What a year it has been. Everyone I know is ready to say goodbye to 2009 and I hope for better things for everyone in 2010, most especially new jobs for everyone that I know (and all those that I don't know) who lost jobs as a result of the economy . I've been very fortunate to have secure jobs for most of my working life and count my blessings that I have a stable job that I enjoy.
2009 did bring us some great things, and I don't want to forget them among all of the bad news that this year will be remembered for:
- we visited the Big Apple for the first time in the spring (during the swine flu scare). I fell in love with the city, though I don't think I could ever live there.
- we found and moved into our dream house. house hunting was new to me, and quite an adventure! house selling was even tougher, and I don't wish to repeat the experience anytime soon. We're all settled in, decorating is a work in progress, and we have LOVED having so many people over to the house, including several overnight guests.
- we welcomed 2 members to our family: our niece was born in July and Kevin's cousin married his beautiful bride Julie in October.
We're spending New Year's Eve at a friend's house, and want to wish everyone a happy and prosperous 2010!! Be safe tonight and see you next year :)
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Galveston
Kevin and I came to Galveston for a couple of days to have some R&R. Its been a while since we had a vacation, the summer was spent selling the house and getting ready to move.
We are staying at the historic Tremont House on the Strand, a great location since we can leave the car parked and walk around the Strand. We walked in and out of most of the stores yesterday, and enjoyed a wine bar - called "Bacchus". Many of the stores have signs saying how high the water got during Hurricane Ike - way over my head in all the buildings I've seen! - and we've been sad to see how many shops and businesses didn't reopen after Ike. Several stores have posters showing the damage they had, they've come a long way and knowing how far they've come (and how far the city has to go) makes me very happy we decided to come here to give them our business and spend our money.
Today we went to the Lone Star Flight museum, and toured the Moody Mansion - what a gorgeous house! and the furnishings are all from the Moody family. There is so much history in that house, amazing to know it withstood the 1900 hurricane. Each of these places also had a lot of damage from Ike and another place we tried to see (railroad museum) is being rebuilt in 2010. It will take quite a while for Galveston to be back to where they were pre-Ike.
Today was rainy and cold, great weather to go get hot chocolate at the Nestle cafe *yum*
We are staying at the historic Tremont House on the Strand, a great location since we can leave the car parked and walk around the Strand. We walked in and out of most of the stores yesterday, and enjoyed a wine bar - called "Bacchus". Many of the stores have signs saying how high the water got during Hurricane Ike - way over my head in all the buildings I've seen! - and we've been sad to see how many shops and businesses didn't reopen after Ike. Several stores have posters showing the damage they had, they've come a long way and knowing how far they've come (and how far the city has to go) makes me very happy we decided to come here to give them our business and spend our money.
Today we went to the Lone Star Flight museum, and toured the Moody Mansion - what a gorgeous house! and the furnishings are all from the Moody family. There is so much history in that house, amazing to know it withstood the 1900 hurricane. Each of these places also had a lot of damage from Ike and another place we tried to see (railroad museum) is being rebuilt in 2010. It will take quite a while for Galveston to be back to where they were pre-Ike.
Today was rainy and cold, great weather to go get hot chocolate at the Nestle cafe *yum*
Christmas
We had a great Christmas, including celebrations with both sides of the family. I love seeing our nephew open his gifts - the Transformers were a big hit, though it did take Kevin and me both working on it to figure out how to transform it back to a vehicle (how is a 4 year old supposed to do it?). We received many wonderful gifts from our families - my favorites: a spice rack for our pantry door (complete with installation by my father-in-law), and a fireplace set from my parents. - With the work we've done and gifts we've received the house decoration is really getting complete! We finally have a place to put up a set of clocks we got 2 years ago, it really fills in the wall above the stair landing.
We were able to spend time with a lot of great people over the holidays - I had a girlie movie night (Julie & Julia) right before Christmas, and we were able to spend time with Kevin's grandmother and husband, and had another movie night with my sister, brother and his wife after Christmas. We love having people over to the new house and hope to have more gatherings in 2010!
On Christmas Eve, we had a scare with Smokey. He had a seizure, first one in all the time we've had him. It was scary, mostly because I wasn't sure what was happening and we love our crazy little dog. He came out of it really quickly and has been back to his normal self ever since. We talked to the emergency vet that night and followed up with our usual vet once they opened up after the holiday. We had a quiet night that night and have kept an eye on him ever since. According to both vets, he may not have another one for months or years, or maybe never.
We were able to spend time with a lot of great people over the holidays - I had a girlie movie night (Julie & Julia) right before Christmas, and we were able to spend time with Kevin's grandmother and husband, and had another movie night with my sister, brother and his wife after Christmas. We love having people over to the new house and hope to have more gatherings in 2010!
