Crunch Time

I'm supposed to be researching right now. 3 projects to go for my Research Class in the next 6 weeks. No problemo! The big one - my independent case study - is due in two weeks. I am supposed to identify an accounting challenge, and then find the solution. I'm thinking of researching the ARod trade from the Texas Rangers. Although I'm not completely up to speed on how trades work in professional sports, my understanding is that ARod was traded and the Rangers continued to pay him. I plan to figure out how they accounted for his contract. Does that sound exciting or what? I know you're just shaking in your boots!

Baseball season starts today. Go Bats!

Easter Wrap Up

It's 3pm and I am already pooped from the Easter activity. It's been quite a week. The kids got to do an activity everyday, from bowling to 3 Easter egg hunts. And thankfully we had some good weather to enjoy some time outside with friends. I'll post some more pictures & videos later.

Here's the annual Easter pic:

On a sad note, not only did we hear of a tragic loss in Mansfield this week near the golf course, I was informed this morning a dear friend of mine at work passed away. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer only weeks ago. I know I'm not the first to say it, but Go get your annual physical!!

Updates for Cindi

I forgot that I was requested to post picture updates of our appliance install. The appliances are in, as I previously stated, and fabulous! But we still have some trim to do for the microwave. And we decided not to use the vent-a-hood. We're going to get a new one. (When I say we, I mean E).
I also added pictures of this great kitchen table we got on Craigslist today. I know, I know - you're thinking that we are addicted to Craigslist, but really we aren't. We are just in the market for alot of different things & with time, we find some steals. This table cost us about the same as 3 meals at a restaurant!

I also posted my first video (with a little inspiration from my sister). It's not easy eating spaghetti .....

Spring Break is going well, except for these cloudy days.

Sunday we intended to rough it on an overnight trip. Tent, sleeping bags, and all. But the rain was forecasted for 3 am. So we just made a day trip and took the neighbor buddy along. It was quite a day. E took down a tree in preparation for our electric hookup.

We're also ready to purchase a few loads of road base. I've never heard of this before - but I've come to the conclusion that it is like gravel or rocks. We need some of it to finish out the existing driveway. It will also help with construction traffic. However, the rain is forecasted again today and you can't receive road base deliveries in the rain. So that will have to wait.

Today, we divided and conquered. 'A' and I headed to the mall to do some Easter shopping. We found her a dress and some new shoes. It was fabulous. While we were out, the boys managed to come home with new guns. One pellet gun. One shotgun. And! Trigger locks. I'm happy to have trigger locks as I am not very familiar with guns and am not so comfortable with them around.

I think our plans tomorrow are to head back to Glen Rose to visit the newly opened Dinosaur World. Not to be confused with the existing Dinosaur Valley State Park.

Spring Break - Day 1

I still look forward to Spring Break every year, even though I haven't actually had a break in many years. There's just something that the school system plants in you around the third week in March that makes you think you deserve to take a break.

We are actually taking a few days off this week since the kids are here. The Arlington Science Center hosted a Kite Festival at the park behind our house yesterday, so we loaded up the bikes & kites and headed over to check it out. They were very fortunate to pick a beautiful day with a good wind. And they had a good turnout, so hopefully they raised some money.

P Diddy is fighting a fever, so we took it easy the rest of the day. He's in good spirits & taking this opportunity to watch as much Power Rangers as he can stand.

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We did have an exciting night. The power went out around 7pm & the kids were not happy about it. Kid 1 even threatened a lawsuit. At about 10pm, 4 huge trucks show up out front to replace the transformer in our neighbor's back yard. Since we had nothing else to do, we peeked through our windows and watched the crew moving about with their hardhats & headlamps. They were there until about 3am.

The unfortunate thing about this is that we have a hunch that the home located behind our neighbor is to blame. The house was foreclosed & recently purchased - but no one lives there. Since no one has really lived there for a long time, no one will take responsibility and fix the pool problem. The pool does not drain in a 'drain'. It poors into the neighboring yards. We recently replaced our fence mainly because of the rotted post (due to pool). We are guessing that the transformer may also have been flooded.

I hope that the electric company will pursue the problem. I hate to think that my rates will eventually go up to absorb problems like this - when it isn't the electric company's fault at all.

We decided to spend the weekend at home for a change. I got to spend Saturday afternoon babysitting sweet-baby-James and man are my biceps sore today! I bet that Nell has developed some great muscles in the last 6 months! This morning we were able to have brunch with my dad and stepmom. It was nice to visit with them since we have not seen them since the holidays.

And then we headed to Lowe's to pick up some fence panels. Replacing the fence has been on our to-do list for two years. But never at the top. Until recent heavy winds were starting to blow it down. We were excited to see the panels on Sale in the Sunday paper. We got to Lowe's and picked up the posts, screws, concrete, and headed to the counter. Only to find out that the panels were already sold out. So at that point, we let out a big exhale of disappointment and paid full price.

E just never ceases to amaze me with all of his talents. (He also disposed of a dead possum).

Demolition:

After:

You'll notice that huge pile of leaves at the bottom of our pool in the 'before' pictures is gone in the 'after' pictures. I wasn't a complete bum while E did all of the hard work! That lovely green color will be blue soon.

It's raining/sleeting/snowing outside today, for the second time this week. My boss kicked me out of work early, so that was nice. But it took me an hour and a half to get home.

I decided to make some chili and I sliced my finger. So I decided to have a beer too. Now eliot is going stir crazy. He wants to go outside, but as soon as I open the door, he sniffs at the cold air and turns back around.

Crazy Cat!

My first presentation for my research class was supposed to be tonight. Class has been cancelled already, so I get to put it off another week. I do have 3 more cases to research and write. Today is looking like a good opportunity to get started.

We made it home from our trip to Glen Rose just before the big thunderstorm. We all enjoyed a beautiful day, doing lots of fun things:

Painting the Gate

(these are not paid day laborers)

Driving the Tractor

Drilling in the Dirt

Working on Lasso skills

And we wrapped it up with a nice family dinner, Hot Dogs and Chips.

The kids were wiped out on the way home!

By the way, the new appliances are in and working beautifully, thanks to my Super Husband!

An interesting story I heard regarding a new child development program:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=76838288