We Are Drowning! — September 24, 2009

Saturday morning….about 5:00 am….

I was sleeping quite peacefully when I was suddenly awakened to hear David talking loudly.  I could tell he was on the phone, but I couldn’t quite make out what he was saying.  He came into the bedroom and says, “Get up…get up…get up…our neighbor’s apartment is flooding and it is coming in here through the walls.”

argghhh…… I get out of bed, and as soon as I put my feet on the carpeted floor, water starts soaking up my socks.  arggghhh, gross. 

David walked over to the people next door, and he comes back to say that water is just pouring out the door of their apartment.  Apparently the lady over there wasn’t home Friday evening, and at some point her water heater valve broke off and water just started pouring out.  Her entire place was flooded when she arrived home. 

They finally got the water turned off, so the water quit coming in, but both our bedrooms are along our adjacent wall to her house, so water soaked up the carpet for about 5 feet in each room.  (It never came into the bathroom, oddly enough, even though  it was on the same wall.)  It is squishy all along the walls, and then is just damp and gross as you move away from the wall.  The humidity levels are amazing.  (My hair……..!!)

So, we decided to just leave everything intact in the rooms since who knows how long the water had been coming in before we were aware of it.  All the furniture sitting along the wall had already been soaking up water, so no point in moving it now.  The landlord immediately decided to replace all the carpet in both our units, and they went ahead and took all hers up since it was completely soaked through.  They left ours since it wasn’t as bad, but we’re supposed to get our new carpet installed tomorrow.  Oh, tomorrow.  It’s going to be so bad.

So, luckily for us, we have renter’s insurance.  Everyone should have renter’s insurance!  It is cheap and one instance like this makes it so worth it, especially since nothing about this was our fault.  David called and talked to them and they said we should just go ahead and plan to throw everything away and start over.  We are going to take pictures as everything gets moved away from the walls so we can assess the damage and see where we are, exactly.  If it’s very bad, we’ll just have to live off the floor in these two rooms until we get new stuff because there’s nothing useful about putting soggy furniture back on new carpet. 

Actually, I’ve been very in denial about our potential loss of furniture.  I was hoping maybe we could somehow escape the absolute and “udder choas” that is certainly coming our way with this event.  My gosh.  We have so much stuff.  I was hoping maybe we could just keep what we had and it wouldn’t be too bad.  Well…..  Last night just before bed, I was looking at our nightstand and realized that it is already pulling apart by itself.  We haven’t even moved it yet.  So, I think it’s all doomed. 

So, starting tomorrow, we are going to be involved in a fate worse than moving!  At least with moving, you have plenty of time to plan ahead and make arrangements, and then once you get there, at least you have furniture with you to set up.  We will never find anything again.  I live a very organized life, and now it’s going to be scattered everywhere possible!  I am planning to spend as much of today as possible putting important things in easy-to-get-to places just in case.  Plus, our work schedules are out of control this weekend, so we won’t really have time to restore any order to our lives until who knows when!  David and I just keep sitting on the couch discussing everything, and every discussion ends in a huge ”ARGGGHHH!!!” and “WHYYYYY!!!!!!!”

Okay.  Let’s look at the positives:

1. Brand new carpet!  Yay!!!  That’s cool.

2. Brand new furniture.  That’s going to be fun once we get it.  We’re thinking about going a completely different direction with the office stuff this time. Maybe!

3.  I had a project on my eventual “to do” list that involved moving a bunch of furniture around in the bedroom so I could get behind everything and vacuum.  Well, I don’t have that worry anymore! 

Oh well.  We must remain calm and do the best we can.

In other news, Shane and I made a trip to Longview last night to do the walking trail there.  It was fun!  This is the same trail that David and I tried out this summer for the first time.  The trail is actually 6 miles long, but it is in a straight line instead of any type of loop, so you have to plan ahead as to where you will turn back since you have to walk back all the way….no cheating!  David and I went one day when it was very hot, but we still made it to the 1.5 mile marker before turning back, so 3 miles in the middle of a summer day is pretty good.

Shane and I weren’t sure how far we were willing to walk, but we figured we could at least do the 3 mile round trip.  It turned out that we had the perfect day to go.  It had been overcast all day and the temp was only slightly cool.  It sprinkled rain just a little bit, but it wasn’t really that humid.  (And nothing compared to the humidity of the house over the last few days, hehehe.) 

