You can't trust everyone

Hubby and I are in the process of buying a new (to us) car. We have a very firm price limit because we have no desire for a car payment. Today we went to a dealership & a salesman met us in the parking lot asking if he could help us. Hubby told him we were looking for a high gas mileage car and told him our price limit. He took us back to his office wrote down what we were looking for in a car and went back "to see what we have". He came back and said the only car in our price range had just been sold, and would we like to finance something a little newer because "what you have would make a great down payment". Hubby declined and we walked out the door. The guy ran out to our truck and told us they had just found the keys to the car he wanted to show us, if we would wait just a minute they would pull it around for us to see.

Oh really...

Zestfest 2014

We just got home from Zestfest! Where all the spicy food gathers to be eaten by all of TX's spicy food fans! Baby Luke didn't sample anything this year, but I told him maybe next year ;)

He really is the cutest! :)

My brother participated in a Wingstop Atomic Wings Challenge!

10 boneless Atomic Wings

First one to stand up with mouth open showing all wings were swallowed went on to the final round.

He didn't win, but he got a T-shirt & got to keep his remaining wings :)

We had a great time & tried some great food!

Tornado Alley

I'm sitting here watching the weather waiting for Hubby to make it home from work. I grew up in Texas so usually tornado watches don't bother me, it's part of living here. But after all the destruction in Cleburn & then Oklahoma, there is tension in the air.
I came across this post How God Feels About Storms, through another blog I was reading. It is very well written. My prayer has become for God to comfort the broken hearts, & to keep everyone safe from these newly approaching storms. Everyone be safe!

Pray for West

There has been so much tragedy on the news, Boston & now West, TX added to all the usual mayhem going on. I usually stay away from writing about these things, not because I don't care, but because that's not why I started this Blog. However, the more I heard about the explosion in West the more I felt compelled to call out for prayer.
West, TX means alot to our family. Both Hubby & I spent our childhoods stopping there, for him it was to & from his grandparents house & for me my great-grandparents. We were stopping, of course, for their amazing kolaches! I'm sure we saw each other there and didn't even know it!
Then we spent the first night of our Honeymoon in West on our way to San Antonio. So West, TX will always have a special place in our hearts!
They are in a lot of pain right now as the deal with the effects of this fertilizer plant explosion. I'm just asking for prayer. Prayer for healing, for a quick rebuilding, & for comfort.
Thank you!

Baby Lanier

Today Hubby & I got to meet the newest member of Tim & Cassie's family :)

Baby Lanier, born 2-26-13 9lb 14oz & about 20in. She's adorable! And she was wide awake while we were there, very inquisitive. i was amazed to get open eyed pics from a new born! As you can see in my lap we brought her a stuffed R2D2 :) She's getting an early start on her nerdom to be like daddy ;)
Congrats Tim & Cassie! She's beautiful & we love ya'll!

My Truck

I was hit a little over 2 weeks ago in my truck. The guy in the middle lane decided to turn into me instead of using the turn lane like normal people... Let me tell you, if your ins people start apologizing for your behavior & for the rest of us having to deal with you, then you have a problem.
I have had my truck for about 11 years, it is my first car & I love it.

The damage could have been alot worse, but since the bumper was pushed so close to the tire it was unsafe to drive. It sat in our driveway waiting for his ins to accept fault, then waiting on their adjuster to come out & look at the damage. They finally got all their ducks in a row & told us they were declaring it totaled. Of course they are not going to give us enough to buy a decent vehicle to replace it with, and we know my truck runs great & is very reliable. Also, I'm not ready to replace my first car! I told Hubby, you only ever have one first car! :) So Hubby started taking it apart to see what parts need to be replaced.

This is my photo this week for the challenge, theme: Bare minimum. This was the bare minimum we needed to drive to the junk yard looking for parts (thanks to Patrick's daddy for going with us!). We looked rather scary driving I would think ;)

We found out at the junk yard that front end damage is very common... if we had needed a new bed for my truck we could have had our choice, but there were no Ford Rangers out there without worse damage than I already had! So I called my old boss, my sister's current boss, because I remembered he had sent me to a parts house years ago to buy a new taillight. He gave me the name of the place (Thank you Mark!) and they had every part we needed!!!!

So we came back home and started repairs. My job was to hand tools & take pics. Of course it was more like "Give me the 9/32 socket"... "what does it look like?" ... :)

Yikes! That's how much he took off to replace!

Me and my new fender :)

He had to take the rubber guards & the metal brackets off the old bumper and put them on the new bumper, which proved to be quite an ordeal. The right side metal bracket was bent out of shape from the accident. He put a lot of elbow grease into it, and got it straightened out. He's the best!

New bumper :)

It's all coming together!

It's perfect! Hubby saved my truck's life! We will be taking the Ranger decal off the old fender & gluing it to this fender :)

I have the best Hubby in the whole world!

