One day at a time...

So many changes!

2010-09-21T11:48:00.004-05:00

Well here we are 2 months down the road. Our lives have completely changed for the better as well as adding new challenges day by day. Here are some pics of our beautiful Jesse in the last 2 months:

He is definitely growing more every day. We have been blessed!

Jesse's here!

2010-07-23T06:20:00.002-05:00

Jesse finally arrived on the 16th of July. This happens to be the day of The Virgin of Mount Carmel. He arrived via c-section after 37 hours of labor. We're incredibly blessed with a 8 pound 14 ounce healthy baby boy.

I'm going to save the details for Clarissa to post, but let me summarize my experience. This was the absolute worst 37 hours of my life. I didn't have to push. I didn't have to feel the contractions. I didn't have to deal with back labor. But I did have to watch the person I love the most in the world go through pain that I can only imagine. My hat is off to all the mothers all over the world, in particular, my two sister-in-laws and mother, who also endure labor without an epidural for pain or Pitocin to speed things up.

But as with most things in life, the bigger the sacrifice, the bigger the reward. I'm definitely in love with the little bundle of joy God has given us. I find myself dancing through my mother-in-laws house with Jesse in my arms. They say you can spoil a child by carrying him too much or by rocking him when he doesn't need to be rocked. I don't care. "Spare the rod AND SPOIL THE CHILD." I use that completely as an excuse because I couldn't leave him alone if I tried, and I'm not trying.

He's had the hiccups lately which is not surprising as he had them near the latter part of when he was in the womb. He's not particularly fond of them which means he cries when he falls asleep and then gets attacked by the vicious hiccups. Which in turn means that I get an excuse to carry my son and not look like the foolish doting father that I am.

You'll have to forgive me for not posting a picture. I don't know how, but I would probably leave that honour to Clarissa anyway.

Still waiting!

2010-07-09T22:36:00.002-05:00

Here we are 39 weeks and 3 days and still waiting.... We saw our midwife on Wednesday and she is says Jesse Jr will probably show up between the 13th and the 21st. I am hoping for the 13th :). I have found the trick to a semi good night's rest is taking a warm bath before going to bed. It definitely makes a difference!I walk into Jesse Jr.'s room every once in a while to make sure everything is just right, and realize how much family has helped in making Jesse's entrance to the world a little easier with hand me down furniture, clothes, and greatly needed advice. Although there were some things I bought for myself, there were many things especially clothes that were given to me by those who have had babies in the past. We are so thankful for people's generous hearts. Anywho...we'll continue waiting and will keep this updated :).

Tomorrow will be 39 weeks!

2010-07-05T20:14:00.004-05:00

And still no Jesse Jr! All the signs are there that things are moving along, the backaches, the not sleeping, the heartburn, and the constant discomfort. If I make it till Wednesday, we will make a final trip to San Antonio to visit with ALisa our midwife for one final checkup. I have finally stopped doing TaeKwonDo as I was way too sore afterwards to walk. I am walking every day for about 30 minutes, which keeps my hopes up that this will be sooner rather than later. Here are some pics from the pregnancy evolution...

37.5 weeks (a little over 9 months)

36 weeks (9 months)

35 weeks (8.75 months)

34 weeks (8.5 months)

32 weeks ( 8 months)

24 weeks (6 months)

This is me at 12 weeks (3 months).

Getting closer

2010-06-15T09:47:00.000-05:00

to our due date. We finally received our "birth kit" from our wonderful midwife, Alisa. It seems surreal that next month we will finally be parents. We are making the final arrangements so we can be as ready as possible. Physically, I can tell we are getting closer because my graceful walk has turned into a penguin waddle and it takes a while for my hips to cooperate with walking. Although I am still working out, my workout has been greatly modified. Fortunately, I only have to work until June 24th, and then I get a big break until the baby comes. Unfortunately, summer hours at a school district are 7:30 to 6:00, so most of the day drags. Thankfully, my baby is with me these 10 hours a day, andhe reminds me that the day is getting closer when I get to hold him in my arms by the soft kicks and turns in my tummy.

The stairs

2010-06-02T12:57:00.003-05:00

There are a flight of stairs that lead to our TaeKwonDo school. It has been our belief that unless you are handicapped in some way, there is no excuse for using the elevator instead of the stairs. So, unless I am moving a dolly or something with wheels that is impossible to carry, I have climbed those stairs every day since we opened in August 2008. This may seem like a trivial matter. However, I am now almost 8 and a half weeks pregnant and carrying over 30 lbs extra as I walk. Every day as I approach the stairs I think to myself, "Surely I can take the elevator." But I can't get it out of my mind that if I can physically climb those stairs without endangering my baby, then I have no excuse not to, even if I am completely out of breath at the top, or my calves are screaming at me. The way I talk about these stairs one would think it entailed climbing 3 or 4 flights, but no, its just one. So day after day, I refuse to take the elevator, just as I refuse not carrying things under 40 lbs. I refuse to stop my daily activity because I am pregnant. I have known many people who use different excuses (including pregnancy!) to slow down their activity level to being almost nonexistent. I have to admit I work out about 3 times a week now, and my run/jog has turned into a brisk walk, my head kicks, are now knee level, and I have resorted to doing girl pushups (with my knees on the ground), but I have not quit. And I don't plan to....unless I have to. So those stairs are my motivation to continue doing what I do, one more day, until I can no longer do so. And when I can't climb those stairs any more...then.....and only then....I may start using a cane. ;)

Maggie is Found!

2010-06-01T07:53:00.004-05:00

I had to admit, Jesse and I had lost complete hope in finding our little pal. After having lost her on Friday night/Saturday morning, we figured someone had picked her up and givenher a home. Well that was the case, but the kind people looked for signs and ran into one of our flyers last night. It just so happened to be Maggie's first birthday! It was heart breaking to pick her up becasue the little girl that foun dher had bathed her, fed her and obviously played with her. Her mother told me she had fallen in love with the dog over the weekend. Although their kindness was evident in their calling us, they were not very nice when I was at their house picking the dog up. I guess I would feel the same way if I had taken care of Maggie over the weekend and then had to give her up. Maggie is safely home and as happy as she can be. :)

The day is getting closer...

2010-05-31T16:19:00.002-05:00

We are getting closer and the days seem longer. The Kuhns' household has been busy building the nursery, taking care of rabbits, chickens, vegetables, a booming business, and trying to locate our lost dog. Maggie got lost on Saturday morning, after sneaking out of the backyard. Our guess is that she went out to play and probably couldn't find her way home. We searched high and low for her, to no avail. We pray that she comes home or that she has found a caring home to take care of her. Both Jesse and I miss her too much, but have accepted the fact that she probably won't be found.

I continue to grow a bit more uncomfortable everyday which is a good sign because it means Jesse Jr. is growing and getting ready to meet us face to face. He moves throughout the day and I am trying my best to stay active. I try to practice TKD at least 3 times a week, although I have to admit it is very difficult to do.

Jesse is extremely excited and looking forward to meet his son, as any expectant father would be.

Well that is it up till now, hopefully I will have a chance to post more later!

Our Farm & Cruises

2010-03-11T10:44:00.002-06:00

KuGar Farm is alive and well. Maggie has stopped eating our chickens for the time being. Our rabbits are doing well except the new additions, none of which survived. We went out of town for 2 weekends in a row and the first weekend it froze, killing 5 of 6. The second weekend killed the last little guy. Our other pregnant doe (Whitewithblackey) is due tomorrow. The bad news is we're headed out of town on Saturday for the week. Hopefully we'll still have some kittens (baby bunnies) when we get back.

Enrique (our brother) gave us 4 citrus trees for Christmass. All are doing very well. Three have produced dozens of these small, beautiful, and wonderful smelling flowers. The 4th has begun producing leaves again. It's a Mexican lime so I'm sure the Laredo heat will do it some good.

I mentioned earlier that we're traveling next week. Clarissa and I will be taking our first ever cruise!! We're headed to Cozumel and Progresso for the week. If you have any suggestions let us know.

Kittens (baby rabbits)

2010-02-26T10:29:00.002-06:00

Last night at 12:40 in the morning a heard a very loud noise outside our bedroom window. I thought someone had tripped over something in our obstacle course of a yard. I took the gun and flashlight outside to be rewarded with the birth of 6 new kittens. They are about the size of an almond rocha, bald, pink, and so ugly they're cute. We will be selling them in 5 weeks to help us recoup the ridiculous amount of money that I spend on my hobby.

I also finished a really tough workout today. It took me 13 min and 23 sec. I wasn't even close to the first one finished. We did 35 pull-ups, 400 meter sprint, 18 squat thrusters (a squat with a 45lb bar. when you stand, you thrust it over your head and straighten your arms), 800 meter sprint, 18 squat thrusters, 400 meter sprint, 35 pull ups. OUCH!! I have to do my pullups off a box because there's no way I can do 70 pull-ups in a week much less in divided into 1 workout!

I can't wait for tomorrows workout!

KuGar Farm!

2010-02-25T22:46:00.002-06:00

We've had quite a busy last two months here at KuGar Farm. I say KuGar Farm because our house has become a small ranch. My wonderful (if not completely willing) wife has acquiesced to my requests for chickens and rabbits. We also have an occasional cat, a handfull of a dog, and most importantly Jesse Jr.

I heard from a friend, at a restaurant I worked at, that his favorite meal was small rabbit wrapped in bacon and grilled. I figured it would be fun to raise rabbits and because they're significantly cuter than chickens, Clarissa would like them as well. The plan as of now is to sell the ones we can, and eat the rest. We own 5 rabbits, 4 of which are does, and 1 is a buck. When I bought them one of the does was pregnant so I was told. I promptly researched my new hobby. Notice, purchased first, researched second. It turns out that the doe was pregnant. Tonight, when we got home, our pregnant doe was running around her cage with alfalfa in her mouth building a nest. Within 2 days we should be welcoming conejitos to our farm. I've mated the other 3 does with our buck and should see quite a few more rabbits by the end of March.

The chickens were a little harder to get. Maggie went through 2 different groups of 5. She's a bird dog, and chickens are.......... birds. We're working on training her not to eat chickens. To do this we purchased a lame rooster that is called a bantam. Think 1/4 size of a chicken. He looks exactly like a white tiny rooster, but he can't walk, run, or fly. He does cockadoodledoo, but at a quarter the decible of our last rooster, which is still infinitely louder than our first rooster, which did not cockadoodledoo at all, but which Maggie killed. The idea was to let Maggie kill the rooster while we watch, then put a healthy amount of fear into her. Problem is, Maggie knows she's not supposed to eat chicken and so won't do it infront of us. I would abandon the project all together, but it brings me tons of joy to feed my animals in the morning, move the chicken tractor, fill their water, and watch them. Not to mention farm fresh eggs are undoubtedly the way to go.

As for the trees that my brother bought us for Christmass, they're doing very well. We used KuGar compost in the planting and they seem to be handeling it well. We did have a freeze that stripped our poor Mexican lime balder than my head, but he's got green shoots sticking out now.

One of the nicest things about the Mrs. being pregnant (besides Jr) is that my car HAD to go. With no AC in Laredo's heat, and our son being born in the middle of July, it was scrap metal. So, we just bought a new car in Houston and traded in the Tiburon. The Tiburon barely made it in to the dealership. People say that all the time I'm sure. Ours BARELY made it in. From San Antonio to Houston for just under an hour, our car struggled to hit 55 mph on the highway. It picked back up and rolled into the dealership. We did tell them that the Check Engine light was on and that they would want to check on that. I guess they didn't care too much because they gave us $1900 for a car we were sure would bring in $500 and not a penny more. Now we're driving around in style in a used Infinity QX56. If you need a new used car, I highly suggest texasonlinesales.com. We got ours for 14K less than Kelly Blue Book.

As for the most exciting part of the trip to Houston, we got to see our new nephew Santiago Jose. He's beautiful just like all the rest of the Garcia-Saenz clan. He looked a little hungry compared to his older brothers, but when you take into consideration that his biggest brother was in the 98th percentile of children, that's to be expected. Not to mention that there's zero chance that baby's gonna starve. Vero knows how to feed her boys!

And what about our little guy. This week Clarissa started week 20. According to her, Jesse is the size of a cantaloupe. We had a sonogram done on Wednesday and everything looks good. It wouldn't matter to us if he had 4 arms anyway, but it's nice to see two arms and two legs anyway. Clarissa's been a champ so far. She battled through migraines for a week or so and a terrible cough for about 2 weeks. Other than that, she's had a wonderfully woe free pregnancy. I can tell that she's constantly tired, but she rarely complains. I firmly believe that she's one of, if not the single toughest women I've ever known, and has fought through it like a champ.

Needless to say, we're busy, but happy. The Lord has seen fit to bless us and we won't fail to give thanks.

It's been ages...

2010-01-02T23:14:00.002-06:00

since my last post and there has been so many changes in my life that I decided to post before I leaped in the oh so busy life of a Kuhns. As all of you know, Jesse and I are finally expecting! On Tuesday I will be at 13 weeks. These last 10 weeks (since we found out) have been exhilarating. Every week we receive an update on what is happening inside me and we are just left speechless. As some of you know, we have decided to pursue a home birth. When I say "pursue", I mean that if the baby and I stay healthy, we will have the baby in our home with a midwife from San Antonio. As the new year begins, Jesse and I have decided to focus on preparing ourself physically, emotionally, and most of all spiritually to the best of our abilities for the baby's arrival. There is work to be done, but we have yet to meet a challenge too difficult.

KuGar is doing great. We have close to 100 students and we are still growing. We have been blessed with enough students to keep us running and making some money. As my maternity leave comes closer, our finances will be a bit tighter but I know God will provide.

Well this weekend is the last part of my winter break before Jesse and I go back to the real world. All I can say, is that I can get used to not going to work. I know being a parent is work, but it is very different to work for the love of a family, then it is to work for a paycheck. I look forward to my 12 weeks of maternity leave along with the sleepless nights, the poopie diapers, the crying fits, and everything else that comes with it. Some friends tell me that after 8 or 9 weeks they are ready to go back to work. Not me. No way, no how. I am using all of my maternity leave :). Starting Monday the count down to July will begin....before I get a long break to welcome the greatest miracle known to men....Life.

Chuck Norris, move aside

2009-10-27T18:44:00.002-05:00

Students : "1...2.....3.... MASTER JESSE!"

Master Jesse: "What are you two doing?"

Students: "We're playing paper scissors rock. And Master Jesse beats everything!!!! It's cause you're too faster!!!!!"

Brain is still mush

2009-09-08T21:04:00.002-05:00

I am sitting at Starbucks, trying to fend off a crushing headache. I am not sure if my body has had too much caffeine or not enough, but these headaches have gotten more frequent. I am not sure about how I feel about the test. Bottom line if for some reason I don't pass, I will just have to muster the strength to study some more and take it again. I think my biggest worry is having other people find out that I didn't pass. Ask my husband and he'll tell you its because of my unending need for approval. I think that comes from being part of an over achieving family and being female at the same time. It's gotten me this far, so I can't complain. God willing, I will pass this thing the first time around and I will be one step closer to getting that little blue paper. Its 9 at night, and I feel like its 1 in the morning. I feel so tired. Work has begun picking up and so my brain goes non stop from 8am to 10pm. Have I mentioned I really enjoy my lunch breaks? hehe. Well, I am afraid I am going to stop for the night, I am tired and I am ready to go home and just be a wife. (cue THe Woman With You by Kenny Chesney)

She hit the door 6:55 sack full of groceries split down the side.
Can goods scattered all the way to the curb.
Look on her face saying don't say a word.
So, it's me and her and a can of beans sitting there on the front porch swing.
Western sky all turning red.
Head on my shoulder she sighed and said:

Been gopherin, chaufferin, company chairmen.
Coffee maker, Copy repairman.
Anymore there ain't nothin I swear man that I don't do.
Been juggling, struggling, closing big deals.
Dancing backwards in high heels.
Just when it feels like i can't make it through.
She said it sure is nice to just be the woman with you

She said the girl I was with the business degree probally wouldn't recognize me.
I was going around the bank.
I was going to run them out.
Now all I want to run is a bubble bath.
Back then you know I had this plan.
Before all of this reality set in.
Here comes life boy ready or not.
Hey I wanted it all and thats what I got.

