Polygamist?????

Today we received an e-mail from our realtor with a document, "Title Commitment", attached. To me this meant that the sale of our house is moving forward until I opened the document and noticed that the title was in the name of "Carl and Susan Conger."

Carl called our realtor and said, "I'm pretty happy with Linda; I'd hate to have to go looking for Susan just to sell a house."

And, all kidding aside, our realtor will fix this and we are moving forward!

A Massage in Time. . .

I am one of those people who doesn't know how to relax and I keep all my stress in my muscles. Several weeks ago, I had such pain in my shoulders that I could hardly turn my head. I went in for a massage, which helped some, but I realized I needed more than one session. Since that time I've gotten a massage once a week and it has changed my life!

I am sleeping more soundly and I awaken refreshed, I've not had the disturbing dreams that I usually have, I've not had a headache or any other ache, and I have more energy.

I have, until now, thought of a massage as a luxury; I now realize that massage therapy needs to be an integral part of my mental and physical health care.

Going Once, Going Twice, Sold!

It appears that we have now officially sold our house! After being on the market for 2 years and having 2 contracts fall through two days before closing, one buyer back out 1 hour before the option period expired, one buyer withdraw the contract just as we had agreed upon a great price, and a plethora of "close-call offers", we are a little hesitant about getting too excited. However, we feel really good about this contract: the buyer is an investment company, they are paying cash, and they put up a sizeable amount of earnest money.

In the meantime, we are moving forward. We took our floor plan sketch to a designer who is drawing up the "real" plans. Friday we are meeting with a guy who will be clearing our property, pouring the driveways and installing the septic system.

I've heard it said that "good things come to those who wait" so Carl and I should have some extraordinary things come to us!

We're Going to the Dogs. . .

I took J.J. and Grover to the vet today to get their annual shots -- Grover has NEVER been to this vet and J. J. has only been once. However, both of them started trembling as we turned off of FM 306 toward the vet's office -- just amazing! I put leashes on both boys thinking it would be easier to manage them. Not so: the minute they got out of the car, J. J. tried to jump into my arms and Grover just ran around. So the leashes were hopelessly entangled. We finally got inside, got checked in, and sat down. After jumping around for several minutes, they finally settled down. Down the row from us was a HUGE German Shepherd who just sat their quietly -- I asked his owners if they would take my two to train for awhile!

Both boys are healthy; J. J. just needs to get his teeth cleaned (he takes after me -- I have to have my teeth cleaned 3 times/year!) and Grover tends to have a wax build-up in his ears that we need to take care of.

Eleven years ago, I had never had a pet and I never understood people who treated their pets like people. Now I am one of those people! Who knew?????

The Dogs Make Us Crazy

Well our two dogs that average less than 8 pounds are just nuts!
They are precious, but when we go out for a walk, always on leash, they have progressively been more aggressive, over time. When we first arrived at our RV site, the boys were cautious and merely growled at other dogs who were in the area (usually close to home). Now they (mainly JJ) go into attack mode whenever they see another dog, no matter how large. (JJ says RAWF!, RAWF!, and Grover says ruwf, ruwf very quietly) Recently, however, JJ has decided that he as every much as big and tough as the largest dawg on property.
So far this has been irritating to us and other dog owners, but also we have concerns that he may charge another dog who may decide that JJ is just another lunch.
Today, for example, JJ really got aggressive. When I pulled him back he slipped out of his collar and charged the other dog (who happened to be a 75-lb yellow something-or-other named Maxie who is owned by the RV park owners) and nipped the poor girl on the butt twice. The object of the attack was very frightened, and after I yelled at JJ he was also. After apologies, and appropriate chastisement we continued on our walk.
So, I think we will be more attentive to our dogs' attitudes and perhaps begin a new training program. Erck! We don't like misbehaving "children."

Lucky or Not?

On 07/07/07, we thought we had gotten very lucky in that we received an offer on our house. There were many positives about the offer: (1) the buyer has $50,000 in cash and pre-approval for $180,000 loan; (2) their daughter lives in Austin and they want to be closer to her; and (3) they had visited Horseshoe Bay and really liked it. There was a slight negative in that they had not seen the house in person -- only via pictures -- but their realtor didn't think that would be a problem.

Well, our "luckiness" disappeared as quickly as it came: we received an e-mail from our realtor on Monday saying that the buyers were withdrawing their offer because "they had a major family emergency which changed this into a bad time for them at this moment."

I feel bad for any family who has a major emergency; but, selfishly, I wish it hadn't happened right now. . .

A Wonderful Weekend

This wonderful weekend started Friday afternoon when my sister, Sharon, and brother-in-law, Maxie, got to the trailer. We went to Rio Mambo in San Antonio (our birthday gift to Sharon) and had a great meal and a greater time.

Saturday we started the day with an oral reading from "Jabbberwocky" from Sharon as we drank our coffee; it went uphill from there as we explored downtown New Braunfels, listened to music at Gruene Hall, and had dinner at Huisache Grill with our friends Bill & Susan.

This morning we got a call from Mandi (Sharon & Maxie's daughter-in-law) saying that they were leaving Boerne and, if we didn't have other plans, they would like to come over for lunch. We were THRILLED at this unexpected treat! We went to Janie's for a great lunch, toured Landa Park, took them on River Road, showed them our prospective housing site, and just had a great visit.

We actually had planned a kayak trip for this weekend but (1) the Guadalupe River was closed except for guided raft trips; and (2) the Comal was PACKED with tubers who couldn't get on the Guadalupe. We all agreed it was a good decision to postpone the trip.

We LOVE my family and we LOVE having them visit us!

Meeting New Family; Reconnecting with Old Friends

We've been in Phoenix, AZ since Thursday, June 28. We were a little concerned that our lungs (which have begun growing gill-like structures) wouldn't operated in such a dry climate, but they did!

We were in Phoenix for the biennial convention of the American Association of University Women -- it was a fabulous convention -- and we had some wonderful personal experiences outside the convention.

We had the opportunity to meet Carl's ex-wife's son (John), who she put up for adoption before she and Carl met. About a year ago, John's adoptive parents had died and Carl's older daughter (Veronica) had gotten permission from her mother to try to find him. They found each other and it's a beautiful story. Veronica and Erica are thrilled to have a brother; John is thrilled to have 2 sisters, a mother, aunts and uncles, a stepfather, etc. We had a lovely evening with John and his family and look forward to many more times together.

As I was perusing the convention program, I saw one of the workshop presenters was a person I knew but hadn't seen for at least ten years. She and I met in the late 70's, became good friends, and lost track of each other when Carl and I were in Oregon in the late 90's. I went into her workshop about 10 minutes before it was to start and said, "It's a blast from your past!" She was so shocked (she had NO idea I would be at the convention) that it took her several seconds to speak! Anyway, we spent several hours getting caught up and made plans to get together in the near future.

How special that human beings have an infinite capacity for love and friendship. . .