Time Flies

I was staring out the kitchen window this morning, watching it rain. I like the rain, as long as I don't have to go anywhere, but it tends to put me in a pretty contemplative mood. It's a nice, cool, day today-about 70-with overcast skies and a slight, but ever-so-steady rainfall. A good day to be curled up on the couch with a mug of tea and a good book...doubt I'll get to do much of that.

But this morning, staring out the window, I was thinking about how much more I appreciate the rain in central Texas than I did when we lived in Houston. It rains a lot in Houston...But that thought sent me down memory lane and I realized that it's been over 2 years since we moved to Houston, and a year and a half since we moved back to Austin. That blows my mind...

It's strange, but I'm still rather conflicted about that move. Houston is not the town for us, of that I am certain. We love Austin, with it's independently owned businesses and it's quirks and it's artists and hippies. But I had a good time in Houston. I miss terribly our friends there, and the times we had. It was nice not to have to make a trek to see Clint's family (though it was quite a trek to see mine), and I really loved my job.

But that 7 months was a pretty dark time in our marriage...Right after I accepted my job, Clint decided he didn't want to go through with the move. He suffered from a pretty deep depression that started before we even moved (actually influenced why we moved), and we fought constantly. He had a very hard time finding a job he liked (or a job, period). We never found a church where we felt at home at (largely because Clint was determined that we were returning to Austin, and did not want to get connected and then leave, again). He talks about our time there as if we were wrongly sentenced to purgatory.

But I am always one to make lemonade. It is not in my nature to dwell on the negatives. And so my memories are overwhelmingly filled with friends, and family, and Astros games and shopping and fun times. So, on rainy days, I remember Houston fondly, and I miss our good times there.

Goats as Lawnmowers?

I love Ideal Bite, but c'mon? Guys? This is the best alternative to a gas-powered lawnmower you could come up with? Somehow, I don't think many people are going to see goats as a practical method for mowing the lawn, no matter how effective they may be (and they are QUITE effective).

My Positive Thought For The Day

(Image Thanks to A Beautiful Revolution)

I am desperately longing for the glorious end to a crappy week. And Clint's first paycheck. How was it that we got by when I didn't work for almost a year? Oh, that's right. We weren't making a SECOND MORTGAGE payment to a daycare center. I forgot. (Not that I'm complaining, Mom)

Like Heaven, On Earth

Ok, I have found my new favorite indulgence... Vosges Chocolate. A co-worker went to Grapevine Market today at lunch and purchased some. Seriously, go to this website and peruse. It is all odd combinations-and some, I'll admit, are not so appealing (seriously, bacon and chocolate? whatever made someone think of that?). BUT, and this is a big but, the few I've tried are AMAZING! My coworker's favorite is the Barcelona, but we also tried the Red Fire and Black Pearl (my personal fav-So Far!). Yeah, and we also tried Mo's Bacon Bar. And it was actually OK. Possibly one of the strangest food combinations to ever enter my mouth-but definitely edible. And look-you can get them in cute flying pig shaped bars!

In addition, they have treats both clever & beautiful:

Themed Truffle collections, such as Hip-Hop (which comes with champagne and is decorated with edible gold leaf) and Gatsby (based on the love story behind The Great Gatsby, the truffles are made with champagne and roses)! And mini cakes such as the Red Velvet Mini Party Cake!

Anyway, the chocolate bars are available at Grapevine Market and Whole Foods in Austin. If you aren't in Austin, check their site (linked, above) for locations. Seriously, do yourself a favor and splurge (and I do mean splurge-these things aren't cheap!) on one-they are so worth it!

I like My Neighbors...

But they are the loudest people on the face of the earth. For a long while, I thought they were constantly fighting with each other. But then I realized: no, they just use shouting and honking the car horn as a constant means of communication. I highly doubt they read this blog, but if they do...I like you, I really do. But my child is trying to sleep...

DPS is Run by Idiots, Part 1

Yes, I know...this is really installment 2 of this story, but it happened first, so it is part 1.

We bought a house in August. August 24th, 2007, was the day we signed the paperwork, to be exact. Clint did a Google search of our new address one day after the signing and discovered that it was the former residence of a registered sex offender (RSO). He immediately contacted the Austin Police Department to inform them that this was no longer the case, and filed a bunch of paperwork to prove it. Problem solved...

