Anthony's Birthday Party

Anthony turned four the other day. And as always, his birthday was a little bittersweet. Sweet, because my baby is growing up into a wonderful little boy, bitter for exactly the same reason. He is losing all of the baby in his face and I can see the new mature features. We decided to hold a Cowboy Pony Party for him. Missy Roberts Pony Parties came out and decorated the horse that we got Anthony for his birthday and then gave fun rides to all the kids at the party. Her website is http://www.mrhrt.webs.com/ and she did an amazing job. Please check her out if you are in the Houston area. She also does reunions, church parties, and basically anywhere you need to entertain kids. We also ordered a cake from Layer Cakes in Pearland, TX. Saint Sepulveda did a fantastic job decorating the cake to match the party plates that we got. Her website is http://www.layercakes.net/  Please check her out if you are in the area.


The kids had a blast. We got squirt guns for the kids to have a western shootout, a piñata for them to beat up, and sheriff’s stars so that they could feel like part of the old west. Without further ado….the pictures…

 Anthony's Cake

 The birthday boy

 Daddy with Anthony and his birthday present, Abby

 Missy Roberts coordinated rides and decorated Abby

 A little friend taking her first pony ride

 Water gun shootout at the Sorta-OK corral

 Blowing out his candle

Intensely concentrating on the pinata



Absentee-ism and Home Repair

I have been noticeably absent from the blogging world lately. You know that house that I bought? Well, it has most certainly turned into a mini-farm and one great big project. There were a bunch of little ones that we have been working on as time and budget have allowed. But two big ones have recently taken over our lives. First, we started cleaning off the walls in the dining room and kitchen so that we could repaint. The walls were covered in painted-over wall paper. Which means that they have been amazingly difficult to get cleaned. Oh, and the wall paper glue was really good. So the wallpaper is coming off in tiny little chunks and is taking FOREVER. I have logged about 20 hours in scraping time and it still isn’t finished. Guess I’m going to continue spending my evenings scraping instead of writing.

During the wall scraping project, we discovered that the back door to the house needed some serious repair. It was letting a lot of daylight in. The threshold had dry rotted off and the bottom part of the door was delaminating. So we repaired it too and replaced all the doorknobs with new knobs and locks.

So it has been an exercise in time, money and patience. As soon as the dining room and kitchen are repainted, we will be painting Anthony’s room, and then re-doing the guest bathroom. Needless to say, I will be checking in with pictures and stories from the work.

A pic of the dining room in progress.

Closing a Chapter (and Opening a New One)

I'm strong enough to write this post today. I have been thinking about it for a week, but then all the little stuff piled up and I got distracted.

It seems like in my life stuff hits all at once. So I guess that it was no real suprise that I was offered a new job at the same time as I bought a house. It really is closing a chapter. One filled with craziness and mishaps, with a few good things along the way. We moved home to Texas in 2008. We had a just shy of 1 year old baby, a new rental house, and a new job to get accustomed to. Stressful doesn't even begin to describe it. But it got us out of a worsening situation in California, where the declining economy drove the company I was working for almost out of existance. Then I started rebuilding in the middle of the economic mess.

The rebuilding chapter is over.

I'm moving on into success. I have a house that is my own where no one can tell me what to do (yes, I know the bank really owns it, but they don't care what color I paint my bathroom). I am moving into a new job with a national firm where I am going to get the exposure and experience that I need to keep moving up. My old company was great for rebuilding and getting a foothold (notice the rebuild again?!), but my needs exceed what they are able to provide. My car is paid off as of last month. I am starting to feel like myself again before we moved to Texas. There are exciting things on the horizon, both professionally and personally.

Bring it, baby.