Bye Bye Trees

That sounds pretty non-green of me.  Read on.  Today I am grateful for:

• The green trash guys coming by early to pick up my tree trimmings.  Also, it was nice to see they only picked that up and that there is a separate trash truck.  Plano does a good job recycling and I am glad to live here knowing that.  I think I will bag my grass appropriately to contribute even more.
  
• Kristina's dad having come up to help me clean out the garage.  Better his truck than my little SUV.
• Not having any emergency work calls over the weekend.
• The complement of my client wanting to offer me a full time position.
  
• Getting everything moved to the appropriate room
• Finding and ordering the replacement bulb for my DLP TV and knowing that I can change it myself.
• Having some time to glog.
• John being so active all the time.  It makes us happy and proud.
• Sixty-five.
• Kristina's back feeling better
• Susan having time to come by and take Kristina to the chiro.
• You, my sweet smurfette, you.
  

H.H.

Best of Intentions...

Well, I am finally getting back into the swing of things.  It's been a super rough road as of late.  Both Kristina and Michelle gently remind me that when life is most hectic - that's the time to glog.  I had good intentions to be sure.  I wanted to start photo glogging.  I thought that would be easy.  Then the software which connects to my mobile phone decided not to work so I can't get the photos off.  I used that excuse until I blew up the database at work.  I resolved it in about 10 minutes, but the fallout was ridiculous.  Seriously.  Momentarily I thought I was going to get sued.  Then we closed on our house.  Stress.  Then we moved.  Stress.  Then the dude that was going to buy our old house flakes.  Stress.  Then parents come to help us settle.  Stress.  Out of town trips.  Herniated disk.  Post-moving.  Colleague blows his Siebel junk up and puts me on a 24 hour conference call to fix it.  Then I spend the whole week working his junk only to have my client ask me when I am going to install the upgrade for my application. 
GLOG GLOG GLOG

Today I am grateful for:

• A hard working wife.
• A smart wife
• A practical wife
• A SEXY PREGNANT WIFE
• That all 4 wives are the same... I could never be a Mormon... yes offense to Mormons (totally kidding).
• So much abundance.  I am a professional problem solver.  I solve problems big and small.  This is my gift.  God, The Universe, or Whomever you believe in knows this and sends me problems in all their form.  I am grateful for such a complement.  While in the throws the stress is sometimes nearly too much, the thrill of solving is worth it.
• So much abundance.  I am grateful beyond words (almost) that so much is going right in my life.  Awesome wife.  Good friends near and far.  A house I can make a real home of and the finances to afford such a reasonable "estate."
• Second chances.  Even though we brushed off a Realtor willing to sell our house and only charge the buyer's fee, she is happy to still make the same offer after our buyer fell through.
• Verizon FIOS.  This stuff rocks.
• Susan.  We'd not have anything done around here without her help.  She's such a great sister-in-law.  I only hope I have the opportunity to repay her in favors and deeds in the future.
• Brandon.  What an awesome friend to come and stand-in as the man as my herniated disk prevents me from doing so.
• Learning the power of asking for help.
• Getting my trees trimmed and the brush all tied up right away so I am not the bad neighbor.
• Cooking waffles on my new Belgian waffle iron in my new kitchen.  Mmm waffles.  They should be their own food group.
• Giving Kristina the very first waffles.
• Blueberries, strawberries, and powdered sugar - they way God intended.
• A new seat post for my bike - can't wait to fit it up!
• Being able to change a flat and pop the tire back on without tire levers.  The sense of accomplishment almost makes it worth the 6 bucks for the tube.
  
• Michelle being available for a call when I had pooped on all my other loved ones.  Being able to get my laugh on about stupid stuff helped me understand that a better frame of mind is just a laugh away.
• Sixty-two and all the confidence.  I may have missed a day here or there but I am still on the calendar and on pace... i.e. I missed 54, but the next day I did 55 because that's what the calendar says.
• You, my faithful little smurf, you!

H.H.

--
Chris Beckworth

Getting Culture-fied

What a crazy weekend.  Today I am grateful for:

• The Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Chloe Trevor's Performance of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto this Saturday.
• Feeling John's thumps and watching Kristina jump as my baby boy enjoys such a classical masterpiece.
• Committing to listening to classical music so many months ago and finally beginning to understand the beauty of such challenging art.
• Making lemonade out of lemons at the Cafe Grande Lux.  Seriously crappy service, but rock star parking, good food, and great company.
• Getting an awesome quote on painting the house
• Things going our way with High Cliff and generating positive interest
• Riding my bike even more.
• Thirty Eight
• Not being in any kind of hurry any more
• Cooking an awesome vegetarian pasta dish and then serving it up with steak!
• Wiener Schnitzel - Europe's classier chicken fried steak.
• Closing on our house was nice, but everyone's congratulations even nicer.
• Mike and Susan's interest in us and their interest in cycling.  They are such a blessing to Kristina and me.

H.H.