Hey peeps!

Just thought I would put up a little howdy-do to y’all, and let you know that we are still going strong here in Houston. It has been a crazy couple of months for us. Bob has been working up in Coudersport, PA, while I have been chillin’ here in Houston until the end of Feburary when I went to Corpus Christi and work in the Doc’s office for two weeks, then a trip to Mexico to visit Grandma and Grandpa del Angel (Bob’s mom’s parents), and then the in the end of March was for a garage sale where I started to sell the furniture out of their house. Oops. But really - couch shopping is so much fun anyway…

Despite the busy lives we had, the distance has been a little hard on us, and the amount of time that Bob has been at home was very limited up until last week when he had some time off and we are looking forward to the end of the PA days coming up in the end of April.

But like I said - Bob was here last week, and we had a good time. While in Coudersport, he has been working on a financial audit during their busy season. Since this came up right after the last busy season - he has been doing at least 60+ hour weeks since the beginning of September. And really right now - it is more like 75-80 hour weeks. Bob was really starting to feel it there, and this time off was much deserved and needed. To try and make up for his efforts, the company gave him some money for travel and food and we got to have some great meals around town. The highlights were Maggianio’s - some fabulous italian, and Fogo de Chao (like Rodizio Grill). And we made a quick trip down to Bob’s parents for a little fun in the sun. I was helping out in the yard, while Bob was geeking away with two laptops, and a dog that would play fetch with him. Needless to say - we had a good time while down there.

So three more weeks and I get Bob home, and we can enjoy the “normal” life again - if we can figure out how it works…. Good times ahead!

Life has been pretty crazy for the last six months. Busy season has really swamped me for the last six months of my life. Since January, I have been traveling up to Western Pennsylvania every week for work. January was mild, but winter has returned in full force in February.

A few thoughts from my travels and the past few weeks:

1. It is weird to go to a place you lived for so many years and only see the airport. My travels for the last seven weeks have always gone through Cleveland before I fly off to Buffalo. During those 14 trips, I’ve only seen the inside of the airport. It’s just crazy to be in a place I called home, but only for a few moments.

2. One night on my flight from Buffalo to Cleveland, “The Distance” by Cake came on over my Ipod. I thought it was very fitting being that it was one of my favorite songs in high school.

3. Getting the “What are you doing here” look from airline agents when you are checking in for your flight is not very comforting.

4. Babies eat, sleep, and poop. Auditors replace sleep with work.

5. I love being in the warmth of Texas, but I do miss the snow. After a snow fall, I love the silence the snow creates and the crunching of the fresh snow after you step on it.

So those are my random thoughts tonight.

True to Bolster and Haneberg form, this past holiday season has been full of some good times, and some good jokes. I just wanted to share a few of the funny memories that have seen, passing the jokes around with the eggnog…

The 23rd, Bob started to get some seemingly obscene Spanish text messages from his father about a “wiwichu”, which didn’t make any sense at all. I mentioned that it sounded like “we wish you” but Bob was determined that his dad had a sick sense of humor, and decided just ignored his old man. But when we arrived in Corpus for Christmas, everyone was talking about touching his “wiwichu”. It was all a simple play on words in Spanish, with the word for “to touch” is the same as the word “to play”. The joke was about a guy asking his girl if he could play her “wiwichu”, and then he proceeds to sing “Wiwichu a Merry Christmas”. Somehow, this joke eluded Bob and for hours everyone kept hounding him about his wiwichu. But the joke was all on Bob, as I found him huddled in the corner in the house, desperately trying to figure out the joke by Googleing “wiwichu” (true to his nerd form), while everyone else in the house was laughing at him, since I had already figured it out, and I don’t even speak Spanish!

On our drive home from Corpus Christi on New Year’s Day, I asked Bob what his New Year’s Resolutions would be. He replied, “I am perfect. I don’t need any. But I have a few resolutions for you.” Gee, yeah, thanks.

Yesterday, Bob was talking to my parents on the phone, and mentioned to my dad that “One out of ten children conceived in Europe is conceived on an Ikea mattress”. My dad’s reply, “So are you going to get on then?”. Well - I guess the jokes on us then!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and may this New Year bring joy to all!

So I usually pack Bob a lunch, so we can try and save a little money here and there. In the last little while, I have been putting down some Del Monte fruit cups that I bought right before Hurricane Rita for food storage. A confessional phone call revealed the truth yesterday, Bob hasn’t eaten one in four days, and they are just piling up in his lap top bag.

And when people ask why we don’t have children, I just respond - what are you talking about? I have the tall one to watch over. That’s all the children I can handle!

Our mad dash to Corpus Christi ended up being a nice long weekend for us. We didn’t see a drop of rain the whole time, and it was nice to just be out of Houston again. As usual when we are at Bob’s parent’s house, some pretty crazy things start to happen. Here are some highlight…

Friday night we are all playing the new AnnaBob favorite game Apples to Apples, where a game where you are trying to match your best fitting noun to different adjectives – or at least the one that you think that the judge will pick. The judge position rotates through each player, making this game really fun and interesting.

When Bob’s mom was the judge, she drew the word adorable. I smiled widely (no poker face here!) as I threw down the word hummingbirds (mom and pop Bolster have about 6 hummingbird feeder, if you can now imagine their love for animal). Confident I was going to get the point, I beamed as my card was being read. Of course my card was the high favorite, and I was almost reaching out to pick up my point… which would have been a moment too early. Ironically, I was thwarted the card “Babies”. I think that is enough said there…

Sunday was a day of rest - for the righteous only. While Bob was menacing their poor dog Juliet to hop into the pool, I managed to slip on by, and give Bob a good shove in. I believe this is only the third time in our relationship that I have actually taken Bob by surprise - first time being when I surprised him with the Christmas visit to Corpus Christi while we were dating, and then shoving wedding cake at his face at our reception. Bob didn’t get all the way wet however, and he ended up giving me a shove in the pool afterwards. But never fear, Bob’s little brother Sean came and saved the day, and Bob was soaking wet head to toe by the end of the night.

Monday night’s FHE proved to be a quite the cake topper. A family game of Catch Phrase almost turned brutal as the game console turned into a flying saucer as things started to get really strange. We played boys (Bob, Bryan and Pop) against girls (me, Kelly and Mama) and what a crazy time it was. The girls had a few problems at times, as our game wasn’t quite on. Some of my favorites were when I pulled up the word “explorer” (thinking this would be easy with the Bolster Ford parking lot out front) I said it was a type, or brand of Ford car. Responses varied from “Ford Station Wagon!”, “Ford Subaru!” and “Ford Jeep!”. Needless to say, it died on my turn. Another goody was when Kelly had the word “awful”.. and gave us some clues - and then Kelly said it started with the letter A - the mama yells out “Asgusting!”. Once again, that was another point lost for the girls. But we are still laughing about that!

So thanks Rita. The mini vacation was much welcomed for us. Even if it took 10 hours to get there.