Bible Verse of the Day

Friday, June 29, 2007

Look What The Rain Brought

We got sent home from work early yesterday due to all the rain. They wanted us to get home safely because there were a LOT of road closures. Since I had extra time, I went to DS#1's office to work on the painting. I got the base sky color finished and since it was late, decided to take the stuff home to clean it up. I took it all outside the house by the hose and got ready to start cleaning when I found some interesting looking visitors to the yard.

This guy was the one that caught my eye and made me run for the camera. He was facing the other direction and stretched out to at least 3 inches from nose to tail. He had gone down the side of the wood and I picked him back up to the top of the wood, but he never got going like he was before.


These guys and their kin usually live in the front flower bed among the irises, but with the rain, everything is green and lush and inviting for garden pests. Hopefully this will keep them from munching on the flower plants.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Rain, Rain, Everywhere a Rain

As many of you may know by now, Central Texas is pretty much underwater. The news reports are that these are the worst rains in the past 50 years. I can tell you from experience that there was more water in Lake Travis in the early '90's than there is now, but that's just because all the water hasn't arrived at that lake, yet. Why am I talking about Lake Travis? My brother and SIL live there along with my father and step-mother. Of course Daddy and Mary are in Oregon right now, but the rest of the family is on the lake. Also, DS#1 went up to Austin yesterday to ride jet skis with his best friend. If you want to see some of the destruction in the Austin area, you can take a look at KVUE-TV's slideshow. They've opened 10 flood gates on Mansfield Dam, which is right below the family place. Daddy at least had the foresight to build his house above the spillway level, unlike a lot of dupes along the lake. In the last big flood there were houses IN Lake Travis that used to be water front.

Any way, so DS wants to ride jet skis. He's scheduled off from all activities, including his business, to figure out if his truck can tow the trailer from Daddy's place to the ramp. He's been on the phone with his grandpa to make sure that everything's in order. DH told him to be very careful going up because there was a line of severe weather between us and Austin (but it fizzled before he left). So he heads north to pick up his buddy, gets to the lake house and it takes them three hours to make sure everything is running and hooked up properly and find all the life jackets. They take off for the nearest public boatramp which is at Mansfield Park at the dam and controlled by LCRA (Lower Colorado River Authority). The lady at the gate tells them that the ramps all over the lake are underwater and no one can launch and besides the LCRA was considering closing the lakes due to high bacteria count because of the flooding. What the boys didn't understand was that with all that flooding, septic systems were overflowing and raw sewage was running into the rivers and into the lakes.

Needless today, the boys were extremely disappointed. (Bitter, party of two!) The buddy thought they should be able to go swimming if they didn't swallow the water, but I had to explain to them, on the phone, that even if you don't swallow infested water, it can get in your ears and mucus membranes and cause infections. I hope that eased a little of the pain!

Anyway, we're having spot showers here in town and we're under a flash flood watch. It's nothing like Marble Falls and vicinity are having, though. I hope that all those in the midst of this disaster are safe. And if you're in the midst of it, my prayers are with you.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

This and That

Well, the store is coming together. I spent Saturday afternoon painting a sky in DS#1's new store. He's going for the Wrigley Field look. I've never been up and down a ladder so many times in one day in my life! I was so sore after I laid down that evening that I almost couldn't get back up.

As I was perusing the list of blogs I read, I noticed that a lot of folks are talking about what they're reading for the summer. I thought about that this morning when I was thinking about what I should write about and lo, everyone else has beat me to it! Funny how that works, isn't it? Anyway, on Sunday, one of the other youth dads gave me a book to read called Showdown by Ted Dekker.


I started reading it on the way home from church and couldn't put it down. I usually sleep on the bus, but yesterday I read on the way to work and back home. It's quite an unusual story and the writing is captivating. I'll let you know how much I like it when I finish it.


