Dont play catch with a 12 lb. ball!

It is raining today. As a matter of fact, it is supposed to rain all week. Rain for Jesse means a day off work. Yes, he still has to wake up early, go in to work, and try to wait it out, but most of the time soggy soil equals afternoon nap for Jesse.

Today, he decided he wanted to go work out, and I said I would go with him over my lunch break. So, we headed up to the gym and began our respective workouts. He started out on the bike, and I began on the elliptical machine. Then we did some weights together, and finally began our ab finale.

Sidenote:
Luckily, the way the gym is set up, there is a mini hall that dead-ends, and they keep a lot of the ab equipment over in that corner (which I appreciate, because it is kind of hidden, so no one can laugh as you are dying trying to complete crunch #3 of a 25 set!) I was very thankful we were hidden in the corner of this small hallway, as you will hear later!

We headed over to the ab hall, grabbed a mat and a medicine ball, (12 lb. medicine ball to be exact), and began exercise number one. This exercise consists of one partner lying on the pat, while the other partner stands on their feet. The two toss the medicine ball back and forth, and the one on the mat does a sit up with each toss of the ball. Pretty simple, right? The only thing you have to be able to do is stay coordinated and focused...oh yeah, and know how to count! On my second set of 20, I tossed the 12 lb. ball to Jesse who was supposed to hold it, as I had completed the set. He had lost track of the count, and tossed it back to me, and since I was not paying attention, or looking to catch it and toss it back, it hit my square in the face. Yes people, I had a 12 lb. medicine ball hit me in the face, right on my nose.

I immediately fell over, all dramatic like you would expect in a movie, and instinctively started to cry. Jesse of course panicked, crawling on his knees to see my face and make sure my nose was not broken or bleeding. The throbbing set in at once, and has not really subsided since. Needless to say, I have been holding a bag of frozen corn on my face all afternoon. :)

12 lb. medicine ball + Melody's face = NOT PRETTY

The really ironic and funny part of the story is the fact that just Sunday morning I woke up with a giant fever blister forming on my bottom lip. It continued to swell all Sunday, until Sunday night Jesse finally got me some Abreva and forced me to put it on three times before bed, to try and stop the swelling sore. So, tomorrow when I go into work for a few meetings, I will have a puffy lip, swollen eyes, and a bruised nose. LOL. People are going to think I was severly beat over the weekend! I told Jesse he better hide...

**Note to self:
Do not throw a 12 lb. ball at the face of another human being, unless certain they will catch it!

Tory's wedding

This weekend I went up to Tyler so that I could attend Tory's wedding. I know she and Chris have waited a long time for their marriage day, and I was so thankful to be able to share in the special moments.

Isn't her wedding cake beautiful? I did not eat any of this cake, but I was all over the chocolate groom's cake. It was chocolate cake, with a chocolate fudge center, with chocolate (white and milk chocolate) covered strawberries, served on a warm plate. Man, that makes me excited just remembering...
Here is the picture of all four of us ex-Systek girls. Tory caught our eye as she was preparing to cut the cake (naturally I was one of the first in line), and so we were able to chat for a few minutes afterwards and get this picture with the bride.
The wedding ceremony was one of the sweetest ceremonies I have ever been to. Don't get me wrong, I love weddings, and I tend to cry no matter what. But these two were so sweet and loving towards one another, it made me cry. Chris looked so tenderly and so lovingly at Tory that everyone witnessing could see his love for his bride. It was an amazing moment, not only for them, but for all of us who could see the love.
I think Tory was one of the most beautiful brides I have ever seen. The entire wedding was simple, elegant, and super classy. Every single detail was fixed to the nines, without being over the top. You can tell that a lot of time, effort, and thought went into making this the happiest day of their lives.
I had a great time at the wedding. I was so thankful to get to spend time with my girl friends, Shelley and Sarah again. I truly miss our daily interaction (even if it was at the horrible place), and I look forward to getting to see them and "catch up" as often as we can. Now that the weddings are over, we will have to come up with new reasons to get together! Babies, anyone?? (JUST KIDDING) I guess we will have to hold out until Danielle gets married...

