Tornado Warning

This afternoon was a little exciting to say the least. I was working about 3pm and noticed that it was getting dark in the house, a short time later the sirens rang.

Hmm...wonder what that's all about?

I turned on the tv and learned that The Colony was in a tornado warning. There were 4 different cells around me at the time. I readied myself with my phone, flashlight and camera. I called a few people to let them know what was happening, in case a tornado "actually" went through here. Several sightings of tornados in the area, but none made contact with the ground. Thank you God!

The area between The Colony and Little Elm (Main Street & 720) experienced the heavy winds and large hail (ping pong ball size). We did not get but a few hail stones and about .25 of rain.

I was able to get a few photos from Jackie's bedroom window of the storm coming over the lake.

There were many people in the area that saw water spouts in Lake Lewisville. I'm very fortunate that the storms missed our home. Thanks for all of you, who helped to keep me calm (you know who you are!) I was a little freaked out, being home alone and all.

There are still tornado warnings out for the rest of the evening. I'll be praying for a quiet night!

Ants In My Cabinets and Molding Milk??

Well, whenever I seem to have a roommate, problems always exist.

Since moving into a new dorm with a roommate now, I have had the same kind of bug experiences that I had previously. I went to the cabinet to get out some towels to wash my dishes with in my dorm and noticed a few ants. Investigating further, I picked up a box of ziplock bags and noticed a whole collection of them! I'm running an ant farm and I didn't even know it!! Not knowing what to do, I looked under the sink for some kind of poisionous liquid to get rid of these pesky creatures. Luckily to my surprise I noticed that my roommate has some ant and roach spray.....maybe because she doesn't keep her food sealed like mine, just like my previous roomie. After reading the directions, I neutralized them with the spray and they were dead immediately! I cleaned up the ant bodies.....too many to count......and washed my hands REALLY good. I now have taken all my food and other items out of the kitchen and put them in a temporary box for now, hoping to get a tuperware container to put my food in.

Along with my ants, my roommate isn't the most tidest person in the world. Since the beginning of the semester, the only thing I put in the fridge was a Brita water pitcher, some string cheese, and a bottle of coke. At the same time, she put 2 to-go boxes of food in there and a gallon of milk. That was in January. Today I have taken out my water pitcher and other items. Her items remain....2 to-go boxes of smelly, rotting, old food and a gallon of about 2 month old milk that is now turning a lovely shade of yellow. Whenever I open the fridge, I always hold my breath because of the bad stench it produces. I now cannot stick my drinks in the fridge because the odor gets absorbed into the flavor of my beverage and have to rely on the ice machine down the hall to cool down my drinks from scratch.

I think when it comes time to check out of the dorm, I'll let my roommate clean up the kitchen.

Ahh....the joys of a roommate, don't you just love 'em?

.........that was a sarcastic statement.

Crusin' in my Cruiser

"Cameron" my 96 Toyota Camry is at the car doctor. While I was in Minnesota for spring break, a girl that lives behind mom and dad hit my car. . . in the driveway! So Cameron is getting all fixed up, and this is my WONDERFUL rental car ..a PT Cruiser, NOT. Not my first choice of course, but it was the only car available that was completely covered by the other girls insurance.

Other than that I have been having a great week!

1) I was nominated today to be a member of Omicron Delta Epsilon, an International Honor Society in Economics. I was 1 of 43 students eligible in the College of Business. Some of the requirements are a minimum SHSU GPA of 3.0, and a minimum Economic GPA of 3.0 (at least 12 credit hours). All I do is pay $32.00 and I am life long member, looks great on a resume!

2) I was nominated to be the President of the local SHSU chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management, a national organization for HR managers. Voting will take place on April 8th.

3) I went to see an advisor (mandatory at a senior status) today in order to register for my last semester at SHSU. He informed me that a new catalog will be coming out in the fall which will eliminate 8 hours of electives that are currently in place under my degree plan. So what that means is. . . if I come back after this summer and re-file my degree plan, I will only have to take 2 classes (6 credit hours) to graduate! Woot Woot!

4) Aria my room-mate is moving out this weekend. I will have the place to myself until this semester is over.

After a very depressing semester, this past month God has shown me wonders. I am engaged to the love of my life, I got to see my beautiful God-daughter and family for a week, classes have got better, I spoke to my best friend Selena for the first time in 6 months this past week (she has been away getting treatment for anorexia), plus all the things I have mentioned above.

