12/10/2009

Snow in SETX! Who would have thought?! I knew when I went to bed last night that there was a possibility, but I figured it would just end up being rain, and even if it did snow, the snow would melt once it hit the ground. Imagine my surprise when I went to leave this morning and realized there was snow on the ground! I was later than normal to work (thank goodness for flexible schedules!) because I had to take advantage of it all. Unfortunately, it had all melted by the time I got off work, but at least I have the pictures to prove it actually happened . . .

For this, school was delayed two hours!

6/23/2008

Two things I have learned today:

1. CutCo knives are very sharp.
2. Butterfly bandaids would be a good purchase.

Father's Day Redux

I meant to post this last Sunday on Father's Day, but what with calling the fatherly figures in my life, I completely forgot. When I wrote about my mom in response to a question in Bible study, "Who is someone that has the capacity to make you feel loved and what in particular does he or she do to cause you to feel so lovable?", I also wrote about my father:

I read an article the other day about a girl whose father never failed to ask her if she’d checked the oil in her car. Over time, the girl came to realize that this was her father’s way of saying “I love you.” I laughed, because that is a question my father never fails to ask me either, but I also realized too that that is his way of expressing love. Don’t get me wrong, he’ll say the words, but those words would mean nothing if he hadn’t backed them up with action. With over-long lectures about house-buying, stock-purchasing, car-buying, you-name-it. With too much concern over the state of my finances. With random email conversations when we both should be working. With long bike rides by the Poudre. With innumerable attempts to set me up. With ice cream purchases to get me my calcium. With surprise car washes. With surprise trips to ice-skating shows when I know he’d far rather be listening to his favorite sport team losing. With sappy emails any time he hears a song about a dad and his little girl. My dad loves me, of that I have no doubt. Not only because he tells me, which is nice, but because he’s constantly showing that love in everything he does.

6/13/2008

No unlucky Friday the 13th for me! My friend Melanie came in town on her way to Baton Rouge for a wedding on Saturday. She had dinner and spent the night with me, which meant I got to cook a nice dinner. Yay! We had Stuffed Chicken Breasts, Garlic and Olive Oil Vermicelli, and Dressy Greens Beans for the main course. Yum!

(Yes, I know I need to get better napkins . . . I can't be completely perfect! ;-P)

The pièce de résistance, however, was dessert. Homemade pound cake topped with vanilla ice cream (not homemade, sadly, but the first time I've been able to find artificial flavoring-free vanilla since I've moved down here) and freshly made Peppery Blueberry Dressing. Yummy!

(Sorry for the poor resolution. By time I uploaded the picture and realized this, the dessert was long gone!)

The night ended with me besting Mel at Quiddler. Ah, the sweet taste of victory . . . or maybe I'm remembering the blueberries . . .

6/12/2008

Gotta love FoCoCO!

6/8/2008

Anyone have good recipes for blueberries? 'Cause I have 16 pounds (all lovingly hand-picked by . . . me!) chilling in my freezer, just waiting for me to use them. Well, more like 15, as I've kept some in the freezer for immediate consumption. I'm thinking in my oatmeal, and in blueberry muffins, and in blueberry pancakes . . . yum! I can't wait for it to be morning!

6/2/2008

Yesterday marked the start of the hurricane season. Tomorrow, the CSU Tropical Meteorology Project team will release their updated hurricane forecast. Today, however, who needs a hurricane when a burning electrical pole can cause a plant-wide outage 5.5 hours before you were supposed to leave for San Francisco? Yeah, riddle me that one!

5/27/2008

I really would like to blog tonight . . . all about my wonderful trip to Michigan, my interesting flight home, the next installment of the calendar series . . . but I just played tennis for 2.5 hours and I am beat! So please excuse me, I'll be heading to bed now.

(Incidentally, the tennis playing was due to me joining a USTA league. Our team was practicing before games start next week.)

5/20/2008

I found this article interesting. It lists the 100 best US cities to raise kids in based on categories like educational spending, parks per capita, etc. Colorado had a good showing, with 3 cities making the list (CO Springs,9; Denver, 57; Fort Collins, 77). Texas also did well, with 9 cities making the list. Pretty impressive for Texas, eh? Until you look at the 10 worst places to raise kids . . . and 3 of them are in Texas. And what city, pray tell, is the 2nd worst city in the nation in which to raise a child? Beaumont! See, this is why I refuse to stay here and make little Texas babies!

In unrelated news I just got myself a Wii . . . which means productivity is approaching zero . . .

5/14/2008

Last week I attended training in Houston for work. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The class was enjoyable, but we'll have to wait and see if it was effective at making me effective (Considering I have already lost my super fancy-dancy planner, things aren't looking to good. Well, I didn't actually lose it . . . I know right where it is . . . out on the unit.) The best part of the class, though, was getting to stay with my friend Melanie in Houston. I had been planning on staying in a hotel in downtown so I could walk to the class every day, but when I went to book rooms over a month ago, I couldn't find any. Apparently, there was some big offshore technical conference that is held in Houston every year and the attendees had already snapped up all the rooms. So I called Mel and told her I was inviting myself over. ;-) She was happy to have me, though, and we had a ton o' fun hanging out. My last night there I took her and another friend, Kelly (who I know through Mel) out to dinner to thank her for hosting me. We went to this little Caribbean restaurant that had great pineapple salsa. Man, I miss cuisine variety!

