Santa Came to Town

Santa was good to the fam this year. Here' how it started:

Here's how it went:

Now it's all gone. How fast Christmas came and went! Now we have a week together to play with all of our new stuff.



I'm super excited because I got the new coat on my Christmas list. And my sweet husband got me many great things including Sirius satellite radio for my car! I wish I could tape 'A' singing to her new High School Musical Wii game. She is scoring A+. I'm hoping to get to play the new Wii soon.

We finished some more work on the house last week. I'll post some more pictures tomorrow.

Turkey Lurkey

We started out with a brisk 2 mile sprint/walk at the Club this morning. Grandma Cindi, P Diddy, and I braved the cold while E-Turkey was leading the pack on his bike.

After some very cozy naps and Ratatouille, we collectively put together a Thanksgiving feast. It was so yummy and now I am stuffed. Must go run tomorrow.

Even Eliot is pooped out by the fire.

Look who's on Two Wheels!

Grandma & Grandpa are on their way!

First of all, let me say congratulations to Logan, Nell, Shana, and Jason who among others participated in the Grapevine Ultracentric. You all are hardcore! I wish I could have come to cheer you all on.

However, E and I were busy from sun up to sun down getting ready for Grandma and Grandpa to arrive from Oregon. We cleaned every square inch of our property. I'm usually better prepared; but E has made some big progress on our house since the last time most of you saw it. (Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa's scheduled arrival!)

Notice that the exposed framing is no longer exposed?

We're still waiting for a bigger ladder to finish the fireplace.

The end is in sight for this project. A little more mud, paint, and carpet.

We have lots to do this week. We're going to Medieval Times, a Mavericks game, a GM private tour, shopping with the girls, cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for the first time! And I anticipate lots of grandparent spoiling. My family has just left for the airport. It's so quiet.

Fort Worth Air Show

We went back to the air show last weekend. We had such a good time last year! This year, we didn't do nearly as much because of the crowds. But since we've already toured all of the airplanes, and the kids aren't scared of the noise anymore, we got to spend more time watching the planes in flight.

(This is one of my favorites from last year. He's not so little anymore.)

This year the Blue Angels were there. They are So Cool. I never knew much about them until I saw a documentary a few months ago. And then sure enough they show up at the air show. Why didn't we get to see these when I was a kid? Probably because Alliance airport didn't exist when I was a kid.

We had our annual pumpkin carving tonight. The pumpkins turned out great. This year we didn't use patterns; just pure Walker talent.

The Big '0-8'

Addison chose to take her two buddies to Libby Lu's for her birthday celebration. After all 3 choosing the 'Hannah Montana' makeover, they all got to spend their very own credit card at the mall.

Do you see the resemblance?

My new job is going well. I've been there a week and am getting used to some of the faces. I finally got my email setup today. Lord only knows why it takes a week to transfer email from one server to another. I've been working a little bit more but that's good. Where I was bored before, now I look at the clock and it's time to go. The days go by much faster.

As for school, it's kinda slow this semester. But a good break after a crappy summer. I am thinking about starting to run again. The weather is starting to cool down. And since I find myself in the sitting position much more at work, a little more exercise will be nice. Eric and I went on a 24 mile bike ride on Sunday. It felt so great! Now if I could just get the alarm set in the morning, I'll get going! I'm thinking about the half marathon at White Rock. Or maybe Cowtown. Or maybe I should do both.

My new job has been delayed two days. I thought that the person taking my place, who was supposed to accept the position as a promotion from another club, would have it made. I've taken care of all of the little tedious yuckness that I've been putting off and my office is totally clean and ready to hand off to the new person.

But he turned it down. So no replacement yet. My co-workers would really appreciate a replacement. Not some temporary regional 'cover'.


SOOOOOO! I have new nephew. Another perfect angel to make a trio of them! No pics though- don't know how the parentals feel about that sort of thing. Too bad for you - the blogreader -because I am telling you, he is a Q T.

And in other news, I started a new book this week - New Moon - the second in the series of Twilight. I've only read the first two chapters but I love the characters so much that I am anticipating a great story. So much better than television.

Last Weekend of the Summer

Our dear neighbors moved the weekend before school started. So we entertained while the parentals were preparing the house for renters.

Hey -Who's that cool stepmom? It's me. It's me.

I started my new class for the fall: Survey of Accounting Systems. So far, so good. It's only one night a week which I love! And it's computer related - which I am happy about. And it will be low maintenance since it is an elective. And I start my new job next week so that will be nice to have low school stress.

And, that means I am going to read the next book in the Twilight series. And I am getting a new nephew sometime in the next week. No complaints here!

Here's some property we looked at recently. It had a great view on the side of a little mountain:

Ever heard this song?

It's too hot to fish
Too hot for golf
And too cold in here.

That's how today is going. It's too hot outside. And I always have the chills in my house.

