Turkey Day

Or I guess I should say roast day. We decided not to do turkey this year. Jim cooked a roast out in the smoker, coated with a rub made from his own special recipe. His mom brought a spiral cut ham. I cooked broccoli and rice casserole. My mom fixed chicken and dressing. We had gluten free bread and pecan pies. Numerous bottles of wine went to their reward. It is now almost 6 hours since we ate dinner and I am still stuffed.

All in all, it was a day to be thankful for family and friends. It was a really great day.

I think I need to be my own boss

I've decided I will never be happy until I can control my day myself. I'm not happy with the new job--it is not at all what I was led to believe it would be. I'll stop there--the internet is not a good place to air dirty laundry about your job if you want to stay employed. I do need to stay employed. But I need more autonomy. One of the basic tenets of managing professionals is to give them a goal...then get the hell outa the way. We seem kinda short on long range goals and there is no autonomy to speak of. Stifling, for want of a better word.

More as my sojourn into self employment unfolds. I have lots of ground to cover--how to set up the business, setting up a web site, sketching out a business plan of some kind. Two things really interest me--writing and evaluation. I have some experience in both and a big shiny PhD that ought to be worth something---we'll see!

Dancing with Ike

We survived Ike. What a week it has been! And I know that our straits were not nearly as dire as some folks. We live in Richmond, which was on the "clean" side of the storm and didn't have nearly the bad winds that folks like my brother had in Houston. Today is Monday and we are still without power. We have a generator, thank the good Lord above, so we have the basic amenities--fridge, news, lights, fans, clean water from our well. We had only a little rain and are not in a surge area, so we had no flooding.

My work was closed on Friday and I ended up standing in line for 4 hours at Home Depot to get plywood for our windows. But it made such a difference!! I barely heard the wind and slept like a baby. Which is hard to believe because I am usually a storm watcher. We got up Saturday morning to a different world. The big Arizona ash in our back yard was split in about 3 pieces and one huge branch was upside down in our pool. That branch took out a small grapefruit tree by the pool fence. There were a few more split branches on some of our trees, but that was about it for damage. A little bit of damage around the fireplace on the ceiling, I guess from the wind hitting the fireplace. And we will have to build a new fence sooner than we had originally planned.

It is costing us about $40-50 a day for gas for the generator, but having a fridge and fresh food is one of those things that is hard to put a price on during a time like this. We will just continue to hunker down and make the best of it. We are some of the lucky ones and we know it only too well. Galveston looks like a war zone...I can't even imagine what it must be like down there.

I'll write a little more when I have time. My brother had quite a time in the Heights....flooded roads kept him trapped. No power, no water, little information. He had quite a hard time but no damage to his house like many of his neighbors had. All in all, our family fared well in this storm. Thank you, God!!

My new house

We bought a house. In Richmond, TX. The biggest house I've lived in since my divorce 23 years ago by far. We are very excited about fixing it up. It was built in the 70's, but hasn't had much love the past few years. The yard needs work and it just needs updating in general. The gardens are overgrown and pool was green when we moved in. But it sparkles now!

My son has moved back in with us while he looks for a job. He just graduated from college and is working as an adjunct at a local community college teaching ESL. He is hoping to go to Japan to teach English so is excited about learning to teach English. I hope it all works out for him. I am just thankful that Jim doesn't mind having him here.

Work is a blur. Some good days, some bad. A steep learning curve. This will be the most challenging, and frustrating, job I've had in quite some time. I used to complain about not having enough to do (on my last job)...no more!!

And the crazy, busy continues

So many things going on!! I start my new job as associate director of science education at the Center for Education at Rice University on June 30...next Monday. After 16 years at Texas A&M, I am moving on.

That same day my mom is having surgery...a total knee replacement. Believe me, we didn't plan it that way when I took the job at Rice. She will be in the hospital for 4 days, unable to drive for at least two weeks, on a walker for 3-4 weeks and on a really intense physical therapy routine for 6 weeks. My sister, Kay, is coming down to stay with her so I can start my new job on time. Mom has been pretty much out of commission for the last two months since she tore the cartilage in her knee while moving furniture...by herself because she couldn't wait til I got home to help her.

Jim and I are looking for a house in Katy and then Mom will put this place on the market and move in with us.

And more news!! My oldest, John, graduates from UNT in August and my youngest, Adam, is planning a wedding for December 12.

So many changes!!

News

This has been a crazy, busy month. Taxes, gardening season, moving Jim, camping trips...whew! I haven't done much crafting this month and so far, gardening has consisted primarily of mowing. But wildflowers are out in force this year and it is really beautiful.

I do have some good news. My son, Adam, and his girlfriend, Sarah, are planning a wedding in December. I am so excited!!

Did you know?

If you have any interest at all in the quality of our education system, then you have to watch this video.

Shift Happens: Did you know 2.0.

Chipotle's newest fan

I've eaten at Chipotle's only once or twice. It is usually crowded with college students and it is a little tricky to get to by car from my office because of the traffic flow. However, I really like their pork and today I just happened to be out of SlimFast, so I trekked down to the nearby Chipotle's for a salad. While standing in line, I noticed they advertised naturally raised chicken and pork, so I checked out their web site when I got back. I also wanted to check the ingredients of the pork to see how it was cooked.

I have to say, I am impressed with this company. I am a big believer in sustainable agriculture and I appreciate what they are trying to do. Traffic or no, I plan to go back more often. I like doing business with a company that is socially conscious. You can also go to Chipotle Fan and get all the scoop on the nutritional value of what you are eating...calories, sodium content, etc.

The truth about autism

This is an amazing story that made me realize with crystal clarity the assumptions I make about people that can be way off target. You know what they say about assuming....it makes an "ass" of "u" and "me".

I cannot help but admire women like Amanda Baggs and Michelle Dawson. My hat is off to both, my heart goes out to them and I applaud their willingness to help educate the rest of the world about autism. We are all different and different is not bad...its just different. I think this lesson can be applied to many walks of life.

Gourd painting weekend

My mom and I had a gourd painting weekend. The weather was awful, raining non-stop most of Saturday and so gushy wet that you couldn't get outside without boots on Sunday. She is painting her kitchen and wanted to put a couple of painted gourds on top of her cabinets. She wanted bright colors, polka dots and stars. We grew the gourds in our garden last year and they have been curing in the tool shed. I planted them around my dog kennel and let them grow up over it for shade.

It was a fun weekend, kind of a mini-vacation. We plan to do it again!

My first afghan

I made my very first afghan ever as a gift for my sweetie for Valentine's Day. The pattern is from Lion Brand and can be downloaded for free from their site. It is the Vanna's Choice Squared Afghan. I did make some changes to the pattern, however. I used the Vanna's Choice yarn in brick, taupe, beige and linen and added a fifth color, black. However, I only used the black as a border for each completed square and then in the border around the completed afghan. The original pattern is in shades of gold, green, purple and rose, but since this afghan was for a man, I thought I needed a more masculine color scheme.


The pattern was easy to stitch and it took me about a week, but I was putting in quite a bit of time on it to get it out by Valentine's Day. I ordered the yarn so I could get the colors, but it took longer to get here than I had anticipated. I was working on it every evening and put in one full day on a weekend, late into the night, to get it finished. It makes a nice lap afghan, but if I make this pattern again, I will add another row of squares to make it longer. It comes out about 4 ft. x 4 ft., but that is not quite long enough to cover the adults in my family from toe to chin for good snuggling.

Scientists for better PCR

I just can't help myself...I love this video! This company has got a sense of humor.
http://bio-rad.cnpg.com/lsca/videos/ScientistsForBetterPCR/