Cause I'm gopherin, chaufferin, company chairmen.
Coffee maker, Copy repairman.
Anymore there ain't nothin I swear man that
I don't do.
Been juggling, struggling, closing big deals.
Dancing backwards in high heels.
Just when it feels like I can't make it through.
She said it sure is nice to just be the woman with you.

She said I'm gopherin,chaufferin, company chairmen.
Coffee maker, Copy repairman.
Anymore there ain't nothin I swear man that I don't do.
Been juggling, struggling, closing big deals.
Dancing backwards in high heels.
Just when it feels like I can't make it through.
She said it sure is nice to just be the woman the woman with you.

La, la, la, la, la, la

The woman with you

Brain is mush

2009-08-31T20:15:00.002-05:00

I am sitting at the Starbucks in Laredo, answering countless practice questions for the EPPP. My brain feels like mush. So I have decided to take a break. I had been thinking about posting regarding one of my ipod playlists. I rarely have time to listen to ipod using headphones, but I have a nifty cord taht plugs my ipod to my truck and I can hear my music. One of my playlists is called Power. I listen to this playlist when morale, self-esteem, hope, or motivation is low. Sometimes its nice to listen at the end of my day in the middle, if its "one of those days". It is a mixture of all kinds of music, from Country to Oldies to Rap. I did want to share what pumps me up.

Worlds Apart - Jars of Clay
Remember the Name (clean version) - Fort Minor
I Believe (Love will find a Way) - Blessed Union of Souls
The Impossible - Joe Nichols
Word of God Speak - Mercy Me
If you're going through hell - Rodney Atkins
Angels Among Us - Alabama
Forgive - Rebecca Lynn Howard
True Colors - Save the Last Dance Soundtrack
You Gotta Be - Des'ree
Home - Chris Daughtry
Gabriel's Oboe - Ennio Morricone
Baby Girl - Sugarland
Dust on the Bottle - David Lee Murphy
Summer of '69 - David Lee Murphy
The River - Garth Brooks
The Woman with You - Kenny Chesney (great after a long day at work)
This One's for the Girls - Martina McBride
I'm Movin' On - Rascal Flatts
Lose Yourself - Eminem
Fighter - Christina Aguilera (I listened to this on repeat during dissertation time)
Ditty - Paperboy
We Bleed Maroon - Granger Smith
Ten Thousand Angels - Mindy McCready
Unanswered Prayers - Garth Brooks
Flood - Jars of Clay
How Far - Martina McBride
Where is the Love - Black Eyed Peas Feat. Justin Timberlake
The World's Greatest - R. Kelly
Time of Your Life - Green Day
Abrazar la Vida - Luis Fonsi
Ain't no mountain high enough - Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
No place that Far - Sara Evans
Little Wonders - Rob Thomas
Shifting Sand - Caedmon's Call
Testify to Love - Avalon
Ms. Independent - Ne-Yo
El Duelo - Ley
Unto You - Shane Bernard
I Can Only Imagine _ Mercy Me
Stronger - Kanye West
Glory of Love - Peter Cetera
I Survived You - Clay Aiken
I'm In a Hurry - Alabama
You gotta be - Des'ree (yep its in my playlist twice)

Sometimes I forward to a specific song and other times, I just let all of them play. Each one has a different meaning to me, and allows me to just let go. Anywho... just figured Iwould share a bit of myself on my break. It is times like these I think to myself that I should have been a teacher. :)

Interesting start...

2009-08-21T14:39:00.002-05:00

The school year has begun, for me at least. I began work last week, but kids don't return to school until Monday. This gives up some time to get ready and situated before the the year picks up speed. I haven't posted many pictures, frankly because I have taken many and when I do, it takes about a month to get them to my computer...and I don't post very often. So we will have to get used to the narrative version until I have a bit more time on my hands. KuGar turned one year on Aug 1st, and we celbrated by having a nice big shindig at the Community Pool and Pavilion. We had over 100 people attend, so it was deemed a success. Work ahs been pretty calm which gives me some study time for the EPPP. I really didn't get studying 4 hours a day, when I was supposed to. It worked for about a week, and then I would revert to "I still have time" Well that time is running out, and I had to move my test back one week. I am now studying almost every waking moment. I don't go to KuGar except when I need to teach which is twice a week. I spend most of my afternoons sitting on a green couch at Starbucks, pouring through my licensure books. I am on the last volume of books, so then it will turn into practice test time. I have 16 practice tests I need to take and review. The only problem is that each test is 4.5 hours long. Ugh. Oh well. Well, time to study before I go home. Hello and goodbye to all. I know many of you have quit reviewing my blog because I sledome post, but thank you to those who check in on my every once in a while. Love you all!!!

Tournament Finale & New beginnings

2009-07-08T17:14:00.002-05:00

Well the tournament came and went, and we are back to our scheduled programming ;). Not all of our students placed but for many of them it was their first tournament and although I usually wouldn't recommend a tournament this big to serve as a "first tournament experience", having it here in Texas was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Our kids fought hard and in the end came home with a great experience. Our medal count was 5 people, 2 golds and a bronze. Congratulations KuGar Fight Team.

Okay so I have been putting off my licensure test far too long, and it is time to get down and dirty and check it off on my "to do" list. So my plan is this: Beginning tomorrow, I will put in 4 hours of study time in one sitting on a daily basis. Saturday and Sunday I will put in 6 hours of study time. I just applied for the examination and I will have to take the test within about 65 days (60 from the day the payment goes through). That gives me two months to get this thing out of the way. I have postponed it long enough (I should have taken it in March). Wish me luck, and pray for me.... I need it!

I ask all of you who read this (about 3 of your :) ) to take some time and please donate to a worthy cause. The brothers of St. John here in Laredo are working on beginning a Catholic Campus Community center at TAMIU. For those of you who went to A&M it would be similar to St. Mary's. Of course, it is a big plan and I have seen the proposal and let me tell you, it is beautiful. I ask you to take some time, and send $25 to the cause. The website is www.newmanclub.us . All they ask for a small donation and together we can get this going. For those of you in Laredo, think of the need for a strong catholic community for the University age group. For my fellow Ags, remember how nice it was to walk over to St. Mary's for Daily Mass or the famous Aggie Awakening. Please help us make this possible for Laredo. If you would like more information, please give me a call!

Till the next time!!!

The Best Worst Fight

2009-06-30T21:52:00.002-05:00

Today I witnessed the best, worst fight. We had Day 1 of competition at the USA Junior Olympic Championships here in Austin, Texas. We brought five fighters, one who fought today, two that will fight tomorrow, one thursday and one on Sunday. The little girl that fought today showed me something that is taught indirectly and not often tested to its fullest sense. This poor little 10 year old girl had gotten a mixture of car sick, nervousness, and motion sickness on her way to Austin. She threw up a couple times in her car, and struggled to eat anything before going to bed. Even when registering at the competition venue, she was teary-eyed, and looked lifeless. Her mom, Jesse and myself felt like it was nervousness before her big day, although she hadn't gotten sick the last time she competed. The following day, she looked like she was not feeling well. She still hadn't had anything to eat, and her stomach was cramping every time she tried to swallow. She competed in forms in the early morning. Although she didn't win she tried very hard and her form looked very good. There was a 3 hour break between the forms competition and the sparring events. We tried to get her something to eat, but she kept on having crying "episodes" and complained of a stomach ache. Jesse and I talked about having her not compete. We decided to leave it up to her. We told her mom to tell her, if her ache was due to nervousness, she had to fight. If the ache came from being physically sick, she could bow out, and try next time. Her mom thought that was a great idea. About an hour later I received a text that she was on her way back to the venue to fight. When I saw her she still looked weak, but she looked like she wanted to try her best. As the sparring event got closer, she had managed to eat a quarter of a banana. Her stomach was still cramping and she was not feeling well. I asked her, "Do you still want to fight?" and she answered, "Yes". I asked her "Why?" She answered, "THere are three reasons why I want to fight. 1. I want to kick Stephanie's butt, 2 I love to spar and 3 my mom spent a lot of money to be here". Stephanie was the girl that beat her last time at the regional tournament. As Jesse took her out to the ring, he said to her, "Okay this is it, if you decide to fight, that is great, but there can be no more crying until after the match is over. You can still decide not to fight if you don't feel well." She said " I do want to fight". Jesse then told her " Okay then, but I might stop the fight if I feel that you are not fit to continue." She replied "Yes sir" Well she fought like a champion. In the first round, she got scored on 5 times and wasn't able to score a point. A full minute went by and she endured. During the 30 second break, Jesse coached her a bit about her technique. This little girl took deep breaths to try to make the stomach ache go away. She went in for round 2. She wasn't able to score any points, but no points were scored on her during that round. At one point, she got hit in the stomach and she fell to the ground, cradled to her tummy. The medic went out to help her, and after a minute she stood back up. She continued through the second round, trying to stay focused. At the end of the second round, there was no energy left in her poor little body. She had endured pain, fought through it, and branded herself a fighter by persisting. Jesse asked her before the the third round if she was ready to fight one more round and she answered, holding back tears, "Yes sir" He asked "Are you sure?" She answered "Yes sir" So he told her, "Then go out there". As she walked to begin the third round, Jesse alerted the Referee, that she was not going to continue. The referee awarded the win to her opponent. TO become a champion, it doesn't matter how many golds you win, or the number of points you score. A champion is when you have nothing left, and you find it in you to go one more round. Its striving to do your best, no matter what. Chloee, you defined what it is to be a FIGHTER and a CHAMPION today, and may you never lose that fire you have within you to fight for one more round.

Coming to an end

2009-06-23T18:42:00.002-05:00

My first year as a fully functional school psychologist is coming to an end. My year contract will be ending in 2 days to be exact. Phew! It was a good year, full of new adventures, some good, some not so good. Now i have a month and a half to sit back and relax. Well not really, KuGar is still up and running and I will be teaching some private swimming classes so that should be fun. I would be posting more often but my computer has been out on sick leave for a while, and should be on its way back to me tomorrow (with a new 500 gb hard drive!!! gotta love macs). So I get to write when I have a break at the TaeKwonDo school. KuGar is off to its own adventure this Sunday as we travel to Austin for National Championships and Junior Olympics. We are taking 5 people to fight and the tournament lasts all week! Jesse and I are excited to see my bro, sis-in-law and our beautiful Goddaughter, Mini Roxy!! I will give you an update at the end of each of the tournament days. Life is good in Laredo, hot...but good. It will be nice when we get to wake up a bit later next week.

In other news, KuGar had its third belt test this past Saturday. It went wonderfully! we had fewer people testing this time around because all of our green belts and up were not eligible to test until September. It only took about an hour and a half, so that was a nice change. That afternoon we had Larry and Erica's wedding to attend! Talk about a looong day. The ceremony was very nice and Jesse and I danced the night away at the reception. We wish them the best as they embark in the adventure of a lifetime. Well until next time!!! Ciao from the Kuhns!

Last published in February

2009-05-21T22:09:00.009-05:00

Its has been a long time since I posted, February to be exact and there have been many changes in the Kuhns residence. First of all, Jesse tested in Vegas and we got word that he received his 4th Dan from Kukkiwon. Although he applied for 5th, we were informed that all applicants who passed were given a Dan less than they applied for. Most did not pass, so I am fortunate and very proud of Master Jesse. What this means is that he is now able to provide Kukkiwon (Korean) certification to any person who passes our black belt test.

I tried to upload a video, but wasn't successful, maybe later.

Here is a snapshot of his test. 300 tested, about 20% passed. Congrats Jesse! You made us all proud!

Spring Break came, and Jesse and I decided to take a camping break at good ol' Casa Blanca Lake. It was quiet, nice, and I got to eat sm'ores.

Then came the KuGar Lock In where we keep kids at the TKD school all night long. It went great as it did last time. However, it took all that we had to stay awake. Some of the kids didn't make it though...

Then Easter came, and we had a blast at Tia Lucha's house. I have never seen my mom laugh so hard, or in so much pain. Yup, after a day of fun, she fell and broke her right arm, and left wrist. Poor baby. She is recovering now.

We then moved into our home, Pictures will come later. The house is almost finished, we need to paint one bathroom and our doors, everything is great!

Austin National Qualifiers came, and the Kuhns Klan went to Austin. Thankfully we got to see our God daughter for a little while we were there.

We had 4 competitors, and 5 medals!!! We have one student missing from the picture, but they did great. If you You Tube Search Lauro Lopez, you can see his fight, which ended with a knockout.

We have been living at our new home for about 3 weeks, and everything is going great. We have a lot of space and not too many things to place in it. We will get there soon enough. You will eventually get some pictures.

I haven't been able to practice in a couple of weeks due to extreme shin pain. I finally caved in and got myself checked. Well, my little shin splints turned into the beginning of stress fractures in my right shin, and my left isn't too far behind. Prognosis? We'll see. I have another X-Ray planned in three weeks. If there is no change or worse change, he mentioned some kind of bone or CT scan, whatever that means. Until then, no exercise, no stairs, no walking for exercise, no heels, arch support inserts in tennis shoes, and definitely, no kicking. Jesse and I knew the pain was pretty severe to be just shin splints, at least we have some sort of treatment.

Until the next time... Love from the Kuhns!

And we're off!

2009-02-12T22:49:00.002-06:00

Well I am off to Vegas, baby! I am meeting my hubby who has been there since today. It turns out Jesse was approved by the Korean board (Kukkiwon) to test for his 5th Dan (Degree) Black Belt. The test is actually on Sunday but he had to register today and has to attend a Seminar Friday and Saturday. So of course we make a weekend out of it. Thats the update on the Kuhns.

I have to say that I miss my husband a whole lot. I realize that throughout my busy life, just the knowing that he is there is very peaceful and reassuring. WHen he's not a car drive away, my heart is restless. All marriages have their ups and downs. And it really feels like a never ending roller coaster. Some drops are scary, but you got to raise your hand to make it worthwhile. The climbs back up are slow, but once you pick up speed, they are very fun. Well, Jesse and I saw a movie together named Fireproof. It stars Kurt Cameron (Mike Seaver from Growing Pains) and it is about a marriage. Its about choices. I have to admit that the acting is not really Oscar worthy, although some of the characters are very funny. But the message is striking. Jesse and I measure the worth of a movie if it lingers in your head days after. If it is forgettable, its not very good. If it makes you think for a couple days after you've seen it, its pretty good. Well its been over two weeks, and I still think about it almost daily. Jesse and I talk about it pretty often. And its made us a better couple. Must be one heck of a movie, huh? Jesse and I often talk about friends of ours who are thinking about or getting close to engagement or marriage. Not that we are veterans by any means, but its almost as if those who are married are on P-staff, and they know something those who aren't don't. One of those things is the first topic in our Pre Cana class. Love is a choice. I can choose to tell Jesse that I can't stand when he does X or I can choose to smile, and turn my head the other way when he does it. I can choose to tell him something he did wrong or I can choose to either fix it for him or when not possible, admit to myself that I too make mistakes. Its all about choices. Well, its a great movie, but be sure to take the kleenex box with you. On another note, if you did enjoy it, be sure to look at all the special features of the dvd. They are great!!! Some are some crazy facts such as all of the actors were church volunteers! Crazy huh? Anywho. Go rent it, tell me what you think.

