A few nights ago, I got emotional. It happens from time to time (ladies, I’m sure you’ll understand this a little better than the men! LOL!) and is usually about the most bizarre things. This time, we were lying in bed and I start into a conversation about what if Col was to die on me. Morbid, I know, but it’s something that’s played on my mind a lot more than when we lived in Costa del Larne.

It’s also a valid concern given that we’re out here so far from home and so much would need taken care of if something were to happen to him. It’s worth mentioning that Col works on a computer, so it’s not like he’s got any additional risk of dying than anyone else (unless his computer finally gets sick of being used as a punchbag every day!) but even just the lunatic drivers alone here add an extra risk.  So it comes up sometimes.

He does the same thing every time, assures me that i’ll be ‘taken care of’, (he really makes his company sound like some kind of Mafia) and I have no doubt that as far as Schlumberger is concerned, they’ll be by the book and I’ll be taken care of. My fear seems to stem beyond the company and more to the personal, we don’t have kids, so the inlaws would have no *real* need to keep in touch after a while, which then prompts a ‘Do you think your family would keep in touch with me’ discussion on his part. Family aside, I’m more concerned about our friends. Moving here was a seriously stark process in so far as revealing who your friends are and I wasn’t ready for that lurking ugly. The social niche I’d made for myself at home no longer exists and I’ve lost touch with so many people. It’s become almost a stubborn thing, ‘Well, if they don’t make the effort, why should I?’ kind of thing.

You know, we’ve had a free phone line installed from almost the day and hour we arrived here? It costs people no more to call us than it does to call their next door neighbour and there’s only one person who uses it on a regular basis and for that I’ll always be grateful. I look forward to my weekly chat with her and try and think of the most things to say to increase the length of our conversations – yes, I’m that sad! LOL!

Regardless of the dark nature of this update, it’s something that preys on my mind. How would I assimilate back home now that I’ve lived here for the last year? Would I try and come back here? Would my new found SSA friends keep in touch with me in Ireland any better than my Irish friends have kept up with us here? It’s enough to drive a person to distraction.

I’m an over thinker, when something pops into my head I dissect it and oftentimes to the point I upset myself and Col’s left to mop up my tears.

Without sounding too soppy (although, when it comes to Col, I really can’t help myself) he really is the centre of my universe and although I’d have no choice but to keep going without him, I don’t ever want to have to – so, I came to the decision that the answer was for me to die first! LOL!

Anyways, the morbid moment, thankfully passed and order was restored!

This week has been an interesting one babysitting with Mr Michael was certainly an experience. Col tends to keep kids at arms length when he’s around other people too. He’s afraid of making a mistake or doing something wrong in front of an audience – this was the first 1 on 1 I’d seen him with a baby and he certainly did himself proud. Michael sees a lot more of me than he does Colin, so he wasn’t interested in me.

Col on the other hand was a new person to play with, so, giving up any hope of completing our travel allowance form Col fed him, played with him and encouraged him to torment me while I was changing his nappy/diaper.

We had great fun! I’ve tried to convince Amee to leave him with us before so I’m glad she finally asked us.

He’s such a wee character and certainly had us giggling a lot!

The SSA dinner with the ladies turned out to be just 3 of us.  Melanie the coordinator, Julie the treasurer and me, but in spite of that I really had a blast.  We ate pizza and chatted for hours – Col particularly enjoyed his doggie bag as it was from our favourite pizza place!

Last night Col and I decided to work off the pizza we ate the night before.  He had football with his colleagues (they were up to 16 people this time from 9 the last time) and I worked out in the gym.  I lasted about 40 minutes before my legs started to go, which wasn’t bad since I had already put them through an hour of water aerobics that morning.  Col was feeling it this morning a little but for a change, I was fine (hopefully I’m not tempting fate here!).