On Christmas Eve, we had a scare with Smokey. He had a seizure, first one in all the time we've had him. It was scary, mostly because I wasn't sure what was happening and we love our crazy little dog. He came out of it really quickly and has been back to his normal self ever since. We talked to the emergency vet that night and followed up with our usual vet once they opened up after the holiday. We had a quiet night that night and have kept an eye on him ever since. According to both vets, he may not have another one for months or years, or maybe never.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
See ya next year!
I am ready for Christmas! I wrapped the last of our gifts last night - it is an 'IOU' gift since what we ordered for my father-in-law in NOVEMBER hasn't come in yet (grumble, grumble), but it should be here before the end of the week, and he'll have something to open when we do Christmas with Kevin's family tonight. His grandmother and her hubby (and dogs) drove in yesterday, so we'll get to see the whole family tonight. I love this time of year - the decorations (we drove around the neighborhood looking at lights over the weekend), the music, seeing family - and am looking forward to some relaxation (and no alarm clocks!) the rest of this week and next. We'll celebrate with Kevin's family tonight, with my family on Christmas day, and Kevin and I will have a short vacation to Galveston next week.
Today is my last day to work for the year! WOOHOO! I've moved all of my outstanding to-dos to after the holiday - it says due next month but it is really due next year (next decade if you really want to scare yourself about how time flies). It is a ghost town here at work, which has made it possible for me to get a lot done, but also problematic to get hold of anyone who I need to get answers from. Luckily all the 'gotta get done' is already done.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Santa tracking has come a long way since I was a kid. I remember watching the weather as a kid to see the red blip that was Rudolph's nose. Now NORAD will track him, complete with Facebook and twitter updates...
Today is my last day to work for the year! WOOHOO! I've moved all of my outstanding to-dos to after the holiday - it says due next month but it is really due next year (next decade if you really want to scare yourself about how time flies). It is a ghost town here at work, which has made it possible for me to get a lot done, but also problematic to get hold of anyone who I need to get answers from. Luckily all the 'gotta get done' is already done.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Santa tracking has come a long way since I was a kid. I remember watching the weather as a kid to see the red blip that was Rudolph's nose. Now NORAD will track him, complete with Facebook and twitter updates...
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Christmas decorations
We took some photos of our Christmas decorations. I love how festive it makes the house look. I'm sure we'll add more decorations each year. There are also some photos of the petting zoo that our neighborhood had as part of the Winter festival - with BABY DEER!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Christmas Gathering
We had a great day yesterday! Kevin's entire family gets together each year for Christmas and this year they all came to our house.
The food for the event is a collective effort - making it easier on those hosting since everyone brings a little bit. It also making it taste better since everyone brings their specialties. I wish I'd taken a photo of the food, it was quite a spread - Kevin smoked a turkey (turned out great!), his uncle brought a ham, and there were all the fixings for sandwiches, cheese dip, guacamole, veggie tray, bean dip, pickle/olive tray, and desserts galore! My mother-in-law made hosting easy -- she handled the assignments of who brings what and also provided disposable plates and utensils. They even let us leave Smokey at their house for the day, since it would just be too much activity for him. We counted it up and there were 22 people in the house - 17 adults and 5 kids. I didn't think we could fit that many people in our house, but we did :)
From the time everyone got there it was chaos, but great fun. The 4 kids spent most of the time upstairs with the Wii. I didn't even know our nephew had arrived since he went straight upstairs to play with the other kids. It sounded like a herd of elephants running around upstairs, but they had a great time! We thought ahead and had Kevin's brother bring their Wii controllers so each of the 4 kids had their own - avoiding a lot of tears.....they barely ate they were so excited to see each other and play the games. He is good at the bowling game and they love rockband.
We all had a great time eating and visiting, and watching the kids open their gifts. We have gifts too - a white elephant gift exchange. Its funny to see what everyone brings...this year was the year of 'as seen on tv' - there was not one but 2 different Snuggies, a Perfect Brownie, and a laptop stand. Lottery tickets always show up. We were happy with what we got - Terminator Salvation blu-ray for Kevin and cute serving bowls (one that looks like an avocado and another that looks like a jalapeno pepper) for me.
The only one who didn't enjoy the day was our little niece Kendall, they brought her home for much of the party since she just couldn't get to sleep. We think she may be getting a tooth for Christmas, causing her to be UNHAPPY.. poor little gal.
We'd used having this event as an excuse to deck out the decorations for the house - this will be an ongoing effort since we'll add a little each year - this year we've added stockings, a wreath for the front door, garland on the stairs, and a set of light up candles in the yard.
