I've been a bad bad journaler. Things are crazy hectic around here, so for now I am just going to jabber on about all the things I've been up to and all the things I have planned to be up to. Like TL usually says to me when I begin telling him something I think is interesting...
"Is this going to be a long story?" (which I hate by the way... but since I know I tend to babble on and on about things he's completely
not interested in... sort of like all he hears is,
"wah, wah, wah..." when I speak, (I always did love Charlie Brown cartoons) what can I do?)
Anyway...
Let's see, where to begin... My Birthday. It was good. For the long holiday weekend my 15 year old Nephew, Christian who lives in California, came to stay with us for 5 days. He's come 4 summers in a row now and each and every year, I fall more in love with him. He's just the coolest kid and has such a wise head on his shoulders. He allows me to be just me and for that I love him. I get to act like a kid around him and say and do stupid things. (See evidence below...) We laugh a lot and eat (a lot) and just have fun. Nephews are the best ever! Here is just a sample of some of the things we did...
1. Shopped at Target... (the best store. ever.)
2. Saw Bewitched... (not as good as Anchorman, but better than Eyes Wide Shut)
3. Raced Cars at Speed Zone. (And, I didn't throw up this time!)
4. Layed out at the pool and swam...
5. Went to Lone Star Park, and bet on the ponies... I tried to sneak him up to the window, but they insisted he didn't look 21years old. "Wha? Don't mess with our MoJo lady..." We didn't win. Not a one race.
6. We saw some lovely fireworks...
7. And we lit off some of our own... 
Okay, so this is so illegal here in Texas, but hey, I'm the Aunt and what I say, goes. Nevermind that we snuck up to the top of a Shopping Mall's Parking Garage, lit them off and then saw across the way on the second Parking Garage a speeding security guard trying to make his way down, so he could speed over to our direction to totally bust us, and we just happen to look over right when we saw him making his way down that other Parking Garage and in a flash of hysterics, we threw down our innocent little sparklers and tried to stomp on them, so we could then race over to the car, get in and speed down the ramps to escape out the other side before he could find us... It never happened. That's my story...
Sadly he had to go home on my actual Birthday, but we did have a great time, so that was okay. That night TL and I ventured to a new restaurant and enjoyed a very nice dinner a' la Patio Dining. A summer night, the love of my life sitting across from me, a glass full of Belini's and a plate full of Pasta, what more could a girl ask for? I completely scored on the Birthday Gifts this year too. It seems like I got showered! So many packages, and so many cute cards filled with checks, and Gift Cards galore, and all to my favorite stores! No cake for me this year, I got a Pecan Pie. Somebody knows me all too well! Woo Hoo! Here is a little sample...
And here are the "Thank You" cards I made everyone to let them know how much I enjoyed receiving all my goodies. And thanks to so many of you for your well wishes... It makes my day each time I hear from you all!!
Other than that it just seems that I've been swamped and the main reason is because I've taken a second part-time job. Having two part time jobs was supposed to seem like 1 full-time job, but has really turned into
more than 1 full-time job. The one good thing is (besides the $$) is that I am working for another nonprofit and it is located in the same building where my "real" job is. So each day, I just hop on back to my "other" office and everything goes smooth as pie. (Mmm, Pie) I am a little drained though with the coordinating of these two jobs, and the extra hours they are requiring of my now 41 year old body to work, but hopefully things will even themselves out here soon.
Working these extra hours hasn't afforded me much time to be creative. And I am missing that desperately. I still view all my crafty friend's websites and I see such lovely things they are creating and it makes me jealous. But at the same time, when I do have free time, it often seems like I don't have the motivation to work on things. I usually will only get down to business if there is a deadline of some sort or a present for someone to create. I wonder why I am like that? It seems that when I have free time, I tend to be lazy, but when I don't have any time I crave free time to do all the things I am too tired to do, because I am too busy to do them... Does any of this make sense? Grrr... I really want to participate in the
Tie One On apron project... Back in June I started the "
Home on the Range" apron, but it is still sitting in my sewing room, so close to being finished, but not. Oh and
Pink Lemonade? It's so me. And then there is my 4 year old Neice's Birthday coming up in a few weeks and I can not let my nephew's
Robot Project outshine what I do for her. I do have something cooking in the ole' noggin', but must get to work immediately on it!! Too many fun things to do and not enough time to do them.
On the Reality TV front... Summer is usually slow, but for some reason I've stumbled on a few shows to watch. Bear with me and don't judge:
Johnathan Antin. Yum. He can blow me out any day. He is narcissistic, but hot, whiney, controlling, but hot, nasally, and sort of annoying at times, but very hot. And that is all I have to say about that.
I've really enjoyed watching
The Scholar. I don't know anyone else who is watching this, but I've enjoyed the "positive" vibe to it all. No one gets voted off, they have to earn their spots. It's down to the "top" five and the winner should be revealed next week. These High School braniacs are all cute, obviously smart and at least trying to make something out of their futures. I'm rooting for the Home-Schooler,
Scot or if he doesn't win, I guess I'd like to see the Math Wiz,
Elizabeth win. The Winner will receive a Full Ride Scholarship to the college of their choice. (Nerd Alert...)
I've dipped and dabbled in a few others, but other than these two shows, I'm not impressed.
My only other news that I plan to elaborate more on very soon is our upcoming vacation plans. We will be traveling East in 2 weeks. We're going to
Boston, MA for 2 days, and then driving up to
Plattsburgh, NY to visit with TL's family. Tony, his dad, will be turning 80 while we are there and we hope to celebrate. His mom, Doris is still not doing so well, but I hope we will be able to bring some sunshine their way with our visit... I can't wait to get a little time off and get away!
"and, wah, wah, wah..."
