So Blessed

God has been good to me here in the Lone Star State.  Truly.  There are a LOT of gray skies, rainy skies, cold skies and days where I just long to be in the desert.  I have missed my friends more than I can even admit....and been sad more days than I can count.  However...God has sent one sweet, sweet and very amazing friend to me.  And I cherish that so much more than you can know.  She is fun, and stubborn, strong willed and painfully shy. Unbelievably independent...and yet, so very needing a helping hand.   Life has dealt her more crap than any one person deserves, and yet...she is delightful and such a ray of sunshine.  The more time I get to spend with her, the more I am delighted to know her.  She and I are a LOT alike.  It's scary how much so.  I see SO much of myself in this sweet lady.  And it's not all the good parts either!  So it's a bit like spending time in front of a mirror.  Mostly, it's just been a treat and a blessing.  She seems to appear out of nowhere...ready to comfort and entertain...happy to just hang out and content to meet me whereever I might be on any given day.  And on any given day I may just be all over the place!  Who knows what a day will hold?!  She's the kind of friend who comes in and finds the silverware and kicks off her shoes and curls up in the chair...like me.  She's happy to hang out on a Friday night and watch "on demand" movies and eat ice cream.  We like the same food, the same music, the same books....she's EXACTLY what I needed right now in my life.  And I am so grateful.  Yes...even though this move has been rather difficult, this friend has helped to make it so much more okay.   And I am so very blessed.  Blessed that God saw fit to make sure that there was someone to walk this journey with.  To laugh with and smile with. And just to call my friend.  I am VERY, very blessed.

Winter Wonderland

It's snowing.  And by that...I mean it is SNOWING!!!!   Like hard.  Like for the past almost 18 hours straight!  There are nearly 8 inches on the ground right now.  And we are expected to hit nearly 11 inches before the night is done.  There hasn't been this much snow in Texas in one day since they started tracking it way back when!  It's craziness.  Beautiful.  But nuts!  The kids were dismissed early from school today and school has been cancelled totally tomorrow.  Even Chris decided to work from home today and not brave the icy and snowy interstates!   I was out and about in the snow some today...thanks to a friend and her wonderful driving.  Unlike me...she is not afraid of snowy, icy roads...so I enjoyed getting to ride along while SHE drove and navigated in it all!!!  And it was a real treat!  Some of the canopylike roads were just stunning.  I loved seeing the snow collecting on the split rail fences and ornate gates.  Everything was bathed in white, sparkling snow and it was all so fresh and surreal looking.  Truly, truly amazing!  And I'm so thankful for my sweet friend, because without her, I  KNOW without a doubt I would never have gotten out in it all!  It was a neat treat for sure!!!!  And so...here are some pictures from our snowy day!

Her First Date

My baby girl headed out on her first date tonight.  She and her daddy were dressed in their finest and had an official date.  He took her to dinner, to eat sushi...I think.  And then the two of the are headed to the Daddy-Daughter dance tonight.  She looked like a ray of sunshine!  A princess....a jewel...radiant and excited and just plain beautiful!  She was SO excited and happy and looking forward to the evening.  She looked gorgeous and I am certain she felt gorgeous too as she headed out the door on her daddy's arm.  And so, of course...there were pictures!  Lots and lots of pictures.  Just because...you know...I'm like that!  And so...without further ado....here's my baby girl...dressed for a night of dinner and dancing and twirling in the arms of her daddy.  Sigh.   I love this girly to pieces!  Him too!

The Sound of Silence

It seems I have lost my voice.  Just the next progression of this little germ disease I picked up this week.  It started Tuesday with aches and low fever, chills and misery.  I put myself to bed at 5:30 that night.  But I woke up feeling OH so much better and even ran 5 miles....5 HARD miles the next morning.  I thought I was cured.  But then on Wednesday evening I started to feel a bit run down again and suspected that the death flu was coming maybe I overdid it a little bit.  Not that I would EVER over do it or push it a little too hard.  No, not me.  I was, again in bed at an early hour...tired and not feeling so great.  But then on Thursday morning I woke up feeling OH so much better and again hit the treadmill....did some interval stuff....a near death experience a good, hard workout.  I should add here that the two workouts here were done with my ever favorite heart rate monitor.  Grrrrr.  I hate that thing.  It takes working out to a whole new level really.    Anyway....I proceeded into the day and by late afternoon Thursday the voice was starting to crack a wee bit and be scratchy.  Nothing a good night's sleep won't fix I told myself.  I headed to bed...fully expecting to feel OH so much better and cured. Only, this morning I'm NOT exactly that.  My head hurts with achy sinuses.  I have a cough, though not a horrible one.  And I'm nearly voiceless.  Awesome.  I don't feel truly horrible...so that's good.  But I definitely don't feel too great either.  I think I actually AM going to take it easy today and refrain from doing what I probably should already have refrained from.  I am seeing a day in my jammies, in my bed, folding laundry and just being still.  The quiet part is pretty much a no brainer....since  God pretty much saw to that part already.  The "still" part is a challenge for me.  However...I'm just achy enough and my sinuses hurt just enough  in all the wrong ways that I think I'd best pay attention and actually rest...for once.  And so...in our house...will be the sound of silence...at least from MY end of the house!