Did I mention that I miss my Jesse? :(

Hey Obama, Can I Live?

2009-02-02T18:03:00.003-06:00

Nick Cannon, a prominent actor/rapper and Mariah Carey's husband has something to say...

Have you heard?

2009-01-14T21:19:00.002-06:00

We have had 15 new members this month and January is not even over!!! The best part? Two of the parents that sign up their multiple kids responded that they heard from someone that goes to a different school that they heard that this school was great and they can't get out of their contract to switch over. Another parent told me that their coworker heard that this as the best school in town.

Way to go KuGar!

new tile, Installing a pool, new furniture, and hollywood

2009-01-11T12:54:00.006-06:00

Howdy! Its only two weeks into the year and so much has been going on. First off, the tile is finished and here are some pics.

So there is a new tile, and as some of you heard, we decided to install a pool. Inside the house. Okay maybe we didn't decide to install a pool, but a rubber hose in our bathroom sprung a leak and proceeded to leak water covering about half of our house. Thankfully, we had nothing in the house and the water damage specialists made it in from Alice in about 2 hours. They got the water out and the following day, the whole place (including walls) were dry. We are waiting on the damage to our wallets. About three days before the leak, Jesse and I decided to get new furniture. We ended up getting a really nice set from Ashley, including the coffee table, and two end tables.

Lastly, I wanted to share a new blog of sorts that I read almost daily. Its called Big Hollywood and its put out by Breitbart.com. Big Hollywood is an outlet for conservative, writers, producers, and actors who are the minorities in their profession. As in all blogs, there are good ones, and there are bad ones. What I like about it is that it gives me hope that there are people out there in Hollywood who are trying to get their word out. People who are hoping we can turn it around. Or at least admit that there is a problem. Check it out.

Until next time :)

It's been 3 years

2008-12-30T12:39:00.003-06:00

since we have said our vows at St. Patrick's Church. My love, it has been a roller coaster these past three years, full of changes and new beginnings. I have to say it has been a pleasure being able to hold your hand as we lift our arms to enjoy the flips, loops, and drops of life. Our marriage has been like Space Mountain, we never know when the next loop or flip will come but as long as you right beside me, I know we can gt through anything. Here's to many more by your side!

Someone mentioned...

2008-12-28T18:59:00.007-06:00

I don't post very often....so I thought it would be nice to post some pics of what has been going on in good ol' laredo.

First off, we finally have tile in our new home, but I haven't taken pictures of it yet. So here are some before pics of our house.

So we finally have tile in the whole house. We need to paint two walls and one bathroom. Next are the base boards which we need to sand and repaint. Lastly, we need to power wash the outside to take the chipping paint off and repaint. Slowly but surely we are getting closer to the move in date which for now is presumed to be some time in February.

The Garcia Gonzalez and Kuhns Garcia families spent Christmas at Tio Poncho's house and although we didn't take many pictures, we did get a chance to snap one with Santa hats on. We had a lot of fun, but as always we did miss our Austinite and Qataries from making it a real Christmas! We did see the Garcia Ibarrola's before they left to the In Laws to spend Christmas eve. We exchanged gifts and had a great time!

Next we had the baptism of our new Goddaughter Roxanna Maria at St. Patrick's church. Fr. Mary David from the Brothers of St. John Congregation presided andhe gave a beautiful homily on the welcoming of a new member to the Body of Christ.

And today, has been a nice and relaxed Sunday. This morning Roxanna's father and wife came over for some barbacoa for breakfast. Once they left we kicked back and rocked and rolled to good ol' guitar hero. We even got my mom and dad to jam out! My mom's face is priceless!!!!!

Well folks, from our family to yours I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and have a safe and fun New Year! A special shout out to the Rose family and their beautiful two new sons!! And another very special shout out to our Qatary family whom we miss very much and can't wait to spend next Christmas with them! We love you and miss you.....

Kuhns' update

2008-11-25T21:52:00.002-06:00

So its been a while since I have the updated on the blog and its partially due to our extremely busy schedule. Its Tuesday night an d we have a long break from both works because of the Thanksgiving holiday. Our routine doesn't change too much which leaves little room for flexibility. My niece was born on November 4th and Jesse and I have ben asked to become Godparents! Totally exciting! She is adorable and looks like both of her parents. It is quite an honor to be the first granddaughter/niece. Speaking of babies, we ask for your prayers as Jesse an I try to start a family of our own. Sometimes its hard to remember that our time might not be the same as God's time.

In other news, KuGar is going great!!! Not only do we have over 60 members, but we are enjoying every minute of it. We currently have two students with special needs that reminds us that TaeKwonDo is for everybody! We are also seeing significant positive differences in some of our students' behavior.

We spend our weekends at the new house painting/sanding/taping as we continue to prepare our future home. This week we will be spending in Austin for the Garcia Ibarrola family and hopefully find some good special for Black Friday! I wish everyone a safe and fun Thanksgiving!

Overheard

2008-10-21T17:37:00.002-05:00

"My family has never been this united" -Father whose entire family (himself, wife and 2 kids) take our family class.

"Master Jesse is like lighting!" - Student in the adult class (who happens to be 9 years old)

"This is exactly what I was looking for" - Student at our "after tournament" dinner.

"My son has never stuck with something for this long" - Mother of a student

"I had a shower to go to but my daughter begged me to come to TaeKwonDo today, so I told my friends 'My children come first'" -Mother of a student

"For the first time, my family can do something together without tv, phones, work or school." - Family class member

"TaeKwonDo is a priviledge for my 3 kids, they don't want to miss, so they always behave." - Mother of 3 students

Long time no see.

2008-10-06T22:25:00.002-05:00

Its been awhile since I had the time to sit back and write in this il' thing. I would be surprised if anyone still checked it, but it would be a good idea if I updated it anyway. We we are in October now and life has change a bit since I last wrote. KuGar TaeKwonDo has been going fantastic! We had our first belt test and 33 people tested!!!!! Craziness! I was told by a parent that he was glad he got to spend time with his family practicing TaeKwonDo away from the hustle and bustle of daily life. That is just a glimpse as to why we do what we do. About 4 weeks ago I began suffering from shin splints. Now I know the word "suffering" is pretty strong but it definitely describes what I was feeling. I took two weeks off and tried to continue working out to come to find out, I hadn't rested nearly enough time. I researched shin splints every day and just figured I would have to just give the working out and heels a rest. Today I am pain free but we will give it one more week for good measure. Life at work has been great. I work long days going in at about 8 am, working until 5 and then heading straight to KuGar and working until 9pm. It took some time to get used but, but I am okay now. My bedtime is usually 10:30 but I never make it. Enrique and his family were here for a while visiting and now they are gone - again - to Qatar. From what I hear though they will be back for good in March or April Yipppeee! Oh yeah, good news, we bought a HOUSE!!! Crazy huh? It was totally not our plan, but we came to a house that was getting foreclosed on and the deal was too good to pass up. It needs a paint job, the carpet needs to be removed, but thats about it, the inspection came out great! We won't be moving in jut yet, but I can't believe we got a house. St. Francis is alive and well living the outside cat world for a while. No baby yet...but we hope it will be soon...Alright...pics will come soon, well eventually. I hope life is well to all those I haven't seen in a while.

From this

2008-07-31T22:33:00.005-05:00

Tooooooo

(drumroll please.......)

KuGar TaeKwonDo!!!!!

It has been a tough two weeks, but we are pretty much done and ready for class tomorrow. We have taken down walls and built new ones. We have added some couches, a Gatorade fridge, mats, and a whole lot more. I am happy to say that this place looks professional and appealing. There are a little touchups needed here and there, but mostly, we have all we need to get class started. We have our inventory in, our cokes, gatorades, and waters cold, and our spirits high. My parents have done a tremendous job getting helping us through these last two weeks. It would have been impossible without them. Not to mention that my dad has been taking private lessons from Master Jesse, AWESOME! You should see his poomse (form).

Anywho...if you are in the area come by and take a look. If you are interested, come by and sign up!! :)

We are installed in Laredo, and we have finally cleared my parents' garage of our "stuff". IT is great to be around family again. WE went to see the Coto vs Margarito fight at Tio Poncho's house, and had a lot of fun. I have seen most of my aunts and spent quality time with the folks. On Thursday, I was registered at my new job which starts Aug. 16. I have been so busy that I haven't had time to realize that I graduate next Friday! As some have done, I added a diamond to my Aggie ring as a symbol of my graduate degree, and it finally came in the mail today. To add to the new things in our life, my hair color is now BLACK! haha. See below! A bit different I know, but hey I am trying to keep up with everything new around me. (BTW, Jesse LOVES it) Jesse and I miss the boys so much and can't wait to see them in two weeks. Well, we have been living KuGar all day and night, and I am now exhausted!!!! (And we also worked out today). So, night night, world, and watch out, because KuGar is coming!

Lessons learned

2008-07-02T00:26:00.002-05:00

Let me tell you about this man I call my husband. He worked out up to 6 times a week after working 10 hour shifts. He ran sprints until he threw up and then continued on to the next workout. Some of the best coaches in the nation refer to him as a "machine". He is a modest man who knows his own strengths and weaknesses. Today, I saw him fight probably one of his worst fights. And by "worst" fights, I mean that he was "off" his game. He went out into the ring and did his thing, but for some reason his "thing" just wasn't "on". He lost to a guy at about one third his talent, and one one hundredth his heart. He then took about 30 minutes to himself. When I spoke to him, he was so disappointed with himself. He said to me "I don't know what happened. I knew what he was going to do and when he was going to do it, and I just couldn't get my self On. I don't mind losing to a person who is more talented than me, to a better fighter. But this guy is not by far a better fighter." This is supposed to be his last tournament he participates in. He is supposed to bow out gracefully, and move on to bigger and better things. But...when you look into his eyes, he has a hunger. a hunger for victory. I don't know if and when he'll fight again and if you ask him, he'll say he's done. But I don't think we've seen the last of Jesse the fighter. No. He's got more in him. All I can say is that as his number 1 supporter, I will always be cheering in his corner. He is my fighter, and he is the best. He might have been off today, but he is still the best. I know it. He knows it. His coaches know it. Just wait and see. He will do great things.'

Jesse, I am proud of you. You worked your tail off. You did what most don't do. You dropped over 40 lbs in the span of a couple of years and became one of the best. I saw you beat up a collegiate team member during practice. One tournament doesn't decide how good or bad you are at the sport. I know you are bummed out, but Animo, my friend. You always have a team mate in me. You may have not have had the fight of your life today. The refs may not have been on your side either. But you and I know that this could have happened to anyone. The real honor lies in what you choose to do with it. No matter what you choose, I am your esquina. Now and forever. I love you.

Our travels

2008-06-30T21:31:00.002-05:00

Here we are in Madison Wisconsin at the AAU TaeKwonDo National Championships. We drove up here from Houston. We took off at 3ish on Saturday and arrived at 9 am on Sunday. Jesse did the whole cutting weight thing and made weight this morning at 8:00am at a whopping 147.00 (his cutoff was 147.4) Rock on! We then ate some pancakes (he was really hungry). After we came back to the hotel and Jesse took a nap while I ironed his uniform. at about 4 we went over to a different hotel so that Jesse could test for his 4th Dan (degree). About an hour and a half later and a lot of sweat, Jesse passed and was an 4th Dan certificate...which means he is now MASTER Jesse! How fun! Jesse and his instructor Master Julio then took me to get my nails done (I really needed it). Now we are back at the hotel. Jesse will go and kick some before going to bed and then its off to sleep. Tomorrow Tuesday he will fight at about 11am. Please pray for him. I will post some pics later. I am very excited because Jesse has been training hardcore for the past 6 months. I will post again tomorrow evening.

Packing

2008-06-26T00:47:00.002-05:00

So, Jesse and I have begun our packing. Its a pain and our home looks like a tornado hit (although it didn't take anything with it). Fortunately, I have used my condo yahoo group to post things I can do without, and I have gotten great responses! Looks like I won't have to lug all the bookshelves to Laredo. My game cube was the first to go! Anywho..packing will be interesting, but the less that goes with us, the better. Who knows when we will get a house of our own. My biggest task, papers, journal articles, class notes. Eventually I will get the organization skills to scan them all onto my computer and then burn them! But dont' have the time nor the patience. I wish I would have known how much paper and space could have been saved if I would have taken my laptop to class for my notes since the beginning of school. Hm. Oh well. Hindsight is 20/20.
By the way, today I realized we own 5 printers. HA!

Tomorrow there is a good chance I will see the Garcia Saenz family. Yay! They will be at IAH briefly before they get on a connecting flight to Laredo. I haven't seen them in so long and I am excited to say hi!

See you all soon!

So much to do

2008-06-23T22:24:00.002-05:00

so little time. Jesse and I went to watch the Hulk today, we both had a long day at work and we decided to reward ourselves with a Monday at the movies. It was nice because we had a free movie ticket from our rewards club. The movie was very entertaining although we didn't nearly as much as we did in Get Smart. When I walked in our home I realized we have so much left to do. We leave on Saturday to our 19 hour trip to Wisconsin, drive back next Wednesday, go to work Thursday, attend a wedding rehearsal on Friday, wedding on Saturday, and pack the Uhaul on Sunday for Jesse to move back down on Monday. He is only supposed to leave me a tv, my clothes and a bed. Ha! Please don't ask how much we have packed. THAT should tell you how far behind we are. But...no fear, years of deadlines and last minute papers has trained me to remember that anything is possible, all you need is a little Red Bull (AMP for me) and perseverance. I don't know how this next week goes, but I sure am packing for the next 3 days.

ugh.

KuGar TaeKwonDo update

2008-06-22T16:59:00.003-05:00

Alrighty guys and gals.... we are on our way to be up and running... Our website was updated and now ready for viewing and sharing. Feel free to share to anyone you know in Laredo. :)

We have signed our lease, ordered our mats and ready to go... I am still looking for good deals on t-shirts, so if anyone has contacts in Laredo, let me know!

On a side note, Jesse had a sparring session with a couple of guys, one of which is on the Collegiate National Team. He looked VERY good! Jesse was scored on not more than 2 to 3 times and he scored well over 6 points. We are psyched about Wisconsin in a couple of weeks and ask you to keep him in your prayers.

Current News

2008-06-21T00:46:00.003-05:00

First of all let me extend a very Happy Birthday to Roxana, my sis-in-law! May the Lord shower your with blessings this new year as you explore motherhood.

In other news. I caved in and began Tony Horton's P90X which is a home workout regime. You might have seen the infomercials on tv. In the package, you get 12 workouts and a plan for 90 days interchanging the order of the workouts and increasing intensity. Day 1 was very tough, Day 2 was even tougher...and to this day it is still super tough, and I can't get through every single exercise yet (during the tough workouts). I am currently on Day 1 on Week 2. Goodness, it is tough. After every exercise, I wanted to quit. I first did the Back and Chest routine, which includes many different kids of push ups and pull ups (using a pull up bar). Then after 58 minutes of that, I moved on to Ab Ripper X, an intense ab workout that although lasts on 16 minutes incorporates non-stop ab exercise for a total of about 375 total movements. Anywho...we'll see how this treats me. I practically fainted after this one. The funny thing is that about 3 or 4 days ago, Jesse and I did Yoga X, and we had a super hard time! Jesse would look at the tv and then look at me and say "you've got to be kidding me, I can't believe this is that hard". Jesse usually joins me for low impact days or for the ab portion only because he does his thing consistently at the TKD school.