We were going at a pretty good pace, but we were still able to chat with each other, so we hit the 1.5 mile point before we even knew it.  We agreed to keep going to the next marker (they were marked at each 1/4 mile)….and then we passed the next one…and then the next one….and all of a sudden, we were at the end!  We couldn’t believe it!  We had a moment of rejoicing and then turned around to start back, since we now had three more miles to cover to get back to the car.  hehehe.

Those three miles went by just as quickly.  We never get to talk as much as we want to at CVS since there are always customers needing stuff, and since we’re actually expected to WORK when we’re there, for some silly reason.   The only small problem was that it started getting dark on us on the way back, and the trail is really not lit at night.  It was okay until the last about half mile when the trees were covering the path and we really couldn’t see that well. 

We were rounding the last curve when Shane suddenly jumped and kind of made this weird noise.  At the same moment, I felt something brush by my shoe.  My thought was, “Oh, please let that have been a stick!!”  He was still saying something, so I was like, “WHAT?  What!  What was it!!! Just tell me!!” 

“A frog!!!!  That was a frog!!”

Me:  “A FROG touched my foot!  It almost got on me!” 

I went into full on bug dance mode, complete with jumping.  He was having a similar meltdown, so I didn’t even feel foolish.  Then he looked over and saw another frog, and that was it.  We took off running at full speed.  hehehhehe. 

We will definitely have to go back and do that again.  Six miles!  That’s pretty impressive.  We were quite proud.  Next time, we will plan ahead of the darkness so the frogs of the world do not attack. 

Warning! Slightly Off Color Humor! — September 17, 2009

I am going to rue the day that CVS starts carrying this product! 

We get most of the “as seen on tv” items, so I am sure that this one is just around the corner.  PLEASE!!!!  I cannot possibly be expected to ring someone up for this item.  I cannot be serious about this.  I can overlook weirdos who buy condoms, and I can turn my eyes away from the people buying fancy lubricants and yeast infection medicine at the same time, but I cannot ignore this.  I just know some inappropriate remark is going to come out of my mouth. 

Oh, Shake Weight!  It just makes me laugh.  The inventors of this thing seriously could not be this naive. 

(and of course, Ellen’s take on it all is just perfect.  I just completely love the audience reaction — and Ellen’s “heehee, I can’t believe I’m saying all this” smile!!!)

Mystery Solved!! — September 10, 2009

Another mystery of life is solved!

As you might recall from my last post, I had my own little mystery going with the Regions Bank in Longview.  The parking garage’s little round glass room was something I just couldn’t figure out.  I asked around, and I finally got to the right person.  Becky (our supervisor at the bank) found out for me!

We were talking about the round room a few days ago and I sent her the picture so she could see it.  I figured she might possibly know because she grew up in this area and knows quite a few people.  She said she had never seen the round room before, but agreed that it was very mysterious, especially since it was empty and unlocked.  I mentioned today that I hadn’t made any progress on the room and said that I was considering emailing Longview Chamber of Commerce to ask them if they knew what it was used for.  She suggested that I just call Regions directly.  I just couldn’t bring myself to do that!  It seemed way too weird.  So, being our intrepid leader, she says, “I’ll do it!” and went to get a phone book.

A few minutes later, she was back with all our answers!!  She got info from the first person who picked up the phone, who apparently thought it was pretty entertaining that she was calling just for that.  The person was willing to share the info too! 

The parking garage apparently used to service several different businesses in the area.  The round room was actually for valet parking, and the valets used that room as their station.  (Makes sense!)  She said that they hadn’t used the room in forever, but that they did keep it unlocked on purpose.  (Attention all homeless people!)  She said that since they didn’t really store anything in it, they didn’t see a reason to keep it locked. 

Becky also asked her about the teller windows in the garage and about their weird parallel placement.  The lady laughed and said that yes, that used to be their drive-up.  She agreed that she had no idea how customers actually maneuvered their cars in and out of there.   The set up is pretty awkward.

So, now we know.    Yay!!  Now, wouldn’t it be cool to go to the bank and have someone park your car for you?  Those were the days!

Happy Life — September 8, 2009

My goodness, life is full right now.  I feel very content and relaxed!  For the first time in awhile, there’s not an underlying “weird” feeling that I can’t explain.  I am not sure what has changed me, exactly, but I think it’s a combination of good things that have happened lately and the anticipation of good things yet to come.  I’ve had lots of quality time lately with good people — that helps!  Plus, for one of the first times lately, I completed my weekend at CVS with a feeling of accomplishment.  In reality, I might have accomplished less than usual, but I made a lot of intrinsic progress, so that was nice.  Sometimes I question if I have a purpose for being there (other than to mechanically move people in and out of the store), but for now, I feel like all is well.  That is nice. 

