Professional accounting

The University of Texas has accepted my application to the Master of Professional Accounting program.

Looks like I'm going back to school for yet another degree that hopefully won't be turned into yet another means to do more volunteer work whispers my husband. Aw, how did he guess my plan?!?

I mean, my Technical Communication degree got me a great freelance position as a copyeditor... and... helped me webmaster for a local animal shelter and create my own websites that I spend ungodly amounts of time working on...

I promise, sweetie, I'll get a job as a tax accountant and help corporations with their taxes and by corporations I mean nonprofits and by job I mean volunteer position.

I mean, we didn't really need that $30K tuition for anything else, right? :)



Don't look at me, all I get are hand-me-down toys.

 Buns of Steel

At the time, I thought punching my husband in the buttocks was a very righteous thing to do, especially after he mocked me about something-or-other (my haircut? my ridiculously low Sleep Number? I can't recall anymore).

So I snuck up behind him while he was brushing his teeth, and gave him a solid whack in the behind.

Now, I'm not a total idiot. I knew, for example, that 300 lbs > 100 lbs. And also that I punch like a... girl who can't punch. That was why I fully intended to run for my life after committing the act.

My fist struck what felt like a slab of marble: solid, unyielding, unbreakable. Rather than flee, I doubled over clutching my sprained wrist.

Byrd looked up from the sink, toothbrush jutting from his lips, and appeared to notice me for the first time. "Hmm? Why are you crouched on the floor?"

Solid as a rock + feels nothing = ROBOT HUSBAND.

More Remodeling

This happened over the Christmas break:

Buns-of-Steel Man putting up new siding

You're probably like, "So what?"

Here is what the house looked like pre-holidays, from the back yard.


We have been re-siding the house in phases. The first phase was around 2004 ("lower" house, left side in the photo), and the second phase was in 2007 (two-story section, center). But the back addition (right side) was still undone.

The siding on the back addition was barely hanging in there. This was the original wood siding from, I dunno, 1970. A good portion of the siding had fallen off, or was hanging by a nail. And then there were the ancient single-pane windows with black trim. For years, the addition has looked like a trashy little shack, a nagging reminder of what the whole house used to look like.


 Ironically, the re-siding has taken such a long time, the lumber store doesn't carry the white Hardi-Plank anymore. So we had to reside the back addition in a yellow color. I lamented that our addition still doesn't match the rest of the house. Byrd says the yellow kind is "primed" for paint and it will all match and look fine after we paint it.

Road Trip

I've just returned from a week-long road trip from Portland, Oregon back to my home. It was a hurried, last-minute sort of thing, which I regret, because if I had had the time, I would have liked to sight-see a bit more on the way back.

As it was, I flew up to Portland, met my dad in Eugene, piled his car full of stuff, and accompanied him back to Texas via I-5 and I-10.

Along the way, I got to cross the Golden Gate Bridge (in thick fog) and see downtown San Francisco (but no cable cars, just creepy electric buses), marveled at snow in the mountains (two things that do not exist where I live), and for once, in West Texas I got to drive 80 mph without breaking the speed limit.

I also struggled to update my websites and coordinate my real job when we stopped at hotels.

Golden Gate Bridge in the fog



The first sun we had seen in days, somewhere south of San Francisco in rolling foothills



Holy cow, we're driving in mountains! Real live mountains!!



Power-generating windmills as far as the eye can see. Why do these creep me out so much?



Rest stop in the mountains in New Mexico. One rest stop had free wireless!

Shortly after this we hit the 80 mph zone and I stopped taking pictures because the landscape became typical West Texas: flat, shrubby, brown, and unremarkable.

And that's the end of the road trip.

Decisions, decisions

Happy New Year!

The holidays gave Byrd the opportunity to re-side the back part of the house. We're finally ready for exterior paint! (OMG OMG OMG)

The only question is, what color? We're partial to the green one.

Dozer was predictably naughty at the vet, for his eyelid surgery. He pulled out the IV when no one was looking. The techs ran a new IV, with a special cuff to hold it on more securely, and he pulled that one out immediately. At that point they decided to wait until he was asleep before running the IV. Anyway, the surgery went great, and Dozer's eyelid is almost healed already. Despite the success, Dozer was a whiny, pathetic baby for three days afterward. He has to get the stitches removed in a few days... I suspect that will be the most difficult part of the whole affair. Sharp implement + eyeball + squirmy dog = disaster.

I couldn't have two more different dogs. Star thought her dental cleaning at the vet was an amazing vacation. I dropped her off in the morning and she ran off with the vet tech, tail wagging wildly and ridiculously huge grin on her face. She didn't even look back at me. In the afternoon, she came out of the back wagging her entire butt despite her groggy stupor; crashed into a wall, the door, and the side of the car (with the same giant grin on her face); and did drunken zoomies in the backyard before collapsing on a dog bed to sleep it off. The dental was well worth it--she no longer has breath that would cause buzzards to circle.

I hope you all had a great holiday season! Here's hoping 2011 is a good year.