Home sweet home!!

Wow! I have so many things to touch on in this post!! Yes, we are safe in TX. Sorry I've been MIA lately (I know y'alls hearts are just a'breakin' aren't they?). We finally got inet yesterday after a wee bit of trouble with the AT&T peeps. And I'm thinking that it's not quite over yet, I'll letcha know!
The trip down was interesting, that will require it's own post! Although I will tell you that it involved an unintended 3 hr layover in speedbump, VA at the local military surplus store. Oh and tattoos were involved, as well, dolphin tattoos...but alas, that is for another day.
A few observations: Texas is HOT! YAYAY!! A glorious, sun-kissing-your-shoulders warmth as you frisk from your apartment to your car. Your car which is now a sauna and your poor child's seat belt clips are also handy doubles for a branding iron. Thankfully we have an infant seat so we can bring it inside with us so it doesn't melt and become a permanent part of my car. Side note: apparently I'm insane because I'm drinking my afternoon *hot* tea right now. :)
Ok, this might come across weird, or mean, or something, but I just have to say it and it's made me think about a lot more things too...people in the South are larger than people in the North East. Please don't hate me. I'm trying to figure out why this is but I'm thinking it might have something to do with at the intersection by our apartment there is a fried chicken joint, a burger joint, a taco stand, and a fast food pizza place. And that is not uncommon. There were two fast food places within ten miles of me in NY. One was a McDonalds and the other a Burger King. So the Conservative, don't-mess-with-people's-wants in me, is kinda torn because um, do people really not know that crap is bad for them?!?! Please do not think that I think everyone should be a size 4 or they're fat. I know people who's "happy size" is a 4 and I know others who are killin it in a 14. But I am concerned when there are so many people who have trouble walking because of excess weight or the children are raised going to BK or KFC every night and can't run around like they should. Anyway, it's just one of the observations I've made since I've been back.
There are waaaay more Christian and Latino radio stations here. Explanations? We're close to Mexico and we're in the Bible Belt.
People drive a lot more trucks down here. Love, love, love it. :)
Oh and some of the bumper stickers are a hoot: "The Democrats make the French look brave." Heeheehee (aren't I stepping on a lot of toes in this post?) :)
I'll try to think of some more 'differences' between the two areas.

I'm loving our apartment. Except the management seems very incompetent. With one exception, a young girl I became friends with, that seems to be the norm. Case in point: when I received my statement for this month is said I had an unpaid balance of $45. That made me concerned because our "special" was one month free so we shouldn't have had to pay rent at all. So I went up there as soon as I could and talked to the over-sweet, annoyingly nice lady at the office. Apparently they don't know how to work their software and were supposed to credit me a couple of *free* days because the apartment we had wanted flooded before we got here. She wrote a few things down on a piece of paper, told me they would credit our account, and all was right with the world. Err, wrong! Two days later I receive a notice saying "you owe $45 and you'd better pay it or we're gonna be mad!" I tried not to let my blood pressure go up too much and marched right over there (with my piece of paper in one hand that said they owed US $15 and a slobbery Libby in my other). After 15 minutes they finally got the issue straightened out and I asked, ok so I won't receive any more of these, right? Holding up notice. And that sickly sweet lady said, "oh well, we all make mistakes so you'll probably get another one, if so just come up here and we can take care of it." I was speechless. It was probably good that I didn't say anything but she'd better hope I don't receive another one of those letters! Incompetence annoys the tar out of me. And I've done data entry and worked on several different software systems, it ain't that difficult.

Wow, this is getting a lot longer than I anticipated!

I joined a gym! Soooo much fun!!! I love working out so it has been great to get back into it. Plus, they have child care!! So I like to take my time and have a good, long, Libby-free hour and a half. (I love my child, but as everyone I know will agree, it's awesome to have time to yourself). I'm so grateful that Tim knows this is important for me and he has been very supportive. Plus, I know this will help me lose those last pesky 10 lbs. and we will both be happy about that. :)

I'm going to write a whole Libby post but she is changing so incredibly fast!! She is very mobile and I predict that she will be walking, yes, I said, walking, by the end of August. Which is one of the reasons I enjoy my "me time". Just today I walking into the kitchen, where it was suspiciously quiet and I caught her sharing Maddie's food. Oh yum!! We're working on a bit of "baby-proofing" but we're also "house-proofing" Libby, which will make visiting others easier. More on that later...

