Random Act Of Kindness

Man, this week is flying by. My cold is pretty much gone, so I'm feeling much better and I have my energy back - yay! And my week started off great when I received a special delivery at work - my fabulous Mom sent me a basket of flowers at work!!! She even remembered that I don't like pastels very much and specifically told them to put all bright colors and especially red in the basket! Thanks for being so great and being there on the other end of the phone whenever I need you, Mom!

OK, I think I experienced a HUGE Texas milestone the other day......I said "y'all" by accident!! I didn't even mean to and I wasn't trying to say it on purpose to be funny or trying to talk southern or anything - it just slipped out when I was talking to my new friend Jason on the phone. He's from a small town in Virginia, so he has a THICK accent - I guess it's starting to wear off on me since we have talked a lot on the phone in the last week. I'm not sure whether to pat myself on the back or to shriek in horror?!

House update: OK, this is getting ridiculous (I feel like a broken record!)...apparently the seller's realtor, the title company and the seller's bank all met yesterday at 2pm - to do what, I'm not sure, but they met. My realtor, Teresa, thinks this is all going to happen and that I'm going to get the house - but you know me, I'll believe it when I see it! I'm getting pretty anxious since it's now April and I'm paying prorated rent to have my stuff sitting in the Toledo house every day that the bank putzes (is that a word?) around. IMPATIENCE ALARM! IMPATIENCE ALARM! My tolerance level for this crap is going WAY down each day now....(Dandar & Danielle - EXTREME Lauri is out in full force - beware!)

A tidbit for anyone at the SeaGate Centre - I drive past the IAAM headquarters about 3-4 times a week while I'm staying up in Flower Mound. It's a pretty building in Coppell - right on 635. I had to chuckle when I saw it!

Random Texas Observations:
1. People here apparently don't call parking ramps, parking ramps. They are only parking garages. If you say "I parked in the ramp", they look very confused because they think you are saying you parked on the off-ramp from the freeway. PS - it takes a whole conversation to straighten out the misunderstanding. I know from experience.
2. You will hear some grown Texan adults (mostly women) call their Dads "Daddy" for their whole lives.
3. You have to take your car to a mechanic to get a "state inspection" (and pass the inspection)before you can renew your car tabs/tags and get the new stickers. Also - you don't put any stickers on the license plates like you do in MN & OH (I guess they have had problems with people peeling them off of cars and stealing them) - you have 2 big stickers that you put on the inside of your windshield on the driver's side.
4. The temperature can swing 30 degrees in one day and nobody bats an eye - that's perfectly normal here.

Update on Maggie: No update to report - she is keeping up on her doggie door skills and I get the feeling that she doesn't miss the snow and cold one bit!

Update on the job: Still really enjoying the job and the people!

Now it's a countdown until my Mom comes to visit me for a weekend on her way through the Dallas/Fort Worth area, heading back to Minnesota for the summer. I think she will be arriving next Friday! My first visitor!! Although we are probably going to get a hotel room since I don't know what's going on with the house - but who cares, my Mom is visiting me!