-139- Beware the Ditch!

This has been sitting in the middle of our parking lot for a couple of days now. It's a board with a sort of caution cone placed on top. The reason? There's a huge dent in the concrete just beneath it. Yes, a dent. A crack that fell through. Whatever you want to call it. Anyway, they have now poured cement into it to smooth it out, but this is what it was earlier today. At least now we won't have to worry about whether or not our car will make it out of the mini ditch!

-138- Onslaught!

I'm not sure how well you can see it, but it's absolutely pouring in this photo. That's because earlier this evening we had a freak thunderstorm... it happened so randomly and so quickly. I guess that's Texas for ya!

-137- Edible

My mini bagel with strawberry cream cheese is unremarkable in itself - yes, true - but what it did just before I took this picture - the whole reason I took it - was amazing: I dropped it and it bounced and rolled a bit but did not land cream cheese side down. And there were no cat hairs in it! A miracle? I think yes!

-136- Ring Ring Ring

This photo isn't of anything that's of particular importance (just my phone and computer... nothing out of the ordinary), but it represents the two things I do most at work: enter information into the computer and answer the phone. (I couldn't just whip out my camera at work and snap photos around the office... so I took a picture of something that was a general representation.) Yes, I can now say that I answer the phone at work because today was my first day doing so. It was pretty scary the first few times, then I got more used to it by the end of the day.

-135- Weirdos

This was the most interesting thing that happened today.

No really.

It is.

Don't be jealous that you're not as cool as us...

:) I love him!

-134- Cheap Comforts

So, we already knew we had a weird cat (i.e. she sleeps on cardboard, meows for cold water, and just pays attention to us in general). However, we discovered another odd characteristic of our sweet lump this evening. I took something out of a grocery bag and it fell on the ground. She then proceeded to lie down on it... and sleep. So now we have random cardboard and random plastic on the ground especially for the comforts of this diva cat.

-133- Oops: Episode 2

I don't know what happened today... I was going to make sure that last time (the first time) I missed taking a photo each day that it wouldn't happen again. Apparently I can't control everything!

-132- Buzz Buzz

Date night: movie night in. We bought this for $5 at Best Buy earlier this week because the only part Justin had seen was the end, ironically.

I chose it for today's picture for two reasons: (a) Work was really busy today so I was busy as a bee, and they talk about bees in the movie, and (b) The obvious: we watched this movie tonight. Haha.

-131- Home Style Meal (Dad Style)

I know I post a lot about food... but I love it and many times it's the only major thing that varies from day to day.

This meal was also particularly special because it's one of the few things that my Dad made whenever he happened to make lunch or dinner. It's his version of taco salad: lettuce, tomatoes, grated cheddar cheese, kidney beans, ground beef, and Nacho Cheese Doritos, topped off with Thousand Island dressing. I never realized until Justin, as well as one of my co-workers a few days ago, mentioned that they are used to eating taco salad with Catalina dressing. I think I will stick with my Thousand Island, thank you very much.

There was only one bad thing about this meal: I grated a tiny bit off the tip of my right ring finger. Looks like I'll have to wear a Band-Aid for quite a while now...

-130- Stovetop Dinner

I was very excited to make chicken korma over couscous for dinner tonight. I decided to make something green to add to our plates, so I opened the bag of frozen broccoli I happened to have. I was disappointed when I saw that it was mostly a bunch of cut up stalks rather than heads, which I think are the best part.

Although my korma sauce was from a jar, it was still mighty delicious. It brought back a rush of so many good memories of Oxford and the church I went to there, because that is where I first had it. Surprisingly enough, the cafeteria at ACU made it pretty well, too.

-129- Misleading Display

We went out with some friends tonight and stopped at Best Buy. They had this quarter machine out in the foyer, and it caught our attention because the "Xtreme Quality" of these prizes is hardly that. You think you have a chance to get an mp3 player or virtual pet, but if you look closely, the only things in those eggs are little plastic animals and aluminum rings. I wonder how many disappointed little kids have walked away from this machine?

-128- Take Out

This evening brought absolutely beautiful weather, so as soon as I walked in the door from work I said to Justin, "I have a great idea: let's have a picnic for dinner." So instead of making sandwiches (which we'd both had for lunch) we just picked up some Chik-Fil-A and went to that big park we first visited back on June 10th. The weather just had not been comfortable enough to be out in until now to go back out there, so that explains our long absence from it. Anyway, we enjoyed our "Chikin" and then played a little catch with a Frisbee and just enjoyed the nice day. I can't wait until it starts getting consistently cooler!

-127- Practice

Yesterday I inferred that I was going to learn how to crochet. My mom actually taught me a few stitches back when I was younger but I never kept up with it. So as I practiced tonight, learning from the booklet I bought, I found that it was fairly easy for me to catch back on to it. The photo above shows the four rows of practice stitches I have done so far. There are actually four different stitches in that one piece of work.

-126- Coldest Drink in Town

I tagged along with Justin as he worked one of his stores tonight. While he worked, I bought some yarn, crochet needles, a Teach Yourself How to Crochet book, and this Icee. What a successful trip! ;)

-125- Tomorrow

These are my Kraft work clothes, ready for me to throw on at 5 AM in the morn. Ahhh... Nice view right before bed, eh? Or not.

-124- Pictorial

Tired of junk mail and sensitive personal information on paper overtaking parts of our apartment, we bought a shredder today and joyously shredded all those papers to bits. The warnings on the front of the machine are pictures, and we couldn't understand for certain what they meant. My favorite is the first one... Justin saw it and said, "No stuffed toys..." I was like, "Justin, I'm pretty sure that means don't let kids use it."