Sal's is Open!

After remodeling from the fire, today Sal's opened for business! We were very excited to go and eat wonderful pizza!

Wonderful HUGE pizza :) Hubby and I went with my mommy, his mommy & his daddy. This pic is of our Xtra Large Sal's Special (18" Supreme Pizza) and our Xtra Large White Pizza (mozzarella  & ricotta pizza).

Welcome back Sal's! We are very happy to see your open doors again :)

A Tribute to Sal's Pizza

This morning I found out that Sal's Pizza had a fire on Sunday!



They shouldn't be closed long, but the news made me think of everything this restaurant means to me :)
Hubby grew up eating at Sal's, he remembers being welcomed into the kitchen as a small child to pick out the ingredients for his own pizza.
Sal, the owner, moved to New York from Italy to start a pizza restaurant, and from there came to Texas. We are very happy this is where he chose to make his wonderful pizza!
Hubby introduced me to Sal's, and took me there on many dates before he was my Hubby. The night he proposed we went there afterward for dinner :) We also had our rehearsal dinner there, sharing our favorite pizza with our closest friends and family. Sal was there that night making sure everything was perfect for us the night before our wedding!
Since then we have gone many times, sometimes just us, sometimes sharing with friends. Good pizza and good people!
If you are in the area, I would definitely recommend the good pizza and good people at Sal's (after they open back up of course)! I know Hubby & I will be there reopening day!

*Sal's did not ask me to write this blog, I just really love that place & wanted to share with you!

Do you have any restaurant that you love? A place that holds great memories? Share with us :)

Going Home

Tonight I went back to visit my old church for their Fall Festival. I haven't been there since our last Wednesday night back in August, it was more difficult tonight than I expected. It was good to see the friends & family I still have there, but it was very hard too. And some people just didn't know what to say, which I totally understand, I remember being hurt & confused when people I loved would leave the church. I didn't understand why they were leaving, and now I'm the one that has left. I get it now, sometimes God calls us to a different place in our life & we have to follow. So to anyone I have ever been angry at for leaving, I am sorry. I do understand now. And anyone who is upset or confused at Patrick & I leaving, I am sorry. Please know it was very difficult, it is still sometimes very difficult. I love my friends & family, and moving to a different church definitely did not change that. Overall I am glad I went tonight, I got to spend quality time with Conner & Elias while they played all the games :) and I got to see people I haven't seen in awhile! It's just a process-this moving on thing. I've never handled change well : / but God is helping me every step of the way!

Conner got to fling pudding at his daddy which he thoroughly enjoyed! So I thought y'all would like to see those pics :)

New Phase

A week ago today Hubby and I ended a very important phase in our lives to begin a new one. It was our last night at the church I have gone to since I was 7. This transition has been very difficult for both of us. It had been something we had been praying about for months. We definitely feel that God called us to the church we will now be attending, but that doesn't mean it was an easy decision. I've just been thinking about everything in my life that happened there... I asked Jesus into my heart in Children's Church, I was baptized, I invited Patrick to come to church with me in the 9th grade & he came & was saved, we were married there! And so many other little things! They have been my church family for most of my life. I know I will keep in touch with my friends and family, but wow so much change!
I've been wanting to write about this for sometime, to get it all out, to share what I'm feeling...but I didn't want to say anything until we knew for sure...and now I just don't know what to say. How do you express everything a church means to you in a few sentences?! Suffice it to say that without my church of the last 20 years I would not be who I am.

I Met Marion Smith!!!

This afternoon my sister texted me & told me that The Marion Smith, the Scrapbooking genius Marion Smith was going to be at my local scrapbook store! So of course I had to go meet her!
I walked into the Crafty Scrapper and there she was picking out scrapbook paper. I debated in my mind to just start shopping or to go introduce myself... I am not very good at talking to people I have never met :) but I decided I came to meet her, so I needed to go meet her. I approached her & said "it's like walking up to a movie star" which thankfully got a laugh out of her :) we talked for a little while, she picked out some amazing Scrapbooking supplies, I picked out some stuff for my Disney scrapbook! It was so nice meeting her! She is so very sweet! Every bit as nice as she seems in her tutorial videos :)
Thank you Marion for the nice chat & for not making me feel like the stalker that Hubby claims I am ;) have a great rest of your stay in the great state of Texas!

Growing Up Too Soon

We are about to leave the house to go stand in line to see The Hunger Games! I am so excited! I read all the books & wanted more, so when I heard a movie was being made I was ecstatic!
But before we go I just wanted to share something with you that has been troubling me. Why do they always use adults to play teen parts in movies and TV shows?
The girl playing Katniss in The Hunger Games is in her 20's. The cast of Glee are all adults even though they are playing high school students (which was their cop-out reason for why it was ok for them to all pose inappropriately for GQ). Even Harry Potter, by the time they got around to the last movies, they were all much older than they were portraying.
My issue with this trend is that it makes the "teens" on TV look much more mature than they should, which makes real life teens feel like they should look more mature.
I don't think that Hollywood is trying to tell teens that they should look like these adults. I understand that the laws are much more strict for how long minors can work, so it's much easier to give the parts to people 18 and up. I just feel like we are skipping that growing up time, and it makes me very sad for these young people.

