I am the Halloween Grinch

It's that time of the year again. And again I am just not in the mood for Halloween.

In my neighborhood, it's like there's some unofficial competition for who can get the most Halloween-themed decorations in their front yard each year. And each year it gets worse. Nearly every house on my street has some sort of ginormous (you know, gigantic/enormous) blow-up thingy that rises each morning and stays there all day. There are the fake spider webs stretching across the front porches, and the ones that look like a witch crashed her broom headfirst into the ground. This year, orange lights seem to be all the rage - even though they look very Christmasy to me. My house, on the other hand, remains completely bare. It's not that I have anything against the decorations, they're cute - but I just don't have the desire to make the effort to decorate my house like that for a 1 night holiday.

Last night, we got "Boo-ed." That's when some anonymous somebody leaves a Boo bag filled with goodies on your doorstep, rings the doorbell, and runs away. In turn, you're supposed to Boo somebody else, and so on. I'm sorry, but the Boo trick ends here.

The highlight of Halloween for us has always been the nVidia Pumpking Carving Party that they have at Cass's work. It's always a day or two before Halloween, and we go up to the office with all the other families, and we all carve pumpkins together. Those pumpkins are usually the only Halloween decorations that we have at our house. It used to be a lot of fun, when there were only 15 or so families that showed up. Now the Austin office is so big (nearly 200 people) that the party is total chaos. Plus, the Austin office manager has recently put the kibosh on beer buying/drinking in the break room - so Cass wants to boycott it for that reason alone.

So, if you're in my subdivison, mine is the house with no decorations and no pumpkins out front. I'll leave the light on so that the Trick-or-Treaters will know that we might have candy - unless I eat it first.

Shoe love

Zappos. THE single most wonderful creation in all of the history of the internets. Seriously. I mean, shoes, shipped and delivered to your house within 12-36 hours of pressing the "submit order button."

I mean, really, what's not to love?

I got these yesterday:
(smaller picture to come, when Blogger image upload is working)


They'll be on my feet by 3pm today!

Irritants

Today is my day to bitch and moan a little, so if you don't want to hear (read) it, click away now! LOL!

I actually called the Post Office yesterday to complain about our mail carrier. In our neighborhood, we have a community mail box area - no personal mailboxes on our houses. There's a spot in the neighborhood with a huge box system, and we each have a numbered box there. It's located at our community center, so there's a "street" that goes through right by the mail boxes, with parking along it. We apparently got a new mail carrier a few weeks ago, and she's been backing her truck up, perpendicular to the boxes, which causes the front of her truck to stick out into the "street" that goes through the community center. Very Annoying. You can't drive through there without having to maneuver around her vehicle, while she's putting out the mail (which, BTW, takes her twice as long as the old carrier). So I called our Post Office. And reported her for it. And a few other things (like her frequent visitor, and her constant cell phone talking). I didn't have to leave my name, so hopefully my mail delivery will continue as scheduled.

Irritant and "friend" (yes, I took a picture!)

Next irritant, parking at Luke's preschool. I started my kids at this preschool when they opened their doors - Cameron was in the 4 yr class, and Logan was in the 3 yr class. There were 6 kids TOTAL (2 of them were mine), so obviously no parking issues. This year, 5 yrs down the road, there are over 200 families with kids enrolled at my preschool. For the longest time, they have allowed the parents to park in the 15 or so spaces in front of the church and take their kids in for drop-off. The problem is - when you park in front, you have to cross the traffic that's driving toward the back parking lot (where you're supposed to park, according to the handbook - if you bother to read it). Very dangerous for the kids, who sometimes dart out in front of the cars. So this year (5 yrs on), they have FINALLY required that everyone park in the back - like I've been doing the whole time. BUT there are some parents who, instead of pulling into one of the marked parking spaces in the back lot, selfishly park along the side of the entrance/exit area of said back lot and impede the traffic flow in and out of there. It's ridiculous that people are so discourteous. I'm about to stew to the point of asking the director to do something about it. That requires a trip into the main building, though, and I haven't been in there all year. Luke is in his classroom outside in one of the portables - yes, they even have portables in preschool around here.