Yeah. Not quite. About a month later, 2 weeks before we were supposed to move in, we-and all of our neighbors-got a notice that a registered sex offender had moved into our address. Excuse me? Not just a registered sex offender, but one charged with indecency with a child. Niiice. Now all our new neighbors think my husband is a child molester. And they throw rocks at our glass storm door (there is still glass on my front porch and in my front slower bed that I can't get up).

Of course, we called APD, again, who told us that their information was correct and directed us to DPS, who is in charge of maintaining the RSO database and issuing the notices. Clint called DPS who quite clearly and not at all helpfully informed him "we don't print retractions." Which, of course was the wrong answer. DPS, in the future, when you screw up ROYALLY (and especially if my husband is involved), the Correct Answer is: Yes, we made a terrible mistake and I am sorry; how can we fix this problem?

So, Clint and I were in the process of trying to determine 'what now?' when my mother happens to mention to my aunt (who happens to be a lawyer) what has occurred. My aunt, like everyone else who has heard this story, was outraged on our behalf and offered to contact DPS, as our lawyer. That got us...one step further up the food chain and several days of unreturned phone calls. DPS PR Lesson #2: You always return a lawyer's phone calls. My aunt, fed up, contacted a handful of local news stations and within, oh say, 45 minutes I had 4 voicemails and 6 emails.

It took exactly ONE reporter to contact DPS and they decided-hey, maybe we DO print retractions! It also took one reporter about half a day, tops, to determine that the sex offender who had previously owned our property had, in fact, moved out of the property back in MARCH when he got arrested. He was still in jail. See? And she wasn't even responsible for knowing where he was...

Why I Love Our Church

The description of our Easter service for this evening in Mosaic's email newsletter:

tonight's service will
be raucous.
it's easter,
how can it not be?
baptism
baby dedications
and a band
with a dozen or so
of some of the best
musicians in this
fair city of ours.

we're finished
with lent.
christ is risen.

let's party.

amen.

Words cannot describe how much I truly love these people-and how much I appreciate being back amongst them, even a year-and-a-half later. They don't sweat the small stuff, face head-on the tough stuff, totally get the 'love your neighbor' stuff, and they know how to celebrate. Tonight, we party! Happy Easter.

Why Texas DPS Can Suck It

Back in the middle of January, about a week after being FIRED (an entirely different, crazy story that I have not yet posted), Clint got pulled over in Lee county right outside of Giddings by a DPS officer (important later). I won't go into all the details, but suffice it to say that he was planning on showing up for court, esp. since he had nothing better to do... His court date happened to be my birthday... Mama=Not Happy. But, by some miraculous happening, his court date got pushed off. Not once, not twice, but THREE times. The third time, he found out that he was not even being placed on the docket, as Lee County happened to have misplaced his paperwork. Hallelujah! Or so we thought.

Then, last Tuesday, we get a notice in the mail from DPS about the suspension of Clint's driver's license (meaning, most likely, a corresponding warrant for his arrest) for a failure to appear in court on...February 7th. What? This means that if Clint gets pulled over again, he goes to jail. For a while. I believe that his new job might not be understanding about that...

So Clint calls Lee County to try and figure out what the eff is going on...And (through a long process of too many questions and curse words) discovers that DPS has issued the warrant/suspension for failure to appear without notice from Lee County. See, the way this is supposed to work is that Lee County has to contact DPS and tell them that he didn't appear...Which they DIDN'T DO because he hadn't had a COURT DATE YET. DPS simply pulled the original court date off of Clint's ticket, since the case hadn't been resolved, yet, ASSUMING that he just hadn't shown up... Apparently in this case, assuming makes and ASS out of DPS and a CRIMINAL out of my husband. Nice trade off.

Though I haven't posted about the first time, yet, this is the second time in less than a year that DPS had tried to make a criminal out of a good person, that person being my husband, and excuse me if I take that A BIT PERSONALLY.

Yay! Spring!

So, it's not officially Spring, yet, according to the calendar. But all the trees here, in Central Texas, are putting out leaves and blooms...so, it's Spring as far as I'm concerned. We've even hit the 90s already...this summer might be a doozy. We are going to have to get some A/C in this house, Stat!

Spring is my favorite time of year. It is absolutely beautiful outside in the Springtime here, and not so oppressively, unbearably hot. Seriously, Texas Summers can be absolutely demoralizing. But not Spring! Spring is beautiful greens and pinks, sunshine wonderful & blessed, cool breezes and glorious ever-so-slightly-clouded azure skies.

