Hunker with your Clunker

For those of you that own a home, you may understand the stress of keeping up with the dozens of bills, repairs, and upkeep of your house. Fortunately few of us have experienced the most stressful part of owning a home, failing to make our mortgage payment. This week First American Corelogic, a research firm that aggregates data, published a report on our current mortgage situation in America. The report revealed that more than 15 million (well actually 15.2 million, but what's another 0.2 million amongst friends?) American mortgages were upside-down as of June 30th. That is just over 32% of all the mortgaged properties in the US. That means 1 in every 3 mortgage holders! The report broke it down further into states, with the worst cases in California at 42%, Florida at 49%, Arizona at 51%, and Nevada at.... wait for it....a staggering 66%. If you read my previous post on July 29th, you will know how I feel about the government telling us we are out of the recession. We may in fact be out of the recession, who knows, but history has showed us time and time again that bank lending problems rise and fall with unemployment and are a key indicator of the economy. With that in mind, I am still cautious about the current market and still hesitant to make any big purchases... which brings me to my next topic, "Cash for Clunkers."

On the topic of stimulating our economy via consumer spending, I find it to be somewhat effective given the appropriate medium. However, given the amount of money each American received, $4,500, to put towards their new car, with an average purchase price of $15,000, well let's do the math. That means the average American
either spent $11,500 of their own money, or took out a loan for that amount. The latter is probably more likely which in my mind would create a bigger problem for the consumer, even if it helped the automobile dealers a little. The Commerce Department said today that consumer spending rose 0.2 percent in July, matching economists' expectations. Personal incomes, however, were unchanged. My concern is that consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of economic activity, may not be strong enough to propel a sustained recovery from this recession, the longest in history since World War II. In fact, some analysts worry that the country could be headed for a double-dip recession in which the economy resumes growing for a brief period only to fall back into a downturn.

I peronally plan to err on the side of conservation and try to "hunker down", if you will, on my spending. I fear the worst is yet to come and the unknown is just too scary for me.

Beef Stew, Potatoes, and Guinness

We returned home Saturday, safe and sound, after a unnecessarily long journey. We boarded our departure flight in Ireland at 12:00 noon (6:00 a.m. central time) on Friday morning and arrived in Katy thirty-one hours later. To make a long story short, after a diversion, three hour delay, cancelled flight and an overnight stay, let's just say I thought we would never make it home. With that being said, now I can tell you about the important part, our fun filled week in Ireland!

Whoever said the weatherman is never right has never been more wrong than in Ireland. Every morning the forecast predicted a "light rain" with "cloud coverage" and "sunshine." As ridiculous as it may sound, we had just that every day. The only minor flaw in the forecast was that I would not call the mist that floats down from the clouds "rain." It was absolutely breathtaking the way the rain actually floated around, weightless, the same way that snow does.

Day 1
We arrived in Dublin, absolutely exhausted, worst case of jet lag I have had to date. After an hour nap we ventured out onto the town, well sort of, it was 11:00 a.m., we were walking around half asleep like zombies, and most of the shops had just barely opened. We soon figured out how tired we truly were when we could not agree on anything to eat. Honestly, we had no idea what we wanted and we were both so tired that we didn't want to have to make a decision. We finally found ourselves staring at the McDonald's menu in shock at the 8 euro value meals (for those of you that don't keep up with exchange rates, that is the equivalent of $12). We could not bring ourselves to do it. We settled on a quaint little crepe shop called Lemon. With full tummies and a brief walk around the busy town center, Grafton Street, we decided it was time to head back to the hotel and get ready for our welcome event at the Guinness brewery. At 8 stories tall with a 360 degree view of the city skyline, a full dinner and bar, and the most unique building I have seen, the Guinness "Storehouse" was a great way to start out our vacation. We met up with some of Chris' colleagues and chatted about our trip and brief view of the town.

