I've been stimulated!

Damn, it's been almost a month since the last post. Time goes by so fast! Yes, there's a ton to post about, but I'm not in the mood. I got my $600 stimulus check direct deposit yesterday! Woo Hoo! Hmmm, what to spend it on. Oh, that's right, I ALREADY SPENT IT! That's right boys and girls, no fun toys for this cowgirl. Instead, I got a shiny new water heater! A couple weeks ago Michael and were going to go kayaking with Jane for the first time. That morning when I went to take a shower, the water was lukewarm. Luckily, the water heater hadn't leaked or exploded or anything. Just the pilot light was out. And, as I do whenever I have a house emergency, I called my mommy. She said not to try to light it myself, and if I didn't smell gas, it had probably automatically shut itself off. She called her handyman who installed their water heater and has done a ton of remodeling for them. He's very reliable. He came out on a Sunday evening and got a new water heater and installed it. So, with the water heater, supplies, and install, that was $638. Yup, there went the stimulus check. Well, they said you should buy local, right? I guess that qualifies.

Yes, kayaking was a blast, will post pictures soon.

Finally had dinner with Melanie after 8 months of not seeing her. Her baby that was a premie is now 13 months and doing great. He's off all his oxygen and other stuff. It was great having dinner with her again. I missed her. Everyone tries to say that nothing will change after you have a baby, but those of us without kids know that EVERYTHING changes. In fact, Annette and Mike are pregnant now, and it'll be interesting to see how often we hang out after the baby is born. I joked that between me, Gil, Jeff, and Judy, we could always have team babysitting if they need a night out to themselves. I figured between the four of us, we could figure out how to care for an infant. I'm helping them paint the nursery (quite involved with murals and whatnot). Pictures will be posted when I'm done.

Well, what do you know, I AM in the mood to post. Well fine then, here are kayaking pictures of us on Town Lake! This is the first time Michael and I have ever kayaked and it was damn fun. I didn't feel like I'd fall in - the kayak was very sturdy. We rented them from a place right on the lake, and Jane brought one of her smaller ones (she has 4). She gave us some tips on how to paddle, but it took me a long time to get my angle right cause my hand kept hitting the side of the kayak. I couldn't go down too steeply cause my arms are short. So, I had to keep the paddles a little wider. We were out for 2 hours, and by the last half hour we all had a good rhythm going. Jane went slow since we were beginners. At one point I told her to do her usual paddling, and she just smoked us! The day was really overcast and not that hot. We would've stayed out longer, but a breeze started and my legs were getting cold. We really want to go again, just need to find time.

Michael and I went out to Fogo de Chao (http://www.fogodechao.com/) which is a Brazilian steakhouse where the waiters walk around with different types of meat on big skewers and they cut off pieces at your table. We also went with his friend Scott, and he and I had never been before. It was fun, but kinda expensive since it was all-you-can-eat. The meat was good, though. Scott took this picture of Michael and I. It's really grainy cause the flash wasn't on, and I haven't figured out all the settings yet. But, I thought we looked cute.