To All the Dads I've Loved Before...

The sign says, "We Love You, Dads!"

Sorry about the cheesy title, but I was too embarrassed to actually post "Happy Father's Day" up there, being that I kind of missed the (fishing) boat on getting this posted on their special day. But I figured with the combination of "better late than never" and the classic, "Isn't everyday Father's Day" philosophies, I could attempt to redeem myself with a touching tribute to these very special men. And to further redeem ourselves and clear our names, I have to say that we actually did send real cards in the mail to them (albeit those were probably a bit late as well). But I digress. This one, after all, is all about the dads. And what very special dads they are! I've been blessed from the get-go with some pretty incredible father figures in my life: my very own sweet, wonderful dad, and my two amazing grandfathers, the late, great Son Daddy and my very dear Daddy Buck (now 87 years old and living in Ballinger). I just can't sing their praises enough. These men are responsible for making my childhood pretty much the best one any little tomboy could ever hope for! From all the fishin' trips to the hours spent playing catch, kick, and cards, these guys taught me everything I know about knowing what to throw away and knowing what to keep. I'm sure there were some other very important life lessons thrown in there as well, but every gambler, I mean little girl, knows these are among the most crucial to the secret to survivin'. I don't know that a blog is necessarily the appropriate medium for diving much further into the depths of how much these amazing men mean to me, but let it be known that these men are at the top of my Papa-Pedestals, and in my own personal opinion anyway, they are the greatest dads on earth (and now that I've gotten to experience a great deal more of the earth, I can make that statement in all honesty without reservation). And now on to my next dads, the "in-laws" so to speak, but I've never really thought too highly of the term "in-law."  I suppose it has a great deal to do with the fact that my dad's parents, dear Daddy Buck and precious little Grandmommie, never referred to my mom as anything else but their own daughter. I just always thought how sweet it was for them to drop the whole "in-law" thing completely and it's something that always stuck with me. So with that said, I have to recognize my other two dads, the father-in-laws (and I use that term here for clarification purposes only), that I was so very fortunate to have gotten out of the whole marriage thing: Will's dad, Neil, and stepdad, David. These two men have welcomed me into the family from the very beginning and have blessed mine and Will's lives with such love and laughter along the way. Not only did I get an amazing husband in Will, but I also got two more amazing men in my life that I'm proud to call dads and whose family's I'm so delighted to be a part of! I love them both dearly and hope they know just how very special they are to me. Will and I miss all of the dads in our lives more than blogs can ever say. So here's to our own fathers, our grandfathers, our fathers-"in-law", our godfathers, our best friends' fathers and best friends that have become fathers: We think of you guys so often and talk so much about wishing you were here to share some of these great experiences with. We cherish all the times we've spent together, the memories we've made, and the laughs we've shared, and we're so looking forward to the many, many more times, memories, and laughs to come! We love you all very much and wish you each a very special, very belated, happy Father's Day!

Here are some more pictures of the special dads in our life: Dads

Pick a couch, any couch...

So most of you know that we arrived here with very little furniture. A television stand, an antique/make-shift coffee table, a butcher block, and a couple of small hand-me-down end tables were pretty much the only furniture items we owned worth shipping over here. Besides that, we had at least 2,000 pounds of dog food and the entire toiletry and canned good sections of the local Houston Heights Kroger that took up most of the space in our crate. So with that said, furniture shopping became a high priority for once once we moved into the house, and all we had to sit on were mounds of Taste of the Wild dog food. So rather than pile and position these bags into an entire living room set, we set out on a mission to find furniture. Real furniture. Rumor has it that you can find good quality furniture over here for relatively inexpensive prices. You just have to know where to look. Well after looking in all of the WRONG places for quite some time and growing increasingly desperate, we decided to hit up the Convention Center for the Furniture Expo that happened to be in town at the time. It was mainly designed for furniture manufacturers to showcase their products to furniture retailers throughout Asia, but with enough begging and pleading, sometimes these manufacturers can be talked into making products directly for normal, needy people just like us! We met the woman representing the Chesterfield Collection and got an invitation to their manufacturing plant out of the deal (after some phone calls, emails, and more begging and pleading of course). Will and I made an appointment to meet the man in charge of the whole operation and drove out to the plant one morning to see how and where the Chesterfield creation is born....and what a thing of beauty it is! We pulled up on a dusty road in the middle of nowhere (actually, it was very much in the middle of somewhere....that somewhere just so happened to be rows of old Chinese villages now mostly occupied by stray dogs), and once the cloud of dust cleared from our drive in, we finally saw this magical little place where all of the furniture elves were hard at work, crafting couch after couch by hand in this furniture fairyland called Chesterfield. We sat side by side with the man in charge, and he talked us through the entire process. All we had to do was tell him how many pieces we wanted, and in what size, styles, and colors, and those little elves I just mentioned started hand-making them for us, exactly to our specifications!! Amazing. In just a little over 3 weeks we had a whole new living room set custom-made, plus an extra leather loveseat for the tv room thrown in just for grins. Granted, our house looks a bit like a Chesterfield showroom now, we couldn't be more pleased with our purchases! Our furniture family is finally starting to take shape, and we are so excited to have met the wonderful people of Chesterfield to help make our sofa, chair, ,and ottoman dreams come true!
 
















Will enjoying a very rare chance to kick his heels up and relax in his new chair after work!

Reunited and it Feels So Good

We are so excited to report that after 3 long months of separation, Boo has finally made her way "home" to us in Malaysia! It was certainly a team effort, made possible by a one pet relocation company, my loving and loyal family for all of Boo's temporary housing arrangements and EVERYTHING her 3-month room and board entailed, the support and understanding of my wonderful husband that ever agreed to this in the first place, and one....no, make that two, steep credit card statements that might have just catapulted us into Elite Status and Very, Very Important Customers of American Airlines....Very Important. This dog has certainly racked up the miles over the last couple of weeks (hopefully earning us some serious points along the way):  Midland to Dallas, Dallas to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to KL. I can't even imagine how long that flight must have been in dog hours! Once she arrived in KL, she was taken through customs and then sent straight to quarantine to spend the next 7 days serving time for a crime she didn't commit. Poor thing was all caged up like an animal or something. But we drove the hour out there and back each day to see her and make sure she was surviving the culture shock ok. The sweet man that was hired by the pet relocation company to check on her was kind enough to hook up a fan in the cage for her and made every effort to keep her as comfortable as "humanly" possible. We were originally concerned about the possibility of her getting fleas, ticks, and heat stroke, but the only thing she seems to have picked up at the "puppy pen" was a bad case of separation anxiety because she is not letting us out of her sights even for a second. Every step we take, she takes. As soon as we get up, she gets up. There's no way she's going to let us do that to her again! Yes, it was a rather long, tiring, and expensive journey, but she's worth every penny of it. She is home sweet home with us once again, and now our transition into crazy expat life seems complete. We have the house, the car, and the dog...life is good.

Boo's time in the pen.

Playing it Cool.

Boo....international dog of leisure