Thrifty Thursday

I've been meaning to put this up for several weeks but kept forgetting when I had the laptop.  We have always tried to be more eco-friendly and save more money when we buy our printer ink.  We would buy the off brands and the ones where the cartridges had been recycled.  The last time we needed to buy ink, I saw in an Office Depot ad that you could take your ink cartridge to them to be refilled for about $10 (I think).  I was really excited about this even more eco and budget friendly.  So, I told Andy that we needed to do this the next time we were going to be close to one of these stores.  We didn't ever make it there though.  A few weeks later, Andy looked at the ink cartridges at Wal-Mart.  He bought for under $10 a refill kit.  When he looked at how much ink could go in the cartridge, he figured out that this one refill kit should fill up the cartridge about three times!!  They have these refill kits for black and color cartridges.  I don't know if Wal-Mart carries Nukote refill kits at all of their stores, but hopefully this will help someone else save the kind of money that we are.

Guerrilla Gardeners & Loan Sharks

I was watching Charlie Gibson just a little bit ago but wasn't very engaged in the stories.  I know that we need to know about the Swine Flu, but I'm already sick of the perpetual news coverage.  I guess today we did get a little variety hearing about Chrysler.  So, I was doing other things in the house with his show on as white noise.  I happened to hear something about criminals with shovels and hoes; that caught my interest some.  By the time the commercial was over though, I had already forgotten that I was slightly interested.  Thankfully, I happened to walk back into the living room as the story started.  It was about these citizens who go into the community to beautify particular locations by cleaning, weeding, and planting low maintenance plants.  These people call themselves Guerrilla Gardeners.  They don't go through the red tape of asking the city government for permission.  They simply choose a location, plan a meeting, and go to work.  What a fabulous idea!!

Oh, and the other item that was worthy of note in the news was that Congress FINALLY passed some laws regarding credit card companies.  It is disgusting to me that these companies have been allowed to change interest rates retroactively!  I don't know if and when Congress will get around to limiting the rates that these cards can charge.  There used to be laws regarding this, where anything over a certain rate was considered usury because the people would never be able to pay all of the interest.  This is no longer the case though; I've heard that President Obama wants to put something like this back on the books.  I think that for a lot of people who have had these rate changes because they're charging more on their credit cards due to hard circumstances these credit card companies are essentially legal loan sharks.  I could stay on my soap box for a long time, but I hope that Congress will continue to draft more and better legislation regarding these companies and their practices.  Then I can put this soap box in the closet.

A Busy Couple of Weeks

About two weeks ago, I got an email from Cici, my sister-in-law, that her parents want to renew their vows in a ceremony and reception at their ranch at the end of May.  So, Jimmy & Mary Beth are working on their home and landscaping around the house; Cici & I are the party planners.  Since there is so much going on in other people's lives and I enjoy party planning so much, I've tried to do a lot of research online (thank the Lord for the internet; I can't imagine having to walk around, talk on the phone, look the books, etc. for that many hours).  I've seen so many cool ideas; it amazes me how creative some people are.

I spent two days looking at different stores to find the items to make our plans come to life.  Now, I've been feeling a lot better physically so I didn't think this would be a real problem.  And it wasn't; I mean I was tired and in pain, but not that debilitating pain.  I found a lot of the stuff I was looking for for the "wedding" and even managed to find a great lightweight pair of blue jeans.  I was feeling so proud of my body, but later after taking a shower, I noticed that there was some swelling in my lower legs, ankles, and feet.  I was a little annoyed, but since my body has problems when I take a shower, I'm used to things like that happening.  But the swelling didn't go away!!  It's gotten better over the past couple of days so at least that's something.  I guess I'll have to learn my body's limits - it sure would be great if they would not constantly change (not that I'm complaining that my body can do more!!)

Thursday, we took the dog out to the Ranch so that he could stay with Jimmy and Mary Beth while we were gone.  Once we got home, I suddenly felt like I had a ton of work that I had to do and that I wanted to house to be perfectly clean for when I came home...ha ha!  Combine this with Andy having a 7:30 am flight Friday morning, and the result is a 1-2 hour nap.  He was flying to South Dakota for some training and certification for work.  We ran a little late getting to the airport, but he had 30-45 minutes with few people around.  I gave a kiss goodbye, told him to hurry, and not to miss his flight...  Do you see where this might be headed?