This is quite liberating, getting it all out there - so much that I've forgotten what my other irritants are. Well, I haven't forgotten them. More like they don't feel so irritating anymore. However, I may be back if Cass's company follows through with their request - "can you come out to California the week of Thanksgiving? Yeah, thanks."

My house

Write about the things/features you like best about your home.

I like my house. I really, really like my house. We moved here 4.5 years ago, as an upgrade from our house in Pflugerville, and we are quite happy with that decision. I've included a picture of our house below, as well as the floorplan from the builder's website.

I like the size of it - it's 3600 sq. ft., which is just enough for the 5 of us. Everybody has their own bedroom, and we even have an office - that isn't a living/dining room used as office space. It's an actual office room of its own (well, it's the 5th bedroom, but it's better used as an office). In the floorplan below, our house was built with the 5th bedroom option that closed in the living room and put the door in the hallway that goes to the laundry and powder rooms. The powder room also has a shower, rather than a linen closet.

We really like the open floorplan of our house. The only 2 rooms downstairs that are closed-off are the master bedroom and the office. Everything else - the foyer, piano room, kitchen, breakfast area, and great room - are all open. They also mostly have 20 ft. ceilings, too. I like having the master bedroom downstairs, away from the kids' rooms.

Cass really loves his media room. It's not shown on the floorplan included below, but it's just to the left of the gameroom on the 2nd floor. He's got a projector set up in there, so it's just like our own movie screen. I think that was the primary reason that Cass signed up for the whole house upgrade/move from Pflugerville plan - the media room.

Things I would change - it needs a bigger laundry room, it needs a bigger garage, and it needs more storage space. The girls also could use a bigger bathroom area, since they will be teenagers sooner than we want. Cass also wants a bigger shower. If lot size weren't an issue, I'd have a 1 story house, too.

As much as I love my house, I still get excited about looking at new homes. It's just one of my "things."

Luke and his hookers

Luke is 5, and he is very much like his Daddy. I know that that is both a very good thing and a very bad thing. But he thinks just like him - very methodical, this relates to that, analytical thinking.

Cass and I try to keep a running list of the little "things" that come out of his mouth that make us chuckle. Since I don't have much to write about, as I'm still over-scheduled at the moment, I'll share a few of his funnies. Some of them need some background for understanding.

We recently started making Luke go into his closet, pick out his clothes, and dress himself on a daily basis. He's very neat and orderly, puts his dirty clothes in the basket, and hangs up the empty hangers. One day Cass was in there with him while he was dressing and made a comment about how he was so neat to hang up his empty hangers. Luke replies, "Yeah, I put the hookers on the side where Mama can find them." (hookers = empty hangers)

He asks a lot of what I call "thinking questions." Those are the kind that come from really deep thought, and they're ones that I usually can't answer. I can totally picture Cass coming up with question after question like this when he was little. My favorite one of recent is, "Mama, when did they invent toys?"

I usually get the majority of my Luke funnies after I pick him up from preschool, and we're driving back home. He's usually thinking about what they learned in school today, and he either just dumps info on me or starts asking me about what he learned. They talked about fall/autumn the first week of school, and on the way home, he says, "Mama, do you know what fall means? It's when winter is coming and the squirrels get their coconuts and put them away." (coconuts = nuts)

If you know Cass, you'll know why this one is funny: "Daddy, do you know where God lives?" Cass: "No, where does God live?" Luke: "In space."

I think the hooker one is my all time favorite, though.

Home Sweet Mississippi

We left last Thursday morning for a trip to Mississippi. My Mom started laying on the guilt trip back in August, because we hadn't been to Mississippi since March - so I finally caved and agreed to go for Mississippi State Homecoming on October 6th. The kids had a half day on that Friday and a holiday on Monday, so it was a good weekend to go. Cameron suggested that we fly, so I checked fares and booked us flights for Thursday 10/4 and Tuesday 10/9.

