Another month gone
So, here we are again. I know, this is getting to be a habit. I find myself sitting here today with an attempt in mind to fill y’all in on what’s been going down with Team McElroy over the last month and a half. I don’t guess it’s been quite a month and a half since our trip to New York. However, since I haven’t posted since then, I’ll start there. In all fairness, we’ve been pretty busy. With the holidays, I’m sure most of you have as well. I know, New Year’s day was over three weeks ago. We’ve had a few other things go down as well though. And, since one of my sisters-in-law decided I needed to write a post and informed my wife of that decision last evening, I’m taking some time to write one now. I hope you enjoy, especially you, unnamed sister-in-law, you know who you are.
After our trip to New York, it took us some time to get back to normalcy. Actually, we’re still working on it. The day after our return, Laura got pretty sick and missed a couple days of work. Seemed some kind of bug was going around as we knew several folks that were sick with similar symptoms.
Thankfully, she was feeling better after a few days. This was especially good as we’d planned to attend the ballet with a bunch of peeps from church later that week. No, we’re not regular attenders of the ballet. I mean, I’m ok with ballet. I go more for the music. Yeah, I think I’ll stop there. Anyway, we were attending for a special reason this time. A girl from our small group at church was playing the role of Clara in the Nutcracker here in Fort Worth. That’s bigtime! So, we all wanted to be there to support her. She did a great job. I don’t think she was expecting quite the turnout though. She seemed thrilled though to see all the support. Again, she did a great job.
Here we are with her. Her name is Havilah by the way.
Here’s some of the group. There were probably 30 of us there.
Another Christmas has come and gone. I know, you know that already. We spent the majority of our time around the holiday in H-town with Laura’s family. This was the first Christmas without Mimi and I know it was hard. Everyone still seemed to have a great time. We also spent a bit of time with my folks on Christmas day and then my dad and I spent a lot of the next day hanging out with a good family friend.
Here are Laura and I in front of the tree at Pawpaw’s house just after church. It was the end of an era as the tree has made it’s last appearance. I’m sure there’ll be another one next year. Don’t worry, you won’t be disappointed.
Here are a few pics from Christmas Day at Pawpaw’s.
Laura’s Mimi was a seriously crafty lady. She knew how to knit, crochet and probably anything else. The girls pulled a lot of her supplies out and each took some. It didn’t really look like they made much of a dent. I’m sure they did though. Laura likes to say that one could find anything they needed to make a craft at Mimi’s. I don’t think she’s kidding.
A few days after Christmas, Laura and I departed Houston and drove west to San Antonio. We went for a few reasons. To begin with, my god-daughter Ema was being baptized/dedicated at church the following Sunday. You’ll recall that Ema’s mom is my college roommate Ernie’s sister. We enjoy seeing them as often as we can. We were also there to meet my friend Dave’s fiancee Janel. That Sunday also happened to be the five year anniversary of Ernie’s death in Iraq. So, it was good to be there with Ernie’s family, whom are indeed a part of my family, and friends like Dave. We were also able to spend some time with Dave’s folks and siblings. It had been a while so it was good to catch up with them.
Here’s Trystan reading from a book just given to him by Dave and Janel. Trystan also received a full Texas Aggie football uniform. He’s sporting some of it here.
Here’s Ema and her new castle.
The kids love popsicles.
Ema likes to play with phones.
Here’s Ema with Blaine and Carmen at church. She wasn’t a big fan of the water, not at all.
Ema was a little tired after church.
Here’s Gloria with Trystan, Ema and Coleman.
Ema’s playing for her mom, Carmen.
Trystan roughhousing a bit with Dave. He’s been doing that with us since he was a toddler. He still loves it. In fact, he usually attacks us almost as soon as we’re in the door.
Here’s Dave with Coleman and Trystan.
