Beach...Here I Come!

Finally we have reached my favorite time of the summer! The long weekend I get to spend at the beach! It won't be as great as years past, since Ike blew away the RV park where we like to stay when we visit Galveston. We will be staying in a condo on the seawall, so it will be ok. I like camping on the beach though! It is so nice to wake up and hear the waves crashing (when they can be heard over the RV air conditioner, that is!)


I know many people who have visited Galveston won't agree with me, but I just love that city! It has such character and something there just draws me to the area. I am so ready to get there, I just can't hardly wait! I haven't been since Ike blew through, but can't imagine Galveston without Murdoch's or the Balinese Room! I know I will have to have a moment of silence for all of the changes to my beloved home away from home.



If I could, I would talk my hubby into buying some property down there. There are some real bargains about now! If you don't mind a fixer upper. I hope to have lots of new, different memories of this long weekend. Maybe even some good pictures to post. See you next week!

We are getting ready to leave for the beach so I wanted to test blogging by Blackberry. I hope it works!

One of Those Redneck Moments

Today, while looking for garden gloves in my local dollar store, I overhead the most amazing conversation! A young-ish (18-19) girl and an older woman are walking through the store when approached by a young-ish couple (18-19). The young man asks the obviously pregnant young girl if she's going to have a baby. She says yes, it's a girl! He responds with "Do you know who the baby's daddy is?' Direct quote, people! I almost chocked on my piece of chewing gum! She grins and proceeds to tell him the baby's daddy's name! It didn't even faze her! I swear, I couldn't make this stuff up! I promptly paid for my gloves and got the heck outta that store. I was afraid I was gonna start loosing teeth and feel the desire to look for some new "tube tops"! I know my little hometown is crazy, but somedays crazy just doesn't do it justice!

I'm a Blogging Slacker...

Ok, I am really wanting this blogging thing to work out, but I am a bit of a slacker right now! I am finishing up the last three weeks of the school year, then I promise I will get to blogging! I have things to say...just not enough time to say them all! So, if you are reading this, I promise it will get better in the near future. (After May 28th!) Have a good week...

Family Tree

Don't you just love it when your kiddo comes home with some type of homework that requires parental participation? Heavy parental participation? Well, for the long weekend B was assigned to complete her family tree as far back as she could go. For us overly obsessive moms that means until we can't stand it anymore! D and I have talked to parents and one aunt trying to go back to the great-great-great-great grandparents. Now here it is 1:00 am in Texas and I am "surfed out" from looking at death records and marriage records. But, I think I may have found a new hobby! Did you know that some cemeteries have pictures of all their gravestones and with just a little information you can pull up all sorts of neat info? Though I have complained (more than once) about this homework assignment, I have really enjoyed the hunt. I have learned things about my relatives that I did not even know. If your interested in this type of thing www.ancestry.com is a good place to start.




This long weekend also has me thinking that summer is only 6 weeks away! Yessssss! As a public school teacher, I really enjoy my summer time. Now I am thinking about summer vacations. I would love to go on another cruise, but since we are following Dave Ramsey's baby steps in order to be debt-free (can't wait!) we will probably not be doing anything major this year. Oh, how I would love to board that Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas again and set sail to the most beautiful beaches in the world! However, I know that those beaches will still be there next summer and they will be so much more fun when we are totally DEBT-FREE! How will you spend your summer?


I just realized that I have not yet posted anything about the "crazy dog" in our life. Here's a picture to show her craziness until I get around to telling some of her funny stories. Have a great Easter!

By the way, thank you to Keri for telling me how to move my pictures around on the blog!

Finally...it is here!

Spring Break 2009! I have waited (not so patiently, I might add) but it is finally here. After a long week of benchmark testing the 3:26 bell couldn't ring fast enough. The teachers shot out of the building faster than the kids this afternoon.

Now the real fun begins. What will we do? Where will we go? If I have my way, I will spend a few days reading on my new Kindle while wearing my new bifocals! Doesn't that sound like a fun spring break? We can't all be as lucky as Z, who is spending his spring break in Los Angeles with a new college friend and an old high school friend. Oh to be 21 again...

Poor B, she will probably spend most of the break bored out of her mind! After spending on the previously mentioned bifocals, plus four new, apparently gold-plated, tires for the truck we will not be doing anything that costs too much money. Maybe I can interest her in some new books too! We can just read and chill out. Now that sounds like an ideal spring break to me. How about you?

