From The Desk of Luka and Brody:

Dear Mom,

Could you please slow down? We miss you. I am tired of parties that keep me up until 4am. I used to like to mingle at your parties, going from group to group getting some lovin’, looking up at my adoring fans and telling them how my existance is futile without them, but lately, I’d just rather sleep in the middle of the party. Their love just ain’t the same these days.

Could you also please, oh please, oh please, oh PLEASE let me outside? I love it out there. I tell you all the time how much I want to befriend that squirrel and Blue Jay that live in the backyard, but you just ignore my pleas. Why Mom? I love the dirt on the side yard Mom! Come on, let me roll in it!! And the grass! It’s tasty! And the basil, I like that too.

Oh and do you think I could have more of your time to cuddle? I miss you Mom! This morning you sat down for 5 minutes and ate your breakfast on the couch and didn’t you notice? I was next to you the whole time!! I really wanted you to stay home today so we could curl up on the couch with a movie. I wouldn’t have even clawed your chest when I climbed off of you. Promise!

Oh, and could you please get rid of the Sugar Ants in the kitchen? I saw you put down those little white dome things, but mom, even the ants think those are toys. Get serious. They like my food! Do something quick, or I will be forced to bring in back up and make Brody eat the whole colony!

Love you Mom.

Missing you, even though I am too tough to admit it.

–The Lukameister

Dear Momma,

Momma, I looovee you. I even sat with you last night. I misssss you soooo much. I even want you to pet me! And love on me! Where have you been, Momma??

Could you please not have anymore of those loud parties though? I know you are home, but they scare me. I get so scared, Momma! I can’t even sleep!

And the scary sucking thing? Can that go too? It scares me.

And the brushing thing?

Oh and the chair with wheels?

And that human with the loud voice?

And the plastic bags?

And the thing that blows hot air? That scares me.

Luka says I shouldn’t be scared, but I can’t help it Momma.

But, oh, could you get rid of those little black crawly things, Momma? They are eating my food, and I need my food! I love my food! LLOVVE it. So love it. It is SO good. But not with the black crawly things. I hate them Momma! They scare me! And I need my Foooooddd…What is life with out yummy food? Luka told me I should eat the little crawly things, but I don’t wanna! Luka is mean. He always picks fights. Can you make him go away? NO, wait! I love him too Momma. I want him to stay.

Please just get rid of the Scaries, Momma.

I love the food you give me, Momma.

–Brodybaby

What a Punch!

I got punched in the throat last night. By The Aggie. We play volleyball together. There was a ball, and I apparently I was in the way of his getting the ball. He dove, arm stretched out like a King of the Beach, and BAM! He missed the ball and socked me one, good and hard, about an inch to the right of my windpipe. It knocked me clean to the ground. And it stung. Luckily, it didn’t hit my windpipe so I didn’t lose my breath, and I was able to get up and shake it off pretty quickly, but dang it if it didn’t spook me. I spent the rest of the game mildly afraid I would hit someone again, and it affected my game. I hate that.

The most interesting part however, is that the punch for some reason, looks just like a hickey. It’s a red streak about an inch long, and very, very hickey-like. Which of course is great when you work with your parents…This morning my father told me I had a “lovely” hickey, and my mother asked why I hadn’t even covered it up with make-up! Oh for SHAME! My daughter has a HICKEY, and has not covered it up with make-up!! Since it’s not actually a hickey, and I figured covering it up (which would just look like make-up over a hickey) would make it look MORE like a hickey, I decided make-up wasn’t necessary. But apparently, decorum requires make-up.

So, I am sure the hickey jokes will continue, and I will continue to tease The Aggie about having punched me, but at least his ability to send himself to the hospital hasn’t rubbed off on me just yet.

Traditions

Took the Aggie to a birthday dinner last night. Snuffer’s. I asked him repeatedly if that was all he wanted, and that we could go somewhere a touch nicer if he wanted. (He suggested Del Frisco’s with a devious grin, and I told him that was fine, but I was taking his present back if that’s where we went…) Then he informed me that he has developed a new tradition in the past few years, where he just gets the best burger he can find and has a couple beers. After careful consideration and sufficient prodding, I determined he was not doing this to be nice to my pocketbook, he really did want a burger. So that is where we went.

