Friday, October 28, 2011

Cool and Monitored Days

It is a beautiful morning here on the prairie.  The wind is blowing from the north, it is overcast and the temps are hovering in the 50's.  I'm waiting for a furniture delivery and for a grill to be delivered later on in the afternoon.  I think we are at a stopping point on furnishing and little extras.  We need to take a rest, save some more dollars and then start again.  I'm still looking for a cabinet or some other piece of furniture to use as nightstands.  I've seen a few things online, but wasn't too sure of the color or we felt it was just a little too pricey.  We still need a trundle mattress and a few other comforts of home for the casita bedroom.  On Thursday the two bookcases we ordered for Roy's office were delivered.  They are beautiful and the fragrance of Amish wood fills the room.  Last night Roy moved a few things around in his study and he unloaded the last of the boxes because the books now had someplace to go.  Things are shaping up nicely. 

We flipped between the World Series and the U of H/Rice game on TV last night.  What an exciting baseball game.  We turned it off tied in the 9th and went to sleep but when I woke up in the night I got on FB to see who had won.  I like both teams but think the sway of loyalty leans towards the Cardinals.  My grandfather loved the Cardinals and I spent many a Saturday rooting them on to victory with him.  They were my first love in baseball. 

I'm wearing a wire, so don't say anything around me that you don't want recorded.  OK, it isn't that kind of deal, but I am wearing a heart monitor for the next month.  My appointment with the cardiologist was extensive and time intensive.  I was poked and prodded by several doctors and my heart was listened to and analyzed.  Had an echo cardiogram and this one was different because not only did they do the heart thing, but also the top of my stomach.  Never had that done before.  So this heart monitor thing...seems like it could be a lot more advanced.  I'm hooked up and when I have a heart episode, I push the record button.  Then at some point I call in and by using a phone, they get the reading.  Yesterday I kind of had button record fright.  The one time I had a really lightheaded moment I couldn't get to the recorder in time because I was driving and I pushed the send button instead of record.  I thought for sure with the ups and downs of the game last night, surely I would have something to send.  This morning I had an episode, got to the button and was able to record it.  So, now I just need to call it in.  I didn't get as good of report as I would have liked and everything indicated that I have a few more issues than at my last check up.  The Dr has a plan but I know God knows the plans for my life.  I put my hope and my trust in Him. 

Blood work was in order on Wednesday afternoon and I found the Lab Corp on Grand Parkway. 
Easy to get to and a really nice medical building.  The parking lot was jammed packed.  Me thinks that medical buildings are like restaurants in Katy, not enough for the growing population. 

I had to leave Bible study early yesterday because Scott and his assistant were close by in the area to deliver the bookcases.  It is probably good I left early because I was extremely exhausted and fatigued.  I spent the rest of the afternoon with my feet elevated.  Got in a lot of reading and some Buddy in my lap time.  Buddy is getting quite adventuresome with interest in the garage.  She actually got into the garage yesterday and thankfully the garage door was closed.  With the house door slamming behind her, she got a little skittish and wanted back into the house right away.  She's also showing more interest in the front door and what lies beyond.  Oh goody, she said sarcastically. 

Sadly, there are some other things happening in life that I don't feel should be shared to all the world.  But if you think of my mom while you are praying, you would not waste a prayer on her. 



Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Random Thoughts, Volume 14

Autumn is my very favorite time of year and living where there isn't much fall doesn't diminish my fallish feelings.  One just needs to get creative in creating a short if almost nonexistent season around here.  Not being the type that goes overboard on decorating for the seasons, I do have a couple of mums, gourds, and fake fall foliage in and around the house. 

Last week we did experience the miracle of cooler temps.  In fact we sat around the outdoor fireplace a couple of times.  Friday, Dena came out in the afternoon.  We had lunch and then hit a couple of the cute little shops around here.  Since she hadn't seen Brookwood in a while, we made a stop out there.  Came back home for a bit and Roy suggested we try Dekker's Grill in Fulshear.  We got there a little before 6 and the wait was 35 minutes.  It was worth the wait and honestly the weight (gain) since the menu is a cornucopia of comfort food.  I know Roy would love a return trip and we'll have to go all senior citizen and go around 5:00.  We're hungry but not proud people.  Before going to Dekker's, we called Peggy to see if they would like to meet us there.  Wasn't going to work out but we'd check in later.  Peggy came over later, then Bill and his antiquing buddy.  Bill offered to give us a late night shopping experience at K T Antiques.  What a great time we had, well except for Peggy jamming her middle finger on the door.  Bill is such a fount of knowledge when it comes to antiques.  He pointed out various items and talked about the history of each one.  Roy opted out of the shopping experience.  Dena and I got home around 10:30.  We had such a fun day. 