Onto another topic! Today we opened 2 wholesale accounts, faxed our lease, ordered the credit card machine, filled out most of my licensure applications, worked out, registered our new school with the national governing body (USAT), and I think thats it. I also found out that after all is said and done, it will cost us about $2000 to get fully licensed. Goodness, and I thought Grad school was expensive!

Its 1am and Jesse fell asleep watching Underworld. So..I think I will join the dreaming realm with him...

Alrighty...good night folks!

Others would agree

2008-06-19T17:11:00.003-05:00

This summer I have been working in a classroom full of children with autism. I mostly help out the teacher and focus on improving these kids' social skills "Hi how are you, I am fine and you? I am great, thank you".
In class yesterday, one of the boys who was having a bad day says.

"I don't want to work with Ms. K, she talks too much"

hehehehe

Book Review - Twilight Series

2008-06-18T16:30:00.003-05:00

Life is good in the neighborhood which gives me lots of time for...READING!

I began this series last week and finished all three books (over 500 pages each) in 4 days and then Jesse finished them in 5. What books? The Twighlight Series (Twilight, New Mood, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn). Stephenie Meyer is a relatively new author that has been reportedly named "The next JK Rowling". Can she live up to the hype? I think so.

The premise of the series is a simple girl who moves to live with her father in Forks, WA falls and love with the mysterious Edward Cullen. The problem? Edward and his family are vampires. WAIT! Before you totally throw this out as a foolish ol' vamipire story read on. You see, Edward has been alive for over 100 years and has never fallen in love. Now that he has, he will do anything in his power to make the girl of his dreams happy. Too bad there are things in the way, such as the whole vampire thing, plus bad guys, and did I mention the whole vampire thing?

Girl Part: Meyer describes Edward's love as completely and perfectly unconditional. Its completely unhuman in that it is a pure love that we humans are, in essence, to selfish to experience. Edward is the man that all moms and dads want to meet their daughter. If you are a girl, and you every dreamed of the perfect prince charming...prepare to meet him in Twilight. The story also grapples with sexuality in a very wholesome way.

Boy Part: To keep it entertaining for the boys or those not interested in just the love part, there are some plot twists, cool fight scenes, and bad guys. There are also great back stories that describe how each of the Cullen family became vampires in their own way. Not to mention the italian vampire mob that keeps all the vampires in check.

I would recommend this book to anyone who fell in love with Harry Potter and would like a young adult fiction novel addiction. The 4th in the series will be coming out August 2nd and Jesse and I can't wait. If you have some time, check it out. If you love reading, then you'll love this book. This series is definitely in my top reads. Its completely fictional, fun, and entertaining.

KuGar TaeKwonDo

2008-06-17T20:16:00.003-05:00

Introducing KuGar TaeKwonDo!
Please visit our site and let us know if you have any pointers..

www.kugartkd.com

We are currently working on flyers and such...and I will post more information with time.

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-17T19:29:00.004-05:00

Jesse and I had the chance to spend Father's Day with Papa Grande! It was very fast-paced but fun! We enjoyed some steaks at the Ambassador Steakhouse and then had some fun at home. It was a great day to remember the wonders of fatherhood and give a tiny piece of the appreciation we all feel. Congrats Papa! We also had fun playing on the new swingset at the Garcia Gonzalez Residence.

While we were in Laredo, we had the fortune of dropping off the deposit of our TaeKwonDo school. It looks like KuGar is coming sooner than we think! For those of you in Laredo, we will be in the Village Plaza @ Del Mar. Its the business plaza in front of Mary Help Elementary and next to Nye Elementary. We ended up switching our place because we felt that the other owner was a bit....difficult. But thankfully, we will be signing this next week and will the fun planning begins...

Plop plop fizz fizz...oh what a relief it is!

2008-06-05T00:14:00.006-05:00

And no, I am not talking about Alkaseltzer. hehe.

I am D-O-N-E! Here is the play by play:
Monday June 2
10:00pm My parents arrive in Houston at the Kuhns' residence. We stay up to talk up until 11:00 and head off to bed (or so I thought).
11:45 still awake...can't sleep...no feelings of nervousness but just can't shut down.
Tuesday June 3
12:30 still awake...I put my head where my feet are and vice versa..maybe this will help.
1:15 still awake...I need sleep I am very tired...my eyes just won't rest
2:00am ugh, so I might as well do something, I get up and flat iron my hair.
2:30 done with my hair, maybe I am tired enough to sleep
3:00 think again. I go downstairs, pour myself t glasses of milk and force 3 graham cracker cookies in my mouth (I wasn't hungry at all but hadn't eaten since 11am)
somewhere between 3:30 and 3:45 I fall asleep
5:30 (yes, 2 hours later) my alarm wakes me. ITs the big day.
6:30 My parents, Jesse and I are in the car, driving to Houston. On the drive I receive many good luck calls and texts.
8:00 arrive in College Station, I need my alone time so Jesse and my parents go park the car, and place 500 pennies (yes! 500!) on Sully while I go and set up my computer.
9:00 all the committee members are ready and it begins. My powerpoint presentation is about one hour long.
10:00am My chairperson asks the guests (my parents and two grad students) if they had any questions. My dad asked my how I felt :). At his moment in time, I felt relief. THe part I had rehearsed so many times was over and I didn't say "um" too too much. haha My guests are asked to leave the room and my oral exam begins
I was asked many questions about my stats, conclusions, data, everything...smooth sailing. When I didn't know the answer I would say very thoughtfully, "Hm, that is a Good Question, I wonder how that would have affected my results." One little thing needs to be changed about my stats, no big deal, my statistician says it will take 10 min.
10:45 I was asked to leave the room while the committee deliberates (decide if I pass or fail)
10:55 Dr. Hughes (my chair) opens the door and says "Congratulations Dr. Kuhns!" I walk in and my committee members are all standing and the shake my hand as they congratulate me as the knighted "Dr. Kuhns". Tears come out slightly, but I am mostly a mix of emotions at this point. Jesse has a dozen beautiful red roses waiting for me! Hugs all around!
11:20 my parents and I go to Sully to take pictures (with my 500 pennies). and we turn to ask some random guy to take a picture of the four of us. I hear from behind "Oh no, I got it! I'll take it."
Confused, I turned around, and GERARDO AND ROXANNA ARE THERE! Completely surprised!!!! Gerardo hugs me and picks me off the floor, I can't help but have tears come down my face. We take pictures and head off to eat at Christopher's World Grille with Dr. Hughes.
3:00 We got to the mall and the drive home after saying goodbye to my brother. On the drive home family calls and congratulates me. Enrique, Vero and Co. said prayers for me, Tia Mayte lit candles, Abuelita Moncha said a whole Rosary for me! At home, we are exhausted. We watch The Condemned (DVD) and just chill. Later, we pick up Star Pizza (the best pizza) and eat with my parents and go to bed.
This morning Dr.Hughes calls me at 7:45am to tell me that the small stat changes don't have to be done because the software I used to run my multiple regression already averaged the standard errors across the 10 imputed data sets. In short, I don't have to fix anything. I just need to add 3 sentences (literally) to the end of my dissertation!!!!!!!!!! Sigh of relief.
5:30pm After a long day of work, I sent in my 3 sentences (which turned into like 4 or 5) to Dr. Hughes, and I got a "two thumbs up" from her. Its OVER!!!! Okay so here are some pics!

Isn't my dad a cutie?

While I was waiting for the deliberation to be over.

Dr. Hughes and I

The Fam at Sully

500 Pennies!

The Garcia Ibarrola's showed up!

Thank you all for your prayers, candles, pennies, and thoughts. Without the help of those who care about me, I could not have written a word. Los quiero mucho!

Right around the corner...

2008-05-30T22:33:00.002-05:00

I have been in school for about 20 years. Its about to end. Next Tuesday at 9 am is the culmination of my hard work and determination that has gotten me thus far. Its been a long, hard trip up a very, very high mountain. Many times, the fog was so dense I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. There were days that I just wanted to turn right around and walk down. The walk down is so much easier and so tempting. There were days I would convince myself that my valor as a woman who was not pursuing a family yet, was diminished, and guilt overcame me. I put many things aside to climb this mountain. The real question is, for what? Was it to prove myself to others? Was it to climb as high as I could just to say I wasn't a quitter? Was it a desire to help others? Or was it to prove to myself that I could do it? Honestly It was probably a little of all of those. And know i am about 3-4 steps from the peak. In those (hopefully only) 2 hours of my defense all of this will come to an end. I won't graduate yet, but graduation compared to the feeling at 11am doesn't even come close. I was talking to a friend of mine about the importance of this day and she said to me "People don't understand everything we went through to get here, if they did they would wonder why we did it. The only two people that truly understand are us, and our spouse (who had to live with us through it all)." Maybe she's right. There is a joy in my heart knowing I achieved something I honestly didn't think I could. But at 11 o'clock next Tuesday it will all be over and thankfully I will have my loving spouse and my wonderful parents waiting for me outside the door. I cannot put into words the joy I feel of having my loved ones be the first faces I see as I walk outside and await the deliberation of the committee. Unfortunately my brothers and their spouses won't be there (although we will see 2 of them later on Tuesday night). This hurts my heart a bit because if anyone has heard me talk about my brothers you would know the reverence I have for them and the yearning in my heart to share my biggest professional accomplishment to date with them. I know that they will be there in spirit. SO until next week....say a little prayer for me and light a little candle. (and if you are at A&M) please put a penny on Sully for me. :)

kids teaching kids

2008-05-15T21:26:00.002-05:00

Student 1: You are not line leader!

Student 2: Yes I is!

Student 1: 'Yes I is" don't make no sense!

The Kuhns Residence

2008-05-12T19:43:00.002-05:00

has calmed down for the time being. We are enjoying the rest of May before Houston gets crazy humid. My husband is currently cooking dinner as I finish the laundry (and post.) We are eating hot dogs tonight! yay. I should be reformatting my dissertation, but that can wait. It is not everyday we are both off for the afternoon. One thing we are looking forward to is weekends. Since we began dating 6 years ago and we have never had weekends off. I can't wait! We are still waiting for Baby Marshall and Baby Graham to honor us with their birth, but they aren't ready. Baby Marshall was due last Sunday, but he's taking his/her sweet time. Baby Graham has his mommy on bedrest and we hope he/she holds off a bit before he/she shows up. Life is good here at the Kuhns', thank God.

P.S. Blair, we really need to get together before we leave!!!! What is your schedule like?

THE DATE IS SET!!!

2008-05-07T22:35:00.001-05:00

We have finalized the date of my defense for Tuesday, June 3rd at 9am!

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!

2008-05-06T18:07:00.002-05:00

I arrived home to see the email below:

Nice Work. You may send it to your committee. Please let them know that you would appreciate their letting you know within two weeks of any significant concerns they have with your document, so that you will have the opportunity to address such concerns prior to the dissertation defense.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Update on the "D" word

2008-05-05T19:17:00.003-05:00

Its funny to think how many times I have pressed the Send button thinking it was the last time my "little" paper would be broken into little pieces (think Willy Wonka) and sent across the world wide web into my advisor's inbox prompting her with a greeting "You've got mail". I have led myself to believe that this false sense of hope would actually actualize itself into reality. Too bad we can't think things and make them happen. So to make a long story short, we're still truckin' along. As Murphy would have it, I left my wonderful 2 gig flash drive in College Station on Friday. Not to fear, I had an old data set backed up on my computer so I am not freaking out just yet. If the journey to completion would be equivalent to my 5 hour trips to Laredo, I would say I am at the corner of Northstar and Coral Hills. The only problem is, that I have ran out of gas, and I am currently pushing my 2 ton pickup truck around the corner and up the driveway. My legs are tired, my hands are blistered, but I am almost there. I can tell that I am almost there, because my legs are cramping and my feet hurt. I know that if I stop pushing the truck, even to take a breath, it will run me over. There is no time to break down and feel sorry for myself. I think if anyone asks me how I am feeling, or if I am okay, my strong momentum will give in. If you have ever been in a situation like this (especially if you are a girl, I know you know what feeling I am talking about).
Last night, as Word "unexpectedly quit", I slowly pushed my laptop in front of me, and put my head in my hands. I started to giggle to myself about the situation and counted my blessings as the new Word for Mac is really good about recovering my previous work.
Jesse has been a real trooper. Every time my neurotic anxiety kicks in and I start complaining about him chewing too loud, drinking too loud, cracking pistachios, or even breathing too loudly (I know, I have a problem), he just smiles and moves to the other couch. He doesn't tell me how neurotic or irrational I am acting, he just complies. When I got up to get some water, he offered me a hug. And I (the neurotic one, remember), said "I am sorry if I take a hug now, I will break down and I need to just buckle down and get this done" I could see the understanding in his eyes as he just smiled and poured my water for me. Kudos to Jesse for being my number 1 fan.
So, ladies and gentlemen, keep me in your prayers as I turn the corner and drive up the block, I can see the house, but the truck is heavy. I will update you later on.

Words I am tired of using: Additionally, Furthermore, However, Consequently, Therefore, Unexpectedly, Similarly, Contrary to expectations, Consistent with the literature.

Prayer Request: PLEASE PLEASE keep Katey and her baby in your prayers. The baby has the the cord wrapped around its neck twice and she is on strict bed rest at least for the next two weeks so she can reach 36 weeks.

The government got in the way.

2008-04-30T08:10:00.002-05:00

I was set to hopefully meet with my advisor today. Nut she was selected for jury duty, so my meeting was postponed to Friday at 1:30. Oh well...A couple more days of prayers that it can be my final draft before it gets sent to my committee.

I just sent the second to final copy

2008-04-28T23:27:00.002-05:00

of my dissertation to my advisor. I am hoping, that is. I have a meeting with her on Wednesday and have asked the day from work to finish. My goal is to have a final copy printed and to each of my committee members so as to set my defense date. This largely depends on my gracious advisor who is very intelligent and very (hmmm) picky. So, I gave a great big sigh, and clicked on the SEND button. Now, its just time.

Thank you for your words of encouragement. I liked them so much , I printed them out and blew them up as a constant reminder that I've got lots of love in my corner. I could almost here the Rocky song when he's training.

Late night update

2008-04-22T23:31:00.002-05:00

Okay...maybe posting my daily advances will allow me to avoid procrastination.
I just emailed my advisor a second draft of my chapter 4 (discussion).

For those of you that have no clue what a dissertation looks like:

Abstract : brief synopsis of researchhypothesis and findings

Chapter 1: Intro and Lit Review - An extensive literature review that answers the question "What is aggression? What is the current research? What are the accepted theories? Why will your research be innovative? On what theoretical framework are you basing your hypotheses?" (By the way, we don't just say hey researching THIS or THAT would be cool... ;) )

Chapter 2: Methods - Describe the participants (subjects), the assessment techniques, the analyses to be run on your data and the reasoning behind why you decided to use these statistical techniques versus others

Chapter 3: Results - The jargon most people skip. In this section, the nitty gritty statistical results are presented. You see most of the tables inthsi section with brief explanation of what was found.

