Happy A to A and D

Happy Anniversary! You are amazing.

Yes! 1 year! We will bring you the (freezer burned) cake next week :)

This month is anniversary month- 3 within 9 days. We love celebrating the fact that all of the kids are married.

Happy A to A and A

Happy Anniversary to Alex and A1

Alex was telling us that he has been out of town for every Anniversary except two. Both of those years they were buying a condo or a house. At least he was there for the most important one, the wedding day :)

They Moved the Cheese

My store is closed on Sunday and Monday, but most Mondays, I am still there working. Last Monday, I was there making jackets. Today, I should have been there making skirts. Instead, I actually took the day off and stayed home most of the day. I also did alittle shopping at WalMart and at Randalls. Besides the fact that I needed a few things, I went to WalMart just to see how they have remodeled. I think I remember a book called, "Who Moved My Cheese?". That's exactly what happened at WalMart- everything got moved! Ron always hated going there because he could never find what he needed- now it will be totally hopeless! Anyway... back to my day off- I decided it's a good thing that I go to work everyday. Because today, I spent way too much time on this computer! My brain would be mush for sure, if I spent this much time at home every day.

PS- Speaking of items for sale...did you notice a new blog on my list? A friend in Dallas makes soap to sell. I wonder which is easier making jackets or making soap?

Live and Learn

We had fun! We spent time with WE and A2, but...

The first thing we learned this weekend was don't go to the famous "Schlitterbahn" water park on a Saturday, during the summer! Way too many people there! The wait-in-line-time for the "Master Blaster", the best water ride in the world (?) was at least 2 1/2 hours. (I am sure WE will have more to say about that :) Does standing in line all day count as quality time spent with the kids?










The second thing we learned... spend one night in a cheap Days Inn and the next night at the bed and breakfast means almost anything is good :)

Actually the bed and breakfast was good. I'm sure WE and A2 will agree, of course we gave them the room with the whirlpool hot tub in their own bathroom! (But they also said the bed was good) Breakfast was outside- made to order waffles, sausage, and juice. (Perfect... nothing with milk and one option was choc. chips in the waffles)

Unusual Weekend

Tonight we are meeting WE and A2 in Austin- going to a water park tomorrow- staying in a bed and breakfast in Dripping Springs, Texas on Saturday night. Yep, Dripping Springs...how would you like to have that for an address? WE and A2, we will be waiting for you at the intersection of I35 and 290 this evening :) While we are gone, Mom will be taking care of the store. Things are pretty slow there right now- hopefully she can mind the store while Erin gets paid to do her homework :) And... Alex will be staying at our house. He has been traveling this week and will be in Houston this weekend. I made a big sacrifice this morning... I gave up my hot-sweaty-humid-drag-myself-around-3 mile-walk, in order to clean the bathroom :) Alex, make yourself at home. The cookie jar will have your favorite cookies in it!
We will be home Sunday evening. Hopefully we will have some fun pictures.

House Work

No matter how much you love a house when you first move in, as you live there, there are always things that could be better. Things that could be more convenient, things that could be bigger or smaller. Things that could be redecorated, etc. Then there are all of those things that wear out and need to be replaced. Our house now, would be better if our bedroom was further from the kitchen and mom's bedroom closer to the kitchen. Our up stairs bathroom is okay for just Ron and I, but much too small when company is here. There is an interesting thing about the house we have now. When we were "house hunting" here in Houston, most of our focus was on what A4 would like. (Remember she had to move here with us as an "only child") Looking back at all of the houses we looked at, the one we have is the only one that would have been possible for mom to move into. (So there was a future plan in the works that we hadn't even thought of!) The past couple months I have had the itch to do some redecorating, but the time and energy is just not there. I have to admit, I have been jealous of my best friend in Bartlesville remodeling their house :) Ron has a few yard projects that he has been working on. He has a new back yard project to work on this fall. I have my "wish list" of projects, but I don't want to ask Ron to spend the money on those unless my "Bandera Pie in the Sky" house is not a possibility. (watch for that post to come :) For now, the extent of my redecorating consists of a new bed spread for our bed! (although, I'm working my way closer to painting 2 walls of the living room. I would have done that already if the ceilings weren't so high. I need to figure out a good ladder system or a really long stick on my paint brush :)

This picture doesn't show very well, but the bed spread is light blue.

My Other Baby

I am feeling guilty because I couldn't go help A4 with the new baby. I'm busy with my "other baby". This other baby is a 24/6 thing. It requires much attention. It needs to be fed, cleaned, and attended to on a daily basis, although not on Sunday. Some times it keeps me up at night. It has a never ending "to do list". Sometimes it's "fussy" and difficult to manage. This week we had a few little technical difficulties- the key board for my computer quit. Which meant we had a few days without a credit card scanner, label machine, receipt printer, and my main point of sale system. We hobbled along on the laptop with limited abilities.
Some times, it's "sleeping like a baby", but still can't be unattended.
The summer season is always slow and with the current economy, my July sales are running about 1/2 of last years July sales. In other words 1/2 of already low is not good. Ron gave me a "debt restructure" this week. It is yet to be seen if that will carry the store through the current economic problems, but we are hopeful. And to show off "the little darling"- we have a new website! It still needs a few items adjusted and some things are still "under construction", but it is up and running. Yes! I am indebted (in more ways than one) to WE and A2. (Thank you very much.) I will pay off my bill in small increments, to be sure that WE hangs around for awhile. In fact working on that basis- it may never be completely paid in full :) In reality, we are past the infancy stage- in fact we are well into adolescence. Here's hoping we will make it to maturity. We see the pattern, we are starting to understand the order and we are hoping to experience the vision!