Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Why the Writer’s Strike was the best thing for Society

Some of my favorite TV shows include:
24
Grey’s Anatomy
The Office
Brothers and Sisters

I was just as sad as anyone when I found out they were not going to come on this season, or possibly they would come on, but in an unexpected, inconsistent manner. I had my withdrawals every now and then, but it really didn’t affect my life that much. You see, I didn’t feel like I was “missing something” because there was nothing to miss! It turns out, it was actually making my life better.

Do I learn anything from those shows that I can apply to real life, or that will make me smarter? No. They are purely about situations I will never be in, relationships that are unreal and overdramatic, and beautiful people that don’t ever exist in masses like that together. Maybe once in a blue moon I would see something that made me think about my own life and come to some conclusion…but this was really rare.

That’s why, when the shows came back on recently, and I once again found myself glued to the T.V., I realized what a relaxing break it was to not “have a show to catch” (and I have DVR, yet the time commitment still builds up). I’m convinced I was 10 times more productive during the period when the shows were not on than I am now. I say this because I hope everyone realized what I did. Without so much T.V., you can take the time to have nice quiet evenings at home (listening to the radio or music or heaven forbid, read a book), talking to your spouse, walking the dogs, cooking a longer supper, working on a scrapbook or homework with a clear mind (not distracted by the T.V. story line), or getting some other things done during the week that you won’t have to find time to do on the weekend. When I think back on these times, it makes me happy and feel relaxed. I hope that others out there were able to take advantage of the writer’s strike and enjoy their life for the other things in it, even if only for a little while. I have made it my goal to try to keep the house like that more often, because its just … well, pleasant. We’ve also tried to cut back on our shows, which we’ve been pretty successful at from the list you saw above (although new shows are becoming very tempting).

This all said, I still can’t wait until tomorrow night when we see Merideth work closely with her ex-boyfriend, whom she obviously still loves, to develop a new and unprecedented surgery to save the live of a supposedly terminally ill man with a large tumor in the middle of his brain, who will wake up only to realize he was “out of his mind” when he married his new wife (and provoked a bear cub)!

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Sister Trip at the Gaylord!

Finally, I have been able to take the time to upload my pictures from our annual Sister Trip. This year we met in Grapevine at the Gaylord Texan the weekend of April 11th. It was so nice, fresh, and relaxing. The four Walter sisters (Mary Jo, Rita, Florence, and Marguerite) met up on Thursday, and mom, Pam, and myself joined them Friday evening. We shopped a lot Saturday morning, and then Valerie joined us at lunch time. Also joining us at lunch time was Julie and their newest baby, sweet little Helen. Sherry and Heather joined us Saturday evening for dinner at Esparza's, and we split up to go our separate ways on Sunday. The weekend was full of silliness, laughter, sweetness, and tears (but in a healthy way). We missed other "sisters" who couldn't come due to health reasons, distance, busy lives, and being close to giving birth :). I am lucky to have such a beautiful, smart, caring, and loving family...and I learn something new from them every time they are around! Enjoy the pictures!





My pictures can be downloaded or printed from kodak gallery at:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=7w109yj.32ul9zo3&x=0&y=-qhecbs&localeid=en_US

Valerie's pictures can be downloaded or printed from snapfish at:

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=222168187/a=127926427_127993499/t_=127926427

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Speaking of Nephews and Nieces...

I couldn't resist posting these pictures of our nieces (yes, they are twin's - Cy's sister Shawn's kids). Shawn has deemed these their Rock Star pictures (taken Easter weekend). Carson is blue, Jordan in yellow. They are really hamming in the last picture! Posing like movie stars!!







They are too cute!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Reno and Nephews!