We hope the kids were as exhausted as we were by the end of the night!!
The food for the event is a collective effort - making it easier on those hosting since everyone brings a little bit. It also making it taste better since everyone brings their specialties. I wish I'd taken a photo of the food, it was quite a spread - Kevin smoked a turkey (turned out great!), his uncle brought a ham, and there were all the fixings for sandwiches, cheese dip, guacamole, veggie tray, bean dip, pickle/olive tray, and desserts galore! My mother-in-law made hosting easy -- she handled the assignments of who brings what and also provided disposable plates and utensils. They even let us leave Smokey at their house for the day, since it would just be too much activity for him. We counted it up and there were 22 people in the house - 17 adults and 5 kids. I didn't think we could fit that many people in our house, but we did :)
From the time everyone got there it was chaos, but great fun. The 4 kids spent most of the time upstairs with the Wii. I didn't even know our nephew had arrived since he went straight upstairs to play with the other kids. It sounded like a herd of elephants running around upstairs, but they had a great time! We thought ahead and had Kevin's brother bring their Wii controllers so each of the 4 kids had their own - avoiding a lot of tears.....they barely ate they were so excited to see each other and play the games. He is good at the bowling game and they love rockband.
We all had a great time eating and visiting, and watching the kids open their gifts. We have gifts too - a white elephant gift exchange. Its funny to see what everyone brings...this year was the year of 'as seen on tv' - there was not one but 2 different Snuggies, a Perfect Brownie, and a laptop stand. Lottery tickets always show up. We were happy with what we got - Terminator Salvation blu-ray for Kevin and cute serving bowls (one that looks like an avocado and another that looks like a jalapeno pepper) for me.
The only one who didn't enjoy the day was our little niece Kendall, they brought her home for much of the party since she just couldn't get to sleep. We think she may be getting a tooth for Christmas, causing her to be UNHAPPY.. poor little gal.
We'd used having this event as an excuse to deck out the decorations for the house - this will be an ongoing effort since we'll add a little each year - this year we've added stockings, a wreath for the front door, garland on the stairs, and a set of light up candles in the yard.
We hope the kids were as exhausted as we were by the end of the night!!
Friday, December 4, 2009
Snow
Its snowing in downtown Houston! I was not really excited about it since I have to be at work and it makes me worry for the driving conditions going home, but it is beautiful. I looked up from my work to see it steadily coming down outside my window.
This is the first time we've ever had snow 2 years in row (blog from last year's snow), 34th time Houston has EVER had snow (since record keeping started in the late 1800s).
I've already seens posts of people laughing at how excited/freaked we are, but its rare for us and knowing how badly people drive in the rain its cause for concern...and celebration.....
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Dangers of Social networking
Earlier this week I had to attend a meeting at Houston Community College (HCC), so I put headed to HCC for a meeting as my status on Twitter and Facebook.
A person I went to high school with commented on my status saying, "I've spent the day reading about hepatocellular carcinoma and found your status confusing." I saw the comment and thought it was odd to make that connection, but could find an h and two cs in the phrase, so it is probably also abbreviated HCC in medical literature. I also realize that your frame of reference will lead you to read abbreviations in certain ways...my job is its own alphabet soup of abbreviations. I went on about my business and didn't think anything more of it.
My poor mother-in-law read it and some part of her thought I might have it! She even researched it and called my hubby, who was unaware of my FB status , at home. I can only imagine how confused he was.
I hope I never have a disease such as that, but if I do or for any serious news I won't break it to people via facebook/twitter/whatever social networking site I'm using by then...
I know there are much more serious dangers with social websites, but that is the most recent one I've encountered, and now that my mother-in-law knows I'm fine, it is funny in a strange way.
A person I went to high school with commented on my status saying, "I've spent the day reading about hepatocellular carcinoma and found your status confusing." I saw the comment and thought it was odd to make that connection, but could find an h and two cs in the phrase, so it is probably also abbreviated HCC in medical literature. I also realize that your frame of reference will lead you to read abbreviations in certain ways...my job is its own alphabet soup of abbreviations. I went on about my business and didn't think anything more of it.
My poor mother-in-law read it and some part of her thought I might have it! She even researched it and called my hubby, who was unaware of my FB status , at home. I can only imagine how confused he was.
I hope I never have a disease such as that, but if I do or for any serious news I won't break it to people via facebook/twitter/whatever social networking site I'm using by then...
I know there are much more serious dangers with social websites, but that is the most recent one I've encountered, and now that my mother-in-law knows I'm fine, it is funny in a strange way.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)