Newsy stuff … stream of consciousness
I’m going to look at a car today. One of my friends’ dad has a charity that was donated a car, and since I have no means to buy a new (or even used) car … they’re going to let me work with it and work with me on the payments. Pray it works out because I really need something that runs well by June 1st, when school starts!
So, I’m babysitting the little girl I watch in the mornings right now. She’s watching Blue’s Clues, and my kids and Jay are sleeping. After I see her off on the school bus, Jay and the kids and I are going to get ready and go into Austin together, where I’ll drop Jay off at work (he gets to go in late today) and take his car to putt around town for the day and go look at the car I hope I’m getting this afternoon. I’ve been wanting to spend a day in Austin with the kids forever, but I just haven’t had the opportunity or the means in a long time. Not that I really have the means now … so we’re going to be mostly going free places like the library, which I hear is great, and maybe Zilker park. I don’t even know what all Austin has for kids these days … guess I need to do a web search and refresh myself.
Yesterday was Easter, and I was sad. Jay was sick and it was storming and his tires are bald … so we didn’t go anywhere. We’re looking for a new church, so it felt awkward anyway. I hate this church-shopping process. It feels like the long slog of dating, which was not fun for me. I am a “means-to-an-end” person, so I just want to hurry up and get to the point. I’m desperately missing being connected with a church family. It’s so depressing. I have heard many people say we have no good non-denominational churches in our area. It’s tempting to try to get together with some people and start one ourselves … but that concept scares me. I don’t know the first thing about (being part of) running a church, but I am keenly aware that God holds people like that to a very high standard. Not that it’s a bad thing … I guess I always dread the thought of inviting testing by fire! Gosh, that last statement is very telling. I guess I just already feel like we’ve had a really hard time for a long time. Not that anything major has been wrong … just financial woes and health stuff for me. We have so many blessings, though, more than I can count.
Now “Franklin” is coming on, and A. (my charge) is reading a book. I’ll have to go outside to wait for her bus soon. I only have to do this for a couple more weeks, I keep telling myself. I really hate getting up at 6:30 am, especially when my kids sleep as late as 8:30. Sometimes after she gets on the school bus, I go back to sleep. Usually to be awakened by, “MAMA? I SAID CAN I HAVE POPTARTS?!?”
I got a great haircut this week. Way more than I usually pay at Great Clips … but way worth it. I wanted to get a good cut for my niece’s wedding, which we leave for on 4/29. A week before that is my 31st birthday. I’ve come not to really expect much of birthdays anymore, even though they mean a lot to me. Bummer. Why can’t adults have fun birthdays too? 
Well … gotta go “catch” the bus … have a great day!
What do you mean it’s only Tuesday?
Between my work, daily chores and our auto and financial issues, I feel like this has been a long week already. Especially yesterday …
The phone rang at 6:47 am. I thought to myself ’someone must be dead.’ Thankfully not, but Jay was in a precarious position. His car had broken down right at the I-35 upper/lower deck split in Austin. It’s the alternator. He wasn’t even able to make it all the way off onto the shoulder. His battery was dead, so he couldn’t put on his hazard lights. He had people angrily whizzing around him and honking (seriously, people, who stops on the interstate just for the heck of it?). Incidentally, Jay now admits that Austin drivers are RUDE. I’ve been saying that ever since my short-lived career at the Statesman. But, I digress.
He called 911 and a nice police officer pushed him off the nearest exit, onto a side street. In the meanwhile, I was buying a new battery (he was hoping it would provide enough power for us to get home without calling a tow truck), collecting his tools, and driving to Austin. Got there and stood around while he unsuccessfully tried to get the new battery in. His car was parked right next to the Austin Chronicle building on 40th. I watched as a parade of smartly-dressed hipsters entered the building. One guy arrived to work on his skateboard. Only Austin! Digressing again, sorry.
