{Brrr}

It's been a bit chilly the past couple days. We have our heat on {gasp!}. Of course, it only comes on like once a day and once at night. I hate being cold.

Thanksgiving was awesome. All the leftovers are gone now. Actually, they only lasted a few days. I remember as a kid, the turkey lasting FOREVER.

Anyhoo...still have a few things to get for Christmas. The girls and I went to the mall last weekend just to browse. I got lots of ideas for little gifts for them. They already have their laptops for their big gifts, so I'm going to get them some little things to put under the tree.

Andrew had a conference with Sarah's teacher today. Sarah has apparently found out that her teacher is a pushover.  We've had to let Sarah know that she is not allowed to act silly at school just because her teacher isn't firmer with her. We let her know that if her teacher is not able to control her in class, we will do it for her.  Little terd. :)

Hot chocolate on a cold night: Priceless...

This photo was taken a few years ago while we were still in Michigan. We were at Andrew's mom's boyfriend Dan's house, and Sarah was mesmerized by his instruments. He has his living room filled with guitars and other stuff.  She was in love. She loves her some "Dan, Dan, Grammy's Man". 

This past weekend we had rain. Yes. Rain. Hard to believe here in San Antonio, but it actually rained all night and a good part of the morning. 

I took advantage of the wetness to get some cool shots I usually don't get the opportunity to get.

Good times. Life is good.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ahh...it's 5:25 PM. Dinner eaten, dessert devoured, football watched, nap taken, Christmas tree put up. It's been a great day spent with my family.

Off to enjoy more pie. Have a blessed day, everyone.

Thanksgiving {Blues}

So, it's 4:53 AM, the eve of Thanksgiving. Why am I up this early, you ask? Cora is on the couch with a fever. Poor kid started feeling crummy last night. I gave her some Children's Nyquil and she conked out on the couch. About 3 AM, I hear her calling my name. I come down to see what's up, and she's crying with a headache and a pretty wicked fever. I get her some water and sit with her a few minutes. I try to go back to sleep, but can't. So, I'm just up surfin' the web and tinkering with the idea of starting the coffee pot a bit early. Gonna be a long day.

Planned Thanksgiving Menu:

Ham (duh)
Mashed pototoes with garlic and sour cream
Rolls
Corn
Cranberry sauce (totally love this stuff)
Stuffing
Green Bean Casserole
Ham Rollups (a holiday must-have)

Pumpkin Pie (Cora is making this, if she's feeling better)
Lemon Bars (Sarah's making these)
Chocolate Chip Cookies

I also plan on making Poinsettias to drink while I cook. (Cranberry juice mixed with champagne)

I love Thanksgiving. I remember my mom being up all night the night before cooking the turkey and other fixins. I remember watching the parade and being all excited to see Santa at the end, because that meant it was almost Christmas.

Things I'm thankful for:

{my job}
{Andrew's job}
{healthy (not counting today) kids}
{living in a country where I can do whatever the heck I want (for the most part)}
{the fact that soldiers continue to keep my country free}
{friends and family}


Anyone else working on Black Friday? This chick is. Luckily it should be a pretty slow and chill day. Although, I'm never surprised at how busy we can be in the department where I work. I work in the Fraud Management Department. We audit new orders for service, and if we find that the customer has a previous balance that they've failed to clear, we contact them to try to resolve the balance while keeping their new service active. As you can imagine, that can be a very tricky task. Luckily, a lot of customers simply forgot they had a leftover balance and really want to resolve it. However, there are some who are not so eager. Let's just say there is never a dull moment. However, I absolutely love my job and am pretty darn good at it, if I do say so myself.

Ok, enough rambling. Gonna go make the coffee pot go.

{Lazy Weekend}

Not much going on this weekend. It's  been muggy and hot. Par for the course for South Texas.

The girls and I did go watch Breaking Dawn Part 1 yesterday. I think it might have been the best one they've made so far. After that, we all went to the store to get most of our Thanksgiving groceries. I love going shopping for holiday stuff.  Nothing really out of the ordinary planned for dinner that day, just regular ham, mashed potatoes, yams, corn, rolls, etc. The girls are making Pumpkin pie and Lemon Bars. We're also planning on putting up the Christmas tree after dinner.

Sarah's been watching A Christmas Story a few times the past few days. A bit early for my taste, but you can never see it enough. One of the best holiday movies ever made.

Got myself a laptop Friday. I'll be going to school this semester, so I need a laptop I can do my work away from home and since Andrew uses the desktop for his schoolwork as well, it's had to share. Also, the girls each got an Acer netbook for early Christmas presents. It's their big gifts, so they know not to expect a ton of presents under the tree. They were completely ok with that. They love them! My laptop is awesome for photo editing, so I can play with my pictures and not have to wait for Andrew to get off the desktop. Winning!

Just a quick pic of Cora from a couple weeks ago. She's getting way too old!

Sarah from today. I must say, both my kids are freakin' gorgeous!

How sad is it that it's November 20 and we just turned on the AC? Recent cold front did not last long! 