DS#2 finally starts his new job on Friday. He's a busboy at our favorite Japanese restaurant. The owners have been really good people to us. She just loves our son and has been waiting for him to decide to work there. She's been offering the job for over a year now. It turns out though, that they are moving back to Taiwan where their families live. All three of their children are American-born and will go to the American School in Taiwan, but it's kind of sad to see them going. When DH and I were both out of jobs due to layoffs, we told them that we wouldn't be able to eat there much longer because of the money situation and they said that as long as they owned the place, we'd always have a place to eat no matter what. How can you argue with that? It helps to have been their best customers for several years. :-)


I went back to the ENT today and he said my throat looks a lot better than 6 weeks ago. The thing in my throat that was bothering me so much is pretty much healed up, but I have to keep taking the Nexxium for at least two more months. He also said I could ease back into drinking coffee again, as long as I didn't have any reactions to it. I guess that means I can drink tea again. Yea!!!


Well, tonight is the first of this year's executive board meetings for DS's band boosters. I'm First Vice President this year and head chaperone, which means I'm going to be very, very busy this year with the band. It'll be fun, though.


Y'all take it easy and see ya soon!

Thursday, June 21, 2007

What a Day!

Wow, what a day at work. We have to upgrade the firmware on our SAN switches because we have a new switch and all of them have to be at the same firmware level. So we decided to practice on the new one since it had no connections to it yet and then upgrade the two production switches. All went well with the first one, but when we got to the first production switch, all h-e-double hockey sticks broke out. It was supposed to be a non-disruptive upgrade, meaning there would be no loss of connectivity, but it was very disruptive. It took down the switch. Fortunately it was the backup site switch and there wasn't any production running on it. But our pairs broke and my supervisor used this as an opportunity to have the rest of us figure out what to do. She walked us through it, I looked in my training books from last year to try to remember what to do, and between the three of us we figured it out.

I got to drive (hee!) so I have a much firmer grasp on what to do in such situations now. I really like that she used this problem as a learning opportunity for us. What other company is like that? Not many, I can tell you!

DS#1 got the keys to his building this week and has moved in. He went to Costco and bought a plastic folding table and two chairs. Now he's got to get things going. He's already received his first shipment and has some potential buyers in select league teams that play during the summer. As Mario says, "Heere wee gooo!"

Later!

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

I've Been Tagged

It seems to be the rage. Every blog I've read in the last week has this same tag. Well, I wasn't really tagged by name, but Carol needed a little help, so I'm tagging myself for her.

These are the rules.... each player starts with 7 random facts about themselves on their Blog. People who are tagged need to blog 7 facts about themselves and post the rules as well. At the end of their blog list 7 people you are tagging. Let them know that they are tagged by leaving them a comment.

1. I worked on a space shuttle mission at Mission Control at Johnson Space Center. I was in the room across the hall with the scientists making sure the data analysis hardware kept running for the Tethered Satellite System.

2. My husband taught me to play saxophone and I played bari-sax in the company jazz band after going to state solo & ensemble contest for two years on alto clarinet.

3. I threw a surprise 25th anniversary party for my parents.

4. I got married when I was 19.

5. It took me eight years to get through college because I got married (see #4), changed colleges, changed majors, worked, bought a house, had a baby.

6. I idolized my mother's father and my father's sister. Grandpa was a rancher and Aunt Kathryn taught me to knit and be crafty.

7. I just got word that I received a certificate of achievement from NASA for work on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite project which was launched in 1991. The project finally shut down earlier this year.

Now, being new to the blogosphere, I don't know who to tag so I'll just leave it to you to figure out whether to play or not. Be sure and leave me a comment if you do, I'd like to read your answers!

Have a great evening!

Monday, June 18, 2007

Confessions of a Fat Woman

Okay, I know what it takes to lose weight. I know that it took me a long time to get this big and it will take me a long time to get back to normal. I know I need to exercise more and I've moved at least a little bit in that direction by wearing a pedometer. My current goal is to walk at least 7500 steps per day. So some days are better than other. It's okay as long as I'm able to walk.