Apparently the wires that connect the battery to the car were too short. So we made the long drive back home in my van, leaving the car stranded there. Jay and his dad went and fetched the car later, driving it very slowly to his dad’s neighbor, who is a mechanic. Hopefully he can hook us up with a good rate. God bless him, he didn’t get home until after 5 yesterday afternoon. I’m sure he slept well last night.
The monkey wrench in this whole car saga: we are waiting on a late check from my work, and we were broke. This after unexpected medical bills and the other car getting new brakes (among other things) just a week or so ago.
But you know what? We’re the happiest we’ve been in I can’t remember how long. We are really getting plugged into our church, and we absolutely love it. The messages are so applicable to our lives (and timely), the people are so friendly … and I just feel like really good things are coming. And from a bigger perspective, what do minor things like car and money problems matter, anyway? Thank God that we are all relatively healthy. My house can burn down tomorrow, but if we’re all safe and healthy, I won’t shed a tear.
Trail of Lights
Yesterday turned out to be fairly mild, so Jay and I decided to make our annual visit to Austin’s Trail of Lights, a 1-mile trek around Zilker Park lined with impressive Christmas light displays. Some scenes are animated and some contain music. There’s also a performance stage and lots of food and drink vendors (bring cash!). The trail is free, but parking is $10.
If you’re taking your kids to the trail with you, I would highly suggest bringing a stroller or wagon. Or better yet, a backpack so your child can be hoisted above the crowd. This last year, we sold our double-stroller, so all we had was an umbrella stroller for my 2-year-old to sit in. So, my 4-year-old had to walk. He was pretty tired by the end, even after taking turns in the stroller.
Anyway, my kids seemed to enjoy themselves, although they didn’t really say much about it. I was expecting more oooh’s and aaah’s.
Baking in Birmingham
My parents are having a very unusual summer in Birmingham, AL. They’re in the midst of a serious drought and have had many days of temps at 100 degrees or more. My mom says it’s the hottest, driest summer she can remember.
What really stinks is the fact that my parents are trying to sell their house (my childhood home) and have recently landscaped the yard to add to the curb appeal. My parents are afraid the continuing drought/high temps are going to kill off the plants they just planted.
It’s funny … it’s like Birminham and Austin, TX have switched places – the rainfall and temps we’ve had this summer is more like they would normally have, and vice-versa.
Keep Austin Weird
Earlier today, I looked up the “Keep Austin Weird” slogan to see its origins, and found several other Texas-town slogans that were funny (well, if you’re a local) – including, “Keep Round Rock Mildly Unusual” “Keep Lubbock Flat” and “Keep Dallas Pretentious.”
I’ve also heard “Keep Georgetown Normal” which translates, “Keep Georgetown Boring.”
Reasons Texas is growing on me
- Breakfast tacos. I’m eating a potato, egg and bacon one right now. Yummy.
- The lack of a cold winter. I have to call my TN friends during the winter and gloat that we’re in the 50s when they’re below freezing.
- This is where Dr Pepper is from! (That should have been first on the list.)
- Austin. You gotta love it. The live music, the near-constant festivals, the nice parks, the non-ghetto downtown … and all the funny little quirks that makes Austin “weird.” (Leslie, anyone?)
- Kolaches.
- Texas sunsets.
- No sales tax on groceries. Hey, every little bit helps.
- The facts that spring starts in February. When Jay told me about that for the first time, I thought he was kidding.
- Bluebonnets and wildflowers.
Home again
Well, we’re back home, after a very, very long day yesterday.
If you’re just tuning in, I was visiting my family in east Tennessee. We were staying with my sister and family, and my mom and dad came up from B’ham to visit with us, as well. Night before last, they threw me a birthday party, complete with chocolate/raspberry cake (my favorite!!). It was very sweet.
Anyway, yesterday morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, packed everything into my sister’s van and headed for Nashville. The plan was to spend some time visiting with my sister-in-law and our newly-married friends before catching our plane back to Texas a few hours later.