I was worn out and on Saturday morning, I opted out of the going out to breakfast experience.  Roy decided he would go to this place in old Katy and check out their breakfast.  I was happy for him to do that since  I imagined this place to be full of stale ciggie smoke and he mentions every time we pass the place he would like to try it.  Roy said breakfast was really good, especially the grits.  That man knows the way to my breakfast heart, grits.  I asked if they were as good as Biltmore grits...his reply, no one does grits like the Biltmore.  Selah...and amen! 

Peggy and I did toesdays that afternoon.  I didn't really keep up with caring for my feet like I usually do.  So the pedi girl had a whole lot of extra work to do.  I will do better because I don't want to be banned from the nail salon. 

Sunday morning on our drive going to church, Roy and I had an interesting discussion.  Actually it wasn't a discussion, it was more like Roy expressing some very relevant and deeply insightful thoughts.  I mentioned an article I had read about women's ministry.  The woman writing it was asking for less cupcake decorating seminars and the like.  She wanted more in depth conversations about scripture.  She mentioned in the article that sometimes women's ministry forgets that there is more to ministry than just to marrieds and mothers.  There are others to consider, single, single mothers, women who want children but can't have them, women in the workplace etc...  The author though most ministry went to the married and moms.  I mentioned to Roy that when Peggy and I have done our Spring Thing,  Salad Fling as Mildred and Gertrude, we get the most feedback.  So many women come up to us afterwards to tell us that they have never felt like they fit into women's ministry.  Back in the day, it was pretty exclusive...women's ministry.  Seemed like you had to have a look, a vocabulary and come across as "having it all together." Thank goodness we have come a long way from that.  Roy then said something very profound.  He talked about women in the work place and that more women are executives or are major players in company decisions.  He said women are more than admins and somehow the church hasn't caught up with that.  He added, it was more the men in charge at churches that didn't seem to realize how many women run the show in their areas of expertise.  Roy said, I feel for these women who are in high positions, there isn't any women's ministry for them.  He gave an example of a woman who was the CFO of a company and she was pressured to cook the books by the CEO.  She felt pressure from all sides, job and she was the bread winner for the family because her husband was unemployed.  That woman is now in prison.  He said that woman could have used something more than cooking or crafting or hearing from a speaker how to keep her husband happy.  There isn't enough space or time to tell y'all his thoughts and concerns.  I will tell you this, I have never been prouder of Roy than I was Sunday morning in the car.  He expressed an insight and forward motion that many in church work don't even  have vision for the difficult road ahead for women who are in positions of influence in business.  Also, by writing this I am in no way saying the women's ministry at our church is not good, it is.  Roy is in a unique place to see a void for an increasing and growing segment of women.  He is also married to a woman who really has no interest in learning to craft or cook.  If I happen to go to an event that involves these things or table decorating, it is only to see and have fun with friends.  I will mention I did cook dinner last night.  The move out here to the prairie has increased the frequency of meal preparation. 

Sunday at church was eventful.  A fire alarm went off and we all experienced a dismissal to lives of service, early.  It sounds like the whole fire drill preparation in the building went smoothly.  Uh, the parking lot was a whole other story.  We all seem to lose some of that holiness once our feet hit the pavement of the parking lot.  It was a stand still free for all.  Hopefully the powers that be will extend the preparation out to the parking lots for a more efficient and better exit plan. 

Tomorrow morning, I have to leave early for my appointment with the cardiologist.  I'm looking forward to getting some answers and a plan for further heart improvement.  They have been changing my meds and this last combination seems to have brought some relief from the extreme fatigue and low blood pressure I had been experiencing.  Like the Dr said, I'm facing an ever changing new kind of normal everyday. 

The rest of my Revelation homework is calling.  I also hear the faint call of laundry....we'll have to see about that. 

Friday, October 21, 2011

Friday Catch Up

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.  Construction on the house next door is finished and the young couple purchasing that house closes on it today.  No longer will our cul de sac be filled with various sizes of construction trucks.   The new adventure of having construction in our backyard began in earnest this week.  Almost every morning we are awakened by trucks making deliveries and at the dawn of first light, the hammering and sawing begin.  It might be awhile before sleeping in late with quiet will be an option.  I'm not complaining at all, it is just the noise of the season we find ourselves in.  Once the two story home that is being built behind us has sturdy enough stairs, we're going to go in it  and inspect to see how much one can see into our living room.  We may have to adjust the roman shades a little. 

