Walt, Emily, and I spent Memorial Day at Artfest in Addison, TX.  Considering the amount of rain this area has gotten over the last 7 days, it was great that the festival still happened.  The city of Addison did a great job keeping people safe by placing plywood on the muddy grass.  Basically, they made wooden sidewalks between the rows of booths.  Inside the booths was a different story.  Some of the artists had things to lay down in the booths, but most were sloshy mud or rivers.  For me, I would only go in booths that I was really interested in what they had.

 

We did purchase quite a few items for the new house. 

 

First we purchased 3 "Stucco Art" pieces from Connie Baker www.conniebakerart.com .  The pieces we bought are part of her Tuscan Still Life collection.  Each piece has a wine bottle and grapes on them and is about 18" tall with a curved top to the rectangle.  Emily got a 8"x8" hummingbird pieces with beautiful pinks and purples.  Connie's work is absolutely incredible and reasonably priced. 

 

Next we purchased a beautiful ceramic doorbell with a celtic knot pattern.  Unfortunately the nice gentleman did not have any business cards, so I can't post his information.

 

After that we purchased Asian inspired pottery from Bobbie McCrea of North Shore Pottery and Glass in Lake Travis Texas.  We got three rice bowls with wooden chopsticks, a sushi tray, 3 soy sauce bowls, and a giant bowl all in greens and natural red clay. 

 

All in all a great day at Artfest!

 

- Lisa Lounsbery

 

 

My sister Alyssa graduated from high school yesterday.  It was a typical graduation, and thankfully not too long.  Well, let me re-phrase that...other than the valedictorian speech it was not too long. 

 

For the graduation, I wore a beautiful cream linen suit and a huge chocolate brown hat with a flower made out of feathers on it.  I did this so that Alyssa could find our group easily when we cheered for her.  It worked!!!  She saw us immediately and started laughing that I actually wore the hat.  After graduation, the hat had another benefit.  It was raining and it acted like an umbrella.  Nice.

 

OK, back to graduation.  I noticed right off the bat that some of the kids did not receive any applause when their name was called.  I thought that was sad, so I started cheering for those kids.  Soon my mother joined in, and we made sure that every graduated was applauded for their hard work. 

 

When Alyssa received her diploma we all screamed and cheered for her.  And even in that shapeless gown, she looked radiant.  Just wish she had looked at us.  As usual, my father cried on and off through the ceremony.  You have to love a dad that is a guys guy, that cries at every special moment for his daughters.  I am tearing up now just thinking about how much he loves us.

 

Back to the fabulous hat.  9 out of 10 little old ladies told me how much they loved my hat!  The brown hat is a keeper...

 

- Lisa Lounsbery

My head is going to explode if I breathe in any more dust!!!  Now I understand why Donna Reed and June Cleaver were always dusting.  If they hadn't then the whole family would be sneezing.  That would only make for good comedy for one episode.

 

The honest truth is that I have not dusted in about 1 year now.

 

Note to self:  STUPID, STUPID, STUPID girl with allergies!  You are allergic to everything, why oh why didn't you dust monthly at least?

 

For the last few days I have been sneezing non-stop.  I had thought that the bookcases were the worst offender until vacuum stopped sucking hard (that sounds really bad).  Anyway, I decided that the filter was clogged and went outside to bang out the dust.  I took the Hepa filter apart and started whacking it against the side of the house.  All of a sudden a strong gust of wind blew all the dust in my face!  I guess for the neighbors it was comical, but for me, I could literally feel my head swelling and that an explosion of great magnitude was eminent.  Thus, the big daddy sneezing ensued.  I think I scared the cats with my house shaking sneezes. 

 

I eventually took a Sudafed to keep my head attached to me.  That helped somewhat, but I was still sneezing occasionally. 

 

Lesson Learned:  Don't be a tight wad...just buy a new filter.  Also, if you are going to be a tight wad, never bang out the filter on a stormy day.

 

Sniffily Yours,

-Lisa Lounsbery

My sister Alyssa is graduating from high school on Sunday, and you know what that means, I will be singing "Crazy." 

 

My older sister Stacy is flying to DFW tonight, and my step-daughter Emily is flying here tomorrow.  Those two things plus the fact that the graduation is Sunday night are the only certainties for the weekend.  I will see Lys at graduation and maybe for lunch on Sunday.  I still don't know if we are all going to lunch or not.  And who knows if we are doing anything on Memorial Day either.

 

I am happy to report that Lys is going to graduation parties non-stop starting yesterday and continuing through Wednesday.  I think it's great that she is having so much fun this week, because this has been a trying year for her.  Between drill team, AP English, and Anatomy, I don't know how she managed to not go "Crazy" this year.  I am very proud of Alyssa and all her accomplishments.  She is a truly special and gifted young lady, and I know that she will have a happy and fufilling life ahead.

 

Wish me well on my adventures this weekend...it could be a bumpy ride.

 

- Lisa Lounsbery

Ok, so everyone has seen the Mac commercials a gazillion times on tv by now.  You know the ones, the commercial with that jerk telling the PC guy that Macs are cool and PC's are losers.  I hate, and I mean hate with a passion, the Mac dude.  He is so mean! 

