RIP our a/c

our ac finally bit the dust....we'd known it was likely since we bought the house but it finally did it. Oddly it broke in stages.  Kevin got home from work on Thursday to find it not working, we were able to get someone to come out that night who got it working, though he's not really sure how, he didn't do anything but maybe shake it....but it worked for the night and we scheduled to replace the furnace the next day.   It got replaced Friday and we thought, oh good we got off *relatively* cheap......we should know better by now......Saturday comes and the a/c doesn't seem to be working, at first we think its the zoning (each floor is a zone) but nope its the whole thing, so again we wait for someone to come out...this time its the whole thing -- the fan in the outside unit literally FELL OFF......we were really lucky we were able to get it scheduled to be replaced on Sunday (also Mother's Day) but did have to make some quick hotel reservations, and needed pet friendly place so we could bring Smokey.   We had not one but 2 trucks come on Saturday with the needed equipment (and guys) to fix it -- you know its bad when it takes TWO trucks....

it was hot but he was still happy to be home

The hotel was ok not great, and we learned that Smokey is NOT a fan of elevators, also -- note to self -- confirm if hotel has pet fee or not, website didn't show it (we'd ruled one out because it showed it) only to get there and find out that our 4-legged friend was the most expensive of all of us.  Kevin says I shouldn't have mentioned a dog at all, he's pretty tame and well house broken, but I thought we'd end up with a room where we had to walk right by the desk to get to it (dog, what dog?)    our summer rental is only $25 for the week for a pet, this place $100 for one night....bah.....oh well, live and learn...

we were oh so glad to get working a/c yesterday, and slept so good last night...here's hoping our new ac does make the bills go down since it should be more efficient.   and new gadgets for K --- wifi thermostats, do we need to be able to change temps on our phones?  probably not, but we can!

i did still get to have lunch with my mom for mother's day, and so glad we only had 1 night in a hotel.....here's hoping my house is done with things breaking for a while (earlier this year was the water heater).

wall of jasmine

It has taken about a year, but our wall of jasmine is really filling in.  when we moved in it was just a blank black fence, but we wanted some greenery and privacy.  I'm still trying to thread the jasmine to fill in a few holes, but it looks (and smells) great!

I do not claim to have a green thumb at all, but with this we really just plant it and go -- and try to remember to thread it as it grows....hard to keep up with as its had so much rain this spring....

90s Nostalgia Friends

Good bye April and Hello May!

I know that many in Houston were happy to tear that page off the calendar.  Here's hoping May is not as rainy (a tall order since last year's flooding was in May).

I had a great last day of April, I spent it at a Friends' trivia quiz with my sister put on by Geeks Who Drink.   We met our goal of not coming in last (26 of 36 teams!), that was even our team name - The One Where they try not to come in last - and had a great afternoon of catching up and testing our knowledge of the tv show. We each did some studying (aka binge watching) of the show ahead of time, but got nowhere near getting through all the episodes.    Some we knew as soon as they showed the answers, others I just never knew....it was all for fun, and I'd recommend their quizzes, only $5 to play (plus cost of food and drinks at the venue --- we purchased some food and drinks, gotta keep waitstaff happy since we basically took up a table for 5 hours - couple hours early and 3 hours for the game).

The MC wore a wedding dress the whole afternoon and the 90s music soundtrack they had on breaks just added to the fun!

Now that the quiz is over I don't need to watch more episodes and yet I probably will (psst all the seasons are on netflix!).  

Tax Day Flooding

It was a very hard week for Houston this past week with the flooding, apparently to be called the "Tax Day Flooding".     I was actually out of town (work conference) when most of it occurred, but my mind and heart were very much with my city.

The recovery for many areas will take a long time, and sadly some of those most affected are the very people for which a recovery will be the toughest.  

All the photos and articles out there have summed up the situations better than I ever could.  My favorites are those that show the many ordinary people coming together to help others - people and animals - in need.  Please take time to find ways to help.  I personally plan to donate and also need to make time to go donate blood, not necessarily for this disaster but a good supply is always needed and the local blood center lost 2 days of possible donations with all the closures.

I do love this image, a man rescuing an armadillo, based on a real man's actions during the flooding.

Final Four

Since Final Four is in Houston this weekend there is a LOT going on.

We decided to check out the free concerts at Discovery Green on Saturday.....and boy did we underestimate the set up and turnout!      We  rode our bikes downtown and when we arrived, we saw the park completely fenced in and never-ending lines from the gates, one literally wrapped around a city-block size building and then some.

We took advantage of BikePlan Houston's valet bike service and wandered around to see the spectacle.    We saw so many fans of all 4 teams, love seeing our downtown so busy.

Realizing that we would probably never get into the concert area (and I'd probably have a claustrophia attack if we did) and honestly not caring since we don't follow any of the performers that would be there, we went to Market Square park instead ---- way more our speed!  We had a great afternoon downtown and enjoyed the gorgeous day.  

We even stumbled upon Real World auditions...,,I had no idea the show was still on.   I think real world is real enough, don't need a show following a bunch of 20-somethings to show me what life is like.....