Guess I'll never forget the summer of 2008, and I have to admit that what happened - well, I didn't see it coming. In late May, I heard through the Norman grapevine (Mom) on about a Thursday that a certain nephew of mine was headed our way on the coming Sunday. As I remember, Mark called on Sunday, as he was headed south out of Norman to make sure we had gotton wind of said rumor. I said, sure, come on, and was pleased that he would be staying with us for a couple of weeks as he started his new job in Dallas, and secured a domicile for his soon-to-be new bride, Jen. The domicile hunt did not go well for Mark, and on the Wednesday before he was to leave on Thursday (for his wedding on Saturday, June 28th), I told him, well, since you didn't secure a domicile, you and Jen are welcome here after the honeymoon. I told my family that I had to have a picture of the groom carrying his bride over MY threshold, so I could hold it over Mark's head for the rest of his life. So Mike, who had talked to them when they got back into Dallas from their honeymoon and were on their way to McKinney, gave me the heads up - thus I was able to get this pic for posterity. As it turned out, the domicile hunt proved difficult for the newlyweds, as well, and I was forced to make a phone call to Oklahoma and advise Mike and Cindy that we had situation developing here in Texas, with which we needed some pretty immediate assistance (I think we were in about week four by this time). Low and behold, the domicile hunt was brought to a conclusion when, after an intensive search of 3 days, Mark and Jen found a home in Plano. Since the closing was five weeks out, we still had (in Mike's words) some more bonding time. I coined a new phrase during this time, "company is kinda like pregnancy - it starts to get old after the first trimester." I'm sure Mark and Jen could probably coin a few phrases of their own, such as "family is like a bowl of trail mix - a blend of fruits and nuts!" We had many adventures during our time as roommates, which I may elaborate on at a later date, but this is already long, so I'll just give it a wrap. All tolled, it was a fun, unique time, and a blessing!
I don't know if you can tell much from these pics, but our bathroom is now finished. It feels good to have it look all fresh, and I love the clean lines and stark contrasts. Ever since we have lived here, I have hated that yellow tile, and have tried to tone it down. I was going to tear it out, but do you know that back in the 60's they concreted that stuff to chicken wire and it is there to stay unless you hammer it out and pull out the wall. So, I decided to try to make the best of it, and I actually like it now that we've gone in with the black. Check out the giraffes on the back of the toilet that are dressed up like so many psychodelic zebras. If you can calmly do your business with them looking on, then you must be really secure (either that, or really disturbed). Anyway, I like it a lot!
