Grant Me Immunity

Dear Immune System,

We've had such a long run! I mean, what's it been? Several years since coming down with anything semi-serious? You've been faithful throughout the cold seasons and even kept the swine flu at bay. While others were succumbing to temptation, you stayed committed. What happened? I just didn't think tonsillitis was a bridge we would have to cross as you've always been so strong.

Okay, okay, I know I haven't been treating you very well lately. I fell off the healthy eating wagon the last three weeks, have packed my schedule a little too close to the top, haven't gotten much sleep and started my sick vitamins a day late. Maybe it's not you, it's me.

Would ice cream help? No? What about a milkshake? Are you sure? Oh. Green tea or chamomile. Okay. If you say so. What Immune System wants, Immune System gets.

Please just one request: please pull out all your tricks so I don't miss a day of work. I promise I will treat you better in the future.

Yours in sickness and in health,

Jenny

Meet Mocha

Meet Mocha.

Mocha is the newest addition to our little family until we find him a new home. Note, previously we were a family of people, but when the canines out number the humans, what does that mean? Are we a family of people that have dogs? Or are we a family of dogs that have people?

I digress...back to Mocha.

Sweetest thing. Do not be fooled by the reclined pose above. Mocha is a very energetic and happy dog, hence unblurry photo opps are rare.

Mocha is a 3-4 year old full-bred long-haired miniature daschund. Wow, that was a mouthful. Oh, and despite the slightly effeminate name, Mocha is a boy. Sometimes I call him Mo, just so he doesn't get a complex - like men who are named Sandy or Frances.

Mocha wants nothing more than to be loved. He wants to be held and petted all day. At first, Mocha suffered from a little bit of separation anxiety. You leave him in another room and he would freak out. But kind of like a little kid who isn't used to eating regular meals is frantic to fill up at a real meal, Mocha seems to think that it might very well be the last time you love on him so he really takes it up a notch. Now that he realizes that there will be more attention and love to come, he's relaxed a little.

My family fell in love with him over the weekend:

Jo & Mo

Mom was especially head over heels for Mocha.

As he's only 12 pounds and tiny, she held him like an infant for long periods of time as if Mocha was a pseudograndbaby.

Joey and I really want to keep Mocha. We love him. He is just so precious. However, Mocha is not so loved by the other members of our family: Bogart & Gus.

Bogart sees Mocha as a Usurper of Attention. Mocha has also taken over Bo's kennel while Bo sleeps in his bed (that Mocha chewed on). It doesn't help that Mocha has a physical attraction to Bo. Although I have to say that it is slightly amusing to see a much larger Cairn Terrier running in circles away from a tiny weenie dog. Gus, on the other hand, refuses to leave the garage. He's on strike. No really, he plants his feet and refuses to go outside. I'm expecting picketing signs next.

So as you can see, a third dog has created chaos. And I haven't mentioned it much, but Gus is also getting older and is becoming really snappish especially toward Bogart. This has been happening for some time, but throwing Mocha into the mix isn't a good idea.

Which is why have to give Mocha up. We have a few folks that have shown interest in Mocha, but the timing just isn't right. If you know of a loving home that would like to add little Mocha to the family, please let me know. He really deserves a place where he can be the center of attention.

Just typing this makes me sad that we're going to have to give him up. I'm having second thoughts about posting this, but Joey and I have agreed. So there you are.

P.S. If you're male and your name is Sandy or Frances, I'm sure you are very manly. Nothing against a decision that your mom made. It's not your fault. Promise.

An Entire Weekend of Eating

Whew! This weekend was busy, but fun! My family was in town. It went a little like this:

After work on Thursday I drove to Humble to meet Dad for the Mom Exchange. Ok, I didn't exchange anything, I just got Mom. We had a great time catching up on the drive and got back just in time to hang out with Joey for a little bit before turning in.

Friday morning as I left for work, Mom was moving back the coffee table to make room for her P90X workout. Yes, my Mom is doing P90X. This is crazy considering that last year my Mom couldn't walk further than more than 50 feet without being in pain. Her joint pain used to be debilitating until she started on our wellness program through my company. The bioidentical hormones have really changed her life. I can't believe she's doing P90X. I'm so proud of her!

