Just call me Neil Sperry

With K gone today, I had to come up with something to keep myself occupied. I thought about going to the mall, shopping, renting a movie, exercising, cooking, or reading, but ultimately settled on gardening. I was motivated to plant for the following 2 reasons:

1. The challenge. Every plant I have ever tried to sustain has ultimately died. Now it's like a game - me versus the green. I am GOING to win this time. These plants will grow roots and live.
2. The beauty. I have always longed for a beautifully landscaped yard. While out of town one weekend last year, K borrowed his friend's tiller and surprised me with 3 flower beds in our back yard. We have yet to fill them with flowers. I so appreciate his labor of love, and feel like it's about time to do something about the dirt beds that have become such sore sights to the eye.

So here's what we're dealing with. One pot, and 2 beds. Before we begin though, I would like to personally thank my Dad for spending so much time with me on the phone this morning and fielding numerous questions at multiple intervals throughout the day. Without his guidance and gardening expertise, I could not have done it.

Let's start with the pot. We got this last year as a centerpiece for our outdoor patio furniture, and filled it with petunias that have since died. They were once quite lovely, but due to neglect and lack of watering, they have turned into this:

Solution: Out with the old, in with new dianthus. Much better!! Nothing a little potting soil can't fix...



Problem 2: The dirt beds. Again, these have been empty for about a year. My primary goal was to find a lasting shrub with color that would make it through the winter and bloom again in the spring / summer / fall. I wanted additional color to surround the larger shrubs, knowing that I'd likely have to replace the smaller plants with seasonal bloomers throughout the year.




Solution: Encore Azaleas in Autumn Amethyst bordered by more dianthus. I tried to space them out with the expectation that as the grow, the plants will become more full. Assuming they live, that is....


Dirt bed #2. This one was much more difficult to work with as I ran into many roots underground. Not only did I dig up each bed, but also used soil conditioner, garden soil, and mulch to finish it off. Just call me Neil Sperry.




All in all this was a very difficult but rewarding project. I remembered little tricks I used to see my Dad do growing up, like cutting down the mulch bags as they got empty which made it easier to get the stuff in the bottom out. I don't think I have ever sweated more in my life, but the finished product was definitely worth it...

F-U-N

This weekend was fun. Very fun! My parents came in town on Friday to visit and also celebrate my Mom's 52nd birthday. On Friday night, we surprised her with tickets to the Cowboys game. This lady is one of the biggest sports fanatics I know. My childhood memories involve her yelling and screaming at the TV in some form or fashion, whether it be at football, basketball, baseball - whatever sport happened to be on at the time. It was VERY hot in Texas Stadium; however, the Cowboys won against the Houston Texans, so all was grand and fabulous at the game. As a side, we got our tickets through Stub Hub. I highly recommend this venue to those who are looking for tickets to sporting events.

Us girls

The fam [minus J - we missed you!]

Saturday was spent out on Lake Ray Hubbard. Thankfully the weather was wonderful. We floated, skied, wakeboarded, surfed, the usual. I would like to note that I went in and out of the wake multiple times without face planting, I drove the boat while K surfed, AND backed the trailer in without jack-knifing due to verbal guidance from my Dad. I only bring this up because this is the first time in my 2 years of boat outings with K that I have ever done any of these 3 things. Regardless, the water felt so refreshing and it was relaxing, as always, being out in the sun.

Captain K

Mom and Dad on the boat

Getting ready to wakeboard

Mom skiing. Pretty awesome for a 52 year old if you ask me. :-)

This morning we went to church, then had a birthday lunch at Mariano's given today is the actual date Mama was born. All in all we had a blast celebrating, and I'm so happy and glad that they were able to come in town for a visit. Happy Birthday Mom - I love you!!

Weekend Update

People say that when you have kids, you often look back and think, "what did I do with my life before they were born??" This is what K and I did as dinks this weekend:

Friday: Dinner at Ali Baba [gyros and hummus] followed by a night watching the Olympics. Michael Phelps is a machine.