Yesterday the maid came.  She called me later in the afternoon and told me never, ever to open the windows again while there is so much dust and construction in the air.  I told her I had cleaned up quite a bit of the dust and dirt that had blown in, but somehow I don't think she believed me.  It was so nice to come home to a clean house yesterday afternoon.  Last week Abel and the lawn guys didn't show up to cut the grass.  So, we didn't know if they would show up this week.  Ah, it was music to my ears to hear the sound of lawnmowers, weed eaters and leaf blowers filling the air yesterday afternoon. 

I am blown away by the study of Revelation in CBS.  The questions have been thought provoking and we have such a good core group, that discussion is lively, animated and dare I say it, deep.  Even our bunny trails were on subject and mattered. We studied Revelation 7 this past week, the pause between the opening of the 6th and 7th seal.  There is so much we don't understand, but those things that we kind of grasp are amazing and awesome.  The fact that God has so much going on in the throne room, yet He personally wipes the tears from the eyes of the martyred ones.  I hope my ADD doesn't make it with me in my glorified body in heaven.  My goodness, there will be so much to experience and take in.  The lesson was also empathic in letting us know we will all have jobs and work to do.  After Bible study Peggy, Kathleen and I went to lunch at Panera Bread.  That is a happening place.  I don't think I have ever been there when business was at a lull. 


Last night Roy and I had dinner at T Jin's.  It is located next to the HEB and a grocery run was in the plans for the evening.  I can't believe that I am going to say this, but their orange chicken is better than at Fu's Garden.  We picked up a couple of to go menus on our way out, one for home and one for Roy's car.  He passes by this place on his way home from work and can make the stop to pick up dinner.  I have actually fixed dinner most nights this week.  I've not branched out too much from basic stuff, but like Roy said last night, you don't hear him complaining. 

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Fall Has Arrived!

Fall is blowing in and in a big way this morning.  The wind is gusting from the North.  I have gone out a couple of times to pick up trash that has blown about from our tumped over containers.  The trash service just came by and picked up the recycle bin stuff.  That will help.


Yesterday I went to the land of sugar to meet Lisa P for lunch.  Before meeting her I stopped at the bike shop that I had visited and went all old lady in last week.  I was very thankful that I felt much better yesterday than I did last Monday and because of that was able to stay on task and not drift in and out of senior adulthood.  I decided on the purple bike and had them add a couple of extras.  While they were doing that, I met Lisa at Post Oak Grill.  We sat outside and had water side seats.  Lovely.  We got caught up on everything that is going on in our lives especially hers, with so many big changes.  I returned to the bike shop after lunch and everything was installed and the bike was good to go. 


Last night Roy and I took a ride around the neighborhood and on some of the trails to test it out.  I have not ridden a girl bike in a long time and it took some getting used to.  But, I feel like I do much better on this bike.  Love sitting upright and the handlebars and seat have shock absorbers built in.  All I need is some spiffy little bike bell or horn.  I did have a small bag put on the back of the seat to hold keys and the like.  Since the bike is purple and we seem to be all things LSU these days, think I will name the bike Tiger.  




Sunday evening I met Dena for dinner at Escalente's.  Their table side guacamole is just about the best around.  She has been traveling and has been so busy, I was glad we could have dinner and get caught up on things.  After eating we went over to Barnes and Noble.  What a pleasant way to end a Sunday. 

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Friday Recap on Saturday Afternoon

We are experiencing a wonderfully, cool morning out here on the prarirre.  The timing couln't be better for our little street because every house on our block is either occupied, finished or only has inside work to be done.  Now moved to another block, another street, another home; concrete trucks, brickers, landscapers, and the like.  Last night when we pulled onto our street it had a very different feel to it.  Ah, home. 