Now, my birthday tradition for years and years was to go to Benihana. My family started going there when I was just a little kid. But in recent years, the service and show have slipped a little. So last year, we went to Abacus. One of the best restaurants in the city. I could stand having that be my new tradition. His burger tradition made me feel a bit gluttonous, though.

What do you do for your birthday? Is it a quiet dinner at home, a fancy dinner with family, a good burger?

Hasselhoff…err..I Mean, Hasselblad…

I taught myself a very cool Photoshop technique last night. It’s called the Hasselblad Softar No. 2 Filter effect. It makes it look like you had a Hasselblad Softar filter on your camera when you took the shot. Since it is relatively pointless to actually use a filter on a Digital SLR these days, the filter effect rocks! Here is the same picture with and without the effect…And to be honest, the shot with the effect looks more like my cousin than the one without. Her skin is softer and more luminescent than that picture suggests.

Without Filter:

With Filter:

What do you think? You can click on either picture to see a larger version. I would recommend it, in fact.

Weekend Recap!

What an interesting weekend. Friday, I got to see some old friends…My friend from high school who is a pilot in the Air Force, his wife, his sister, and my ex-best friend (as well as the usual crew). The ex-best friend part was a touch strange. We haven’t talked in three years, and I was really quite content with that, but we were friends for eight years before our falling out, so even though I have no intention of being buddy-buddy with her ever again, it was still nice to see her on some level. We have a lot of shared history, and no matter what happened three years ago, that history will always be a part of my life. The sort of funny thing though was that her friend that joined her for moral support (because she confessed she no long feels comfortable hanging out with our old crew) seemed to hit on all the single guys (or guys she THOUGHT were single) at the party. She was caught by a friend of mine as she was hitting on my friend’s boyfriend, and then I saw her sort of following my guy friends around the party…Guess fresh meat is always tempting…

Remember the guy I mentioned that went to my rival college…The Aggie? And my disgust over the fact that I could possibly like him? Ok, ok…I like him…Damn it. We hung out all weekend, and I had a great time. We can talk about anything together. And we have a lot of the same hobbies…He’s a lot of fun, and my friends all seem to like him. Damn it.

I also got a new air conditioner this weekend! YAY! Double Yay! My house is now able to actually cool to the temperature set on the thermostat! What a crazy concept! Including trip fees, removal fees, and uh…secret fees, it cost me $420. Not too shabby, considering the unit would be about $1,800 to $2,000 if I had had to buy it, and the increased efficiency of the new unit should repay that $420 in about a year I would guess. During months like this one, where my old unit created $300 electric bills, I should save between $70 and $100 a month. That’s some serious moolah!

And the Aggie also made another suggestion that might help a lot. Solar Screens. Anyone know anything about these? Or have these? Supposedly they can cut out up to 90% of the heat that comes through your windows. Since I have single pane glass, that could really be beneficial.

Let’s see, what else. I went to a baby shower Sunday morning. It was with my extended family. It was nice to see everyone, but what is up with the early morning weekend parties??? I did get to hold the newest addition to the family, Cara. She is so sweet. 9 weeks old with bright blue eyes and she is already completely comfortable in loud crowded parties…which may have something to do with her very loving, but loud, grandparents…She slept through the entire party, while being passed around like a hot potato.

Sunday night, I played some volleyball, and then went home and watched a Tivoed episode of Big Brother 7: All Stars, which I am completely and undeniably addicted to. Anyone else watching? It is really just so good. If you like the strategy and manipulation that goes into shows like Survivor, you will love Big Brother. That is the entire point of the show! Plus it is on three times a week, so it fills up my weeknights quite nicely!

I can’t wait to sit in my living room tonight and enjoy the unadulterated pleasure of an air conditioner turned down to “friggin’ cold.”

Do You Feel That Soft Breeze?

I am getting a new air conditioner! I had no idea two or three years ago how happy would be to hear those words.

It took a little maneuvering (read: I paid the A/C repair guy to basically lie to my home warranty company–it was totally his idea!) but I will have a new unit by this time tomorrow.

