Single Women vs Single Men

Last week, I saw a quick clip on the Today Show about being Single. They talked to 2 women, one in her 40s and one in her 50s. Neither of them were against marriage, but had never found “the ONE.” They both seemed fairly good looking, personable, and had interesting lives. The point of the segment was how tough people are on women who remain single for one reason or another. The topic got my blood boiling when they mentioned rude things that people say or assume about them like that there may be something wrong with her or that she is too picky.

I was 30 when I got married, which is 5 years older than the national average and 8 years older than the Mormon average. I also have friends that got married in their 30s or haven’t been married yet. Plus, I have friends that have been divorced. One thing I have noticed is that there are a LOT of great women out there, but there are not a lot of great men. Don’t get me wrong, I love guys. They make wonderful friends (often better than women) and I am only attracted to guys, but they are putzes. I think lots of my female friends settled, not necessarily for a BAD guy but just not as great as they are. I also think lots of my guy friends got REALLY LUCKY. I can only think of a few cases of people I know where the girl married up.

It must be true. Why do you think there is so much talk about women having to whip a guy into shape? Or train him? Or change him? Guys really are loveable, but being with them is a lot of work. You have to find one that ignites enough romantic sparks to make the tough job worth it. Sounds like I am talking about a dog, right? (training, lots of work, loveable) Well, men are often called dogs.

For the most part, I think women who want to get married, but are still single just haven’t found one that is worth all the work. The relationship has to be special or the whole thing will just crash and burn. Single women really are just avoiding the whole headache of settling for the WRONG guy. I don’t think that means they are too picky. It just means they are avoiding a whole difficult phase that would probably end up in divorce. I say we quit picking on single women & start picking on single men who don't have their act together... Or we can learn to be happy with the many different ways people choose to live.

I HEART Mark Zuckerberg

Can I mention (just one more time) that I LOVE Facebook? I was able to catch up with another dear friend that I haven't seen in 17 years! She is even coming to town at Christmas & we might be able to meet up. I am so excited...I could just FREAK out! I guess this is the month when I declare my undieing love for someone I consider a KID - Mark Zuckerberg. He was born 11 years after me, but I am that thrilled about Facebook. **Yes, I completely realize how much of a dork this makes me.**

Family Photos

What could be easier than posting a few photos we had taken about 3 weeks ago? Nothing...so here they are. Yes, I am feeling lazy. Lazy enough that I haven't even mailed any to my family yet.

My Football Fans

We went to a football party on Friday to watch Texas A&M against the University of Miami. Since Steve doesn't have many Canes fans here, I thought it would be nice for the kids to go in support of his team. Should I mention that I hope our kids go to Texas A&M?

Social Networking

A few years ago I had a conversation with a friend about blogs, MySpace, and Facebook. I had a blog and she had joined MySpace. She told me that blogs seemed like too much effort. She also mentioned that very few people our age were on MySpace. After that, I have never really thought about social networking sites again. Since there was nobody for us to network with, what was the point?

That changed about 2 months ago when a friend of a friend sent me an invitation to join Facebook. I was quite surprised that she had my e-mail address, so I joined mainly to be nice. Oh yeah, I was also a little curious. I was immediately surprised by how many of the people I knew that had accounts. I had no idea what the next few months had in store for me.

As I have mentioned here before, I have moved A LOT in my life. I have made and lost touch with so many friends that I can’t even begin to count (or come up with names for the searches). I have really enjoyed finding and being found by friends. I have been able to reconnect with friends I had while living in Qatar 11-12 years ago. Just this week, two friends from different high schools and different states found me. I haven’t talked to either of them in over 17 years. I feel like I am just seeing the tip of the iceberg here and I am a bit sad that I didn’t know this before.

I am guessing that everyone who is into blogging and is reading this is thinking - duh! Over ten years ago, I was very frustrated that so many of my friends hadn’t jumped on the e-mail bandwagon. Now, I am very late in joining this movement.

A few friends have told me that they are afraid of losing their privacy. For that, I must say that you pick and choose your “friends.” I currently have two requests from people I don’t know and who will not be gaining access into my profile. On top of that, like a blog, you are responsible for the content in your own profile. Don’t share anything that you feel iffy about (perhaps your home address). I honestly feel like I put more of my personality and opinions into this blog.