Did I mention that Tim came to see us over the weekend?  Yay!  That was such a great surprise.  We usually plan for weeks in advance so we can ask off of work and everything else, but this time, we were actually sort of spontaneous about it.  hehehe.  He came up Sunday evening, since I was off pretty early in the afternoon.  We set out to explore Longview (especially Papacita’s!!!) and just had a fun evening together.  We took tons of pictures this time too.  I’m going to post a few here and the rest on my facebook. 

Papacita’s has these crazy banquet rooms upstairs.  They don’t really use the upstairs unless it’s very busy (or for a party), so it was deserted up there on Sunday night.  Tim thinks up all these crazy poses, and really, the pictures on the walls were so WEIRD that we couldn’t resist taking pictures.

                                                                                                                                                     

It looks like there’s someone picking his nose in this picture.  All of the pictures in this room were enormous and weird.

 

 

We drove around Longview a little bit, and found his huge concrete chair downtown. 

 

We also took this picture of some art that was next to the chair.  It looks like we are playing a game.  I love Tim’s expression.  He looks like he thinks I am plotting something. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we were walking around, we uncovered a huge mystery!  There is a Regions Bank downtown in Longview, and I cannot figure out some of their set up.  The side of the building looks like a traditional old-style bank.  When you get to the front, though, it turns weird.  You walk into this parking garage, and suddenly you see this:

 

What IS this?  I don’t understand anything about it.  It is right as you leave the street and enter the parking garage.  It clearly belongs to Regions, hehehe.  It doesn’t go anywhere.  You just walk into this round space.  The door was unlocked, which was a little scary, but the “room” is empty.  There are air vents in the floor all the way around the edges.  What is this thing!  What does it do? 

As we walked our way through the garage, we then found all these very old teller windows:

They were spaced apart in such a way that someone with very good driving skills (NOT the customers at our bank, who can’t even drive straight into the lanes) could theoretically parallel park in front of the teller window and do a transaction.  There were three windows all in a row.  It was like this all happened before the pneumatic tube technology and the drivers all had to get close to the building to do anything from a car.  It’s not possible to explain without really seeing it, but I can’t imagine how that would work without causing accidents constantly. 

So, I need to meet someone who knows the history of Regions bank in Longview.  I need to understand the purpose of that round room, especially.  It reminds me so much of some of the weird dreams I’ve had — those dreams that you feel you should understand but never quite “get.” 

So, yay.  These next few weeks are going to be really busy!   I feel like we have a lot going on.  Some of it is relatively dull, such as going to defensive driving again so we can maintain our insurance discount (blah), and some it is SUPER exciting, like our Plano road trip in October!!!!  I really can’t wait for that. 

My Opinion Just Might Matter! — September 5, 2009

Oh, I am very excited right now.  We got the coolest thing in the mail!! I went out to collect our usual pile of junk, and in a huge envelope was our invitation to try to be a Nielsen family!!!  Oh!  That is so neato!  I have always always wondered what that would be like.  I went to Wikipedia to read all about it.  I might get to control the tv universe! 

 I had to fill out a little survey to see if we could qualify to be part of it.  They sent two one-dollar bills as a thank you present, which I found to be humorous.  I don’t know when we find out.  I am ready!  I will single-handedly save “Ugly Betty” from its graveyard slot on Friday nights.  I will keep “Ellen” #1!  I will help “Better Off Ted” gain ratings!  If this were last year, I could have saved “Pushing Daisies!”

 This is going to be so great. I hope we get to do it.

Look What I Got! — September 4, 2009

My mystery toys!  I got them! 

                 

 These were the really unusual “mystery toys” that David, Tim, and I found when we were at the Giant Dollar store in Houston during our vacation.  I didn’t buy them at the time because I didn’t realize that anyone else would find them as fascinating as I did.  hehe.  When I got back up here and started sharing my vacation pictures, I started really wanting some “mystery workmen” toys to show everyone.  So, I emailed Tim to ask if he would send me some, and before I knew it, I was a proud owner of two of them!

 I immediately took them to the bank.  Everyone wanted to share in the mystery of why these toys came to be, especially with the completely blank background.  The toys had to have a purpose at some point, since the plastic shell on the front was specifically molded to them.  My favorite theory came from one of my co-workers: the toys were probably part of a set that once included a truck or some other work accessories for the “workman.”  The accessories then got recalled and they didn’t want to throw away the workmen, so they repackaged them and sold them to the Giant Dollar.  That sounds pretty plausible! 