One last note, Thank-you to everyone that sent engagement cards, it really means a lot to both Josh and I. Love you all!

Pool Flowers

Today I enjoyed a wonderful sunny day sitting by the pool and collecting some "rays".

I thought this girl was reminiscent of my mood today...admiring the view of the little girl by the pool..it almosts seems like she can really smell those flowers.

Don't know what the high temperature was today, but my thermometer said 81.3 at one time this afternoon :-)

Hear there is snow up north, so will take my beautiful day and share it with all of you!

Tennis Elbow treatment #2

Today I went back to Metrocrest Orthopedics for my sore right elbow.

I had a cortisone shot prior to Thanksgiving and that gave me relief until mid February. I aggravated it pulling my suitcase, I guess. I babied it for a while with my wrist brace, ice and NSAIDS...until this past weekend. I was sitting out enjoying the beautiful day in the backyard, when I was pestered by some wasps. I went inside and grabbed the flyswatter. What was I thinking!!! I started just by slapping at them...No problem...until one came right at me and I was flapping my wrist around like crazy. NOT GOOD! I felt as though something popped, I saw stars and had to sit down. Since then it has been VERY sore.

So today Dr Wheeless notes swelling in the elbow that is NOT normal and states there MAY be an infection in the joint, very rare so we'll just watch it??

I received my second cortisone shot today and boy is that puppy sore tonight. He also prescribed a prescription strength NSAID Mobic(Meloxicam) which I will take once a day for 30 days before I go back to see him again. Next update April 28th.

Dallas Arboretum & Pioneer Plaza

Saturday, March 15th

Today we visited the Dallas Arboretum.

The 2008 festival theme is The Star of Texas, and one of the best things about our great state. The incredible beauty of the arboretum, will be highlighted throughout the festival. This will include music, food, celebrities, poetry, and our rich history. The centerpiece of Dallas Blooms: The Star of Texas, will include a giant flower-filled star and other theme-inspired topiaries that will fill the garden. Dallas Blooms will feature more than 400,000 spring-blooming bulbs, over 3,000 azaleas and thousands of another annuals and perennials spread throughout the 66-acre garden. The 2008 festival is a fun-filled five-week, six-weekend event and is the largest outdoor floral festival in the Southwest. Popular themed activities that are being planned include, trick roping, hay rides and, country and western entertainment with an old fashioned square dance.

We stopped for lunch and then headed into downtown Dallas to see Pioneer Plaza.

Pioneer Plaza is located by the Dallas Convention Center at the intersection of South Griffin and Young Street. Pioneer Plaza honors Dallas’ cowboy past by celebrating the trails that brought settlers to Dallas. Pioneer Plaza features native landscaping with a flowing stream and waterfall with a re-creation of a cattle drive in the form of bronze statues of longhorns being driven by three horse riding cowboys.
Each sculpture was created by Robert Summers of Glen Rose, Texas. The sculptures are believed to be the largest bronze sculptures of their type in the world.Pioneer Plaza is the largest public open space in the central Dallas business district. Pioneer Plaza is second only to Dealey Plaza as the most-visited landmark in downtown Dallas. Pioneer Cemetery connects to Pioneer Plaza and interesting to walk through. There is a very large Civil War Memorial in Pioneer Cemetery featuring Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis. FREE to the public!

Here is a link for all the photos
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=f5v4var.a6r91ye7&Uy=-q639mb&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=343939159909_892190129503

The weather cooperated and we got some sun on this beautiful 70+ degree day!

Later we will go to the airport and pickup Jill, who went to Minneapolis a drug test for her summer internship at the Mall of America. Visit my sister's blog to see pictures of Jill and Makayla. http://www.the-swanson-family.blogspot.com/

Karl - Texas Academy of Science

111th Annual Meeting of the Texas Academy of Science

March 6-8th, 2008

Texas A&M Univesity - Corpus Christi,TX

Karl was one of the student presenters that spoke on Saturday morning at 8am.
Here is his topic and a brief synopsis of the topic

A COMPUTATIONAL ROUTE TO SOLVENT SELECTION FOR RECRYSTALLIZATON
Karl D. Kuklenz, Chemistry Department, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX.

