Charlotte, NC

I have been in Charlotte since Sunday night (7/25). I had meetings all day on Monday (7/26) and then had a pretty light day today with just a couple of meetings in the middle of the day. For the next two days, I will be in a training class and then headed back to Austin.

Ironically, the one thing I was looking forward to on this trip (vegging out on the sofa and watching TV), is not as much fun as I had imagined. I am by myself, so I want to talk to someone about the show and there is no one there. I am ready to go home and be with hubby and the doggies, so hopefully the next two days goes by quickly.

Packing

Today I am packing and getting ready for my trip to Charlotte. I leave tomorrow afternoon and will be there for business until Thursday evening. I am going with mixed feelings. This will be a really good trip for me career wise because I will be able to meet several of the corporate people who will have a hand in what happens to me during our reorganization. The fact that I have been asked to make the trip is good in itself. But, on a personal note, I am having to leave town on our 22nd anniversary. Even though we haven't always done anything special on our anniversary, we have always spent the day together. Hubby is being so supportive and knows this trip will be good in the long run. I am thankful to have such a supportive and understanding hubby.

Kudos to Caregivers

Yesterday hubby cut his finger while changing out the lawnmower blade and needed to go get a couple of stitches. When he called out to me to tell me what had happened (thankfully I was working from home), I went in to a bit of a mini panic mode. He was waiting for me to get out the gauze and help him make a temporary bandage to help stop the bleeding, but my brain just simply wasn't thinking about what needed to be done. We finally got him to the ER and they were somewhat busy so it took a bit for them to call him back. He needed a couple of stitches and they put on a splint to keep his finger straight for a couple of days. While we were in the waiting room, hubby pointed out what a terrible nurse I would have made and he is correct. I am good with the helping out (opening things, helping him dry off after a shower, etc.), but actually putting bandages on and the like is not my forte. I don't get weirded out by the wound, I just simply can't dress a wound very well.

So kudos to my brother, sister-in-law, and all those in the caregiver profession. I am glad you are there and are good at what you do - it is just not my cup of tea.

Stephen King

I found this cool link on Katreader's blog that analyzes your writing style and tells you who you write like. I took one of my latest blog entries and used that for the sample. The results....

I write like
Stephen King

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Thanks Katreader for a really cook link.

Ross Store

I have never been in to a Ross store before today. I am going to be going to Charlotte, NC on a business trip for 4 days and needed a pair of shoes. I originally went to Rack Room Shoes, but ever thing they had came with bows on them. Since I am not a frilly bows kind of person, that just wouldn't work. The Ross store is just next door, so hubby convinced me to pop in and see if they had shoes. My neighbor raves about Ross, but I honestly had no idea what kind of stuff they had. Needless to say $120 later, I think I am actually a fan of Ross. They even had the DC shoes that my brother loves for my nephew - and $20 less than they paid for them in the mall. We ended up with my new shoes, 2 suits for work, 2 shirts for hubby, a new knife block with knives, a toy for the dogs, a bottle to make me some gin and raisins, a neck pillow for hubby, and some new kitchen towels (ours have seen better days). I can definitely see myself going back to Ross in the future.

TGIF

This has been a very long and exhausting week. I am soooooo glad it is Friday.

Off to Coppell

This morning I am off to Coppell for our quarterly regional meeting. After being on vacation for a week, it was really tough to roll out of bed at my normal time. Even the dogs looked at my like I had gone crazy when I woke them up 5am. Thankfully, someone else is driving today so maybe I can nap a bit on the way.

For the past few days I have been having a blast with my nephew, brother, and my Mom. They came down on Thursday and we have spent the past several days swimming in the neighborhood swimming pool, going to the Texas History Museum, going to the mall, and just hanging out. My nephew has settled in to being around almost everyone. He is still kind of shy around my Mom. My nephew is just learning to talk, so anyone who isn't Mommy or Daddy is called Nanny. All of the dogs are called pup pup and he loves crawling in the dog kennels - go figure.