This is pretty huge progress for me, given that this time last year I couldn’t work out for one hour in a week and so far this week already I’ve done 2 sessions of water aerobics, an hour in the gym and I’m planning to go to the water aerobics tonight too.  It’s good fun and I’m enjoying it but ultimately I want to look good in my hugely expensive beautiful wedding dress and I’m hoping that adding exercise to the diet will help my cause.

I saw Adrian (another of Cols colleagues) for the first time in ages as we arrived at the YMCA, (another hug – I should have had a hug counter in this post somewhere!) and he commented on how great he thought our invitation was.  I’d not seen him since we all got drunk in November at Michaels Christening I think.  Man, it’s been too long!  The guy is hilarious!  It was the second time in as many weeks I was asked if I was going to play with the lads and the second time my answer was laughter! Haha! I also saw Pierce for the first time in AGES.  Pierce is Amee’s older son who I’m rather fond of and have started to notice that I regard him with a little brother instinct which is kinda funny.  It was after our workouts though so it was a sweaty hug from a way too tall 17 year old!

Our sprinkler system also got installed over the last few days and is finished and fully operational – God bless our landlady cause Col got eaten alive by bug bites last year when he had to water the garden!! LOL!

Lunch bunch today was serious fun, but it always is. I went with my friends Julie (and baby Zane) and Lori.  It was in a place I’ve never tried before, Lupe Tortilla, but will most definitely be going back – it was delicious! There was about 25 of us there, 3 of them were newcomers and another spouse had brought 2 new ladies with her for me to recruit so it was a busy morning.  I know that the number of newcomers to the city is a lot higher though, especially at the minute, so my next goal is to increase participation from them, I’ve just gotta figure out how first!

I’d not been to Lunch Bunch in a few months so I saw people I’ve not seen for a while, it was hugs galore and as much catch-up chit chat as we could squeeze into the lunch time! (I know you’re all shocked that all I did was talk the whole time!)  I also came home with a nice gift card that the SSA gave to each of the board members to thank them for their service –I just wasn’t in town when they were given out. Bring on the shopping! LOL!

A lot of the ladies hadn’t ever seen me with my hair down – something I’d not given any thought to, but it’s true.  For most of my first 9 months here I always tied my hair up.  The heat here, with long hair, is just asking for trouble.  Today I wore it down and everyone loved it – I guess I’m acclimating a little if I can wear my hair down!

The ladies who we’ve invited to the wedding also commented on our invitations, two of them said they were the ‘fanciest and nicest’ they’d ever seen.  I’m glad everyone loves them as much as we do!

Beyond that, there’s not much going on here, I got to talk to my lil brother and sister this morning which made me pretty homesick.  Then this afternoon I got to talk to my dad and my mother in law which made me even moreso.  I miss just about everyone *sigh*.

I can’t believe it’s Friday tomorrow, I think with Col (hiding from everyone in his office so he could do his own work) working from home for 2 days this week, my week feels like it’s not even started! Yesterday during one of his work from home days I stole the car and went for an afternoon drive – it was good fun and i’m certainly gaining confidence with my driving around here.  Hopefully by the time everyone comes over/down for the wedding I’ll be a lot more mobile! I do have to say that I love our wee car, I feel like I’m in an armoured tank when I’m in it.  It’s such a great motor and I hazard a guess that our second car could very well end up being the exact same as our first at this rate!

Not sure what the weekend holds for us really, I think tomorrow night we’re going out to eat with Cindy and Tim – they’ve been travelling and have had company for the longest time, before that we were away back home so I’ve not seen them in FOREVER.  They are some of my favourite people to hang out with here and I can’t wait to see them!   I’m also considering trying to arrange a Sing Star night next weekend if we can get a group of people together who are still in Houston -we’ll see as most people are travelling or have family and friends visiting.

I think I might get my trip to the beach this weekend.  I stocked up on factor 90 sunscreen last week and it might be nice to have a little drive to Galveston to soak up some sun – we’ll see though.  The idea of driving up there and sunning ourselves is always great, until you come home scalded alive and with sand everwhere!