I ain't gonna lie but these past two weeks have been some of the most difficult ones in recent days.  It seemed my health took a nose dive in so many ways.  I have been fighting off different infections and my immune system is weakened.  Low blood pressure and a heart wanting to pump to the beat of a different drummer has left me quite exhausted.  No stamina, low strength and no appetite.  Now that is kind of a blessing in disguise, the no appetite thing but it plays into the no stamina.  To be honest, there is a situation lurking in the shadows that brings a whole lot of stress.  We don't have to deal with it daily but we never know when the phone call comes if it sets off a downward spiral of circumstances.  It takes so much energy to deal with this person.  Not only energy and patience, but they will bring up a long ago,a  perceived slight or hurt that one hasn't thought about since they were 6.  Well no one except maybe the stressor.  The past couple of days I have begun to feel better and that is a welcomed return.  Of course that happens when one has a few tests run on them and a DR appointment that will go through some options available.  More importantly it is asking the Great Physician to step in and take control. 

Only have one more delivery of furniture and I think we are about done for a while.  This week Crate and Barrel delivered the Bedford chest and today the last shade was hung in the living room.  Next week Pottery Barn will deliver the small couch for our bedroom.  Of course I am keeping my eyes open for a splash of red for the living room.  I may have found what I am looking for but will keep my options open. 

We founds some vintage/retro amber glass lamps for the living room.  They look great and they are lamps I normally wouldn't look at twice but I'm asking for eyes and spirit to see things a new.  We assembled them and pronounced them good looking in the living room.

The above was Friday and now it is Saturday afternoon.  What a beautiful day!  Roy and I went out to breakfast and then he went into Houston for a costume fitting, a haircut and a Costco run.  I came home and looked up the directions to take the back way to Brookwood.  What a beautiful and relaxing drive.  I only went to Brookwood for a couple of plants and I came home with so much more.  How does that happen?  I can't believe how much the store has expanded and all the wonderful treasures they have. 

On the way home I was listening to Sirius XM radio, Enlighten.  Heard a moving story about hope and experiencing God in the tough times.  It was very encouraging.  There is no rhyme nor reason for the cyclical aspect of the ups and downs of my strength strangling days.  It can be so frustrating at times.   Two weeks of absolute pain and weakness and now into day 2 of actually feeling good.  Don't know but I have determined on the days I feel good, I am going to go and enjoy life and not try to save up lots and lots of energy for the really difficult times.  A little manna gone bad, ey Nancy? 

We are so hoping that tonight it cools off enough to sit around the fireplace outdoors. 

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

I'm Ready for My SAS Shoes Mr. DeMille


It happened yesterday, it took over like a plague, I knew what I was doing...yet I just couldn't stop. I remember my grandmother doing the same thing at the grocery store. She'd be having a perfectly normal conversation with a store clerk and before you could diagram it in a sentence, she'd go off subject and begin giving details that didn't interest anyone. No One! She had to see those faces turning indifferent. The glazed look overcoming everyone's face. Probably the look you have on your face right now because I haven't moved on with the subject matter. After my own personal incident I should have Googled SAS shoes and then Google comfort clothing. No, Googling would be way too cool, I should have asked that nice tattooed man in the bike shop for directions to such places in the land of sugar. That would have been completion.

My hair appointment needed to be rescheduled so I was in the land of sugar early yesterday. How ironic that I have my old lady incident right after being in one of the coolest salons ever. In fact, they were holding a training class with their staff and the coolness factor had gone to the tenth power because of the instructors from other salons leading them in the latest techniques in color. So you know the vibe was on. After my haircut, I went to the new Nord Rack that just opened and as I was leaving the Rack, I saw the bike shop my friend Kathleen had told me about. So, I stopped. The "young man" who assisted me was pleasant, but he didn't have need of any conversation, other than relating to the particular bike we were looking at. Sitting upon that bike, in that shop, making everyone nervous due to the lack of balance on my part, childhood memories rushed in and instead of keeping them to myself, I did it...I began telling them. Truthfully, I must tell you that I don't have very many good childhood memories and when a good memory happens, it surprises me. You see, I began telling this backward cap wearing, tats up the arms showing, long haired nice looking rugged outdoorsman about my first bike. My first bike was a three speed bike, but back then they were called English racers. I was in kindergarten when I was given this black, prim, proper and way too big of bike. So as I learned to ride a bike and did so on an adult sized bike. There are so many metaphors of life in that last sentence for me. So when I rode my bike I could either stand up and pedal or sit on the seat and coast. The bike in the shop was a Raleigh; my first bike was a Raleigh. No one cares....they just want to sell me a new bike without a lot of storytelling...yet I continued on telling the young man more details about that first bike. Thankfully I stopped before going on into the wooden blocks on the pedals story. I am blaming me being a chatter box old person yesterday because my body was behaving like an old person. I was racing on borrowed time and knew getting home quickly to rest was really the priority. The assurance that I was coming back with my husband to look at the bike assuaged all his fears of being trapped with an old person again...