 Thanks Tim for keeping us entertained at work. 

Grand Day Out! — September 3, 2009

Monday was a great day.  Shane and I both took the day off and I got the grand tour of Texarkana. 

 

We had been planning this outing since mid-July, hehehe.  With our schedules and everything else, it took just that long.  It was worth it though!  Over the weekend, Shane sent me a hilarious itinerary for the day….with step one being to straighten my hair.

 

 

 

Straightening my hair has been a pet project of his (and several other CVS people) for awhile now.  He did a little “trial run” one evening right as we were leaving work.  It looked so different!  I had never ever seen my head look so tiny before!  It was very strange.  I liked it though!  It was nice to have flat hair like everyone else, even if it was only temporary.

 So, the day started with my hair.  I really liked the finished product!  I just know that I could never do all that myself.  No patience!  It really took a long time, but I really loved it.  

 

 

 

From there we left Marshall and went to Texarkana.  We went straight to Subie’s Deli, which was his lunch recommendation.  YUM.  I would go back right now.  I got a veggie sub, which was delicious…..and then I got to the perfection of the fries.  PERFECTION.  First off, they were served in these candle holder metal things.  The fries were wrapped in a cone of butcher paper and tucked into the large opening for the candle.  There were two smaller spots on each side that would have held the (free!) dipping sauce, but the cups were a little too small for the holder.  It was grand.  The fries were the perfect texture and the perfect level of saltiness.  yummy!

 I had not really spent much time in Texarkana in several years.  David and I made a short day trip up there several years ago to eat and shop a little, but everything had changed since then.  I would not know my way around now because there are tons of new roads and highways with different exits than before.  Luckily, Shane was driving, so I got to see all kinds of stuff.

 We went to see “Julie and Julia” at the Cinemark there.  That is a beautiful theatre!  It is completely spotless and actually pretty ornate.  If they would just upgrade to digital, it would be perfect.  They also had Gold Peak tea, so of course that made it all the better.  The movie was very good!  I did not expect to like it as much as I did.  It ALMOST inspired me to start cooking.  hahahahahaa….almost…… 

(My favorite quote:  Paul Child: “Well, what is it that you REALLY like to do?”

                                          Julia Child: “EAT!”

                                          Paul: “And you are SO GOOD at it!  Look at you!!”

                                          Julia: “Yes! I am growing before your very eyes!”)

After that we did some shopping, spending tons of time at Books A Million.  We took a picture with “Jesus Directing Traffic” at St. Michael hospital, and then came back to Marshall. 

   

(Of course, this statue doesn’t have anything to do with traffic.  It is in the front drive of the hospital, which is located on a major, well-traveled highway.  It looks like Jesus is trying to direct everyone in the safest way possible.  I had a friend point this out to me several years ago when we were up there for some training, and now I can see it no other way.) 

 

 It was a pretty full day, but so much fun.  I can’t wait to go again.

I Need to Meet This Guy! — August 27, 2009

I was watching “Unwrapped” on the Food Network today.  I really love that show.  It’s about food, one of my favorite subjects, and it’s such light fare that I can watch it mindlessly and just go along with it.  Today’s episode was an old one that I had never seen before about “cheap eats.” 

 My favorite part:  the guy who collects macaroni and cheese boxes! His name is Ian Golder.  My goodness, that was the funniest segment I’ve ever seen on that show.  I was watching it with a mix of laughter and jealousy that someone in this world has been able to capitalize on one of my own favorite foods: mac and cheese.  His theory is that people love mac and cheese because, for a lot of people, it’s one of the first things they learn to cook.

 

Ian, I have a passion for mac and cheese too!  I love all that he has friends who come over to help eat it.  I would be one of those.

 Yum…mac and cheese memories…

 One of my friends, Allison, and I became obsessed with macaroni and cheese when we were in elementary school.  Her mom would make it for us every time I was over there, which was quite often.  She and I would split the box all to ourselves and we loved stirring it when it was fresh and hearing the squishy noodle sound.  We’d be like, “It’s oodles and oodles of noodles!” and laugh.  (We had this other game we used to play that was basically just a front that allowed us to eat the entire time.  It was a game about airplanes, so it didn’t really pertain to food at all, but that didn’t stop us.  We ate the universe.  hehehe.)

It’s the End of an Era — August 21, 2009

WHY did my Fazoli’s close!!  I just want to know why!

David and I went to Longview tonight. 

