New ride...2nd pic

Our new ride....

Well, we finally did it. We bought our first new car together. I have to tell you it was a little scary!!! It is a 2006 Saturn Vue. We absolutely love it!!

This falls under the "I don't believe it " category. I was driving home from work today and an 18-wheeler threw a HUGE rock up and it hit my windshield and hood. I have a pretty big chip and crack in the windshield and 2 dents/dings on the hood. This was only the 2nd day to be driving this new car. I was sick!!

Did I do that...

he he he, snort, snort, snort (ala Steve Urkel).

Well, we'll have a surprise for you in a couple of days...Pictures to come...

Only in Texas

this one has to take the cake. This morning on the KLTY morning show, they were telling a story about a new website run by Texas PBS stations that featured longhorn cattle for people who have never seen barnyard animals/cattle. It even has a 24 hour webcam so people can watch the cows. It's called mootube.com, and I can't imagine being that bored. Only in Texas...

More heat, less heat...

Well, looks like we have a reprieve from the heat. It was 101 yesterday followed by a struggle to reach 80 today. Looks like we have two days of bad weather before the weekend which should keep the temps near normal (whatever that means)...

Heat Wave

Yesterday's high: 95
Today's high: 102
Tomorrow's high: 98

It's only April, I shudder to think what August will be like...

Life's little ironies

One of life's little ironies happened the other day. We had to get a storage unit since we downsized our apartment about 150 sq. ft. Since, I had to go to work, I sent Stacey to find a storage unit and she came back with a contract and got us a 5' X 10' unit across the street from our apt. Anyone who has known me for a long time knows that I am almost fanatical in my following of the Dallas Cowboys, but I stay aggravated at the Jones' running of the club and that includes the acquisition of Terrell Owens who stomped the Star at Texas Stadium.

At first, I thought nothing about it, but I went to the unit to drop some stuff off on Friday and noticed the place was called Blue Star Moving and Storage. Then, I went inside the office and noticed everything in there had the star of the Dallas Cowboys and there was high end Cowboys memorabilia in there. When I inquired about where did they get their stuff, the worker said that he didn't know because the owner gave it to them and that the owner was none other than Jerry Jones, owner of the Cowboys.

Long story made short, I guess I'll be paying T.O.'s salary whether I like it or not...

Drive Friendly - The Texas Way

As Stacey previously posted, looks like traffic patterns will have some control over our lives. There have been times which I could make it to and from work in a leisurely 30-35 minutes without any trouble, and then there have been two instances which came in at 50 minutes and one hour fifteen minutes.

Now, to be honest, I can easily tolerate the time, after all I was driving an hour ten minutes one way from Florence to Iuka, but the pace and the aggressiveness is another thing all together. I have to laugh at a sign that I see whenever we enter Texas, it says: "Welcome to Texas" and underneath the Texas flag, it has "Drive Friendly - The Texas Way". I still say that ought to be changed to a simple picture of what a friend of mine describes as the typical North Dallas kamikaze driver: a forty-something uppity redneck (think Ole Miss grad) driving his imported luxury car, talking on his cell phone, flipping off traffic while doing 80mph coming off the LBJ (I-635 for the non-locals).

Happy Easter Y'all!

GREETINGS FROM TEXAS!!!

Since it's my first post from Texas, I had to throw the obligatory "Y'all" in there. So, let's catch up, I survived the move, however hectic it was, and now I'm trying to get settled in. I just got my computer hooked up a couple of hours ago, so now I can start communicating with the outside world again. BTW, can we say H-O-T? Have mercy, it isn't even May and it hit 95 today with tomorrow expected to be 97-99. This ain't right!!!

For me, it's been one of the hardest Easter's to celebrate because I'm still in a whirlwind of trying to get settled in and accustomed to a new home and starting new routines. I have so much to be grateful for: a new job, a promotion, a new home, more opportunities to see Stacey, new places to go and things to do; that it stands to reason why the world forgets what the season is truly about. Yet, I am thankful for a God who takes care of me and let His Son die and rise again which is a better thing that all those things mentioned above.