Welcome Home Heroes!

Today was the last day the soldiers returning from Iraq & Afganistan for 2 weeks of rest & recuperation will be routed through DFW Airport. They have been welcoming Soldiers home through DFW since 2004 & I have never gotten the chance to go & participate. When my mom & I heard that this was the last day they were doing it we decided we had to be there.

 We already had to be at the airport to drop off my sister who flew to Atlanta for Sara's birthday, yes the same Sara who wrote a guest blog for us :)
So after we made sure Jamie got through security safely we made our way over to the International terminal to wait for the troops. So many people turned out for the event! We filled the International Arrivals lobby, waving our flags & cheering on our returning heroes. There were over 100 Veterans shaking the hands of each returning soldier. We welcomed 230 Heroes home today! It was an amazing thing!
I am so glad I participated in this, I only wish I had gone sooner & more often. Our soldiers sacrifice so much for us, I am so glad I got a chance to thank them!

Oral Surgeon, Nursing Home, Hospital, Oh My!

This has been quite a busy week! It started out on Monday I took my wonderful Sis in law, Jamie, to the oral surgeon to have her wisdom teeth surgically removed :( So I spent the rest of the day at her house keeping her company & full of meds.
Monday morning I found out that my Nanny (AKA step-great-grandmother) had had a stroke & was being taken back to her nursing home because the hospital couldn't do anything more for her. My mom wanted to go see her & did not need to be going alone, so I took her out there very early Tuesday morning. It was about a 2 hour trip & we stayed & visited for awhile & then came back home.
Wednesday I took Tiffany, ...(I don't know that I've ever explained to you our living arrangement...Hubby & I live with Tiffany & Burns, and their 2 amazing sons Conner & Elias. We live in the upstairs of their house cuz they are awesome & don't mind having weirdos living above them.) ... so I took Tiffany to the hospital to have her gallbladder removed after having her appendix removed only 3 weeks ago :( Conner went to stay with one set of his grandparents - it's always nice to have multiple sets of grandparents - and I kept Elias in the waiting room.
So as you can see it has been one hectic week! I was a little surprised to be staying home today & just working.
Jamie is recovering, still on pain meds so not back to work yet. I haven't heard anything new about Nanny, and Tiffany's pain meds are making her nauseous. Hoping & praying that everyone gets well soon!

The Coupon Goddess

I have been reading The Coupon Goddess' blog for several months, & she had great couponing tips as well as stories about her family. Then in the beginning on July she got hit by a car. I don't mean she was in a car accident, I mean she was walking & got hit by a car. You can read about it on her blog. But the reason I'm writing about this today is that she is now home with a long recovery ahead of her. She said in her most recent post that she can only sit up in her wheel chair for 2 hours at a time & other than that she is laying in bed staring at the ceiling. So I would like to request prayer for Melanie, The Coupon Goddess. If you would like to you can subscribe to her blog so you can follow her progress, & maybe leave her an uplifting comment. I know she can use all the kind words she can get right now.

I Wanted To Write About Belly Dancing...

So back in May I purchased a deal on Groupon for a year membership to a dance studio for really cheap. I thought this would be a good way to get in shape & have fun in the process. They offer pole fitness classes, so I was interested in that cuz I'm a married woman ;) However I just found out this week that they only offer the pole classes at night & I need to attend a daytime class (not a good neighborhood, when I tell people where it is they tell me not to get shot) therefore, daytime class mandatory. So I decided to take belly dancing classes on Friday afternoons. I planned on coming home from my class today & telling you all about how I embarrassed my self in a belly dancing class (hubby tells me I dance like I have an ironing board tied to my back), but unfortunately I do not have any such story to share with you. I drove to my first class to find the door locked & noone there! When I called she told me that the class had been cancelled :( So next week after I brave another trip to my belly dancing class, hopefully I will have some fun stories to share with you.

Guilt

Why do I feel guilty for everything? Is it because I'm a woman? Because I'm to sensitive? Because I need to get over it? I lay in bed rethinking conversations I've had, things I've done, things I've not done...& I feel guilty for all of it!
I punished a dog for peeing on the floor & feel that a friend looks down on me for it. I relaxed with my husband today & didn't get as much after Christmas cleaning done as I had intended & now I feel like a bad person. Oh my gosh, for once I wish I could go to bed & not rehash everything! But at the same time I do not want to do things with no thought as to how it affects others. So I guess my guilt, kept in check is a good thing.