Abby-sickle

While Nate and I were gone this last weekend, our digital thermostat died on us, perhaps having something to do with the storms. Nate noticed that the display was off when we got back and so we replaced the batteries and all seemed to be going well until.....a minute later part of the display started disappearing and only reappearing (selectively) with a nice whack upside the thermostat.

Well, we found something out. Not only is the display broken, but it can no longer monitor current temperature while it is cooling. For this reason, the past two mornings I have woken up and the temperature in our room has not been it's usual balmy 68 degrees. Oh no, it's MUCH lower. I shiver from the instant my feet hit the ground until I am fully dressed and have completed some warm myself up aerobics. The kicker in all of this is that it is so cold that all of my clothes are very, VERY cold and it takes a lot of body heat just to warm them up. Yesterday I took a blow dryer to my already dry hair just to speed up the process a bit :P

Dresses, the wave of my future...part two

That's right folks, I proved my ability to feel comfortable in my new dress at work so I rewarded myself with another new dress that I am wearing today :) I have to say that I am one who will be very disappointed when the wrap dress goes out of style, cause I look pretty stinkin good in it. To that end, I have decided to buy as many wrap dresses as possible before they are no longer fashionable so that for years to come I can bask in wrapped glory.... and be out of style. I'm thinking of building a bomb shelter-esque extra closet in which I can store said dresses. I may also install a 360 degree mirror so that I can analyze my outfits What not to Wear style and thus save myself the embarrassment of ever actually being nominated for that show (not that $5,000 in new clothes wouldn't be a pretty nice perk :)

When Tuesday is a Monday

I have to say, I REALLY like 3 day weekends. I am sitting here and it's Tuesday and I know that, but really it feels like Monday which means a few things~

~ Wednesday will feel like Tuesday, Thursday like Wednesday and Friday like Thursday at which point I will feel like I am getting off early for the week
~ I will be confused the rest of the week (what else is new)
~ Next week will be my first full week in awhile and it is going to feel excruciatingly long

Anyhoo, a quick Memorial Day update for you... over the holiday, Nate and I drove with my parents to spend the weekend at my brother's in San Antonio. We went to the outlets in San Marcos and just relaxed and hung out. I discovered some things about myself this weekend..

~ I am not very sportsmanlike when it comes to games with an element of subjectivity.
~ I get that from my dad.
~ You can never get too many hugs from your niece.
~ Not all Freebirds are made the same and sometimes your burrito guy and you just don't quite gel.
~ Super Target really is the sum of all things good.

Spaz-a-lot

I went to see "Spamalot" last night at the lovely Hobby Center and I have to say that I'm torn. Not unlike the movie itself, the musical was silly and hilarious while often hovering in or near the realm of being inappropriate. Nate and I took up a vote and decided that we were glad we went, but it wasn't the sort of thing we would take our kids to later in life. All that said, I don't know whether I recommend it to others... it was entertaining and I thoroughly enjoyed it but I feel as though my morality was struck a blow by being there. For those of you that are now thinking "Gee, I'd like to go for the entertainment value but I'm not sure I care for the innuendo.", here's a few of my favorite moments....

During a song that explains that you won't succeed on Broadway if you don't have any Jews.... "There is a very small percentile who enjoys a dancing Gentile!"

During the second act, a main character from act 1 comes out and sings a song entitled "What happened to my part?" lamenting her lack of stage time in act 2.

They pulled a real live old lady out of the audience and gave her an Arthur Award after discovering that the holy grail had been under her seat the whole time. The woman looked dumbfounded and a little frightened as the knights took pictures with her.

You know what? Writing these out is something akin to reading a comic strip out loud to someone who can't see it and expecting them to laugh. I apologize for attempting to pass on something so not pass-on-able, but in all honesty I just had to find a way to write "There is a very small percentile who enjoys a dancing Gentile" within some sort of context because it made (makes) me laugh :)

Automatic Reply

Abby will be away from her blog beginning on Wednesday, May 23rd and will return Friday, May 25th. If you need immediate entertainment, please feel free to browse the other blogs that are linked to the right. Thank you for reading Abby's blog. Your readership is important to her and she will supply fresh material whenever possible.

"House" is only two letters away from "Hosed"

I had a fabulous weekend with my whole fam in town! It was a lot of fun even though pretty much nothing went as planned. My brother and sister in law came in with Elena on Thursday and Nate and I went out to Katy to have dinner with the whole group. I left work early on Friday to go hang out with them at the pool and just enjoy being around them. The whole group was on the way to dinner when my parents got a call from the realtor..... I'll come back to that. In summary though, after breakfast on Saturday we spent our afternoon house hunting and our evening watching the Stros break open a convincing win over the Rangers.

Wait, did you say house hunting? For who, I thought your parents had decided on a house? Well, so did they :P I will give you the Cliff notes version, but the whole thing is just to weird not to tell. So, the owner of the house my parents were going to buy has been weird throughout the process. The bidding was weird and all the dealings with him had been weird including him staying in the house while my parent's inspector was there to keep tabs.

