Commuting

Can I just say YUCK! Double Yuck!!
I'm typing this on my blackberry as I sit in this awful Houston commute into downtown this morning! 52 minutes is the expectation this am which is just the freeway part. Add 20-30 for getting to the freeway and then getting off and parking and I should be in my office sometime around lunch time today!!!!

Yes - I know I should not be using my blackberry while I'm driving but seriously - we're sitting perfectly still. Then we inch up a few feet and halt again. If I end u in a wreck, those of you who are just dying to say "I Told You So" have my permission to say it all day long!! I know.. I know ... Not a great model for the kids. DON'T DO THIS KIDS!! They are smarter about it then me apparently, but then, they are happily in school while I'm siting in the commute from H. E. double hockey sticks!!

I think best when driving in each morning - what else are you going to do?? I listen to my favorite radio station - KSBJ 89.3 - and think about stuff. Problem - I forget what I thought about once I hit the office. Can't call too many people this early in the am. All that is left I'd thinking!

Oh goodie - a second wreck on the freeway - now 56 min.

BillBoard Reading -

+ Texas Lottery game is at 191 Million. Drawing is tonight - can't win if you don't play! Go get a ticket or two or three. Please share with your enabler if you win!! What would you do with $191 Millions? (Hint - better hide it quick before the government decides to take 98% of it).

+Tattoo Expo - Houston May 21-23 Reliant Center. www.Bodyartexpo.com. Seriously?? I probably wouldn't be able to stop laughing from thinking about what these tattoos will look on "aged" skin?? Hey honey, that butterfly on your chest isn't going to be in the same place in a few years or even resemble its original form!! People forget these things!! Hmmm. Maybe I should skip my sister's wedding to go see this carnival show! Ha! JK!

KSBJ is talking about proper marital arguing!! Hmmmm ..... Maybe I should listen. :-) t

Later!
MA

April 14, 2010

Oh man... it's that time again!! Tax time. I hate it. Hate having to give soooo much of the money I work so hard to earn to the government!! I never am one to get any back so I'm usually writing a large check on April 15th. Double darn it!!

I need to update my blog design as Easter has come and gone. Perhaps I'll have a moment to work on that this weekend.

A few notes from the recent happenings around here:

***Living and Dying by Baseball.... that's going to be my memories of these years with Stephen. Playing on two teams is really one too many!! Note to self... don't do that again next year!! Quite literally this week there is a baseball game every single night and in some cases, a practice on Team B after a baseball game for Team A! NUTSO!! Yep.. that's us. Needless to say, keeping up with the homework or cooked meals or anything normal is somewhat scattered at the moment. I'm trying to remember to just enjoy this though because it really won't last that long in the whole scheme of life. I've come to really like sunflower seeds at baseball games though! Seems to be my staple.

***Sick Doggy.... we have a sick puppy. Sugar, our 6 year old Golden, isn't feeling too well. Not really sure what it is at the moment. Thinking good thoughts that it is something treatable but the vet hasn't figured it out quite yet.

*** Stephen's growth - we're still on the trail of making sure we're getting Stephen any necessary treatments to help his growth. He's currently 4' 8 and 79 pounds and just about to turn 13!

Last week we went for a second opinion at UT Medical here in Houston with a pediatric endocrinologist. I have to say, I think it's really interesting (and a little scary) that two doctors can look at the same information and have two totally different ideas of problems and treatments. UT took the same information that Tx Children's had and pretty much said they feel the data indicated he should probably have been on growth hormone treatment a year ago. Texas Children's said he wasn't a candidate. Geez..... very frustrating indeed.

UT took more blood last week and ran some more tests. Everything was normal (thyroid, liver, etc.) except for his IGF-1 (Insulin-like Growth Factor) hormone level which is a mirror hormone for growth hormone (HGH). If it's low, odds are strong the HGH levels are going to be low causing deficient growth. Well, Stephen's was 106 a year ago and is 120 now. It should be somewhere north of 267 all the way up to 359 I'm told. Clearly... he's deficient. What should have happened 18 months ago when the test was first run at Tx Childrens and what will now happen in early May is a Growth Hormone Stimulation Test will be performed on Stephen. This is a 4 hour IV based test where they inject some drugs to try to stimulate and measure his production of HGH over a period of time. If that test shows he's deficient, which we fully expect it probably will, the doctor will recommend he start a growth hormone therapy. This is a daily injectable therapy and will help him grow!! YAY!!! So.. our prayers are that the next test goes well and clearly shows that he either definitely needs the treatment or that he definitely does not need the treatment. We need it to be pretty cut and dry in order to hopefully have it covered by insurance if he does need it. We do not want a borderline situation. It's a really expensive therapy costing between $40,000 - 70,000 a year, so odds of us being able to do it without insurance is pretty slim.

That's it for today! sleep time...