 

I have tried for months to figure out why Apple thinks I would want to purchase any product from them when they use a negative and mean ad campaign.  Plus, they never tell me what they can do for me that my lovely laptop with Microsoft operating systems can't do.  I will never ever switch to a Mac.  I love PC's and Bill Gates is "da man."  Just so you understand how deep my hatred for all things Apple is, I refused to buy an IPod because of that commercial.  Instead I purchased a Samsung K-5 with built in speakers (never seen an IPod with that feature, by God they would not make bigger profits with accessories if they did that!!!!).

 

Speaking of Microsoft, Walt is demostrating Silverlight to me.  It's rather interesting and apparently much more user friendly than flash.  Check it out at silverlight.net

 

- Lisa Lounsbery

Besides all the packing I have done, I accomplished a major moving task this morning.  Walt and I managed to get the cats in their carriers and go to the vet.  Anyone with cats knows that they do not travel well.  In fact they are horrible travel companions, especially Pumpkin.  Pumpkin screams and yowls on every car ride.  Rosemary usually chimes in after awhile as well (today she was quiet...good Rosemary ).  So, in order for me not to rip my hair out on our cross country journey, we went to the vet and got "Kittie Downers." 

 

Apparently you must give them to the cats 1 hour prior to travel, and then they last 4-6 hours.  Oh blissful silence!!! 

 

I have my plan finalized for the trip with the girls.  I purchased a dog kennel barricade for my Ford Escape to keep the girls out of the front seat area.  I purchased a mat for the cargo area, a spill proof dog bowl (I will let you know how that works), and have determines what items are going back there with them (litter box, toys, their favorite blanket, etc).  I bought a soft side roof cargo box for my luggage and the two cat carriers.  I will also be doing a test run to determine the easiest way with the least likely escape to get the cats out of the back of my Escape and into the carriers.  My hope is that they are still stoned when I need to do this.

 

Well, back to packing....

 

- Lisa Lounsbery

I think I have learned my final Texas lesson:  The best laid plans will always be screwed up by thunderstorms. 

 

Today we were to drive to Athens, TX to their scuba park to get a little diving in.  We checked the weather on the 10 o'clock news last night, and we were clear to dive in the morning.  The park opens at 10am, and the storms were expected mid-afternoon.  This would have given us 2-4 hours of diving and hanging out.  But alas, the thunderstorms have thrown a wrench into that plan.  It's fine to dive when it's raining, but not when there is lightning. 

 

If you are looking for decent places to dive in North Texas, then I reccommend the following:

 

Clear Springs Scuba Park in Terrell, TX (trust me, it's not clear 15-20' visibility on a good day...great for practicing navigation skills)

www.clearspringsscubapark.com/ 

Athens Scuba Park in Athens, TX (35' visibility and clear...better choice but it's a longer drive from Dallas)

www.athensscubapark.com/ 

 

Please remember that North Texas is not the Caribbean, and therefore visibility sucks.  But hey, it's still down time.

 

- Lisa Lounsbery

I have been accused of being rather vague with some of my Monotonous Thoughts.  For example, when we are moving, where exactly we are moving to, and when (dates) that we are going on vacation.  I am vague on these things for one simple reason:  SECURITY.  I find it beneficial to be vague in these areas since anyone out in the blogosphere can read this.  The vast majority of people reading my blog wish me no ill will and would never even think of doing any harm to me, Walt, the cats, or our possessions.  But I always keep in mind that my blog is public and that there are evil people in the world.  Therefore at times I will remain vague on the details. 

 

I do realize that by using my real name, a savvy criminal could potentially figure out exactly where I live.  My response to that is simple:  I have a brown belt in Kenpo Karate and I am not afraid to beat the living daylights out of criminals if need be.  Yes, I can be a bad a**. 

 

My promise is that I will go into great detail on our vacations after we get back, write about the pending move, and share as much as I deem appropriate.  If you want more details than that, you can always call or email me if you have that information.

 

- Lisa Lounsbery

It's official, I have starting packing.  Since I don't need any of my suits for awhile, I started with my walk-in closet.  I am happy to annouce that the closest is packed.  It only took 3 hours.  Other than a summer dress and my white linen suit, the only clothes that are not packed are my super casual wear.  My "uniform" for the next few weeks will be bermuda shorts and t-shirts.  I love being at home!!!

 

I am starting to develop a game plan for the packing.  I am starting with the non-essentials.  Tomorrow I am packing my scrapbook area and my two bookcases in the bedroom.  I really believe that taking a methodical approach to packing is the best way to go, and the earlier I start, the better off Walt will be.  I tend to stress out if I procrastinate.

 

We will be taking a break from packing mid-week.  Walt and I are planning on going scuba diving either in Terrell or Athens, Texas.  It will be nice to use my new equipment again.  Have I told you how much I love my new bc and wetsuit???  LOVE is an understatement.