Although I would not call myself a "beer drinker" I found the Guinness to be surprisingly good. The Irish were quick to inform us that Americans actually store stout beers too cold. They should be served at 52 degrees and any colder would give them a bitter flavor. Many say that Guinness tastes best in Ireland, and I would have to say that I agree.

Day 2
We woke up early and jumped on a bus for our tour of the Irish country side. On the agenda was a trip out to a famous castle, a historic, an currently active Catholic monastery, and lunch at a local pub. The Powerscourt castle at the foot of the Wicklow Mountains, the original home of the Wingfield family for 350 years, was owned by the famous Slazenger family (you might recognize the name as a tennis label). Words cannot describe the gardens behind the home. Stretching over 45 acres, they are a blend of formal gardens, sweeping terraces, statuary, and ornamental lakes with over 200 variations of trees and shrubs. This is what I imagined Ireland to be like. Absolutely stunning!

Our next stop, "The Glen of the Two Lakes", or Glendalough, was an early Christian settlement, founded by Saint Kevin in the 6th century. The monastery, with its simple and austere buildings (notably the round tower and stone churches), remains in an impressive state of preservation. While at the monastery, I learned two important things about the early Irish settlements. Although 90% of Irish are Christians today, when they first settled the island, they worshiped the sun and the moon as their gods. If you are familiar with the shape of the Celtic cross, you will recognize how Saint Kevin incorporated Christianity into the existing pagan beliefs. I also noticed a certain dark tenting on the buildings, specifically in the mortar. Our tour guide explained that it was common practice to use Ox blood when mixing mortar rather than water. While this may not surprise some, I found it interesting nonetheless.

Our leisure lunch at the pub was a very typical Irish meal. Stew and potatoes with a pint of Guinness and a form of, what we call, apple cobbler for dessert.

Later that night we met up with two of our friends for some dinner and entertainment at Oliver St. John's Pub at Temple Bar. We all ordered fish and chips, another local favorite, sipped on some pints, enjoyed the live music and dancing, and finally headed home around midnight. It felt like the locals were just getting started on their night, but we were still feeling the jet lag.

Day 3

Another early morning with much of the same weather as the previous days, a light mist and a cool temperature. From our hotel we headed north, following the tour guide for a illustrative walk through the city followed by a bus ride.

Along the journey I admired the architecture and the ornate details that decorated each building, church, castle, and manor. I have always admitted that architecture is one of my "should have been"s in life. We oowed and awed at history of Dublin, the British influence and Celtic traditions, the liveliness of the people, and the booming economy. I could have, no doubt, done this every day of our trip, but I could tell after about two hours that Chris' eyes were glazing over... he needed food and some good ole Irish whiskey. We grabbed some tea and a bite to eat at a local sandwich shop then made our way across the river, Quays, to the Old Jameson Distillery. We were told by our tour guide earlier in the day to be careful should we venture north. The old Irish saying goes, "The only reason an Irish woman crosses the river north is to get her purse back." With this in mind, we were not quite as shocked as we might have been with the change in scenery. Nevertheless, when we arrived at Jameson, we were pleasantly surprised to see the crowd waiting in line to tour the distillery. We bought our tickets for € 13.50, wow, and waited 30 minutes for our tour. Chris was like a kid in candy store, literally. He was so excited that he could not make up his mind what he wanted to buy. Originally one of the six main Dublin Whiskeys, Jameson it is now distilled in Cork, although vatting still takes place in Dublin. With annual sales of over 31 million bottles, Jameson is by far the best selling Irish whiskey. After the tour and free tastings, we bought a few nice, tax free souvenirs and headed back to our hotel to shower and meet up with friends for dinner and a fun night out.

Day 4
On our last day in Ireland, we decided we had seen enough of the city, so we took the train south on the coast to a small town called Dun Laoghaire and ate at a beautiful restaurant, Ivory, on Castle Street. It was nice to relax away from the hustle and bustle of the city and be amongst the Irish without the tourists. The trip seemed way too short, but we had a big evening planned.

