Catching Up

Hey there. I know I haven't written in a while. Things were very busy. I'm sure that's a normal thing, but anyway that's what it was. We were actually starting to go to bed at a normal time schedule when tonight Brian found out that he has to do 2 hours of work sometime before tomorrow night, so he's doing it tonight. So, I'm taking advantage of the time to get caught up on my fun stuff. Well, it's 1 am, and I finished, so now I'm catching up here. I thought I'd just ramble for a while and call it a blog entry. :-)

First of all, my friend Leanne had the most beautiful wedding, and if she lets me I'll link to the video of it so that you all can see.

Brian is about halfway through his 2 month sabbatical right now. He's in full relaxation mode, it's great. Also, we're finally stopping and getting things done that should've been done when the kids were born -- but he was too busy with callings all this time.

I'm, we're, all working really hard to make sure we eat enough. To catch you up, we found out at the Endocrinologist this summer that I'm fat because I don't eat nearly enough -- how's that for a surprise. Didn't see that one coming. I was eating less than half the calories of what I should have been eating every day. Just wasn't hungry. So now I'm taking LOTS of digestive enzymes and pancreatic stuff to help me digest and I think I'm eating enough now. Brian also needed to eat more, so this effort is good for him too.

In that spirit, Brian fixed up our kitchen last month by adding great shelves. You'd have to see them. Hey, I should take pictures for you. Ok, those will come... We're streamlining the whole house, to make things run more easily.

In this time off, we're getting caught up on health stuff too. Lots of haircuts all around, dentist cleanings, doctor checkups (good news: Alex does not have scoliosis, found out today). Next we do car oil changes. Then, yes, more work on the house. The house has many needs, so that will keep us busy.

The trip to Tucson a few weeks ago was Wonderful, with a capital W. Just can't say enough good things about that trip and all the great times we had with everyone.

Oh, and Alex and Sam are Loving playing with all of Alex's new toys. That should keep them occupied 'till Sam's birthday easy!

Today Sam and I got new shoes, because he grew out of his, and I wore mine out. We were fortunate that we each got the types of shoes that we wanted at the same store, the new REI on 6th. I was thinking we'd have to drive all over town. It went very well. Then we went to the downtown Schlotzkey's. I love that place. In Tucson, the one Schlotzkey's they had was tiny and run down, and no one knew what a gold mine it is. Again: Thank God for Austin. By the way, Tucsonans, we have clouds, humidity, and trees to block a little of that sunlight. You should visit and check it out! hehe. :-)

I spent my free time last week overhauling and taking over webmastering of AspiesofAustin.com. It's been a lot of fun. I've known I was an Aspie for almost 3 years now, but I've never done anything about it. I've known about this group for just over a year, and never went. So, finally, since it's Sabbatical and I want to do and fix everything in this time, I went. I loved it! We weren't even finished with the first meeting and I knew this was something I wanted to be a part of. These were people who think like me. That NEVER happens. For those of you normal people out there, you have no idea how long I've waited for this. Ok, 33 years, you got me! :-) But seriously, to quote the old TV show "NewsRadio": "my whole life has been merely prelude to this moment". Ok, that sounds a little overly dramatic. I have a good life, but this was really nice to relate to EVERYONE there, and to understand EVERYTHING they were talking about. People even said quotes that I already knew and was about to say, before I could say them, we were so much on the same page. After two of their meetings, it was really hard for me to go to church this past Sunday and again be surrounded with three hours of stuff that didn't relate to me and didn't represent my experiences and perceptions of life. Anyway, the point is, when they asked someone to take over the website, I felt good about it and took the job. I'm finally beginning to lose my extreme embarrassment and shame about being an Aspie. I needed this.

TV: Atlantis is getting worse. They took off Torri Higginson, who was the original reason I started watching the show. The plots are getting more emotional and less technical. And they're adding at least two long, pointless action scenes per episode. I understand that they're trying to appeal to their male audience. So, it's just too bad for me.

NCIS, however, is having their best season yet! Each episode this season, has been better and better. I thought last week's was great, and then tonight -- even better! Also better because I like Navy boats. But, Bellisario, I'm really impressed. This man has made, for those of you who don't know, Magnum, p.i., and my other favorite show Quantum Leap. NCIS has actually moved up above the rank of Quantum Leap for me, which is saying a lot. Mostly I'm glad we don't have any season-long story lines right now, those can wear you down and make it not fun.

Dirty Jobs and Mythbusters -- always fun. The kids and Dad and I always love these shows. Alex actually gets symptoms from Mythbusters deprivation if he goes more than a day. :-)

Alex has begun his Cub Scouting work. We did the Bobcat, now we're slowly starting Wolf stuff and Faith in God stuff. I'm sure the Primary Presentation is coming up soon, but I just can't add that to my list right now, oh well.

The weather is Great. Fall is my favorite season here in Austin. In Tucson, when I was growing up, my favorite season was winter, which is not so much a "winter", but rather is the two months out of the year that it's not summer (which is the other 10 months). But in Austin, there are seasons, and Fall is just grand. It's like the reward for waiting all year. I just can't do it justice with words, but needing a sweater and not needing shorts is the best feeling in the world.

Krysten, I wasn't able to find that anti-frizz stuff you recommended here in Austin, but I got something similar and it works! Thanks for telling me about this. Now I can actually leave my hair the way it normally is without having to straighten it all the time. And whoa, my hair is curlier than I realized!

I was just learning about tides yesterday and was surprised to read that here in Texas the tides are diurnal instead of semi-diurnal like they are in California. I was looking at this: http://www.freetidetables.com/tides/?tti=3586 and couldn't figure out why they only listed one high and one low per day. I thought they were every 6 hours -- everywhere in the world. In the picture at the top of this blog, you can see that it's different in different parts of the world. I'm going to have to go learn more about this. :-)

Click here for a larger version of the picture at the beginning of this blog: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fa/Tide24_12_mix.gif