On other notes...we should hear about the appraisal on Jackie's house today.  We are all holding our breaths and are fully expecting it to come back too low to deal.  That will be a major disappointment for sure.  But one we are recognizing as truly possible.  We're hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst.  I have my house hunting shoes ready and by the door should we need to hit the circuit...again....tomorrow.

And finally....my baby girl has her first "date" tomorrow night.  It seems her daddy is taking her out for a night of dancing and twirling and girly fun at the father/daughter dance.  I took her last night to pick out her first "party" dress and she looked so stinkin' cute in it I could have just cried.  Her dress is precious and fun and frilly and SO cute on her little self.  I can't wait to see her all done up tomorrow night for her big event!  She's crazy excited!  It will be such a fun night for her.  I've heard that it's a blast and that they throw quite a party for them!  Stay tuned for pictures!  I'm sure there will be one or two!

And finally...it would not do for me to leave you without a current weather update.  It is currently almost 9 a.m. here in Texas.  The sky is white/gray....again and it is 42 degrees outside.  On the bright side, not that Texas really seems to HAVE a bright side as far as the sun is concerned....but on the bright side, it isn't raining.  Right now.  So there's that.  And so...now you know what's happening here in the Lone Star State!

Please God...Can You Spare a Little Sun?

I have a confession to make.  The sun DID come out for a very FEW, very BRIEF hours the other day immediately after I wrote the post about 6 days and no sun.  It was EVER so fleeting.  And then, gone.  The next morning....raining.  And the morning after that...still raining.  That's right....rain in Texas.  Save for that extremely brief glimpse of sunshine...we are now on day 8 of gloom and gray here in the Lone Star State.  I'm trying to be okay with that.  The thing is...when the sky is this dark and gray and gloomy, I get cold.  Regardless of what the thermostat is saying...and it is saying that it is plenty warm in the house, by the way...but despite that....I always feel cold when it is this dark.  I just need sunshine.  Plain and simple.  Like flowers need water and people need air to breathe...I need the sun.  I hate milk...so sunshine is pretty much my sole source of vitamin D!  And the levels are starting to feel more than a little bit desperate right about now!  So please God....could you spare a little sun for Texas?  Please?  Just a wee little bit?  It's been ever so long since we've seen it.

In other news....I'm fighting off a cold.  But I think I'm winning...for the most part.  I've exercised HARD for the past two days in a row.  Yay for me!  And I'm thinking about driving over to Hurst to get a new driver's license this afternoon, because I haven't done that yet.  There are no after school activities today for any of my kiddos....though Benjamin is past due for a haircut.  And I don't expect tonight's dinner to be overly labor intensive (thank goodness).  I am looking forward to tomorrow and the fact that it will be FRIDAY and that we have a deliciously boring weekend scheduled!  That about wraps it up here in the great state of Texas...the land of the gray and the gloom.  Tomorrow is a new day though.  Perhaps there will be sun?  Then again...perhaps not.  Best not to count on it is what I've found!  Stay warm!  Life is WET in Texas, but good!

6 Days...No Sun

But who's counting, right?  I have to admit that I find the weather thing to be a bit challenging here in Texas.  I mean...it rains frequently.  And the RAIN...I have no problems with.  Really.  I mean...when it gets all excessive, as it sometimes does, then I get a little done with it.  But for the most part, the wet stuff is okay.  It's the GRAY that is killing me.  Waking up to gray/white skies.  Day in and day out.  They seem to be never ending.  And after 6 days I really do start to wonder if we will ever see the sun again.  And I'm starting to think the gray days outweigh the sunny days...for sure.  Now I know it takes a lot of rain to have all of this green.  The grass.  The trees.  On and on and on.  But I have to say that I, personally, am a lover of sunshine.  And today I am missing my desert.  BADLY.  I miss the all blue skies all the time.  And I miss the warmth of the sun on my shoulders.  I miss wearing sunglasses EVERY day.  I miss the mountains...and the sunshine.  Man...do I miss the sunshine.  The fact that it's been hovering at or below the 40 degree mark for DAYS now is not helping my groove one little bit.  I sure do miss the sunshine.  Have I already mentioned that one?  But besides missing the sun...what else?  

Well, I miss the people too.  A lot.  I miss being in the gym regularly.  Not that I can't go just as regularly as my heart desires here.  I certainly can.  But it's not the same and it's just not so fun without my friends.  I DON'T like the classes here.  At all.  They are crazy packed and crowded and the instructors are just not fun.  So that leaves me out on the treadmills and other assorted equipment, by myself...and it's really just not fun.  I did find someone who likes to workout with me.  But unfortunately, her life is WAY busier and crazier than mine and more often than not, it does NOT work out for her to show up.  And then...there I am again...kicking around by myself and it's just not really any fun.  Besides the gym friends, I miss all the others!  I miss my girls night out friends who love some good Mexican and mango margaritas or Italian and endless carafs of wine and conversation.  I miss my walking friends and my Starbucks buddies.  I miss the afternoon "mommy playdates".  I miss the phone ringing often and being so busy I hardly had time to clean my house days.  I used to wish my life would slow down just a bit so I COULD get my house clean.  Careful what you wish for.  I have plenty of time to clean now.  