Got a phone call from Dave the morning of the day we were leaving for New York. Basically, we chatted for a bit about our trip and then he asked me if I’d like to come back up that way a few weeks later for his wedding. Long story short, Dave deployed to Iraq last week and he and Janel had decided to get married before he left. So, Laura and I made plans to be there. With the help of one of Laura’s company jets, we made it to Baltimore without a hitch. From there, drove up through Pennsylvania to the northeast corner of the state that adjoins New Jersey and New York state. You see, the wedding was in a small town in northwest New Jersey. However, the hotel was in Pennsylvania and we had to drive through NY to get to NJ. So, we were in three states in about five minutes time. Crazy. Overall, the drive through PA, NY, and NJ was really pretty, especially the parts of NJ we were in. Had no idea any part of that state was that pretty. The wedding was a lot of fun. Glad we were able to be there with Dave and Janel.
Here are Dave and I before the wedding.
All the ushers with Dave.
Glenn and I.
The dudes chatting it up pre-ceremony.
Here are a few pics of the service.
Capt. and Mrs. Dave Tolar.
Clif Kennedy and his little boy Clay. They made the drive up from the D.C. area. Mrs. Kennedy was able to be there too, Clif’s mom that is. Last saw her at a football game last fall.
Keith and Stephanie DeSonier. Haven’t seen them since their wedding. Good to catch up a bit with them.
Laura and I at the reception.
Us and the happy couple.
We might have done a little singing at the reception. A certain David Allan Coe song might have been playing. You know the one.
Myself with Glenn, Stu, and Blake.
Didn’t hurt ourselves getting up the morning we had to leave. Did get on the road a bit early though. On our way back to Baltimore, decided to stop in Hershey, PA. Laura’s a big fan of chocolate so we thought it’d be a good idea. It really was on the way, I promise. Worth the stop for sure.
Here’s the main factory.
A lot of the streetlights look like this.
Made a stop here of course. Couldn’t not stop. Found out all about how they make milk chocolate.
I still have no idea what that building is.
The next Friday, received a tough call from my dad. As many of you already know, a significant portion of my folks’ house had burned earlier that day. So, Laura and I flew down the next day to spend some time with my ‘rents and survey the damage.
Here are a few pics. Still quite surreal and a little heartbreaking.
Flew back to Fort Worth that evening and then drove back down to Houston a few days later. After much discussion with my dad, Laura and even my boss, we all felt it would be good for me to be down there to help however I could. Spent the next four days over at what was left of the house digging and helping to salvage anything we could. One of my sisters and her husband were also able to help out a few days. Some of my parents’ neighbors also helped out quite a bit. We got a lot done but I know my folks still have quite a bit left to do. If you’re praying types, please pray for them and the situation. Overall, they’re doing well. It could have been much worse. Still, it’s really hard. Probably a bit of an understatement there.
As for us here, Laura’s job has continued to keep her crazy busy. Mine on the other hand is a constant exercise in how to keep one’s mind occupied. Very little happening in my office. It all goes in cycles I guess. I’m thankful we have jobs. I know not everyone can say that right now.
Ok, well, that’s what we’ve been up to. I could probably go on but then I wouldn’t have anything to write about next month. Stay tuned. I’m sure I’ll have something up again sometime, maybe, I hope. In the meantime, please pray for my folks, my friend Dave in Iraq, his new wife, all the other men and women in harm’s way, our new President and our country. I’m out.
Catching up with Team McElroy
When I think back to my childhood, I remember that the Christmas season didn’t really start for us until after Thanksgiving. Now, with commercialism run rampant, one can see decorations and other things related to the holiday in stores as early as September and there’s Christmas music playing in stores just after Halloween. So, a few years back I instituted a rule. Basically, there’s nothing to do with Christmas done until the day after Thanksgiving, no earlier. That means no decorating and definitely no listening to Christmas music. I thought about this quite a bit on our drive back to Cowtown from the Thanksgiving holiday as we listened to some tunes on the old iPod.
