Go Astros!

There is a major Pep Rally going on downtown this morning.
I'd love to be there.
Mayor White declares a No Socks (Sox) weekend.
Herb Taylor of the Galveston Daily News remembers the Colt .45s.
and even Dallas has gotten Astro's Fever.
I love it!

Friday Cat Blogging

I was going through some old photo files and came across The Boyz baby pics

Baby Rafe...then


and now



Baby Rhett....then


And now


best buddies...then


and now



Visit the Friday Ark

The Apprentice

Week five finds the Blonde Brigade regrouping.
Marshawn ( I like her) tells the blondes, the bickering must end.
The Boys Club are patting themselves on the back....again.

This week's task is to create a parade float for a movie that nobody can seem to pronounce the name of.
The girls are offered someone from the other team to help round out the numbers.
They quickly snag Randall.

The boys seem to have a real edge (pun intended), getting to play with power tools and all.
Project manager Brian quickly gets annoyed with Markus, as does Josh and the rest of the team.

Beauty Queen Blonde Jennifer is PM of the girls plus Randall team.
If the boys think Markus is a pain in the ass, they should have to deal with Kristi.
Allah (my projected winner) is upset when Jen zips off to go shopping 45 minutes before the presentation.

The presentation:
Brian talks too much, I think these guys did not want to be compared to "Jumanji" but at least Brian pronounces the name of the movie correctly.
Poor Jen, says the name wrong, not once...many times....the execs are laughing.
Bill and Carolyn are laughing too, Jen is cute but clueless.
Allah: "the presentation was a disaster"

Trump heads off to meet with the Sony Executives:
Excell yet again is the winner hands down.
Brian gets the exemption.
Capital Edge is sent to the boardroom while the boys are sent onto their reward, a chance to make a song in a recording studio.

In the boardroom:
Jen tries to throw Kristi under the bus.
Randall and Marshawn join in.
Kristi pulls out the trailor trash (I still say fake) accent and is invited back to the boardroom.

Back in the boardroom:
Jennifer must defend letting Kristi run over her.
It really looked like Jen was getting the boot, but
Trump: "Kristi you're fired"

Note to Apprentice Candidates:
If you find yourself saying Crap and Shut-up a lot, you might not be Trump material

Bu-Bye Kristi


Kristi: "Shut-up...I don't even want to hear it"

At the risk of this re-cap getting too long I would like to say how much I enjoy Carolyn speaking her mind more often in the boardroom this season. She is a real sharp cookie.

Bren's Yahoo blog
Sage Lewis thinks maybe Jen was blinded by her own beauty.
The Apprentice Views says fire Donald Trump
The Apprentice Blog explains why Kristi took the hit
Mike Barer renames the girls team

Real Estate School

I'm so annoyed.
2 of my certificates of class completion have my initials on them, and not my full name.
TREC (Texas Real Estate Commission) says they need to be remade.
No problem, I drove all the way to the north side of Houston with them to the main campus last Thursday.
They said the computer was down and they would mail them the next day.
They needed me to leave the originals....*ack*.
They were kinda rude, like it is MY fault they did not make them out correctly in the first place.
Well......
It's been a week now, and no certificates.
Now, these people never answer the phone....Leave a message...BLEEP.

I am giving them one more day to return my call, or have those papers in my mail box.
Don't make me drive the Beltway to come up there again, folks.

In the mean time, I am trying to devote a couple of hours a day to practice testing online and re-reading my text books and notes.
Today, is Texas Real Estate Contracts.

Rhett says.......BOR-ING!!

Shopping.....

Get your Astro's gear here
and root for the Good Guys!

Happy Birthday.....

Gabbie!!

Rafe says..

Go Astro's!!

Shopping

I went to the mall today.

I had a Bath and Body Works coupon burning a hole in my purse.
I love the products, but I hate how aggressive the sales people are in there.
I'm a big believer in providing good customer service, but those folks are really way over the top.
I've gotten to where I even hate to go in there.

I also took a look around some of my regular stores.
Soon I will have to give up my desperate housewife status and wanted to see what was new.

I am so not impressed with Express this fall.
I am even less impressed with The Limited.
Both stores have become over trendy as well as over priced.

On the other hand Casual Corner has updated their look and has become more stylish and less matronly. The good news is I loaded up on "going back to work soon" outfits at 40% off.
The bad news it the location I prefer is closing soon. I really hope it is just the one store and not the whole chain. That would really suck now that they are getting cute work clothes.

DSW Shoe Warehouse is across the street from the mall.
I have no comments about the fall line at the risk of incriminating myself.
*grin*

On the canal.....

Our duck population took a large jump.
I'm wondering if this group of mallards is just passing through.
I was throwing bread to them but, they were not very friendly.

