Home Again Finnigan

My grandmother said it, my mother said it, and I still say it. I think it's so ingrained in me I don't even realize I say it. Whenever we return home it just spills right out of my mouth.

"On again. Off again. Home again, Finnigan."

When I came across this in the cartoon section of the newspaper many years ago I had to cut it out. I ran across it the other day and thought I'd share. It still makes me laugh.

Maybe I'm related to Charlie Brown!

A Response For Toohey

Because I found your comments rude and out of line I decided to answer your questions but only as they pertain to me.

Q. Does your family have a problem with black people?

A. Absolutely not.

Q. Do you have black friends and neighbors or do y'all live in gated, white-only communities?

A. Yes I have many black friends. My community is a mix of all races, is not gated and I am not going to run across the street and take a picture of my neighbor Shameika to post to my blog just to pacify you.

Q. The abject absence of black people in our lives.

A. There is no absence of black people in my life and never has been. Nor is there an absence of Asian, Hispanic, Muslin, gay, etc.

What you see on my blog (and I really don't write that much) is a microscopic piece of me. I am not sure how you came to your conclusions with so little information or why. Have you ever asked yourself why you are so focused on this issue? Also, why do you continue to read our blogs if this is a problem for you?

Am I prejudiced? Yes, I'm prejudiced of mean people. I'm prejudiced of people who hurt people, children or animals physically or with words. I'm prejudiced of people who judge people because of their race, creed or color or just not having all the facts about who they are.

As far as Kelly goes: I see her blog as focused on her family, friends and God. She has the biggest heart and shares her day to day events and beliefs with all people. No colors are exempted, you just didn't look close enough. Maybe your own prejudices are getting in the way.

I could have ignored this as nonsense but I'm not one to let things go. Yes I am a compassionate person. It has to do with how I was raised, the many places I have lived, the experiences I have had and the many wonderful friends (all colors) I made along the way. You may or may not see pictures of them on my blog. It all depends on what I choose to write about. I'm not doing this for your or anyone else's entertainment. It's for mine.

So...

Why don't you tell us about yourself?

Do you have a blog?

I'd love to see the pictures.

Cold Weather in Texas

The cold weather hit Texas early Thursday morning with 30 mile an hour winds, teen digits and a thin layer of ice. I envy those of you who got snow. Ice is scary to drive on. I went on in to work and saw three accidents where cars obviously going to fast, hit ice and landed on the medium with there front ends smashed into poles.

Friday morning we woke up to find our master bath sink pipes frozen. They are on a wall that faces north and it was 6 degrees outside. We knew we should let the faucets drip the night before and just didn't do it. We turned on the bathtub faucet and it worked so we just let it keep dripping. We put space heaters under the sinks trying to get them to thaw and were praying the pipes had not burst.

Saturday morning the cold water pipe to my kitchen island sink was frozen. Fortunately the sun came out and temps got above freezing. All pipes thawed and we thought we had made it without any breakage.

As I was leaving for the store I went to inspect the north wall. There was ice in all the bottom crevices and water marks all along the foundation. Panic city hit. Tom turned the water off to the house and called for help. He was absolutely beside himself with visions of brick being torn out to find the broken pipe(s). We were lucky enough to get a plumber out because Dallas is inundated with broken pipes everywhere.

The really good news is no pipes were broken. The faucet fixture to the bathtub was leaking and had been that way since we moved in. We have only used the bathtub once on the first day we moved in. Rosie had lost it from both ends in her pet carrier (thought she was going to the vet) and I had to give her a bath. Lovely way to use your tub for the first time. The tub faucet had been on since the day before, so it had been leaking underneath all this time.

Now it looks like this.

He had to pull the panel from the front and it broke. He was able to cap off the water so we could have water to the house until they can fix it on Monday.

We are supposed to get back into the teens tonight but the rest of the week we warm back up into the 50's. Until then it's snuggy time.

Stay Warm!