Another log in the fireplace, please.

Now this is ridiculous! The weather guessers are saying we're to have a storm/blizzard of epic proportions. Epic? Really? Tomorrow we should awake to freezing rain, sleet, and later, snow. Temps dropping into the mid-20's by afternoon, and 14 tomorrow night. Winds of 40-50 mph....wind chill below zero. We won't begin to thaw until maybe the weekend.

Ummm....I live in Texas for a reason. Mama didn't raise no Eskimo!

Seriously, there are going to be a LOT of people across the country without power for many days, perhaps even weeks. Say a prayer they all make it safely through this. We'll be fine here.

S

Why I prefer dogs.....

"If dogs had thumbs they would make you coffee. If cats had thumbs they would steal your car."

Hahaha! Just kidding.....don't get your knickers in a knot. Someone K reads on twitter wrote that and I thought it was funny.

I haven't posted or read recently as it's been hectic here. Returning to work after vacation has been hard. My company continues to let good people go...last week it was one of our senior managers. Morale is low, but since my group is posting excellent numbers they're pretty much leaving us alone. That will hopefully be a moot point soon, however, as bro and I are on the verge of signing a contract (tomorrow) to build another new custom home, in addition to the one we signed about 2 weeks ago. One home would be a moonlighting job, 2 will require a full-time commitment. Things might change dramatically, and for the better, very soon.

K's dad is having a tough recovery from his broken hip surgery. He's still in the hospital, but should be moved to rehab tomorrow. How long he'll need to be there remains to be seen.

K's been swamped at work, too. One evening she even had to bring work home....very unusual for her. I tried to help her as best I could, preparing my infamous gruel along with chip and dip and beer for dinner. She must have been starving as she ate it without complaint.

Today has been relaxing so far. I just made some guacamole for later, and I'll soon take Emma Belle for a leisurely walk around the 'hood. After that I'll be back to catch up on all your blogs.

Regards,

S

The most dastardly invention ever....

....would have to be the alarm clock. Definitely the alarm clock.

S

It's the next best thing

What do you do when you can't decide between an after-dinner chocolate or a bit of liqueur?



These are SO good! They also come in Bailey's Irish Cream and a couple of other flavors, too. I like it when the milk chocolate shell melts in your mouth, then the liqueur inside slowly oozes out. It sort of reminds me of...well...you know. *blush*

S

Old fashioned blueberry streusel

Last night I decided to bake something that I can have for breakfast the rest of the week...good old fashioned blueberry streusel, just like my mom used to make. It was surprisingly easy. I just mixed on egg, 2/3 cup of water, and tablespoon of cooking oil with the contents of the package that comes in the box with the instructions on the side, bake for 32 minutes, and there it was. Yummy!

Yep, just like mom used to do it. Ahhhh...the good 'ol days. :)

S

No sulking for you!

Mimicking the Soup Nazi (No soup for you!) from the old Seinfeld series, K gave me my instructions as she left for work today: No sulking for you.

When I was a kid I always hated "going back", as in going back to school after a weekend or spring break or the summer. I hated school...couldn't stand it. I did reasonably well (top 20%), but was constantly on the lookout for an excuse to miss school. The story my parents told over and over was how they would drop me off at school in the first grade, and before they could go around the block and return home I'd be back there waiting for them.

I've never outgrown hating "going back", but now that means going back to work after a vacation. This is my last day of vacation, and I'm already dreading going back tomorrow. I truly hate my work. I enjoy my coworkers and I can handle the job, it's just dealing with all the inefficient, arcane, bureaucratic bullshit that goes with it. If all of this emanates from their corporate Ivory Tower full of MBA's, then I think they've just made an airtight case for abolishing all business schools.

Maybe I'm just so close to retirement I can smell it, but it's getting real damn hard to keep up my enthusiasm for work.

S

I'm more than a little "star struck"

This afternoon K and I paid a visit to our local Barnes & Noble/Starbucks. As we pulled in to the parking lot K spotted a beautiful vintage red Porsche, and the owner was standing beside it. I parked and told K I'd be right back, that I wanted to get a photo of this very nice car, with the owner's permission, of course.

The owner told me that I was welcome to take all the photos I wanted, and told me about his car, a 1964 356. The more we talked, the more familiar looking this guy was. Then it dawned on me....he was Gary Kelly, the CEO of Southwest Airlines. He couldn't have been more down to earth, a real gentleman. We talked briefly about SWA, and a lot about cars. To me he's a consummate businessman that I admire immensely.

I asked him if he ever took his car to "Cars and Coffee", and he said no but he'd like to, and asked for more details. I told him it was always the first Saturday of each month and was held in the parking lot of Classic BMW in Plano. He said he would love to attend, and that he would check his schedule to see if he would be in town on 2/5. That would be cool. I would like to visit with him more some day.

Oh...his car:



Definitely one of my more memorable Saturdays.

Regards,

S