What Marian Needs. . .

This post is for my sister, Jen. She googled her name followed by the word "needs", and posted the top 10 results. Since I am such an unimaginative blogger, I figured I might as well do it too! Here is what I need, according to Google (all wise and powerful):

1. Marian needs a proper physician. ( don't I know it)
2. Marian needs a man (Edward's working swing shift this week, and I work days - I won't see him for 3 days.
3. Marian needs a hero.
4. Marian needs help. (This goes without saying)
5. Marian needs to prove that she is still valuable????
6. Marian needs a business loan, maybe.
7. Marian needs to deal with her coeliac disease once and for all. (Wikipedia says this is a disease of the small intestine - diarrhea, failure to thrive, fatigue - hahahahaha!)
8. Marian needs donations of money, food, clothing, toiletries. (All donations welcome!)
9. Marian needs to be known for something.
10. Marian needs. (Enough said)

SOOOOOOOO Sorry!

Okay, okay, okay, I'll update my blog!!! Sorry it's been so long - life has just been an absolute crazy mess since July - but a good one. Here's why I haven't posted in a bajillion years:

1. I got a job working at an elementary school as an instructional assistant for autistic kids. I hated it the first 3 weeks. Now I can't imagine life without someone autistic in it! ;) I sure love those kids - they are definitely chosen children of our Heavenly Father.
2. In addition to the job, I have 20 piano students, who I teach after school. I have a blast with these kids. We're having our very first recital in December.
3. Edward started school at UTSA (University of Texas at San Antonio) this fall, and he dominates the computer ALL the time (luckily, today he is off on some church service project and the computer is free).
4. Since my weeks are so busy, I have to do all the errands, cleaning, church calling stuff on the weekends, and blogging just isn't top on the list.

Despite all the busy-ness, we have had lots of fun moments. Here are some highlights since I laste posted:

The South Texas Corn Maize!!!

Edward's sisters and their families came out to visit for the weekend. Only in Texas do you go to a corn maze in the fall where the corn is STILL growing!

Cutie-pie (the niece, of course - hehe)

Fun with the fam in Idaho

Edwards (31st!!!!!!!!!) birthday

Shhhhh - don't tell him you know his age!

Out to eat at Tucano's in Orem


SOOOO Full!

The whole gang in Idaho


Yellowstone - we did this last year, too.

I promise I will try to post more often!!! Have a Spooktacular Halloween!

Secrets

It's time I told the truth. I have a serious addiction to Sesame Street. Sad, I know. I don't even have any kids. Below are some of the reasons I think it is so great. I mean, they get the best performers on that show! Watch and see if you don't get hooked too. . . .

Diana Krall

James Blunt

Marian saves the day!

Earlier this week while at work, I went to clean a few dishes. I picked up the scrub pad and found

THIS:

A GIANT scorpion!!!!!

Okay, so it wasn't exactly GIANT, but it was still almost 2 inches long. AND it was in the sink with the dishes. Having never encountered a scorpion before, I did what any sane person would do: I called my husband and begged him to come kill it for me (he only laughed at me and told me to kill it myself). So what did I do? I covered it with a bowl and tried to ignore it(of course, I dropped the bowl on it 'cause I wasn't about to put my hands down there). Boy, that made it mad! It's little tail curled up (see picture above) and it started hissing or whatever it is that scorpions do. So then I found some wasp killer and sprayed it with that. Didn't kill it (getting madder all the while). Finally, I threw a paper towel over it and mashed it up with a potato masher. I'm pretty sure that killed it. But not completely. It stayed still long enough for me to get up the guts to pick the mashed up paper-towel thing and throw it in the trash, at least. Phew! That was a close one.

Is There Anything Better Than Bluebell?????

So I might be considered a fanatic, but I am in LOOOOOOOOVE with Bluebell Ice Cream. Maybe I should marry it! So I thought today I'd share my "Ode to Bluebell Ice Cream" with ya'll!

Bluebell, oh Bluebell, I love you so,

From the Great Divide to Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.

Your flavors are so varied,

It's a good thing I married

A man who loves you as much as I.

Your founders were so clever,
I hope that I never
Disgrace them by buying generic.

So I'll grab myself a cow
And go eat some right now
You're the best thing since apple pie!
(which tastes great with Homemade Vanilla, by the way!)

Tagged. . . AGAIN?

Okay, here goes. And I WILL try to post more often, so my blog doesn't look like a haven for tags.

Four places I go over and over:

H-E-B

The library

The tiny gym in our apartment complex

The fridge - haha!

Four people who email me:

LDS Gems Daily Quote

Amy (okay, it's a mass mailing, but still it comes to me)

Bank of America low balance threshold warning

Julia

Four of my favorite foods:

Apple Crisp

Bluebell Ice Cream

Homemade Pizza

Frosty's

Four places I'd rather be right now:

Anywhere!!!

