Just say no to Crack…

Seriously people….I am in the WRONG profession.  We had a plumber come over on Monday because last Thursday our guest bathroom faucet started dripping at the alarming rate of 2 gallons an hour…..Don’t you worry my little tree hugging friends – we turned off the water to the house when we could to save some, and at all other times a ginormous bucket was under the tap collecting the water which we used to water our plants……anyways, I digress…..we had our local plumbing company come out to take a look.  Nice guy – complete with plumbers crack and all.  Apparently it was time for our 50+ year old faucets to be replaced in our tub.  No big deal, right?  Rell can head over to Lowe’s (which we much prefer to Home Depot, now that we actually have one!) pick up a faucet and change it out. 

 uhhh, no. 

Apparently there is also something a miss with some of our 50+ year old pipes as well.  And at this point I am thinking, ok, a couple hundred bucks – ouch, but really, we’ve been lucky with what we have (or I should say haven’t ) had to replace on this house.  As the plumber is going over all that is wrong with our faucets, pipes, etc, I am shaking my head nodding, pretending to totally understand what he is saying, all the while, thinking in my head, “Dude, you’re totally wasting your breath…I”m just going to have Rell call you in an hour for you to explain this all to him, because it is all Greek to me”.  After he finishes, he tells me that he can install his standard faucet for one price, or we can go out and buy a faucet and he can install it for another price.  At that point I tell him we would probably go out and buy our own faucet, because really, we are trying to keep as much original in that bathroom as possible, and we would like to pick something out that is in keeping with the original feel of the bathroom.  So he says ok, and he goes out to his truck to get his little book that will tell him how much he has to charge for this stuff.  Get this:

  He replaces the pipe and faucet with a faucet he provides (which you just KNOW is going to be ugly)..price $420

He replaces with a faucet WE buy..price $515…PLUS WE STILL HAVE TO GO OUT AND PAY FOR THE FAUCET TOO!!! 

All this ontop of a $40 call out fee.  As I type this I am still shaking my head in disbelief.  When I ask him what the rational on that was, he said that some people go out and buy super fancy faucets and it takes more time and effort to install them…..ok, I understand that, but $95 extra worth of labor?? And seriously, can’t they evaluate that on a case by case basis?  So, we’re going for the plumber provided faucet….ugly as I know it’s going to be, because cute faucet handles aren’t nearly as important as $200 extra bucks in my bank account.

On a side note….I should have  been a plumber.

Gruene Wedding Weekend

In my 20+ years in Texas, I can not believe I have never been to Gruene before.  Sure I’ve been tubing, but I have never actually ventured into the town of Gruene.  I HAVE to go back. 

 We got in Friday night and drove to Gruene to meet up with everyone else that was already in town.  We stayed in the cutest little bed & breakfast called the Gruene Homestead Inn.  It’s all of these historic homes that have been “rescued” and brought to this property and refurbished.  My brothers room was actually an old grain Silo.  So cool. 

 

And there was a neat little bar on the property called Tavern on the Gruene which had some great live music.  I think that is one of the things I miss the most about Texas – you can always count on there being a band somewhere playing great Texas Country.  I cant remember the name of this group, but their last song was Gin & Juice (the Gourds version) with a couple of DMB Ant Marching verses strung in between…..seriously, does it get any better????

Saturday we woke up to a beautiful day.  The wedding took place on the lawn of the bed and breakfast.  It was really nice.  Robert and Stephanie both looked so nice and the ceremony was lovely.  It was a great small town, family wedding ceremony. 

It’s lemonade…. I Promise!!!

Saturday evening we all went to the Gristmill and had dinner together and then headed over to Gruene Hall to see Jason Boland play.  Again, I can not believe I have never been to this great Texas town.  Downtown Gruene is so picturesque and quintessentially Texas.   And what cute little stores…none of which I got to go in, which is probably all for the better.  I don’t think I could have fit that great antique sideboard I saw in the window of this great little store into the overhead bin on the way home…

Every kid loves onion rings and lemons, right??

Matt & Rell – Matt’s displaying the menu I made for dinner

Robert & Stephanie @ Gruene Hall

Melissa looks great!  She is hardly showing, but she does have a little bump.