I got to practice stealth reconnaissance this morning. Sitting here in the office working on this post and I see a parade of workmen with wheel barrels and shovels marching through our back yard. My mission, should I decided to accept it was to get back to our bedroom without being seen. Good thing I had on my stealth jammies.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Youse Get to Behooving

Patty and I have had interesting conversations throughout the years we have known one another.  One conversation in particular had to do with her choice of college.  She told me she hadn't planned on attending where she went and I asked her, so what made you change your mind.  She said my uncle came to me one day, took me on a walk and told me it would behoove me to attended the family's beloved Alma mater.  I must have had a strange expression on my face because she added, when an Italian man expresses, it would behoove you...you get to behooving.  That was my friend Patty.  We played some pretty tough tennis together but we always had the most laughs along the way.  Roy and I loved it when we were invited over to her home for homemade Italian dinners and her parties were legendary.  There are so many times of conversation that would be stopped with the serious warning, so serious, she would be pointing her finger at me and say, what I'm about to tell you, you take it to your grave.  I'd protest, I didn't want to know anything or have knowledge of anything that I might need to take to my grave.  One time she invited me to this fancy schmancy fund raising gala.  She picked me up in her silver drop top Mercedes.  She handed me some sunglasses that looked like they might have been owned by Jackie O and a long black thin see through scarf.  She told me to put on the sunglasses, even though it was night, and wrap the scarf about my head and have it drape off my shoulder.  She told me with those two items, I would fit in much better in the gala than without them.  She was right. 

My friend Patty died Saturday after battling mesothelioma cancer for several years.  At one point we all thought she had it beat, but it came back with a vengeance.  She began looking to get into experimental studies and never gave up hope.

Patricia Elaine Calamari

Date of Birth:

Monday, February 13th, 1961

Date of Death:

Saturday, October 8th, 2011                           

Obituary:

Calamari, Patricia Elaine of Houston, TX formerly of Glen Head, NY on October 8, 2011. Loving mother of Ross and Patrick McLauchlan. Beloved daughter of Leonora and the late Raymond Calamari Sr. Dear sister of Kathleen Daly, Barbara Calamari, and Raymond Calamari. Also survived by many nieces and nephews. Visiting Wednesday 1 – 5 and 7 – 9 pm, Whitting Funeral Home 300 Glen Cove Ave., Glen Head, NY 11545. Funeral Mass Thursday 10:00 am, St. Mary’s R. C. Church, Roslyn, NY. Interment Locust Valley Cemetery, Locust Valley, NY.

Although we only ran into each other at the Play Grocery store from time to time since I quit playing tennis, I thought and prayed for her often, I will miss her. 

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Wanderings and Thoughts

This could be a good or bad thing, but Roy just left with a list and he's on his way to HEB via the cleaners and Lowe's.  He does great with a list but he loves to free lance and he brings home all kinds of surprises.  Unloading sacks today will prove quite interesting,  Roy has gone to the store because physically I am having a really bad week.  It has been a while since I have felt this bad.  My heart keeps going out of rhythm and when that happens my energy is totally zapped.  It hit me hard on Wednesday and today is the first day I've have felt like doing anything.  Only because the maid came on Thursday did I go to Bible study.  They gave the treasurer's report at the beginning of the lecture time.  I was asking God why did He hate me?  It was tough to endure that.  I was going to go straight home afterwards but Peggy and Kathleen persuaded me to go with them to Lupe's.  I only drank ice tea.  Didn't even eat a chip or salsa.  That is a very revealing look into how I am feeling.  Never, well hardly ever, pass up some good chips and salsa.  I came home and dropped into bed.  Friday wasn't much better.  That brings us to today.  We got up early and went out for breakfast and then picked up a couple of things at Target.  Didn't have it in me for the trifectta, HEB.  The oxygen levels in my blood are down a little.  It has been almost a year since my Chaka Khan procedure and I had forgotten how bad I feel when the ticker is racing and working too hard. 

On Thursday night I moved into the guest room to sleep.  I was restless and had a fever.  I learned a lot about Buddy's nocturnal wanderings.  She was all over the washer and dryer.  She rested for a bit in the mud room area of the laundry room.  I have never once seen her be interested in anything in the laundry room during the day, well other than her litter box.  I think she has to touch everything so it becomes hers.  She was not one bit happy that I had taken over the bed in the guest room.  She has claimed it as her very own.  I have to say, that guest room bed is one very comfortable rest. 