Yes, I do know that that was almost a month ago. Some of you out there may be wondering what my deal is. You may have indeed asked yourself something like, “what’s going on with those peeps?” One of Laura’s friends commented to her about my previous post one evening and noted that I may have to write a “What November?” or “What December?” post. Well, look no further, here it is. We’ve been crazy busy and I’m here today to let you know about it. You might have already guessed it by the title though I suppose. From the title, some of you may be thinking about a certain album released by Depeche Mode back in the 80’s. That’s another story though.
Let’s go back a little more than a month, if you will. Laura and I made a little trip down to San Antonio. We went down that particular weekend for a couple reasons. First off, we were there to celebrate Trystan’s birthday. Who’s Trystan? He’s the nephew of my college roommate, Ernie. Many of you out there know of Ernie. For those who don’t, he was indeed my roommate during my time in the Corps at A&M. When he died in Iraq, almost five years ago now, I got a lot closer with his family. So, we try to make it down to visit them as much as possible. In case you’re curious, the party was a western theme.
Here’s Ernie’s mom Gloria and Trystan.
Laura and Coleman played a little tether-ball.
Ema really likes the juicebox.
She also likes tether-ball.
Here’s Trystan and one of the many farm animals present.
Ema had a ball riding a horse. Here she is with her mom, Carmen.
We were also in San Antonio to spend some time with Laura’s fam. Several of them were in town to run a half and/or full marathon. Unfortunately, I had to fly back early for a meeting. Still, Laura was able to be there for the runners.
Here are some of the non-runners.
There goes Emily and Rachel.
Megan and Rachel.
Here’s Emily and Melanie just after they finished.
Matt ran too but I guess he was so fast no one was able to get a pic. I’m sure that was it.
For Thanksgiving, we were in Austin. Well, we were in Austin after a five hour drive. Yeah, it does normally only take like half that time. I do love I-35. We stayed at Adam’s house and their aunt, Janet, graciously hosted us at their house for Thanksgiving dinner and for leftovers again the next night. Some of you may be curious as to why we holidayed in Austin this year. Well, there are many reasons. One of the main reasons though was that A&M played t.u. in Austin this year and with Jason in the Aggieband we knew he’d have to be at the game. It also helps that a large part of the family lives there. Was also fun this year too because one of Laura’s camp friends, Ash, joined us.
Here he is with Adam and Laura in front of the State Capitol building.
And here we are in front of said building.
Here are Jason and Pawpaw before the parade down Congress Street. The Corps does this every year the game is played in Austin.
Here are Kristin, Megan and Rachel after dinner that night.
Here’s everyone doing what many do on Thanksgiving, watching a little football.
That’s Jason there on the tv. He’s the one in the middle looking straight at you. DVR sure is nice.
Emily and Ash during the annual scrumble. (Look back to last year’s Thanksgiving post for the scrumble explanation. It would take too long here.)
Here we are outside Adam’s prior to departure.
The next Saturday evening, after a much shorter drive back to FTW. Laura and I put up our Christmas tree. Yes it does look much the same as last year. It’s still cool though, so there.
Laura’s parents made an appearance with Team McElroy the following weekend. Her folks came up from H-town just to hang out a bit. We had a great weekend. Spent some time at a huge craft fair over in Bedford on Saturday morning. I am constantly amazed at how much stuff there is at these things. Was a bit intense. No, not normally my sort of thing but we had fun. Laura’s dad showed us where his dad’s parents’ old house was and we visited a fun old neighborhood that evening. Apparently, several folks in this neighborhood will open their homes up to the public each Christmas-time to help raise money for neighborhood improvements. It’s a great idea, right? We also went into this great old church and listened to a short choir performance. The ‘rents departed after church on Sunday.
