You know what they say - "A good friend will bail your ass out of jail when you get arrested; your BEST friend will be sitting next to you in the cell!"

It takes a long time to grow an old friend!

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. Ralph Waldo Emerson

A true friend is one who knows everything about you and loves you anyway.

A friend can tell you things you don't want to tell yourself..Francis Ward Weller

A friend may well be reckoned a masterpiece of life.

Well here it is, ladies and gents. The fruits of Gretchen and my labor this past few days. The color on the walls is Lagoon - then a thin white strip - then Blanket Brown along the top edge. It turned out so much better than I could have ever hoped!! Mad, mad props go to my homegirl, Gretchen for her immense patience with both the taping of the stripe and my severe case of ADD with this project. :) "Hey Gretchen, wanna help me paint my room? OH LOOK, A CHICKEN!"


I need to take some more pictures of my furniture because I want you people to vote on whether or not I should paint my side tables the same brown as the stripe above the blue. I want to do it so that it ties together in the room but I don't want to OVERDO it, ya know?

Now that the blue and the brown are painted the pictures I had on the wall along with the dark fan blades of my ceiling fan, everything just seems to "POP" as Gretchen says. As I already said, I'm so pleased that it turned out so well. In fewer than six months I feel again like I have a whole new room. It's so awesome!



This past Wednesday we spent 2 hours at Home Depot picking out paint and various other projects. I am always gaga around the paint cards because it's a way to create a whole new world. Doing this room was inspiring me to make all kinds of changes to my house - changes to make the house more my "home." Even though it already is, painting and rearranging always makes it fresh and new. I like that aspect. After doing this room I'm rethinking my feelings on that whole subject. :) These textured walls are HARD TO PAINT!!!

Alas it was a fun weekend project. I'm looking forward to other changes around the house. Talk to y'all soon!!!

Oh....REALLY funny. I come back from vacation last week to this. I walk in early in the morning, turn on the lights and exclaim, "HOLY SH!T!!!"

My desk completely enclosed (roof and all) by giant plastic bags. The desk, the walls, the cabinets, even my chair covered with stuff. It had to stay that way for the most part the first day I returned. There were things to catch up on. The roof stayed for at least a day and a half. People had come from miles around to see Hector's masterpiece. Just had to share!

Here is an update about the new addition in the house...

she's a huge pain in the a$$ but we both love her to death!

and can you say wrapped around Joey's paw??

brought a box home from Sam's Club tonight so I fashioned a white trash kitty condo out of it. She played in it for the rest of the night.

HI EVERYBODY!!!

Just thought I'd throw this one in there to say hi to all of my friends!

This summer has proven much different than I'm used to - and look at me! I'M TAN! And check out all the dang freckles!! I am going to look like that lady from 'Something About Mary' someday - I just know it!

Love to you all! Miss you bunches!

We took a ride to sightsee one evening. It was just after sunset when we arrived on the western side of Galveston Island.

We were surprised to find a beach amongst the tide pools, tall marshy grasses and weeds at the end of the "island."

Beth and I spent some time squishing our toes in the sand and enjoying the semi cool night breeze coming across the water. I snapped some shots of her in the lifeguard chair. I don't know what my fascination with the lifeguard chair is but I have lots of pictures of them.

I guess to me they signify all that is "the beach." The guy or girl sitting up on their post watching over the people swimming, making sure that everything is right in the water. They have their floats and their whistles and their orange suits and a big blob of sunscreen piled onto their noses. This picture was taken with my digital but I think it still turned out okay.

Dusk at the beach. The water is calm. The lifeguard has gone home for the day. The beach is empty - or near empty.

Goodnight water. Goodnight waves. Goodnight sand. Goodnight lifeguard. Goodnight beach.

*click*

Yep folks - those are MY flip flopped feet on the sand in Galveston Island, Texas!

My mother and niece flew in from Virginia (and boy are their arms TIRED!) on July 8th and we have been hanging out and having fun since they got here. I worked a lot of the time but we managed to steal away for a couple of days to see what Texans called "the beach."

It took us 5+ hours to get there - not bad! We drove through Houston to get there so I guess that's another city in Texas I can say I've seen. We stayed in a very tiny, tiny room in a La Quinta Inn right across the street from the seawall. Very interesting.

The first day we went to the water park - the Schlitterbahn. It's okay to say it - it's not a dirty word. Mom, Beth and I had a total blast at the park. The next day we spent on the beach. Very different from east coast beaches but it was so nice to be on the beach, in the sand, with the waves lapping at my feet. Saturday we tried to just keep cool (it's hot down here, ya know?) and went to the far end of the island to spend time on the beach. We got there around 3:30 and stayed till 7 something that night.

All in all a good road trip. Something I enjoy doing with my mom. The three of us got to spend lots of time with each other - laughing, being silly and bonding. It's some of the best times to remember. And as Beth put it last night - she laughed long and hard during those days and those are the best memories to have. Well put from a 9 year old.

Who doesn't love kittens?

Well, for about the first week we had her, Joey didn't really much care for them. "Warm and cute and cuddly my fuzzy butt, mama!" that's what he said.

For the first few days she sat and regarded him from a distance. If he even had a THOUGHT about her, she hissed and spit. And all of 3 pounds her little tiny tail puffs up and she hunches her back and does that crazy sideways kitten hop that's supposed to be threatening to anything that crosses her path.

Her name is Gracie. The short version of her name - Grace - is because she has none. I hope her cat gene comes out soon; otherwise it's just downright embarrassing for the little thing. No coordination, she trips, runs into walls and slides across the linoleum. She falls off of things and clotheslines herself anytime she attempts a jump. I know, I know, she's just a baby. She needs to find her way. But COME ON, she tried to NURSE from Joey the other day...poor little boo - boo.

It was rough at first but now Joey just adores her. He's a lot bigger than her as you can probably imagine but he will lay down on the floor, on his back or his side and he will just let her come at him. The other day she had his back leg in her mouth and she was clamping down and he just stood there stone still and let her go at him. What a good big brother. She flies across the room to greet him when he comes inside. She's already antagonizing him and making me laugh out loud. She loves to peek her head into the computer room where Joey and I will be sitting and as soon as he sees her, he takes off running after her. She hightails it to higher ground so fast!!!

I'm not sure but it looks to me like true love.