our wall. Luckily for me, it happened to coming from the hole we already made in our wall! We had wood held up against the hole by a really heavy box and we left town praying a really strong raccoon didn't push it away while we were gone and destroy our house. So I moved it away and pulled out "Baby Raccoon #2", even smaller than the last one. Have I mentioned how incredibly cute baby raccoons are? Then I went to Walmart in the middle of the night to get more kitten milk replacement since I left what I bought last time with the other baby when I dropped it off. Walmart doesn't have the kind I like to use, but your options are pretty limited in the middle of the night. It didn't really matter because it wouldn't eat. Raccoon babies are hard to feed, I'm finding.


Tuesday, May 27th
"Raccoon baby #2" died today. I was sad. B buried it out behind our fence under the tree where my old turtle, Sammy, resides. I didn't even have to say anything, he just went and got the shovel and said "come on". He knows me so well.

Brace yourself! It's a long one!

O.k., so it's not May 12th. It's actually May 21st. Yep, I've been a bad blogger. I've been updating this post, but hadn't put the pictures in, so I never posted it. Due to some complaints, I figured I better get crackin' and get this thing out, since I have now accumulated 3 weeks worth. Sorry, it's so lengthy. Oh, and we don't normally eat out this much!

Thursday, May 1st

After selling the house in New Orleans, my brother came back with my mom for a visit. And they brought crawfish with them! Yum! I was quite pleased seeing as I was in great need for a fix. When I got to mom's, she, my brother and Johnny were all outside boiling the crawfish. After chatting for a minute or so, I look waaay over to where their horse Maggie is grazing, and said "Wait a minute, what's that?!" They all look at me with cheese eatin' grins on their faces and say "What are you talking about? What's what?" And I said "Um, uh, hellooo, there's two of them!" They started laughing. They had gotten another horse and had kept it a secret so that I would discover it when I got there. She's only a year old and her name is Abby.

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Maggie (L) and Abby (R)
Mmmm...goood!

Why do Louisiana folks read the newspaper? Table cloths for crawfish eatin'!

I had to "eat and run" to meet, B, James, and Shannon to help J.B. and Mandy pack up their apartment and load up their U-Haul to moved to St. Louis. They are moving their stuff this weekend and then will come back and stay with us for another few weeks before officially moving.

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Friday, May 2nd

Yay, I finally rented some movies that I didn't hate! - Enchanted, 27 Dresses, and Lars and the Real Girl. So, I thought "Lars and the Real Girl" was going to be totally stupid, I mean it is about a man in love with a life sized doll after all. But it totally surprised me! Now, I must say, to truely appreciate this movie, you have to be able to look past the surface level man/doll thing, which I think a lot of people might have trouble with. If you can do that, you will find that this movie was very well done, well acted, and full of symbolic elements. If you get stuck on the doll, you'll miss it all! - As I found a few nights later, when I watched it with B. lol

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Saturday, May 3rd

This evening Lisa went out to my mom's house with us for a dinner with some of the people that helped them move into their house. Before dinner, I gave her a tour of the "animal farm" on the golf cart. We really know how to show people a good time out on the farm! hehehe Oh, and the horse sneezed on me. - That's always good fun! lol

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Monday, May 5th

Started a little Spring Cleaning in my craft/crap room.
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J.B. and Mandy moved in with us for the next few weeks before they move to St. Louis.

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Tuesday, May 6th

Spent the day with mom. We went to lunch, I went with her to a dr.'s appointment, and we did some shopping.