I catch myself asking myself often what we are doing here in Texas.  I mean...obviously Chris took a job here.  And he really does like his job.  And since that is...like 90% of his life...that is really important.  This was a big career move for him and one that NEVER would have happened, had we stayed in Tucson.  We HAD to leave.  That said...I think we would both SO go back if and when the opportunity ever presented itself.  I know I would.  Life is so different here.  The people are so different.  They are nice enough.  But nothing like the desert.  I mean...they are VERY, very nice.  But still...I'm finding it a bit tough to settle into life here.   Life in general.  Never mind the whole having to make all new friends.  I just keep trying to figure out what people DO here.  I mean...there are no mountains to hike, no amazing camping to do right around here, no real "nature" to speak of.  It's just lots of little cities so close together that you can't tell where one stops and another starts.  Yesterday, I was in three of them...all in a one hour period.  So there ya go.  Some days I may be in as many as 5 or 6...depending on what's on the calendar for that day.  So really...it's  just a big city feel for me.  I'm having a hard time getting my brain around that.  I miss the small town feel.  I miss the neatness and orderliness of the desert.  I miss the pop of glorious desert blooms.  And I miss waking up to daylight.  It is still quite dark here at nearly 7 a.m.  I miss being warm.  And I miss the sunshine.  Have I mentioned that before?  That I miss the sunshine?  Sunshine just makes you feel happy.  I'm just saying...

Anyway...given the chance, I would totally cut ties with the great state of Texas and boogie my butt back to the desert so fast it would make your head spin.  No second thoughts.  NONE.  I know that my kids are in a better school system...not that I had a single beef with the kids schools back home...and I do LOVE my house.  But in Arizona, while I did not love my house or rattlesnakes or scorpions...I DID love my LIFE.  I LOVED my community and friends and the mountains that took my breath away each and every time I looked at them...even after 5 years.  I loved the crispness of desert mornings and the cool breezes of the desert nights.  I loved the carefree lawns of pebbles and the uniqueness of the desert plants.  I loved that the sun was nearly....always...shining.  

People...the clouds are seriously getting to me.  Quite a funk I find myself in today.  These days just make me sad because I dwell far too much on the place that I miss the most.  Sigh.

In other news....Clara has joined the Girl Scouts of America.  She is officially a Brownie and is attending her very first Brownie troop meeting today. She's crazy excited about it and could hardly sleep a wink last night.  She was so cute in her little brownie t-shirt this morning as she headed out the door.  I think this will be so good for her.  It's something she's wanted to do in the past, but just never had time for.  She's got time now!  Her health continues to be good!  AT the first sign of anything we give her the cat's claw tablets and it knocks it right out...every single time.  Good stuff that is.  I'm thankful every single day for Kyra Monroe and her offer to help my sweet Clara.  Clara is also doing gymnastics and just loves it.  She has such a good time flipping and cart wheeling and swinging on the bars.  She's really quite good at it all!  She does an amazing job on the balance beam and I can see where her three years of dance has really helped with her grace and balance.  She mentioned the other day that she really REALLY wants to dance again.  And so...in the fall, we will be putting her back into ballet!  Hooray!

And as for the boys?  Well...we are working through the grind.  I'm trying to keep them focused on their grades, so that when progress reports come home here soon I won't have to wring their necks!  We have taken away the t.v. and games through the week so that they have NO distractions from their studies.  Perhaps it will help?  Only time will tell.  Progress reports come home in a couple of weeks.  Other than school, they continue to enjoy air softing with their friends.  They have lots of buddies here in the neighborhood, as well as on the next street over and they are always off to play some football, have airsoft wars or shoot some hoops.  The move to Texas has been a very positive one for them on so many fronts.

I think that's about all of it right now.  Jim and Jackie close on their house Feb. 19th.  It's getting close now.  The initial inspection went quite well.  No major problems at all.  We still have to get through appraisal and we are more than a little nervous about that one.  Our realtor is afraid it could fall as much at $15,000 below the offering price.  YIKES!  That would certainly change plans.  At that point, either the seller will have to drop the price of the home to appraised value...OR...they will have to walk away from the house.  And they will be back to square one in looking again.  I would be so sad for them if that happened because I know how much Jackie loves this house.  And it really is such a great house!  It would be hard to find one that compares like this one does.  Very hard indeed!  My fingers are crossed though!  I'm hoping and hoping!  We should know by the end of the week or early next week.  

And THAT is officially all of the news here on the homefront in the great, albeit, very, VERY gray state of Texas!