Fans whirring, windows open, soft breeze, slight humidity, feeling like the Blue Bayou except for the constant traffic and the 45 minute wait at Starbucks.

I kid you not. 45 minutes! It's graduation weekend at A&M and every parking lot is packed, the hotels are overflowing and the coffee shops, well they're filled to the brim. This is the weekend that year rounders in College Station just hunker down and do absolutely nothing. No one is mowing their lawn or weeding their garden. No one dares to go shopping for food or non-essentials. Taking a walk is akin to asking for a one way ticket to heaven. The only natives stirring are police officers, ambulance drivers and fire fighters. And they are kept busy by the multitudinous accidents. People from out of state don't realize that U-turns are legal, expected AND have right of way. Natives still can't drive in a rainstorm, and college kids, well, they're kids with their own cars, short attention spans and lots of stress.

So, I'm at home. We braved the Starbucks line and Taco Bell, but then we came home. Cartoons blare in the background since walking is too dangerous. We are sipping our drinks, yes, they are HOT even though it is about 80. It's 80 and cloudy and slightly humid, so of course the drinks have to be hot. We don't start doing iced drinks until it hits 85. It's too humid to hang out the laundry. It probably won't dry. It's too cold to fill the pool. It might start thundering.

On the plus side, the pomegranate bush is blooming. Did you know they have orange flowers? Georgie won't eat her vegetables, but she will pick the Bird of Paradise leaves and eat those. Reagan seems to like to suck on rocks. Kate is much more sensible and only chews her hair and nails.

What's the weather like?

Okay, so I was on the phone yesterday with Talia, and she said that PDX was having great weather. Nice and warm. Nice and 70. 70! 70???? That's warm? It's a sad day when people consider 70 degrees warm. I mean, my air conditioner is set to go on at 80. Yes, 80. I'm serious. If I set it to go on at 70, it would be on all day AND all night.

We had rain today. Cooled the entire place down to 72.

Let me explain. Yesterday it was 93. I wore yoga pants and two t-shirts. For school, Kate wore long pants and polo shirt. When she got home she put on a cute little dress with leggings and a scarf. Tanner wore long pants and long sleeve shirt. Reagan and Georgie don't count because they get their clothes so dirty that I can't ever remember what they've been wearing.

Today started out at 89, so I put on long pants and a t-shirt. Then it rained and cooled everything down, so I grabbed my jacket. Yes, my jacket. It was cold out. It was 72 when I climbed into the car, so I put the HEATER on. Now, I'm not too crazy. I didn't turn on the heater in the house. It was the car that I heated. I have the windows open in the house because I want to cool it down, but I am considering finding a blanket.

I am sorry to say that 70 isn't warm. I won't go so far as to say that it is cold, but it is definitely in the "cool" spectrum of weather. It doesn't start to get warm until the thermometer hits 80. Hot is 98. I know most of you in the northwest are shuddering at the idea of 70 being cool, but then consider how much time you spend indoors rather than biking, hiking, walking, playing, splashing, cartwheeling, strolling or any of the other activ-ing things that we do down south, and then maybe you'll understand why I say that 70 is merely cool. After all if 70 was warm then you would be setting up a pool when it was 65 outside. You would be going to the park for a picnic at 62. Boating on a lake at 68. Ideal barbecue weather would be 63 and crawfish boils would happen at 73. So, when y'all come down to visit, just remember that you'll probably be wearing shorts and tank tops, sweating and downing vacuous amounts of Gatorade and water while we'll be comfortable in jeans and t-shirts sipping our Dr. Peppers. It'll be okay. We'll be nice and friendly, like most Texans are, and we'll find you a pair of sunglasses.

last leg of the first part of the journey...

Our first year of school in Texas is slowly coming to a close. Next week's forecast is: Exhaustion. On Monday, we have pictures. On Tuesday, we have rehearsal and a Cal II final. On Wednesday...whew! On Thursday, we have dress rehearsal, Chem Lab test. On Friday, we have performance. On Saturday we have 2 performances and a Chem Final. On Sunday, we collapse and hope the kids survived.

The weather is nice and sticky. Just the way I like it. Just like my rice. Just like perfectly done pasta noodles. Mmmm... You know, the type of sticky that goes away with a breeze, a fan or a little AC. The type of sticky that invites ice cream and Popsicles and barbecue. We had all three of those today. Now, I'm thinking of a decaf, iced coffee or a tall glass of lemonade with little droplets of water racing down the sides of the glass. I can tell that I'm not fully Texan because my mind doesn't automatically go to iced tea. I did indulge in a Dr. Pepper today. Don't tell my dentist.

Did you know that my dentist is one of my very good friends? I'm always glancing over my shoulder when I drink a Coke or Dr. Pepper. Her daughter just tells me to brush my teeth.

Back to the tea. I'm outnumbered down here. Most people either indulge in hot, brown-colored water, or they make vacuous amounts of deep-auburned iced tea. My boss is the exception. He drinks green tea which shows some class. He drinks DIET green tea which shows health. He shakes his head at my profound worship of the Espresso Bar. He thinks we should be invested in Starbucks. When I told him that we were he said, "I mean the stock!" I guess most people down here don't buy stocks and bonds. Or, at least they don't think that I do.

I've been reading lots of business books lately. I guess that's what happens when I start on a project. It just grows way out of proportion. My boss is amazed at how fast I read through books and then write them up all analyzed, dissected and applied. My current favorites are FISH!, Whale Done and Our Iceberg is Melting! I also liked Who Moved My Cheese? but I thought it a little less earth shaking, and a little less applicable. I also REALLY liked the book, Say What You Mean, Get What You Want. By the way, my boss was impressed because I read all of those books in one day. Gee...those who know me will look at the size of the books and say, "duh!"

So, if you end up with a sleepless night next week, it might be God trying to remind you that there are some crazy people living in Texas that might be having a dizzifying time finding the exit sign. Or, if you find yourself in a little eddy of nothingness, just point your prayer compass our way, please?