Thanks for being my dates and my friends! I'm so lucky to have both of you in my life.
CONGRATULATIONS CHRIS AND TORY VEY!

Nothing to post

For those of you who actually read this blog from time to time, I apologize for not writing in awhile. I officially have nothing to post. I was kind of hoping to do something new, exciting, different, and above all, fun this weekend, and I was looking forward to telling you all about it. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

Jesse had to work this weekend, and though he did not stay long, he still had to wake up at the crack of dawn (which meant he had to go to bed early). On top of that, he was hoping the weekend would be a relaxing weekend, since we have not had one in awhile. Needless to say, we spent the majority of the weekend watching dumb movies on the couch, napping, trying to texture our new room addition and going to bed early. The highlight of the weekend is a toss up between going to Panera bread and enjoying their excellent soup and baguettes, and taking Jersey for a walk to the pond in front of our neighborhood and laughing as she tried to swim clear across the entire pond to chase after some ducks. It's not that the weekend was bad, boring perhaps, but not bad. Jesse and I had plenty of quality time together, so that was nice.

I think I have come to realize one of the drawbacks of working from home. When I'm at home (what seems like) all-the-time, it creates a desire for me to want to get out and go do something. Jesse on the other hand, works 60+ hour weeks outside in the hot sun, and when he is off work, all he wants to do is relax at home. Gonna have to give and take on this one...

Happy 25th Birthday Jesse!

What a birthday!

I feel like we have been celebrating all week long.

Sunday night we went to The Aquarium with my family to celebrate (as described in a previous post).

Tuesday night, Jesse went to a friend's house for bible study, so I was able to go get his cake, go pick up his present, get it wrapped, and clean up the house.

Wednesday morning, I woke up at 5:15 am to make blueberry and banana nut muffins for breakfast. This is a big deal, because I never make breakfast, much less at 5:15 in the morning! I put a candle in one of the muffins and made him blow out the birthday candle and make a wish. He says he hates that cheesy stuff, but it did get a grin out of him, and that's all I wanted.
When he came home from work, he saw the stack of presents (you can see in the first picture). He immediately guessed what it was, though he did seem surprised by it. We spent the next hour putting his grill together. Jesse never gets overly excited about anything, but he seemed happy with it. Then to top it all off, his new Adidas shoes arrived a day early, and they fit perfectly! I think that got the biggest smile of all. His parents and our sister-in-law and nephew (Gina & Elijah) came over and helped us celebrate Wednesday night with hamburgers, salad, fruit salad, and cookie cake for dessert. It was a fun night.

Thursday night, we had friends come over to help celebrate. Chase and Rebecca, Hayden and Lauren, and Thomas all came over, and we grilled chicken breasts, with wild rice, green beans, salad, and strawberry shortcake for dessert (and leftover cookie cake). It was a very nice night to sit out on the patio, listening to music, hanging out with friends, and enjoying good food.

Tonight, we are going over to his family's house to celebrate with all his brothers/sisters/parents/grandma. I believe we are having pork tenderloin (yum), so another good night of food and fun company!

Talk about a week of celebration and good food! The diet starts again Sunday!!!

Happy Birthday Jesse; I hope you have enjoyed the week, and realize that so much celebrating comes out of the overflow of so much love for YOU! I love you babe, and I hope it was a special for you, as you are to me!

Jesse's early birthday

Jesse's birthday is tomorrow (May 10), but we celebrated with my family on Sunday night, by going to the Downtown Aquarium. None of us had ever been, and I was very excited. It was a fun place, with very cool aquariums throughout the restaraunt, and to top it off the food was superb!