The white duck IS a regular and looks funny among his wild cousins

They ate a little bread and went along their way

Weather

Wilma Watching

Update: Florida is looking at a CAT5 storm now

The Apprentice

This weeks episode found the Blonde Brigade once again gunning for Toral.
Not that she doesn't deserve to be next on Trump's chopping block, but they were more concentrated on pushing her out than winning the task---to create a new character for DQ to advertise "The Blizzard".

The guys created a DQ Genie, and the good 'ole boys at Dairy Queen ate it up.
I won't comment on Mark in that costume.......no I won't go there.

The goofy thing the girls came up with was given the boot.
I was yelling.....hello? Shoudn't it say DQ somewhere?
Clearly that red spoon is not good brand recognition.

Kristi is annoying, I think the accent is fake and I think if the girls lose again, she is next to go.
I also think that if the girls do fail next week, The Donald will mix up the teams.

I am still predicting Randall and Alla for the final two.
Josh is a possibility, I think he is holding back for his shot.

To the boardroom, someone will be fired.

Really all Toral had to do was keep her mouth shut.
After all, she contributed nothing to the task, and was not the reason it failed.
OK.....she wouldn't wear the stupid costume.
The Blondes only wanted her to wear it, because they are so damn mean anyways.

Well, Toral did NOT keep her mouth shut and Trump said "You're Fired" without even considering who DID lose the task.

Note to Apprentice Candidates:
If your plan is to fly under the radar, you need to keep your mouth shut in the board room.

Bu-Bye Toral



Bren's Blog at Yahoo
Reality TV makes a good point
Sage Lewis goes into much detail
Barers of Maple Valley thinks a lot like I do

Weather

The Galveston Daily News is featuring local residents telling their personal
"Stories from Rita".
I was in line at Super Walmart the other day, and the lady behind me commented on the fact that I had both Halloween stuff and Christmas stuff in my basket. She said "A few weeks ago we thought we would not be celebrating any holidays, didn't we?".

Yeah....I know

Go Astros!

I guess I'll be watching the World Series from my very own living room, I wasn't chosen in the Astro's lottery to purchase tickets...phooey!
Off to buy snacks for tonight's game, after all they are not there yet.

Update: I'm still not believing what just happened.....argh!

Rhett says.....

This week the Carnival of Cats is hosted at
Where Dolphins Play
They have a really cool Howl-o-ween theme this week.
Seeya there!

The Apprentice

Well, I haven't watched it yet.
The Astro's were playing and I taped.
I have even resisted going to the official site to see who got fired.
Details...later

Weather

The weather guy says they are watching "something" that could become TS Wilma.
Wilma being the very last name on this years hurricane naming list.
Well hell.. we can't not finish the list now can we?

We had a little teaser of a cool front early in the week, but in typical SE Texas fashion,
it is hot again.




I grabbed my camera this morning when I took my walk.
These White Herons were just kind of milling around the Bayou.
So pretty!

Shopping.....

I just had to get one of those big scarecrows for the yard.
I didn't get to decorate much last year, since we were just moving in.

I'm not sure why this amused me but it did



Here he is alive and well.


John has cut back the Hibiscus, they had gotten pretty beat up in Rita

I think I'll get some pumpkins and stuff to go around him today.

Friday Cat Blogging

I put a hummingbird feeder out the other day.
I haven't seen any yet, but I think Rhett did!

He helped John fix the screen



I'm glad he didn't fall that's a long ways down!



Rhett says....
Who? Me??



Visit the Friday Ark

Shopping.....

I had to go to the grocery store today for just a few little things.

I hate it when you are trying to remember what to buy because you didn't make a list thinking you can remember what to buy and....everyone is talking on their flipping cell phones.
Not that I am into eavesdropping, but it is very hard to concentrate with so many conversations going on.

I started out in produce, where a 20 something has her big butt and cart parked directly in front of the Roma tomatoes. She is going on about the need for a castration. I got the feeling she wasn't talkin' bout no French Poodle either. Excuse me, I just need some tomatoes.

On to dairy next and trying to reach the cheese around a middle aged lady dressed in a nice suit and taking a business call. Sounds like a deal is about to fall through.

In the beer aisle a college aged couple are loading up on Corona and he is calling in sick to work....*cough cough*. Must be Astro's fans.

I head down the center of the store where the soups are kept. A young lady is crouched down on the floor arguing with her Mom over whether she is blind or the store does not carry this all important thing she has been sent to find. I vote for blind.

Heading back I nearly crash into a lady who is talking to herself.
Oh no she's not, she has one of those earpiece thingys for her phone.
Truely someday she will kill someone driving like that.

Finally I am at the checkout behind a lady with a 3 rowdy kids.
I do not understand a word she is yelling to whomever she is yelling at.
At first I thought she was speaking a strange language, but then I realize she is yelling with a mouth full of-- not yet paid-- for potato chips.
Rude on too many levels.

I got home without most of what I needed.
Tomorrow I go in more prepared.
Earplugs and a list.

Today....

I signed up for the Astro's lottery to win a chance to buy World Series Tickets.
How cool would that be?