The visit with Tracy, my about-to-burst-pregnant sister-in-law, went well. But, for some reason, when we went to check out our friends’ new place, Mikaela just had a meltdown. I believe it was the worst she’s ever had. She was mad at me because I wanted her to sit still and watch Shrek and not wreak havoc in their very nice, new house. This indignity, combined with the lack of a good nap (and possibly hunger) was just too much, apparently because she felt the need to scream for about 20 minutes. It was one of those fits that makes you look like a total loser of a parent, because there was really nothing I could do to make her happy or to stop the screaming (short of giving in and letting her “explore” in the non-Mikaela-proofed house). Hopefully we haven’t convinced our friends not to have kids!
We said our goodbyes to our friends and our sister-in-law and got on the plane in Nashville (we walked right past Reba McIntyre in the Nasville Airport, by the way), where Mikaela started to have another meltdown. It lasted most of the flight, until she finally stopped fighting her sleepiness and konked out. I tried snacks and stickers and stuffed animals, to no avail. I felt extremely helpless and fairly mortified. We are now officially “those people with the bratty kid.”
I arrived in San Antonio at about 8:40, bedraggled and exhausted. I was so glad to see Jay. We drove home and got in around 11:30 pm, and the kids and I had a very good night’s sleep. Mikaela is being an angel today. Just a couple of minutes ago, while I was typing, she walked up and kissed and then patted me on the leg.
Nice surprise when I walked in the door from our trip last night: Jay had me a birthday cake and present waiting for me (yesterday was my birthday). He actually lit my “29″ candle and sang to me. Great end to a fairly frustrating day.
Weekend
Friday night the family went to Lowe’s. When we reached the cash register, I happened to look up and see a bat flying around the store (a frequent occurence here in Austin). I freaked out and told Jay to hurry up so we could get out before it swooped down to suck our blood. Mikaela looked up at the thing to see what we were talking about and said, “Buh-fy!” (butterfly). Yeah, butterfly with large teeth!
We went to Georgetown to see Jay’s sister and pick up her unused hammock last night. I’m so excited … I’ve always wanted a hammock, and this is the first place we’ve lived where we actually have room for one outside. Too bad it’s rainy today, because I’d love to be out there in it.
Last night, Jay’s sister and her 12-year-old son came over for dinner, and afterward, we went to a local play center filled with inflatable toys – moon bounces, mazes, tall slides and the like. We’ve been several times lately, and the kids really have a blast. Mikaela amazes me going down the tall slides head-first. One thing she’s recently figured out: she doesn’t have to do all the work of climbing the steps up to the tall slide – people will do it for her. If there is an adult nearby when she’s about to climb the slide’s steps, Mikaela will hold up her hands and say “help you!” (which means, ‘pick me up!’) She always puts on her most pitiful face when she’s doing it. The adult invariably looks around to see whose child this is, then carries her on up. I am close by, but I’d prefer that Mikaela just do it herself – I like to foster independence in my kids, and so far it’s worked really well. Until my manipulative little daughter decided she’d found a way to get someone else to do the legwork so she could have fun. It’s funny, but kind of scary, though – Mikaela is the kind of child who would walk off with a stranger. I have to keep an eagle eye on her.
This morning, Jay and I got up and taught Sunday School. We’re currently subbing for a friend who recently had knee surgery. Our class is older 3’s and younger 4’s. We only had 13 kids last week, but this week, we had 18. Shew, that’s a lot of young kids. Really, most of them were angels, but there were a couple that kept disrupting worship and story time. One kid in particular was a handful. Jay told him to get out of the wooden sink, and he didn’t and wound up getting stuck (Jay got him out). Later, during storytime, the same child was “shooting” Jay with his pretend gun – ‘pow! pow! pow!’ Another child said “you tooted!” to Jay during story time (he hadn’t). Jay kept a really straight face and said, “that’s not appropriate.” I probably would have laughed. I guess that’s why I’m not a teacher … I’m not serious enough.
Jumping through hoops
Well, my quest to get a new license – a Texas license at that – is underway.
