Random Thoughts

For the last week or so, I've had insomnia. A few times this week, I've taken a sleep pill to help out. Normally, one good night of sleep reboots my system and I'm back on track. But not this week. I'm sure it is stress/anxiety related. Note to self: up medication dosage. In the meantime, I figured that I'd better get back to my blogging and purge out some of the random thoughts that I've had over the last few weeks....

Thanksgiving has come and gone. I'm sure that I gained at least 2 pounds. Guess I'd better hit the gym a little harder this week. Anyway, I did reflect on the many blessings that are in my life throughout that day and the days since. I, like most, count my family, friends and health as a blessing and am extremely thankful to have each.

And with the passing of Thanksgiving comes the Christmas season. I could post on how consumer oriented it has become, and probably will do so in the near future. For now, I just want to vent my bitterness toward the Salvation Army for sending out those bell ringers 2 weeks before Thanksgiving. Now, I don't mean to sound bah-humbug....but Thanksgiving, the holiday, gets more and more lost every year. The one day that we can just count our blessings and be thankful is getting snuffed out between Halloween and Christmas. I just want a little separation. Can we please enjoy Thanksgiving without big business shoving their agenda down our throats? I'm all for supporting charity, but PLEASE....keep the bell ringers at bay until we've eaten our turkey! Is that so much to ask?!?

Ok....onto other things that are chapping my backside right now. Umm...I just watched "Sicko" and gave it 2 thumbs up. Very thought provoking and worth checking out. The part the chaps my backside is the greed of HMOs and the lack of dedication that our government has in the matter of taking care of the least of these in our country.

On another note, Kenny and I are shopping for a house. We actually put a bid in this evening on a house in our neighborhood. It's a foreclosed house...bank owned...and about $35k under market value. For that price, we're willing to sacrifice the big yard and spend 2 years living in it. After 2 years, we'll see about selling it along with the Reno house and then buying something a little more suitable...mostly, something with a larger yard. Well, I guess I shouldn't get too ahead of myself. The bank has to accept our offer first. If they do, I'll post progress pictures on the house. Right now, it needs a major clean job and new carpets. We'll probably add new counter tops in the kitchen as well. But like I said, I need not put the carriage before the horse.

I guess that's it for now. Just sitting here bored and AWAKE. I think I'll add some more songs to my myspace play list/jukebox. Either that, or maybe I'll go rearrange the pots and pans in the kitchen cabinets. Good Lord...please let me get drowsy soon!

Dialogues with Dallas

Over his PB&Honey sandwich w/ apples, Dallas inquisitively asked me, "Mommy, in old times...when you were the controller for the TV...did you have to karate chop your apples in half cause they didn't have knives?".

No son...we simply found the sharpest rock we could find and muddled our way through such endeavors in that fashion.

Blessed

The last couple of weeks have been pretty eventful around our house. In my previous post, I mentioned that my dear friend, Erin had come into town for a visit. As expected, the time went by way too fast. We really didn't do too much as far as tourist attractions. Mostly, we just enjoyed each other's company through the everyday life events like grocery shopping, baseball games, family time and girlfriend conversation. We did visit the Dallas Arboretum, which was nice. It would have been much more fun had the weather cooperated, but it was still nice nonetheless. Anyway, the time spent together was much needed. Even though I hated to see her head back home, I was so grateful that she came.

A couple of days after Erin boarded a plane home, I was back at the airport picking up our next house guests. Kenny's younger brother, Justin and his wife Jessica decided that they would come out for a visit. When Jessica told me that they were thinking about taking vacation out this way, I was a bit surprised. I honestly thought that Texas was the LAST place they'd want to come...especially considering that for the same airfare, they could have gone to Costa Rica. Hmmm...Texas? Costa Rica? I don't get it, but hey...I was very excited that they did decide to come and hang out.

We definitely did more of the tourist type of thing with them. We visited the JFK 6th Floor Museum, Six Flags over Texas, The Fort Worth Stockyards and even spent an afternoon horseback riding along Grapevine Lake. The horseback riding was a blast. It was their idea....and I'm glad that they had it. We were able to take Jason and Dallas both. (Jason got his own horse and Dallas rode with the trail guide.) And had Jason not been yelling at his horse the whole time for snacking, I'm sure we would have seen some white tail deer, coyotes and bobcats. Turns out the only other animal we saw aside from the horses were a couple of dogs and a few goats that hung around the stables.

Considering that Justin and Jessica were here during Halloween, we also took in a Pumpkin Patch and enjoyed our first Trick or Treating adventure around the neighborhood.

Aside from a nasty bug that worked its way around the boys and Jessica, the time spent together was really nice. We were able to show them around town and take them to some of our favorite places to eat. Jessica even told me that Texas wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. Yeah, that's what I think too. Once you get use to it, it starts to grow on you. Mind you, you'll never hear me say that Texas is my dream location....but it's turning out to be alright.

On one final note, we have taken our house in Reno off the market and rented it out. We're still not able to charge enough rent to cover our payment, but it's a lot easier to fork out an additional $150 bucks a month vs $1500. I just hope that these tenants work out better than our last set. And in another year or two, maybe the market will have rebounded. In the meantime, we'll rent out the house in Reno and then try to find something for us to buy around here. In fact, we've already got our eyes on a house around the corner from us that is bank owned. Let's just hope that they bank is willing to get it off their books for the price we want to pay.

Well, I must say that it feels great to finally have the house off of our back and to have been filled up with the love that our house guests brought. It makes the upcoming Thanksgiving season more meaningful. We certainly are a blessed family.