If more people my age (mid-thirties) and older would just admit that it was great, then the rest of us would have joined sooner. Here I am admitting, actually declaring that I am on Facebook and there are LOTS of people (who are much older than high school or college kids) to network and reconnect with. To be honest, the older you are the more friends that you have and want to keep in touch with. It should be more for us (the over 30 crowd).

Not Normal Yet

Even though we are/were lucky, things are still crazy out where we live.

Two days ago, the grocery store shelves were empty, but people were lined up to buy anything they could. Last week, I didn't buy any perishable items. We went to the store on Monday figuring that most people would be buying ice and canned foods. We made the loop along the sides of the store and found that the refrigerated sections were 95% empty. I forgot that stores here don't have a back-up generator. They probably had to throw everything out. The only items on the shelves were from local companies like Blue Bell Ice Cream (my favorite). I went again yesterday because Jordan loves Yobaby yogurt and we are out. I'd say the shelves are back to 50%, but still mostly stocked with local Texas products (no Yobaby).

The gas stations have long lines, but nothing compared to other parts of Houston. We hear that most places have 4 - 5 hour waits. I haven't needed gas, but I've seen the lines and they don't go on for miles. I would say there are about 8 cars for each pump. I think people from other places are coming here.

Schools even in our area are closed the whole week, which means that kids in Lexi's class will be doing the whole first week crying again next week. Fortunately, Lexi was fine and will probably be looking forward to playing with the kids again.

Some neighborhoods around us still don't have power. People are buying ice and going out to eat a lot. We only know one couple that is still in the dark, but I'm assuming that they are staying with their daughter who has power.

Steve had to report back to work on Monday. His office didn't have electricity so everyone sat outside for about 5 hours just chatting. Suddenly, the big bosses thought it would be a good idea for them to head to Galveston to help with clean-up. Once they discussed it, plans changed. While that is a nice idea, it would have been better if they started that morning. By the time everyone would get down there, they would have to turn around because of the curfew. Steve's normal projects are in the Medical Center, which is still not letting most of the employees back to work. He was asked to take over a store renovation project for another guy who needs to focus on his house.

With all these upside down things going on, there is one good thing - the weather is GREAT! After a whole summer of 95+ temperatures & humidity, we're so happy that the high yesterday was only 79 with low humidity. It almost felt chilly. It is slowly going to increase, but will still only be in the mid 80s this weekend. I hope they are able to restore power to most people before it gets HOT again.

Still Laughing

Since all of our local channels are stuck on the aftermath of IKE, we've been missing out on normal things. I don't watch much television. I usually catch about 30 minutes of the Today Show, but even that isn't on. When the tv is on my husband watches ESPN or Lexi watches a kid show. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to hear about the Saturday Night Live Clip & had to search for it on google. This made me laugh, so I'm posting it:



I think that most people will find it funny, no matter which way they plan to vote. This is my big political contribution this year. Humor is the spice of life!

Lucky Ones

I just wanted to do a quick post to let everyone know we are doing very well. Our neighborhood was extremely lucky and only suffered minor damage (our property had NONE). We only lost power for about 15 hours. A friend who lives a couple of subdivisions away invited us over when they heard we were without a/c. They didn't lose power, so we were spoiled. We actually had a nice time there. Lexi loved it, because they have twins her age.

Some of my friends & their parents who live just a few miles northeast of us were not as lucky, but still did well. The older neighborhoods in Katy lost big trees, fences and a few shingles from their roofs. We spent yesterday helping. Steve helped the most of course. Lexi picked up a few leaves. I did only minor things because there wasn't any place for me to put Jordan down.

For us, besides the power (which isn't an issue now), phone service hasn't been very good. Calls only go through about 50% of the time. We're supposed to stick to text messaging when we can, but they have been taking over 2 hours to go through. If you have friends and family in the Houston area that you can't reach, don't jump to the worst conclusion. For now, we'll all be praying for them.

I'll post more later.

Hunkering Down

The theme for this hurricane is "hunkering down." That is what they are preaching on television anyway. In Miami, that is what everyone does normally. I guess here the tough Texans need to hear it repeatedly.

Tonight, I'll be sleeping in Jordan's room. I hope I get some sleep. I am only doing it because of a story I heard a few years ago. My cousin & her husband woke up after a night with a hurricane to find that a tree had crashed through the wall of their nursery and was sitting only inches away from their baby's crib. They actually slept through that! I am a very light sleeper, so I can't even imagine how it could happen. The story still bugs me though, so I'll sleep in Jordan's room, which is right next to Lexi's. Trying to sleep in high alert mode is always a treat.

