AbsolutBlog

Texas summers are hot. I think that is a growing trend in this blog. So, we are in our 26th continuous day of over 90 degree heat (tomorrow it should top out at 100). We are also in our 28th day of no rain. My grass hates me, except for two patches in back that got a whole day’s worth of watering when my timer failed to turn off. 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM. My water company will hate me too when they see how much water I wasted…but then they will gladly send me the bill and I will start hating them for charging me so much.

It’s all relative.

Alisha is feeling the dog days of summer alright…sick as a dog days.  She came down with something fierce Tuesday night and was off work the rest of the week.  You name it, she had it…stomach, throat, headache.  I won’t get into the gory details, but suffice it to say, she wasn’t doing well.  On Tuesday the porcelain thrown had so much traffic it could charge admission.  That lasted only a couple days, but her throat was pretty sore and she lost her voice. 

Today, Maddy and her boyfriend Ben (from her old daycare) got together at Heritage Park Pool (see below).  Telling his mom the story, she thought it might be allergies and nothing really contagious.  She had many of the same symptoms and it only subsided with allergy medicine.  I guess molds are very high right now (2,460).  Alisha took some of my allergy medicine and within 12 hours was feeling much better.  I may even get her off the couch and out of the house tonight!

Meanwhile, I got to rest today with swimming (above) and a much needed mid afternoon nap.  Work has been busy as Andy is trying to get a grant out with some of my work in it.  I tried to convert him over to Word (from Adobe Page Maker), but that turned into a very bad idea.  He just doesn’t know enough about Word to fix his problems.  While I don’t think Word is the best product out there…far from it…it does a better job in my opion than Page Maker for 30-50 page grants.  However, Word corrupted the document and now it is useless.  Luckily we have *some* backups of the Word doc for the future.  Why can’t we all just use open source?  I love Star and OpenOffice, but Andy is stuck with what he knows.  You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.  Sure open source has some bugs (what software doesn’t), but people care about the bugs and fix them as opposed to the Redmond giant which doesn’t even know it’s own source code.  I’ll save that rant for another day . 

Cheers all…

Maddy has been going to a new daycare since June 13th.  We finally (after 2 years of trying) got her into the UT Child Care Center.  She has been adjusting nicely.  The first few days she was very skiddish because she didn’t know anyone.  The thrid day she just took off because some of the kids were playing in water saving insects that inadvertenly flew in.  I am not sure which was harder…her not wanting us to go but us having too, or her just taking off and no longer needing our comfort.  Ahh the joys of being a parent…

This new facility will be great for her.  Already she has made some new friends and we found out one of the sons of a co-worker of Alisha’s is also in her class.  Maddy also found her twin…There is a girl in another class that looks very similar to her, same height, weight, hair cut, manorisms, etc.  They say everyone has a twin and we found hers. 

Maddy is learning some spanish from her teacher Mrs. Maria, she is taking a music class on Thursdays called OpusOne Music.  On Fridays they have "Splash Day" for a couple hours in the sprinklers and hoses.  She gets to play in water (her favorite).

Maddy’s new teacher: Mrs. Maria, Myself and her for Splash Day.

Now I have Alisha on the blogwaggon.  She has an account and is using green as her post color.  I figured I would add to her post a little.  I had an eye appointment today to get new contacts.  I have discovered that summer water activities with expensive glasses is not enjoyable.  I am always afraid of loosing them when they are on and missing the hot bikinis when they are off (just kidding Lish).  So I started writing this with my eyes completely dilated and can barely see, took a 12 hour break, and fished the rest around midnight (yeah, dirty stay up…)

The great family crusades have come and gone. Family was invading Texas most of June instead of us traveling. For the first 5 years of being here, we shyed away from having people out in our "bad" months (June, July, August, September) because we didn’t want them to see what heat could be like.  But we decided it was time to show everyone the water fun.  Maddy is old enough now to enjoy water activities.  We thought we would show everyone just how hot it actually gets.

Alisha’s family was here for the first two weeks of June.  The temp during the day was around 90.  Then we had a week reprieve and my mom/step dad came to visit.  The heat pumped up to the upper 90s while they were out.  Water activities were the main attraction.  First we went toobing (see below), then to Heritage Park pool (where Maddy is learning how to swim), and to Barton Springs as Alisha mentioned.  Pictures are up here (when i get them posted).

When Dad comes out in late July, we will have most likely seen our 100+ degree days.  Evaporation will be at a premium.  It will be more of the same list above, and including jetskiing on Lake Travis, Schlitterbahn.

In other news, the deck Bryant and I were building for Carlos (professionally) is done.  Pictures are up here if you want to check it out.  Only my second deck, and I am getting better.  I think I may make it a winter buisness as the heat was getting to me.  I know a few others who want decks in the neighborhood.  However, Bryant wants to sell his truck and get a Dodge Charger…I keep telling him it is a bad idea because how else are we supposed to get wood?

Hello All!!!

I am going to write in a different color than Brad so that you will be able to know who you are "talking" too.    I would also like to thank all of you for the wonderful Birthday wishes this weekend.  It was nice hearing from all of you. 

Flo and Bruce came in for their vacation on Thursday and we had a really nice visit.  We went to Barton Springs to find it closed and decided it was too hot so, we ended up at Budget Springs (the free part of the natural spring river located just outside Barton Springs).  The 68 degree water took a little getting used to (for all involved), but when we were reletavely cool in the 98 degree air temps the rest of the evening, we decided it was worth it.  We then went to hear Monte Montgomery at Shady Grove for "Unplugged at the Grove" Thursday night.  Oh, it’s good to be in Austin!!  Madison really enjoyed it in the fact that she made a little friend and didn’t have to sit with Mom and Dad all night…My goodness is it starting already?!?!

  Friday night ended up being "party central" at the Hall residence for the Birthday bash.  Thanks again to all that came out, it was really nice seeing you and having you celebrate my birthday with me.  We ended up going to Graham’s Central Station, a new club that just recently opened in Pflugerville.  It’s a dance hall with 6 clubs inside.  For less cover than you would spend on 6 bars down town, and with no worry about parking or driving home (’cause it’s only about 2 min. from where we live) it was a lot of fun.  Needless to say, Saturday required rest, recovering from the night before.   

Sunday was a warm celebration for both Bruce and Brad for Father’s Day, and Happy Father’s Day to all of you Dad’s out there!!  We went to Kirby Lane Cafe, a really nice little cafe that serves pancakes the size of your head in about 4 different flavors (including Gingerbread, YUMMY)!!  After a really nice brunch we ended the weekend with some sad "good-bye’s" and "see-you-laters" when we had to take Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop (for those of you who don’t know: AKA Flo and Bruce) back to the airport.  Madison has gotten really used to having visitors this spring/summer and doesn’t like it at all when it’s time to leave.  So, for all of you who haven’t visited or at least not in a while…now is a PERFECT time!!

Well, I guess I will leave it at that for right now…After all, it’s Monday and back to the daily grind!!  Love to you all!!

                                                                                                                           -Alisha