The Unadventures of Tracie

I write more blog posts than you think I do. In fact, I've written so many things, not just blog posts, it's amazing. But where is all this text you ask? In my head. Yes, it is a fact that if there were an invention that would somehow convert thoughts to text I would have many writings attributed to my name. Why is this? Well, because I'm most creative and can write the best when, ironically, I'm not trying to write. Say for instance, right before I go to sleep. I wrote a whole page of a novel yesterday before going to sleep, but it doesn't exist anywhere besides in my own brain. And even that has gotten fuzzy. It drives me crazy that I can write out whole ideas, plots, concepts, articles, witticisms, etc. in my head and yet when I sit down to write I draw a big blank. My creativity is drowning in my own brain where it can't escape and will never live among the concrete things we call the written word. Today while I was resting, I wrote 3 blog posts that you m...

For those that haven't heard, Hurricane Ike is coming up on the Texan coast. Most of Houston and Galveston is being evacuated. Those not required to evacuate are hunkering down in their homes with emergency supplies. Austin's family is in Houston. I ask my family and friends to please keep them in your prayers for the next few days. EDIT: The storm has now passed and Austin's family are gratefully safe. :)

Yesterday I had the much fun experience of getting my wisdom teeth out. I've been dreading getting this done for months and months. I was extremely nervous and almost backed out a few times. I called HayLee the night before to get some reassurance that everything would be okay. And it was. It really wasn't that bad. I got up yesterday morning, ate breakfast (on Hay's recommendation), and drove to the dentist. I picked the movie Hitch to watch, and they got me set up on the nitrous oxide (a.k.a. laughing gas). The gas really helped to calm down my racing heart. Dr. Pincock came in and swabbed me with the bubblegum-ish numbifier stuff. I then got several shots, which frankly were probably the worst part of the whole thing. I got good and numb and then Dr. Pincock yanked out my three wisdom teeth (two on bottom, one on the top left). It was over before I knew it. I couldn't believe it was so fast. After going through it, I don't know why people would want to be put un...

The last three days Austin and I tried our hand at parenting as we watched our nephews Tyson, Preston, and Mason while their parents were away on a cruise. I thought I would sum up my experiences in list format: Number of times I was woken up in the middle of the night by a screaming child: 2 Number of times I changed soiled bed sheets: 1 Number of times I changed soiled clothing: 3 Number of times I drew bubble baths: 3 Number of sandwiches made: 8 Number of times I helped kids with homework: 5 Number of times I was asked for permission to play the computer or my Nintendo DS: 87 Number of times I said the phrase “be nice”: 212 Number of times I was walked in on while going to the bathroom or showering: 5 Number of times I walked/ran to the school: 6 Number of hours of sleep on average per night: 5 Number of times I was woken up before my alarm went off: every day Number in minutes of time spent with Austin in the 3-day period: 20 Number in minutes of time to myself in th...

So I didn't exactly make my goal to blog every day in August. But I did blog much more, which is something you can all be grateful for. I blogged about 5x more in August in July so that is quite the improvement. This month I'll try to blog on average twice a week. Anyway, so I was over at Charlotte's blog and she posted some results of online visual personality quizzes. I found this one to be particularly accurate. Here are my results: About Me: You are a single-minded person who takes pride in making sound judgements and likes to earn the respect of others. Interaction: You are idealistic and can be extremely loyal and accepting of others. You often remain on the sidelines in social situations choosing to observe rather than participate. Having said that, when you feel comfortable in a social setting, you come alive and enjoy interacting with like-minded people. You even have the chance to exercise that cheeky sense of humor of yours. Thinking: You enjoy being well-...

Lilyan Mae McNeil was born on August 22, 2008 at 6:01pm. I'm so excited to have a new niece! She's utterly precious. Austin and I visited baby and parents in the hospital on Saturday and took them dinner yesterday evening. You can check out "Trent & Jess" under my blog list for more pics and information. Congrats to Trent & Jessica for the new addition to their family!

A few days ago Austin and I were taking a shower when all of the sudden the shower head goes shooting off! A hydrant-like spray of water then hit us with full force. It was pretty funny and shocking. Austin kept trying to fix it but it kept shooting off, causing me to squelch like a junior high girl several times. We kept trying to fix it until the rubber washer washed down the drain after another of its high-force attacks. Austin called our landlord and we got to take baths for a few days while we waited for it to get fixed. It was kinda fun (and annoying) taking a bath. It made me feel like I was living in the good ole days again when there were no massage showerheads and when the longer you're in the tub, the dirtier you got. Fortunately, our landlord got back to us and we have a new massage showerhead, which we didn't have before. (It's actually really fortunate that this happened as we've hated our showerhead since we've moved in as it leaked everywhere, causin...