Weekend In Dallas

This weekend was our friend Scott's 45th birthday, so we went to celebrate with him and Christina in Dallas. We started the evening with dinner at Monica's in deep ellum, followed by drinks at Reunion Tower, which most of us had not been too, and then we spent the night at the Fairmont.

Sunday morning we walked to uptown and had brunch at Tecole's on McKinney Ave. The food was awesome! And then Eric and I went to the 6th Floor Museum. I have spent my whole life here and had never been to the JFK shooting site. It was interesting, but I felt like most of the information I had already seen in the movie JFK, which we watched recently. But, we're both glad we went.

It's Official

I am the newest addition to Gleneagles Country Club. Although I'm not sure when I start yet. One of the problems transferring within the company. Gotta finish some things at the old job, but would really like the new paycheck of the new job...

I'm pumped up- which is more than I can say about anything having to do with work in a long time!

I can't sleep. This usually only happens to my insomniac husband. I gave him such a hard time about staying up all night and now here I sit. What is running through my mind? I have an interview on Friday for a new job. It's really the same job, different location.

I am enjoying my time off from school. I read Twilight, referred to me by my sister. It was an excellent book. Good easy reading. I wish I had enough time to read the sequel. I recently read an article in the newspaper about audio books. It said that many people consider this 'cheating'. I consider it a nice alternative to public radio. If I get this job, I will be spending some more time in my car. It's either going to be audio books or satellite radio. I'll have to do some research.

The kids are taking a journey to California and back this week. It's been awfully quiet around our house after a busy summer. Here's some recent pics for the grandparents:

Shamu

The Lazy River

Barton Creek

Inner Space Caverns

Another Day at the Office with Dad

The Grades are in!

Good news folks! I got a B in my class. That must mean that everyone else in my class did just as bad as I did! Yea for curves!

Back Yard - Stage 3 Complete

After record rain fall and busy summer schedules, Stage 3 is now complete on the back patio. Stage 1 was removing the deck. Stage 2, staging the grill. Step 3, laying the stone.

Still to come: #4 decomposed granite between stones, #5 countertops, #6 stone siding on the grill area.

One question: at dinner tonight, we ran into a couple we know trying our favorite restaurant for the first time. When our waiter offered them a complimentary appetizer as our treat, they refused. Isn't that RUDE? First of all, they already had drinks so we didn't want to buy that. And since it was their first visit (and we are sure they are not vegetarians) we wanted to expose them to the greatness that the menu has to offer. So when they refused, we bought them the lamb lollipops, paid the $16 tab, and didn't say goodbye. Snobs.

We just spent our last week together with the kids for the summer vacation. I cant believe how fast the summer has passed. I am finally through with Corporate Tax. I believe that I successfully earned my first C in grad school. Bummer. BUT - at least I don't have to retake the class. That would be awful.

We were able to escape for the weekend to Barton Creek. Our first day, Saturday, we drove to San Antonio to visit SeaWorld. The only good thing I can say about it was that the Shamu show was pretty impressive. I don't have anything positive to say about the rest of the experience there. That may have been our first and last trip to SeaWorld.

The second day was great! We had a yummy breakfast at the resort and spent the rest of the day soaking up some sun (literally -we're all a little red) at the pool. On our way back home, we stopped at the Inner Space Caverns. E and I have stopped there before, but this time we brought the kids. They were a little hesitant at first because of the possibility of a bat encounter. But that wore off in about a minute. Very cool stop to make if you're heading down I35 and have an hour to spare.

And now it's back to work for me. Yea!

El Scorcho

I made it. I didn't make my optimistic time of 2:30, but I think I finished under 2:50. The first three laps were a breeze - the fourth was a challenge - and the fifth really took some effort. Thanks to my husband who rode his bike by my side encouraging me the last three miles, I made it through! I had a great time and am really impressed with how everything turned out at the race. You could really tell that alot of work had been done and it was a great success.

I'm taking a vacation from work this week. And the kids are back as well, so we'll have some serious R&R time together. We started out the 'vacation' with a trip to Six Flags. It was surprisingly pleasant - we were almost able to forget the near 100 degree temps because the park had so few people in it. There were no lines anywhere!

Tomorrow we may try to see the cousins. Spend some time by the pool. And there were talks of taking a quick trip to Palo Duro canyon or San Antonio.

I'm getting ready for El Scorcho tonight. 15.1 miles I think. I planned to take a nap but really don't think I can sleep. I haven't done enough today to make me sleepy. It doesn't look like it's going to rain after all. Less humidity is better for everyone.

I just finished my new iPod playlist, packed up some power bars, water, gatorade, change of clothes, bug spray. That should just about do it. I think I'm ready!