On our final evening, I really got to experience something I had not been a part of in awhile. When Chris and I first started dating in college I saw him succeed on a daily basis at all that he did, grades, intermural sports, work, and school organizations. Then we worked at the same company for our internship, and all I ever heard from Chris' boss was constant bragging. I feel like I know Chris better than anyone else, and yet it never ceases to amaze me the kind of impression that he leaves on people. His first year at ADP, a tough year on his company to say the least, the lowest number of attendees to the club in years and here we are sitting amongst people who have been doing this for 15+ years. I could not help but be so proud of his hard work. We were by far the youngest people on the trip from ADP which also made me more aware of how big of a deal this really was for Chris. After the recognition dinner and the celebration party at the Burlington Hotel we headed back to the Conrad, our hotel, for our final night in Ireland, and the rest is history.

Although it took me a few days of rest and writing this blog to realize how much fun we had, I recognize that this was a once in a lifetime trip. We couldn't have gone at a better time to a better place with better people. I am grateful for the opportunity we had, but more importantly I am overwhelming inspired once again by my husband's abilities in life. God has truly given him some amazing gifts.

There you have it, another notch on our belt, another 9,144 miles added to our life long journey together! Where will the road dare to take us next? Tune in to find out.. haha :)

Top of the Morning to You

Ireland here we come!

Chris and I are leaving for Ireland this weekend and are really looking forward to a week away with no worries. Up to this point we have taken trips to places we both have been anxious to see, but Ireland has never really been on our list of "Must Sees." Because Chris is such a hard worker and dedicated individual, he made the "President's Club" trip which is awarded to a select few at his work. As a reward for his hard work, his company is sending us on a paid, one week vacation to Ireland. Now that is what I call Go maire tú an lá!, or Congratulations!

I have not packed, and really have not planned out anything about this trip, which if you know me very well, or just a little probably, that is totally out of character for me. I have come to realize that I know very little about Ireland, its weather, the dialect, and what there is to do there. What I do know is that we will be drinking lots of beer, well Guinness, and doing a lot of sightseeing. The nice thing about this trip is that I don't feel like I have to get "the bang for the buck" and cram everything I can into the vacation, because we are not paying for it. Hallelujah!

I cannot wait to tell you about the trip when we return, our adventures with the leprechauns (just kidding), the blarney stone, the Book of Kells, the Castles, and the folk music... okay so maybe I have done a little bit of research...

Signing off, or as the Irish say, Slán go foill.

It all started with a mouse

When I was growing up, I, like most other kids my age, was a walking fantasy. I would pretend to live in a castle, cut my barbies' hair at the barbie salon, which never seemed to grow back, build a fort in the forest, hide from secret ops.... My imagination was loony, ludicrous, and unreasonable, but I loved it. My mom would anxiously wait to hear my latest story and listen in awe as I told her about my adventures. She always allowed me to feel alive through my imagination and never tried to deter me from such silly fun.

Today it is hard to fathom where that childhood imagination goes. Video games, movies, board games, and computers consume the majority of kids' time these days. Very little time is spent outside playing or inside a room without an electronic means of entertainment. It makes me wonder how this affects a child's development, both mentally and emotionally. Creativity and emotional involvement versus a reformatted detached game that requires little foreward thinking.

Speaking of imagination, in 1909, when Walt Disney was seven years old he was hired to work at the Kansas City Star newspaper. Did you know that later he was fired from the paper because of a lack of creativity. Years later The Disney Company bought ABC which owned The Kansas City Star. How strange that one of America’s best loved film makers was fired because he was "not creative enough". Just goes to show what little you can tell from a child and what huge potential they have.

In Walt's later years, when asked about his success as a film maker, cartoonist, and the world’s largest entertainment conglomerate, Disney replied, "I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse.”