Jesse is going to have a lot of fun surprises for his birthday over the next few days...I will post more as it all plays out...!

Even more positive...

This morning when I walked in the office to my desk, there was a beautiful plant with small yellow flowers sitting there with a card. Joanne (my new teammate) had given it to me with a very nice thank you note for "all my help." It really made me feel good! She certainly did not have to do that, after all, helping her is my job, but it was nice to know she appreciates it.

After spending a little more time with her over the past few days, I think she is going to work out just fine. She is starting to show more interest and gets excited when something works correctly. The past few days she has spent the majority of the time on our client, and has begun asking many more questions. Perhaps she just needed to finish wrapping up her other work to truly transition to this team. I had further confirmation today when we went to get her badged, she said, "I hope they actually let me stay on this team and do not pull me off this time! It will be so nice to stay on one client for awhile." I agree! I hope that she does not get pulled off, and I hope she genuinely wants to stay and become 100% part of this team.

I feel much better today. :)

A positive note

After yesterday's long, boring, and negative post, I thought I should post something positive as soon as possible.

Today, I finally decided I could no longer wait around for answers from my manager, so I began to ask others for help in the initial setup/training of our new team member. I think he must have found out, because suddenly this afternoon he became very helpful and friendly again! Anyway, to make a long story short (which by now you all know I am not good at that), today I actually got some things accomplished! I called the HP help desk and found a work around for her access, we called another manager at HP to get the short-cut for her new access card, and I volunteered to take care of her badge process tomorrow morning. On top of that, I set up her training sessions at HP for next week, and still managed to get two docs out for review today!

In the end, she was very "impressed" with me, and said I was "spoiling" her. On top of that, my manager saw that I was stepping up and handling things so he did not have to. Hopefully, it made a good impression on both of them.

Though it is not much, it is something I am proud of, and I feel much better having accomplished this small task!

Feelings about work

WARNING- Long Post!

Amy's last day at work was last Friday, and though I knew that things would be different once she left, I dont think I realized how hard the transition would hit me.

I have been very fortunate in my past work environments; every single time I have changed jobs, someone has "taken me under their wing," looked out for me, and just been my friend. I have made many of my close friends from work, and continue to keep in touch with a lot of them to this day (Emily, Christie, Anna, Desha, Shelley, Sarah, Tory, Danielle, and now Amy). I guess I have been pretty spoiled!

The way our office is set up, everyone is broken into teams that each support an individual client. With a setup like this, it would seem that team members are naturally closer to one another, since they spend a great deal of time together. Up until now, that has been true (minus a few weeks time when a certain someone was on the team, and life went to hell in a handbag!) When I heard that Amy was going to be leaving, I immediately started to worry about who would replace her on our team. It has been a very confusing couple of weeks, wondering what was going to happen, who would take her place, and what my role was supposed to be on this new team. (Background: Before, Amy was the team leader and I was her "assistant," you might say. She was held responsible for pretty much everything, and I just helped out where necessary. Amy had been supporting our client for over 5 years, and became excellent at every aspect of this job.) So now, there are these big shoes left empty, and I do not know what is supposed to happen. Am I supposed to step up and take her job of delegating projects? Am I supposed to train someone new? Or are they going to hire someone and place them over me? It was a very confusing time.

At one point, I felt very good about everything, because our client sent out a nice email explaining to everyone that I knew enough of what happens to continue to support them without interruption, and that I would naturally "take this opportunity and run with it" (her words, not mine). But then whenever I would ask my manager at work what was going on, he ignored me and acted like everything would be fine, without answering a single one of my questions. They even pulled me into an interview with a potential new employee to get my opinion of her for our team. So, with no direction from them, and no answers to my questions, all I could do was assume that they were going to hire someone new for our team, and that they expected me to train them. In the back of my mind, I was excited, because I thought this was my turn to be the one to help someone else, "take them under my wing," and do for someone else, what others have always done for me.

