S.O.S.

This post is to explain a serious disorder of which I suffer from. It's called Shiny Object Syndrome. To illustrate the devastating effects of this disorder, let me tell you about the last 60 minutes of my life.

The Plan:

Super speed clean so that the house is beautiful and welcoming when Ben gets home from teaching his class at UTA.

The Reality: (timing is approximate)

60 minutes ago- Start cleaning the kitchen. Get distracted when I open the fridge door, see the carton of eggs, and remember the super nifty new kitchen gadget that I got while visiting Idaho (shiny object #1). Start the eggs boiling and go back to cleaning kitchen.

50 minutes ago- As soon as the water starts boiling I notice the new gadget working its magic and think of what a great blog entry that new gadget would make (blog= S.O. #2). Go grab the camera, which happens to be out of battery power. Start the hunt for new batteries (S.O. #3)

45 minutes ago- Camera is ready to go, start snapping pictures of my gadget at work, which reminds me that I have a few other projects going on in the house that need to have "before" pictures taken.

40 minutes ago- Gather these items for their photo shoot and start snapping away (S.O. #4). Tucker decides that he would like to be the subject of these photos, and he is just too darn cute to disagree with. Thus begins a full fledged Tucker photo shoot (S.O. #5)

30 minutes ago- Come back to the kitchen to finish doing dishes and realize that I've forgotten about my new gadget and let it work its magic just a smidge too long, pull my eggs out of the water, start running them under cold water, and wonder if the blog post is now ruined.

20 minutes ago- Doorbell rings- two kids from the neighborhood are fund raising for some summer camp (this does not count as a Shiny object since it didnt really catch my interest, just ate up some time)

15 minutes ago- Decide that I really need to crack down if I'm going to get this house clean, and head back to the kitchen. By this time the eggs are cooled so i decide to peel one to see how badly I screwed up. Turns out, its a little over done, but not too far gone- just as the new gadget had predicted... so the blog post is NOT ruined!

10 minutes ago- If i'm going to clean this kitchen, i'll need something entertaining to watch while i'm doing it. I remember the movie that I've got on the DVR that I was watching last night. (S.O. #6) Cue the movie to the right spot. Turn back to the dishes and realize that, 50 minutes later, there is actually a BIGGER mess in the kitchen than there had been before, realize it is all due to my S.O.S. and realize that THAT could make a really good blog entry...

Brag Post

Just a quick post to brag on my big sis.

I got the opportunity to visit Idaho this last weekend where my sister is a high school band director. They had their District band competition on Saturday and her band ROCKED the Smurf Turf of Bronco Stadium! They swept their 4A division and took 4th place overall- beating all but 3 of the 5A schools.

While it was fun to see her band perform, but even funner to see my big sis as a FOR REAL band director. This was my first time seeing her with her little band-nerd kids, and it was pretty amusing to watch her yell directions into her megaphone and then see the kiddos fall in line.

Congrats to Josie and the Skyview Marching Band!

















You can click here to read a more detailed post from my sis.

New Flower

This last spring, after moving into our new house, Ben and I were surprised by a large volume of flowers that poked their heads up to welcome us to our new home. However, that only lasted for a few weeks and our yard has been sadly color free for the majority of the summer.

Imagine my surprise when I let Tucker out this morning to find that several new flowers had magically appeared overnight. I dont remember seeing any evidence of potentally budding flowers over the past few days, so I must conclude that these flowers sprang into existance sometime while we were sleeping. I hope they're still there when i get off work!

We make our own toys in this family

Who needs expensive dog toys and treats? All you need is some water, a few carrots, and a freezer ... and you've got an irresistible dog toy that would get any labs tail wagging...

It took Tuck about 30 minutes to free these delectable carrots...

Public Transportation- The Final Frontier

So, ever since we've moved, I get the pleasure of driving into work on Hwy 30... I HATE 30... it kills me... without traffic i can get to work in 10 minutes, but with traffic... anywhere from 30 to an hour.... it drives me crazy! and Dallas drivers are SO rude! I fully understand that there are people who have commutes worse than mine, and I hate to be a whiner, but seriously...

So...

Last Friday after a particularly aggravating day in traffic, I decided I'd had enough of driving myself to work. Why should I suffer daily behind my steering wheel, when Dallas has public transportation? I've lived in Dallas for over 2 years and NEVER taken a DART bus. I decided that it was high time that I explored the DART system. Besides, there are some major selling points with public transportation:
1) Saves gas and money
2) Multi-tasking, and I LOVE to read
3) Could end up saving time because buses can use the HOV lane

I got up early Monday morning, packed my commuter bag, and hit my first snag of the day... My inability to get out the door on time.... I ended up JUST missing the bus I'd planned on taking, i seriously watched it drive by when i was about 50 feet from the stop. So, I got to stand there for 10 minutes waiting for the next one.

Finally I got on the bus and was surprised by how crowded it was. I dont know what i was expecting, but when i got on nearly every seat was taken. I actually had to sit right next to someone... GASP!

My next snag came as soon as I hit downtown. I only had one bus change, but that required finding a stop in downtown, walking a block, and catching another bus that would take me into Uptown. It turns out... I didn't know downtown quite as well as I thought i did... I ended up panicking, my head full of visions of missing my stop and ending up somewhere in Ft. Worth without any clue how to get back to Dallas. So, rather than miss my stop, I jumped from the bus about 10 stops too early with no clue which direction to walk to get to my next bus... oops...

8 blocks later... panic walking all the way... I found Main/Lamar and my next bus stop. I FINALLY got myself to work... and it only took an hour!

First thing I did upon reaching my office... PRINT A MAP!

The ride home was much better planned, but it turns out two of the drivers that work my route had called in sick... so not only was my bus home late, it was also uber-crowded. The trip from office to front door took about an hour and a half...

So, in review... Didn't save time... The three dollar day pass means I didnt save money... and I was concentrating to hard on my destination to get much reading time in...

But, I did meet some nice people and had one crazy adventure.

Tuck's lucky day!

This morning- instead of the baking and cleaning I was SUPPOSED to be doing- I decided to take Tuck to the dog park and let him swim in White Rock Lake. He had SO much fun. Here are a few pictures.


















Happy boy!

BINGO!

Just a quick pic of the cake I made last night for one of my co-workers for her mothers birthday...





















I had three guidelines- Square, Bingo, and Pink... I think i captured them alright. I hope they like it!

I've been a little shocked these last few weeks... Until about two weeks ago no one at my office really knew that I made cakes as a hobby... but then one of the few that DID know asked me to make a cake for a coworkers birthday, and ever sense then, I've been bombarded by cake requests... I've got two more concrete commissions this month, and a few more where we're still working out the details... Crazy!