At my sisters' house (doesn't matter which one)

Camping

Sitting by the pool (technically I COULD do that one if I really wanted to, but it's cloudy outside - no fun in that!)

Four movies I could watch over and over again:

Enchanted

Raising Arizona

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (the black and white version)

Flushed Away

Four people I think will respond (this is a tag invitation):

Meagen

Christina

Erica

Karalenny

What We Found When We Took A Drive In The Country. . .

Castroville!!! Contrary to popular belief, this town is not populated by Cubans. Actually, we found this awesome state historical landmark (cleverly named "Landmark Inn"). Here are some pics of the coolness of this place.

Edward napping on a tree.

The Old GristMill (and Edward)



Huck Finn!!!

Marian practically falling into the river (those rocks were sharp!)

The Medina River Dam - gorgeous (the river of course)

We found yummy blackberries (Edward claims they're called "Dewberries", but I didn't see ANY dew on them). Is it illegal to eat food grown in a state park?

I got tagged . . . sigh.

Just kidding, Aunt S, I really am glad to do this. :)

I'm supposed to list 5 things that no one knows about me. This is going to be difficult. I'm quite transparent. Umm. . .

1. I am still homesick for Puerto Rico. Seriously, you'd think after 5 years I would get over it or something, but no, every day I still have little pangs for "mi patria".

2. I teach private piano lessons. Nobody knows this, because I just started. I just signed up my 5th student, and I have SOOOO much fun. It's exciting to be doing something that I'm passionate about again.

3. I make breakfast for my husband every morning. This is no small feat, since he leaves the house between 6 and 6:30 every morning, and I am SO not the morning person.

4. I jog 6 1/2 miles every day. Yeah, you wouldn't know it. But I do.

5. I have a hummingbird feeder(and 2 hummingbirds that visit it). This is as close to pets as Edward will let me get. I LIVE for these birds! ;)

Okay, now here's the part where I tag someone else. I tag. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sarah Jane (hopefully she reads my blog!)

Spring Fever!

So Edward's sister and her 3 boys came to visit us for Spring Break. Talk about a full house! I am glad they don't mind all sleeping in the tiny living room. They are really good sports. Here are some highlights from their stay:

The SAS Shoe Factory
It stands for San Antonio Shoe. Go figure. This is the awesomest place in all of San Antonio. I would recommend it to people before the Alamo. No joke.

Hey there hot lips!

Cute Momma and Cute Baby

The factory tour bus comes complete with SAS Shoe leather upholstery. Pretty cool! Isaac thought so anyway.

My precious new nephew. He's gorgeous, isn't he?

The Texas State Capitol in Austin.

The Austin city skyline (really not that impressive - Houston's is WAAAAAY cooler).

A tribute to the United States of Texas!

Just thought we needed a picture with the state senators from 2001.

My ONE WHOLE picture that I took at SeaWorld (my batteries died), and he's looking bored out of his mind. Amazing.

I am already scheming for an excuse to go see these guys again. We had a great time!

Dumb Dog

We had new neighbors move in upstairs yesterday. They have a dog. I really don't like dogs that much. This one barks at you from the balcony as you walk towards the building, and you can hear it clearly through the ceiling. We'll see tonight if it likes to bark while everyone's sleeping. I figure I can use it as leverage, though. This way the new neighbors will never complain about my piano, right? It couldn't possibly be any louder than that blasted dog. Sigh - I can't wait until I have my own house.

Free Stuff

So the military is great - everything is free. EVERYTHING. Our housing, the doctor, prescriptions, and my new favorite - SEA WORLD!!! Plus we get discounts just about everywhere we go. As long as we have no shame and are willing to flaunt our military-ness around, we can get a couple bucks knocked off just about anywhere we go. It's pretty cool. Here are a few pictures of some of our recent CHEAPO excursions:

The U.S.S. Lexington in Corpus Christi

It took us 4 hours to tour this ship - and Edward made sure we didn't miss any of it.

Selena Statue

Okay, the military didn't provide this one, but what person in their right mind would give up an opportunity to remember Selena?!? Plus it was free, too. If you're wondering about the weird angle, there was an old latina abuela with her granddaughter worshipping the statue on the other side. I had to wait until they weren't looking to strike a pose. I'm such a blasphemer. Selena Vive!

The Air Show at Randolph Air Force Base

This isn't Edward's base, just another of the bajillion military bases in San Antonio. Because we're military, we didn't have to wait in line, we just drove right into the base and parked on a random street and walked right into the show. It was AWESOME! And it was free.

Edward's Bum

Always free.

He's gonna kill me for adding this one! Heehee