Happy Valentine's Day

Well, tomorrow is the big day! Valentine's Day, of course. I will get to spend the day with 2 out of 3 of my favorite people in the world (plus the crazy dog). Z is not coming home from college for the weekend so we will celebrate from afar. Next Wednesday, my oldest child will turn 21 years old. That number strikes fear in the heart of this mama! Something about college, apartment, freedom and 21 years old just scares the daylights out of me. Now, don't get me wrong, he is a good kid but KID is the operative word here. He is still a kid and he's my kid! The bright side is that his car insurance premium should drop a little, maybe below $200 a month if we are lucky.

Speaking of getting older, I am going tomorrow to do something I have been putting off for a long, long time. Yes, I am going to the eye doctor! Pray that I don't have to get a "starter" pair of bifocals. My eyesight has been getting worse and worse and for some reason I put off going to see if (ha) I need glasses. It is now not a matter of "if" it is a matter of how strong! I guess I thought it would make me seem older to wear glasses, but now that I have decided to take the plunge, I have found some really cute styles out there. I know that hubby and youngest child are really looking forward to an afternoon of eyeglass sampling. Maybe I will have to take them somewhere special for dinner after we are finished.

Have a great Valentine's Day and be on the look-out for a crazy lady who will be seeing things clearly for the first time in a long time!

Who we are...An introduction

Now that I am figuring this blogging thing out, I guess I should add some more info about the family. After all, the title is Sims-Party of 4 (and one crazy dog!). I am Lisa, the manager of this blog (and sometimes the family). I teach special education at our local high school. Most days I love my job. Not so much right now though, as we are knee deep (or other body parts...use your imagination) in TAKS prep now that the New Year has begun. Oh the joys of standardized testing!

My dear husband,D will look at the blog, maybe read some of it, but will otherwise not be interested, unless of course I mention something about his trail runs, 5Ks, or something similar. He has a good friend that he enjoys running great distances with and for that I am thankful. (Since I can't figure out how to work this picture thing, you can see them in the picture above, he's the one in shorts.) They were checking out the trails on the day before their last race.

We have a son, Z who is almost 21 years old and a junior at Texas A&M University. He is getting his masters degree in accounting with economics as his minor. He has always been a joy to us and we so look forward to watching him continue to mature and grow into a wonderful young man with a very bright future. (He's the one up there with the elephant, it's an Aggie thing!) (Memo to self...figure out how to get pictures loaded where they should logically appear!)

We were also blessed with our 13 year old daughter, B. Raising a girl is so different from raising a boy, but we wouldn't change a thing. She keeps us young, to say the least. She is very active in sports and other activities at her middle school. Too much so in my opinion, because with all of her practices and after school activities, her youth group activities at church have been neglected. But, her basketball season is almost over and she is not trying out for cheerleader again, so she will soon have time to get back into her church activities. (She's the beautiful one up there all dressed up as a homecoming queen nominee.)

Now on to the "crazy dog." Jade is our 4 year old pit/boxer mix that we adopted from the animal shelter. She was supposed to be mastiff/boxer mix, but sometimes things aren't what they seem. While I wouldn't have set out to adopt a pit bull, I am so glad we did by accident. She is a wonderful dog, but boy is she crazy. She has several different "phobias" that I am sure will be a part of future posts. (She's the furry one up top!)

I guess you are probably wondering where my picture is...good question! I am usually the one behind the camera so they are few and far between. So the best I have offer right now is our Christmas picture! And that is us...Sims-Party of 4 (and one crazy dog!)

Waiting and waiting...then waiting some more

When I watched the Oprah Show back in November and first saw the Amazon Kindle, I was intrigued. I had a hard time deciding if I wanted to spend that kind of money for an e-reader. Finally, after researching and talking to Kindle owners, I decided to take the plunge and order my very own Kindle! Imagine my shock when the estimated ship date in my confirmation email was listed as February 23-March 5th! I am NOT a patient person, so that was a very scary thought. I reasoned surely it won't take that long. Amazon is just be overly cautious with their ship times. Etc. Etc. Etc. Well, it's been a month now, and February is creeping dangerously close...still no Kindle! I check my shipping status AT LEAST twice a day and no change...ever...So, I keep waiting and waiting...and waiting some more! Did I mention that I am not a patient person? Amazon, I want my Kindle...NOW.
I'm just saying...

First Time Blogging

Well, it's only taken me about one hour to get to this point! I have this blog semi set up and it looks so pitiful without a post, so here is my first ever blog posting...ta da! It is only 1:26 am here in my corner of the world. Why, oh why do I decide to do things like this around midnight? Maybe after a good night's sleep I can figure this whole blogging thing out! Goodnight!