I’ve lived in TX for two years now but still have my old Tennessee license – I never got it changed over. You’re supposed to do so within 30 days of arriving in the state. Well, I never got around to it. And now? I’ve lost the TN license and I’m up the creek.
So, I have to get ahold of a certified copy of my birth certificate (it’s in the mail en route to me as I type), my social security card, and my marriage license. They’ll still probably hassle me about losing my old license and may require me to take a new driver’s test. (Good grief, don’t make me parallel park or I’ll fail.)
That’s not all though. Before I can go to get the license, I first have to get the title to the minivan (we traded vehicles with Jay’s parents) in our name, get it inspected, get new tags for it, get my OTHER car inspected, and get new TX tags for it. Yep, that’s right – I have to get all of my vehicles’ tags up to date before I can apply for the license. The total bill for all that will be in the hundreds, I’m sure. Grrrr.
The cherry on top? I get to go stand in line at the DMV with my kids! That should be LOADS of fun. Like poking myself in the eye with a pencil.
The moral? Don’t procrastinate about stuff like this or it will come back to bite you in the butt.
What’s that, up in the sky?
It’ s pouring down rain here. We never get just a shower here, it seems – it’s either drought or flood. We had some good storms here tonight, but nothing too bad. I was kinda hoping for at least a severe thunderstorm … oh, well – spring is still young.
Well, Tuesday will make two weeks since my interview and still no word. That can’t be good. I must not be as charming and witty in person as I think I am.
After a full week on this Kimkins diet, I’ve lost 16 pounds. I can already tell a difference in the way my clothes fit. How’s that for fast?!? I joined a gym today, so hopefully, I’ll maintain the quick loss. I know it will slow down some, but I’m determined to finally get rid of this “baby” weight.
I went out to a movie Friday night with one of my girlfriends. That was the first movie I’ve seen in a theater since The Terminal with Tom Hanks (I think that was 2003?) Needless to say, I don’t get out to the movies much! Anyway, my friend and I went to see Music and Lyrics, which was pretty cute. The whole thing was especially worth seeing for the hilarious cheesy-80s-band love ballad video at the start of the movie. What a riot.
Let’s see .. .what else? Oh, Mikaela made me laugh out loud the other day. I was changing her diaper, when she looked over and said very clearly, “Oh my gosh! I pooped!”
Saturday morning we had a pretty successful yard sale – we made $361 and gained a lot of storage space from selling some large items. Note to self: learn how to speak enough Spanish to communicate prices before next yard sale!
Mending
My kids are a bit better today, thank goodness.
Today is GORGEOUS - it’s warm and the trees are in bloom. This afternoon while the kids napped, I sat out on the back porch and blew bubbles with a friend. Yes, I’m five. I forgot how fun bubble blowing was. It’s very therapeutic. You should try it.
Speaking of weather, I’m ready for a good storm. I love sunny skies, but I also love a good thunderstorm. If I’m at home, that is. Don’t like to be caught driving in them (who does?) Austin could use some good storms – we’re in a drought that seems like it’s been going on forever.
I still haven’t heard back about that job. Sigh.
Spring has sprung?
It’s been REALLY nice here in Austin the last couple of days. The highs have been in the upper 70s and it’s been sunny and beautiful. The kids have been having a blast playing outside. If it stays like this much longer, the trees are going to bloom!
This is the only reason I will grudgingly admit I like living in Texas. If we were still in Tennessee, we’d probably be freezing our butts off right about now.
Anyway, today I took the kids to the park with a friend. There was a duck pond there. Upon arriving at the park, Mikaela promptly walked up to one of the birds, patted it on the back and said, “HI, DUCK!” It’s a wonder it didn’t peck her eyes out. After talking to the ducks, she ran over to the playground, where she climbed the tallest slide – about 8 feet off the ground – and slid down. I let her do it, but I was standing right below her in case she fell. That child has no fear whatsoever. I guess that could be a good thing and a bad thing.
