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. :)