Needless to say, things did not play out as I had assumed they would.

I received a phone call from Amy last Wednesday (2 days before her last day), telling me that our manager had told her that he was going to pull another employee with our company on to our team. She is nice, friendly, and has a lot of experience in tech writing, though not writing directly for our client. Amy seemed okay with it, though nervous as to what I would think. After I got off the phone with her, I received another phone call, this time from our client, who had also heard about the "new team member." (Keep in mind, that my manager has yet to say anything to me about any of this.) If I'm being honest, I was very surprised at their decision to do this, and quite intimidated, as this lady has 12 years of experience. I finally thought I might have a shot at being able to give something back to someone, and yet this lady will not need anything that I have to offer. I then sent my manager an email asking what he wanted to happen next, since he had gone ahead and pulled her to our team, despite the fact that she was still working on other projects for other teams. I never heard a response.

Amy and I spoke with her a little during those last few days, and tried to teach her a little about our client and the way things are done on our team. Amy did most of the teaching, since she knows a ton more than me, and it was her last chance to share her knowledge with us before she left. The new lady told us that she was trying to wrap up some other projects, but that she would love to start learning more Monday.

Well, Monday was two days ago, and I do not think she has "joined" the team yet. I do not feel that I should have to baby her, seeing as how she knows a lot more than me anyway! I would think that she would take some initiative to come ask questions, follow me to meetings, learn about our database tools, etc, but once again, I assumed wrong.

I genuinely feel that she will be a good team member, if she wants to be on this team, and I cannot tell yet if that is the case. I know she is a quick learner, so she probably does not need any of the hands-on training that Amy had to do with me. I guess I just do not know where that line is. My manager has not told me one single thing, and has blatantly ignored 3 emails I have sent asking questions. I give up already! No one will tell me what is going on or what should be happening here.

All of this would smooth over much easier if I could see her becoming another good friend. Friendship has a way of smoothing over the rough spots; sure there have been times I have been frustrated or irritated with work issues from every single girl I named earlier, but they never escalated into any problems, because I knew that we were friends.

I guess I was hoping that despite I was losing a friend (at work) in Amy, someone new would come along and I could be the kind of friend to them that she has been to me. When you are new to a company, you have no choice really but to cling to your teammates, and then they very often become your friend. This lady does not need me as friend- merely a teammate, and an inferior teammate at that. I like having friends at work, and I know now that it is going to be a very lonely place for awhile.

Whew- I'm sorry this is so long and so negative. I dont mean for it to be, I just needed to get it all out. I know that things will work themselves out in the end. In the meantime, I'm just going to keep doing my job to the best of my ability and trying to be nice to everyone. We can always hope for the best!

Thanks to all of you out there who have started out as "work buddies," and have grown into great friends. I miss working with all of you, and I realize that I took our friendship at work for granted. You're all the best, and I'm sure that your co-workers today have found as much a friend in you as I did. :)

April showers bring May flowers

I do not think it was the rain that brought the pretty flowers...more like Jesse's hard work! I just love colorful flowers; they make the whole yard look happy!

Time to get healthy!

Over Easter weekend, the Shulse family decided to step up to the plate and help my mother-in-law lose some weight. For those who don't know the history, I will not really get into it, other than to say she has some very serous health problems that cannot be fixed until she loses some weight. Jesse and I took her up to the gym Monday, and he showed her how to use all the weight machines. Luckily, she was not too sore yesterday, so I went up with her again and we worked out on the cardio machines and then did some light weights.

Our plan to "help HER out" is really helping all of us to get healthier. It is so hard to try and exercise by yourself, and exercise in itself can quickly become boring and routine. I like knowing that someone else is helping push and encourage me, just as I can push and encourage others. I am pretty sore today, and it makes me feel good. I like feeling that I have accomplished something; even if the only accomplishment was that I pushed my weak muscles too far.