End of March 2010

I am just having a difficult time believing it's the end of March already! Amazing how time just goes faster and faster right now.

Right now we are spending A LOT of time at baseball fields!! Stephen normally plays on the Little League team in the Spring which he is doing again this year. He also made the middle school team so he's playing on both teams right now. Practice every day after school until 5:30 unless there is a middle school game and then there are a couple of little league games each week, so we are spending 3 - 4 afternoons or evenings a week at one baseball field or another. We have probably about 3 or 4 weeks to go with this kind of pace and then it'll drop to just little league games through about half of May, and more if they make the playoffs. He loves to play and I'm happy he's building these memories, but my goodness..... tough on the parents.

I'm hoping to get my tomatoes planted this weekend. We have to do a little clearing out of the garden area first. We found that some animal had dug a little house into one the beds. Not sure what it might have been though. Would a raccoon do this? We have a neighborhood raccoon that visits our back yard along with several others on a consistent basis. We've come across it a few times and it's a little bit of a shock each time. Wonder if he's living in that garden.

Well.. I'm off to bed now but just wanted to drop in a mid week update!

MA

I love Fridays!!

Why... o why... do I love thee Fridays? Let me count the ways......

1) Is it because I know it'll mean longer sleep tomorrow morning?

(Um.. well, maybe depending on either a child/dog waking me up too early, but hey, the CHANCE is there and even if I'm not sleeping, I don't have to be anywhere else either so I can lounge in my pjs)

2) Is it because I know work may not be so crazy today?

(yep.. it's just a chance)

3) Is it because the traffic is usually somehow lighter on Fridays as if it knows to give the commuters a break as well? (one can pray right? if I say it before I leave the house, maybe God will have it all straightened out for me when I get to the freeway :-))

4) Is it because it's beautiful here today and the itch to be outside is calling my name?

(time for Jeep driving and gardening)

5) Is it because John and I (mostly John) will be getting the garden ready for planting this weekend and I look forward to the hope of wonderful vegetables?

(can't wait for the tomatoes to grow... grow quick little plants!)

6) Is it because I'll be able to spend quality time with my husband and teenagers this weekend?

(yea, if I can catch up with them)

7) Is it because I need to catch up on a million shows I've DVR'd??

(I'm not sure when I'll ever watch them... truly, I have whole seasons of certain shows I've not even began watching yet!! Don't want to spend time inside when the weather is so beautiful outside!)

8) Is it because I'm looking forward to sipping my coffee and reading a book while sitting on the back porch in this beautiful spring weather this weekend?

(yes, now this will be nice... have to take advantage of these rare days as they come! too soon it will be too hot and humid to be comfortable here even in the mornings)

9) Is it because I may be able to sneak some scrapbooking or photography into the weekend?

(yes, really hoping I can have a little bit of time for the fun stuff this weekend!)

10) Is it because there could be a margarita and mexican food on a Friday night?

(Yep... think that's it!)

Here's to your Friday and whatever makes it special!!

MA

Yea... it's been awhile.....

I'm back.....updated blog look and all.... life got real crazy all the way around for a couple of months. I was so tired at the end of each day that I couldn't even think about blogging!! Just going to sleep and doing it all over again the next day. It has slowed down a little bit lately so I've been able to catch my breath and catch up on a few other things like my blogging.

Let's see... what has happened over the last couple of months!

• The calendar says I turned a year older in February. My family did a great job of making me feel special on Feb 5th !!
• Visited Dallas for our National Sales Conference in February
• Visited Winter Park, Colorado for a company event - found out tubing on a big snow hill is really fun and not as destructive or painful as skiing. :-)
• Working tons and tons... trying to make that sales goal
• Tried to keep up with my band volunteer duties... did not do so well there either, but got it done
• Visited S. Llano River State Park camping for Spring Break - it was beautiful and peaceful (oh.. and just a tad bit cold)
• Attending Baseball practices & games - lots and lots
• Bought a really cool single cup coffee maker - really cool. Love a good cup of coffee!
• Starting to think about colleges for Rachel.... ok... now that's just really scary... don't want to think about it quite yet as I tend to be on the brink of crying each time I think about it already .... two years ahead
• Nursing our 6 year old Golden Retriever recovering from a reaction to some type of bite
• Grieving for a friend who lost their only child in a tragic accident
• Grieving for a work colleague and praying for his family as he lost his battle with an unknown cancer
• Praying for other friends who are battling cancer and other illnesses
• I know God is good even though I often don't understand the outcomes
• Praying for our country right now and praying there will be a wholesale change coming in November that will send clear messages to our representatives that choose to not listen to the people they represent

I'll be posting some pictures soon of some of these things. I've taken them... they just haven't made it off the camera!!

Time for bed...... and to do it all over again tomorrow!! Baseball for the 4th night in a row tomorrow night!!

It's good to be back.

