Tickets!

Everyone get excited... We got the tickets! Sure is like 'em to wait
till the last minute. So, we'll be there for the 1st game at Cowboys
Stadium. Not sure where our seats are yet, but be sure and look for us!

Happy Tuesday!

Allison Davis
Sent from my iPhone

a good week

1) On Tuesday my cousin, Jordan, passed through town on his way back to College Station for school. We had burgers at my dads. It's always good to see him when he's headed to and from A&M. We got to hear all about his week and a half he spent on a submarine for Navy ROTC this summer. I can't believe he's about to start his senior year of college. Makes me feel old. I can't wait for the A&M vs. Arkansas game in October @ Cowboys Stadium. What a fun rivalry!

2) On Thursday night I got to have dinner with Katherine and Trent Crow. They were in town from Little Rock for the weekend. It was so good seeing them. Can't believe it had been since their wedding in November! We ate at El Fenix, then they came over to see our house. Katherine and I have been friends for a very long time, so it was good to catch up.

3) Bill had to do 2 seperate jobs after work this week. But, the good news was, he didn't have to work this weekend. So, he spent Saturday riding his motorcycle to Strawn, TX. It was about a 250 mile round trip. He got to have his favorite, Chicken Fried Steak, at Mary's Cafe in Strawn. He said it was fun. Wish I could have been with him. Glad he got to enjoy his Saturday though.

4) Friday night we had Fat Friday at Dad's. Pot roast, veggies, and sweet tea. Can't beat it. We've also kinda gotten into playing games after dinner. This week we played Rumikub (sp?). Too confusing if you ask me. Of course I had to keep drawing tiles from the pile, and ended up with like 30 tiles. We all eventually gave up because it was getting so hard! Good times though.

5) So, while Bill rode his motorcycle and enjoyed his Saturday, I was at work. We had a pretty good day though. Its starting to pick up a little. One of two things will have to happen in order to have a successful season. Either the economy gets better, or the team gets to the playoffs. I'm praying that we get both! I've been wanting to go to Genghis Grill ever since we moved here, and Saturday I finally convinced Bill to take me there. So fun, we both loved it! I was sorta overwhelmed with the amount of items to choose from, so I stuck with a traditional chicken and fried rice. But you better believe I'll mix it up next time. After dinner we found a ice cream place and had ourselves a little treat. It was marble slab, so I got coffee ice cream with reeses peanut butter cups. HEAVENLY! Mmm, I could eat another right now! To top off the date night, we rented a movie from Blockbuster.

6) Sunday. This morning we got up and went to church. We've visited Dallas Bible Church several times. We really like it. It has been hard to find a church that is not like 30,000 people, or just kinda strange here. This has a good mix of young and old. We like both the main pastors a lot. The people are very friendly and welcoming. I think next week we are going to try and get up earlier and go to the Sunday School class for young adults. We've really been praying to find a church that we belong in, so I'm hoping this is the one. After church, we had a good lunch at Paradise Cafe. Then much to my surprise Bill asked if we could go to the Galleria after lunch. (it was right across the street from P. Cafe) Gee, whats a girl to say? UMMM YES! So we strolled around the mall, and I showed him my favorite stores. I made a good purchase at the Pottery Barn. Finally used my merchandise credit from my wedding gifts, plus a gift card I had from last Christmas. I got a really cute rug for the bathroom, and some tall grass like stuff to put in a pot. Pretty good purchase if you ask me!

So, there it is. Our week. I'd say it was a pretty good week. Looking forward to this week. We have our 1st home pre-season game. Although, we still havn't been told if were getting tickets or not. I'm pretty sceptical, but Bill is holding out hope that we get them this week. The game is Friday night, so we'll see. Cross your fingers. Hope everyone had a great week!

life as a retail manager...

lets just go ahead and state the obvious...

1. working weekends
2. working holidays
3. working late

i'm chose to blog about this particular subject because today my store received 56 boxes of merchandise. i know alot of people reading this blog have, in fact, never seen my store, so i would like to paint a small picture. my store is one of the smaller stores of the company. this also means a very tiny backstock room. its not so much a room, but more of a hallway. maybe 4 feet wide and 15 feet long. small, right? so lets imagine again 56 boxes of shipment... got it in your head?

i am used to getting large shipments, sometimes more than one in a day. but you know its a whopper when the UPS truck backs up to your front door and the driver says "well, you gotta big one today!" instant overwhelment! (not a word, i know) anways, this was my day today. i got in at 1pm and started tackling the project. its one step at a time, starting with the easy first. i did not stop moving merchandise, unpacking, counting, standing, you name it, until 9:30pm. and i'm only halfway (maybe) done! still 24 boxes left to open. Lord have mercy!

the first big one is always the hardest. i have to remind myself constantly that i did it last year, i can do it better this year. the boys better have a good season! i do a lot for them, its time they started doing something for me.

ugh, i have to go to bed. i gotta get up early. lots to do before 10am and the store opens. peace.

ken hamlin

ken and i at the GDRC Football Kickoff Rally

ok seriously

since my last couple of posts i've gotten lots of encouragment, simpathy, prayers, and i'm sure, crazy looks. so, i want to just say thank you! i also want to clerify that while, yes, i can be paranoid about things sometimes, i promise i'm not crazy! i just let my mind get carried away sometimes. so anyways, i'm very greatful for the people that love me and prayed for me because honestly, i have been feeling much better. plus, i was only halfway kidding when i said i needed therapy. :)

whats been going on? well not much, to tell the truth. i can't believe its almost august! this summer/offseason has flown by! i only have one more weekend to take off until football season starts. i'm sorta bummed about this, but i've kinda gotten used to it. that is, until i wake up on saturday mornings and REALLY don't want to go to work! i am ready for football season though. we went to the greater dallas razorback club football kickoff rally last week. this is the dallas chapter of the arkansas alumni association. they had stephen jones as a guest speaker, as well as the athletic director jeff long. really, the most exciting part was calling the hogs and meeting ken hamlin. ken played for arkansas, and now he plays for the cowboys.

