Friday, September 28, 2007

Robbery!!??!!

Our neighbors got robbed today! What the heck, in the middle of the day!! Daniel and I were home, napping after work. I just can't believe it. Someone just walked right into their open garage door and tried to walk right in the house. Bill (the neighbor) heard the door jiggling and went and opened it and there were 2 mexican guys right there! They stole their stereo out of the garage. Bill had a fake gun which he was pointing in their direction. i just can't believe this happened. THe other night a few cars got broken into as well. But I must say that really these robbers are picking the wrong neighborhood to mess with because nearly the entire neighborhood is military and they nearly all have guns, and are good shots too. (You should have heard the conversation taking place out in the court with all of the angry neighbors.) It's really sad. We've seen suspicious vehicles driving around, and now i am very uncomfortable. I mean I don't care if they steal our stuff, and we really don't have a lot of nice stuff to steal. It's just scary to think of someone literally walking into my house. In Texas there is a law that if someone is breaking into your home or on your property after dark you are allowed to shoot them, or so i hear.... we plan to look that law up and see what it actually says. Anyhow I certainly feel safe with my husband home, but what if I was home alone? What would I do? It's jsut weird because we live in a nice neigborhood. It is next to a bad neighborhood, but they are separated by a woods and a stream, so I never think too much of it. Oh well.

We canceled our weekend getaway. We are still going ot go up to fredericksburg tomorrow for the day, but no staying for the weekend at a bed adn breakfast.... it would just be too much considering that we ahve to hire a lawyer. I had expected to hear back from a lawyer i contacted today, but didn't, by the way.

Ahhh well other than the robbery i;ve had a really nice day. took a nice long guilt free nap after work which i love. daniel got home early, too, so that was nice. And I think we are going ot go rent a movie which was recomended to me by my favorite customer at work.... it's called "the ultimate gift".... I hope it's good. Sounds like a cheezy christian movie title to me, but I could be wrong.

Well I had better go now. :O)

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Sued

Ok well, we are being sued. I mentioned it the other day and so now i will share the story...

Daniel was in a car accident almost 4 years ago (4 in January) and unfortunately at the time did not have insurance. (He was 18 at the time and had been on his mom's policy. She dropped him off of it without telling him, and so at the time of the accident when he thought he had insurance he didn't. pretty much sucks.) Anyhow, so now out of the BLUE we get a freaking court summons saying we are being sued! And we have to hire a lawyer which looks like it will be at least $2000. Geeze. Honestly I have so many emotional reactions I don't even know where to start. First of all I am incredibly depressed about it because we have worked so hard for our savings (we scrape up as much as we possibly can every year to put in our IRA) and it could possibly just be taken away from us. Then I am angry because how unjust is this? My hardworking husband who is serving his country and is the most honest, upright, just man you could ever find, being sued!!?? Thirdly I am overwhelmed because I really have no idea what I am doing. I spoke with a few laywers in kentucky (where the accident was) today and that was disheartening. Sigh. There is one glimmer of hope, though. There is a servicemembers civil relief act (AKA soldiers and sailors relief act) which could possibly dismiss the case (???). I will speak with one of the lawyers tomorrow to see what he finds out about that. Plus the accident was nearly 4 years ago and let me tell you, it was a minor little fender bender. MINOR!!!! the other guy's car was completely fine. And please excuse me if you take this comment as racist, but I don't think it is: the other guy was middle eastern and my mother (who has worked for lawyers for years) told me that a lot of foreign ppl in the US view car accidents and law suits as the way to get rich in america. I don't know if that is valid or not. But interesting, none the less. And of course I have all sorts of conspiracy theories running through my head, but I will spare you. Anyhow you could pray for us because ultimately this is an attack from satan who the bible says comes to steal kill and destroy. A thief. But Jesus came that we could have abundant life. So I am trying to be hopeful.

Well the house cleaning is going well and I am happy about it. Unfortunately we aren't going to spinning class tonight bc daniel has to work late. Poor husband. He is in a 6 month something-or-another for work and can't take any leave and is putting in at least 60 hours a week, although by the time fridays roll around it usually is closer to 75ish. He works so hard.

I am getting really excited for out little getaway weekend in Fredericksburg. It will be so nice! I will take the camera and post some pictures!

Still really hot out. Today it was 94. But next week the high is only 88. Yay fall.

Ok well I guess I'm done for now. Oh no wait--- I have a girl name for a baby. Whenever we have one that is (read: I am not pregnant.) Here it is: Bella Lucile Pike. "beautiful bringer of light" is what it means. And we will call her Lucy!!

Ok well i should get going now. :O)

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Today

Mmmm I just got up from a nap and I feel oh-so-much better than yesterday. Opening at work has been getting to me lately-- I usually open 4 days a week and I get very tired by the time I'm off, I think just because we get up so early (3:45a.) Anywhoo, I am glad to say I did my 2 hours of cleaning yesterday and it was ever-so productive. It was great. I am about to go start my time today.

Well this homeless guy came into work today to get some coffee and how can I possibly charge him when he is just handing me some sparse change, and so I gave him a cup free. Well later i go to take my lunch and he is outside there still, and so I offered him half my sandwich because surely he must have been hungry. Well he takes it, and then he meanders around a little, and then comes and sits down at my table and starts to talk. And he was pretty much crazy, but it was sooo sad and what are you supposed to do for someone like that? He kept talking about pot and cigarettes and how he needed a wife and all sorts of crazy "metaphysical" stuff (if you can call it that.... because, he was crazy). I'm telling you it was weird and so sad, and what was I supposed to do? I listened to him and tried to tell him that God is good and wants him to have a good life free from all the bondage he was in. He also kept talking about God and church. It was sad. His name was Carl. I am slightly concerned that we will continue having homeless people come into work because a different one came yesterday to get a "sample" of coffee. I have qualms with giving them free coffee because we have hard-working customers who come in every day and pay for the exact same thing. It sure seems unfair. But of course I have no idea why these ppl are in the position they are in. And of course the bible says to give to those who ask. It doesn't say determine if they deserve it or not. But I guess if it becomes some sort of problem our manager will tell us to stop giving them coffee.