The thing about visiting Mississippi, for us, is that we've got family all over - and they all expect to see us when we're there. So instead of going somewhere and relaxing, we get to go (pack up, load up, drive) somewhere new each day. We were in Indianola on Thursday and Friday nights, Starkville on Saturday night, and Waynesboro Sunday and Monday nights. At the end of the trip, I didn't know which clothes were clean or dirty, because I was just shoving our stuff in the suitcase to try to keep up with everything we brought. We couldn't possibly have squeezed in another meeting or stopping place, without me losing it.

That said, it was a nice visit. We got to attend Indianola Academy's homecoming, where they honored my high school music teacher at halftime. I saw my best friend, Lacy, whose husband has recently decided to go to seminary to become a chaplain. We went to Greenwood to have lunch with our MSMS friend Mike M., who just bought a house. We saw my sister and brother-in-law, who are moving from Starkville to Southaven soon. We tailgated with the ERC crew before the Mississippi State game. The Bulldogs won their game, and they have a WINNING RECORD (4-2) thus far this season. (I just jinxed them, didn't I?) And we visited the in-laws in Wayesboro, where the kids got to go fishing and caught about 30 bream between them. Lots of news to digest, eh Marcus? :)

Since we got back on Tuesday, we've been playing catch-up. The kids have lots of schoolwork, they've missed soccer practice, and they've got to make up their piano lessons. I will be glad to get back on normal schedule. Then Cass leaves on Saturday to go to University of Illinos-Urbana Champaign to give a talk - so I get to do the soccer games on Saturday. Cameron and Luke have games at the same time.

Drive Friendly. The Texas Way.

APD to Ticket More Bad Drivers

AUSTIN -- Austin Police will soon start an initiative to ticket drivers for common violations in an effort to change Austin's driving culture. Starting Monday, police will be focusing on highways to write tickets for violations such as following too closely and failing to signal.

Starting yesterday, Oct. 1, Austin Police are on the lookout for tailgaters and people not using their turn signals on IH-35. They are going to make a fortune, I tell ya. Austin drivers are not exactly known for their driving prowess. In this land of little rain, just let a good rain shower come along, and you'll see what I mean.

For the record, I faithfully use my turn signal. That's one habit I acquired pretty quickly after moving out here. Texas is a big state, and it has only 1 interstate that spans the entire length of the state - and that's IH-35 (they instist on including the "H" for interstate highway out here). There is a lot of heavy traffic on that interstate all the time, so you have to drive like it. Using your signal is a requirement, or else you're going to trade paint out there.

Y'all know I grew up in Mississippi, and people there believe that the turn signal is an unnecessary technological advancement. The only time I ever used my signal was when I was taking Driver's Ed the summer before 9th grade. After we got out of that class, we all knew that nobody around town used their signal, it would never be required of us again. In a place where you recognize everybody's vehicles and know where they are driving, you don't need to have a signal to tell you that Mrs. Abbott will be turning down Azalea Drive (well, now she lives on Cherry Drive, since they moved a few years back).

The one car accident that I had with major car-to-car contact, happened largely because I failed to use my left turn signal. It happened one day after school, I gave a ride to my friend Kerri (10th grade) - who had just had a fight with her boyfriend Stephen (8th grade). I was driving Kerri home, and Stephen (no license) was following us in his car. I slowed down to turn left (no signal), and Stephen pulled up beside me on the left/driver's side, presumably to argue with Kerri some more. I didn't see him, so I turned left into his car (his mama's Lincoln). While my failure to signal probably contributed somewhat to the accident, there's no doubt that Stephen's extreme idiocy was the primary cause. His mom was not very happy about having to pay that much to fix my little Chevy Chevette.

So while I am a convert to the world of those who used their turn signals, I know I am in danger of contributing to this fortune the APD will make - because I am a tailgater. Supposedly, APD got a grant for new radar equipment that records speed of 2 cars, distance and time between them. Yikes. However, Texas law isn't precise when it comes to following too closely. It merely says "drivers should maintain enough space to avoid colliding with other vehicles, factoring in speed and road conditions when they make that determination." In Driver's Ed, we learned some complicated formula of leaving 1 car length per 10mph that you're traveling - but now I think they go with the 2 second rule instead. That seems much easier to me. I hope I can break my old habit.