Our trip to Reno was great! We saw our newphews, Holden and David, for the first time in 2 years. They are 5 and 3 years old. Katie and Moo Moo came with us, and we just played all weekend. Poor Holden skinned his nose at school the day we arrived and had a giant strawberry on his face. Even worse, poor David fell off the slide at school a couple of days before we arrived, and come to find out, he broke his leg!! A 3 year old with a broken leg is a sad thing. :( He couldn't run around, but I enjoyed carrying a baby around! Here is a slide show of pictures. Or you can go to the kodakgallery files to download a photo or order a print:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=7w109yj.a0hst1lv&x=0&y=qj2yxp&localeid=en_US



Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Easter Weekend and More!

Last weekend, for Easter, we went up to Gainesville. Easter Sunday was also my (Lisa's) birthday! This won't happen again for like 200 years.


Friday afternoon we had lunch at Gloria's with Katie, Shawn, and the twins (Carson & Jordan). Carson LOVES her aunt Lisa and even let me take her to the bathroom and rode in our car! Gloria's has the best salsa and margaritas (yes, I was drinking at noon on Friday). Then we went back to Katie's and I got some Easter/birthday presents! They are such a sweet in-law family, and treat me like one of their own!

Friday evening we loaded up the pups, and headed for Gainesville. We got them to my dad's, and then left to meet some "long lost" friends for dinner at Gainesville Seafood. Casey and Scott -- we enjoyed seeing our old friends again since it's been so long. Shannon and Melissa - it was great getting to hang out with you and getting to know you. It's nice to have more"married" (or almost married) friends!

Saturday morning, I rode with my mom to pick up uncle Gary in Denton, and Cyrus went to Taylor's to work some cows (I don't know, put medicine on them or something). Then Jack came and met us for lunch in Muenster, TX at Doc's. We talked about wild hogs and at rueben sandwiches. I went back with Cyrus and Taylor to unload the cow's worth of meat they picked up from Muenster and to go over our business taxes for last year.
Here is Taylor pulling Cyrus on the dirt bike to try to help get it kick started...
Here is Cyrus petting Sally, with the horses behind...
Here is baby horse Gimpy (he had some leg problems when he was born) and pretty Ginger. Their mama is dead, so they are best buds...

Here is old CJ (left), Ginger, and Gimpy. The other kid, Gordy, is at the trainer!...


When we left the farm, we got the dogs and went to visit grandmother and granddad Vestal. They have always had weenies and LOVE seeing Milo and Libby (but I can't say the same for Jones' Tiger and Godiva)! Godiva is a new, chocolate-colored chihuahua who will have to be renamed so she doesn't represent Rocky Mountain's competitor! :)

So, Saturday night we were pooped! We picked up Grandma after leaving the Vestal's, and took her to dad's where dad and Lisa had cooked an entire hamburger meal! It was sooooooo good and hit the spot! We finally took grandma home, watched the Aggie men lose, and retired to Scout's room to play a little "Wii" before bed.

Easter Sunday morning we woke up, got Starbuck's, and lazied around while watching the First Baptist sermon on TV. Dad and fam went to Flowermound to meet Uncle Phil and Janice for Easter brunch, and Cyrus and I stayed in town and went to meet the whole Sicking crew at Mary Jo's for lunch. Our cousin Misty, whom we haven't seen in AGES!, was there with her husband and son. Cousin Jo is getting so close to having her boy! Yay! We later went back over to dad's to open birthday presents, get the dogs, and eventually go home.
Here is Grandma sporting a Joe Walter Lumber Co. hat in matching spring color!...


We managed to see ALL the family in like 2 days! Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of anything but the farm. Ooops. I'll get better.

This past weekend Cyrus and I CLEANED CLEANED CLEANED the house, and then I planted some herbs on Sunday. Hopefully they won't die! They are just so cute in their little yellow pots! We are getting ready to order a new window and door so we can finish siding the front bottom portion of the house.

The Chocolate store started construction on Monday! It's getting pretty exciting....

This weekend we head to Reno to visit our nephews, Holden and David (Cy's sister Erin's kids). The weekend after that I go to our "sister trip" at the Gaylord in Grapevine to spend a lovely weekend with all the women on my mom's side of the family. Pam will be here too. WE ARE GETTING BUSY!