Lately durring my after-work naps someone keeps coming and knocking on our front door. And of course I don't answer it because I am napping! Who is this mysterious individual? It wasn't ups because there was no package. No note. probably just a sales person. But still i am curious. But I'm just not going to get up to go get the door. Maybe they will come by again tomorrow. I always get this knot in my stomach every time someone comes to the door because we have miniature goats in our backyard and we aren't supposed to (we live in a normal neighborhood with a home owners association). I always think its someone coming to complain. Anyway our goats are so cute-- at fullsize they are only knee high!! They are called pygmy goats. We got them so we could have fresh raw milk. But we need to breed them first so that they start lactating, of course. And we did check with our immediate neighbors before getting them and they were fine with it. So really we should be fine. Their names are pepper and coconut. They are cute and they like us. And we like them.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Ho hummy my poor tummy

Ok so I drank too much coffee today and now my head hurts and I feel all weird and so I am trying to feel better but I think the caffeine just has to wear off. I get so mad at myself because i know how much caffeine I can take before i feel all crappy but no, what do I do but get a double tall latte on my way home from work after my 3 shots earier. OW! Grrr. At least they are free and I am not spending money on feeling crappy. Anyway.....

So I am turning over a new leaf of keeping my house clean. (while cleaning I like to say to Daniel, "honey, do you hear that noise? (pretending to listen intently) thats the sound of leaves turning over!") I am going to clean 2 hours every day (except for wednesday which is the day i picked to take off) instead of (trying) to clean pretty much everything on the weekends. I started yesterday. I have yet to do my 2 hours today but let me tell you I am determined! Daniel and I are both kind of messy by nature and yesterday i spent nearly my whole 2 hours just cleaning up our closet. come on. I wish I was a neat freak but I'm not. Anyway trying to make good habits. I also bought cod liver oil to take every day and so that is another good habit I want to form. It's supposed to be super good for you (especially if taken in conjunction with high-vitamin butter oil from grass fed cows, but whole foods did not have this substance) and so here i am trying to be healthier. I am also trying to start cooking a good solid 3 meals a day for my always-hungry husband. I am also going to start excercizing. I was going to start today but considering how crappy I feel from the caffeine overdose I think I may pass on going to the gym and just count going up and down our steps as excercize for today. We are going with some friends to their gym for a cycling class on wednesday and soooo we will see how that goes. It should kick my butt because i am really really out of shape. Hm.

Well I can't really think of anything else except for that i really miss the season of autumn as it is still above 90 degrees in this awful place. GRRR. I want to wear cuddly sweaters and drink hot spiced cider and smell pumpkin candles. It just doesn't feel right when it's still 92 degrees. Blah. Oh well. Oh and we got a lawn mower off of craigslist but low and behold we get it home and it only mows half the yard before it breaks. It was just $35 but still. Oh and we are being sued. I don't feel like writing about that right now though. Maybe next time.

Ok well michelle since really i think you are the only person who reads this, I miss you. :O)

Friday, September 21, 2007

OK

Ok, so I am finally going to start using this--- yay! I think it will be fun. Well today I am going to go to the grocery and then come home and clean a little and then go to work. So exciting. We've had sort of a rough week and I'm glad it's the weekend. Geez this is harder than I thought it would be- whenever i'm not trying to write a blog I can think of all sorts of fun things to write about. But now I can't. This morning was nice because i was home to cook daniel breakfast (whereas normally I am already at work) and we got to sit and chat a bit, ant the end of which i got a little grumpy because I am not feeling so well (poor Daniel) but it's ok. This weekend we are going to hang out with our friends kyle and sarah who are just great. We went bowling last weekend with them and kyle got 7 (!!) strikes!! WOW!! He was pleased with himself. I think my score was 52? 47? Somewhere around there. I took my knitting to work on between turns, so that redeemed the poor bowling skills, plus the fact that we always have so much fun with kyle and sarah. They are from wisconsin. I swear everyone i meet from the northern midwest states are super nice people. Anyway I am looking forward to doing more stuff with them.
Next weekend there is a green energy/sustainable living festival in Fredericksburg that we want to go to!! how exciting! I think we are going to take a little mini vacation and stay at a bed and breakfast or something; it will be so nice. Fredericksburg is an adorable town anyway with all sorts of quaint and local shops, full of german culture (in the middle of texas?) and a whooollle lot of peaches and peach related things. I will have to take some pictures. It will be fun. And who knows what sort of things we will learn-- how exciting.
So I am currently reading "the omnivore's dilema" which is just EXCELLENT. I highly recommend it. It's full of all this great information and very well written, and I am just so excited about it. I can hardly wait to finnish it-- i can't decide if I want to read it again or just start lending it to everyone I know. Of course Daniel still needs to read it. Once he's read it we will have all sorts of interesting conversations because he is always telling me about the books he is reading. Anyhow, it's all about the (incredibly messed up) american food system, and it puts into words everything i always want to tell people about food but can't seem to condense into one short-but-sweet conversation. There is just too much information. So go read it! We rarely buy books (normally just have the library order them, or read them while in the bookstore) but we bought this one. A whole whopping $20 and it was well worth it.
Ok thats enough for now.