The Joys of Pet Ownership!

Disclaimer: I love animals and I LOVE my pets!

I droped Harvey off for his regularly scheduled vet appointment yesterday on my way to work. Like every responsible pet owner, I take him twice a year to Banfield. We purchase "pet insurance" from the vet for all of our pets (2 cats and a dog). At least we currently do, maybe not for much longer. Anyway, I mentioned to the vet that he has been scratching his ears a lot and they had me sign a paper that they could clean them ($14). The vet called me at 2 PM and let me know I owed them $123!! What?! But, I have the "pet insurance". Oh, but "we cleaned his ears, he has an ear infection, so we need you to put this antibiotic in his ear twice a day, etc." I ask, what the antibiotic does, because I am thinking, if it is Neosporen I can buy that at CVS for $2. The lady gives me a sufficient enough answer to stomach buying the $26 antibiotic. So, Jeff picked up the dog and paid the bill $123. A couple of hours later I get a call from the vet informing me that his nurse did not sell us the ear wash we are supposed to use twice a week. Oh no, we will not purchase this because I have a whole bottle from 2004 when they suckered me into it the last time. Did I mention Harvey has to go back in two weeks for a "follow up." I wonder how much that will cost!

This morning I wake up, still fuming a little from the vet bill when I notice cat puke is at the bottom of the bed, on my side of course and on the comforter! YUCK! Jeff was nice enough to clean it up. Then I walk through the kitchen to see a pile of dog poop in the dinning room. Again, see disclaimer, but honestly, I'm a little annoyed!

Pibb and Pop Tarts

Thanks for all the commments! We're so excited to have new blogger friends and now we have sitemeter so we can track the flow of readers. That was an all time high for number of comments though!

Jeff is working a lot lately and could use some prayer for endurance and clarity. I have been using my time while he is at work to get together with old and new friends and reconnect.

I'm sure you are wondering about the title of the blog. When Jeff works late, they feed him dinner so I haven't been cooking. I went to the grocery store tonight and this literally was my grocery list:
1. Pibb Zero
2. Pop Tarts
3. Granola Bars
4. Tylenol

No Joke!

Hello...is anyone out there?

Apparently my mom is the only one that reads our blog on a regular basis. She is the only one that comments on most of our posts. If anyone else is out there, please let us know by leaving a comment, especially if you are a fellow blogger. I promise I will comment on yours in return.

We saw MAMA MIA last night. It was really cute and funny! Jeff and I both needed a laugh so this was a nice pick me up. Today I went to see Kristen and Tim's new appartment and "help" them move in. YAY for their return to Houston!

Trip to San Antonio

Jeff and I love to visit San Antonio. I think it is one of the most romantic cities I have ever been to and Jeff and I have made a lot of wonderful memories there. It is one of our favorite spots for a weekend getaway! This weekend we decided to do just that, get away. We were both in need of some relaxation and we wanted to spend some quality time together before Jeff started getting busy again at work. Jeff suggested we wake up early, like "walking club early." In other words, we got up at 5 AM and were on our way to San Antonio at 6 AM!

In spite of the early departure, we still made our regular stop to Buc-ees. Yes, my husband bought beef jerky at 8 AM! We got to Fiesta Texas right in time for them to open and we stayed until they closed at 10 PM. We rode the new ride, Goliath, which our friend Derek calls a "parking lot coaster." Besides that we mostley saw shows and tried to stay in the air conditioning as much as possible. It was HOT! We also got to see Fiesta Texas' outdoor summer show, The Lone Star Spectacular. It is a laser and firework show and was a wonderful end to the day, especially since the sun was down and there was a nice breeze.

Sunday we slept in, checked out of our hotel, and headed for the Riverwalk. We took the stroll of around a mile and enjoyed the views along the way. We ate lunch at Casa Rio and then went to Market Square to look around. On our way back to the car we visited Marriage Island. I have seen it from the river boat tour, but have never actually stood on it. It is a really cute naturally made heart-shaped island where hundreds of marriage ceremonies are performed each year. We also saw a beautiful cathedral with fountains in front of it where children were playing in the water. Around 4 PM we headed home and made a stop at Buc-ees again on the way. It was a perfect weekend!

