Tuesday, May 30, 2006

May 30 2006: My dad's brother is coming in from Seattle tomorrow evening. So I'll go to the airport and pick him up then deliver him to Dad's house. Dad is really excited about him coming. I hope I can get them to come up to my house this weekend. I don't really know yet when he leaves here for Kentucky - he will go visit the rest of the siblings before returning home. I wish Dad would go with him but he won't fly anymore.

We had a bloodbath at work last week - well, at least they told several groups that they would be off-shored, some as soon as the end of June and others at the end of this year. While many knew it was coming, it was hard when you realize that so many people that you work with will be gone - especially the good ones. I had already been offered a position in another group and will take that one. I had another offer but while it would have been the better long-term solution, it was a chance to do something I've wanted to do for a while -it is a big risk for me since I am coming out of a technical area. It was hard to get any work done last week but I'm glad they did this on Tuesday instead of waiting until Friday before a holiday. Hard decisions were made and that's ok if they are good ones. Time will tell (I'm betting sooner rather than later).

I worked all weekend in the yard doing some spring cleaning .... yes it was very very late. The weather swings in Jan through March did more damage than I thought. I also had to thin out some plants that I was using as filler until other plants grew in. Looks good but I'm still not done.

I really wish I had finished the motorcycle class but in some ways it is probably good that I didn't since I have so much yard and house work to finish. I'm going to get some gloves that fit better for the next time and ask for a more powerful test motorcycle ( I had a baby cycle that took all day to warm up and I kept missing practice and tips while they kept trying to fix the silly thing). Been reading my motorcycle for dummies book though. It's pretty good. I've noticed I pay more attention when there is a motorcycle around while I am driving - it is also amazing how many people aren't dressed properly - I like my skin too much to do that.

Thursday, May 25, 2006



May 25 The arbor was installed in 1 day. It is really nice. The concrete doesn' t look so white and orange anymore. I put out the antique white wicker furniture and it looks really good. I restained the potting bench but I don't like it on the patio so it will go in the garage this weekend. It is sooo nice out there. I still have some more pots to fill. But I forgot to water some of the new plants this week and they were almost dead when I went out here this afternoon. It makes a difference when it is really hot (and we have already hit 98 this spring).

I hope to get the rest of the house and the garage straightened out this weekend. I did get some furniture moved up to Mom's this weekend. She likes to have garage sales. I put one piece back in the spare bedroom and part of it is in front of the window. The cats really like it there and it will give me a little extra storage space.

We start level 3 water restrictions next week so I can only water the yard once a week on trash day. But most of my plants aren't really thirsty (except the pots of course).

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

The patio has arrived but where is the arbor? The patio was stamped and stained concrete. It looks pretty good but the color I picked is too white and too orange. It looks like the UT Austin Longhorn logo should be in the middle (yes I did go to UT DALLAS where the color is an ugly ugly green and we didn't have a mascot - it was a pure academic school back then!). I hope once the arbor and furniture are in, that the color won't be so ... soo. darn orange! The city of Allen has a new automated sytem for the inspectors and apparently they are still working out the kinks. The inspector came out 2-3 times and was getting really frustrated because the automated message for the contractor said the inspection was cancelled, then approved, then cancelled. He did approve it as long as they put down 2" of sand. So it took 2 weeks from the first shovel of clay to the end. It is a nice size.

So they called yesterday Monday to say they would be out to start the arbor but when I went home, they hadn't shown up at all. And there wasn't any rain in my area yesterday. Of course, it should rain today and it will be another 2 weeks before I get the arbor. It may be fall before I get to use this thing! And I'm waiting to take a week of vacation after the arbor is up so I'm getting more and more impatient!