Eric's been working on the house again. The walls are coming down. He ripped out the entrance to the dining room and the walls dividing the dining room and living room. Next is half of the wall between the kitchen and living room. We'll be putting in a small counter area there and replacing all of the existing countertops at the same time. Thank Goodness!



Last weekend we visited the Lightcatcher Winery for their Jazz night. It was such a good time that we are going back next weekend with some friends. They had a great jazz band, tasty menu, as well as wine to top off the breezy outdoor setting. I recommend it even if you are not a big wine fan.

Notice anything missing?

We just returned from a beautiful week in Galveston. Lots of fun and lots of water! We returned to Pointe West and stayed oceanside. The 'resort' is getting alot bigger. Over the past year they have put in an additional pool, a lazy river for the family, miles of bike paths, and a fire pit. And daily activities for the kids were a nice break from the sun. We had a great time hanging out with no clocks, no internet access (although I'm not sure if my husband was too happy), and no work! We skipped the NASA visit this year, but we did take a fishing trip. We didn't catch 'the big one'. Although our catches were just as big as everyone's!

Now it's time to cram for my first test in Corporate Tax. Yuck.

I did get back on track last weekend with my running. I did a 10 mile run on the treadmill because of the rain. It really wasn't that bad because I was watching the US Open. I typically prefer to snooze my way through a good golf tournament. But the treadmill was alright too. We'll see if I can work 11 miles in tomorrow.

It's been a busy few weeks around our house. I spent the whole weekend on the couch last weekend with some kind of bug. And now I'm way behind on my running. But, I hope to get back at it this week while I am on vacation. We are heading to Galveston to get a little R&R. It's been a while since we've done any vacationing. I always look forward to the beach!

Last night was the annual 'Daddy/Daughter Dance' at WCCC. That means P-Diddy and I had a little date of our own! Al's Hamburgers, Chuck E Cheese, Ice Cream, and finally a movie on the couch that knocked him right out. Good Times!

The Tile Man Does Not Cometh

I was so excited that we finally set a date with the tile man. Tuesday at 8 am. But then something came up. So then it was Wednesday, 8 am. Then something happened at his house that delayed him, at latest, until 10 am. It's now 10:30 am - and no tile man.

I guess that's how it goes.

I start my summer class tonight - Corporate Tax. It probably isn't the best course to take in a summer session, but it's the only one I could find offered A) that I haven't already taken and B) that didn't have a test scheduled during our planned vacation. UTA is usually very good when it comes to business course offerings. But this summer was very difficult. I look through the Graduate Catalog and see all of these great courses I'd like to take. But none of them are offered.

A Simple Miscommunication

I'm trying to wrap up my week to go enjoy the long Memorial Day weekend. I processed a couple of new members files and just handed them to my manager and said 'If you'll approve these, I'll get all of the new members enrolled before I leave.' What I should have said was 'I need to you to approve these so that I can leave.' So here I sit, updating my blog.

I've been talking about this project in our backyard for quite sometime. It started with the deck removal, then the huge pile of leaves that had grown over the years had to be removed. Eric found the stone he wanted to lay in its place. That was about 3 weeks ago. The pallets of stone are still sitting in front of our house, for everyone to enjoy. We sit inside our house staring out the window at the constant rain fall and imagine how good the stone will look someday in our backyard. If it would ever dry out. And the memorial day weekend is not looking to be any more dry.

Sunday in the Stockyards

We took the kiddos to the Stockyards Sunday. It was a great day to walk around and soak in some of Cowtown. We saw Longhorns, went horseback riding, learned how to rope steers, and wrapped it up with lunch at the Love Shack. A great day!

I was out running this morning and saw a neighbor washing her car.

I guess the driveway wasn't good enough for the PT.

Finished Dining Room

I finished the dining room - it took an extra day. Nonetheless, all done. We're going to try to work on laying the flagstone in the backyard and begin building the grill/counter/bar. It's finally dried up a little from all of the rain.

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

1000

1035 Calories burned on tonight's run. I remember back about two month's ago when I had just begun running and thinking how great it would be to someday have the lung capacity and leg strength to make it to 1000 calories. Today, folks, was that day.

And on a more interesting note, E and I celebrated our first anniversary this weekend. I was surprised with a Sunday night getaway to Rough Creek - one of my favorite getaways. It is a little on the pricey side - but very much worth it. We had a lovely dinner and enjoyed a breezy evening that turned into an awesome stormy night.

We did try our cake that had been inefficiently wrapped up in our freezer all year. It was really very tasty. But most of it ended up in the trash. We've had a very good first year. And the second is starting out well.

Now that school is out, I'm trying to finish some projects around the house. Tomorrow and Thursday I will be painting the dining room. And next weekend I'll shampoo the carpets. And if this rain would ever let up - not that I am complaining - we may be able to do something about the large mud puddle that is sitting in our back yard.

Off now to sign up for El Scorcho. I've been slacking.