There are a few places you just want to avoid in life. I found out that while I escaping the hurricane - that I unknowingly landed myself in the middle of my in-laws stormy decorating battles. I didn’t realize all the dangers until I was in too deep. And by then, the wall was already working toward its third paint color. Let me explain…

On Saturday, Pop decides that he wanted an accent wall in the game room. He was determined to change that color, and that is just what he did. He pulled out a can of sky blue paint, and had at it. So I walk upstairs, and find a big blue patch in the middle of the wall. It was really blue, and pretty sharp, considering it was a sky blue, and I said I didn’t really like it. That was the point where it was too late to turn back. I don’t know where I got the idea that I could have an opinion, but it was a bad idea to voice it. (If I was just like Bob - I could have just played Madden the whole time, and not really care).

Soon the Mama came up to the room and got involved too. She didn’t like it either. So then instantly I am on her side, and the battle has begun. We tried another spot on the wall of a more muted turquoise (it had to be painted now, Pop put that paint spot where the whole world could see it) which I liked better. But I knew the Mama didn’t really like it either. And somehow I knew that whatever she would pick, Pop wouldn’t like. We mulled over the colors that day, and decided to wait until Monday to do anything about it. I was saved for at least a day.

But the Sabbath was hardly a day of rest for me. Besides pushing Bob in the pool, I had this color war looming in my head. Are there any colors that are middle ground? What color would I choose? Why on earth did I open my big fat mouth? Questions loomed in my head, as I tossed and turned for sleep. (Ok - so I might have really tossed and turned because the a/c was out, but saying it this way adds to the dramatic effect).

On Monday, the emotions came all back up, as I started to tape the wall. Both agendas started to emerge more clearly, and unfortunately I was still stuck in the middle, supposedly needing to change everyone’s mind. However, I knew that no matter what I did, I would end up being hated by one side. Both the Popo and the Mama came up to me privately at different times, trying to get me to persuade the other to change their mind. I was just wondering what I should do about it all… and so I pulled a classic Anna and just went with the flow (now I know some of you are laughing because you know exactly what that entails.) I just steered clear of the conflict and agreed to whatever was said. I knew that I was merely a pawn in this game anyway, and my actually opinion wouldn’t really matter anyway.

But then mid-afternoon, just before the paint shopping was to begin, the Popo seemed to have a change of heart. He said “I don’t care what the color is, I just want a different color on that wall” and even suggested having a reddish/peachish sort of color (like the color of the bricks on the house). I felt a sigh of relief. I knew that was something I could pull off with the Mama. I started to feel ok again and maybe I could be hailed as a hero in all of this. Well, one could wish…

I went out paint shopping with the Mama later that afternoon. I started to steer easily toward a peach color, and the Mama whole-heartedly agreed (any of you that know her know that is not a hard sell). But I couldn’t get her to go dark. In fact, not dark at all. She was worried it would look too dark from downstairs. But the colors we looked at were barely shades of peach. I was trying to push for a shade darker, but I didn’t want to over step my bounds. I wasn’t the one that was going to look at this color everyday, that I would just let it go. But letting go this late in the game can be costly, as I soon found out.

When we put the color up on the wall, it was such a light tint of peach to the wall color, it was almost undetectable until you looked at the neighboring ivory colored wall. Not quite an accent, if you will. Comments in it ranged from “it makes the other walls look dirty” (Pop) to “I could poop something out and put it on the wall and it would look better than that” (Bryan). Ouch.

When the Mama called on me to defend the color, I had no arguments left in me. What do you say by the end of all of that? It just really wasn’t an accent. I couldn’t lie. So then I made her a little mad too. Ouch again.

Needless to say, hero status was definitely not achieved, and in fact I was demoted from my position. Pop even said, “You failed. You have both and art degree and a psychology degree. You should have been able to pick out a good color, or at least changed her mind.” Double ouch.