Last weekend, we just might have taken a little trip up to New York, NYC that is. Seems one of Laura’s sisters was working for a client there and therefore had a place we could stay. Thanks again, Mel. And, since we could fly for free, it almost didn’t make sense for us not to go. The trip was awesome. Yes, we walked a ton, it was insanely crowded and quite cold. Still, we had a blast. Just one question though, does anyone know where they keep their gas stations in Manhattan? We didn’t see one. Just curious.
This place is awesome. Must go back.
We rode the Subway quite a bit. Laura needed a pic. No, I don’t know why.
Us, of course, just outside Macy’s.
Free, public restrooms. They even had a theme song. I’ve been trying to get it out of my head ever since we were there.
Yeah, that’s the Empire State Building behind us.
Just after sunset.
Oh yeah, the tree.
Us and the tree.
A nice couple took this pic for us with the Brooklyn bridge.
Here’s Laura in Central Park.
That’s the Plaza Hotel from Central Park.
This thing was made entirely from Jelly Bellies.
Times Square of course. I can’t even fathom the craziness of New Year’s Eve here.
Radio City Music Hall. I know, you can all read.
Here’s the tree during the day with slightly less people around.
Here are a few pics of the city in general. That place has some great buildings. I know, it’s kind of an understatement.
Our last morning there, just happened to see Al Roker doing a segment out on the street for the Today Show. We also saw Tom Cruise as he was leaving. Sorry, no pics.
In case I haven’t mentioned before, or you don’t know me that well, I love Christmas music. For one thing, it’s fun to sing. There’s that and it reminds me of my younger years and the days when I sang some of the greats when I was in this or that choir. Perhaps it is the memories that these songs evoke. There are other reasons as well. On the drive back from Thanksgiving, we were listening to Harry Connick Jr.’s version of “O Holy Night” and a specific line in the song struck me. I’d listened to this and/or other versions hundreds of times and had not noticed or perhaps just not paid attention to it before. We sang it again yesterday morning in our local church worship service. “Our weakness, no stranger.” Think about it for a minute. He was born, same as you and me. Well not quite, but that’s not my point. He was small and “weak” and yet the almighty King of the universe. It’s a crazy mystery I can’t even begin to comprehend. I’m glad He came all the same. Give praise this Christmas season for the birth of our Savior. Just as Linus said, “that’s what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown.” Merry Christmas everyone!
October, what October?
Some of you out there may have noticed that Team McElroy was silent through the month October. I ask you, what October? I mean, is there really such a month? Personally, I don’t believe in October. No offense to anyone out there who does believe. Maybe I just like to skip from September straight to November. It’s easy really. One just needs to rip “October” off the calendar hanging on one’s wall. No problem. It’s just there by mistake anyway. I’m sure it’s some printing error. No, I don’t really have anything else better to do.
Seriously though, I really don’t have a good reason for not posting anything last month. You can just call me lazy. Please do remember though to call me by my real name every once in a while please. I don’t want to forget it. So, I feel like we did stuff in October. Surely we did stuff. I think we did.
No, I really don’t have any pictures to post at this particular juncture. I’ll just get that out right now. Sorry.
Work, aka the job, has continued slow, very slow for me. I suppose that might be a bit of an understatement. No, not much happening at all. It’s quite a different story with Laura. She’s been workin’ like crazy. Yes, still. I know it’s wearing her out but she’s doing a great job. At least that’s what I hear from the co-workers. Thankfully, with the holidays coming, there’s a good chance it will slow way down for her. We’ll see.
Spent a lot of the month trying to keep up with news about the election. Yeah, the presidential election of course. Also tried to find out as much as possible about all of our state and local elections. I’ve realized I need to be as informed as possible. I know, kinda late. Still, I’m somewhat motivated to pay more attention and perhaps even get involved. Yeah, I’ve talked about it before. I just need to figure out what to do and do it. As noted before, I don’t in any way want this to become some kind of political commentary blog. I’ve spent a considerable amount of time thinking about all this political junk lately and that’s probably the real reason I didn’t post anything.