Since I have been resting and sleeping a lot, I have learned quite a few things from the  TV noise in the background.  The TV is rarely on during the day when I'm at home.  For a bit of time there I became like a loved one who frets over non existent health issues...a lot.  They have been in remission for over 10 years from cancer but yet every time they have a hangnail, flu, ear wax...anything on a much smaller scale, they jump to the conclusion, "my cancer's back."  Don't get me wrong, we are sympathetic but after several fiascoes, dramatics, and the like, when they announce "my cancer's back," we react pretty have to remain somewhat indifferent cause we used to jump right in to help and soon we found ourselves overwhelmed with unnecessary drama and some senior adult hi-jinks.  So all these commercials for treatment centers, medicine and the like are rotated non stop on the commercial circuit.  In a span of 48 hours I began to believe, yep, I have lymphoma.  No, no make that pancreatic cancer.  It could be the heartbreak of phriesis.  I need lunestra.  I be needing all the medicines they advertise on TV.  Finally, common sense got a hold of me, shook some sense back into me and then reminded me...do you know you are sounding like your loved one?  That got my attention. 

That's it for today.  Happy footbal weekend!  Rooting for LSU today and the Texans tomorrow. 

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

It's Beginning to Look Quite Autumnal

Last night the temps began cooling down early and I thought what a great time to do a trial run of our outdoor fireplace.  So after dinner we went outside, flipped the switch and all we heard was the clicking noise of electric ignition and no fire.  We left it on for longer than what you'd think it would take to light.  No go, so disappointed.  The fireplace people come out on Friday to take a look at it.  They called this afternoon asking about our non come on baby light my fireplace experience to better know how to fix the problem.

Half the workmen of the world will be at our house on Friday afternoon.  Drainage engineers checking on our side yard, lighting engineer to check into the dinning room light problem, fireplace, a landscaper looking into the dead grass of the side yard and several others of which I can't remember.  It is slowly but surely getting done.  David Weekley Homes has been wonderful on follow up.  Our builder Adam has been....dare I say it when I hardly ever do?   Amazing, amazing...that's how good he is at his job.  Amazing, amazing is what totally and awesome was to the 80's and 90's.  'Like' remains a constant to all generations as well as 'you know'  which is not to be confused with, ya know what I'm saying...

I am getting ready for the maid to come in the morning.  Think I have bought all the products on her list.  So now, it is just straightening up everything and moving a bag that has set in a chair for a couple of weeks so that she doesn't know it has been sitting there unattended and un-looked after for all this time. 

Dinner was delicious last night.  Oh my the homemade bread was a huge hit.  Now I have dough enough to make 4 more little loafs in the next two weeks.  Maybe I will try to go solo tomorrow afternoon after Bible study.  No, that's not a good idea, the house will be really clean.  Maybe a loaf shall be prepared over the weekend. 

I've been reading a book about Gone With the Wind.  The book goes into great detail all that it took to be published and how Margaret Mitchell did not deal well with fame nor public speaking.  I'm just about a third of being into the book and it has just now at the point where it is being released.  No wonder, other than for the obvious reasons, a first edition Gone With the Wind is worth so much.  Hardly any editing was done by the publisher on the first edition, trusting the author and her husband, PR guy for a railroad, had done an adequate job since everything in the process has been burdened with delays.  Interesting read and as true to form, I cannot remember the title and I don't want to walk across the house to look it up. 

Crate and Barrel delivers a chest next week and I called Pottery Barn checking on the couch ordered for our bedroom.  Eureka!  We can still be mad and one of us doesn't have to go that far to sleep on the couch.  Nope, neither one of us could sleep on this small settee.  PB had sent an email that they shipped on the 23 yet I haven't heard anything from the delivery company.  So I was checking on it, still in process of shipping and should be in our home around Oct 20. 

Today I made a stop at KT Antiques because I had seen some dried gourds there and now I have a bowl to arrange them in.  The gourds are beautiful.  I also picked up two pumpkin decorative pieces.  Oh the living room is looking quite autumnal. 