Owner is weird #1- Ignoring the previous weirdness mentions, I start now at #1. It was more expensive for the owner to move on Memorial Day weekend and so he asked that he be allowed to stay in the house for a week or so after closing. This is pretty normal... typically the old owner will pay the mortgage/utilities/property taxes of the new owner for the time they stay there after ownership has passed. Well, the owner offered my parents $1 a day since they won't have a mortgage. That is ridiculous! My parents countered with $30 a day (which doesn't come close to covering utilities and property tax.. Also, typically the amount is $100-200 a day) The owner got angry and came back with a penny a day. Well, that was weird. My dad proposed that they sign the papers as planned and just not close until after the owners have moved, and this was accepted. Had the owner been thinking, he would have realized that $30 a day is far cheaper than his mortgage+utilities+tax, but he obviously did make the connection there.

Owner is weird #2- The inspection report listed several items that needed repair on the house. My parents decided to do all the repairs themselves except for one thing they asked thw owner to fix... the upstairs AC. The unit was corroded and as it turns out, the compressor needs to be replaced... an expensive repair. Typically speaking, the owner is responsible for replacing something as basic as an AC unit... the upstairs was super warm when we were there, so we were not surprised with the findings. Well, when the owner found out, he insisted on seeing the full report (a really bad idea as now they have to disclose everything on it to every potential buyer... even nit picky stuff) and proceeded to cut off contact with his realtor.... for almost a week. He did say that he'd made the repairs (when she finally got a hold of him), but he wouldn't sign the standard document that says you've made the repairs and protects my parents from having to make them themselves if he is lying. It gets to the point when there are 7 hours left in my parent's option period and no one can get in contact with the owner and he still hasn't signed. They tell him, "Either you sign or we walk" and...... nothing from the owner.

So, long story short, my parents withdrew their offer and as of last night had an offer on a beautiful home in North Lake. I will hold off posting pictures till after the option period, if you don't mind :)

It's a Boy!!

It's official, in early October of this year I will have a nephew! Yesterday I got to see the video of his sonogram and I can definitely attest to the fact that he's a boy :) Our whole family is super pumped and of course excited for Ben and Amy that with God's grace they will have one of each in just a few short months. Yesterday we learned that his name will be Evan Jesse Elkins... Evan because it means "God is gracious" and Jesse in honor of my oldest brother.

So get excited "Comings and Goings" fans, in just 5 short months I will begin posting with two, count 'em, TWO babies in my pictures.... does life get any better?

Is it Friday yet?

No really, is it? Man alive am I tired :P

Real life... sometimes it ain't pretty

In December of 2005, I was rear-ended hard enough to completely total my car and send my forehead flying into the steering wheel. Ever since then, I have been experiencing things that I never had before.... motion sickness, chronic headaches, and very sensitive hearing. Well I went to see a doctor about the headaches yesterday as they have been getting worse and it is official... I have migraines. Maybe I should write to you about something more whimsical, but this is what is on my mind and sometimes a blog is just a good place to let it all out.

Yesterday I had my second migraine of the week (the first was a sunday/monday special) and it was a doosey. I had a harder time falling asleep, as I usually do when I have a migraine, but then it woke me up in the middle of the night and wouldn't let me get back to sleep. After an hour of this I finally broke down and took some Excedrin migraine and went back to bed waiting for it to work, which it does a decent percent of the time but not always. 15 minutes later, before it kicked in, the nausea became overwhelming and I had the opportunity to revisit my dinner at 2 am... an experience that I could have passed on, thank you very much. The good news is that after 2 hours of lost sleep, the headache allowed me to return to sleep and I woke up headache free. Please pray that I stay headache free at least for today since I really need some rest and this cycle is just taking it out of me.

It's a five pinner.....

I classify vacations now by the number of Hard Rock Cafe pins that I have a potential to collect over the duration of the trip. Honestly, a good trip is one where I have the potential to pick up a pin from a cafe that I don't have one from yet. If I have a two pin potential with one new one then that is also really good. Anything above this is simply phenomenal.

Nate and I just planned our vacation for our first anniversary in December and guess what? It's a FIVE pinner!! Not only that, 4 of them are locations I don't have yet! Yes Sir, we're looking at Miami, Hollywood Fl, Ocho Rios Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel.... can one person contain such happiness? :)

Ode to my mother

Sunday, as you all undoubtedly know from the way the advertising media has been pushing it down your throats for the last month, is mother's day. My family has never been huge on mother's day. We would get cards, but we never really did presents or went out to eat or anything. Well, I would like to take this opportunity to tell you all that I quite possibly have the coolest mother out there and here is why~

~ She puts up with me (major points)
~ She is a prayer warrior and hears God's voice in a way that I've never seen anyone else hear it
~ When I am anxious or freaking out about something, she always knows how to calm me down and speak God's truth to me about the situation
~ She is a really fun person to hang out with. I think my brother helped her develop an even bigger sense of humor... it was a necessity to surviving teenage Ben.
~ She shops at Ann Taylor (Loft) with me
~ She is selfless and generous
~ She is hardworking and intelligent
~ She is kind and patient
~ She is super cool and for some reason thinks I am super cool
And the list goes on.....