Apparently, my house is too big for the 3.5 ton unit I had, and that is the reason I have so many problems getting my house cooled. I need a bigger unit. My new one will be a 4 ton SEER 10 Payne Condenser unit. Unfortunately, my home warranty company was sneaky and bought a ton of SEER 10 units (SEER stands for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio which basically means a unit with a higher SEER will use less energy and therefore lower electric bills) just before the new SEER rules came into effect that made the national standard SEER 13, and the rules allow for any previously made and purchased SEER 10 units to still be used. So I am getting a SEER 10. BUT, considering my old unit was a SEER 8 which has been out of use for more than a decade, I should still see considerable changes to my electric bill. Combine that with a unit that will actually be able to keep up with the size of my house, and not run constantly, and I should see even more effects. Sounds great to me! My last electric bill was $297…I cannot wait to see what happens next month…

And I cannot wait to come home from work and not find my downstairs a balmy 86 degrees and my upstairs a sweltering, make-up melting, 94 degrees when the A/C was set to 78 all day long.

Ahhh…aiiirrr….

I remember Rabbit Ears…

What didn’t you have back then?

El Guapo explains the past…Zac Morris, I loved you!

Photos!!

I’ve posted a few new pics from my trip to The Greenbrier on my Flickr site. I have a bunch more. I am several hundred pictures behind, but this is a start! They are of my adorable cousins. They were jumping on the bed at the cottage and everything around them was white…it’s was perfect for photos…

I want PhotoShop CS2 TTTTHHHHIIIIISSSSSS badly.

Oh PhotoShop CS2, you are wonderful and amazing and I want you so much…I want to use your Vanishing Points, and HDR support and your Image Warp and Healing Brushes. I want upgrade from your sloppy older brother Mr. PhotoShop 7.0 who has grow so old and weary that he really needs a cane these days. I want to buy beautiful magazines that tell me how to use you. How to take advantage of your wiley ways.

For just $169, you could be mine. But your pesky cousins Illustrastor 10 and InDesign 2.0 are starting to list a little like their elderly cousin PhotoShop 7.0 and I would sort of need to upgrade to their younger brothers too.

Oh, woe is me. What is a creative gal to do…

"Oh! I Just Floated Though a Warm Spot!"

Don’t go tubing from the dam. Brrrrr….

Saturday we went tubing on the Guadeloupe River. I have tubed that river for the last 9 years. It’s nothing new to me, but still always a great time. Saturday though, we put our tubes in at the top of the river where the Dam releases water from Canyon Lake into the river. That means the water was icy cold because the water is pulled from the bottom of the lake. If the water reached 60 degrees, it was warm. The frigid water would have been ok with the sun shining and a lot of beer, but just thirty minutes into the tubing trip, the sun disappeared behind ominous black and white clouds. The bright white puffs were sitting in front of the charcoal sheets almost glowing in the contrast, and we knew we were in trouble. A few minutes later we saw the first few drops ping off the water, and for the next 3 hours, we floated the river in the rain and freezing water. We hoped it would stop any minute so we didn’t dare get out of water. Eventually, all 11 of us were visibly shivering, the girls were all certain from the looks of things, that they hadn’t shaved their legs in days, and the men, well, let’s just say they had some shrinkage. Lips were even starting to turn blue.

When we finally decided we should get out of the water, we walked through some private property toward what looked like a park. It was a park but it was a private park. So now, eleven drunk, frigid, dirty, and minimally dressed people were standing on private property with 11 large rubber tubes, two coolers full of beer, and a third retrofitted to hold a waterproof radio, unsure of what to do. We were discussing walking the shoreline when two residents came out and asked us what we were doing on their property. We explained, and eventually they believed that we were really just stuck and very cold, and very kindly offered to drive a couple of people back to our cars. So off they went, and we waited, trying to remind ourselves to be quiet so that we didn’t alert other neighbors. Just before they pulled back up about 15 minutes later (because although we had floated for about 3.5 hours, we had only traveled about mile) the sun broke through the clouds, and it was a suddenly a beautiful day for tubing. We had had enough though, and called it quits anyway.

It was definitely a tubing trip I will never forget. Thank goodness we had that radio! We sang our way down the river, using the singing to keep us warm. It’s quite amazing really, how well that worked. Well, that, and surprising fact that not one of us had to get out of the water to pee in the three and half hours after drinking two coolers of beer…