We went to my favorite authentic Mexican cafe, grocery shopping and watched this week's So You Think You Can Dance DVR'd shows. My sister, JoAnna, came in on Friday night and we all went out for Mexican. Yum-o. The next morning we made migas together for brunch:

This is Jo makin' migas.

We headed to Katy Mills after the miga fest, where I proceeded to buy a pair of shoes. This is often the result of a mall trip for me, so it really comes as no surprise. My Dad and grandmother joined us Saturday afternoon. I know, the staggering of family members is a little strange. What can I say? We like to spread the love. Did I tell you that my grandmother is really spontaneous? Yup, she just picks up and goes. I'm so glad she came!

And what did we do next? Prepare for the next meal, of course. At my Dad's request, we made a home-cooked meal. Brie-stuffed mushrooms for an appetizer, homemade macaroni and cheese, salad and grilled steaks and chicken. With apple pie and ice cream for dessert. Yum-o.

Here's Mom stuffing those delicious little mushroom babies with brie. To die for.

Look at this deliciousness!

Do you know what this means? I will not be eating for the rest of the month. Ok, that's already not true, but I'm just saying that I can probably put that loaf of bread on my hips. Was it worth it? Heck, yes.

What is the summary of this weekend? My family likes to eat. Correction, LOVES to eat. And I love my family. We love each other and we love to eat. Yes, that about sums it up.

In Love & In Like

See this guy? I'm in love with him. In fact, I didn't really know that it was possible to love someone so much, but I do. But here's the deal: I also like him a lot too. Someone who is incredibly wise and has had an amazing, long, happy marriage, once told me that "It's important that you love the person you marry, but it's doubly important that you like each other too." I think that's completely true. Joey is my best friend. I like'im A LOT.

Here are a few things I both love and like about my husband. Some of these are more likes than loves, but I'm going to lump them all together.

First and foremost, he's a Godly man. One of my favorite times to catch a glimpse of my husband without him knowing is at night in bed when he's propped himself up on his elbows reading the Bible and taking notes. It's a good feeling to know that the guy who leads our family leads based on God's word.

Secondly, he leads. He makes decisions and doesn't question them. If you know me, this is the perfect complement to me as I am not a fan of making decisions. Although we sometimes disagree, I do trust him completely. I don't care if you think you don't need anyone, security is a nice feeling for any woman. There's just something about being taken care of, it may not be a necessity but it's a luxury.

He's crazy strong and athletic. To me, my husband would fit perfectly into the character of Braveheart or Gladiator. Sometimes it weirds me out that I married this. How is this possible? I walk into the weight room at the gym and see the cute guy who's lifting insane amounts of weight and think, "Wait a minute. That's my husband." Weird. But good. Very very good.

He's a softie. See despite the above, he is tenderhearted and generous. He is loyal to his family and friends and would give his very last dime if any one of them were in trouble. I love this.

He sometimes has OCD tendencies. He only buys one type of pen. In his journal he only writes on one side of the page because he says its more neat. The clothes in his closet must all hang one direction. I've caught him re-tucking the sheets of our bed after I've made it because he likes the corners tucked just so. This all tickles me and makes me love him more. I like knowing these little things.

He's smart. I don't care what he tells you about school not being his forte, the guy is smart. He is incredibly wise when it comes to making financial decisions. He is able to keep on top of all the crazy politics that go on in the world and has the ability to really assess the key issues and cut through the fluff. He could argue his reasons for believing in creation rather than evolution with Stephen Hawking (ok, maybe I embellished, but he could have a serious conversation with the guy on the topic). Oh and he can do lots of math in his head. That for me does it. I always envy folks who can do math in their head.

He likes decorating. I'm not kidding. He actually cares about the color of the curtains, paintings on the wall and such. This can be both a blessing and a curse, in that sometimes we don't agree but I love that he cares.

Lastly, he always lets me know that he loves me. Always. I never have to wonder. This is a gift.