Chapter 4: Discussion - THE WHOLE PURPOSE IN WRITING THE DISSERTATION. hehe Here you say what you found, why you think you found it, what it means for future research, implications for practice, and limitations to your study.

So there you have it...some dissertations are broken up into 5 chapters...others into 4. They should all have the same information. At this point in time, I have completed Chapters 1-3, and my discussion is approaching completion fairly quickly. The full thing is approaching 70 pages. FUN.

For those you are who just got completely bored reading this...I apologize...I need to find motivation to do this. If this doesn't work, my promise not to play Wii MarioKart until I finish should do the trick.

Dissertating updates

2008-04-22T19:01:00.003-05:00

Alright guys and gals, this is it!!! I have a meeting with my advisor next Wednesday and I have to have this done by then. I need all the prayers I can get.

The following patron saints are on my list of intercessory prayer list:
Saint Joseph of Cupertino (test takers)
Saint Christina the Astonishing (mental health professionals)
Saint Dymphna (mental health professionals)
Saint Expeditus (against procrastination)
Saint Thomas Aquinas (academicians)
Saint Jude of Thaddeus (hopeless causes)

The countdown begins....

I have a friend

2008-04-22T14:23:00.002-05:00

His name is Seth. He is an internmate here at HISD with me. I admire this guy because he does a great job in "keeping it real". We can debate issues, and then laughs when we disagree. There have been long lunches and slow afternoons that we tend to pick up some topics such as politics, religion, public schooling, homosexuality. You name it, we have talked about it. Although Seth is a bit more liberal than me, we agree on a variety of things.
Today we talked about alternative schools. For those of you who don't know, when a student comits a pretty bad offense (bring a weapon to school, multiple suspensions, drug use), they can be temporarily "expelled" to an alternative school. The school is military style, where students walk with their hands behind their back, eat alone, and can't talk to peers during class time. Sounds great, right? Well, not really. Research has shown over and over and over and over again (yes! that many times) that putting kids with behavior problems together in a school makes them worse not better. So why do schools have this faulty system? Well for one, principals get these kids out of their school. (Out of sight, out of mind. Second, kids have to have "consequences" for bad behavior. Okay. So principals want to shed some responsibility and the way to do this is tough love. The state of Texas has a rule right now that if you go to juvenile detention 3 times, you get sent to boot camp for 3 months. sigh. Dear Texas, stop using my tax dollars for "preventing crime" when its actually making it worse. Seth and I talked about this over lunch and agreed there has to be a better way. Some people have suggested turning schools into business andhanding out vouchers. Well, if kids keep on getting kicked out, then we come back to the same problem.
If the US is moving towards empirically supported interventions, why hasn't this changed? Oh well. I guess this is why I still have a job :)

A bit of sarcasm

2008-04-17T20:05:00.003-05:00

Alrighty guys and gals, I have changed camps. I voted for Hillary in the Texas Primaries. I have switched my affiliation to Osama, I mean Obama.
After the debate yesterday....I think Obama would be the best Democratic Nominee. I think that with big names behind him like Rev. Wright and Wiliam Ayers he is easily the next one to beat McCain come November....not to mention his patriotic wife.

So...Democrats...do me a favor...vote Obama...

and I will see YOU in November!

Kicking for gold - Sports

2008-04-09T21:34:00.000-05:00

Check out my most wonderful, talented, incredibly sexy husband!!!!!!

Kicking for gold - Sports

rolling up the sleeves

2008-03-06T21:16:00.005-06:00

I had been putting off posting because of time, lack of content, and just plain laziness I guess. Then today happened. Amidst the counseling, parenting classes, individual crisis intervention and consultation, it is easy to forget the severity of real life problems in people's lives. When you hear the stories over and over again, they all melt into a realization of the unfortunate cruelties of our world and you learn to go home and put it behind you. This happens pretty naturally. It allows you to keep an empathetic ear and keep focus on how to put into practice all the skills we have learned. There are some stories that are a bit harder to hear than others.

Today I had the unfortunate event of going to a school where a very well known student had passed away unexpectedly at the tender age of 14. Had never been sick. Just slipped away from this world into His arms. No warning signs. No chance to say goodbye.

When I arrived at the school, I quickly got to work. My adrenaline was in full gear as the uncontrollable and hysterical tears came from teachers and friends. I did everything I was taught - to help be an extra shoulder to cry on and an ear to listen during these difficult times. I remembered thinking halfway through the day how I had held up for so long without even one knot in my throat when I usually can't fight the tears back during an Onstar commercial. But I kept on keeping on. I had one bottled water and no food but I wasn't thirsty nor hungry. Why did this happen? Why this student? Why now? How are we supposed to continue going to class when their seat is empty? How do I make myself feel better? How am I supposed to say I am sorry about our last fight? These questions rang in my ears all day.

When I finally dismissed the last student back to class and gathered my things, I suddenly felt a huge weight on my shoulders. I was exhausted. I walked to my car, called my husband and told him I had a rough day and would really appreciate lunch with my best friend. As I drove to lunch, my adrenaline ran out and my humanity came back. I embraced it. I let the tears fall and my prayers go up for this student and their family. I ate with my husband and we talked about death and what it means and how there are some feelings that I wish no child would have to go through until their hearts and souls were a bit stronger. I drove home and as I walked into my lonely apartment, I felt a sense of relief. Relieved because I felt human again. My heart had not hardened. I was still a sensitive soul who would tear up at a sad movie. I was just blessed with the grace of knowing how to roll up my sleeves and put the hearts of others at ease, hearts who had been broken so ubruptly and violently. My job was to provide the needle and thread so they could slowly but surely sew it back together and learn to live with the newly formed scar that would be left. There was no room for me to let my emotions surface. So they didn't. At least not until my job was over.

After a week of 24 hr time with my hubby...

2008-02-12T23:33:00.002-06:00

the first couple of days back at work without each other were tough...
so tough that I received this endearing text message at about 3:25pm on Monday from my spouse:

I am going through Clarissa withdrawal :_(

That makes two of us, Love.

Back to reality

2008-02-10T21:30:00.000-06:00

This past week the Kuhns were in New Orleans for the first time. I had the chance to walk on Bourbon Street after the parade with some friends which was fun. Jesse met up with me on Wednesday and it was great. I didn't think I would like New Orleans. I am not sure why, but I had the feeling I was not going to enjoy my time spent there. I was pleasantly surprised. The food was great, the city, beautiful and Katrina didn't leave much of a trace (as far as downtown goes). The art, buildings, and music were incredible. We visited St. Louis Cathedral/Basilica which was beautiful. I wouldn't mind visiting the city again because we didn't have much time to tour. If anyone ever has a trip there, I definitely recommend eating beignets at Cafe Du Monde. I introduced Jesse to penny slots which I think he enjoyed. ;) The bestest part of the whole trip was that I got to spend 4 wondrous days with my husband. This was our first trip alone since our honeymoon. Although we did meet some friends there, we spend lots of time alone which was incredible. Now...its back to reality...

SUPERtuesday

2008-02-05T12:38:00.000-06:00

"If this Tuesday is “super” because we can choose a president, then every day is “supreme” because we can always choose to love and be loved, to build a life on solid rock."
Father Jonthan Morris
Fox News

My Prez hopeful is gone...

2008-01-31T16:06:00.000-06:00

Well, I really was hoping for Fred Thompson to come out from behind the shadows in South Carolina...but unfortunately he didn't and now he is out. We are left with Romeny, McCain, and Huckabee. As much as I am a Chuck Norris fan (just ask Jesse), I don't think Huckabee will win. I honestly believe it is between Romney and McCain. Putting the issues aside, which one has a better chance of becoming president? I have to say McCain. If Clinton get the Democratic vote, which I think she will, McCain is our only chance for our unborn to have a fighting chance. I can't decide what I want America to do with illegal immigrants and I think we have to win in Iraq in order not to lose (if that makes sense). I want education to push math and science programs. I want the economy to improve. But most of all I want Roe v Wade to get overturned. So I think I am putting all my eggs in McCain. I'll miss you Fred! I guess I will have to see you on Law & Order instead.

PS We just bought a working gatorade cooler for Kugar TKD! Yay.

UPDATE:
So, I was told this weekend that McCain is for embryonic stem cell research...oh no! SO....who am I going for now? hmmmmmmm Romney? Not sure... Giuliani is out which is great...Ron Paul doesn't stand a chance...so its between Huckabee or Romney. Well, since I can't really do anything about it until March...I will get back to this after Super Tuesday...

2008-01-22T12:06:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I decided to answer these questions for Clarissa, and we'll see how close I get.

1. WERE YOU NAMED FOR ANYONE? I don't think so.
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? It was a couple of nights ago. It was so cold, and we were both miserable. I wasn't for from tears my self.
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? I love it, and I think she likes it.
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? She prefers turkey too, but she calls all lunchmeat ham. That makes it a little difficult to make her a sandwich sometimes. She doesn't actually like ham, but she'll ask for it anyway. She means turkey.
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? It hasn't been His will yet.
6. WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? She would.
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Not at all. She finds it hurtful and not very funny if it's directed at someone.
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Every chance she gets.
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? She loves it too, but I'm ashamed to say I have no idea which is her favorite.
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? No. And she doesn't when she puts them on either. They stay tied 24-7
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? She is and she knows it.
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? She's not particularly fond of ice cream, but she'll eat chocolate. It's called double dark or something like that.
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? No clue. I'll guess eyes though.
15. RED OR PINK? Pink
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF? Even if I knew, and I don't, I don't think this is one I'd answer. Whatever it is, I'm sure I love it.
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? Her mom is her best friend so it's going to be a toss up between her mom and the Enrique-Saenz clan because they're so far away.
18. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? She was gone before I woke-up this morning but my guess is black and black.
19. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? PeiWei
20. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Kids whose lives are worse than I can imagine. She's out there helping them get their lives right.
21. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? I'd make her brown but she'd make herself blue too.
22. FAVORITE SMELLS? She likes that "right before it rains" smell too but I think my cologne takes it by a hair.
23. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Her supervisor or her Mom???
24. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Aggie football. No doubt.
25. HAIR COLOR? Brown
26. EYE COLOR? Brown
27. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Nope. She's got great eyes. I hope our children get them too. And not just because they work well.
28. FAVORITE FOOD? a steak rare. or her moms mole.
29. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? The sappier the better.
30. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? 5th element
31. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Whatever it is, it a)matches the season, b) came from NY co.
32. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer. She's not a big fan of cold.
33. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs????
34. FAVORITE DESSERT?Turtle Cheesecake.
35. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? Emotional Intelligence. Something brainy I'm sure.
36. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? She's a laptop girl too.
37. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? She was too busy helping me plan our new TKD school, KuGar. You should see the logo she drew up.
38. FAVORITE SOUNDS? A thunderstorm when we're together on the couch watching a movie. If it's not hers, it's mine!!!!
39. BEATLES OR ROLLING STONES? I'd be willing to bet that she doesn't know 1 song from either group. She prefers Luis Migel.
40. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Europe with her bros.
41. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? She's an amazing wife.
42. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Laredo, Texas

Your comments appreciated

2008-01-21T20:43:00.000-06:00

As many of you know, Jesse and I will be starting a business in the near future (Summer 2008?). This entails writing up a business plan, mission statement, budget and so on... Many fellow business owners have given us valuable advice:

1. Do not underspend on marketing...you get what you pay for!

2. Underestimate your earnings and overestimate your costs.

3. Start small; you can always expand later.

4. Develop your purpose, goals and priorities first and let the business plans always reflect them.

5. location, location, location!

Thank you for those who have contributed!! If you know about starting a business (or your just really smart!!) and you knew then what your now...what would be different? What are key points of advice you could offer to us?

Thanks!!!!!

Bruce Lee and my husband

2008-01-17T22:09:00.000-06:00

As I was doing my usual blog search, I ran across some martial arts site that described the 5 most dangerous kicks. From there, i was lead to some YouTube videos, to the Human Weapon internet site from the History Channel, and eventually to a biography of Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee was a very talented martial artist who incorporated his thoughts about existence and athleticism into his fighting methods. He did tie in one martial art, but he took what he knew worked from different arts and created his own. How does this relate to my husband?

Before Jesse and I were dating seriously we had two relationships: our romantic one and our Taekwondo one. Jesse has always been and always will be much more proficient in the art of Taekwondo than me. So when it came to his teaching Taekwondo, we left our romantic relationship off of the floor as much as we could. With most relationships, the line would be erased and teacher/student relationship would be negatively affected from there on out. However, unlike most martial artists, Jesse has a deep respect for TaeKwonDo and therefore his role as a teacher. Because of our relationship, I got to enjoy some extra one-on-one instruction from Jesse. This is where my husband reminds me of the late Mr. Lee.

There were times that I remember, he would say certain phrases about his martial art theories such as, "I don't mind to get hit, as long as they don't forget how hard I hit them" or "I don't care if I lose to a White belt in practice. I am not here to prove myself to anyone but to improve on myself. I care if I lose in a tournament." or "There is no such thing as 'You will bow to me because I am your Master' but I will bow to you out of respect and you should do the same for me" or "I can't motivate you to get your black belt. In TaeKwonDo, the motivation comes from you."

Even though these comments at times frustrated me when my motivation level was low, I, eventually, learned where they came from and why he said them. TaeKwonDo helped create the man Jesse is now. Jesse doesn't just practice TaeKwonDo. He lives it. Now, that might sound a bit cheesy (I am known to talk that way at times) but as Jesse's closest pupil I can say that its true. He learned the athletic part from his previous coach. The spirit, discipline, and way of life part, he got from Somewhere else.

Maybe there won't be a "Return of the Kuhns Dragon" or "Enter the Kuhns Dragon" DVD set. But I know that Jesse will do for TaeKwonDo what TaeKwonDo has done for him. Jesse will be that coach that all the students will stop talking and listen when he speaks. They won't talk back to him, not out of fear, but out of true respect.

In other words, my husband rocks! :)

BTW...my interview went well....still waiting on interview #2. :) Blair, we will get together before we leave, I promise :) Your baby pics are so cute!!!

Post-Doc Interview

2008-01-10T23:12:00.000-06:00

I ask you all for a short prayer tomorrow as I interview for a Residency Position at Deer Oak Behavioral Clinic in Laredo. The interview if over the phone at 1:30. This interview is the first part of the 3 interview process after the written application is sent in. I will update you all as to how it goes. Good night.

Who says...

2008-01-03T18:28:00.001-06:00

that you can't have a family portrait when 5/11ths of your family is over seas? Happy New Year from our family to yours!!!

Our New Year's party was a hit with matching PJ's and party favors. Although the Garcia Saenz family could not grace us with their presence we were able to see all 5 of their faces through Skype. They even joined for the picture of the night. 10 Years ago this picture would not have been possible...

In other news...Jesse and I had the greatest gift for our anniversary..the birth of two beautiful babies. Fernando Issac is the 5th member of the Garcia Saenz family. This baby boy is the third son to my brother and sister-in-law named after Vero's brothers. Jada Janea Garza is the 3rd member of the Garza Peña family. She is Jacque and Juan's first child. Congratulations to both!!!

2 years and many more to go...

2007-12-30T21:06:00.001-06:00

My love, I love you more every day that I spend with you and you truly make me the happiest woman ever! Here's to the 2 years we have been together and to the 50+ we have ahead of us. te amo mi amor!

Happy Anniversary!