Happy Mother's Day mom, God picked a good one for me :) Oh, and I am pleased as punch that you are back in Houston.... why don't we try staying here for awhile, shall we? :P

Courtesy, Shmourtesy

I am a true southern girl. I expect guys to open the door for me if they are nearby and hold the elevator and do such standard things as that. I appreciate when guys do this and show that they respect women. Well, today a guy in the parking garage got to the door before me (way before me) and I quickly looked down so as not to make eye contact. I did this because he was a little too far away and if I was looking at him he might feel the need to.... oh geez, he did it anyway. He held the door. This is really sweet, but now I feel like I have to run so that he isn't stuck holding the door for too long. So I did a little something between a walk, a skip and a run and I hurried myself over there. This story has no point except to say to the guys, keep doing what your doing but if the girl is so far away that you can't distinguish her hair color, just let it go.... let the door go.

Parental update- My rents are in a full blown housing and car hunt and are making me a little jealous that I can't go along with them. We are going to hang out with them tomorrow night, so maybe we can do a drive by of their favorite houses :)

Busy Day :P

Dresses, the wave of my future.

I looked really good yesterday, and felt really good, in my new Ann Taylor Loft dress. It was my first time to wear a dress to work and I gotta tell you, it will not be the last. And yes, the pic is my dress :)

"A" is for Amazing

My parents flew into Houston last night...... but that's not the amazing part. Do you know the amazing part? They aren't going back! My parents officially moved back to Houston yesterday and I couldn't be more thrilled! My parents being who they are (overactive :P) have the following things going on today (mind you, they just landed in Houston from Paris at 4:30 pm yesterday)...

My dad is going back to work ("What else would I do?" He asked me)
My mom is shopping for (most likely buying) a car this morning
They are both going at 1pm to look through a slew of houses with a realtor
I believe they are moving into their temporary apartment sometime in there too

Guilty Pleasure

Over the past 2 years or so, my brother has been singing the praises of the tv show, The Office. I resisted, I told him I didn't like it and I ignored his plea to try it again. Nope, I don't like it. Welllll, I got Ben season 1 for Christmas and watched a few with him. Hmmm, I kinda like this. We went back to their house a few months ago and he pulled out season 2. Hmmm, I really like this. At this point I proceeded to spend way too much money on itunes to purchase season 3 episodes so that I can catch up to where they are now. This all leads me to yesterday, where I find myself staring at the NBC weatherman who is doing one of those special severe weather forecasts and saying not nice things to him about how he better hurry up and I better not have missed any of "my show". This was before I heard him announce that they were broadcasting over commercials, not programming. Maybe I should have been more patient, but the guy was taking FOREVER and repeating himself at least 5 times in the, I kid you not, 5-8 minutes he was telling us that the storm had moved on.

Anyhoo, back to the Office. It has taught me so much about work and interoffice politics.. it's quite amazing actually. The Office has taught me....

~ It's ok to wear your hair the same way every day and only have three sets of work clothes.
~ Make sure you know the person you are messing with. You never know who can't take a joke and will punch out a wall in frustration.
~ Stupid, pointless meetings are a fact of life. The content varies.
~ Upper management tends to have a disconnect from..... well..... everybody else. And reality
~ Never step on an open George Foreman grill... never

Bless you

I have gone through 4, count em FOUR boxes of tissue at work this month alone. A little tidbit for you on a slow day :P

Bag Lady

Confession~ I have completely stopped wearing makeup (what little I did wear) to work. I also have reduced the number of times a week at work that my hair is fixed in anything but a ponytail to 1 time a week... or once every two weeks.. it varies :) I also have stopped pulling together outfits the night before and am now left wearing whatever I throw together at 5:30 am. It nice to keep expectations low... then when you show up at the Christmas party with your hair blow dried and a bit of mascara, they think you went all out :)

Mail Call

This is a two part blog because two blog worthy things happened to me yesterday.... aren't you lucky :)

1) We had our monthly office lunch yesterday. Here is a quote for your amusement~

HR Rep- "I wanted to remind everybody about the comment/ suggestion box in the printer room. We are planning on adding one to the 290 office as well. Please feel free to add your comments and suggestions.... it is still anonymous, you don't have to include your name."

Office Leader- "That's true, although if you don't include your name then it is difficult for us to offer you a response."

HR Rep- "True. Basically if you don't put your name on it then we can't and won't do anything to address it. You don't HAVE to put your name, but you won't get a response and we won't do anything about it if you don't"

Ok, i'm sorry.... which part of this is anonymous?

2) I received a pile of mail yesterday from December/January of this year. Around 10 items in all that had been correctly addressed to me or Nate at our condo and had somehow gotten lost in the mail forwarding pit that is my life. In all fairness, there are three people (Mike, Clay and Dan) who are forwarding from our address and I am forwarding to it. Still, I can't figure out how Nate's mail got held for 4 months. They all came back with yellow labels that said "No Forwarding Found, Return to Sender" Or in this case, return to recipient. We also got a call from Jeff yesterday saying that my Reliant bill had been forwarded to him. Ok, I don't even want to know how that happened :P

p.s.- Grandma, we finally got your check yesterday. Don't worry, I shredded it :)