Why am I telling you all this? Because Joey's birthday was on Friday and there was no way I could not do a post about how much I love this guy. So there you are.

Oh, and I successfully made an Italian Cream Cake for Joey. It's his favorite and I was trying to be super wifely. It was successful in that the end product was a success. However, I messed the recipe up twice and had to empty two bowls of batter and start over. That's love, a girl making a cake three times.

Not too shabby if I don't say so myself!

If You Air Condition It, We Will Come

This was the view from our bed as we woke up Sunday morning. I have never been so glad for a weekend to be over.

Our A/C went out Friday afternoon. Joey called the home warranty people and after accepting our claim, they thanked us for our request and politely replied that they would send someone out promptly on Monday.

MONDAY????? Do you know what this means home warranty lady? Three whole days of no A/C in Houston, Texas. She and I have different concepts of 'promptly'. Because it was already hot as Hades in our house, Joey and I decided to keep what little cool we had left by conserving our anger toward the home warranty people for cooler days. Like Monday.

Ok, so no A/C for a few days. Reminiscent of the Hurricane Days, only there's something about not being in it together with everyone else that makes it just not right. But, we can do this, right? We had a few friends that offered for us to crash at their place, but we thought we could do it. I mean, come on...air conditioning wasn't even invented until the last century. People had obviously made it through it and with layers of more clothing, I might add. Pioneers, shmioneers we could do it.

We got in late on Friday night (Joey's birthday and more on that in a later post) and made it through the night sans cool air.

And then it really hit: the heat wave. Day 1 with no A/C is one thing, but Day 2 is a whole different ball game. The heat has settled in.

With the way our house is situated, it's not very conducive to allowing breezes from outside to circulate through the house. It felt like a mausoleum.

We had to get out of there. We went to the mall. We went to Double Dave's. We looked at lawnmowers. We went to a few shopping centers. We went to Golfsmith. We went to Wal-Mart. We went out for dinner. We went exploring. My Dr. Seuss-like list has one common thread: air conditioning.

I made a few desperation purchases, you know the kind: I'm going without air conditioning so I deserve this. Not good.

But eventually we had to come home.

What were we thinking? We have not been conditioned for this! What was in the Pioneer's genes had probably mutated out by now. About 3AM when I woke up for the third time in sweat, I was wishing we had just gotten a hotel room. On Sunday after my grocery trip, I was beginning to envy the chicken I put in the freezer.

By Sunday night, our survival skills started kicking in. We moved all of the fans into the guest bedroom and slept which is cooler in comparison to our bedroom. And we made it!

Here's to Monday!

There are a few key players I need to thank that made our survival possible:

First, I would like to thank God who makes all things possible.

Thank you to my wonderful husband, who supported me throughout the weekend. You mean the world to me.

To Ice Cubes, thank you for cooling our drinks and our foreheads. Oh, and for sitting on my head so patiently while I experimented with balancing ice on my head.

Lukewarm Shower, you did your best. It's okay if you couldn't get that cold. You at least washed off the sweat.

And lastly to our fans: Wind Machine & Lasko Fan, your brilliancy with circulating air while we were sleeping is second only to the big kahuna A/C itself. We couldn't have done it without the support of our fans.

Thank you to all.

In all seriousness, glorious Air Conditioning, I love you.

Taking A Rain Check

I have things to say. Lots of things to say. BUT, small problem: I don't have time to say'em this week. So how about we take a rain check until next week. In the meantime, just so you know I'm leaving things unsaid for the following reasons:

I've started a new workout regimen that involves a class. Yes, I'm attending a class. It's the only way I'm going to get my tail to the gym and actually get some work done. More on that later.

Fourth of July travels to Louisiana where we brought back a third dog. I don't know how these things happen - they just do. If you know of anyone who would like a long-haired dachshund, email me. If this is you, email me.

We are renovating our bathroom and getting a new vanity as well as re-tiling the shower.

P.S. I'm starting a book club that will meet at the end of the month. We'll be reading The Jane Austen Book Club. If you're interested and don't mind a trip to Katy, shoot me an email and join us! Oh, and it's girls only.

Did you have a fantastic Fourth? Hope so!