We are Still Here or Life in the Cottage Part 2

Hello world! If you've been wondering if perhaps we had fallen off into the Gulf of Mexico or perhaps crossed the border (have I told you that it's only 10 miles down the road?) and had not made our way back, no to both. Actually, we have been lying by the pool sipping cool drinks and then when it's too hot gone on to the mall before we find a great Mexican restaurant to satisfy our hunger. Well, part of that is true! I do schedule to take the girls to the pool twice a week. The Elks' Lodge in town has graciously offered their pool to us. It's large and clean. What more do we need?

First of to my "friend" Will, do you really need Ray and me to identify who is posting? Please! Ray's posts are the ones with the humor...a little misspelling but who's checking?

Life is getting saner. We have about finished all the qualifications in order to be allowed to live in the state of Texas, the last being a social security card to get a Texas driver's license. Easy we just take our Tennessee license to the social security administration and apply for a new ss card and when it comes back we will return to the driver's bureau and we will be the proud owners of Texas drivers' licenses.

Our internet service is still sporadic. The laptop that belongs to the home is our best bet for connecting in this wireless cottage and that is only if we are standing in the exact spot at a certain time of the day. My long suffering husband has about used all his patience and we plan in the next few weeks to find a more reliable way to connect.

We are celebrating our first birthday since we have been here today. Sandra will be 15. They are to give us a birthday menu and she choose fresh roasted turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberry salad, green beans, and cheesecake. Yum! We like this girl. Sandra is quite artistic. We have her working on sketches and when we find one that would work in the cottage, she will put it on canvas. And we will be the proud possessor of her first original piece of art.

During the last few weeks, we have had some great opportunities with the girls to explore the area. There is a museum in Harlingen (10 min.) that has moved some of the original buildings of the town to their site. They have the first house (1907), original hospital (1922) ( an interesting side note here is that surgery was on Saturday so the townspeople would stand along the porch and watch the proceedings through the windows), and an inn dating to the late 1800's. The day we visited they were celebrating Heritage days which included an Indian tepee with residents who shared their stories of the Indian culture with furs, bows/arrows, pottery which fascinated the kids. Also, we visited with some soldiers who participate in reenactment of the civil war period complete with dress and muskets/bayonets.

NOTE: I did this draft a week ago and just now getting back to it. So I will publish and try to get another one in today.