-123- Tray Tray Tray Tray Tray Tray

I drink some coffee just about every morning at work from this pot in the break room. Until today, I hadn't noticed that the tray it's sitting on actually, very literally, says, "tray." I found it very humorous and a little unnecessary. Definitely picture-worthy.

-122- Tuna Tease

This is a glimpse of our tiny kitchen. But the point of this picture is that Chloe goes nuts whenever we open meat of any kind, but especially tuna. We had Tuna Helper tonight and this is me teasing her. She just meows a lot and really loudly but she doesn't actually try to get it, so I wasn't worried that she'd get too upset.

-121- Cardboard Stack

Our little "bar" area of the kitchen counter is where we stack cardboard boxes when we can't throw them out right away. This is our current stack. Of note is the fact that those two cereal boxes were bought on almost the same day, as well as another box that is almost empty. That's how much we eat cereal!

-120- Relief in a Jar

I had to use the gel in this little tub for my right knee this afternoon after work... which is why I'm quitting my weekend job after the next two weekends. I've had problems with my right knee for a couple years, then it got better, then it got worse when I started working with Kraft. It's quite a physical job, and unfortunately it is causing me to have pain. I'm just incredibly thankful that I can even consider quitting because I still have my full time job with the county during the week.

On another note, I can't believe it's been ten years since that fated 9/11. Today we remember those innocent lives who were lost in such a tragic incident. However unjust and in vain their deaths may have been, it reminds me that life on this earth is temporary, and makes me hope and yearn for the next.

-119- Teddy Bear Couch

We signed our lease at our new apartment today and stopped by a furniture store to check out their sofas. We'd looked at a different store but wanted to see what this one had to offer - and we are so glad we did. This couch was a great price and is also really comfortable. I can't wait to take a nap on it! We won't actually get it until they deliver it to our new apartment when we move, which is about six weeks away, so now I have something else in addition to a new place to look forward to enjoying.

I called it a "teddy bear" couch in the title of the post because it is soft and reminds me of a teddy bear. Plus, it's brown, but that mostly reminds me of chocolate... MMM!

-118- Miracle Summons

I just thought this moment was cute, so I snapped a photo of it. Justin called Chloe over by making a clicking noise with his tongue and she actually came! It was like a miracle.

-117- Déjà Vu

Here's the story to this picture:

Justin, being the sweet husband that he is, picked up another gallon of milk while I was at work the other day because he finished the one we were currently drinking. What he didn't know, however, is that I'd already picked up another gallon, but it was behind the iced tea pitcher. Well, we finished the tea, and now we have two gallons of milk at the front... because the one that was in the back (the one on the left) was also partially frozen. Remind anyone of that one time back in May? Apparently we can only keep liquids in the front of the fridge.

-116- Department Grocery Store

We had dinner with a friend tonight and afterwards stopped by a grocery store that we'd heard had furniture, just for fun. And yes, they sure did. This is only a small glimpse of the furniture they had ready to sell. To the left, you can see the entrance to the on-site jewelry shop. Weird, huh?

Also, please note Justin in the bottom right corner making a cheesy face from his perch on the couch.

-115- Climate Controlled Lunch Hour

This is the entrance of the building in which I work. The weather was so fantastic today that I had to spend the last half of my lunch hour outside. I just sat on a little wall and enjoyed the light breeze and blue skies.

-114- Not Laboring

Happy Labor Day!

We had an absolutely wonderful day here, both weather- and activity-wise. Both Justin and I were off, so we got to spend the day together, which was probably the best thing about the day. Our friend came over and we grilled and had a very tasty lunch of steak, corn on the cob, ranch style beans, crescent rolls, salad, and green beans. All the while, the front door was open, but not without what little protection we could muster. This is a small gate that we use to keep Chloe out of our room when its door is open... she can jump it but only if she really really really wants to. She was content today to just sit and look outside. I think after our little walk/leash experiment she didn't even want to venture outdoors anyway.

The open door also let in an amazingly fresh breeze. It's finally cooling down! You would not even begin to understand how thankful I am for that.

-113- Boiled

These are the leftover eggs I had when I bought a new package this morning. Justin's mom gave me a tip back before we got married: keep some hard-boiled eggs on hand, because he loves them. Up until now I hadn't boiled any for us, but I figured I would now that I had a chance. Wonder how long they'll last? Probably not long.

-112- Scary Apartment Complex

All I'll say about this picture is that we spent some time peeking out this window this evening, because there was a lot of yelling outside one of the apartment buildings across the parking lot from us... the police came and things seemed to settle down. I can't wait until we move!!!

-111- My Very Own Jar Of...

I came home for lunch today because Justin was off and it was great to be able to see each other in the middle of the day. After the meal, I decided I wanted something sweet and joyfully remembered I had bought Nutella a couple days earlier because I had a coupon. If you don't know what Nutella is, let me tell you: it is chocolatey, hazelnutty goodness - spreadable, too! I think it's been a year since I last had it (not counting those crepes I had at IHOP for my birthday...), so this was a really  nice treat.

-110- Fits

Tonight as we ate a late night snack, Justin went into a fit of laughter... he was rolling on the ground and even had some tears rolling down his cheeks! (This photo is a mild depiction of his laughing.) I didn't see what was so funny but I laughed and laughed because he was hysterical! Oh, and afterwards he still didn't know what got into him. Never a dull moment!