Houston Project 2008

Last night we completed Houston Project 2008. I mentioned it in an earlier post, but this is our church's approach to get as many people as possible involved in local missions. We were at one of the 8 sites, called Allen Parkway Village. We truly loved getting to know the community and the kids! We had a VBS, middle school and high school program (w/ real rappers), a ladies' Bible Study, and evangelism at the site. I was also able to connect with a couple of the moms of our children, which was a pleasure. Jeff and I directed the 5 year old group and boy, they were active to say the least. The most difficult part was that we were outside under tents that had no sides. We tried to put up netting to keep all the kids in, but it was a constant struggle to contain them. They were literally in their own backyard and are used to having free reign of the whole complex.

Tavoris, Kaleub, Deneshia, and I


Jeff and I after completing our first year doing Houston Project together:


A group picture of all the couples from our Sunday School class that served at our site:


We did our best to keep all the kids together and God gave us the opportunity to spend a lot of one on one time with one of the kids that liked to escape, Kaleub. I immediatley knew that some of Kaleub's actions were beyond his control. It wasn't until last night that I understood. Kaleub shared with me that his mom recently went to jail. In the same evening one of our other frequent run aways told me she saw her cousin go to jail for shooting someone. My heart goes out to these kids, who in their first 5 years experienced things that no one would want a child to experience! If you would, please pray for these precious children and their families, we would appreciate it.

Happy Birthday, America!

4th of July weekend was a lot of fun, as anticipated! Jeff and his dad did a ton of work on the yard and it looks great! We even got two new lavender plants in our front flower bed. Friday night Jeff, Lisa, Jaime, Jeff's parents, and I went to see fireworks downtown with thousands of other people. It was a great time even though the lines to get out were crazy! Saturday, everyone came over to our house for yummy food and fun!

The chef and I after lunch


We weren't expecting our kitchen faucet to break, but thankfully Jeff's dad offered to install a new one. We love the result!



After the Albus clan left town, we went to my parents house to spend some time with Sarah, Clayton, and Wade. A fun time was had by all!

Jeff and I with "Batman"

Exciting weekend

We have plans for an exciting weekend...don't worry pictures will be posted as always! Jeff is home from work today. Live Nation believes in celebrating holidays right, by giving at least a half day, this time a whole day before a holiday.

Tonight or tomorrow morning, my sister and her fam (Wade, Clayton, and baby boy number two) are coming for the weekend. They will be staying with my parents, but we hope to spend as much time with them as possible. Tomorrow at noon, Jeff's parents are coming into town. They were sweet enough to offer to help us do some yard maintenance! They are amazing! Then Friday night, Jeff's sister, Lisa and her husband, Jaime are coming to go to the fireworks downtown with all of us.

Saturday we are having everyone over for brisket and roasted corn. This was Jeff's mom's idea and a very good one at that. We plan to hang out with my family Saturday and Sunday before we go to our Houston Project meeting Sunday afternoon.

Houston Project is a local missions initiative our church does annually. We help small churches or communities put on a VBS program in the evening. Jeff and I are teaching the Kindergarten group at one of the apartment complexes. Please, pray for God to be glorified and for people to make decisions for Christ.

If you like our new header, please comment. I worked really hard on it! HAPPY JULY 4th!

Fun Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday!

This past Friday, I went to my hairdresser and friend, Michelle's house to get my hair cut before our big Girls' Night. Every couple of months we get together with other girlfriends for some good ol' fashioned girlie fun! This Friday we decided to go to the Dessert Gallery for some yummy cake and then go Disco Bowling.

Here we are in our pretty booth at the Dessert Gallery, chowing down on cake!


At the bowling alley Sarah came up with a rule that we had to dance back to our seat after each frame, so we looked crazy, but it made the game a lot more enjoyable!


On Saturday we went to our old Sunday School director's home for lunch before we drove to the Woodlands for a Stone Temple Pilot concert. It was a little wet and loud, but lots of fun!

Sunday we went to the Astros game with our friends, the Stephensons. It was both of their first Astros game as they are transplanted from Arizona. Jeff went into a lottery a couple months ago to get the tickets because the Astros were playing the Boston Red Sox and there was a lot of competition for tickets. We scored tickets! The fans were rowdy on both sides, especially when the beverages started flowing! It was a really close, exciting game and the Astros won! YAY for a great weekend!