So what possessed me to go to Starbucks and get not only a Grande Mocha, but also a portion of coffee cake? I went to Starbucks because I was getting sleepy at work, and although I'm not supposed to be drinking coffee, how much could one every couple of weeks hurt? Never mind that I forgot I had a cup at church yesterday (it was for my sore throat). But I got the coffee cake and ate it, too. That's lots of extra calories that I don't need and it really didn't taste all that good. Perhaps confessing it here will make me less likely to succumb to the temptation next time. At least I had to walk a couple of blocks to get to Starbucks! :)

I stayed up late last night, unintentionally, working on a gift album for a couple whose 50th Wedding Anniversary we celebrated at church on Saturday. I went to my scrap room to see if I could find the paper and ribbon I wanted to use, then make sure I had enough mat board to make a front and back cover, then (oh what the heck) cut out the window on the front, (it will only take a few minutes), cover the covers. Oh yes, can't forget cutting the pages to go in it and then punching the holes to put it all together. I temporarily bound it with a bulldog clip just to see how things would lay and it looks gorgeous. When I get done I'll post pictures here and in my 123-scrap.com gallery. Then I looked at the clock. Holy cow!!! It's 12:45 AM and I have to get up at 5:45 AM!

That's why I got the Starbucks. I'm going to bed earlier tonight, I promise!

I'd like to thank my faithful readers (you two know who you are) for the suggestions on coping with some of my motivation problems. I'm going to make a list of the top three things and get them done. Great suggestion!

Y'all have a great day!

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Motivation? ***Warning, could be depressing.***

I am so lost for motivation at work. I don't know what to do. Either there's so much to do that I don't know where to start, or there isn't anything to do. I believe it's more of the former and none of the latter. I am on a roller-coaster of emotions, too. I've gained back the 20 pounds I lost last year and then some, I've quit working out at Curves for the last month or two, clothes aren't fitting. You probably know the situation.

Sometimes I get into these moods and I have no idea how I got there or how to get out. I just took three days off from work last week and left town, but of course my job didn't stay at home. With the electronic leash that I wear now, I'm constantly available. I get home from work at the end of the day and the house is hot, even though we have a programmable thermostat. I think the A/C unit needs to be replaced. That costs $$$ and with DH's job in question, who knows when/if it will ever get replaced? All I want to do is lay down and veg-out. Laundry's not getting done, cooking has all but ceased, I'm turning into the world's biggest slob. I HATE IT!!!

We have a ton of work coming up and I know I should be planning it, getting ready, but we've been in a holding pattern for about a month now waiting for our new building to get done. The rain we had last month delayed construction, so everything got pushed back. I'm ready to do something mindless like running cables or terminating them, but I just can't seem to get it going.

I have so much to do at home and the clutter is killing me. I've never been a very good housekeeper, but with three grown men in the house, I can't possibly keep up and the most any of them will do is their own laundry as they need it (except for DH). I have to nag to get them to do anything and usually several times before any of them will get up out of their chairs or off the bed. I've just given up. I know that's not the right thing, but I can't help it.

I take antidepressants, but I'm getting to a state where all they do is keep me from crying uncontrollably. I should be reading the Bible every day, but I can't even get that done. What a mess I am! I guess I'll just have to stop feeling sorry for myself and get up and do what needs to be done, but that mountain is still looming. Sorry to rant, folks, but sometimes you have to get things off your chest. I hope I didn't depress you.

Have a good week.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Wow, What A Week!

I have been very busy this past week. On Tuesday evening we left to attend our church's Annual Conference. In the United Methodist Church (UMC), areas of the world are divided into jurisdictions and converences. We are members of the Southwest Texas Conference and our meeting is always held in Corpus Christi. There's never enough time to go to the beach during the day because meetings last all day and it was especially true this year. We had to vote on representatives from our conference to the General Conference in 2008. Anyone who is a member of the UMC in the conference is eligible for election. Voting started on Thursday morning, first item, and continued through the sessions. Since there was a break for the awards banquet at 5:30 Friday and the last delegate had not yet been elected, we were called back into a late session that ran from 8:30-11:15 pM. We didn't stay for the whole thing because we had to be up in Kingsland by 10:30 Saturday morning, so we left at 5:30.