Melissa & Rell – hardly any bump!!

Still no name picked out for the baby.  Which is a little frustrating for Aunt Favorite (me) as it impedes the purchase of personalized products for her baby shower in May!!! 

Next up for us is our friend, Tony’s, birthday in Phx this Saturday night.  Then after that it is off to LA to throw my mom’s surprise 60th birthday (luckily she doesnt even know what a blog is, so I can mention it with no fear!)  It’s amazing she hasnt found out about that yet!

In May, we have Russ & Erin’s wedding coming up.  In Austin!!!  Yay!  I actually head to Texas a little early to spend a day or two in Waco with the family.  Hopefully Baby Girl Brooks will have arrived so that I can meet her!

End of May is dedicated to Melissa’s baby shower in Boston. 

Then we have a little time off from travel, which is a good thing, since Rell and I will probably be super busy.  More on that at the end of this week.

August brings the arrival of Baby Boy Rowe and our week long trip to Destin.  We are sooo looking forward to that!

Lilly Bug

You can tell that it’s a banner busy day @ work today, since this is my second post. 

I’m going home this weekend for my brother wedding and I am so excited to see my family!  My sister and her husband are coming in too.  I’m really excited to see my niece Lilly.  She’s the first grandchild, and my first niece.  Instead of Aunt Meg, I have self proclaimed my name to be “Aunt Favorite”.  I’m still trying to teach her how to say it.  Being an aunt is so much fun…all the cuteness of love of a little kid with none of the responsibility or discipline!  Ice Cream for breakfast and cookies while waiting in line for Santa – no problem, just call Aunt Favorite. (True Story!)

 And I am about to become an Aunt twice more – Melissa’s baby boy and Robert’s second girl are on the way. 

I’m so excited to see Lilly this weekend because I am amazed at how much she changes in between each visit.  It is CRAZY how quickly kiddos grow up. 

This is Lilly Grace Brooks:

Future Soccer Star

I’m not sure if this is a fit or if she’s jsut a super star baby break dancing…

Already Reading at age one…..later she assembled her own toys….after reading the instructions….in Chinese……

Hug Lover!

Just chillin’ in the chair that Aunt Favorite painted for me.

Apparently anything goes at Tickie and Mack’s house…..I’m pretty sure if I had hung from the oven as a toddler, photos would not have been taken….it would not have been cute…I would have been punished…..

Maggie Mae Salome Labradoodle Extraordinaire

So, Rell and I don’t have any children…but we do have a dog…who we very much treat like a child.  Maggie Mae is our 2 year old Labradoodle.  She is my first dog ever!  And really, I don’t know how I lucked out in getting such a perfect dog on my first go round!

Two years ago, Rell drove all the way to Tuscon, something like 3 1/2 hours away, to pick up Maggie Mae.  She was the only girl puppy left.  He arrived to pick her up and began playing with all the puppies.  There was one in particular that kept coming up to him, snuggling up and just loving on him in general.  It must have been puppy fate, because that puppy was Maggie Mae.  He made the long drive home with Maggie Mae curled up in the front seat on his jacket.  She threw up three times on the way home!

Rell gets home and we play with her for a bit, and then of course, we need to get her food.  So Rell says he is going to the store to get her food, etc. and I beg him not to leave me alone with the puppy because “I’m scared of her!” To this day, he still brings that up.  I’ll be snuggling with Maggie Mae on the couch, and in a squeamish voice he’ll squeal “But I’m scared of her!”

She’s pretty scary, right? 

I bring this all up because of something that happened with Maggie Mae last night.  It amazes me how much personality this dog has.  I guess this might be something lots of other people figured out years ago, as most people got their first dog at something closer to age 5, not age 27!