MA

Visit to San Francisco - Meeting Meirambek!!

My friends, Terri & Jim, just brought home their adopted son, Jonah Meirambek, from Kazakhstan a couple of weeks ago. They've been working for the past 5 or 6 months to get him home. Lots of trials and tribulations, ups and downs over this period of time - a truly emotional roller coaster - along with much bureaucracy wrapped all around it. They prevailed and welcomed home their son!!

Family Picture!!

Of course, I had to come meet this new addition to the family and take some pictures for them!! They didn't know I was planning to take pictures until I showed up but I brought the camera just in case we had time/inclination to do so. Here are a few more of our favorites! There are many more really wonderful pictures - they are so happy!!

The weekend was really just about visiting with him and them! Baby time.... We didn't really do a whole lot else which was just fine and fun! Weather started becoming kind of wet/cool on Saturday evening and as we speak, I'm sitting at the airport with a 3 hour delay to get out because of weather - rain/wind. So..... I had a fabulous time!!

The one place we did manage to go on Saturday was to their local farmer's market which was incredible - see my pictures below - and to get a manicure/pedicure!! I was just amazed at all the wonderful produce at the farmer's market. Wish we had something like this in Houston - I'd be there!!

It was so wonderful meeting you Meirambek!! You are so happy and a joy to be around! Your smiles just light up the room and you are learning to clap and work those fingers to pick up all sorts of things around you. Crawling is quite close.... but you certainly know how to scoot very quickly to what you want!! It was so fun spending the weekend with you!

Terri & Jim - you all are wonderful parents!! This child is well loved and so lucky to have parents like the two of you. There is much to learn as you settle into your new roles and many wonderful experiences to come as he grows. Parents love to give advice and there are many, many pieces of information that could be imparted, but the most important one is to nurture your own relationship as a couple during this time as well. Don't let that go by the wayside as you take on your parenting role. It's very easy to let that slide. Make time for "date night" and reconnecting with each other often. Even set it as a firm date of the week. Get a standing babysitter and go somewhere - dinner, coffee, wine - for time alone together. Happy families and happy children are built on happy marriages!

Thank you so much for allowing me to visit and have fun with you all. I hope to be able to come out again soon! Love to you all!!

Mary-Austin

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! It's 2010!!

Happy New Year to everyone!!

We had a very low key New Year's Eve around the Cox house. John cooked the most incredible dinner for us last night. Rack of Lamb, mashed potatoes, roasted brussel sprouts and roasted butternut squash (I love it). The lamb was absolutely amazing!! I think it may now be my all-time favorite meal and usually, I'm not a huge lamb lover. But.. OMG!! It was incredible. We ate the leftovers for lunch today - was perfect. We rang in the new year out on the back porch under the blue moon with a good fire going in the firepit, drinking champagne and listening to all the fireworks going off around us!! Enjoyed it!

Can you believe it's actually 2010!! I can't. It feels like yesterday when the world was wrapped up in the turn of the century into the Millennium. We all thought the world would end and quickly found out at 12:01 am, 1/1/2000, that the world kept on going, nothing blew up, the lights didn't go out forever and the ATM's didn't start spitting out money! Much to our dismay!

Well... 10 years later.... and my how things have changed in my life.

The Past Decade has brought:

Divorce & happily, a New Love & Marriage (John)

Ten more years of growth for both Rachel (16) and Stephen (12)

Happy, healthy & smart children progressing well through school

Greater love for the simple things in life

Greater love for scrapbooking and memory keeping

Great wine and food!

Wonderful trips and tons of great memories

Two Employers since 2000 - Hanover & Wells Fargo

Great work colleagues

Three vehicles - Sequoia, Honda CRV and Jeep Wrangler

Purchased a house all on my own!

Just a small snippet of life over the past 10 years. So much more... not enough time to write it all!!

Ok - so let's continue.

Christmas 2009 was a wonderful time. I will post several pictures over the next few days, but they are all loaded in my Flickr photostream which you can access from the right sidebar.

We spent our Christmas in Boerne, TX with my parents, sisters, nieces & nephew. It was a lot of fun and a lot of food!! One thing we all know how to do well is cook and eat. And man... we did that quite well this year!! I think we just lived life by the meal. :-) Yummy!! Mom cooked amazing things this year including for Christmas dinner, a beef tenderloin with horseradish sauce that was killer!! Double yum! In addition to the tenderloin, we had cookies on top of cookies, dips and chips, kringle, breakfast casserole, brisket cooked by John, potatoes, pinto beans, lima beans and green beans (I kid you not!), ham, Christmas salad, cheese wafers, oreo cheesecake, pecan pie, apple pie, Cakebreak Cabernets and Vueve Cliquot champagne. Whew!!

I leave you with a picture of our family on Christmas morning!! More to come!

Have a happy day celebrating New Years!!

MA