Optimized methods of recrystallization require precise control of solvent-solute interactions, and the paint, polymer, and pharmaceutical industries have demonstrated the utility of solubility parameters for selecting solvent blends that meet their needs. Solubility parameters were first calculated by Hildebrand and Scott in 1950, and Hansen and others have compiled extensive tables of the dispersion (D), polar (P), and hydrogen-bonding (H) solubility parameters of solvents. The general principal is this: solvents and solutes that have similar Hansen solubility parameters are miscible. In this work, a quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR) procedure is used to predict the DPH values. The optimized geometry and vibrational frequencies were computed for >180 molecules using the Gaussian 03 model B3LYP/6-31G(d)//B3LYP/6-31G(d). The total dipole moment in mdyne/A, the total extronic extnet in A2, the mean polarizability in A3, and the maximum charge difference were recorded from the Gaussian output. The model is compared with tabulated vales, group additivity values and the experiemental results.

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Sounds like a foreign language to me Karl! We are very proud of you and your accomplishments!

Snow Birthday Princess

My mom is shown making a snow princess today.
She made it with the snow left in our driveway.

This will greet the girls when they come home from college today
for "SPRING Break"

A Texas Snow Princess
Check out her shoes!

Happy Birthday Jill

Happy Birthday to Jill!

She is 22 today

Spring in Dallas

It is supposed to snow until tomorrow morning early.
So much for early Spring

This is a view from the front door!

This is a view from the back door.

Engagement Announcement

CONGRATULATIONS

JILL & JOSH

Jill called this evening and states Josh proposed to her tonight.
He sent her a text message with a riddle she needed to solve to find him.

Here is the riddle:

"If I knew the future and I could change the past,

I would be sitting in your chair, instead of you in mine.

Now come and find me.....
so we can remember the past and change the future."

Josh was waiting in the auditorum of the AB4 building on the SHSU campus. There he was sitting in the chair Jill sat in during the History class they both took....This was the very first place they met. Awwwww.



She read it to me over the phone and I cried!

It will be a long engagement as Jill will graduate in December and Josh still has a couple years of chiropractic school to finish.

Please join me in welcoming Josh to our family!

Another Tile Project

Upstairs Bathroom

Trim and Toilet removed

The vinyl flooring is removed.
Doug is removing the floor leveler.

The Hardi backer board in place

Laying out the tile for placement

Seeting the tile around the toilet

The tile is all in.

Grouting on Wednesday night!

Fort Worth Stockyards

Friday, February 29th

Happy Leap Day!

I took today off work and took Mom, Dad, Aunt Mary and Uncle Martin to the Fort Worth Stockyards.

Dad and Martin enjoyed seeing and hearing the Superior Livestock Auction. They can often be found watching a cattle or horse auction on RFD TV. Buyers are able to view and buy cattle from areas all across the country. Sellers benefit from the fact that their cattle are videotaped in their natural environment and don’t move until the delivery date.

Superior has created a national livestock market, where price discovery is attained through competitive bidding at a live auction. Cattle are sold without regard to local climate conditions to a greatly expanded buyer base. In 2002 Superior Livestock Auction teamed up with RFD-TV on the digital dish. Today, Superior sells over 1.3 million head of cattle a year over the television.



The Fort Worth Stockyards opened in 1876 and made the area an important livestock center. Cattle could be bought for $2 - $4 a head and then driven up to the midwest area and sold for $30 - $40. Fort Worth was the last "big city" stop on the cattle drive so the cowboys loved to stop for some R&R (drinking, gambling, etc..) They also would stock up on some supplies. Fort Worth was operational up until 1972 when the last of the meat packing plants (Swift) closed. Armour had closed in the 1960s. Today the area is designated a historical district and many bars and nightclubs (including Billy Bob's) are located in the area. Every Friday and Saturday night, there is a rodeo in the Cowtown Coliseum and on Sundays there is an Opry.

Twice a day (11:30 am and 4:00pm) there is a Daily Cattle drive. Actual cowboys drive about 15 longhorn steers down the brick streets of Exchange Ave. When the cowboys are not driving cattle down the street, they are telling stories and taking photos with all the visitors.

We finished the day with a lunch at the TrailBoss and some shopping of homemade fudge and other assorted candies.