(The book I'm holding is for a contest at work for a gas card. And I'm not one to turn down a chance at anything free!)

I got back to Nederland late Thursday and then Friday morning, I got up early to head off to Dallas with my friend Christina. She used to live in Dallas and still had a few things to take care of up there, plus she wanted to see some friends. I volunteered to road trip it up north with her, so we made the long, buggy ride to Dallas. I wish I had taken a picture of my car before I washed it. There were so many love bugs smashed in the grill, my car was black instead of gray! Suffice to say, it took me well over an hour to clean all that off when I got home.

While we were up in the Metroplex, we headed over to Southlake to see my cousin, Diana. It was fun to catch up with her and chat about our respective jobs, community activities and the like. I told her she should come visit me, but we both agreed that Dallas is far more interesting to visit than Beaumont . . . and has better cuisine!


So, all-in-all, a very fun week and weekend . . . but a very exhausted Naomi with a house that is rapidly spiraling downhill in regards to cleanliness . . . I guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend!

Mother's Day

A few years ago, I wrote the following in response to a question at a Bible study: "Who is someone that has the capacity to make you feel loved and what in particular does he or she do to cause you to feel so lovable?" I thought today would be a good time to post this.


I can always depend on my mom to make me feel loved. If I am having a bad day, am stressed, out or whatever else may be throwing my life out of whack, a hug from her always sets me straight. The physical touch is important, but it's more than just a hug. It's what the hug has come to represent over years of listening to my mom. It means "I love you" but it also means "I'm expecting you to share that love with others." It means "I'm proud of you" but it also means "I'm expecting you to be worthy of my pride." It means, "I'm always here for you, no matter what you do," but it also means "I'm expecting you, no matter what you've done, to work to make it right." My mother makes me feel loved by words and reassurances, but she also shows me that I am worthy of love by her trust, confidence and expectation in my ability to do what's right. It's this confidence that gives me the self-assurance that yes, I am loved, and yes, I am deserving of that love.


Happy Mother's Day, Mama! You're the best mom anyone could hope for!!

5/3/2008

I've been going through some of my old computer files, trying to clear up some space and I came across this file. I wrote it for my Freshman McBride class in the style of The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros.

A Winter’s Day

Snow never comes to Georgia. In Jonesboro, at 14136 Briarbay St., I sit in the living room, listening to weather reports on the radio while Mama cleans the kitchen. The biggest snowstorm in twenty years has hit the west coast, the weatherman says. But will it snow here? Will I ever get to go sledding or make snow angels or snowmen, like I’ve read about? No. Because snow never comes to Georgia.

Michael and Peter, my twin older brothers who always gang up on me and are inseparable, burst through the doorway. They have just gotten back from school. I do not go to school because I am too young. Next year, Mama says, you will be old enough and I will teach you at home. But next year is so far away. I have already learned how to read. Mama says I am smart, but if I am so smart why can I not start school now?

Michael and Peter shiver, trying to warm up. It is really cold out there, Peter says. Yes, Michael echoes, maybe it will snow. I laugh. Haven’t I been waiting for snow ever since September? It is January and snow still has not come. How can Michael think it will come now? I have given up hoping for snow.

After dinner, Daddy reads to us from the Bible. Hebrews 11:1. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. When he tucks me into bed and hears my prayers, I am tempted to pray for snow. But isn’t that what I have prayed for for the last five months? No, I will not get my hopes up.

I am woken by a banging on my door. Get up, Naomi, my brothers are shouting. Shouldn’t they be at school by now? I am confused but I get up anyway. Michael and Peter drag me outside, still in my pajamas. Look, they shout, look!

I am blinded by the glittering beauty of my neighborhood because it has snowed. Daddy says there is more ice than snow. I do not care. I run outside in my bare feet only to quickly run back inside. Mama and Daddy laugh at my expression. A bit cold, is it, Daddy says. Come on, says Mama, I will help get your clothes on to go outside.

While I am getting dressed, Daddy pulls out Mama’s pizza pans. Look, he says, we can use these as sleds to ride down the hill by our house. Mama gives him a funny look, but then nods her head. Michael and Peter each grab a pan and run out, but I am scared to go down the hill. Here, honey, Daddy says, ride down on my lap.

Safe and secure in my daddy’s arms I ride down the huge hill. It is the most exciting thing I have ever experienced. I soon gather up enough courage to go down myself, again and again and again. My brothers and I spend the whole day sledding ad playing in the snow.

That night, it is Mama’s turn to listen to my prayers. I thank God for the snow that He has given even though I didn’t have faith. It will probably be gone tomorrow. The sun has been shining all day, but I am still happy.

Maybe someday I will live somewhere where it snows all the time and I will be able to make lots of snowmen and snow angels. I will spend the entire winter playing in the snow. Maybe. But for tonight, it is enough to know that snow came to Georgia.

4/27/2008

I went to LA this weekend to see Liz and to go to the NO JazzFest 2008. We had tons o' fun, even though it started raining and we were too much of wimps to stick it out. Although, considering the torrential downpour continued for 12 hours, we probably made the right decision. I posted some pictures on Facebook if you'd like to take a look.