End of the Weekend

Big thanks out to Jessie Baldock, our next-door-neighbor, brother-in-law, and fishing instructor, for this really cool night shot of our house from his house. The big light in the sky was the full moon we've enjoyed this past week. The lights on the horizon are from the plant where Leo worked for so many years...Formosa Plastics in Point Comfort. It's a great shot of the house and the moonrise!

Greetings go out to Johnny and Martha Ramirez, who drove down from Houston and visited us for the day. We enjoyed time together, sitting on the pier, fishing, laughing, visiting, and having a really good time. We hope they will put us on their schedule and come again soon as it was an absolutely beautiful day, and so much fun.

Jessie bought a really cool bell at the auction last year to raise money for the church parking lot. He decided to hang it down at the pier. We now have a tradition that the catcher of any really big fish gets to ring the bell. Today was a lot more fun and laughter than it was a day for catching the big fish. My first catch was a nice size stingray, something that doesn't actually "count" unless nothing else is caught that day. Martha and Leo each caught a cute little hardhead (Leo's wasn't much bigger than his bait!) Jessie did something that just NEVER happens as he didn't actually catch anything. Of course, he doesn't fish to catch just "anything". But Johnny won the day by catching two small fish, neither any bigger than his hand. Still, in spite of the poor catch, we really had a blast. As we headed back to the house, Johnny accepted his award for "catch of the day" by ringing the bell. I went back to my homework, but not without a big smile for a wonderful day spent with good friends.

It's Always Something

I'm sitting in my living room at home looking at the coming storm. The clouds are building to the south, the sky is darkening, and although I've only seen some lightning in the distance, I can hear the thunder now and then. It's actually a very beautiful sight...I really love watching the storms come. Just saw some crazy fisherman head out in his boat. I fully expect to see him back within the hour, drenched and unhappy, but hey, maybe his weather radar is better than mine.

You'd think I'd be in a happy mood. This is the second time I've been home in the last 6 weeks, and I was thrilled to sleep in my own bed again. But, things are not as rosy as I would wish. I had car trouble on the way home last night (electrical problems) and spent nearly an hour on the side of the road waiting for help to arrive. It was dark by the time we left the truck there, with all of my work and homework loaded in it. We'll be headed back in a few minutes in order to get it towed to the shop, and for me to pick up my stuff so I can get back to work, but I'm sure that activity will happen in the midst of the storm.

I can see the rain already on the water between us and the causeway...it will be here soon.

Things are going well, they really are, but I am still a bit overwhelmed. It takes everything I have to get things done for my Big 3 activities.

Here comes my fisherman, racing back to the dock! The rain will definitely hit him before the boat's out of the water (my prediction).

Activity One is school. It takes about 15 hours per week for me to do my homework, and that's only because I'm a really fast reader. It takes another 15-20 hours of work to complete project work; TONS of research, review of others' work, paper writing, process mapping, and so much more.

I won again...the boat is still being trailered and the rain is come down. Poor guy was in the water no more than 20 minutes.

Activity Two is my marketing job. I've worked part-time for this guy for a while now and do a bit of everything for them. At the moment, I'm working on some targeted powerpoint presentations, an inspection checklist for his quality inspector, a bid log that can be accessed from the field, and more. The problem here is, this is my second job, the one that was tiding me over until my BIG contract came through. But they like my work, so they keep giving me more, and I like them, so I keep agreeing to it.

It is raining so hard now. I can't see what the problem is, but the fisherman is really having a hard time getting his boat out of the water. Poor guy...he obviously really wanted to fish today!

Activity Three is my new job, a nice contract for some steady work at a site less than a mile from my apartment. I am working with 10 buildings or so full of labs and work areas. My job is to barcode all of their chemicals, enter them in the chemical inventory database, ensure they have up-to-date MSDS sheets, saved digitally in the database, and put a plan in place to make the process of tracking chemicals as they come and go on the site a permanent one. One little caveat...they expect this process to be fully implemented by the beginning of the year. Yikes!

Hey, I think I see what the fisherman is doing...I think he's waiting to see if the storm will blow over. The boat is on the trailer, but still backed up to the water, and the guy is in his truck. I think he's just waiting. My prediction on this one is that he'll leave within the half hour. This does not seem to be a little shower to me. I think it's here to stay.

So perhaps you can see my problem here. I have lots of work, work that I love, but too little time to do it in. My time is scheduled almost to the minute every day. (Yes...the writing of this note is on my calendar and I've given myself 30 minutes for it.) I rarely answer my phone, I don't chat on Skype unless it's scheduled and has something to do with the Big 3, I don't cook, wash clothes, clean house, go to the movies, or visit with friends. I read so much each week that my readings all seem to cross over on to each other, and I read (audio books) at least one book a week that is of my own choosing and has not been assigned to me. I think I will be okay, but am not always sure of this fact. I depend on Leo to take care of EVERYTHING that I can't do, the unfairness of which is not lost on me...I just can't figure a way out of it.