Always,
S.P.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

2007-12-28T18:06:00.000-06:00

As my Christmas gift this year, Jesse got us tickets to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. We finally went to the long awaited concert last night, and it was amazing! The lights, the music the guitar playing, and the inspiration of it all were electrifying. It definitely makes you feel like a child looking at the lights with awe. What we thought would be a 2 hour concert ended up being a 3 and a half hour show. We had great seats and got to see real snow (which doesn't happen often in Texas or indoors for that matter). They come once a year and perform 2 shows. If you get a chance next year, don't miss it.

Check this out!

2007-12-14T19:05:00.000-06:00

My bro and sis in law showed me this really cool, which goes to show that anything is possible when you have a lot of time on your hands!!!

Check it out!

33 years and counting!

2007-12-13T16:54:00.000-06:00

There are two people that have impacted the lives of many but most the lives of three. They trained them, scolded them, hugged them, and then let them go to live their lives and always were our #1 fan. 33 years after they cemented their love in the Sacrament of Marriage, they have three grown, married children who adore them. My parents, today, celebrate their anniversary of 33 years. In a world plagued by divorce, they have managed to get through ups and down lovingly. I can not imagine life without these two (and I wouldn't exist hehe ). May the Lord continue to bless you with his Love and give you many more years together. Los queremos mucho!

You know you are working in a school

2007-12-06T23:07:00.001-06:00

when the teacher bathroom door has a sign that says "If you sprinkle when you tinkle, be a sweetie and wipe the seatie." with a sun happy face. A little weird but cute.

Christmas time memories

2007-12-04T10:28:00.000-06:00

Christmas will be a bit different this year. Now that I think about it, Christmas is usually a bit different every year. I guess that is what happens when Life happens. I remember the days that the Gonzalez family would gather at our home at Woods End in San Antonio. We would get a group together, along with our tennis rackets and act as though we were in a TImbiriche video. Years passed and the scene changed to our lovely Shady Winds home where the Gonzalez family gathered and played Spoons while Tio Raul would hide spoons before playing and make us all laugh at him when we realized he was cheating. We then played a game where we would slap our legs and then snap our fingers and try to remember each persons number as well as keep rhythm. The Garcia family would gather at Tia Sonia's house and we would go around the table saying what we were thankful. Christian would dance on the table and the little ones (me included) fumbled for the perfect words that usually included hoping everyone gets what they wanted for Christmas. Before the family feuding began we all got together and listened to Papa Grande as he retold one of his poems. I wish I hadn't been so young and could remember more of them, although who could forget the "ensalada de nietos" poem we all loved because it included all of us. The scene changed as did the years and the festivities moved to Laredo. We all got together at Tio Poncho's house for either Christmas or New Year's and played games, counted down, and offered a family prayer. We played dice/white elephant games, played charades, and got up to speed on life's experiences. The Garcia family slowly fell apart although I have to admit the two girls of the family Adriana and Hilda, have worked hard to keep us all together. Papa Grande passed away as well as our strong desire to get together every year. Recently, more attempts have been made to re-establish this connection. Years passed by and we had new additions to the family. Vero joined our family and we had one more to join in the festivities! Lorena began the famous primada posada every year and has kept pretty strong about it. New Year's had a new spin as we had a little red head blood attend the festivities for 6 years and counting. Every one practiced their English with him except for Mama Moncha who keeps making Jesse blush as she asks him questions in Spanish. He eventually became part of the family and now have him on a permanent basis (YAY). We don't see him every Christmas since he is usually hard at work making money for his wife and future family but we at least see him for some of the festivities. Then came the inevitable....Life...the Garcia Saenz will celebrate Christmas and New Year's from afar in Doha. We won't get to hear Enrique's famous laugh that makes us all smile. We won't get to see Vero's ever smiling face as she cares for her ever growing family (as well as tummy). We won't get to see our nephews this year...not in real life at least. This year we do have one more addition to the Garcia Gonzalez permanent family. Our youngest adult...Roxy baby who we all love because her dear heart melted the heart of Gerardo's. As with most marriages, you not only acquire a spouse but an entire family as well. So for the first time, I won't see Gerardo's smiling face during Christmas but fortunately....we got the Garcia Ibarrola's for New Year's Eve. This year will be a bit different although the spirit remains the same. I take it as a foreshadowing of the future. At the Christmas table, it will be Mama, Papa, Jesse and me. I think God is preparing us for next year when we finally move home and we will have a lot of just 'Mama, Papa, Jesse and me's' at the dinner table. Someday I hope to invite our Step-mother Joyce, for our Christmas or New Year Celebration (or both)...maybe next year. New Year's will also be a bit different this year. For over 15 years we have spent this holiday in Laredo. This year will be a bit different. It will be hosted by the Kuhns' in good ol' Houston. And thankfully, we will have Mama, Papa, Gerardo, Roxy, Jesse and me (and maybe a few others) at the dinner table. Life happens, and my parents and siblings have adapted. Jesse has to possibly work on New Year's Eve. Neither of the couples batted an eyelash when I asked to celebrate over here. They agreed without hesitation. So, in summary...life happens and we have to adapt but we can't lose the spirit of togetherness even though it is not as often as we would like. Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!! Love you all!

GOP Debate last night

2007-11-29T07:26:00.001-06:00

I watched most of the debate last night and am still on the fence on some of the candidates. Personally, I really like Thompson and Huckabee is not so bad. To my conservative peeps....any of you dislike either of these candidates? If so...why?

Quoting Santa on the Radio this Morning

2007-11-20T08:08:00.000-06:00

"Keep the twinkle in your eye and the spirit of giving in your heart"

Catch up...

2007-11-16T16:14:00.000-06:00

Okay I need to catch up with everyone since it has been a while since I have written....

Jesse and his friend Brandon went flounder gigging a couple of months ago...it didn't go so bad-well except for the fact they didn't catch any flounder. However, they did catch this little guy:

Then Jesse's Birthday rolled around and we did some butterfly watching at the Museum and passed by St. Arnold's Brewery for tour:

And played squabble (a modified super cool version of scrabble):

And they I went to the premiere of Bella in Houston, where I got to briefly see the famous Eduardo Verastegui.

AND then.....
more recently...
a week and a half ago, I went to College Station for a dissertation meeting. After the meeting was over, I went to a friend's house. As I was leaving, there was a small black kitten sitting outside. He was TINY. We knocked around to see if anyone had lost it to no avail. I then walked to my truck which was about 45 steps away (not that close) and got in my truck. I turned to the passenger's side to sit my purse down and when I turned around...the kitty had jumped in my truck and onto my lap and fell asleep.

Let me stop right here to let everyone know how much I was NOT a cat person. Especially one from the streets. This baby was too hard to pass up. So I took it to the small animal clinic at Texas A&M and they wouldn't take it without an appointment. I finally went to Lovan Care Clinic where they took it in and checked it out.

It turned out IT was a HIM and HE was 8 WEEKS OLD and weighed about 2 pounds. I decided to take it home and show it to Jesse. I stopped by Target and got a pretty cheap litter box, some cat litter and some food.

I got home, and he already knew what to do in the litter box. I still can't believe how cats are born with the ability to go to the bathroom in the litter box!!!!

His name was originally Bruce Lee. But if you say, "Come here Bruce Lee" it turns out more like "Brusli" and it doesn't flow. His name switched to "Sashimi" (Jesse's choice) to "Chop sticks" to .....drumroll please.... "St. Francis." It kinda sounds long but it flows great.

(Note: notice the Wine Spectator magazine, my husband is an avid reader. Questions about wine? Jesse knows the answer!)

He is cutie and a great companion. He wakes up with me and will sit on the sink counter in my bathroom while I brush my teeth and wash my face. He follows me around and has NO ACCIDENTS!!! As a previous diabetic dog owner....that has to be the best part. He doesn't shed, nor smell, and the loudest thing he does is meow... The best part of this is that Jesse fell in love with it. He even wakes up extra early to play with it.

He even agrees with me about how I feel about my dissertation:

That is it for now...Sorry it took me a while to post. I have had trouble uploading pictures for the past couple of days. Love you all....

Employee of the Month!

2007-11-03T19:14:00.000-05:00

Muchas felicidades Jesse!!!! I love you!

Ahh...the pleasures of living in Houston!

2007-10-28T16:30:00.000-05:00

So... my truck got broken into last night. My previous truck got broken into about 3 or 4 times. Stereo was stolen each time. Not this time. Nope...factory stereo...can't really steal... What they did steal was a laptop that was in the back. My work laptop. Wonderful. And...they stole my wonderful...life saving...time saving...headache preventing...gps system. Excellent. And.... they stole my wonderful Canon Powershot camera...Yay. Worse part? I had been taking my Garmin GPS and laptop out everytime when I got home at night. On Friday...I knew I wasn't going to work on reports that day...and so I left my stuff in my car. Not to mention my a million test kits in the backseat of my truck. And about 10 books. The considerate thieves left all my test kits. i assume they won't be testing kids' intelligence or emotional problems. Nope. They will be working on my (not even my) laptop and getting to places using my gps. Someone will have a fabulous Christmas. At my expense. No fun. Now I have a hole in the door of my truck where the nice thief jammed his screwdriver and opened my truck and somehow the alarm did not go off. What a nice ending to my weekend.

At least I will go watch Bella tonight at the movies. Not sure how to get there, but I guess I will go back to Google map printouts. Life goes on...at least I have my health and my husband.

Brrrrrrr....

2007-10-22T21:38:00.000-05:00

It's coming!! WINTER that is! and the Kuhns' are not too happy about it. I woke up and went to work in beautiful 75 degree weather. I stopped at one school, did my thing, and got back in my car. About 3 miles later, I got down at another school and it was freeeeeezing outside. Okay...maybe not freezing, but it was 65 degrees!!!!! I did my thing at that school, and got into my car and it was 60 degrees and raining. It didn't get much better than that. The funny thing is that every teacher that talked to me about the weather was like "yay winter is finally here" and I was like "noooooo winter is here...where did summer go?" Thankfully my hubby is exactly like me and enjoys our apartment at about 80 degrees (75 when we have company). I am not ready for sweaters yet.....

On a happy note, my hubby decided to light incense in our home and when I arrived from work, it smelled like CHRISTMAS!!!!! I love that smell.

Stay warm!

Shooter in Cleveland

2007-10-10T22:06:00.001-05:00

As anyone can see (if you turn to any news channel), there has been another shooting in a high school in Cleveland. Another teen who has been "pushed to far" and then took his own life. I pray for his family and those who were wounded. Thankfully, no one else had their life taken. My advice? Report the necessary....but don't repeat the Virginia Tech incident. Please, I don't want to hear about the shooting for the next three weeks. Media, please don't give this so much attention that we send the wrong message that an atrocious act like this gets 2 or 3 weeks worth of attention.

If I was Queen of the Universe...

2007-10-08T20:27:00.000-05:00

I would require every child and adolescent to wear a uniform to school. If I ruled the world, the boys would have to wear their shirts tucked in and a belt that can be seen. Pants would have to be worn at the waist and if anyone questioned or dared to come to school dressed otherwis, I would ziptie their pants nice and snug at their waist. Girls would have the ability to wear ONE pair of earrings and hair color would have to stay a natural color. Boys would not be able to wear earrings and their hair could not touch their shoulders. Detention would be handed out like candy to all students who don't answer "yes ma'am" or "yes sir" to any adult. There would be a mandatory girls and boys etiquette class that would teach girls how to be ladies and boys how to be gentlemen. There would be absolutely NO PDA on school grounds or any school related function. Parents would be required to be involved in their children's education - no excuses.

All this if I were queen of the universe...

Until then....pants will sag, men will look like girls, respect will go out the window, and teachers will continue to complain about how the TAKS tests and Bush's No Child Left Behind are ruining our schools and our futures.... believe me, THAT is the least of our worries.

Attention Mothers of Teen Girls & Romantics at Heart!

2007-10-04T22:07:00.000-05:00

I bought a book that I had seen reviewed many times and did not have an idea what it was about. The book is called The Shadow of the Bear by Regina Doman. It is a story about two sisters in New York who meet this incredible man with a secret. This isn't like any other Sweet Valley High book. The main characters are Catholic and the story is told from a Catholic point of view with a good ending. It covers relationships, vocation searching, coming of age, popularity and sexual intimacy. I would definitely have my teenage daughter read this book because it brings up great conversation topics and is a fun read unlike Steinbeck's The Pearl. Okay, so maybe it's not a classic, but it is worth reading. Check it out!!

Here is a quote:
"'Oh, and by the way. That kind of love is sacred-something for real men who have the guts to make a lifelong commitment, not for short-sighted idiots like you guys.' None of the them could meet her gaze. 'I pity you. I really do.' Slowly, she turned away, and walked down the hall, head high, the blood still going dizzily through her brain. Yeah, she was scared. She didn't know what type of mess they'd make of their reputation now. But she didn't care. Man, I live for moments like these, she thought, pushing down the smile that kept creeping onto her face."

Winding down...

2007-10-03T20:33:00.000-05:00

Today was an especially hard day of work. I got home, ate some leftovers, plopped on the couch and turned the tv to my Law and Order routine show. A couple of minutes later I heard the soothing voice of my father. When I hung up, I turned off the tv and turned on some Christian music instead.

Walking by...

2007-10-01T20:01:00.001-05:00

I saw the greatest sign. It read:

Santa Clause

Easter Bunny

Tooth Fairy

Daddy

Eventually kids stop believing in what they never see.

If I could pass this out to all Daddies, I would.

Results are in!!

2007-09-30T10:56:00.000-05:00

Well, partially, I sent my results to my advisor last night, yay! Just one step closer to getting the dissertation done. Jesse and his friend Brandon went gigging this morning at 5am and caught one crab :). At least they had a great time! Jesse had been talking about going gigging for some time now and this morning was his chance. For me, this weekend has been very relaxing, staying up late, sleeping in...goodness! I put in about 8 hours on my disseration last night which is great. We got some great rain last night which allowed me to sleep like a baby. Life is good!

Justice didn't prevail this time...

2007-09-25T19:21:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, things didn't go well. Personally I think it had a lot to do with the fact that the defendant had a lawyer and well....we didn't. I was astounded by the proceedings. Have you all seen Judge Judy? Have you noticed that she is very rude to both the plaintiff and the defendant? Well it was JUST like that. The judge was very rude and didn't let us defend our points. He told the defendant's lawyer to stop talking at one point and to sit down. He also told one of the witnesses "Don't use the word Um in my courtroom". I had more faith in our justice system. Judge Judy isn't like that for television; that is really what it is like in real life. Jesse was portrayed as an unethical bad person (which we all know was untrue) who had many character flaws, and the defendant as a model citizen who follows the tenets of TaeKwonDo in his life as he teaches his students. This couldn't be further from the truth. Oh well.. life goes on. I still feel like we stood up for what was right. But we don't always win. As long as we win the Final Judgement, right? That is all that counts.

Thank you for all of your prayers. We really appreciate your support.
I ask all of you to please say an Our Father and a Hail Mary for the Pejo family. May they find Truth in their lives.

Long distance relationship while living together

2007-09-23T19:26:00.001-05:00

Another weekend has come and gone...and my dissertation is on the same shelf it was last week. Ugh...Jesse has been working 4 days straight and this has been taxing on both of us so we have resorted back to our original means of communication-email. When I get home at about 5, I write to Jesse telling him of my day, the ups and the downs. When Jesse gets home at midnight, he responds about his day. By the time Jesse gets home, I am usually switching from dream 4 to dream 5. Texting each other when we have a free chance at work helps as well. This morning, we just talked for about 3 hours without getting up from bed. Most of all, we talked about how much we missed each other's company. It is in times like these that of all the things I miss about marriage, I mostly miss be able to talk to my best friend. But in order to pay the bills and put food on the table, we go to work and follow the discipline and look forward to the 2 minute conversations we have during the day. I have to admit, when Jesse and I get to spend time together, we talk, we laugh, and we talk some more. If we watch tv, we talk about what is going on on tv, and chances are we don't answer our phones (sorry, guys). Jesse is off at work again, so I can write a bit. As much as I dislike our current situation, I love my marriage more and more every day. And THAT is a blessing...