(Background: I had a very stressful day at the bank today.  We had to go to this training today for our new “customer service approach” model that we’re supposed to start using.  Okay.  If you have ever had to go to a teacher in-service training, you know the methods of torture that are employed there.  Ice breakers!  Role-play!  Stand up and address the class!  Everyone take turns reading aloud!  Group work!  NO, you cannot work with your friends!  All of these are considered to be forms of torture.  All of these are employed at nearly every teacher workshop I’ve been to….. these horrid horrid things where no learning takes place.  

I think I can pretty much sum up the entire day when I mention that we spent an entire HOUR on learning the difference between open-ended and closed-ended questioning.  I really didn’t need that level of teaching, re-teaching, and structuring.  Really.)

So, I basically turned my brain off and I needed a trip to Longview to help revive myself. 

We went to eat at Moe’s again because we enjoyed it so much last time.  This time we were smart and got the huge bowl of queso.  That’s soo good!  The cheese is at this perfect consistency.  (and the music was back at a very ambient level,  I must add.)

On the way back through Longview, we saw a Pizza Hut billboard.  I had heard that Longview was getting a new Pizza Hut to replace one of their old ones.  This Pizza Hut was supposed to be based on the “new” format.  It’s supposed to be all trendy and a little less…..raunchy-looking, I guess.  (I adore Pizza Hut, but you know that most of the ones with a dine-in area just seem a little germy, for some reason.) 

Anyway, we started driving down the road where the new building is supposed to be.  We passed the old Pizza Hut, which was open with a “for sale” sign in front of it.  About a block later….ta da…..new Pizza Hut/Wing Street heaven.  It’s PRETTY!  At first we couldn’t decide if it was ready to be open, but when we saw several toilets lined up outside, we figured we had our answer.  What a weird thing to leave outside. 

In between the Pizza Huts, we noticed our little Fazoli’s.  We’ve been going to Fazoli’s for forever, it seems.  It’s Olive-Garden-on-a-Budget.  It’s great food and when we first found Fazoli’s, we went all the time!! 

We were having this adventure around 9pm, and as we passed our little Fazoli’s, we noticed it was awfully dark.  We were like, “There’s no way that it’s closed this early!  Turn around!!!”  We drove up to the building, and there were a few lights here and there, and the sign on the door said that they were open until 10.  Uh-oh.  When we circled the building, we saw the outside marquee.  “CLOSED.” 

nooooo!!!!  No more unlimited pillows of salty breadsticks!

Longview is not even listed on the website anymore.  Now our closest location is in Waco.  We actually have been to that one, oddly enough, but since it’s like 150 miles away….I don’t see that as a viable option. 

What a bummer!!!!!!

How Neat is This!! — August 11, 2009

If you want to watch the video, watch it first so I don’t give it all away.  The video won’t embed no matter what I try, so here’s the link:  Terra Cotta Warriors Make the News. 

I was actually on the treadmill one morning a few days ago when this story came on.  (It was one of the early morning ABC news shows — ABC This Morning, or something similar.  This was like 5 am.)  I was really excited!  We loved seeing the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit when we were in Houston.  In fact, I think I would like to go back and do it again! 

When the story first came on, I was like glued to tv.  I was like, “We saw that!!!  We saw that too!!!  Oh, I loved that.”  And then when the guy moved, I seriously nearly stumbled off the treadmill.  I was so into trying to see everything in the story that it surprised me!

The guy wasn’t there when we were there.  In some ways that is good because I think I would have screamed.  You couldn’t take pictures in the exhibit so I was really trying to absorb every detail while we were there.  I was up close and personal (as much as possible) because the warriors were just amazingly well-done and they were all so unique that you just wanted to study each one.  It was also very quiet in there despite the number of people walking around, so my scream would have certainly carried.   

If anyone was truly using logic, it would have made sense right off that something was out of place with that soldier being so accessible to everyone.  All the warriors were either behind glass or behind a low barricade so you couldn’t touch them.  They are disintegrating rapidly, and even the breath of the visitors is speeding up the process.  They couldn’t handle being touched by everyone.  (All our pictures from that day are with replicas they had scattered through the museum and outside that exhibit.)  Of course, anyone walking around that exhibit was way too “in the moment” to think about that one warrior being out of place, and that’s why the ruse works so well.

I think my favorite thing about it all is that the museum actually lets the guy do this!  That’s amazing to me.  You’d think the curators would all be too stuffy to allow something as neat as this.  Good job, Houston Museum of Natural Science.  And that’s all the more reason everyone should love this museum.