So that was a painful lesson to be learned. My middle ground antics really do stink, and being the daughter-in-law pawn just isn’t for me. Next time I will let Becky help them pick the color. I’ll just duck out, and see if I can push Bob in the pool again…

At 4:20 Thursday morning, Anna and I left our Houston apartment heading for Corpus Christi. While Corpus might not be our final destination as we try to escape Rita’s path; it was the first stop for Anna and me.

As many people have seen on the news, highways going out of Houston are jammed packed. After we got passed the Houston beltway, we began to experience our own gridlock. To make a very long story short, it took us seven hours to go 30 miles from our apartment. Thankfully, once we got pass the bottleneck it was clear sailing to Corpus Christi. We finally arrived at my parent’s home in Corpus Christi at 2:00 p.m. Our trip had taken a total of 9 hours and 40 minutes, a trip that usually takes just over 3 hours.

We are now in Corpus Christi and will re-evaluate our options in the morning. Current predictions have the storm hitting the upper Texas Coastal Ben, leaving Corpus Christi in good shape. Friday morning, we decide whether we stay here in Corpus, or head south to Mexico.

We pray for the safety of all.

- Bob & Anna

Just some thoughts on Rita:

Aaaahhh. . . .

Lovely Rita, rita maid
You’re not so bonita babe.
Please let something come between us
When it gets dark, you want to come my way
Standing by the parking meter,
You want to blow us away

When I caught a glimpse of Rita
I really didn’t what to see her
Time will only tell how much
We remember you Rita

But it’s safe to say
We all think you should go away

Ahhhh . . . .

Rita ain’t so lovely so
Please don’t head our way.

When people ask me about how I am adjusting to Houston, I really don’t know what to say. Anytime you move to a new place, there is just that time that is weird, kinda like buying a new pair of shoes (because life always relates somehow to Nordstrom). There is that time that you wear the shoe, you usually get a few compliments, but you get blisters and curse the shoes for a while and you want to wear your old worn out shoes for a while, but when you wear those the next time, your real opinion is formed.

Anyway, I feel like I am still in my “first wear” with Houston, and here are some of my first impressions:

The drivers here are really bad. And people that drive the big trucks are usually worse, and more often than not are drunk behind the wheel, especially on a Saturday night. Drivers of Lexuses in the area have no clue of what is going on around them, and drive 5 miles lower than the speed limit.

I have found that it rains more here in Houston in the summer than it does in an entire year in Seattle. I have slowly learned that here in Houston if the weather reporter says there is a 30% of rain, you expect it to rain for at least 30% of the afternoon. If he says 40%, you just stay in doors, because it is liable to be flood like conditions. However, you don’t necessarily see it coming. Twice now I have walked into a store and the sun is shining, and when I come back out, a monsoon has hit, and I have difficulty making it home.

But on the note of weather, I must be adjusting some, because when I went outside yesterday I didn’t think it felt all that bad, only to discover that it was 97 degrees outside.

On the brighter side, the Houstonians that I have met have been pretty friendly. The 20-somethings with designer shoes, nice cars and maxed out credit cards and are pretty snobby, but you find that anywhere these days. But the older crowd is really friendly, and will strike up conversations with you anywhere. In fact, if I feel lonely, I just go grocery shopping and buy zucchini because there is always some nice lady that will talk to me when I am in that section of the store.

Another population that has actually been overly friendly to me are the mosquitoes. While playing croquet with friends the other night, I acquired over 20 of these bites on my arms alone. I feel itchy just thinking about it.

The other overly friendly population is the sales people around here. Bob and I have been looking around for furniture, and have found that the sales people are pushy and over-bearing, and downright silly at times. We were even chased out of one store by an sales associate, wanting to tell us of their financing options. Too bad we didn’t wear running shoes that day so we could have save ourselves from the 20 minute spiel.

So there you have it. My first impressions of Houston.

Anna and Bob are having thier last Fiesta in Provo to celebrate graduation and the fact that they are finally leaving Provo. Fiesta Infomation can be found on our site. Mama Bolster is cooking great Mexican, no American imitation here!. If you are in Provo, we hope to see you there.

Bob & Anna