Maggie Mae loves to fetch.  She quite proficient at it too.  Her new favorite is the tennis ball.  We tell her “Maggie, get your ball” and she runs out into the yard and grabs it, brings it, and after a little coaxing, will even drop.  Then she’ll sit and wait for the toss.  She’s so funny because we’ll tell her to sit, and she sort of back up 5 or 6 feet while squat-sitting, as if to get a head start on the ball.  She’s trained very well (if I do say so myself - I taught her to shake and high five) and we hardly ever coax her to do her “tricks” with treats, but lately, she’s been going nuts whenever she hears the word treat.  So after every five or six tosses, Rell will say TREAT really loud and she’ll come running back fast as can be and she’ll drop her ball, sit and wait to get her treat.

Well, last night Rell and Maggie Mae were tossing and as she was coming back with the ball, Maggie Mae saw Rell reach into his pocket, which apparently she knows means treat, and hauled back…..but apparently, she had to go potty.  But not wanting to waste the time of sniffing out a spot in the grass, she decided to come sit on the patio and wait for her treat, but to also pee on the patio at the same time.  No wasting time when it comes to treats! 

We’ve also decided that in addition to treat, our dog also knows the word GO.  Maggie Mae LOVES car rides, and we take her with us whenever we can.  Last night, we needed to go to Target to pick up a birthday card for Rell’s dad (I also scored a 25 pack of multi colored fine tip Sharpies normally $18 for $4.50 – SWEET!)  we were having a casual conversation at the end of dinner that went something like this:

Rell: “we need to get my dad a card”

Meg: “Target or Walmart?”

Rell: “Target”

Meg: “ok, when do you want to go?”

Maggie: GOING NUTS because she heard the word go.  Starts chasing her tail and jumping up and down by the door. 

And jingle a car key or two and the nuts-ness intensifies! 

I love my dog!  Who would have ever though – Meg – a dog lover!*

*And just to clarify, by dog lover, I really only mean Maggie Mae lover, because I am still not crazy about other people’s dogs……..

Maggie Mae at Christmas this year (don’t make fun of my funny little tree – we have a little house!)   More than one of those presents under the tree is for her. 

The life of a Salome

A few friends have these BLOG pages, and I thought, what a fabulous idea.  I am so over the world of myspace….it’s a great tool for the ”Peeping Tom” in all of us, but it’s not that great of a tool for letting your friends and family know what is going on in our lives.  And there is a lot going on in the life of the Salome’s right now.  No, we’re not having babies, and we’re not moving back to Texas (although I wish I could say we were). 

We did just celebrate our first anniversary March 17, 2008 (The first annual celebration of the Salomeification of Meg)  We celebrated by taking a weekend trip to San Francisco – our San Franniversary.  What a cool city!  And I am by no means a city girl….but living in this small town does give me city envy.  The lights, the sounds, the food, all the cool architecture…..we had a fabulous time.  And it was so nice to get away and it be a trip just for the two of us.  While we love to come home and visit friends and family, it’s nice to just have a vacation for the two of us every once in a while. 

One Year Ago – 3/17/2007

This first year with Rell has been great.  Amazing.  I am thankful for him every day, and no matter how bad of a day I have, I still know it’s going to be a good day because I will come home to him.  I look forward to the rest of our lives together and the great things we’re going to do together.

We celebrated Saturday night with dinner together.  I re-created our wedding dinner.  We had several courses, a REALLY nice bottle of champagne, our top layer of our cake, and a fabulous evening together.  It was so nice to spend the evening cooking with my husband and enjoying each others company.

This is a really cool tray that my mom made us for our first anniversary – in sticking with the traditional gift of paper.  It’s got wedding pictures, our announcement, invitation, menu, all my shower invitations, etc on it.  It is AWESOME!

There are BIG things on the professional horizon for both of us.  More on that later.

This weekend we’re headed to Gruene, Texas…Robert’s getting married.  I am so thrilled for him.  He’s happy, and that is so important to me.

Rells brother Stanton just passed a bunch of tests and we’re hoping that he will soon qualify for a position with the Killeen Police Department.

My sister Melissa is pregnant with a boy and Baby Boy Rowe is due in August.

Lilly, Robert and Stephanie’s little girl, is expecting a little sister in May.

See, there is a lot going on in our lives right now! Am hoping that I can use this blog as a way to keep our friends and family updated on what’s going on all the way out here in Arizona.

Happy Tuesday and have a great week!