If you're thinking of going to Mexico - don't.

So, by the day after my blog posting, a bunch of people scared us so much about Mexico that we changed our plan. We (my client, Nicole - who is about the same age as me and is awesome) decided that we would just drive to the border, park, walk across, take a picture of the "Welcome to Mexico" sign and go back to the U.S. All the best laid plans...

We made it to Mexico (accidentally went too far before turning off the road, and crossed the border). Oops. We tried to pull over, and got lost in the city...which is disgusting and scary. By the way, once you are there you will stop seeing signs for how to get back to the U.S. We saw this police officer, and turned down a road to ask for directions. Apparently that was a mistake too, because he took Nicole's license and said he was going to issue a ticket for going the wrong way on a one-way street (which, by the way, we weren't doing). Then, he threatened (in Spanish) to send us to the police station. Someone else the night before we went said to be careful because they will just throw Americans in jail for anything...and we were starting to think that was going to happen to us. There was this random guy behind the cop (which at this point we had decided was fake) and he was making the signal for "money" with his hands. Ok, so apparently we're supposed to pay this guy off. I had $67 in my wallet, and I thought there was NO WAY he was getting my $50 bill. So, I offered him $10, and he said "No, I need $20." So, I found another $7, and we paid him off for $17 to escape from Mexico. The rest of the story involves getting in the wrong lane to cross back to the U.S., and having to back up. We were in Mexico for less than 10 minutes. We weren't even hungry for Mexican food, and ended up at Joe's Crab Shack for dinner.

Now, I'm trying to make my way back home...and have been stuck in the Houston airport for the last 7 hours. My flight to Denver is 3 hours late, so I'm missing my connection from there. Once I get to Denver (supposedly around midnight), I am going to a hotel, and am on the first flight out in the morning...which I just discovered is on a PROP plane. This trip has gotten so bad at this point that it is laughable. At least I'm going to have plenty of hours this week...so far I'm at 63 and counting! :)

After 28 years, I'm going to make it to Mexico!

I realize I've been bad about updating this lately, but we've had about a thousand things up in the air lately...namely, me. For those of you who have been to our house, you know that our yard is ugly. It's ok, we know too...it's been ugly since the day we bought the house. This year we've finally started the "improvements." We had our sprinkler system updated, removed two dead trees in the back yard, and are getting ready to hydroseed! We've had a series of circumstances the past two weeks (long story that there's not time for now) that resulted in Seth and I working our tails off to try to get things ready last weekend. Yes, the first rainy weekend in 6 months! :)

Anyway, we didn't quite get there...but we have the hydroseeding guy coming by tomorrow to evaluate our progress and tell us what we have left to do. We're racing the clock a bit since we have a big tree who's leaves are getting more yellow by the day....but we'll get there. We cleared 60+ bags of lawn waste last weekend, so even if we get stuck waiting until fall, we're SO CLOSE!

We might have gotten it done this week, except I'm in Texas! I was sent to McAllen this week for work...and it's a new place for me. I knew it was close to Mexico, but I had no idea how close....10 miles! So far, in my 28 years of life, my only international travel has been to Canada. Now, I'm going to make it to Mexico! Not that a border town is going to be the most glorious place, but my client and I just want to go down to take pictures at the "Welcome to Mexico" sign...or whatever that is in Spanish, and eat something. Don't worry, we won't drink water! Ole!

The terrible, horrible, no-good.....actually, it wasn't that bad...day

I don't know what's going on with this week, but it's like I've entered the twilight zone. I am not productive at all at work, and yesterday I had the weirdest day that I just ended up coming home. When I got there (and was explaining to one of my coworkers that Seth and I want to stay put for awhile), she told me that our client wants me to go to Texas next week. Oh, goodie. So, I need to try to reschedule book club, but I don't even know what days I'm supposed to be gone...let's make a decision, folks.

At noon, I left to meet Seth to have a quick lunch and donate blood (one of his bank branches was having a blood drive, and we were both going to donate). Come to find out, you needed an appointment, and they only had one opening. Of course, I got it. Goodie number two.

After a good, solid meal I donated (for the first time since high school...and thank goodness, I didn't pass out like before!) Afterward, I was heading back to work, stopped at a light to turn right, and CRUNCH. I got rear-ended. Goodie number three. Sometimes you have those days where you feel like you just should have stayed in bed.

Fortunately, I was fine, she was fine, and she felt really awful....she said "Oh, and you just went and donated blood..." which after the fact I thought was kind of funny. I expected the bumper to be dented, but there's really nothing but a scratch. Crisis averted.

So, I continued to the office to deliver the Diet Coke (requested by my coworker), and turned around and came home. Today, my arm is healing from the blood donation, the car is sitting peacefully in the driveway, and I am working from my living room!

Weekend plans

We've finally made it to Friday! I celebrated this morning by going out for a quick breakfast with some of my coworkers. Have you ever noticed that restaurants make better toast and pancakes than you can make at home? No matter what I try, I cannot duplicate the taste of restaurant pancakes. As for the toast, I suppose if I soaked mine in butter it would taste just as good. :) Yummy.

This weekend is Seth's Grammy's 90th birthday! We wish we could have made the trek over, but there doesn't seem to be time to fit a long trip into a short weekend. We will surely be thinking of her, and the rest of the family, as they get together to celebrate! Hopefully, we'll be able to make it there for a visit sometime this fall (November?) She's a fantastic lady (and made a fabulous ring bearer!) and we all love her very much. Ninety years is definitely an accomplishment!

As for our weekend, we're going to be relaxing with a couple of our friends, listening to the Cougs vs. Baylor (although we were going to watch it tomorrow, it's now happening tonight due to hurricane Ike), and getting ready for next week!

Was that really football?

I really hope that none of you made the unfortunate mistake of tuning in to watch the Cougs take on Cal. Don't get me wrong, I am a HUGE fan, and will always be - no matter how bad it gets. But really, did someone send the football team out of town and try to fill in with people off the street? I do not remember any game, in recent history, in which we were that badly beaten - embarassed. Time to turn it around!

Fortunately, Saturday was Seth's birthday and we were not watching (we were golfing - which, as far as my golf game goes, was just about as ugly as the football game)! :) We tuned in about halfway through the 3rd quarter to see the damage, then shut it off and went to dinner. I think it's best we forget about this one, and get ready for next week. As for the team, I hope everyone is running - all week, on the way to all their classes (uphill both ways), and during practice.

Blogging 101

So, I decided that I would give this blogging thing a shot. We miss our families and friends so much, I was thinking this is one more 'electronic' way we can keep in touch, and keep everyone updated on what's going on in our lives. I mean, when you talk to someone after a long period of time, you never remember to mention the mundane, everyday things that happen...like "Oh, on the way to work, I spilled my coffee in the car." So, I'm hoping this can be the place that I put info like that so I don't have to remember later!

I'm not totally sure I'll keep up with this, but I thought it was worth a try. It seems a bit like journaling - which I have never really been good with. I am always more excited about picking out the cute journal, then write in it for maybe a week at the most, before it just turns into a really nice, blank notebook. So, I got the background set up on this thing (not as fun as buying a journal, and I discovered I am not as computer savvy as I thought)!!

So, welcome to all of you who decided to come read this. If you follow my posts at all, you should discover certain things about me: I love Fridays, a lot of my day-to-day entertainment revolves around the funny things our pets do, I love Seth, I am a very happy person, I am quite nerdy (and proudly so) when it comes to discussing things like geology, I type in 'stream of consciousness' and don't always re-read what I write, and I use A LOT of commas and parentheses! Oh, and exclamation points!