other than that, we've just been (still) getting things fixed around the house. i don't know what it is, but i can decorate other peoples houses all day long, but when it comes to mine i get a mental block. the other downside is the fact that we need more accessories and just stuff in general, but i'm lacking in the funds department. i know getting your home together takes a while, but i wish i had more patience...

thats really it for now. love.

just my luck...

so you thought i was crazy after reading that last post, but now i can prove my paranoia! earlier today i came home from running errands and i noticed a police officer on my street in front of my house. well, actually it was my neighbors house. so of course i was curious. i parked out front to see if i couldn't figure something out, but i had no luck. i texed bill and told him, so we both were curious.

just a little background... our neighbors are the head of the homeowners association. so they take care of everything for the neighborhood, including crime prevention. bill has become friends with kevin (our neighbor) one, because he is really into guns, and two, because he is in banking and they have been helping each other out on a few things with work. so kevin called tonight and wanted to talk to bill about some things, so they talked out in the front yard this evening. i'm getting to my point, i promise!

while they were outside talking, monica, kevins wife, came out to talk. well, bill asked about the cop car. here is what you've been waiting for... the police contacted monica to let her know that our neighborhood has been hit with a crime spree. a couple cars of hispanic people are cruising our neighborhood on thursdays and fridays, because apprently that is when people leave their gates unlocked for the yard people. they wait until abour 9-10am and come thru the back gate and knock in the back glass, take all the jewelry they can find, throw it on the bed and wrap it up like santa's sack and out they go!

after the police contacted monica about what was happening in our neigborhood, she was sitting in her house by a window and saw one of the cars go by that the police had described. she immediately got in her car, broke a side mirror in the process back out, and followed the car. she called the cops and they came to her house, sure enough while they were talking about it, they called over the radio and said we have a break in on whatever street!

well this is just lovely. at least my yard people come on saturdays...

Disturbia

Flashback to circa 1991-1998. Yes, that's a long period of time. But
that, my friends, is how long I lived in fear of pretty much
everything. I an an only child. I didn't have a big brother to toughen
me up by insisting I play basketball with him, or throw the ball and
ride bikes after school everyday. I didn't have my brothers friends
playing pranks on me, or putting frogs in my room when I wasn't
looking. I also didn't have to fight over barbies with my sister. I'll
admit, I was spoiled and got pretty much what I wanted, within reason.

What does this all mean, you ask? I was scared of the dark. Like,
majorly! I always had a nightlight. I didn't go downstairs in our
house alone. This was one of the top 5 reasons my mother moved us into
a one story house. She was tired of having to go with me everwhere,
much less me following her around. I was scared of noises. I hear
everything! I jumped at any little noise I heard. "mom, what was
that?" I wore that phrase out. I'll never forget when Derek stafford
(a boy who went to my school) blew his arm off one Halloween with a
pipe bomb. I was one street away from where it happened. I have been
scared if halloween since.

I was a pretty inquisitive kid, and my parents are pretty
knowledgable, so whenever I asked questions, I usually got a pretty
good answer. I also have a really good memory, so when my father told
me scary stories or gave me an answer for why the helicopter had a
really bright spotlight shining in the woods at night, I remembered.
(they're looking for bad people, aka prisoners, in my mind).

So, you're probably wondering why I'm telling you I was a dorky kid
who was scared of life. This is sorta my last resort. A cry for help,
so to speak. Lately I have felt I am in 2nd grade again, and I'm
scared of my own shadow. It started when we moved into our house. I
insisted we get blinds on all the windows immediately because I am
afraid people are watching me. We got our alarm system set up and now
we have a dog. But, since then our alarm has randomly gone off in the
wee hours of the morning twice. I am paranoid! At every sound I mute
the tv, and my heart sorta skips a beat, and I listen for something
that was probably the wind. I don't like the dark so I bought timers
for my lamps. Our back ally is pitch black, so we installed lights on
every corner of the house. Its like a prison out there now. I am
scared to be by myself. It's so crazy!

I know I should not live with this much anxiety, and fear. I really
don't like the word fear, it's sorta strong. It's not like I'm scared
for my life, but I also start to think about Anne Presslys story.
Attacked in her own home, and killed. I know that's extreme, but it
goes through my head a lot. I think what gets me in trouble is my
mind. I hear one thing and my mind goes crazy. Scenarios start playing
in my head, and the next thing I know, I'm convinced someone is trying
to get me!

So, at this point you're thinking, "Allison, you need therapy.". Maybe
I do... But mostly I'm asking for prayer. I try to pray when I'm
scared and anxious, and it mostly calms me down. I just know that when
duck season arrives and bill is gone for days at a time, the thoughts
will probably return. I have to get past this, i don't want my kids to
think I'm a weenie! :)

Anyways, bill will probably think I crazy for writing this, but I
think I'm due for some gun training at the shooting range. I mean we
are in Texas and everyone carries a gun right? Never too late to be
prepared.

Allison Davis
Sent from my iPhone