We had planned on a trip to a flea market today, but decided to go out and eat instead. I was not happy that the flea market was charging to park. We had a great lunch at Cheddar's.  The order of onion rings is massive, but we managed to conquer it.

Work has been going great. Still lovin' it and still rockin' it.  Lots of changes coming up in the next few months, but hopefully everything will work out and be better than before. 

Welp, off to chill out for a bit before I finish cleaning my room. The girls are off all week for Thanksgiving break, so I must make a list of chores for them to finish while they're slackin' off of school. 

May the force be with you!

A Cold Front...what's that?

So, apparently a cold front is on its way to south Texas. It's supposed to be in the low 50s in the morning, and only around 60 as a high tomorrow. Maybe some of the allergens that are plaguing me will be killed off. It'll be a nice change of pace to have a bit cooler temp for a few days.

Sarah just got back from a few days at John Knox Ranch. Every year the 5th graders go for a few days and stay in cabins and have a blas outdoors. She has a ton of fun. We really missed her while she was gone.

Cora is at her volleyball game right now. Andrew just texted me a bit ago to say that she served up the Ace for the win! Awesome!!!

{Coolin' Off}

Texas is FINALLY starting to cool off a bit. Still gets into the high 80s, but nothing like a month ago when EVERY day was 110. It's nice to be able to sleep with the windows open and not have the A/C crankin' all day long.
Things are rollin' along nicely here. School, work, blah blah...Hopin' to get some archery started back up for the Spangler household in the near future. I haven't picked up my bow in 11 months. A big part of it is there's really nowhere to shoot here, and you can only shoot at a blank bale so much. Guess we just kinda lost the love and fun of it. Things are moving in a direction where we might have the opportunity to start shooting again. Hope that happens!

Found out Steve Jobs died today. Was sad to hear; he was a force in the technology that has become our everyday lives.

Went to my first Zumba class on Monday. Cora went with me. Was a lot of fun, and I definitely will be making it a part of my workout routine. Gotta get a good pair of shoes though. Hope to do that this weekend. We changed gyms and are now members of Triton Sports Center. The girls are members too and pretty much have the run of the place. They really like the water slide.

Happy Sunday!

Been a busy month. Girls back in school, started a new position at work. Cora's playing volleyball this year. She's having a lot of fun and learning a lot of how the game works.
My new job is so much fun! I'm still at Time Warner Cable, but no longer in Billing. I'm in the Fraud Management Department. So much better for me.
Andrew will be starting a new job in the next couple weeks as well. When God closes a door, he definitely opens another one.  Really excited for him!

Here's Cora in her first volleyball game.

Dude...

Yeah, it's been a while. Sorry bout that. The girls just started school again today. Sarah's in 5th grade now and Cora's in 7th. Sarah's going to a new school since we moved this summer. She was a bit nervous this morning, but she's ok now. Cora's playing volleyball this year and had her first team meeting today. I think she's goin to have a lot of fun.

I'm still at Time Warner Cable, but am no longer in Billing as a Customer Service Representative. I'm in the Fraud Management Department as a Collections Analyst. I've been there since August 12, and totally love it. Once I get my profile set up I can start working cases. It's really different than Billing with more responsibiity and freedom. I'm excited.

Photo of The Day

Just a candid of Cora laying on my bed (destroying my bedspread) talking to me.

Woot!

Yay Packers!

Super Bowl!

It's that time of year again. Packers against the Steelers.  Guess I'm rootin' for the Packers. Neither one is really my team. Never did like football much, but watching the Super Bowl is fun, especially the commercials. We've got the meat and cheese and the cocktail weenies getting ready for our snackage. Two words: Dos Equis. Yeah.

It's a gorgeous day today. Mid 60s with beautiful sun shining. Hard to believe we had snow on Friday. Go Texas!

Snowpocalypse!

San Antonio got snow yesterday!  It was only maybe a quarter inch, but that and the ice was enough to basically shut the city down. All highways were closed, access roads were treacherous, and schools and businesses were closed. Guess who went to work and was there by 8 AM? Yours Truly.  Andrew drove me in. The employee hotline for Time Warner Cable was not updated before I got there, so I wasn't aware we didn't have to report to work until noon. Nice.  So, it was just a few of us who braved the weather and showed up for work. Nice and quiet for a few hours.

Having lived in Michigan for 10 years, it's not a big deal to me, but of course most folks don't know how to drive in ice and snow, so Andrew felt better driving me himself. He's the ice and snow expert. Even he was not excited to get out on the roads. The girls enjoyed their first Texas Snow Day. Regrettably, I did not get any photoes of the "Snowpocalypse", but vivid memories will serve!

A New Year!

Wow! It's been a while! Things are going well here deep in the heart of Texas. Weather has been great.  We had a great Christmas and New Year's.

Right now the girls and I are chillin' out watching Star Trek. The new one. Yeah. Good stuff. Such a great show. You should check it out if you haven't seen it.

Andrew's friend is coming in from Germany for the week, so we'll be hanging out with him a bit while he's here. Plus my friend from Houston is in town, so we plan on hanging out.

Work is going well. Same old stuff. Grateful to have a job.

Overall, we're blessed. Hope you are too.