The spring-y weather is supposed to continue for at least the next few days, so I’ll be taking advantage of it! It’s impossible to be in a bad mood when it’s so nice out.
More icy fun
Above: this was the block of ice on top of our trash can!
Below: anyone seen a vampire?
Jay is home from work today. We all have cabin fever but are trying to make the best of it. I just keep thanking God we aren’t huddled around a fireplace trying to stay warm in a power outage!! A good number of people in our area lost power, but we dodged the bullet.
So far, so good…
Well, for me, anyway. I’ve still got power.
The roads are icy, but it’s not bad enough to cause widespread power outages yet. Expectedly, there have been a lot of wrecks around town.
Jay has been gone for 2 days and is about to try to make it home from work. I’m sure he could use a good hot shower. I just hope he can make it home without sliding off the road.
It’s started to snow, but I don’t know if it will be enough to go outside and play in. This is Mikaela’s first time to see snow. So far, she seems under-whelmed.
More later, if the power’s not out …
… waiting anxiously
What a day.
After seeing today’s weather forecast, my sister decided she’d better leave early, so she flew back home tonight. Just minutes after her flight left, one of the major roads in Austin was closed due to icing, and since then, several more have been closed.
My husband is stuck downtown. With the inagural events tomorrow still set to take place, he is one of those responsible for making sure everything is set up just so. That means he has to be there, ice or no ice. With the forecast being what it is, he and a few co-workers have rented a hotel room downtown.
So, that leaves me here with the kids. I am well-stocked on diapers and food. And prozac.
I am nervous about the prospect of the power going out, though … I do have fire logs, but I have never made a fire in a fireplace before. I know the concept, but I am famously klutzy, and I’m hoping I don’t screw it up and burn the house down or something.
The forecasters don’t exactly know how much ice will accumulate – they’re saying between 1/4 inch and 2 inches. The weatherman makes it sound like the apocalypse is coming. He said that this could be the worst ice storm the area has seen “in decades.”
I hope and pray he’s wrong.
Prepared to hunker down
Firewood – check
Flashlights – check
Ice to put in cooler – check
Candles – check
Lighter – check
Enough food to feed half the neighborhood for the next week – check
So, it looks like Austin’s about to see a heckuva ice storm. Yea for having a gas stove for once. And a fireplace. Shoot, it’ll probably be nothing, and I’ll have bought the bread, pop tarts, cereal, and extra cans of veggies and tuna for nothing.
My sister and nephew flew in for a short visit – they got here today and are leaving Tuesday afternoon, if I can ice-skate them over to the airport to get them back on a plane! (That was a really bad run-on, wasn’t it? Oh, well, I’m too tired to fix right now. My apologies.)
Dead birds
A number of streets in downtown Austin have been closed off, and people are being told not to come to work due to a number of dead birds being found. Preliminary tests have shown that nothing is amiss, but the police are not re-opening the area until further tests are completed.
I’m more than a little nervous, since Jay works right near the capitol building near all of this. I swear, I’ve been jittery about stuff like this ever since 9/11.
Walkin’ in a Winter Wonderland
Tonight we walked the Trail of Lights, a 1-mile-long Christmas lights/scenery display winding around paths in Austin’s Zilker Park. It’s free and the kids love it. See pictures of the displays here.
This was our 2nd year to go. I have to say, this year’s unseasonably warm temperatures made it much more enjoyable than last. The temps were in the high 50s or low 60s when we made the walk at 9:00 this evening.
On Tuesday night, we went to a Christmas party for our church “home” group. We ate a delicious potluck meal, sang carols, and had a “white elephant” gift exchange.
The home group is comprised of young couples with lots of kids between us. My kids always act like monkeys when we’re at someone’s house and Tuesday was no exception. I had to fish Mikaela out of their bathtub twice, and I kept having to tell Gabriel to stop jumping on their son’s bed. I don’t allow these things at home, so I’m not sure why they get out in public and act like they’ve never heard of rules before? I hope people don’t think we just let them run wild. Oh, well, I’m sure I’m not the first parent who’s been embarassed by my kids’ antics.