I would like to lose at least 10 pounds, so please pray for me to endure these first few weeks which are always the hardest. I'm ready to do it, and our motivation to help my mother-in-law has also motivated me to step up and help myself. It is time to lose some weight, tone some muscles, and start to feel better!

Yard of the month

Our neighborhood is full of nice homes and people who take good care of their belongings. The yard is no different- you can find people out at work in their front yards at any time of the day. I bet that is the reason they no longer have a "yard of the month," simply because it is too hard to name a winner!

When we first moved into our home last year, Jesse was very burnt out from work and did not particularly enjoy coming home and working in the yard, after working on the golf course all day long. This year, he has been outside almost every single afternoon doing something. We took some time last week to pull up our old flowers from the winter (which were drying out and dying) and we planted new flowers for the summer.

Now, I know without a shadow of a doubt, that despite the other nice yards in our neighborhood, Jesse has earned an honorary "yard of the month" in my mind. Look what a nice job he does! I'm very blessed to have such a talented husband!

My attempt to be brave

I am not a brave person; never have been, probably never will be. (Which is why I typically do not like change, as stated in a previous post.) I like what I know and what I am comfortable with. However, "comfortable" turns to "boring" very quickly. And since I have kept my hair all one length, usually long, and always my natural brown, I thought a change was necessary! So here we say goodbye to the old long, straight, brown, boring hair...and hello to the new shorter, highlighted, flippy hair!

Relaxing on the patio

I have discovered yet another reason I am thankful to have our own private home. Tonight Jesse and I had a nice, relaxing evening. We finally have a (used) patio set with a table, and so tonight we decided to eat outside. Jesse grilled shish-ka-bobs (I have no idea how to spell that) made with chicken, shrimp, broccoli, and mushrooms. I tossed a caesar salad and made crisp lemonade. Then we sat eating and talking on the porch, with smooth James Taylor playing out of our surround system, the ceiling fans blowing lightly, and the dogs playing in the yard. It was a quiet, yet fun, entertaining dinner.

I know it sounds cheesy, but times like that are among my very favorite.

Happy Easter!

Every year as Easter approachs, I get excited and sad all at the same time. Typically, the sad comes first, as I realize year after year, that I forget all that Jesus gave for me. Sad that I have lost the passion for Him and my relationship with Him, despite the fact that He gave it all for me. Then, the excitement comes as I remember that He loves me just as I am. He does not expect perfection of me; that is why He came to die for me, because He knew I could not do it on my own. Without His sacrifice, I would be in a lot of trouble. But with Him as my savior, I'm safe and loved for eternity! So, I get re-fired up every year at this time, and decide to "try harder" in my walk with Him.

To start it off, I'm going to celebrate Good Friday tomorrow, while Jesse goes golfing with my Dad for his birthday, I am going to let myself remember. Remember the good, and remember the bad. I'm going to watch the Passion of the Christ and relive the emotion and heartache that movie portrays. Then I'm going to re-read the scriptures dealing with His death and ressurection. As the Lord's supper reminds us, "do this in rememberance of me," which is exactly how I plan to spend my Easter weekend. Remembering.

Lots of estrogen!

I currently know four women who are pregnant; two of my cousins and two of my girlfriends. All of them are extremely excited about the coming baby, and the baby bump that is showing on every one of their cute stomachs.

My cousin Michelle was the last to find out, that she too is having a girl! That means, out of all four pregnant friends, all four are having girls!!! That is a lot of estrogen to bring into the world within a few weeks of each other, hehe. I love little girls, and it is so much more fun buying all the cute little dresses and bows. I am very excited for each of them, and look forward to holding all the little bundles of joy in August!

I'm not sure if these are set in stone, or if I am spelling them correctly, but how adorable are the names they have all picked out:

Matt and Michelle: Savannah Lynn
Rick and Ashleigh: Kalia Grace
Chase and Rebecca: Natalie (Ann?)
Hayden and Lauren: ???

