High Pass

This week was chaotic.  We had 2 different people coming out to fix things at the house, and it ended up that each day they were coming was one of the days that Kevin had to go to school, the days they couldn't come he was home all day - how does it work out that way?

Almost everything is fixed at the house and he took his written comprehensive exams on Monday.  It was a huge weight lifted to have those tests behind him!  He wrote for a solid 3 hours on 3 different questions (one from each professor on his committee).    I can see that he's started to relax this week since they are over, and its been great to see.  He's been prepping for it since Christmas break and devoted all of his time over spring break (except the day trip to Woodville) to study for it.

He got the news yesterday that he passed and not just passed but got 'high pass' marks.  Congrats sweetie!!    I got a bottle of wine on the way home to have with dinner and toast his success.   The real celebration will have to wait until the end of the semester as he's still getting caught up on his classes.  I know it is a relief to him to have this hurdle behind him.

We watched Tower Heist last night, very funny and enjoyable.   I was not expecting to see Matthew Broderick.  

I'm hoping K can take a break tonight so we can see Hunger Games.  We rarely go to the movies anymore, so it says a lot that I want to go to see it (he is usually the one wanting to go to the movies) and I CANNOT WAIT!  I've read all 3 books, and actually reread the first one since I'd picked it for my book club.

Halloween

Its almost Halloween and so that means its time for scary movies....Kevin LOVES scary movies, me not so much.  In fact, I really only watch them with him because he loves them so much.  I keep trying to get him and my sister to see the movies together so that they get to see them and I don't have to......its a win/win, right?!?    It never works, and trust me I know that part of why K likes scary movies is then he gets to scare the crap out of me by sneaking up on me....he does that a little too well.
 
Last weekend we watched Psych9 -- don't watch it, it was awful and made no sense...if anyone understands the ending, please tell me.  It was interesting to see Cary Elwes in another movie, K completely missed my references to the Princess Bride  which means we MUST watch it soon!   That is how I get him back for making me watch horror movies - he has to watch rom-coms with me....hehehe

Last night we watched Paranormal Activity 2....ooooh, it was scary and meets my scary movie quota for at  least 6 months.   If K wants to see the third installment in the theatres he'll have to go solo...

Along with scary movies, you can tell its close to Halloween by all the decorations in the neighborhood.   We have very few decorations, just our metal jack-o-lantern at the front door and some decorations inside, but some people in our neighborhood go all.   Here is a skeleton climbing a tree that is at a house down the street from us.  It creeps me out every time i have to drive by it.....

At least our neighborhood has the decorations for the correct holiday, when we went out to eat for my birthday last weekend we saw this.  Isn't it a little early to have Santa out?  They also had out wreaths everywhere.  Can't we let each holiday get its time?  I did find it funny he was right in front of a Victoria's Secret ad (and store), guess that's why he has that smirk on his face.

The Help

I finally went to see "The Help" last night, and I LOVED it!

Its been out a week, but it took a while to coordinate schedules, mostly my calendar since this has been the busiest week! My sister and I each read the book so we made a girls night out of it, and Kevin was happy because he didn't have to go see it..

Of course they had to simplify some things from the book and leave things out, but all in all it was pretty true to the book -- I did wish they'd left one scene the same (what happened with Constantine) but understand that it worked better in print then on the screen)

I was skeptical about Emma Stone playing Skeeter, but she did a great job and you really forgot it was her. The actress playing Minnie was right on!

Go see this movie!

I see why my mother-in-law is #107 or something on the waiting list at the library for the book, it was very popular already and the movie just catapulted its popularity.

Looking at it from today's views its hard to think there was ever that much separation between races, but it really wasn't that long ago and unfortunately some people still hold some of those views. I found myself thinking of my grandparents' maid, Eunice, and what she would've had to say about working for a family in Louisiana, she lived through that time so I'm sure she could've told us a lot.