Oh well, I did NOT mean to go on and on about this, but it does help me, in a way, to put it down "on paper". Being able to articulate it helps me to see more clearly what I'm up against and strategize how to handle it all better. I really did not mean to "vent" on you guys though.

It's a full fledged storm now. The man in the truck and the boat on the trailer are still sitting at the dock, but only because, like me, he must be a bit crazy. There's no way he's going to be able to get back in the water this morning.

My scheduled time is up and now I have to move on to the next thing on my list...creative financing in order to pay for vehicle repairs that I was not counting on. After that comes Business Plan work, then Scenario Building, work on two spreadsheets, and some project management stuff to schedule out how we are going to get the chemical inventory process accomplished in only three months. <sigh>

It is storming now, not letting up at all, as the fisherman and his boat drive away. Yes, I'm really happy to be at home today...what a beautiful storm.

Birthday Party Fun

In spite of the fact that I didn't have any free time, I took some time off yesterday and Leo and I went to our grandson's birthday party. My granddaughter Madison turned 7 a couple of weeks ago, and grandson Mason will be 5 next weekend. We drove to Liberty and enjoyed watching the kids play, visiting with friends and family, and forgetting about school and work for just a few hours. The biggest thing the weekend did for me was remind me that there is "life out there", and as soon as I get through trying to be SuperWoman and get it all done in the shortest time possible (an MS in a single year while working full-time away from home) I believe I'm going to have to learn to be a "grandma" all over again. I will CERTAINLY make more time for my kids and grandkids!

Here are some photos I just HAVE to share:

Mason, a redhead, is sporting his new "buzz cut" here as he plays in the coolest little neighborhood water park. Mom had to cut his hair before the party since sister Madison did quite a chop job playing with him a few days before. She had taken her school scissors and convinced him that she should give him a haircut. The new haircut was such a mess, Mom decided just to buzz it all off and let it grow out again. Mason's an easy-going kid, though. He had no problem with the chop cut nor the new buzz job. The haircut was just fine with him.

Madison is my little angel, but certainly not in the "typical" sense. She is headstrong and vocal and loves to be the center of attention. She also has quite her own sense of style, but can often be convinced to modify it as she is also eager to please. No matter how long it's been since we've seen each other, she always greets me with a big smile and hug as if it's only been days. Yesterday when I arrived, she immediately ran up to me to ask if I brought my bathing suit and was going to get in the water with them! She is a beautiful child, blue-eyed with long blonde hair, and always full of questions.

Here are my two M&Ms (Madison & Mason) playing in the water. The water park was so very nice. It was just a small coated concrete slab with all kinds of pipes, spouts, water falling from above, water squirting from below, buckets dumping water unexpectedly, and all of it in constant motion as the water flow increased and decreased continuously. This is the kind of place the kids could play all day, without much interruption from parents and the like, and keep themselves entertained. (And it was MUCH better than any tv show or video game.) While the kids played the parents and family sat under the trees and visited. All in all, it was a beautiful day and we had a wonderful time.

This is a photo of my girls and I. For those of you who don't know me (and I know that some of the blog readers don't), I am the woman on the left. I'm sorry if it is a surprise to you that I am such a large woman...it's one of those things that sometimes takes people by surprise. But, enough of that...I'll talk about it more another time. Rachael is in the middle, and is the mother of my two grandchildren. She is 24, lives in Liberty where she runs (she is the Office Manager) a law office there. Rebecca is my oldest, 11 months older than her sister, and lives in the Austin area. The girls are close, and close to me in that we talk regularly, but I don't see them nearly enough to keep me satisfied. After May, however...

Well, there you have it. When I'm complaining by week's end how I did not finish all of my homework or did not get enough sleep this week, you'll know that it's because I took one day off from my busy life so I could practice being a grandma again...what fun we had!

Hurricane Update

So sorry I've been too busy to post recently, but after receiving several inquiries, I thought I should take a minute to report that we were not disturbed by the recent hurricane. Humberto came quickly and surprised us all. Had it come in just a few miles west of where it did, we could have experienced some serious effects. As it was, we got some dark clouds and very little rain. In other words, we were lucky. Hope to post again soon, but must go now. (Life is waiting.)

Pouting in Houston

Only a few minutes after the front door closed last night, I was regretting my decision to stay in Houston for the weekend while Leo went home. It's just that both my workload and my schoolwork load are piling up around me. I knew that if I went home, I'd be tempted to do something other than work. I'm making progress this morning, it's true, but I'm awfully "pouty" about the whole thing. I just called home and Leo didn't answer. Is he fishing now? Are they catching some nice reds? Did he see any deer this morning? Were the hogs feeding when he arrived at home last night? Arrgh! I don't have time for this, so I'm going back to my study of "negligence" by next looking at Brown v. Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. No, it's not really boring, it's actually quite interesting if the truth be known. But would I rather be fishing and hanging out with the guys? You Bet! Catch one for me, guys!