We only have a few more hours before the eye makes its way onto land. Out where we live, it hasn't been bad YET. I haven't noticed any rain and the winds only started picking up around 4pm. Now (9:30 pm), they are really whipping.

The good news for us is that the eye looks like it will fly by to the east of us. Actually since the eye is 60 miles in diameter, I should say that the middle of the eye will be east of us. The eye wall might catch us (oh fun!). Back to the good news, we are NOT on the dirty side of the storm. Most of the spin-off tornados will hit the east side of Houston. I feel sorry for them, but glad they will not be attacking us.

The bad news for us is that they expect over 5 million people to be without power. This may be my last post for a while. More than internet, I'm going to miss A/C and all the wonderful comfortableness that goes with it. Second on the list will be cooked food. We do have a propane grill for some things. Hopefully, our suffering either doesn't take place or doesn't last too long.

Bye for now. I'll catch you all when I can. Thanks for the words of encouragement!

Ike Comes Closer

Still keeping an eye on the storm...YIKES! By the way, I don't think anyone here has hurricane shutters. In fact, I don't see many people preparing yet. Maybe today? They are talking about the storm, but acting like life goes on as planned. I guess I am used to Miami where everyone knows they will be bunkering down for a few days maybe more. We'll all be learning the hard way, especially if it hits as a Cat 4 like they were talking about last night.

In the Cone

This is the time of year when Southerners suddenly become a lot more interested in the Weather Channel and sites like weather.com. This past week, we've been tuning in a bit more often. See the little red star in the cone of Hurricane Ike? That is where we live.

Before living in Florida, I would have never guessed that I would actually turn to the Weather Channel and watch for extended periods of time. That just seemed boring. I am guessing that if I hadn't lived there I would still not be able to have it on for more than a few minutes.

Should I even admit that when I lived in Miami I actually wished for hurricanes and tropical storms to come near? I guess since I wrote about it on my blog back then, it isn't a secret. I didn't want them to damage any homes or hurt anyone. I mainly wanted the county to be scared enough to shut down. That was my only chance for a day off of work due to weather. Some of those days turned out to be quite pleasant.

Now that we are living in Houston, have kids, own a place (that I still need to get home owner's insurane for the interior on), and don't have hurricane shutters; I have can't see any personal benefit of hurricanes. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that I am working at home? That means that as long we have power & internet, I must work. I am definitely NOT going to wish for the power to go out. The temperatures are still reaching the mid 90s here. We would melt!

I know I have a laid back attitude about the storms, which isn't a good thing. In my defense though, it is a good balance to my husband. The worst hurricane I have been through was Katrina & Rita (in Miami where they hit as a Cat 1). My husband was living in South Florida when Andrew hit (Cat 5). He helped with the clean-up and re-building. Because of that, these storms seem to cause a bit of fear for him. He wants to go out and buy a generator, plywood or shutters, and all of that. I just make sure we have gas, water, and food.

...So, it looks like over the next few days we will be tuning into the weather channel. I just hope we don't make the national news because of the damage it causes. Oh & Jim, you seem nice, but feel free to stay away.

Who’s Your Daddy?

For some strange reason (most likely to get a little bit of a rise out of her parents), Lexi enjoys pointing at random men and asking, “Is that my dad?” She does it whether Steve is with us or not and in a perfectly serious mode. Of course, I prefer that she asks when he is with us. It can be quite embarrassing at times.

Like...when Lexi, Jordan, and I were at the Galleria mall having lunch. She pointed right at our waiter, who was Mexican (no signs of blonde genes), as he approached our table and blurted out, “Is that my dad.” Of course, I kindly reminded her that her dad was in a work meeting. I had to make sure that the waiter heard my response.

Lexi even does it to Steve. Yesterday, we were sitting on the steps at the water park when a family walked by. She pointed at the dad and asked Steve, “Is that my dad?”

He looked at me and just said, “I hope not!”

Then, I just had to say, “I am sure that guy wasn’t in Miami at the time.”

I must admit that it is kind of funny, even though strangers may feel sorry for the poor girl who must have a tramp for a mom.