Unique Christmas

For the first time ever, my hubby and I went to the movies on Christmas day. We were originally going to be with my family on Christmas day, but since it fell on a Thursday and my brother and sister both had to work today we decided to celebrate this weekend instead. So, we were not sure what to do on Christmas day and decided to take the opportunity to see some movies we've been wanting to see. We went to the first showing of the day of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and made it a double feature by staying to see Doubt. Between the two movies we ate at the restaurant at the theater and even had time to get an ice cream at marble slab, also in the theater. I'm glad that restaurant was open, that's the only way we could have made it a double feature without having a dinner of popcorn, nachos or other movie theater food. I thought that no restaurants were open on Christmas day, but hadn't considered a restaurant AT the movies.

I know that for many families going to the movies on Christmas is a tradition (the theater was so busy by the time we left it seems like everyone goes), but it never has been in my family, so it made for a very unique Christmas for me. Tonight I'll head down to my parents' house and Kevin will come for the day tomorrow to celebrate with my family.

Where did this week go?

For being a full workweek after a holiday week, this week has flown by! I am sure its because I was so busy at work (meetings galore) and at home, a quick recap of the week:

• Kevin went to the Monday Night Football game, the Texans' first game and they won! wahoo!
• I volunteered on Tuesday night
• Wednesday night we were both home, made dinner and watched a movie on the new bluray player, Iron Man. It was actually pretty good. I also got to play with my new phone, - having the internet, facebook, etc in a handheld is ~dangerous~
• We had date night Thursday night, much more fun than going to my book club to discuss a book I hated (and didn't even finish) which were my original plans that night. We like going to Buffalo Wild Wings, especially on cheap boneless wing night, and I love playing the trivia games they have there. I do not know how some players get the full points for EVERY question, but even though I'll never be a top scorer I enjoy it.

I love having a Christmas tree at the house every night, and hope to be home a little more this weekend to enjoy it. We'll attend Kevin's company Christmas party this weekend, it should be fun and I hope to finish up my Christmas shopping. Still not sure if I want to do Christmas cards this year...hmmmm

Tropical storm day

Work announced yesterday afternoon that they were going to be closed today for TS Edouard (why do I have such a hard time spelling this?). That is a perk of working for a school, with students from all over town they are pretty good about closing in bad weather - and they are always listed on the news to find out if they close overnight/early in the morning. I like their outlook on it, from the website: Edouard poses no immediate threat to the University of Houston-Downtown, itself, but high winds and flooding could put travelers in danger tomorrow.

Last night Kevin and I brought in everything from the patio and the front porch. He even trimmed the yard and cut the grass. We decided to leave the grills out but used rope to tie down the covers – unfortunately I lost all the knowledge I had of knots from my Girl Scout days, Coletta and the rest of my leaders would be disappointed! – so the best I could do was a square knot and then when I had only one end I had to just kind of rig knots as best and as tight as I could, its not pretty but I think it’ll work.

After we had the house prepared, I made a drink – a 7 and 7 (but with Sprite instead of 7-Up). I rarely drink on Monday nights, but I also rarely don’t have to work on Tuesdays. I’d bought sprite zero a while back to make it, but never made one and Kevin drank most of the sprites that I bought, who knew he liked Sprite – I’d only seen him drink diet coke and coke zero. The random things I learn. It is refreshing though, and no caffeine.