After dropping him off I head to Austin to visit my friend, Amy, and her family.  After about two and a half hours of driving south, I get a phone call from Andy...he missed his flight...I should probably mention here that he was supposed to have a connecting flight (on another carrier) to a regional airport.  You can imagine how much of a fiasco this could turn into.  So, I'm sure that you are wondering how he missed his flight, or maybe you think there must have been a long line at the security checkpoint.  Wrong!  He forgot that he had a little Swiss Army Knife and his LEATHERMAN in his bag.  Yeah, they ran that through the X-ray machine, and promptly detained him.  So, an hour later he makes it through security minus the 2 offending articles which he had to mail home for $20!  He was PISSED!

After about 45 minutes of brooding and stewing, he called me to tell me the situation.  We made a game plan for how he should proceed to get to South Dakota before Monday.  He was able to do Standby for the next AA flight to Minneapolis; he left DFW at 10 instead of 7:30 am.  Thankfully, there was a later flight from Minneapolis to the airport in South Dakota.  He arrived at 4:30ish with the luggage he had checked.

So far, the training is going well.  He gets to sleep until about 7 am, doesn't have to drive all over the place because the training is at his hotel, is able to work on UTA homework or research in the evenings, and not have to worry about animals, wife, chores, etc.  It's like a vacation; he even is able to go to sleep relatively early!!  I told him I expect him to come home rested, relaxed, and with lots of school work done...

I had a wonderful time with Ricardo & Amy and their kids, Eliana and un-born Richy.  Unfortunately for the family, Eliana had been sick for several days and Amy has a sinus infection.  So, they weren't feeling very well and worked at at a much slower pace than usual.  That worked fine for me and my swollen, unhappy legs!  I still had a wonderful time visiting with them.  We had pretty much all of Sunday, and since Amy took a sick day on Monday, we had the whole day then too!

M.I.A.

For those of you who check our blog to find out what is going on in our world, I'm sorry that I haven't been giving you any information for the past two months.  Life has been rather unexciting during that time.  Andy is gone or working; I am trying to cook and clean without completely wearing myself out.  Also, Andy is taking and using the laptop most days.  I could go into the office  and use our slow desktop, but that makes it a lonely activity.  Writing is not my favorite thing, nor does it come naturally to me.  It usually takes me quite a while to post; I try to figure out exactly what I want to say and how best to say it.  So, basically, I was following the mantra I was raised with "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."  I also didn't really have anything interesting or appropriate to say.  As you can tell from all of the posts from yesterday and today, we've had several busy days over the past week!  I'll let you know if and when there is more news that fits the categories of nice, interesting, and appropriate.

Update on Andy

Andy is still crazy busy with school and work.  I've told him that for this semester he's a full time employee, full time student (not with the hours, but he isn't getting credit for his research time this semester...he'll get it later), no time husband...on good days I can laugh about that.  I think that the hardest part of that is that even when he comes home we both know that he has a lot of work that he needs to do.  So, we don't usually get anytime together without that pressure.  I try to place as few demand as possible on him right now.  I have been really spoiled this week; for three days in a row I've spent time with him!  I got a massage on Thursday, ate dinner with his family on Friday, and visited my mother on Saturday.

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company is sending Andy to South Dakota for some training at the end of April.  This will be another certification to add to his resume.  He's hoping to continue to further his education.

He's going to take a class over the summer and one class in the fall.  He'll get to be a full time employee, part time student, part time husband for a few months....yea!!  We're hoping that all of his research work this semester will mean that he won't have to go to UTA very often.  His classes will be online, and he can do a lot of research at home.  I'm sure that it is wishful thinking, but I'm hoping that he will only have to actually travel to UTA once a month.  That would cut off a lot of travel time!!  It would also mean that he would be home almost every night!

Medical Update

I visited my Neurologist on Thursday for a follow up appointment.  I started a medication for Fibromyalgia in February; it has helped some.  So, she told me to start taking it three times a day rather than once.  

