Raining Cats and Dogs!

It has been raining cats and dogs since yesterday!  Last night we were watching a movie and the lights dimmed down, so we ran around lighting candles everywhere just in case the electricity went out.  It never did, but boy it sure was loud outside with all the lightning and thunder.


Texas is supposedly in a drought, so I wonder with all this rain the past few weeks if we have pulled out of it.  I just hope is stays mild and we don't have threats of tornadoes.  That was some scary stuff that happened in Alabama, Indiana and some of the other states last weekend.


It's an interesting start to Spring Break.  It seems like every year right at our Spring Break it gets cold or rainy or both!  Oh well, it will still be nice to have some time off, just no swimming in the pool quite yet.  The hot hot days of Texas will be here soon before we know it.


One thing positive about the rain is that it is bringing out all the green grass and leaves and everything looks so fresh.  See, there is a silver lining behind every cloud!

President Bush and Barbara like Koppe Bridge too!

This is so cool!  We were just there last weekend and look who was there yesterday!  That would have been cool if we could have been there at the same time!

President Bush and Barbara at Koppe Bridge yesterday.

Reveille

This morning Miss Reveille came to my office.  I should have used a real camera instead of my phone camera, but oh well.  It was awesome my students and I got to see her.

Brian, Zach, Rev, Lauren and Taylor

Spring Break

Next week is Spring Break and Ryan will be off school the whole week.  He already informed me he will be hanging out with his friends.  The University is giving us Thursday and Friday off, so I will have a four day weekend.  Luther is working open to close all week at his job because his boss took off for the week.


This got me thinking, I have been pinning many organization ideas from Pinterest.  I just LOVE that sight!  I think I might take this opportunity to get my  home office in order.  Believe me, it needs all the help it can get.


Not only is it our office, it is my craft room and it is full to the brim.  I think with all the awesome ideas I have gathered, I can make it organized and even great looking.


I will let you know how that goes.  Sometimes before I go on vacation, I have grand plans, but I end up tossing them out and doing something else.  We will see...

If you don't check your bank statement.....You should!

Yesterday, I was balancing my checkbook and I saw a debit charge from Blockbuster.  At first, I thought nothing of it because we go there all the time.  Then I questioned it because I thought I saw the same charge the month before.  I checked the history and sure enough, there was the same amount exactly a month earlier.  Then I freaked, how long have I overlooked this?  Well, I checked January and there it was again, but not in December.


I check my account almost every other day, so you say.....Renee, then how did you miss this?  Well, we use blockbuster like crazy, it is our main form of entertainment and I am not exaggerating! We pay a monthly charge for blockbuster online and we get movies by mail and then take them to the store and trade them in for another movie at no extra charge.  Sometimes when we go in we will from time to time rent Ryan a game or get an extra movie.  The charges seemed high the first time I saw it, but I just thought Luther and Ryan got cokes or candy with it.  Then the second month, I just didn't realize it was the same exact amount as the last time.  Yesterday a light bulb went off in my head and I thought something was wrong. Well, boy was it ever.


I called my bank and they told me it was being debited off of Luther's card.  She told me to call Blockbuster and if they would not remove the charge, then Luther would need to close his card and get a new one.  I then called Blockbuster and the manager was not in.  The girl I spoke with looked up our account and said she could not find any charges on our account and she knew from the amount I gave her that is was a special movie pass program.  She asked if we signed up for it and I told her no because we have the online thing. She asked me to call the next day and speak with the manager because she thought our account looked odd.  I did double check with Luther and he said he didn't sign up for anything either.


Today, I called the manager and he found the same thing as her.  He also said our account looked odd because it only showed we traded movies in from online. He asked me for the last 4 digits of Luther's card and found that his card got linked somehow to another person's account with a similar name (O'Bannon).  He apologized and fixed the problem, then credited our account.  


So, if you look at your statement and it doesn't seem right, always question it.  One good thing from all this mess is because there were 3 monthly charges taken out of our account, the credit was a nice unexpected bonus!

Family Visit

This past weekend, my Mom and Dad brought my Uncle Glenn and Aunt Linda down from Plano for a visit.  My Uncle and Aunt are from Pennsylvania and were on the way home from California after visiting my Aunt Carol.  They were thinking about stopping in New Orleans, so our house was on the way. 


It was an awesome visit and I had not seen them in several years.  This was Ryan's first time to meet them.  Friday evening we went to Koppe Bridge because they have the BEST burgers in town.  You may disagree, but they are my absolute favorite!  Plus, I love to take visitors to local places.  We spent the rest of the evening visiting and catching up. Linda has some amazing stories!  It was awesome and a great time.


Saturday, we spent the day around the house visiting some more.  My Mom, Luther and I went to Sam's Club in the morning and got food to grill that evening.  We invited Luther's parents to come over and we had burgers ala Luther.  We had asked Friday evening if they would mind have burgers again and everyone said it was fine, so Luther grilled for us.  It was another great evening.  I especially enjoyed hearing my Dad and Uncle Glenn talk about when they were kids.


Sunday, they were hitting the road. My parents going back to Plano and Uncle Glenn and Aunt Linda towards New Orleans. First we took all kinds of pictures of each other in front of the fireplace.  We then tried to find a local italian restaurant to go to, but they are not open on Sundays. Then we thought about the Longhorn Tavern and we forgot to check to see if it was open.  Oops!  We drove over there to find an empty parking lot, then made our way to Texas Roadhouse.  


It was sad to give all the goodbyes, but I will treasure the time we had to visit this weekend. I loved getting to see Uncle Glenn and Aunt Linda and hope it won't be such a long time before I get to see them again.

Picture from Elegant Night on the Cruise

Back Row: Me, Ann, Mom, Crystal

Front Row: Aunt Barbara, Chris