The world we live in now would not even be recognizable to Walt Disney. Our children will not be able to play outside alone, or explore on their bikes until dark, as I did. How will we cope with this change? How will we ensure that our children have the imagination, curiosity, and mental capabilities that we have without being a robot that is plugged into an electrical outlet?

I for one am going to take this very seriously when we have children. The alternative is just too frightening.

ROR

Since today is Friday and this week has been really tough on me both personally and professionally, I thought we could all use a laugh. These pictures speak for themselves. Click on the picture to take a closer look. ENJOY!

Skeletons in the closet

There are many advantages to being the youngest employee at a company. The learning curve is steep, your colleagues are always well-mannered around you, and the experiences they have gone through can be used to nurture your development.

Today a colleague that has been with the company for 13+ years was reminiscing about some of our old customers, Goodyear Tire, Ford, and Kodak. He said the most interesting visit he had was when he went to Peabody, Massachusetts to the Kodak factory. When he got there he was in shock. They were burning cow bones to make their camera film. So as he is telling me the story I guess my jaw dropped or my eyes popped out because he stopped in the middle of a sentence. He said that wasn't even the best part, in 1999 the company bought over 80 million pounds of cow bones for their film production. Who knew Kodak had so many skeletons in its closet?

At first I was actually amused and maybe a little skeptical. Then it crossed my mind that with the new digital era, maybe the "animal sacrifices" were no longer necessary. I should have stopped and filed it away as an interesting story, but my curiosity got the best of me. Upon further investigation I now know that cow bones are apparently a frequently used, black market traded, highly sought after product on the market. Call me naive, but I honestly had no idea that cow bones are in Jell-o, Marshmellows, many different kinds of candy, and gummy bears.

I guess I grew up naive and sheltered, but part of me likes that. I feel sad when I see kids who have experienced too much too young. I'm just learning myself what the real world is like, and I am glad I could wait this long before I had to deal with reality. I can agree with Tobey Maguire when he said, "I might have some character traits that some might see as innocence or naive. That's because I discovered peace and happiness in my soul. And with this knowledge, I also see the beauty of human life." Perhaps this is a weakness that I have, or perhaps it gives me an advantage over others.

Two years at this company so far and my knowledge has expanded ten fold. How exciting and yet scary it is to think of where my mind could be ten years from now!

Don't drink the Kool-Aid

Each day I learn more about how strange the world works. Monday afternoon our friends delivered twin babies, both of them do not have a history of twins in their family and they did not participate in fertility treatments either.

This morning I turned on my computer and the first story my eyes were drawn to was about a village in Kodinji, India with 230 sets of twins. This is absolutely astounding to me. After centuries of research and medical support, doctors have insisted that the ability to have twins was based on one's genes, food habits, or age. The story in Reuters actually claims that the cause of the phenomenon is the water!

If this mystery if further investigated and scientists discover a cause, can you imagine the pandemonium that would arise? I hear that fertility treatments can be very costly, and the opportunity to have multiple babies without the help of a doctor could increase the world's population exponentially!

For those of you that do not know, twins are highly, let's say, "contagious" in my family and Chris's family. The chance that we may have twins some day, based solely on genetics, is very high. I have never been to India, never really plan to, but if I know that a plane so much as flew over India, I might be hesistant to board it.

Is this really a plausible explanation? How is it possible that this is isolated to the Kodinji village of India? I have no medical training, have not done any research on this topic, but my gut tells me this is going to have a profound impact on our society in the near future. Once again scientists will use their petri dishes to create something that only God was meant to touch, and next thing you know every country will be overpopulated like China and adoption will be free.

Okay maybe I went off the deep end a little bit on this one, but you have to admit it is a little scary. All I'm saying is "DON'T DRINK THE KOOL-AID."
(http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=drink+the+kool-aid)

My Clearance Puppy

This weekend I finally got a chance to watch the movie "Marley & Me." Even though I had been warned about the ending, I was still an emotional wreck, just boohooing and gasping. If you have not seen the movie you may not want to read any further... I have cried in many movies before, and in most cases a quick reminder from Chris that it is just a movie suffices and I return to reality. In this case, however, the reality was that some day I would have to say goodbye to my "clearance puppy."