I mentioned that I still have a hard time taking showers.  If the water is warm, much less hot, or I take longer than 10 minutes, I start feeling really uncomfortable and know that I need to finish FAST and sit down.  The lower part of my legs always get splotchy, usually red but sometimes with a bit of purple in there.  Around my ankles and feet, they aren't really splotchy but solid red.  It always feels like that area is swelling but it isn't.  So, Dr. Cheng looked through my file and all of the tests that have been done.  She asked me if my nerves had been checked; I didn't remember any tests for that purpose.  Sooo, lucky me, I now have any appointment at the beginning of May for a Nerve Conductivity Test.  I know it doesn't sound good, but wait because it gets worse.  Apparently, they stick needles into you and then shock the area to see your nerve and muscle response.  Needles...Shocks...one is bad enough...in combination sounds like I'll be miserable.  I've had several people tell me that it really isn't that bad....I hope they're right!!

Good Children, Bad Parents!

Saturday afternoon, Andy & I went to Lewisville to see my mom for a while.  We had planned to go on Sunday, but all of the news stations were forecasting bad weather for that day.  Andy decided to switch his days this weekend - schoolwork and visit on Saturday; work on Sunday.  I drove while Andy watched his class videos.  Normally, he drives, and I navigate...it's a great plan!!  With the roles switched today, I got aggravated with our unnecessary (although short) detour...I eventually got over it though....  We had a really nice visit!

On our way home, Andy drove in this beautiful weather.  We could see the storm clouds off to the west but couldn't tell exactly where the rain was coming down.  As we got west of Fort Worth, somewhere around Willow Park, the sky got a little darker, and a few enormous rain drops landed on the windshield.  We were surprised how loud they were when making contact with the car.  As we commented on this to each other, Andy points out that it sounds so loud because it is rain mixed with hail.  Within a few seconds, we were driving through a serious hail storm.  The road was covered in hail; everyone was stepping on their breaks.  We couldn't tell how large the hail was because it was coming down so hard, but it sounded like the car was under assault.  We put our hands up to the roof and were amazed how much of the impact we could feel.  I HATE having dings or damage of any kind to My car (True, Andy drives it all of the time, but I still consider it mine and the truck his).  I've lived with this enormous dent at the back of the driver's side but always feel a little ghetto when I see it.  I don't particularly care when the car is dirty, but the dings and dents drive me crazy.  (Yep, I'm weird...who doesn't have their quarks though (please no physics comments)...I just happen to have a lot of them)

Anyway, back to the story.  We make it home, and promptly check the car for any damage from the hail.  Thankfully, there is none!!  To say the least I am very excited.  I even pet the car and told it what a good car it is.  When we open the door to go inside the house, the car is right there.  I hadn't thought about the animals, but they don't like the storms.  So, I loved on the cat some, and then I noticed that the dog wasn't on his bed.  I thought wow, that must have sounded awful for him to be hiding somewhere.  I was a little slow; the dog always greets us at the door.  I asked Andy where Bandit was...yep, he was outside the WHOLE time we were gone!!  There wasn't anywhere for him to take cover other than a small little table.  We don't know if it hailed at our house or not, but I felt like an awful pet owner!!  We dried him off, loved on him, and gave him some treats.  If he had to stay outside in a hail storm, we have a lot more to do to make up for the trauma.

Someone worth watching on American Idol

I haven't been a real American Idol fan and serious watcher for many many seasons. It seems like so many of the singers fit into the pop category and sound like (if not worse than) those already on the radio. However, one day when there wasn't anything on our limited television stations I resorted to watching American Idol. And I was introduced to Adam Lambert. If you haven't seen or heard him, look at American Idol's website http://www.americanidol.com/videos/season_8/performances/. You can scroll down a bit to choose which performance you want to watch. I've enjoyed all of the ones that are available on there, although "Ring of Fire" is the least popular of his.

He's got a funky voice and style. You never know what to expect when he walks out to perform because each performance has a different twist to it. He is one of the few Idols who has been able to take a well known song and make it his own; you get lost in his version rather than thinking about what you are used to singing along with. He truly brings some artistry to his performances rather than a polished version of karaoke. I don't really understand why people are saying that he even has any competition. Personally, I'd be happy if they took his performances from the show and put them out as an album, and I look forward to hearing what he is going to do in the future.