 

- Lisa Lounsbery

Yesterday was my last day at work.  It was a strange day to say the least.  The temp, Linda, took care of the workload, while I went over a few things with other departments and printed some stuff for my boss.  It just felt odd that I didn't have much to do.  I was always busy in my position, but yesterday was different.  At the end of the day, I snuck out of the building.  After nine years it was a little too emotional for me and I had to leave before I started sobbing.  It's weird, I didn't think it would be that emotionally difficult to leave.  Wow...

 

After work my friend and co-worker, Merilyn, threw me a happy hour.  Merilyn is awesome and so thoughtful.  I was rather surprised that out of the 90+ people invited from the office, only 7 came.  Thank you to wonderful group of people that came out to On the Border!  We had an awesome time with great drinks, food, and conversation.  In addition to my current colleagues, my dear friend Nancy came.  Wow, what a fun evening.

 

Saturday:  On the first day of my temporary retirement, Walt and I had a garage sale.  We were able to sell alot of furniture!!!  And now have a little extra spending money.  Way cool.

 

Merilyn and I hosted our friend Aimee's bridal shower today at Mary Ellen's Tea Room in Richardson, TX.  We all had a wonderful time and Aimee seemed very happy.  I highly recommend that if you are in the Dallas area to consider Mary Ellen's for both bridal and baby showers.  The Tea Room is divided into 3 rooms that hold 20-25 people each.  The food is great and the tea is wonderful as well.  Mary Ellen's is located at the NW corner of Coit and Belt Line.

 

My big plan for tomorrow is to sleep late, do some laundry, and start sorting and packing.  Woo Hoo.....

 

- Lisa Lounsbery

Fantastic News!!!  We found a house yesterday and are putting an offer down today.  Walt and I looked at 10 houses yesterday, all day, with our agent Nancy (Nancy rocks).  At four o'clock we found the home we want to buy (that was house number 10).  It's a 39 year old raised ranch (split level) home with 2400 sf of finished space, and another 600 sf of space to finish out.  There are 4 bedrooms and 2 living areas.  The kitchen and bathrooms have been completely updated.  The kitchen has custom cabinets...I know, Armstrong is better.  I will be adding an island to the kitchen...I love islands.  I will post pictures soon, but I must go for now.  Busy, busy, busy.... 

 

- Lisa Lounsbery

Last week Walt and I got back from the Cabo Corridor in Mexico from a company incentive trip that I planned.  Cabo was fantastic!  We dove with the sea lions, went ATV'ing, relaxed, and enjoyed the great views.

 

I finally got to try out my new wetsuit.  I ended up buying the WaterProof 3mm suit from a Swedish manufacturer.  This wetsuit is the bomb.  It kept me warm in the Sea of Cortez's 72 degree water and the Pacific's 65 degree water.  The suit has great seals and zipper cuffs, ankles and neck.  I highly recommend this wetsuit which comes in more sizes than any other wetsuit.

 

Our first dive was near Pelican's Rock.  We saw thousands of fish, and swam under a canopy of over 1000 fish that blocked out the sun.  I felt like I was on a National Geographic dive. 

 

Swimming with the sea lions was an incredible experience.  These creatures were so graceful underwater, swimming within 10 feet of us.  They seemed as interested in us as were of them.  They kept diving off the rocks above us and swimming down 40 feet to us and then back up.  After this encounter we navigated a small channel, about 10 feet wide, from the Sea of Cortez to the Pacific near Lovers Beach and Divorce Beach.  It was a little daunting at first to fight the current.  The Pacific waves would shove us backward, and then the Sea of Cortez would have us zooming forward.  On the Pacific side we saw a wreck and a gigantic sting ray with a 6 foot wing span.  It was the largest sting ray I have ever seen, and yes I did think of Steve Irwin and made sure to keep my distance.

 

So besides scuba diving, we went ATV'ing.  It was my first time and it was great.  I did get a little over zealous in the dunes though.  I went down and up a 4 foot deep channel, and unfortunately came up crooked.  As a result, I flipped my ATV on it's side.  Yeah, that stung.  I took the brunt of the impact on my left elbow, shoulder and hip.  I gashed my elbow and got lots of bruises.  Luckily, I did not get any serious injuries and I was wearing my helmet.  I will try ATV's again, but will be a little more cautious.

 

Most of the time we just hung out at the resort by the pool and did some snorkeling at the beach.  We had some lovely dinners with co-workers and got to know the top-performers.  Overall we had a great time and I really appreciate being given the opportunity to go on the trip.  We especially had a fun time with Gary, Lisa, Jennifer, Bub, Marlynn, and Bill.

 

Note to Marlynn:  THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!  You were a tremendous help to me on Friday night, and I appreciate everything you did.

 

Now to the office.  Last week I gave notice of my resignation to my boss.  It was difficult to tell him and I know that he is stressed about my decision.  Walt and I will be moving to Tennessee in June.  I am very excited over the relocation and can't wait to have nature's playground in my backyard.  I will write more on this later.

 

I promise I will start writing on a regular basis now, and will post the Cabo pics soon.

 

- Lisa Lounsbery