Our little guy, Dusty, a.k.a. Boots, a.k.a. Dusty Boots, was born July 1, 2007 as a mix between a Pomeranian and a Chihuahua. The day we went to see him, we met at a Whataburger and were patiently waiting for the puppy to arrive when we saw an old '85 buick pull up. In the driver's seat was a middle aged woman wearing a t-shirt with no sleeves, no bra, and her granddaughter sitting in her lap. In the passenger seat was her husband, and yes, the puppy was in his lap. Chris and I got out of our car to go see the dog. The man placed the dog on the grass while the little girl tried to grab him. At this point, the 6 week old, flee infested, worm filled tummy, shaking puppy dog started to cry. I was overwhelmed and convinced that regardless of what Chris said, I had to rescue this little guy. I picked him up. He was honestly very strange looking and not at all cute considering his bulging belly, lack of hair due to malnutrition, and he was not even comforted by me when I held him. We offered her $50, she was asking $200, and she accepted $100. We immediately left Whataburger and headed to Walmart to buy... well who knows... we had no idea we were really going to buy this puppy.

2 years later I can hardly imagine not having him around. He lights me up when I see him and I know that no matter what kind of day I had he will welcome me at the door with a wagging tale when I get home.

If you have a pet that you feel the same about, you may find the following website to be interesting. The website describes your pet's personality based on their astrological sign. You will need to figure out which sign applies to your pet before you can figure out their personality. Let me know how accurately it describes your pet. The Cancer personality is RIGHT ON for Dusty. I could not desribe him any better.

http://shine.yahoo.com/event/pets/your-pets-personality-462598/

What's your "Jacob"?

The sermon on Sunday was about Genesis 32, and if you recall, in this story God changed Jacob's name to Israel, thus giving him a new identity. Jacob was literally defined by his name, a "heel grabber", because he was born after his twin brother. The take-away from this story is that we are all defined by things in our lives that are not Godly and we must change.

I find myself moved by this story, and mostly for the shear fact that I can associate with Jacob. I find myself wrestling God on a daily basis, just as Jacob did. I often challenge God, saying, "Why won't you let this happen? Why don't you want this to be part of my plan? Why did you take this away from me?"

I realize, and have probably always known, that there are a lot of things in my life that define me and constitute my identity. Without my job, my husband, my friends, my car, my clothes, my weekly television shows, etc, who would I be? Truthfully I would probably find myself feeling very empty. Is that not what God is trying to tell us?

A month ago I totalled my car, last week nothing seemed to go right at work, and who knows what will happen this week or next month to me?

We may not always like God's way of showing us that we are not focused on him, that we are not filled up with his spirit, that we are not living through his word, but if God's actions catch our attention then his goal is achieved.

What part of your life is defining you right now? Maybe it is your job, your possessions, or your physical appearance. Is it preventing you from seeking God daily and encountering him in every aspect of your life? Is it holding you back from having a peaceful heart or a peaceful marriage? Whatever the case may be for you, if you do not take action to correct it, God will find a way to show you.

On that note, I know that I have a lot I need to re-prioritize in my life. Work has become the center of my attention lately. I have to remind myself that I work to live, I do not live to work. My work ambitions and drive to be a successful business woman should not define me or put a strain on my life, my relationships, and my walk with Christ. I know whole-hearted that without my job I am still the same person, without the income we would still be happy, and without the career I would still be successful in my life.

Not everyone will understand where I am coming from on this matter. Some will not see the need to seek God first, so let me just say this... at the end of the day once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box, and from that box, as equals, God will decide who is worthy to spend eternity with him. I am grateful that we have a God that saves us from ourselves.

God desperately wants to change your identity!