Rules of Austin
Someone had this posted on their Myspace blog and I thought it was cute … and very true.
Rules of Austin
1. First, it’s pronounced AWS-TUN. It doesn’t matter how they say it in other places. 2. Forget the traffic rules you learned elsewhere. Austin has its own set of traffic rules. There’s no book about them. All you can do is get in your car and hope you survive to learn them. (If yer an aggressive driver, you reign. If yer not, just stay calm and try to stay outta the way.)3. All directions start with “Go down Mopac…’cause you don’t want to get on I-35.” No one knows for sure what ‘Mopac’ means.
4. Burnet Road, Braker Lane, and Lamar Blvd. have no beginning and no end.
5. It is impossible to go around a block and wind up on the same street that you started on. The Chamber of Commerce calls this a scenic drive.
6. The 8:00am rush hour is from 6:30am to 9:30am. The 5:00pm rush hour is from 3:30p to 7:15pm. Friday’s rush hour starts on Thursday morning.
7. If you actually stop at a yellow light, then you cannot be from Austin. You may only apply your brakes when the end of a yellow light and the beginning of the red light create a burnt-orange hue. This is Longhorn Country, after all.
8. If you like being an individual, don’t even think of working for Dell. You’ll be branded like cattle and made to walk all over town with your Dell Tag around your neck or clipped on to your belt loop.
Ninety-eight percent of the people within a 200 mile radius work for Dell. When someone says “Michael Dell”, Dell employees are trained to face Round Rock, hit their knees, put their face to the ground, weep, and rock back and forth.
9. Just remember that Mopac = Loop 1; Capital of Texas Hwy = 360; and U.S.183 = Research Blvd., Anderson Lane, Ed Bluestein Blvd. and Old Bastrop Hwy; 2222 = Northland Dr. or Allendale Rd. or Koenig Lane. (Takes twice the brains to live here, see?)
***Also don’t forget Ben White/290/71 which also turns into Capital of Tx Hwy/Loop 360***Don’t try to figure it out. Just accept it. If you question the intelligence behind this naming convention, people will simply tilt their heads to the right and stare at you.
10. If moisture is determined to be rain, and not sweat, all traffic must immediately come to a screeching halt; ditto for daylight savings time, a female UT student applying eye-shadow across the street, or a flat tire three lanes over. (Geez, so true.)
11. DO NOT attempt to access any road after an apocalyptic event like snow or SXSW (South by Southwest Music Convention). Construction on I-35 AND U.S. 183 is a way of life and a permanent form of entertainment. Get used to it!
12. Attn: All telephone solicitors…DO NOT correct my pronunciation when I say I live in Manchaca, TX. It’s pronounced MAN-shack (just like a man living in shack). Also realize that the city of Manchaca (MANshack) is in Hays and Travis Counties, and there is also a very long street in Austin named Manchaca (MANshack)!
The city of Manor and Manor Rd. are pronounced ‘MAY-ner’. We don’t like corrections on that either.
And, for God’s sake, DON’T pronounce the ‘E’ at the end of Guadalupe. It’s Gwada-LOOP and we like it that way!
13. Burnet Road is pronounced BURN-it, not Bur-NET. Koenig Lane is pronounced KAE-nig not KOE-nig. The old airport (Robert Mueller) is pronounced Robert Miller and is on Airport Boulevard. The new airport (Austin-Bergstrom) is no where near Airport Boulevard. It’s in the city of Del Valle pronounced Dell Valley!
14. Keep in mind that the sloppily dressed ‘hippie’ in worn-out sandals and earrings is probably the latest millionaire around here. (Which means: be nice to all people under the sun. Yes, even the homeless guy on the corner.)
15. Stay away from the Congress Ave bridge at sundown if you do not like the thought of being in an Alfred Hitchcock movie. It has the Largest Mexican Free Tail Bat Population in the US. (And its frikkin awesome to see them depart at dusk EVERYDAY to go munch on like 20 tons of insects. So cool. And much fewer mosquito bites for us!)