Last night Mom and I went to HEB for a few groceries and took him with us. Seth wanted to ride in one of those carts that has to race car attached. I have learned that it takes a special skill to drive one of those things and I apparently still need to work on that skill.

They will be heading back to my Mom's house today and then my brother and nephew will meet me in Dallas tomorrow night. I have a business meeting in Coppell for a couple of days and they are going to come spend the night with me Monday night so they will be closer to the airport on Tuesday.

If all goes as planned, the whole family will be back in November for Thanksgiving. On that trip I will get to meet baby Maddox who is only 3 months old right now.

Locked Out and Bit by a Spider

Yesterday was a crazy day. My brother and nephew headed to my mothers house for the day, so hubby and I took advantage of that and decided to mow the lawn. I also had a conference call for work that I needed to participate in, so it worked out well. The conference call was at 1:30pm, so about 1pm I had gone in the house to check the time and refill our water bottle. I stepped outside to take hubby the water and tell him that I needed to go prep for the call. Just as I was headed back inside, I realized that I had locked the door behind me. I was now completely locked out of the house. I went next door to use the phone (of course my phone was locked in the house too) and call my sister-in-law who has a spare key. Thankfully my brother-in-law was home and was able to bring over the key quickly (they only live a couple of miles away). I was able to get in the house just in the nick of time for the conference call.

After the lawn was done, we went to the back to trim back a tomato plant that was totally out of control. At some point during this process, I got bit on the wrist by what we think may have been a spider. We are not sure what bit me, but it was all red and puffy and hurt like crazy. Our garden does have wolf spiders, so we think it may have been one of those. This morning, my wrist is just sore like I sprained it, but the majority of the redness is gone and you can see the spot where the bite was. Oddly, there is only one little hole and not two as I would have expected from a spider, so maybe it was something else that got me. I am allergic to most insect bites, so who knows what it may have been.

Today, my brother and nephew return and they are bringing my Mom with them to visit. They will all be here for a few days and then they will take her back home. We are going to take Mom to the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum while she is here. I think she and my brother will both enjoy the museum.

Early Arrival

My brother and nephew arrived 3 days earlier than expected. We weren't expecting them to come down until the 7th, but they showed up late on the 4th. Seth wasn't really settling in at my parents cabin (they go camping every 4th of July), so they came to my house early. It took my dogs to get him to settle in. My dogs have never been around children, but they have been fantastic around Seth. All three dogs really love him. In fact, I was playing with him and he squealed really loud. All of a sudden all three dogs were growling at me because they thought he was hurt. Yesterday we went to the pool and then went to have Tex Mex for lunch. We also stopped and bought some pool toys for Seth. The rest of the day we just hung out around the house. Today we will head back to the pool for a while and then we are going to head to Taylor for some barbecue.

Tomorrow, John and Seth are going to go pick up my Mom and bring her down for a visit. While they are away, I will go get some blood work done that is due this week - yuck. I also have to participate in a conference call for a project team that I am on at work. I could miss it, but it is the initial call and is a really important one.

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July everyone.

I can't believe a whole week has flown by and I barely blogged. Our house is normally pretty quiet, but this week has been pretty busy. On Tuesday, we had the carpets cleaned, on Wednesday we had furniture delivered, Thursday the lawn company was supposed to mow the lawn, but it never stopped raining, and on Friday we had a mattress delivered and played taxi for a friend heading to the airport. Then on Saturday we replaced my printer that died and spent the majority of the afternoon getting it hooked up to all of the computers in the house.

Primarily we have been making sure we have everything in place for when my family visits this coming week. My brother and nephew landed in Texas yesterday and should be heading to our house with my mother on Tuesday or Wednesday. It is going to be a bit of a busy week, but I am looking forward to finally meeting my nephew in person.

Today, is going to be low key. We are having some family over later in the evening and we are going to cook out on the grill. Other than that, we are just going to enjoy a low key July 4th.