Right outside the conference center and across the bay bridge is the USS Lexington. The Lady Lex, as she's known, was also known by the Japanese as the Ghost Ship because she was reported sunk three times. The conference center was cold and the weather outside was balmy, warm and humid, so my lenses were fogged up on the camera. This is what I got from the waterfront. Looks kind of ghostly, huh?



And in keeping with my new tradition of taking shots of birds by the ocean, here's a guy that was hanging out at the barge dock. I took this with the telephoto lense. I have a whole series of pictures taken at different distances from the bird. He stayed put for a long time. Perhaps he thought I might have some bait to fish with that he could go after?


It turns out that DH's great-great-grandfather was a member of the Texas Rangers during the Civil War, which makes him eligible for a Texas Ranger Grave Marker, which was dedicated and unveiled in the city cemetery on Saturday morning. William Merritt Weeaks was the father of 15 children, one of whom died at age 5. All the rest survived until adulthood. So after the dedication, there was a family reunion in Llano. This was all fine and good, but the only people I knew there were my immediate family. BIL and SIL came down from Pittsburgh for the event bringing their son along.

My BIL has done a lot of genealogy research on his family, so when this recognition came along, there was no way he was going to miss the presentation of the marker. He's so into genealogy that his son carries five names, three of which are from ancestors.



I really wanted a picture of Christian with the marker because that would have been his great-great-great grandfather's resting place he stood at. Oh well. Sometimes poopy diapers are more important than pictures. Here he is exploring the city park in Llano when we first got there.


I'm so proud to be his aunt and godmother. He's such a cutie. Not unlike his cousins, IYKWIM.

Have a great week!

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

The Going-away Party

We had the going-away party for our youth director, Annie, on Sunday evening at the "Kick-off Summer" swim party with the kids. There she received her gifts from the kids and the adults, including the accordion book I made. All of the kids signed it and she absolutely loved it. I made a digital layout of some of the pictures from the evening. It was so funny when she opened the book because she had never seen one before and didn't know how to operate it!



The butterfly embellishment is there because one of the gifts the sponsors gave was a James Avery butterfly necklace that was not unlike this pretty little guy. I hope Annie does well at her new home.


Credits: Papers from Weeds and Wildflowers Coming Home Freebie, W&W Creating Beauty, W&W Discovering You, Ksharonk's Wishing You Freebie; butterfly embellishment from Butterfly Heaven by Marcee Dugger @ DSP; Sketch by Jen Caputo, modified from landscape to portrait; font is Elephant.

Sunday, June 3, 2007

Goodbye, Annie-kins

Today is the last Sunday that our "new" youth director will be with our church. She was "poached" by another church that is closer to her hometown and family and can provide benefits and salary for her that our church can't. Annie was only here for about 9 months, but she made a huge impact on our youth and many of our adults, too.


God has great things planned for her, I know. Our little church was just a step on the way to those greater things she will accomplish. She has a heart of gold and a soul of service and sacrifice. Many of our kids are bitter about her leaving because they bonded so tightly to her, but it is a life lesson for them, too, that things change. We are having a summer kick-off pool party this evening and I will be reminding them all that what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. It's not too soon for these teenagers to learn about heartbreak and sadness. At least Annie will still be in touch on the Internet.

The youth leaders asked me to make a card for all the kids to sign, but I went one better this time and made a mini accordion book. It's a 6x6 handmade book that was repurposed from another project I had started (I made a bigger book for that one). Here's the cover:


The rest of the book can be seen at my 123scrap.com gallery.

I really do wish Annie the very best as she moves on. Good-bye, Annie-kins.