FUN, FUN, FUN!

Change

People always say that "change is good." Heck, I tell other people that all the time. I think what I am really saying is, "change is good...for you."

There are many areas of my life right now that seem to be changing, though every single one of the changes is being caused by change in another's life, rather than my own. It is hard accepting change that you have absolutely no control over. It is as if I am feeling the strains and stresses of change, while not experiencing any of the excitement change often brings. In my heart, I'm fighting the changes.

As humans, we rarely see how our actions affect change in the lives of others. For example, when I decided to move down to College Station from Lubbock, I was thinking about the changes in my own life and Jesse's life, rather than say, my roommate's life in Lubbock who had to quickly find a new roommate. My choice of change, forced her to change.

I have many friends who are choosing to change. Each of their chosen paths of change are exciting, dreams come true, and clearly right for them. Each of their choices to make the change are calling me to a reality check in my own life. I have been used to changing every six months to a year. During college, change is constant. Changing classes every semester, changing your major or minor if you feel like, changing your housing every nine months to a year, etc. Since I have graduated, I have been in the same place, doing the same things, day after day. And though I often become bored with the routine, I have also become comfortable. I'm comfortable with my circle of friends, how we communicate, where we hang out, and what we do for fun. I'm comfortable at my job, where I do not know it all nor am I expected to know it all. I'm comfortable with my marriage, our hobbies, our communication, and our plan for the future. I'm not ready for change!

Yet change comes whether I'm ready or not. Whether it is a friend having a baby, and knowing that our friendship and free times will never again be the same, or having a friend and great co-worker moving on to a new and better job; change is inevitable. Perhaps God is bringing the change into my life through the lives of others because I have been too stubborn and complacent to choose change for myself. Only He knows.

I am praying that God will soften my heart to the changes He is bringing in my life. Change IS good, and it does come from Him. Whether I am the chooser of change, or the extension of change, Lord please help me to accept it all as a gift from you. Give me the strength to endure the hard times and look forward to the good times. Help me realize the friendships can and should change, as long as we remember to change with them. Change is your plan. Remind me:

Change...is good.

New Holder Family Addition

This is Tiger, my family's new baby Yorkie. I know he doesnt look much like a ferocious Tiger, but...yeah, he is not ferocious at all. He is super sweet. Tiger has an obsession with feet and looks very cute running to catch up to anyone. His little legs start going a mile a minute, though it hardly appears he is moving. His nub of a tail wags when he is excited, but you probably wont notice unless you actually look for it! I think he is going to be a cuddler for sure. He only weighs a pound and a half right now, but is not expected to grow larger than a mere four pounds. What a cutie and a great addition to the Holder family!

(As a side note, I think Jersey and Brooklyn could eat him as a small snack...so we will probably not be introducing them any time soon!)

Shelley's wedding

This weekend Miss Shelley Toney finally became Mrs. Cruz! Everything was absolutely beautiful; especially the bride! It was a very heartfelt ceremony full of love. And the reception was a lot of fun, as all the family and friends were able to shower their love and encouragement on the happy couple.

I had a great time catching up with some of my old friends. I have really missed the company of Sarah, Tory, and Danielle since I moved to Spring, and it was a great chance to hang out with them again. I dont think Danielle liked taking the bottom picture...she still works at Systek. Hehe, we mainly took it to give Shelley a laugh when she develops the cameras sitting on the reception tables. There will be no question as to how she knows us!

I'm very thankful to have each of these girls in my life, and I pray that God will continue to bless Mike and Shelley's life together forever.

My pretty puppies

Jersey and Brooklyn have sure grown up fast, but they are still as soft and cuddly as ever!

Dont you just love the picture of Jersey sleeping all crazy next to the fireplace? That is her favorite place to be.

I dont have many pictures of Brooklyn...she won't sit still long enough to take any!