Today I slept in (until 8:30 when Smokey came to snuggle with me – it was so dark I thought it was much earlier – even on the weekends I never sleep that late!), worked out, watched the coverage of the storm, finally finished filing (one of my never-ending chores), and re-arranged the living room for the new sound system we’re getting for the tv. Kevin ordered it online and the pieces started arriving Monday, and even with the rain the rest of them came, by FedEx and UPS today!! UPS even came hours earlier than usual (early afternoon rather than 7pm), my guess because a lot of the places on his route were closed. So we were actually able to get the entire system set up! Kevin made two trips to RadioShack, we underestimated how much stereo wire we’d need. I helped him by stripping the wires and connecting each of the speakers to the receiver, I felt very DIYer! After he had it all set up and adjusted it he ran tests to optimize the sound (Smokey did not like that ~ he was confused by it and kept running over near the speaker that was making sound. We finally had to put him outside, oh and my prediction was right: Smokey wanted outside IN the rain, and when he was out there he’d DRINK FROM THE PUDDLES on the patio. Looking at him you’d think we didn’t have a nice bowl of water for him inside the house, but he loves rainwater). In the evening, we watched our first movie with the new system: The Bourne Ultimatum, and it was a great one to see with it! The speakers make for a very different viewing experience, almost like a movie theater, with speakers in the front corners, a center speaker and a sub woofer, and a speaker near me, another near Kevin for surround sound. We already watched a lot of movies at home, but I think we’ll be watching even more!

We were even able to put most of the stuff back out on the patio, but will leave the grills roped up til we need to use them.

All in all, a great Tropical storm day. The storm came on land near High Island, so we got some much-needed rain (an inch and a half total) but little wind. And there were no serious injuries or damage from the storm. The only injuries I heard about were 3 brothers who had to get rescued in Galveston because they decided to go in the water and got pushed into a rock wall, not too bright! Aside from that, it was a fun experience for a lot of the tourists in Galveston (they interviewed people who were at the hotel who stayed because it was coming)

Batman, Birthday, and the Beach

This weekend was even better than I expected. On Friday we saw The Dark Knight with Laura. We bought the tickets to the 8:10 show before we went to eat (at Johnny Carino's), then got there just after 7:30 to get our seats. I'm glad we got our tickets (and our seats) early - the theatre was packed. The movie was great, and lived up to everything I'd heard about it before it came out and during the week that it was out before we saw it. Heath Ledger was scarily convincing as a loony Joker. It was about 2 1/2 hours long but kept my interest the entire time. Only gripe, sometimes I had a hard time hearing what the people were saying over the background music, especially at the end, but such a great movie!

On Saturday I had to go to get my procedure done at the dentist, and it went pretty well, it was quick at least. I'm still taking some pain medication and have to remember to chew on the other side of my mouth, but am glad I got it done and hope it heals quickly. I had "redundant" gum tissue removed from the back of my jaw where it was higher than it should be, allowing it to catch food and making it difficult to brush the back tooth as well as I need to. Kevin and I ran errands - got my prescription and went to the store, and I did laundry then we went to the other side of town to see Kaden for his birthday. The party started at the water park where we got to watch Kaden play in the pool, including one that is pool meets playground - slides and netting to climb, and a huge bucket that fills and dumps water all over everyone and everything. Kaden went down the slide lots of time - first time he's done it by himself! He and the other kids there are fun to watch, and Kevin took a bunch of pictures of him. Afterwards we went back to their house to eat, and to have cake and gifts. Kaden's reaction to his first gift, "its not Thomas (the train)" was funny, but after that he liked his gifts, even the clothes we gave him - and the model Hummer car that Kevin found for him. His last gift - a bicycle, didn't get as big a reaction as we thought it would, but I think he'll like it eventually. His favorite gift that day - I think was the bubble bazooka.... oh, and I got to hear him say Aunt Carol :) awwww so sweet.

Sunday we went to the beach. Unfortunately, none of the friends we invited could make it, but Kevin, Smokey, and I had a great time. The canopy that Kevin bought made the day - its 10'x10' once its up, and is really easy to put up! We had shade the whole time we were there, and would just move our chairs as the shade shifted with the movement of the sun. The shade plus the breeze at the beach made it really pleasant, and we spent the whole afternoon out there. We grilled hot dogs, and would go out in the water for a bit, then sit back under the canopy and relax. It was as relaxing as an all-out vacation, and a great way to do it on the cheap since we could just spend the day there, with the only real expense being the gas to get down there, and no hassle of hotels, etc. We did pack a lot of stuff for one day, some of it we didn't use - too windy for frisbee, but we were well-prepared. Here is a photo of our set-up.