As if the plumbing wasn't enough...

2007-09-20T19:16:00.000-05:00

now the washer doesn't work...As many of you know, we have suffered the woes of defective apartments. Unfortunately, not all the parts are fixed. Two weeks ago, the breaker went out..and our dryer didn't work more than 10 minutes. Now.....the washer doesn't spin or drain...I will keep you posted....

In other news, I ask for all of your prayers... As many of you know, we will be taking our former TKD instructor to court on Tuesday at 1:30pm. I will spare you the details. However, in order for the Kuhns' to open up a credible martial arts school in Laredo, it is imperative that we win. If we do win, Jesse will be testing for his 4th Dan (making him a Master, finally) shortly thereafter. I desperately ask for your prayers from now until Tuesday. Fortunately, we have a good chance of winning since the Truth is on our side. Other than securing our future, it will prevent him to take advantage of others which we know has been happening for some time now. Again, I ask for your prayers, specifically to St. Paul, the patron saint of Truth.

I will update you and give a bit more details on Tuesday

Roll somewhere else

2007-09-19T21:52:00.000-05:00

A common problem in our children, teens and co-workers is the tendency to "roll our eyes". Yes, it may seem trivial but this tidbit of body language says so much and hurts so easily. There really is no reason for rolling our eyes. It never helps, it never solves anything. I would venture to say that rolling one's eyes is only done in a feeble attempt to show our disagreement and frustration. Are there other ways of showing this? Sure. "I don't agree" "I am very frustrated" and even the infamous "whatever." Rolling your eyes is a rude way of making a demonstration of your disgust. Please don't roll your eyes. It's not very nice.

Happy Birthday Jesse!

2007-09-16T20:41:00.000-05:00

Jesse,
You are my strength and my rock. May the Lord continue to bestow on you His blessings for many years to come. You are a wonderful man who is respected and admired by many. You are my hero and I look up to you and all you have accomplished. I know God has great plans for you and i am honored that I can be by your side as you pursue them!

I love you!!!

S.P.

More than 17

2007-09-04T17:28:00.000-05:00

stones were in my gallbladder... How all those stones fit in my little gallbladder?? I have no idea but they sure caused pain. Thankfully, I am out of surgery and much better. I walk like I am 80 and have everyone pass me up in the hallway, but at least I am getting better. I have to admit the post-surgery pain was more than I thought, but it is slowly going away. It has offivially been 72 hours post-surgery, and I walk a little straighter, but I still hate coughing and laughing. My coughing spasms have gotten so painful, that I automatically start saying Hail Mary's as I start feeling the cough coming and in between coughs. But this is nothing compared to the years of pain that I could swear up an ddown was stress related. First surgery in my life....not so bad. Don't really want to do that again. One thing that was incredible, was how much support I had. I had no time to get nervous, as family members continuously dropped by the hospital. Not to mention, by courageous husband and parents who stood by me the whole time. I never had the chance to fear going under the knife. There are two people who I would love to thank. Chances are they will never see this, but I still owe them many thanks. My Tio Jesus Armenta and his father Tio Raul Armenta for operating on me. I couldn't have been in better hands. Plus, I got the compliment of having strong abdominal muscles and no fat . What girl wouldn't love to hear that from a doctor who actually saw under the skin? That, my dear people is the silver lining. So for you eager people who would love to see my stone infested gall bladder....here ya go.
What you see here is my gallbladder (the little bag looking thing) and 17 stones that were in it. The crazy part of all of this, is that there are more stones in the gallbladder still. 17 are the only ones that didn't fall out. How did they fit in there for so many years?? PAINFULLY! :)

If you want to see a huge version of this pic, just click on it....
I would show you the video of Jesse shaking them, but I am going to guess you will take my word that stones are rock solid.

Praise God that it is all better and getting better all day!

I have some bad news...

2007-08-28T17:45:00.000-05:00

I will be undergoing surgery on Saturday in Laredo, to remove my gall bladder. As many of you know, I have been battling some crazy pains in the side of my stomach under my ribs. After consulting with a doctor and looking at an ultrasound, it has been determined that I have many small stones in my gall. Lately, however, the pains have increased to the point of not sleeping. The pains are sharp and happen after I eat anything (especially fatty foods). So its salad for the next 3 days. The upside is that I will be PAIN FREE afterwards!! I will keep you updated on what goes on. Please keep me in your prayers.

I feel much better now...

2007-08-20T00:25:00.001-05:00

that I have gone to confession. It is incredible how the beautiful sacrament of Reconciliation can make Mass so much more beautiful. Thank God I'm Catholic!! Have a Blessed Week!

A decision well made

2007-08-08T07:46:00.000-05:00

For a long time, I felt a lot of guilt because I was pursuing a post-bacclaurate degree. I felt like that as a wife and future mother, my role was to stay at home and attend to my "obligations" as such. Every morning, when I would go to work or school, I asked myself if I was "wrong" in my steps. I didn't know whether the reasons I had for continuing my education were selfish or motivated for the wrong reasons. Would I be a bad mother if I continued? Did it mean I didn't love my family enough? Day in and day out I had all these questions and I ventured off to ask many people for their advice from priests, friends, advisors, and family. Although everyone's advice was quite appreciated, no ones answer filled my doubts. I was a modern Catholic girl in a Modern Liberal world. Well, I read a post by Katie Rose that led me to learn about St. Gianna, a wife, mother and doctor (and now saint!!) I realized that I may be answering a call from above that is a bit different. Maybe I could be a wife, mother, and psychologist. Over the last two months, I felt my 5 years of praying beng answered. My dear Mother from Above & Her Son have blessed me with an inner peace for which I longed. I no longer feel guilty. I no longer feel less because of my decision to pursue this career. I know I was placed on this earth to be a Wife, future Mother, and a child psychologist. No longer will I only have children that bear our last name, but I will have hundreds (if not thousands) of young minds in my care as well. What a feeling! What responsibility!

Weekly update of the Kuhns'

2007-08-03T07:42:00.000-05:00

Howdy ugys and gals! I was witing to post to get soem pictures from our Galveston trip, but they will have to wait. Jesse and our friend Marucs and I went to Galveston last weekend for some camping and fishing. We didn't catch anything by rod, but Jesse has some good catches with his net. We then found out it was illegal to catch fish by net ad eat it, so we used the fish as bait. That night, we setup tent at Galveston State Park. We were stuck on the bay side which was very, very, very humid. We were not only stuck in horrible weather, but the mosquitos and biting flies were on the loose as well. After dousing (sp?) ourselves in OFF! we headed off to the tent. The boys went to sleep very fast, while I was wide awake and uber uncomfortable. So I did as any girl, and headed off to the truck at 4am and turned on the air and went to sleep. I have to say, I slept wonderfully. We ate breakfast at Waffe House (yummm!) and drove home. I love fishing and the beach, but I hate mosquitos, soooo... I think that was my last time in a tent in Galveston.

In other news, my first day of work was on Wednesday! So far, I am loving the job. We haven't done much but orientation and a bit training, but the professionals here are great! My cohort are 5 other people, one from A&M, one from Prarieview A&M, one from U of H, one from Indiana, and the last from Arizona. We have gotten along great these last couple of days which bodes well for the future. We really don't know much about which region of Houston ISD we will be getting this semester, but all in due time. Well my day has begun, so I will let you all know how it all goes later! Take care!

2007-07-29T23:09:00.000-05:00

I guess this blog is good for everyone!

Harry Potter Book 7 My Review : SPOILERS AHEAD!

2007-07-22T23:53:00.000-05:00

WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS SO PLEASE DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK AND PLAN TO READ IT IN THE FUTURE!!!

After 9 years, 6 books, and 5 movies, I was ready to buy the final installment of the Harry Potter series. I had my book reserved along with thousands of other people at Barnes & Noble in Houston. Jesse, Ben, Abby, and I walked into Barnes & Noble Midnight Release Party at about 10:30pm. It was crazy. There were people everywhere. People of all ages were dressed up, wearing Harry Potter shirts extremely excited to get the new book. Thankfully we were one of the first 100 so we were able to get our book within 10 of midnight. Jesse and I arrived home and begun to read. I read for about one hour and decided it was time to sleep. The next morning, after getting my diet coke ready and getting into some comfy clothes, I sat down to read with a blanket in our living room. 9 hours later...I was done. How was it? Let me tell you.

All in all, it was definitely the best of the series. It didn't leave too many loose ends but enough to keep your imagination going years after the book was over. here are some points that I think deserve special attention:

1. The story carried well. There were ups as well as downs, but the downs never made me think I could put the book down. It was definitely a rollercoaster ride with some tunnels that left you wondering where you were going to turn up at the end. At no point in time, did I tell myself "Oh, I know the rest of the story". I guessed many parts but other ones I was surprised. There was a definite theme of Love that surfaced throughout the book and it wasn't as cheesy as it could have been.

2. The bloodbath wasn't too bad. There were I think 17 deaths in all (good and bad guys). I cried when Dobby and Fred died because there were two characters I felt dearly about throughout the series (especially because Fred left his twin, George, alive and with only one ear). I wasn't too fond of Lupin and Tonks dying because they left their newborn son, alone with his Grandmother. At least the newly married couple died together. The point was very clear...good guys have to die sometimes.

3. The Malfoy parents as horrible as they were in previous books (namely Lucius and Draco) turned out not so bad. They certainly did not do a 180 and become angels all of a sudden, but they did redeem themselves by making their priority to keep their family alive and together, even if it meant lying to the Dark Lord. I felt that Rowling did well in keeping Narcissa Malfoy almost good in the last two books. She was obviously following Voldemort because of her husband and always made sure someone (namely Snape) was keeping her son safe. Her biggest part in the book was definitely when she saved Harry when she found out her son was still alive.

4. Although only the last few chapters were at Hogwarts, the students were well covered in the end. Some old faces resurface to come to the aid of Harry and ultimately the world. Nevell made all proud by standing up to Voldemort in front of everybody and killing the last Horcrux even when all hope was gone. Ron and Hermione played their part well,, they stuck with harry (mostly) until the end. I have to admit, ron was the funniest in the book. His quick with and sarcastic humor added a lot to the stoyline. He made the slow parts enjoyable to read.

4. As I guessed (and hoped) Snape was good and the bravest of them all. He did what was right even thuogh noone could know about his innocence until after he died. He became one of my favorite characters in the whole series. His love saved everyone while they called him coward, traitor and a million other things. All for the woman he loved and lost, first to another man, and then to death. The love he carried until his last breath when he asked Harry to look at him so that Lily's eyes were the last he saw before dying. It just doesn't get any better.

5. Rowling did something that I didn't think she would do, but now that I think about it (and discussed it with Jesse) I am glad she did. In the first 6 books, Dumbledore was made out to be perfect. He was an all-wise, all-powerful wizard that unfortunately died in Book 6. He was almost perfect, one could say. In book 7, Rowling reveals Dumbledore as a power hungry teen that had neglected his family growing up. His need for power increased as he desired to collect the Hallows to keep himself alive by beating Death. He makes a mistake while collecting the Hallows which costs him his life. However, although he made mistakes and had a desire for power, his heart always remained in the right place. He does his best to protect the Potter family (who were betrayed by Pettigrew) and train Harry to be able to beat Voldemort in the end. In every book, he always has a talk with Harry about what has happened as well as offer his wise advice. I enjoyed hearing that talk at the end when he talks to Harry while he is "dead". Why tarnish the good reputation Dumbledore had with the readers? Because if he was all powerful, all wise, and perfect, why didn't he beat Voldemort himself? There had to be more to him then what we knew before the last book.

6. Many of the characters stood out in this book. Albus Dumbledore's supposed bad brother Aberforth comes back and helps out the team at the end of the book. Mrs. Weasely gets angry and kills Bellatrix when she almost kills her daughter (although I would have left the curse word out due to the children). I can understand why she included it, but it could have been left out. She definitely gets Mom of the Year (or 7) Award. Her purpose in life is to keep her kids and husband safe from harm, and she does well in doing so. I enjoyed the part where Lupin becomes troubled about leaving his son and joining Harry in his fight to get the Horcruxes. Harry puts him in his place about the responsibility of a father, and Lupin goes back to his family and ultimately makes Harry the Godfather of Teddy Lupin. Way to go on the family values Rowling!

7. After Book 6 and in the 2 years afterward, I was troubled whether or not I wanted Harry to die. Not that I WANTED him to die, but I had the feeling he should. I think part of that came from the fact that he was an annoying brat when he was 15 and 16. I guess that is what really happens to teenagers. I KNOW I was a brat back then, why would Harry skip that stage in life? Harry did a lot of growing up in the past 7 Hogwarts years. He finally became a man. He did what had to be done, and in the end he had the choice of dying and taking the easy way out, or living and fighting for the world's safety. I liked not knowing whether or not he was going to die until the second to last chapter. I had no clue, and for a large part, I thought he was going to die. I even cried when he talks to his parents about being with him until the end. He didn't have to die. He just had to be willing to die for all those he loved. In the end Harry is a wonderful person who turns out to be a wonderful dad. Way to go Harry!

8. The epilogue was about 19 years after Voldemort dies. Harry (age 36) and Ginny (35) have three kids, and Ron (36) and Hermione (36) have two. Not much is known about the other characters (except for Neville who is teaching Herbology at Hogwarts, Percy still working for the Ministry of Magic, and Teddy who visits the Potters often). I feel that i would have liked to know a little more about everyone else, but I guess that is left up to my imagination. Rowling made sure that the Potters and Weasely's seemed genuinely happy. She especially made sure Harry was a good father (based on his last conversation with his middle son Albus Severus, named after Dumbledore and Snape, of course)

This was a bittersweet experience. I can't believe there is no more waiting for the "next book". I was a junior in high school when the first came out, and now I am a year from getting my doctorate. Harry brought my imagination back to life and gave my friends, my husband and I something wholesome and fun to talk about for the past 8 years. I will eventually read them again, more slowly to be able to grasp the many things I probably missed. I hope to one day share these books with my children. (This way I can tell them how their father jumped up and down like he was 5 when he recieved the last book). Well. this is it. No more Harry Potter. Not for now, at least. :)

What about the best time to write your dissertation?

2007-07-18T11:44:00.000-05:00

The Best Time of Day to Do Just About Anything according to this cool new website a good friend reccommended!!!

The Best Time of Day to Clean the House
4 p.m.
You’re more likely to whistle while you window wash (and not kick over the bucket) if you do it in the late afternoon. That’s when hand-eye coordination is at its peak and mood levels are high, says Michael Smolensky, a professor of environmental physiology at the University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston and author of The Body Clock Guide to Better Health (Owl Books, $11, www.amazon.com).

The Best Time of Day to Take a Nap
1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Doctors used to think afternoon sleepiness was the result of a big lunch. “But we’ve found that in the early afternoon there’s a dip in body temperature, which causes sleepiness,” says Smolensky. Just as a similar decrease encourages you to shut down at bedtime, this midday dip can make you crave a siesta. An ideal nap, he says, should last 15 to 20 minutes. More than 30 and you may end up with sleep inertia — and feel even more groggy when the nap’s over.

