Love Me Some Friday Night Lights

They were great. Oh sure, the football team lost. But the cheerleaders looked so danged cute and peppy on the sidelines. The 11th grader was a bit nervous, being on the sidelines in front of a crowd for the first time at a Texas high school football game, but she didn't let it show. She looked like she was having fun and we were proud of her. 

We kicked off the team sports school spirit Friday by attending a volleyball game with friends whose daughter is a senior. I had a nice expat stroll down memory lane with Debbie that just moved back to Texas this summer with her husband who retired yesterday from a 27 yr stint in the Air Force. We discovered our daughters played volleyball against each other last year when they were both attending international schools in the London 'burbs. Small world, as always.

Then we hit the outdoor stands to watch the daughter cheer. And some occasional football, too. 

The daughter's school has their own version of the corps and it's pretty cool. Reminds me of back in the day at A&M. I really liked this pic because it's a great distance shot of the Texas hill country on a Friday evening in September.

Here's a little video of our cheerleader in action.

New Posts

Since we moved into the remodel, I've been flashing back to the first 1.5 yrs of Ollie's life when I had to take him out in our backyard in the UK on a leash because the fence was a bit dicey in several spots and he could shimmy beneath it to escape. Right now, all we have is a perimeter fence around our 2.5 acres. To get me off leash patrol and allow my furry child some snuffling around part of the yard time without constant human supervision, we've contracted with a local company to install a black iron inner fence.

Today the posts were all placed in concrete for curing so tomorrow they can begin attaching the panels. Little man will be oh-so-happy to run around off leash and explore at will, especially as we head into fall and less stifling double digit temps. Upside to having a dog that's afraid of the pool is that he always gives it a wide berth since the back and side yard - pool included - will be part of his doggy domain.

Harvey Hype

Praise Jesus, the forecasts were waaaaay off for the San Antonio area concerning the arrival of Hurricane Harvey. We got the gusty wind and did lose a tree in the side yard.

However, the predicted 6-10" of rain never arrived. I think we officially received about 2" of rain, in slow bands over the course of two days. Which was a blessing to my trees that have been a bit stressed from all of the trimming over the past three weeks and lack of rain in the latter half of the summer. 

We dodged the bullet, but unfortunately there are lots of friends and family in Southeast Texas that are suffering in the flooding. I hope Harvey moves along and dissipates quickly so that things can get back to normal for them sooner rather than later. I remember driving my little car through water I had no business trying to cross back in the day when I lived in that part of the state and it flooded. As in all of the roads leading in and out of town were covered with water. And I was just one lucky duck that my car never died or got swept away. 

August Update

It has been a crazy month and I'm kinda glad we're heading to the end of it. We kicked it off with a move into the remodel. And it was almost done. Except the bathroom cabinets were behind schedule and still need another coat of paint. The appliances were installed, the stove with a broken knob. We got that replaced and then discovered a readout glitch on the smaller oven this past weekend. We've used that oven once and are already in the queue for a service call tomorrow to get it fixed. Don't get me started on quality control and pride in your products.

In the midst of our own move, we had family members on the move, too. So yeah, it has been rather hectic around the new homestead.

About the time I finally got this sucker cleared up...

the 16 yr old daughter got her driver's license just in time to kick off junior year. Cheer, peer mentoring and AP classes - she's gonna be a busy girl for the next 9 months.

In the meantime, we've had tree trimmers on site for the third week in a row. It's amazing how much shade you lose once the ball moss is removed from the tree limbs. The contractors are slated to come out for what I hope will be the last time to finish off some punch list items. We got the old and what appears to be home-rigged sprinkler system up and running again, sufficient to get us through the drought until we can afford an upgrade. Maybe in the spring. And then there's the inner fence that's supposed to begin installation next week. Because we can't have any of our doggies running loose in the new 'hood.

On the Move... again

It's our 5th move in the last 6.5 yrs and I swear the last place I'll call home (knock on wood) until I take up residence in the cemetery. Right now I'm keeping my sanity by focusing on setting up the house... not navigating the workshop and garage bay full of things still needing to be unpacked. Because that's just the beginning. Once it's all unwrapped and revealed, I have to decide where it will go at the remodel. If we can't use it, then I have to send it to the consignment shop, donate it or just toss it in the trash. 

Scariest part of this process - we've purged with every move. So yeah, I appear to have proof that the boxes multiply at night while we're sleeping. 

Of Quartz it's Beautiful

Granite is nice, but we've done that. Ditto with tile and manmade quartz. I would have ADORED marble in the kitchen, but alas the husband and teen would have ruined it in quick time. So quartzite became the obvious choice for countertops. And I must say the island looks rather snazzy. It's got a bit of color and movement, but not so much that it's distracting. Muted. Soothing. The name of my select is Taj Mahal, which sounds rather opulent and borderline Vegas flashy... but it's not. And the fact that it's leathered (aka matte) rather than polished is just the icing on my kitchen remodel cake. I can't wait to see the quartzite backsplash installed once the range has been put in place this next week. 

Cruising into July

The time, it doth fly by on the wings of unicorns these days. I've got lots of tidbits I feel compelled to share here on the blog, but alas I've been busy with family vacation, the remodel, road tripping with the grad student to her new university and getting ready for our 5th move in about 6.5 years. All in the summer heat. And this middle-aged momma is tired of sweating. Bring on the fall cool fronts... PLEASE!

Until I can swing some blog time into my schedule, here is a pic of the girls in front of our floating home away from home during the Baltics cruise last month. It was fun and interesting and we enjoyed the trip, but 11 days on a 3500 passenger ship is just too long for me. So now I know. As much as I love exploring the world, Dorothy was right - there's no place like home.