So, I’m thirty now…..And I guess what is so shocking about the whole thing is not that I am 30, but that I am 30 ALREADY! I feel like it was just a couple of years ago that I celebrated my 21st birthday!! I had a fabulous birthday. Saturday night, Rell and I did a little shopping around town. I wanted to hit up some thrift stores to see if I could find some neat old ornate frames that I could re-finish. I did find a couple that will work, but the big find was at the Habitat for Humanity store. We wandered in there and they were have a 50% off sale….we found a black wrought iron chandelier for our dining room for $37 bucks!!! Score! I just need to get some new shades for it. We’ve been looking for a new fixture for that room since we moved in, but lighting is so expensive. While it may not be exactly what I would have purchased and picked out in a store, you really can’t beat the price and it’s close enough!! Then we went out to dinner at our favorite little place in town, Bin 239. We had an early dinner and were headed home. We passed the local casino and I felt a stab of luck…so we went in and left $400 richer! It would have been $500 but I just had to play one last slot machine. Hopefully that luck will stick with us when we head to Las Vegas in two weeks! Sunday morning Rell made me a great birthday breakfast and I opened up all my great cards and presents from my friends and family. I loved all the sweet birthday wishes everyone sent my way! Then we lazed around the house for a bit, did some housework and yard work and then went to see Wolverine. All in all, a really nice birthday….except for the whole turning 30 part!
We’ve started landcaping the backyard! The other week we planted 16 5 gallon shrubs in one of the raised planters….talk about back breaking work. While doing so, we found a snake in out yard. YIKES! It was probably about a foot and a half long and the thickness of my pinkie. I think Rell was a little more concerned with it than I was….it had disappeared under the house, but he was dead set about trying to get it. Finally, he gave up and about a half an hour later I basically tripped over the snake and Rell then took it out with the shovel. My husband, the snake murderer. I didn’t see what the big deal was…why he was so deadset on getting it….but it was a bright colored snake and apparently those have more of a tendancy to be poisonous. After some internet research, turns out it was a harmless snake, but better safe than sorry. Must be snake season…because a few days later I was driving and saw a HUGE snake crossing the road….in my residential neighborhood only a mile or so from my house…this one was probably three feet long and fatter than a garden hose. I aimed for him (with my car), but this attempted snake murder was unsuccessful! Then a couple of days later, I saw a similar sized snake in the front yard of one of the houses in our neighborhood. Today, one of our employees that lives in our neighborhood said he killed a pretty big snake in his yard. Now Im a bit freaked out because we keep Maggie Mae outside during the day…and we’ve been doing so much yardwork!
But, the plantings out back look great….we looked like redneck gardeners the day we planted all those shrubs. I wanted to get some sun, so I work a tube top while gardening….classy…and of course burned myself to a crisp! We also may have had a couple of beers and been jamming to some Texas Country! 
We had a litle scare with Maggie Mae last week. She’s is great now, but she stopped eating. So we took her into the vet, worried about what she might have gotten into. (I think most of you know the famous, very expensive, gorilla glue incident!) The vet wasn’t sure what ended up being wrong with her, so he just treated her symptoms. He just knew that there wasn’t a foreign body lodged in her tummy, which was good. She was at the vets for two days….the vet loves it when we come to visit. He knows it will be a money making day when the Salomes show up. Hopefully, the Pet Insurance won’t count this as part of a pre-existing condition and they’ll reimburse us for this visit….fingers crossed. Just a side note…my dog has better health insurance than I do.
Headed to Waco on Thursday to meet up with Melissa and Will and the rest of the Texas Brooks’….we’re going to celebrate Ava Marie’s first birthday. This will probably be my last trip back to Texas until September, when the plan is to meet up in Austin with some college friends for a mini reunion. Then, the weekend of May 29th Rell and I will take a quick trip to Vegas. It’s a 1/2 birthday 1/2 “we’ve owned this business for one year and worked together that long without killing each other” joint celebration! Then the weekend after that Rell’s brother and his fiance come out for a visit, which will be fun. And then after that NOTHING! And we’re pretty happy about that!
Other stuff going on….my first Golf Lesson is May 26th…Im pretty stoked about that. I start a Yoga class on June 1st…also excited about that! I also got a Library card….not expecting a lot from that, since of the 10 books I looked for, they had none, but I figure if I can find just a couple of books there, then I can save a bit of money.
I’ll make sure and take lots of pictures while I am in Texas and share them soon!
xoxo
Birthday Love
My mom couldn't let me, or anyone else, forget I was turning 30--she sent these to work!
Maggie Mae's feeling MUCH better now