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Thursday, May 8th

Had lunch with some friends - BTW, I have a pet peeve! - At lunch today there was 7 of us gals, and the waiter brings one check! This drives me crazy! Why don't they ask?- Then I ran some errands I needed to run, and then met up with Lisa at the movies to see Made of Honor - We went with low expectations, so we were pleased.
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Friday, May 9th
I went to a party at our neighbors house this afternoon. I left early to meet my mom and grandma at my house, but they were a bit late and didn't show up for another 3 hours. Ugh! This did however, give me plenty of time to clean my house, make a side dish, and make a dessert for the party Jeremy and Mandy are throwing at our house tomorrow. And make a gift for them. Mom and g-ma finally showed up and picked up the present for my cousin's b-day party this evening. My mom had seen a photo I had taken of my cousin and brother hanging on my wall and really liked it, so we decided to give it to my cousin for her b-day. So I framed and wrapped another one for her just like this one.

For Jenn

For JB and Mandy

I also gave them the Mother's Day cards that I made for my grandma and aunts, since they were all going to be celebrating Mother's Day on Saturday with pedicures at the spa. Then after they left, I had to make a mad dash to run my errands, the first of which had to be done by 4pm, which I just made with 5 minutes to spare. (BTW, when I spoke to my mother later and mentioned that I just barely made it in time, she actually said "Well, why did you wait so long to go?"...... I guess she forgot about that 3 hours I waited for her.) Anywaaays, after running around, I met up with B to shop for the rest of the food for their party. I have learned over the years that it is dangerous to let him go to Sam's alone, so I now try to make sure I go with him when he goes there. lol

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May 10th

I finished cleaning house and getting ready for the party. Then, I was walking by my living room window and something caught my eye.

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A turtle was taking a stroll through our backyard! It was a bit camera shy!

We had a great time at the party - people started arriving at about 2:00pm and the the last of the folks left about midnight. Ten hours or food, friends, and fun! - and a little bit of "Rock Band" and "Pass the Baby"!

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May 11th - Mother's Day!

Spent the day with mom - me, B, mom, and Johnny went to lunch, went for a drive, then to a winery that mom had been wanting to go to, then drove some more and stopped at different places along the way. It was a nice relaxing day. For part of mom's Mother's Day gift, I made her a flower arrangement that was supposed to look like a Margaritta, straw and little umbrella included.

Relaxing after some wine tasting

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This is where I had stopped "journaling" and never did post it, so now I'm filling in by memory, and I can't remember much, so I'm just adding what I have written on my calendar.

Monday, May 12th

Went to the movies (What Happens in Vegas) and to my Photography club meeting.

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Tuesday, May 13th

Dinner at Chuy's with B, JB, and Mandy

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Wednesday, May 14th

Lunch with my friend Mandi N. at Mama Juanitas.

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Thursday, May 15th

Lunch at Cafe Adobe with mom, Aunt Kathy, and grandma. (Yes, it just so happens that everyone I've eaten with for the past 3 days has wanted Mexican food. - And I get fajitas every time. lol) Then we went over to the Waterway fountain and then to Market Street. This evening I followed them back to my mom's for dinner and stayed the night. Johnny was gone and it was just us 4 gals, so we watched 27 Dresses and stayed up late chatting.

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Friday, May 16th

Hung out at mom's and then when Johnny came home, he and I brought their horse, Maggie, over to the breeder's, or as we like to call it - her boyfriend's house. An ultra sound at the vet determined she didn't get pregnant the 1st time, so they are trying again. In addition to Maggie's boyfriend, Phantom, the breeder had 9 mares, 3 had new babies and one was due to have hers that day. She also had 5 Chihuahuas, and one of them had 5 puppies. When we got back to my mom's, she said "I bet you liked that place." - I did!
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Happiness is a warm puppy! (No, I didn't take it home with me.)

Phantom (Maggie's stud)

This evening B and I had dinner with JB, Mandy, Josh, and Bella at Texas Road House and then sat and chatted at Starbucks.

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Saturday, May 17th

We went to Mandy's college graduation this morning.