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Tremendous Tuesday

CourtneyS and Joesph came over this morning.  They arrived bearing gifts, house warming gifts.  I got a hands on in person cooking lesson from CourtneyS on making artisan bread.  A little dyslexic Titus 2 going on.  Oh my, the bread we (she) made is delicious!  In fact after they left I snuck a little sample.  With such delicious bread, supper must be prepared, so even now as I type hamburger is being defrosted for spaghetti. 

When our nieces would come and spend a week with us I would have a blast with them but would tell my brother,  I don't know how y'all do this day in and day out.  He reminded me that Roy and I had been dropped smack dab in the middle of things, he and Nancy had time to acclimate to the attention needed and pace required.  I was reminded of this again today.  Joesph was so good and he and I had a blast shooting our popper gun but my energy drained quickly.  I didn't even have enough to go grab some lunch with them.  Buddy is still napping.  Think she was undone by the fact there was someone small enough to reach her underneath the bed.  What a fun way to spend a morning with friends. 

This week's homework in CBS has been especially thought provoking which has morphed into a great thankfulness in the realization of what Christ has done for us.  Sometimes we hear the same words and phrases so much we give a deaf spiritual ear to them.  This week it is as if I have heard them anew. 

Last week when I made my stop in at Pottery Barn, I brought home a beautiful reddish clay vase.  In the display there at the store they had an arrangement of fall foliage that looked absolutely stunning.  Only thing, I wasn't willing to pay $45.00 a stem to have some fake leaves in a jar.  That is where our Saturday morning trip to Micheal's came in and I don't think we did that bad of a job.  When we got home Roy just put them in the vase and went about business.  They looked beautiful but price tags were still attached.  Finally this morning, since CourtneyS was coming over, I decided to trim off sale tags from the vase, the fake fall foliage and some pillows on the pew.  Some things just take time around here.  Things that should really bother me but don't.

Finally, I found the Bed, Bath and Beyond here in East SanAntonio.  It is in Katy Mill's Mall.  They had sent us a welcome to the neighborhood coupon which was 20% off everything.  Don't you know that I got a supply of Keirug coffee cups in for the winter.  Also found a valance for over the kitchen window that compliments the roman shades of the breakfast nook and living room. 

If you haven't "joined" Kings Lane, you should.  Oh my, there is so many pretty things to view.  I had even contemplated buying some furniture from them, but the shipping rates are way too high.  I've bought a few things for around the house from them.  Some of it came today.  There are so many of these type of things one can join and if one doesn't have any boundaries, one could go into the poorhouse furnishing and decorating the home. 

Guess I should go make dinner and bring in the trash cans.  Neither one of those two chores has anything to do with the other. 

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Consistency

Consistency is a difficult commodity to come by these days.  Our minds are bombarded with  different messages from the TV, podcasts, magazines, books, Nooks, Kindles and iPads.  Almost everyone has some kind of opinion on how to live life.  There are so many articles now about fall decorating and the trends both in furnishing a home and furnishing a wardrobe.  Are military jackets in again this winter?  Is gray still the rage in wall treatments?  When did we trade in perfectly good words like material, drapes, floor, accent furniture and such to describe what's happening in the decorating scene, which the career formally known as decorator is now being re purposed with the title of designer.  When I was right out of college I went to a church where the pastor  referred to sidewalks and parking lots as artificial Terra ferma.  If he were still alive, he would fit in the vernacular of today's culture.  Sunday School has had yet another name change.  Within the last week our church's location is now referred to as The Loop location because we now have a downtown location...which is all fine and good, love that we are going back into the city, but the branding changes and the hope of those running the show is for us, the congregation, to pick up on the lingo and mimic what we hear without really giving it another thought.  Classic marketing, it works every time.  So glad we have some of the best in the church world working at our church.  But it is going to take some time for everyone to refer to our church as the church at the loop, CATL or if 'the' isn't used, CAL. 