Saturday: New cell phone, brief shopping due to tax free weekend, Target, bath for Abby, and the best part - dinner with old high school friends at Pappadeux. They were in town from Kilgore with their brand new baby, who is absolutely precious. I love friends that you can catch up and click with no matter how much time goes by, just like you were never apart.

Sunday: Church, leftovers for lunch, updating friends with new cell number, K changing the oil in his car, laundry, dinner with the in-laws, a short trip to Top Golf, winding down the evening with more Olympics.

These are the days....

Replaced!!!

Thank you framesdirect.com for carrying discontinued sunglasses as you have made my life whole again. I cannot tell you the joy I felt inside upon finding a lovely package waiting for me when I got home from work today, with these enclosed:

In other news, I experienced a sense of deja vu when I walked into the parking garage this afternoon and found a guy in a white explorer with his hood up and jumper cables attached to his battery. I nearly screamed out loud as I approached the passenger side of the vehicle and saw a Chucky doll with fake blood all over his face seat-belted in. I figured it was this guy's way of tricking authorities into believing there are 2 passengers in the car, allowing him to drive on the HOV lane, right? Either that, or he just has some weird obsession with Child's Play, but whatever.

I of course volunteered to give him a jump, feeling as though it was my duty to return the favor that was so graciously given to me when my own car died 2 weeks ago.

Unfortunately my trustworthy honda proved to be weak, inadequate, and incapable of reviving his explorer. I know that the cables were hooked up correctly, because his set has this cool device that displayed a green light when the connection was solid. It was on the whole time. Yet when he turned the ignition, nothing.

I felt so sad and helpless, like the man who told me to be sure and stand on the side of the road so I wouldn't get hit. Maybe it wasn't really this guy's battery after all? Being 4 floors underground, I had no cell phone reception and no other way of rescuing this person from his car troubles in the parking garage. After figuring out that I was basically of no value, he told me thanks and we parted ways. I said a little prayer for him on the way out, specifically that his car runs long enough for him to make it home and does not die while he's driving - because we all know what an adventure that can be.

One Step at a Time

Lately my Type A personality has been going out of control. I have always been ridiculously impatient, but it is off the charts these days. If things don't go my way, I get so unbelievably frustrated and give little grace to others involved. I nag incessantly, brood around negatively when I'm bored with nothing to do, and blow things way out of proportion if my expectations aren't met.

Don't you wish you lived with me or were married to me?

K has always been so patient and wonderful at handling my insanity. I've really been praying for peace and a spirit of contentment lately. That - and of course listening to One Step at a Time by Jordin Sparks on repeat. Very therapeutic.

I don't want to get churchy or religious blog-style, but the reality is that this quote from the Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning pretty much sums it up. I came across this during my "always-searching-Baptist-style" days, per my Ma. Supplemental reference would equate to Ephesians 2: 8-9. Take this fundamental gem it for what it's worth:

“Maybe this is the heart of our hang-up, the root of our dilemma. We fluctuate between criticizing ourselves and congratulating ourselves because we are deluded into thinking we save ourselves. We develop a false sense of security from our good works and scrupulous observance of the law. Our halo gets too tight and a carefully-disguised attitude of moral superiority results. Or, we are appalled by our inconsistency, devastated that we haven’t lived up to our lofty expectations of ourselves. The roller coaster ride of elation and depression continues.

Why?

Because we never lay hold of our nothingness before God, and consequently, we never enter into the deepest reality of our relationship with him. But when we accept ownership of our powerlessness...then God can make something beautiful out of us.”

Sunglasses Sadness + Snoring ZZZZZ's

Today I am in mourning over the loss of my sunglasses. Pit in my stomach sadness. So distraught.

I either a) left my Ray Bans on the bench in the atrium of my office where I change from my flip flops into my heels to start work each morning, or b) wore them inside, left them on my desk and someone stole them from my cube.