It is so awesome being back with family and I've been on the go a whole lot, but after dear Susan's wedding on the 15th things might calm down a bit. :)

A long time coming...

More than a year ago I wrote this post about leaving Texas and I described how I felt like the sad little OU boy when UT kicked their tails a few years ago.
Well, I now get to say that I feel like this...

YYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!! WE'RE COMING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tim got an awesome offer with a great company in Fort Worth! We will be leaving July 15th and I have a lot to do before then! My big sis Rebecca is coming up here on the 12th to help me and then to drive back with Libby and I in my car. Unfortunately, we have three cars at the moment. Long story. Short version is that Tim bought a car from a friend of a friend hoping to fix it up and either sell it for a profit or sell his Acura and keep the fixed up one. Unfortunately, the Acura is not selling and we haven't gotten the title for the Hyundai yet.

So we have a bunch of prayer requests for y'all:
~Pray that one of the cars (hopefully the Acura will sell - yay, no more car payments!)
~That I will be able to get everything sorted through and packed by the time Rebecca comes so we can have a little fun before we leave.
~That we find the best place to live in FW/Arlington. Kind of difficult to get the feel for an apartment if you're not there! I have found a good one that seems perfect, lets hope it is!
~That on the drive back Libby won't be too "difficult" and will handle the 1500 miles as well as possible.
~All the logistics will work out: renting the truck, getting Rebecca up here, etc...

Thank you all so very much!! I can't wait to see my dear Texas peeps! It will be so good to be back.
And now I had better get to work!!!

Texas pics

We had a w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l time in Texas!!! It was so great to be with family and friends for so long! And to be WARM! Oooo, I loved it! I put Libby in cute dresses and onsies all the time and it was so fun to get to see her cute little arms and legs.
I want to get to bed early tonight so here are some pics and I'll try to post a longer re-cap later. Have a good one!


Libby at I at the Woodlands Tea Party.

Libby with Tim's maternal grandparents on Easter.

Four girlie cousins (and one on the way!)

Tim and Libby on Easter!

Tim's dad and Libby when we arrived

Libby meeting her first deer.

Difficult

Sometimes life is hard. Tonight Tim is working late as is often the case. Most of his company's clients are in Japan so when they have conferences they start at 8pm our time. Wouldn't hurt those Japanese guys to have an earlier appointment but oh well. I think it's around 10am their time. It really stinks for Tim and for me too. Life can be rough and living in NY has not been a piece of cake. I am so tempted to think that if we only lived in Texas things would be better. Sure, any company will require extra time of Tim, but just being in Texas would be a help. Seriously, just one mile south of the Red River would work for me. I know that Tim is getting a lot of good experience that is invaluable in his field, and it helps that I keep reminding myself of that. Helps somewhat but not completely. I'm probably just "Eeyore-like" because it's dark and Tim worked a lot last week and was busy on his *new* car all weekend. I am really missing Texas and all of my dear friends down there. Life is marching on for everyone. Jessy is preggers. Abe is one. My sis is graduating. Susan is getting married. Mindy is preggers ith #2, etc... And it seems like every weekend my family or Tim's is getting together to BBQ and just hang out or celebrate someone's birthday. I miss Arlington. I miss my Krogers and the Ranger's ballpark. I miss hanging out with Chris and Katey and Bethanie and Steve. I miss UTA and River Legacy Park where we would go running and throw the frisbee for Maddie. I miss playing speed scrabble until 3am with Jered and Courtney. This isn't helping. I just keep thinking of things I miss.
We will go back someday and this time will seem like a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of our lives. Right? RIGHT?? I guess right now it just seems like forever. We've been here a year and it's been interesting and about what I expected (read: miserable) but it can only get better. We're starting to make friends and I can finally drive without getting lost. Now that Libby is old enough and not sick we can start looking for a church again. I know that will help too. And sometime in the future Tim will have enough of this illusive "experience" and we can move back to Texas. Sweet, wonderful Texas. And I promise to never complain about the hot weather again!!

The test that my pet squirrel peed on before I had to hand it in!

Sweet Ave and I at a Rangers game.

My dad and I BBQing at my family's house. My hair was looong!

With Chris, Katey, and John K. at a Rangers game.

Hope you enjoyed those! It was fun for me too!