But it is not just the weather that I treasure. Flowers are in full bloom-in trees, bushes, grasses, and gardens. The Farm had the tail end of the winter greens season-with spinach and kale and chard, and many more, but also the beginnings of summer veggies! There were snow peas, and garlic, and green onions. Leeks, and fennel, and even the very first of the strawberry crop! We didn't get our own garden this Spring (but definitely for the Fall!!!), but at least we are so close to Boggy Creek! I keep dreaming of summer veggies to come-from Boggy Creek and the farmers' markets, and the Mason gardens!

Max turns one this spring, less than a month from now. I am so excited about the possibilities the spring and summer hold for him, and for our family. All the 'firsts' out there-zoos and gardens and creeks and ponds and pools and oceans and ferries and Oh! The Possibilities!
And let's not forget that all-important first birthday cake...

And then, there is the start of baseball...14 Days and Counting until OPENING DAY at Minute Maid Park...Home of the Houston Astros. Oh, Baseball, How I Love Thee! Let me count the ways! This summer, Max and I are absolutely going to at least ONE Astro's game...I don't care if it kills me. The boy will love baseball whether he likes it or not...I'd consider buying a TV (which I haven't owned in almost 4 years) just to watch baseball. Are you starting to understand my love for this game? And why I might get so jazzed about Spring?

What Happens in Vegas

So the last few weeks have been busybusy. I traveled to Las Vegas for work at the very end of February and wow...This was my first time in Vegas and it was even More Ridiculous than I had ever imagined. This place is beyond outrageous. It is a giant adult amusement park of debauchery. I kept mentioning things that blew me away to other people, including Clint, and the only response I ever received was, 'It's Vegas...' Like, Duh. Guess I'm more naive than I like to believe. Anyway, we stayed at the Venetian, and had problems with exactly all 3 of our room reservations. Honestly, I was hugely UNDER whelmed with the treatment of my group by the hotel staff. They were difficult to deal with on multiple occasions.

The Venetian itself was just...gilded. That's really the only word I can think of to describe it. Everything was huge, and overdone, and then gold-plated. The ceilings are painted fresco-style. The bathroom in my suite had a double-sink vanity, a separate make-up vanity, a huge tub, a separate shower, and a phone in the toilet. Really? A phone in the toilet? Because Americans are that ridiculous that we can't be away from the phone while we poop. Maybe having a phone in the toilet of a Roman-inspired hotel is appropriate.

The hotels in Vegas are so big and sprawling that there are signs everywhere to direct you to where you are going. And they, of course, encompass everything you could possibly need because Heaven Forbid you should decide to travel into the outside world and Leave THE CASINO. So, for instance, the Venetian has 19 restaurants- 11 fine dining and 8 casual dining, in addition to the room service, a spa, a wedding chapel, a gondola, a MALL, 2 museums (Madame Toussad's and The Guggenheim Hermitage), 3 different shows (Blue Man, Phantom, and Wayne Brady), a nightclub, 2 bars, and-of course-the casino. You don't even have to even leave the hotel and you can fill up a week's worth of activities.

But I think there were two instances that really hammered home the fact that Vegas is an alternate universe. The first happened as I wondered through the casino at the Venetian to find a coffee shop in the Canal Shoppes. At 9:30 on a Monday morning, I walked through the casino and there, standing in front of the escalators, was a man contemplating a Bud Light bottle. At 9:30 AM. On a MONDAY. He had obviously not slept. Maybe for several days.

The second happened in our last meeting just before we left the city. The convention was held at the Rio and several meetings we had took place at the I Bar, conveniently located in the lobby (I never located the front desk to, you know, check in; but the bar was right out front). Since most of our meetings took place during the day, this had been a relatively low-key (though far from empty) meeting spot. But this last meeting took place at 4:30 in the afternoon, a time that is after the cocktail waitresses go on duty. This meeting included our company's male CEO, who looked rather sheepish as a barely-clad waitress cruised by our table several times, asking if we needed drinks. Vegas is one of the few places where it is acceptable to have business meetings in places that essentially add up to nothing more than strip clubs, only because it is virtually impossible to avoid.

I have pictures, but Google's servers are not cooperating... :( I'll post them, soon.