Texas Weather

The old saying is true. If you don't like the weather in Texas, wait a minute. So yesterday I started my day in shorts and flip flops. By the afternoon, it had dropped 10 degrees, started raining and then got windy as heck. This morning I woke up at 3am freezing. I had to go turn the heat back on.

I have to say that the 75 degree weekend was just awesome. I love Texas weather. Northerners like to say that Texas doesn't have seasons. Well it does. Really Hot and Really Cold.

Until 2 years ago, I had never really been iced in Texas at least for no longer than a few hours or a day. Well 2 years ago was horrendous. We got iced in for 4 days. I ran out of wine. I was living in an apartment at the time. On the 4th day, I ventured out on foot. I walked to the local Italian food restaurant for food and wine. I almost busted my bootie on the ice, but I was determined. Anyway, I got my fix and the next day, the sun came out and it was comfortable with the top down on the car.

Lesson learned. Make sure I have enough wine to last at least 4 days. So we've had some nice warm January weather. Does this mean that February is going to be cold and icy?

Church People

So one of my New Years Resolutions was to go to church much more regularly. For years, I was very involved in a small church, then I met my ex-husband who didn't like my very traditional church. We church hopped, but nothing stuck...and we divorced. Go figure.

So now, I've decided after flitting around here and there to just pick a church and go. I'm going back to Stonebriar with Chuck Swindoll. I first attended his church about 14 years which met at the community college. A big church was built a couple of years later.

So last weekend, I was going to church all peaced out and a car was tailgating me, but I know where all the Frisco cops hang, so I wasn't about to speed. Between me and my kids, I think our tickets paid for the new police station, but that's besides the point. Finally, this woman speeds up to pass me about taking off my front bumper and immediately starts tailgating the next person. Finally, we all turn into the church parking lot. Nice.

This weekend, there was a guest speaker as Chuck had cataract surgery. The pastor was really good. He did a sermon about giving your time and not letting distractions get in the way of what is really important. Well, when his sermon was over and he said let's pray, I bet 1/5 of the congregation got up to leave WHILE he was saying a prayer. With all the moving around, I could not even hear what he was saying. What is so wrong with people?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQv2b6lePSE

Financial Peace University

I made lots of New Years Resolutions. 

• I'm going to church every Sunday.
• I'm going to the gym 4x a week.
• I'm eating low carb until I lose 10 lbs.
• I'm going to stick to a budget. 

The first three are easy enough. I have had a budget for years. I just don't stick to it. So this year, I decided to take a Financial Peace University class at Stonebriar Church. 

They haven't told me to sell my car YET, but I'm sure that's coming. Sorry Dave Ramsey, I'd rather pay it off early than buy a beater car. I bought beater cars for both of my children's first cars and they always cost me a fortune....You need a catalytic converter $1200, you need new brakes $300, new tires $300, new clutch $400, blah blah blah. I bet for both of the beater cars I ended up spending at least $5-6K each by the time it was said and done for 10 year old cars. Texas is NOT the place for driving beaters. Just too much driving going on. So anyway...

I'm also afraid Dave will tell me to quit eating sushi, playing golf, and getting pedicures. I will definitely cut back.

So the troubling thing is that I probably haven't had more than about $40 cash on me at any given time in decades. Well, a new beginning for February. I'm going to a cash basis for my personal expenses. At first, I was scared. Someone will steal my cash. Well at least it has a limit. Duh. I mean if someone stole my purse now with the credit cards, they could spend tens of thousands of dollars before I could call the 800 numbers which I would have to look up because I wouldn't have the cards to get the numbers off the back. 

Which is another thing. Why so many credit cards? 

• American Express (my fave) because I have to pay it off every month and I earn points.
• Visa (x2) because not everyone takes AMEX. One for me and one that my daughter can use for emergencies....you know like Pei Wei.
• COSTCO Amex because it serves as my membership card with my picture.
• Visa debit card in case I need cash (but can be used as credit too)

Yikes. I mean really. What a mess. I'm going to clean out my wallet and go to cash and the Amex. I mean Amex has been good to me over the decades. They even sent me an Ipod shuffle for Xmas one year. Nice touch Amex.

I'm hoping to spend about $500 less this month than I typically do....she says rolling her eyes.

Dave says if I go to cash it will be more emotional for me than swiping a card. I'll let you know how that works out for me. Maybe it is. I'm about to cry now and I haven't even begun.

Xmas Vacation

Something I learned on vacation. If you are going to travel on Xmas day, pack your dinner. Xmas night, I had a 2-day old sausage from a Circle K store (they were out of hot dogs). The only good part of this meal was the chips and beer side dishes.

So we left during the snowstorm as fast as we could to beat the storm on our trip to Florida. We were about 30 minutes ahead of the freezing temperatures. Slept in Baton Rouge. Don't think I'll ever stop there again. 

The next day on to Panama City Beach, Florida.  The hotel was old, but it was awesome....except for the talking elevator lady. Yikes. She screamed at us: GOING DOWN!  The hotel was very inexpensive this time of year and right on the beach with a big patio. It also had a kitchenette...which means you can store your own drinks in a full-sized refrigerator. Bonus!

So this trip was the ying and yang of food. Ying was the 2-day old sausage. Yang was the best baked oysters and fried green tomatoes ever. Dusty's Oyster Bar is awesome....if you don't mind drinking out of plastic cups and using plastic forks. The oysters had crab meat, Parmesan cheese, and jalapenos and they had the best fried green tomatoes I've eaten, but to be honest, I've only had them a few times in my life. This place was so awesome, we went there twice.

St. Andrews beach...voted best in US...check. Disappointed that I didn't see any alligators at alligator lake, but the beach was beautiful. Took a trip to Appalachicola...oyster capital of Florida. Not too impressed. Lots of boutiques and I'm not much of a shopper. We were told what restaurant to go to for oysters. We were not even hungry, but we figured we had to have Florida's freshest oysters. Well our oysters were so fresh they were still in the ocean. We go for an early lunch and tell the waitress we aren't hungry, but must try the oysters. She comes back and says they ran out. True story...my friends. We did see the oyster guys raking the ocean for oysters, so that was kind of cool.

Stopped by the USS Alabama.  I talked to Col. Frazier and got a signed copy of his book Hell's Guest.  He is a former POW and 90 years old. What a great guy. 

The last part of the trip had very few pictures and the ones we had were on a phone and probably don't need to be shown. New Orleans baby. To me, New Orleans is much like Las Vegas. You can only live through two days of it. Again, the food was awesome. I had some shrimp yaya that was to die for. Listened to some great Cajun music...I think that is it...the ones where they play the spoons on the chest thingy.

Here's me by the spoon guy. This picture about sums up how New Orleans went down on this trip. Fortunately, I feel like a real light weight when in NOLA. The double shots started in the hotel lobby at 9am before the Saints game....and I was eating a breakfast with NO cocktails.