16. And, yes, we all know that there’s a man in a teddy and a tiara on Congress Ave. It’s Leslie and he probably makes more money than you do. Surely, you have a homeless, celebrity drag queen that likes to run for Mayor where you live, too, right?
Now you’ll never wonder why there are so many bumper stickers that say ‘Keep Austin Weird’
The bargain queen strikes again
I don’t know why, but every fall, I wait until the first day I step outside and feel a cool breeze – like today – to think about purchasing fall/winter clothes. So, this morning I realized I had nary a stitch for my daughter to wear this fall … everything she has now is spring/summer (save a couple of hand-me-downs).
A woman on a mission, I left the house this morning determined to find the child a cute fall wardrobe on a shoestring budget. I scoured five stores – one consignment shop, two Goodwills, one Salvation Army, one thrift store (And a Partridge in a Pear Tree.) I returned home, having spent a grand total of $47.47 on the following:
- One pair of khakis and two pairs of jeans
- Two long sleep shirts – one is Pooh and pals, the other is a retro “Cabbage Patch Kids” t-shirt dated 1983 on the tag. It features a girl on a swing with 3D (yarn) braided pigtails coming off of the shirt.
- Outerwear: one beautiful Gap lambswool sweater/’coat’ lined with 100% cotton, and one fleece pullover from Old Navy
- 12 long-sleeved shirts … some striped, some with flowers, several are embellished
- 3 dresses
- 3 Sandra Boynton books, an Anne Geddes baby counting book, and a kids’ science book
All the clothing was in perfect or near-perfect condition – no stains, holes, or major wear. Oh – and the best thing? I found great name-brands at a fraction of the price. Brands in this bunch of clothing included The Children’s Place, Baby Gap, Old Navy, Sprockets, OshKosh, Specialty Kids and Cherokee Kids. They’re currently getting a good wash and they’re about to be as good as new.
I do still need to find some more pants for her, but I think that’s a pretty good start for the money, eh?
Hot Hot Heat
It was 104 here today. You can talk all you want to about dry heat, but that’s HOT.
I just went outside to water our plant and it’s still very warm … I’d say probably 90 degrees. When I started watering the plant, a bullfrog hopped out of the planter. Guess he was trying to stay cool in there. You’d think he would’ve stuck around for a nice, cool shower.
Come on, rain!
What is UP with this lack of rain in the Austin area? I mean, we all like sunny skies, but when everything is dry and brown, we could stand a little rain.
I really miss thunderstorms. We haven’t had a good one in ages.
When we first moved to this area, we lived for a while with my husband’s family in their modular home out in the country. Modular homes (some people call them mobile homes or manufactured homes or pre-fab homes) don’t get along with strong winds. I am a big weenie about tornadoes. I love storms, but I am terrified of tornadoes.
So, when we were living with Jay’s folks, we seemed to get a lot of extremely severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings. So, every time I saw a bad storm coming on the radar, I packed the kids up in the car and headed to Wal-Mart. Yep, Wal-mart was my tornado shelter. How white-trash am I?
My husband tolerated my insanity, thankfully. He doesn’t usually cross me when I’m crazed … and feeling like my babies are potentially in danger turns me into a crazy woman.
So, now that we’re in a place of our own with a permanent foundation, at least we don’t have to leave the house when bad weather is on the horizon.
Round Rock Premium Outlets – a mom’s review
I recently took the kids to the brand-new Round Rock Premium Outlet mall north of Austin in Round Rock. It’s an open-air mall: the shops are all lined up like in a regular mall, but the walkways between the stores are open. Of course, the stores are enclosed, and each store is seperate. There are some walkways that are covered, but not all of them. So, if it looks like rain, bring an umbrella!
Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised, especially by the variety of kids’ stores. Here’s a description of the kids stores: Read the rest of this entry »