How sad this makes me. It's not the actual sunglasses themselves that I miss. Okay well maybe it kind of is a little. But mostly, there was a serious process that went into buying those glasses that occurred when K and I first started dating. When I say process, I mean process. As in, we spent probably around 3-5 days going from sunglass store to sunglass store, trying to find the perfect pair. Most of you know that my middle name is indecisive, and as such you can imagine how difficult it was to finally narrow down a pair. But we did, together.

I'm probably more emotional about this loss due to the fact that I didn't sleep much last night. I had trouble falling asleep, so decided to be adventurous. I got out of bed at approximately midnight to get my digital camera, and then proceeded to record my husband snoring. I got 3 great clips of him sawing some serious Z's in the dark. While this was done primarily to answer his question of, "what do I sound like?," it has ended up providing great humor and some hilarious laughs as I revealed to him my activities this evening. I will spare him the embarrassment by not posting the evidence, but for the ladies out there with snoring husbands, and vice versa, I feel your pain....

The adventure continues...

All I have to say is that I am so glad it's Friday. Amen.

Why Amen? I'll tell you why. Between the snakes, roaches, and this evening's adventure of which I'm about to describe, I am so thankful to the great and wonderful and amazing God that the weekend is here.

As I got in my car in the parking garage today after work, it would not start. No clicking, no noise, but complete and utter silence as I turned the key in the ignition. My dashboard lights flickered a bit, but other than that...nothing.

I found a friendly man in a large truck, who happened to be an Aggie, that volunteered to help me out by giving me a jump. Started right up with a short charge, ready to go.

Well.

Apparently my battery was DEAD. Like SO DEAD that after I pulled out of the parking garage and onto the street, my car just stopped working. Yes, stopped working. I pulled up to a stop light, hit the brakes, and the engine completely shut down. Turned off in the middle of me driving it. Rolled to a stop and died IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD while I was behind the wheel. Dead.

Praise the Lord I was in the right hand lane. My hazards wouldn't work, so I just got out of my car right there in the street and stood on the shoulder, sweating in my dress and heels in the blistering 105 degree heat, breathing the filthy downtown construction air, by my car...that has completely...stopped...working.

A nice man walking down the median offered to help me push it to a nearby side street; however, I could not get the stupid car in neutral. I knew this guy thought I was being a dumb girl, so I let him get in my car and try himself. Unsuccessful. His parting words were, "I'm so sorry I can't help you - I feel so bad. Just make sure you stand far away from the road so you don't get run over. Have a nice weekend...."

At this point K is on his way to come rescue me. Sweat is pouring down my back and I've waved to several coworkers who have seen me stranded on the side of the road while on their way home. Before you know it, I see 2 parking enforcement officers coming towards me in their bright orange vests. They basically tell me that I cannot leave my car in the middle of the road, and offer to help me push it to a nearby side street.

Same story, 2nd verse. They also look at me like I'm a dumb girl when I tell them I can't get my car in neutral and ask questions like, "Did you put your foot on the break while you were trying to shift gears?" I sarcastically reply, "Yes, would you like to get in and try? I can't seem to get it out of park." Unsuccessful once more.

K calls again and suggests that I call the Honda dealership, so I do. I talk to Vo. He helped me last time I was at the dealership getting my oil changed, during which he disclosed that my battery was getting low. We had a silent conversation in our heads that went something like this:

V: "Lady. I told you last time you were here that you should've changed your stinking battery. If you had listened to me this would've never happened."

S: "I can buy a battery, AND jumper cables, AND a cool tool kit that I can keep for emergencies like this in my trunk, ALL for the price of what you were overcharging me to change my battery at the dealership."

V: "Look who's sweating outside in the heat with a car that stopped working. Sucks to be you."

S: "Shut up and tell me how to get my freaking car in neutral."

Long story short, I finally was able to shift into neutral, got my car on a side street with the help of the parking men, K picked me up, and we drove to O'Reilly Auto Parts for a new battery. Done and done - the hard way, of course - "the luck of the Bowens," as K likes to say.

Again, AMEN for Friday!!!

P.S. As I write this post, there is a wasp or yellow jacket or some type of bug that stings flying around our study. For the love....