Both of these dogs bring a lot of fun and joy in my life because they love me unconditionally. I couldn't ask for more!

Hunting pictures

I know a lot of you have been dying to see a picture of Jesse hunting on the golf course, so I thought I would post some pictures. This way you can also see how nasty the nutria really are!

My cute hunter! He looks like a Pro!
Okay, NASTY! That is a huge, hairy rat!!
This should put in context how large they really are- that is a deck on one of the creek beds, and that dead nutra looks pretty big to m
See?? Now aren't you glad we are helping to get rid of them??

Rodeo 2006

Here are some of the pictures from the Rodeo this year!

Working from home

I have finally started working from home some, and so far, I absolutely love it! Here are some reasons why working from home is better than working at the office:

1. It does not take me an extra hour to get ready in the morning; I do not have to put on makeup or fix my hair if I do not feel like it.
2. I'm saving money on gas. Granted, my commute to the office is not far, but still!
3. If I am in a bad mood, no one else has to know about it. I do not have to put on a happy face.
4. When I have time for a break, I can be productive at home (doing some dishes, changing the laundry, etc), whereas at the office I just walk around and talk and possibly disturb others.
5. I am not disturbed BY others who feel the need to talk loud or listen to their conference calls on speaker phone...!
6. The quiet environment means more productivity in my work: quieter room = more concentration = happier Melody = higher quality of work!
7. I can listen to music if I choose, without having to wear annoying headphones.
8. At home, I have an "office with a view;" mainly meaning I have a window to the outside and get to look into my beautiful backyard.
9. I do not feel as bad when a personal phone call comes during the day, and do not have to whisper when I talk.
10. I get to control the thermastat! So I am never freezing cold or burning hot.
11. I do not feel pressured to eat out all the time; so again, saving money on food.
12. I probably eat healthier, because I cannot be tempted to eat junk unless I specifically buy the junk.
13. I feel like I get to see my husband more, even if he is in the other room.
14. I get to spend more time with my puppies and do not have to keep them kenneled up so much (which I hate having to do).
15. My office at home is much prettier! If I am going to be contained in the same place for hours on end, it should at least be pretty.

These are just a few of the reasons I know I am going to love working from home. :)

My new obsession

Jesse and I went to the Rodeo on Saturday afternoon and we had a great time. I have been to the Rodeo almost every single year, for as long as I can remember- it is always a great time, but this year has probably topped my list.

I was very excited to see Martina McBride on the lineup, and when I found out she was playing on a Saturday (so Jesse could go), I bought the tickets right then and there. I have always been a fan of hers, but after watching and listening to her live, she has become an obsession. I have never sat in a concert with tears streaming down my face, completely touched by the music. Every single song she sang gave me goosebumps all over my arms and legs. Afterwards, I just wanted to listen to the songs over and over (luckily 100.3 KILT plays a Rodeo replay after each show, so we got to listen to her all the way home). I sincerely put Martina McBride up with the greatest female vocalists of all time- she could hang with Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Barbara Streissand and other female powerhouse vocalists. She is one of the best. Not only that, she is sincere, genuine, and a real-life person. She loves her family, lives for her daughters, and wants to help encourage women, without all the liberal feminist views . What a role model!

I know that most people enjoy music in their lives. (With a name like Melody, how could I not love music?) But what I do not understand, is how people can feel unaffected by music. Sitting in that concert, I could not keep my feet from tapping, my hands from clapping, and my eyes from welling up everytime she hit a powerful note. I would look around me and see people talking, playing around, eating their food, or just sitting like a bump on a log- completely unaffected. How is that possible?? I know music may not be everyone's life, but it is just something that gets inside you and has to come out!! It is a feeling, an emotion, and it deserves a reaction!

Music is an art, and Martina McBride is definitely an artist! I am so glad I was able to go see her live, and I can only hope that the LeeAnn Rimes show I am going to next week is half as good.

Success!