Laura and I did get out and do a few things here and there. Made it over to another wedding in Plano, P-town as I like to call it. Wedding was at the Baptidome. Probably the last for a long while, at least from Laura’s crew in north Dallas. Was great to spend some time with the Mitchells and Galyeans. Will have to do it again soon. The guys might have gotten into a somewhat heated discussion about guns, politics and other things of that sort. The girls might have made fun of the guys and said discussion.
Also made it back down to College Station for another football game. Didn’t win that one. Wasn’t pretty. The band was great again though. Laura and I were able to spend a bit more time with Jason and his roommate this trip. I forget what it’s like to be a fish in the Corps. Was a lot of fun to hear about all the craziness of their fish lives. No, I won’t go into any trance-like state and recount countless stories of bygone days. Still, brings back some fun memories for sure.
My company had it’s annual fall picnic again in October. You might recall that the past few years it’s been at the Fort Worth Zoo. Not so this year. My company decided to have it this year at some pseudo dude ranch of sorts just north of town. I’m sure all the kids loved it. Laura and I made it out just in time for some Bingo and BBQ, which is always a great combination. No, didn’t win anything this year either. Oh well, there’s always the birthday and Christmas is coming.
In non-October news, another birthday has come and gone for me. Nothing like turning a year older. Can you tell how excited I was about it. I know, it’s not all that bad. Was a great weekend. Laura and I were able to have dinner together the night of my birthday, just the two of us. Ate at a great place down by Montgomery Plaza and then walked around a few of the stores there. The next night, had a few friends over. The following day, ( I know, it’s almost out of control.) some of the fam came over for dinner and dessert. Always good to see the sis, her fam and the grandmother. I’m sure someone has pictures of it. You won’t get ‘em from me though.
So yeah, I guess that’s it from here. I’ll try to be a bit better about posting. I might even get some pics up.
Man Points
So last Sunday, Laura and I were spending the afternoon hanging out at home doing a few chores here and there and watching the Cowboys get thumped by the Giants. Laura had just taken a load of clothes out of the dryer and had put in another when I hear a few disheartening words coming from the room where our washer and dryer live. Long story short, seems our dryer had decided it was time for a rest and refused to start. I checked the breaker of course, since it was right next to the dryer, and nothing. Had no idea what else it might be. My first instinct was to throw it off the balcony and go to Sears to look for a new one.
Later that evening, while helping someone move into their new apartment, I discussed my dilemma with a friend from church. He shared that he’d fixed a few washers and dryers in his day and there really wasn’t too much to it. I let him know that I’m not really all that handy and preferred not to deal with it. He encouraged me to give it a go and referred me to a website that might help me out. “Besides,” he said, “there’s the chance to earn a few man points.”
So yeah, Monday night I pulled the thing out and began to investigate. After reading through the website a few times I had a list of things that might be wrong. Without even turning a screwdriver or wrench I discovered what I hoped was the problem. I did end up pulling the back off to clean the dryer up a bit. Man, do dryers get dirty. Lint is not my friend. Anyway, I won’t go into great detail here. Will say that Lowe’s is not the place to find appliance parts. Just believe me. All I needed was a terminal block and power chord. Is that too much to ask? I did find a great appliance parts store yesterday that was most helpful. So, if you’re in the Metroplex with appliance parts needs, let me know and I’ll forward the info. Seriously great customer service.
Sorry, back to the tale. Last night, with some wiring help from my bro-in-law, I got it all fixed up and running like new. At least it seems to be running like it had before. And yeah, just maybe earned a few of those man points. At least I didn’t shell out some cash for a new dryer, well, at least not yet. Still kinda hoping that I don’t burn the house down. As Laura said a few times when I discovered the problem in the first place, I’m glad we hadn’t burned it down already. I might just be checking it out every once in a while to make sure that doesn’t become a possibility. Here’s hopin’.