A New Car!!!

After 6 years of the beloved Miata, I have decided to move on. If you are one of the 3 people who read this blog then you may recall that I was getting a Volvo C70. I was super excited about going overseas to pick it up. That was before gas started shooting up to it's current levels.

I woke up one morning and knew that I had to get something more economical. I drive 50 miles round trip each day to work and the price of gas is killing me. Not to get too off topic but I have very mixed feelings about all of this since I work in the energy industry. So while I'm happy for the Houston economy, not so happy for the Squirrel Assassin household economy.

I have considered just getting a soul-less car that gets super awesome gas mileage... you know a car like a Prius or other small hybrid. I just couldn't do it! I am known for always having a little sports car so moving to something like that is just wrong!

Instead, I bought this car... YAY!!!

For anyone who is unaware, this is the Mini Cooper Clubman S. The Clubman is a slightly bigger version of the Mini (A jumbo shrimp as the advertising calls it). It is a very fast little car with a nice turbo and it still gets at least 34 mpg on the highway. Yay for me!!

Sorry for the crappy pictures but it was dark out. More pics when I get a chance.

Cute Grandbaby pictures!

No explanation needed!

And the one that made me laugh:

Speechless!

That's how Mark and I felt when we saw this:

A little background: We were picking up crawfish to boil that afternoon in a somewhat shady neighborhood. As we left we saw two trucks with LOTS of stuff piled up. One truck was mostly unloaded (you can see some of the stuff on the right side of the second picture). Basically they were unloading all of this stuff for a big mobile garage sale.

Walk down memory lane

I have had so many things to talk about lately but I really just haven't been motivated to get it done!

A few weeks ago I went down to San Marcos to hit the outlet malls. I grew up in San Marcos but I haven't been back for several years because my parents moved right after I graduated from high school. While I was there I took an opportunity to drive through town to see some of my old schools, the church I grew up in, and old neighborhood.

It was a good trip around town until I got to my old house. It was painted an ugly color of blue and wasn't as well kept up as when we lived there. I had to take a picture to show my parents. Here is the house where I spent most of my childhood:

Why I love Texas in the Spring

This is the view from my favorite chair on our back patio


Yes, you can be jealous of me today! The temperature was about 80 and the pool was around 75 (still a tiny bit cold but bearable).

In about two months when it will be around 98 degrees and 150% humidity every day. At that point, I will always be in the pool submerged up to my eyeballs to keep cool. You can stop being jealous of me then! ;)

I'm in shock

A friend got some disturbing news today. The couple got a call from another parent about their 10 year old kid. She told them that her daughter broke down and told her that their kid was talking to friends about suicide and had attempted it before. This post isn't so much about them as it is about my shock of learning about it.

Having a teenager in my home has brought up all kinds of fears that I'm sure most parents experience with that age group. I remember my teen years as being hyper-emotional. Things were either super great or super awful. I don't recall things ever being in-between. Kids in this age group often get to the point of feeling life is hopeless. I'm assuming it's being hormonal and being on the cusp of having actual responsibilities in their lives. So I worry about the teenager's happiness and well-being now that I'm the one who has to keep her safe and sound more often than anyone else.

However as hyper-emotional as things were for me in my teen years, I don't recall anything like that before I hit that age. When I was 10, I only recall happily playing with the neighborhood kids, riding my bike, climbing trees and generally just having fun. I don't ever recall having so much stress on my life that I would feel like it's not worth living. And I was a very awkward and shy child too... I don't think I really started having any real self confidence until I got closer to college graduation.

Another friend told me that suicide is becoming more common amongst that age group of kids before their teen years. Are things that much more difficult on kids? Is it because I now live in Houston and kids here have a rougher time than it was for me in my small town?

All I can say is that I'm shocked and saddened that kids that young feel that there is nothing here for them. What kind of a world is this when a young kid is thinking about ending it all rather than playing and having fun? Have we as a society put too much pressure on these kids to grow up too fast?