Wait, I didn't even intend to go into that subject.  I was writing about consistency.  And really, I was attempting to give a global view to the subject matter but in reality I'm really writing about consistency in bathroom fixtures.  In the post modern world we can find every kind of plumbing from the basic flush it yourself, turn on the water, pump some soap, get a paper towel from the familiar dispenser or use the air hand dryer of the 20th century to the 21st century version of human identification to get the necessary products for clean hands.  Toilet height is all over the place, even in the handicap bathrooms.  Last night at a very popular restaurant I found myself in the stall looking down, way down to the shortest toilet I have ever seen.  It should have belonged in a preschool area.  I will save you from any descriptive of this 6' woman with really, really bad knees trying to maneuver into some kind of position to take advantage of the opportunity.  I would have been better served just to use one of those troth like things they have in the bathrooms in the middle east.  There is no consistency on whether the thing is going to flush itself or if we have to do it the old fashioned way.  If a bathroom has one of those it will take care of things itself...why don't they make the whole system consistent with that theme and install faucets and soap dispensers that do the same thing.  Don't even get me started on the paper towel dispensers....do you just put your hand over a light?  Do you push a button to make the paper move?  Do you pull on a towel and the machine does the rest, do you turn a crank?  I cannot tell you how many times I have stood in front of a sink trying to get the water to run by passing my hands over the sensor just to find out you push that thing for water...  Same thing for soap, sometimes you put your hand under the spout and here comes the soap, sometimes you have to pump it and many times the soap dispensers are empty.  That gives me a wonderful feeling in eating establishments. 

No place is immune, schools, movie theatres,and malls. Even the bathrooms at church are all over the place.  Downstairs neccitariums have been updated with all the "everything takes care of itself" plumbing.  Second floor, you're in a time machine and you are transported back to the vintage sinks, toilets, and soap dispensers of the 70's.  Except now, the hot water has been turned off and there is only cold water to wash your hands.  Again, that wonderful feeling of cleanliness washes all over me.  I do miss the little stickers that used to be affixed to the second roll of toilet paper in the stalls.  It said, "Conserve tithe dollars, use other roll first."  I have yet to understand the logic of those instructions. 

None of this is of any informational value whatsoever.  It is just me venting about the state of our bathrooms, public bathrooms.  Some are frustrated by all the changes coming with Facebook.  Doesn't bother me, I will adjust or use Twitter more often.  I would like some unity of plumbing fixtures that's all.  Isn't that's what is all about at church especially?  Consistency in our daily walk with the Lord and when we need to take a respite break, couldn't the fixtures be unified as well?  Yep, the church at the loop; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 28 different styles of carpet throughout the building. 

Saturday, October 1, 2011

A Fine Morning and a LSU T-Shirt

Roy took the day off on Friday.  We planned to go into Houston, have breakfast, Roy getting a haircut and a trip to Costco.  None of that happened because of the reaction I had to the flu shot.  With Roy being home, I was able to go back to sleep and rest because the fear of the moment is workmen ringing the doorbell.  So daily I am up and dressed at the crack of dawn or at least by the crack of 8:00 am.  This morning we got up and went to the Black Walnut Cafe for breakfast.  BWC was much more crowded than when we went a couple of Saturdays ago.  Cool temps, yep the long awaited October, the break from triple digit heat had everyone rising and going this morning.  More joggers and bike riders than we have seen in a long time.  We were finishing up our delicious breakfast and Roy had gone back to the Coke machine where you're given choices of making all kinds of combo drinks.  He did Diet Coke with Rasberry.  It tasted like cough syrup to me.  Anyway, I was sitting there checking Twitter when someone says to me good morning and it's a beautiful day!  The gentleman speaking to me was wearing the coolest LSU game day shirt.  He went on talking to me explaining he just liked to talk and he was waiting on the rest of his family to arrive.  I began asking him about his t-shirt and just about then Roy returned and the two LSU alumni began talking football.  Before we left I went over to their table and asked him for the .com address for the t-shirt.  Got it!  Ordered up some t-shirts for Roy and me.  Even though I have cornered the market on t-shirts I believe one can never have enough cute and fun t-shirts.  Roy is lucky that I don't feel the same way about real jewelry. 

After all the rearranging of the garage last Saturday we came to the conclusion we needed to get rid of our small freezer that we had in the garage.  Our refrigerator has a huge freezer much bigger than the condos and we weren't using it.  So after our delicious breakfast and our quick trip to Target and the agonizing decisions on fall foliage in Michael's, we loaded up the freezer and took it over to Katy Christian Ministries along with a couple more things.  When we got home we rearranged the bikes and a few other things.  I think we can get Roy's car inside the garage on a more regular basis.  It was only fair that we stop at the Tractor Store on our way home since Roy had so patiently bore with me at Michael's.  Really, like I know what I'm doing arranging stems of fall foliage for the urn I got at Pottery Barn. 

Tonight we had dinner with Bill and Peggy.  We had such fun and ate way too much. 

I told Roy when he got home from working out that I had ordered t-shirts and then I told him about this one:

Imagine A World Without Alabama

Guess I will be ordering one more t-shirt for him.  He loves it!