As for the whirlwind, it has been a busy week. First, we got here and then our relocation group botched our temporary housing reservations which meant we slept on an air mattress in an empty apt. Thankfully, our stuff arrived last Sunday morning a day after the mix-up. Monday, I started my new job. On Wednesday, probably the best thing was that I had my washer and dryer hooked up and did not have to resort to recycling any clothes. On the same day, I had my Direct TV hooked up and now can watch TV with the exception of Fox Sports South or FSN-Detroit, so I'm in a pickle not having SEC baseball or Red Wings or Predators hockey right now. Stacey made it up here on Thursday evening and her family made it here on Friday around lunchtime. We were able to unpack the kitchen and the living room, now it's on to sorting and straightening. We're about 70% unpacked at this time with plenty of runs to the storage unit.

As for work, after going 4 days without a computer, I finally have one. Fortunately, it was a short week due to the holiday. The job is fun, but going to be a challenge since I am no longer doing composites, which I have done for the past 10 years. Next week should be interesting with more opportunities to get thrown into the fire.

More to come...

General Update

Our movers delivered our belongings on Sunday morning. They couldn't believe it when we told them we were going to a SMALLER apartment. They said, "Two words....storage unit!!" And that we did! I went yesterday and rented a 5' x 10' unit. We have too much stuff!! Our living room is so small that we can't even have our coffee table or one of our end tables. I have a 5' by 8' rug and when i put it down, it barely fit and it covers the whole living room!!!

We're starting to get things in order. My mom and sister are coming this weekend to help us try to finish it up.

Stephen's first day at work was yesterday. He left at 7:15 with having to be there by 8. Well, it took him 1 hr. 15 min. to get there!!! However, when he left at 7 this morning, he made it in 30 minutes. Traffic patterns will rule our lives!!

I had my interview yesterday. I'm not sure how it went, she wouldn't tell me anything. I didn't come out with a real good feeling, but we'll see. I still have my job at Alto and we are willing for me to commute on the weekends if I have to. We definitely both have to work with living up there. It is very expensive. But so far we love it up there. We have everything you could possibly want or need within 5 minutes from our apartment. I already found out that I didn't get the first job that I interviewed for in Frisco. So we'll see.

We'll keep you posted.

Kids Eat Free.....

Ok, so Sunday night Stephen and I are hungry so we decide to go out to eat. Lots of choices...I wouldn't have to cook for at least 2 months if we wanted to try a different place every night (which we won't!!!). So, we're in Texas now so we decided to find some good Texas BBQ. We decided to go to Dickey's which is REALLY good!! The one closest to us closed at 6 so we decided to go to Flower Mound...only about 10 minutes from home. We get there and there are children EVERYWHERE! and I do mean EVERYWHERE!!! There is literally even one hanging off of me!! ( and you think I'm kidding!) No, this child is literally hanging on to my rear end!!! The mother is totally embarrassed at this point, but I'm used to it! I'm a teacher!! Anyway, we got our food and sat down. We realized something peculiar....we are the ONLY people there without children. Kids screaming, food and napkins on the floor. If you didn't know any better, it would be like at Roadhouse with the peanut shells all over the place, except in this case it would be rolls, beans, and some other unidentifiable items.

THEN........................................ it all came clear to me. There was a sign on the table. Yep, you guessed it....Kids Eat Free Sunday and Wednesday nights....................enough said.................

Well, needless to say, Dickey's is off the list for a while, especially on Wednesdays and Sundays....

Update...

Today was Stephen's official last day at ATK. Tomorrow he will wrap up things in Florence and watch in his rear view mirror as he leaves for good. There are a few things that we will miss there...our church for one. Highland Baptist Church was our life line there. We will also really miss our duplex, with lots of room for really cheap!! It will definitely not be like that where we're moving to!!

We will also really miss being so close to his mom and dad. I got really sad just thinking about leaving them. They were so very excited when we moved to Alabama. Now my parents are really excited that we will live in Texas. If I had it my way, my whole family and Stephen's whole family would just all live in the same town. We can't have it that way I guess.

Stephen starts his new job on Monday. I have my interview on Monday. Please keep us in your prayers.

Our packers came on Wednesday and picked up today. They will deliver our "STUFF" on Sunday. Just in time for Stephen to start work.

We'll keep you posted.