The first thing Smokey did when he got out of the truck at the beach was roll around in the sand, it must feel good because he kept doing it and exploring all over the area, always keeping us in sight, and was a mess by the end of the day. We bathed him when we got home. I did get a little sunburned, but did much better than usual. We re-applied sunscreen, I think I just missed some spots - including the very tops of my legs. I must've still been wearing shorts when I put sunscreen on my legs, live and learn, but we are getting better - I'm not beet red on my face like I have been before.

Ready for the weekend...

We finally got some rain this week. Yesterday I had to cut short my walk with Smokey because we were getting rained on, it was sprinkling off and on but was getting harder so we called it quits. Of course when we got home, he wanted to go back outside, so I got to towel him off again when he wanted back in. The rain is part of Hurricane Dolly which hit South Texas. I don't wish for anyone to have to deal with a hurricane, but was glad to get some rain. All told, we got about an inch and a half of rain. It was also a little cooler, but the stupid drivers freaking out for rain makes me frustrated and cranky when I get home.

Tonight we hope to go see The Dark Knight, I've heard great things and am looking forward to seeing it.

This weekend will be another busy one. I have to go to the dentist on Saturday morning to see their oral surgeon that comes once a month. I went for my cleaning this week and didn't have any cavities (yay!) but have extra tissue on my gums in the back that is annoying and that traps food, making a cavity back there more likely. So I'm going there to have it removed. We'll have to run errands on Saturday right after that so that in the afternoon we can go to celebrate Kaden's 3rd birthday (I really want to hear him call me Aunt Carol, but he gets shy around me). I can't wait to see him open his gifts from Keith and Julia, he'll be so surprised.

We plan to go to the beach on Sunday. Kevin went and got a canopy so we can have some shade, and we set it up on Tuesday night - it is easy to put it, just like the brand name - EZ UP - says. It should make for some nice shade when we're out there, especially good since the forecast calls for it to be about 100 degrees this weekend.

White Water Rafting

Today we drove out to Idaho Springs (west of Denver) to go white water rafting. It was exhilarating! We saw some beautiful scenery on the way out there and we know we'll see much more of the snow-capped mountains this week.

In the higher elevation, it was chillier than in Denver, so we took advantage of the equipment they provided - wetsuits, windbreakers, and rented booties to wear to keep our feet warm (not dry, but warm). We would've frozen in what we'd brought - swimsuits, sandals, and cotton clothes. We both had the thought that we'd gotten in over our head as they were explaining technique and what we'd be expected to do, but we went ahead and had a great time. The other people in our raft were also from Texas (and our guide's name was Austin - coincidence, yes), and the guy in front with Kevin was a character - his comments kept us laughing -- talking about his 3 knees (right, left, and wee-knee), and how cold he was, and that the wetsuit needed drainholes in certain unmentionable areas. The water was FREEZING -- 38 degrees, and it was snow the day before! We all got soaked, but Kevin especially since he was in the front. None of us fell out of the raft, and we didn't get stuck on rocks - we saw one group that did, and it didn't look fun at all. We are absolute beginners, and I think that's all I'll ever be.

We're taking it easy the rest of today. Rafting left us both pretty tired and we were out late last night in LoDo (lower Downtown) with Sharon and some people she knows. There is a movie theatre right by the hotel, so we walked over to watch a movie, The Strangers (Kevin's pick), I watched it all but wanted to cover my eyes sometimes, it was so scary!

Tonight we'll take advantage of the hot tub at the hotel.

funny story -- last night Kevin wanted to listen to "Rocky Mountain High" by John Denver since we're in Colorado. I didn't put it on the mp3 player in our GPS, so we thought we'd look for it on a radio station, and we found it! Then it came on again, and again....we checked the station again this morning and we think that's all that station plays! Rocky Mountain High 24/7.