We went "hunting" again last night, and Jesse actually got 2 nutria!! It was the first time I have seen one live, and let me tell you- they are nasty! When they call them giant rats, they are not kidding. Gross, hairy rats swimming in the ponds. I'm debating whether or not they can truly see red light. Supposedly, they cannot, but last night it seemed that they can. There was one swimming, and I was holding the light up so Jesse could see him to shoot him. Well, sure enough, the nutria ducked under the water. He popped up again when I turned the light off, but as soon as I turned it back on, he was gone again! We never did find him again after that, so I'm sure we will re-visit the same spot again since we know there is for sure one living in that pond.

It is so wierd driving around suburban Houston on a prestigous golf course with hunting gear!!

OH! Last night as we were driving back to the shed to put the golf cart away, a police came flying down the street with his lights and siren going. I'm sitting in the front of the golf cart carrying a 22-automatic shotgun on my lap!!! I felt like I was seriously getting chased. (Luckily the police went flying right by and no interest in us whatsoever, but it was still scary!)

Fun times at the golf course! :)

Hunting on the golf course

The ponds at Jesse's course have had some trouble lately...it seems that something has been eating all the vegetation around the ponds and lakes. However, the crew are out there all day long, and never see anything on the banks. They figured out this week that nutria live all around the water and feed strictly at night. They dont know how many of them are out there, but they are causing some serious damage and need to be stopped!

So, Jesse decided that he was going to go and hunt the nutria at night. Now keep in mind that he has never shot a gun before. He calls me all giddy, saying that he is going to buy a red light for his hunting trip. I was like, "excuse me?" Haha. I made him wait to go back up that night until I could go with him. (I did not like the idea of him out there with a gun that he has never shot before all alone.) Monday night we went up to the golf course at about 8:30pm. It was such a rush driving around the dark golf course, dressed in my navy hoodie (pulled over my head; it was cold!), while carrying a loaded 22 semin-automatic gun in my lap!! I was nervous and excited the whole time...Jesse was just plain giddy! He really wanted to find one so he could shoot it. I asked him what it would look like. He grinned and said, "a giant rat- like the size of a dog-only it swims." Ummm...WHAT?

We rode around all night, sat in silence watching and waiting, and after 2 hours, we were both getting tired and cold. But we had not seen anything fun to shoot! All of a sudden, I heard a sound on the bank of one of the ponds. I pointed the red light over there and could see eyes looking back at me. I whispered to Jesse to come take a look. Well, he checked it out, and it turned out to be a GIANT bull frog. I sighed in frustration. Jesse looks over at me with a devious twinkle in his eye and a big grin, and says, "think I should the shoot the frog? I have to at least shoot something tonight!" I was ready to see some kind of action, so I dared him to. He actually GETS ON THE GROUND all hunter-like, (I'm dying trying not to laugh so I can hold the light steady), and finally pulls the trigger. I half expected him to miss, since the frog is still a relatively small target and he has never really shot a gun, but no. He hit it and it exploded!! I mean, he DEMOLISHED that frog!!! I just busted out laughing, and he was beeming from ear to ear. It was so hilarious!! Of course, the houses that were only about 100 yards from where we were, probably did NOT think it was hilarious. Only about a minute after he shot the gun, we heard sirens in the distance, and we both freaked out. It was time to go home!

So, we have not killed any giant rats yet, but I did do some research so we can use it as bait to bribe them then shoot them! The pictures on the Internet are really ugly- seriously. Orange teeth, webbed back feet like a beaver, hairy with a thin long tail like a rat...gross.

The best part was seeing Jesse get so excited about getting to be manly and shoot the gun. Then when he actually destroyed the bull frog, he was so proud of himself! If he ever does kill a nutria, I think it would be hilarious to get it stuffed and tell him to hang his hunting game prize in his office!!! Haha, he would be so grossed out! Probably not the best idea, but I think this could become a fun new hobby for us!!! :)