The Best Time of Day to Go to the Doctor
8 a.m. to 9 a.m., or 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
You’ll spend less time in the waiting room if you book the first appointment of the morning or the first after lunch, says Patricia Carroll, R.N., author of What Nurses Know and Doctors Don’t Have Time to Tell You (Perigee, $15, www.amazon.com): “Doctors start fresh in the morning and catch up when the office is ‘closed’ for lunch.”

The Best Time of Day to Take a Multivitamin
Breakfast time
Taking your supplements with a meal is important because “vitamins are components of food, and whether water soluble or fat soluble, they are absorbed better with food,” says Shari Lieberman, Ph.D., a New York City and Hillsboro Beach, Florida, nutrition scientist and a coauthor of The Real Vitamin & Mineral Book (Avery Publishing, $13, www.amazon.com). Breakfast is the meal of choice. Because most people have it at home (whereas lunch and dinner are often eaten elsewhere), making the morning meal your time for vitamin-popping will help you stick with the habit.

The Best Time of Day to Take the Dog for a Walk
8 p.m. to 9 p.m.
To you, walking the dog may be about exercise and, well, poop. To him, it’s all about the social life, explains Jean Donaldson, author of Dogs Are From Neptune (Lasar Multimedia, $17, www.amazon.com) and director of the San Francisco SPCA’s dog-training academy. Because owners have more time to stroll in the evening and to let their pets linger over exciting smells and sounds missed on the morning-rush walk, this is when Fido is happiest being out with pals.

The Best Time of Day to Exercise
5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
“For increasing fitness, decreasing the chance of injury, and improving sleep, the best time to exercise is late afternoon or early evening,” says Matthew Edlund, M.D., author of The Body Clock Advantage (Circadian Press, $15, www.amazon.com) and head of the Center for Circadian Medicine, in Sarasota, Florida. At these times, he says, your lungs use oxygen more efficiently, you’re more coordinated, and your muscles are warmed up, so you’re less likely to suffer a sprain or strain.

The Best Time of Day to Go to the Post Office
7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.
The U.S. Postal Service may have more than 700,000 employees, yet there never seem to be enough of them when you’re waiting in line to mail that birthday present. Your best chance, according to USPS spokesperson Monica Suraci: Find out when your post office opens (generally between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m.) and arrive a half hour or so later. You’ll hit a midmorning lull, missing the rush of early birds lined up at the door (as well as distracted window personnel chatting with carriers sorting the day’s mail). Heavy traffic is more likely at lunch, at the end of the workday, and just before closing, so those are excellent times to avoid. Suraci’s tip: Look for USPS “contract stations,” which offer services in locations like supermarkets and drugstores, and for new machines being installed in some post-office lobbies that weigh and stamp packages most any time.

The Best Time of Day to Return Merchandise
10 a.m.
Arrive with your what-was-I-thinking sweater within the first hour a store is open. Workforces are leaner these days, but “retailers still need enough staff to open up, so that may be when they have the best ratio of staff to customers,” says Edward Fox, director of Southern Methodist University’s JCPenney Center for Retail Excellence, in Dallas. It may also be the only time all day when staff are at assigned posts, “so you can usually get someone to help,” notes former fashion stylist Linda Arroz, who spent years returning things she didn’t end up using for movies and TV shows. Fox adds that “the most experienced people get the best hours, so they” — not clueless newbies — “will be working the day shift.” Finally, consider customer flow. “A city store may be busier during weekday lunch hours, a suburban store on weekend afternoons,” says Target spokesperson Lena Michaud.

The Best Time of Day to Ask for a Raise
5 p.m.
"The key is finding a moment when your boss is not rushed and has time to truly listen," and that's most likely to be the end of the day, says Lynn Ellis, a career coach in Austin, Texas, who has worked with employees and bosses at global companies like Unilever. “That’s when I’m getting ready for the next day or looking ahead to the next week, and I’m in a good mood because I’m going home soon,” says Amy Holloway, a vice president at AngelouEconomics, in Austin. And you’ll have a biological edge then, since, as Body Clock Advantage (www.amazon.com) author Matthew Edlund, M.D., points out, your elevated body temperature makes you more alert in the late afternoon. But asking for a raise is not an exact science. Ellis advises tracking your boss’s daily habits to find the ideal, low-key time for him or her. And, in the end, if you’re at your best in the a.m., just go for it.

The Best Time of Day to Get a Haircut
8 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Booking the first appointment of the day will help you ease into the shampoo bowl on time. That’s because no latecomers will have thrown off the schedule, says Serena Chreky, co-owner of the Andre Chreky salon, in Washington, D.C. Saturday mornings (after busy workweeks or late Fridays) are usually the least frantic, says Allen Ruiz of the Jackson Ruiz Salon Spa, in Austin. However, some salons fill up then with bridal parties, Chreky cautions, so ask when you book. An early appointment may also get you the best cut. “Stress levels are at their lowest,” says Michelle Breyer, cofounder of NaturallyCurly.com, which deals with salons across the country. “Even if you’re only the third or fourth client of the day, your stylist may not look at your hair with the same enthusiasm.” For the very best service, Breyer and Ruiz both suggest asking your stylist, “What’s your favorite time of day to do hair?”

The Best Time of Day to Fly
Noon
Although U.S. Department of Transportation statistics show that flights taking off between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. have the best on-time record (95.4 percent), those numbers are sometimes misleading, says Rally Caparas, an Atlanta-based air-traffic controller and a Travelocity "Eye on the Sky" correspondent for CNN. "On time" refers to when the plane pushes back from the gate. You can wait on the tarmac for an hour because of weather problems, which cause the vast majority of air delays. Scheduling arrivals and departures between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. local time, Caparas says, will help you avoid most delay-causing weather patterns. This will also help you avoid airport rush hours, "which mostly coincide with workday rush hours," says Robert Baron, president of the Aviation Consulting Group, in Fort Lauderdale. But for best results, check your guidebook for regional weather patterns and schedule accordingly. For example, for the West Coast, fly in or out after noon Pacific Standard Time, when marine-level fog has dissipated, says Caparas. For southeastern and Gulf Coast hops, steer clear of the thunderstorms that kick up around 3 p.m. "Airline schedules are based on perfect weather conditions," he says. You're more likely to be punctual if you follow Mother Nature's schedule.

The Best Time of Day to Read (and Retain)
8 a.m. or 10 p.m.:
If you're going over notes for today's presentation or memorizing the names of your child's classmates' parents before the school open house tonight, do it early in the morning, when your immediate recall is highest. For longer retention (the book club meets in three weeks, but this weekend's your only chance to finish The Good Nanny), evening is better. "This is just the way the brain is organized," says Michael Smolensky, a professor of environmental physiology at the University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston and author of The Body Clock Guide to Better Health (Owl Books, $11, www.amazon.com). "Memory depends on nucleic acids, and those show circadian rhythms." In other words, your brain doesn't store information with the same efficiency all day; there are peaks and valleys. "College students often unknowingly take advantage of the dual circadian rhythm by staying up late studying, then doing a quick review the morning of the exam," says Smolensky.

Movies & More

2007-07-10T16:21:00.000-05:00

The plumber came, saw, & fixed everything......hahaha not really but most of it. Everything works except.......drumroll please.....the shower. Yep, they have to replace the whole thing, and they won't get to it until next week. What a surprise. In other news, all of our faucets work yay!!!!! Its the small things, people!!

The other day I watched the movie Karol for the 3rd time and I cried my eyes out. What a surprise! Great movie! I ca't wait until my Padre Pio movie comes in!

Jesse, I am proud to say, is no longer a trainee!! He is officially a professional waiter at Mark's. I had a meeting with my advisor about my disseration and if I don't watch it, I think I may end up with Trichotillomania. I had a minor meltdown, but thankfully my husband gave me the "it's all going to be okay" speech which come think of it, is very potent. It's actually an antidote for any anxiety, depressive down in the dumps feeling.

Soooooo....want to hear the happy news?? Well, I have now discovered an UBER cheap movie theatre in Pearland!!! Pearland is this little town right outside of Houston. The theatre is exactly 20 minutes away. It costs......another drumroll please.......$2 before six and $4 after six. Yipeee! Jesse and I saw Ratatouille (sp) on Sunday and Transformers today. Both great movies!!!! Ratatouille is great for all kids!! Transformers has (that I can remember) about 2 or 3 curse words and a reference to some male adolescent sexuality. But all in all, its jam-packed with action, and the graphics are amazing.

What is even more exciting is that My good friend Laura Chapa will be coming tonight and at 3am Wednesday (tonight) we will be watching Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix in Imax 3-D. It just gets better and better. At this rate,when our shower downstairs works....I may go into crazy dancing mode. maybe not.

Have a Blessed Tuesday!

Good Times

2007-07-06T11:00:00.000-05:00

This week is definitely getting better every day. I have successfully gotten myself lost and found twice in Houston :). We finally have cable (although, I really haven't watched tv) and I have gotten myself out of bed early enough to get stuff done during the day. Although I tried to get some writing done at Barnes & Noble, the lack of internet access and freezing temperatures didn't help at all so I didn't last more than 3 or 4 hours. After searching on the internet for free internet, I found a café in the Village, and was set to got to it this morning with my trusty, beat up, laptop and books. I got there to find out it was getting renovated. hmpf. It wasn't too much wasted time, because I found New York & Company Store there. Yayyy. I drove myself down to Borders in their littler Meyerland Plaza that I have been going to for whatever I need. It has the bare essentials...except for a grocery store. There is a Target, Circuit City, Ross, Bed Bath & Beyond, GNC, Bank of America, JC Penney, Office Max all in one convenient location which is about 10 minutes from our place. I signed up fo rT-mobile HotSpots for the month so that I could have access to the world during my "breaks". Sadly, they don't have any diet sodas here, but they do have some good hand-made flavored sodas that are very tasty. So, now I can get to work, and keep on coming here for my daily writing.

As for other news, Gerardo and Roxy came down to Houston for the 4th of July. We had some crazy fun watching the astros game and playing the wii afterward. You should check these out!!!!

Last night I got to catch up with my good friend Gaby about her increasingly successful real estate career as well as having good ol' girl talk.

Life is good in the neighborhood and only 4 more days for the Harry Potter movie and 14 days for the Harry Potter book to come out!!!!!

Have a blessed Friday!

A bit better every day

2007-07-03T20:54:00.000-05:00

is how I feel about living in Houston. The third plumber showedup today and fixed my kitchen faucet in about 10 minutes, which makes me a bit scared. It turns out that the first plumber put the wrong hose on the faucet. Well, I was really happy until I noticed that when I left the water running for more than 10 seconds it would get stuck. So....I panicked a bit, partially because he had JUST left, and partially because I am tired of this condo breaking apart and called the plumber. Pretty much I was told that it was the holiday weekend and noone was going to come and fix my shower or any of the other things until next Tuesday. Hmmmm, they MUST have working showers and sinks at THEIR home so why should they worry about me having it at mine. Yes, I know I am slightly overreacting but I have definitely learned patience. Next, I got dressed and headed out to Barnes & Noble to go write my dissertation a bit because I really have to get it done. Well about 2 hours later, I couldn't feel my toes anymore (it was freezing) so I came home. I finally gave in to my pride and the disgusting downstairs tub that had oxidized water (is that how you call the gross orange stuff?) and got on my hands and knees to begin the scrubbing. I hadn't done it earlier, because it was SUPPOSED to have been clean when we got here and you can ask my parents, it was DISGUSTING. Anyway, half a bottle of Ajax and this cool bathroom bar clean-it-all product it got much better. I really hope the owner was okay, 'cause Lord knows no happy thoughts were going through my mind. Well, I was really angry that the water in the sink wouldn't go away, and just so happened to have Drano. So I figured it couldn't hurt. I poured a whole bottle of dranno down the sink and said a little prayer. At first, it didn't showing promising results, but after a while the water went bye bye into the sink hole thingy. Yay!!! I put some clothes in the wash and then the dryer, which come to think of it, I hope the breaker hasn't flipped because it did last time... and now I am attacking the fan in our room. This fan is SOOOOO noisy. I can't go to bed at night because it is so loud. I can hear it from the kitchen downstairs OVER the radio playing. Yeah...its that bad. Anyway, I have tried taping nails to each of the blades to try to figure out which one is off....but to no avail. Maybe Jesse can help when he gets home. I am officially tired...and I wish the owner would return my million phone calls, but no luck.

I did receive a DVD of Jesse when he was about 2 years old which is adorable. I would put a clip on here, but don't know how to transfer it from the dvd. It made me smile. Ah, the little things.....

24 hour move in!

2007-07-02T15:56:00.000-05:00

Thanks to my wonderful parents, we were able to get this apartment going.

We went from this:

To this 24 HOURS, blood, sweat and tears later:

Crazy huh? I didn't think it would be possible... but with the help of parents, there is nothing that can't be done. By the way, we Do have an extra bedroom and (eventually) an extra working bathroom. So if you are ever in town, feel free to give us a call!

We do have some minor mishaps. This complex was built in 1978 and much has not been replaced. The shower in the bathroom downstairs doesn't work. We have no water in the kitchen except in the dishwasher (Thankfully). The sink in the wet bar doesn't work. The shower upstairs leaks and I can't get a hold of the owner. Not to mention that the dryer makes the breaker flip. My Dad and Jesse did an awesome job fixing the closet shelf thingies....that had obviously broken many times prior to us moving in. I guess the main problem is that the place was vacant for a year, and they didn't even check or inspect anything before we moved in.... at least we don't have to pay for it and this place is much nicer than our old one.

On a lighter note, Jesse and I have eaten on the inexpensive side since I am not working right now and he is starting his new job at Mark's American Cuisine . He went to his first training session today and said he loved it. Everyone is very nice and the waitstaff are all considered Professionals. No women are hired. I am not sure why, but I am guessing to avoid conflicts and I have heard that women are not usually good at waiting tables...hmm who knows. Jesse is the youngest and newest waiter there, the oldes being 57 and the longest lasting has been 10 years (since the opening of the restaurant). We probably won't be eating there soon, since lunch costs about $50 per person and dinner is about $100 per person with no employee discount, go figure. :)

I haven't been out too much although, I have to say that I was smazed at how expensive goin gto the movies can be. Jesse and I went to see the final Die Hard movie on Saturday. We paid $3 to park and 19.50 for two tickets. Ahh Crazy! I guess we will either go to Tomball to watch movies or wait until they come out on DVD at the Kroger (they are $1). Last night, I got to see fireworks from outside our condo which was very pretty although it was very muggy outside. Jesse and I are very excited that the Garcia Ibarrola's are coming to town on the 4th of July to go to an Astros game!!! Yippeee!

That is my news for now... I will keep you posted on how the plumbing goes... have a wonderful Monday!

Movie Review - Evan Almighty

2007-06-22T23:21:00.000-05:00

I did something I have never done before. For the first time, I went to the movies by myself. I have to admit, it did seem wierd sitting by myself before the movie began while couples and families filed in one by one to get ready to see the movie. Having said that, it wasn't so bad once the movie started. I was very pleasantly surprised with Evan Almighty. It is a movie about a man asked by God Himself to build an ark to be saved from the flood. I am very specific about comedies I find funny. As all my friends know, I dislike dumb humor, and I absolutely despise crude humor. Evan Amighty was good-natured comedy. There were some parts I laughed so hard I cried. Its a great movie. You should go see it. Really.