This evening we finally caught the second racoon in the attic (Stinky #2) and we dropped it off near where we dropped off the last one.
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Sunday, May 18th

Went to the movies this afternoon, then Market Street. Oh, and since we caught that racoon yesterday, now it's baby has been crying in the wall all day, which makes me sad. Boo. This evening me, B, JB, and Harley went for a walk. Then James came by to visit and next thing you know we are all standing around watching him cut a hole in our gameroom wall to extract a crying baby racoon. FYI - racoon babies are really cute!
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Monday, May 19th

....Soooooo, today I went to Petsmart to get some kitten milk and a bottle to feed the baby racoon until we figure out what to do with it. Man, oh man, this thing is cute! I couldn't get it to eat much.

I started out using a glove, because I didn't know if it might try to bite me.

It didn't take me too long to realize it was just a sweet little baby.

Yay! We found a vet clinic near by that takes in baby racoons and brings them to a place that takes care of them until they can be released. I'm glad it will be taken care of, but I was sad when I dropped it off. - Probably not the best idea to leave a baby animal in the care of a 34 year old woman with no kids. She might get attatched. hehehe

After I dropped off the raccoon, I was going to get B's car registered, but my car broke down instead. After having to pull over twice, the third time I finally gave up trying to get any further down the road when I realized I had pulled over in front of a transmission place. Oh, and it happened to be a transmission place that Johnny has a car at right now. Convenient, eh? B and Johnny, and mom came to meet me there. We left my car there to get checked out and we all went out for dinner.
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Tuesday, May 20th

I went to get B's car registered. Went to pick up lunch with Mandy.

Later, we went back to pick up my car from the transmission place. They couldn't find anything wrong with it, and of course couldn't get it to do what it was doing to me yesterday. So, they didn't charge us anything. Yay!

This evening we went to one last dinner at Black Walnut with Jeremy and Mandy before they move.

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Bittersweet

Well folks, it's happened!
Today my mom signed the papers.
The house in New Orleans is sold!

This is a good thing, yet we are all so very sad to let go. I have moved around so much in my life that I guess when we moved there 21 years ago, that house became a constant in my life. After high school, I continued to move around, though as long as my mom and brother remained there, that was "home" to me. Even after I got married, I would catch myself saying "my house" or "our house" when referencing it. I guess other people probably do that too when speaking of their childhood home. It's hard to image that someone else will live there now.

April Shower Brought a Flower

Thursday we had dinner at Genghis Grill with Jeremy and Mandy. They are preparing for their move, so B is hoping to squeeze in some time with his brother before he goes.

I have to say that B and I were very excited about this weekend. Not only because our friend's new baby was coming, but because for the first time in a very long time, we had no plans!!! Don't get me wrong, we like having things to do, but sometimes it sure is nice to have no prior arrangements, and to just make it up as we go along.

Friday brought the arrival of Becky's family's new addition. Isn't she beau-ti-ful?!

I had to let B hold her too. Boo! Hehe!
Tiny toes. Soooo cute!
Saturday we had dinner at Texas Road House with Lisa, Jeremy, Mandy, and Nana. And we ran into David and Maria while we were there.

Unfortunately, Sunday B ended up having to do something for work, but by 4pm, he'd had enough. So, we made a trip to Blockbuster and got ice cream at Marble Slab (yum!). My last three rentals, that I turned in on Sunday, were all bombs. Heartbreak Kid, Someone to Eat Cheese With (independent-about as dumb as the name), and Margot at The Wedding (depressing and I'm not sure there was ever actually a wedding, I zoned out). I sure am getting tired of bad movies. It has actually become a chore to find something worth renting these days. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised seeing as there's rarely anything worth seeing at the theater anymore. I feel like I have had this conversation on here before, if so, sorry. Guess, I'm just frustrated because I used to enjoy watching movies. I suppose, it's not only that movies have gone down hill, but also that I have gotten choosier and don't want to waste time on one I don't enjoy. Ah, well, such is life.....

Oh, and this was a big weekend for Harley. Our Spring time yard bunny has returned - and Harley does so much enjoy a good rabbit chasing.