andrea's spare time

hey you guys! do you have a favorite bread? you thought i was talking about money didn't you. no i'm talking about bread bread.

my husband just discovered that the only reason he likes toast is because the bread we normally buy is so wonderful. to save money (ok save some bread) we tried a cheaper brand, and now his love for his morning butter and toast has slipped away. what's the good stuff he misses? we call it "green" bread. but it's really orowheat's "oatnut" bread. (has a green label.) and i have a hunch that stuff is pretty popular.

a store i used to go to wasn't good at keeping it on the shelves, so when they did stock it, people like me would buy several loavesat a time. (yes, hoarding is bad. i know.) now i don't have that problem... but i usually notice that the green bread is never fully stocked like the other breads. and more than once i've had to climb up the shelves to pull the last loaf of green bread from the waaayyyyy back.

so any other oatnut lovers out there? if not, what's your favorite bread?

 

such a sad story. you probably have already heard at least some of it.  a 14 year old baytown girl... and 8th grader! is now charged with capital murder.  prosecutors say she gave birth to a 7 lb. baby boy in a school toilet... and then they allege she stuffed toilet paper into his throat and drown him.  her attorney says the girl didn't know she was pregnant.

the girl goes to juvenile court in the morning where the charges will be formally presented. apparently there's been no decision made on whether to try her as an adult. even if they did and she were convicted, there would be no death penalty imposed because of her age. the supreme court made a decision in 2005 that no one shall be executed for a crime committed when they are 17 or younger.

there clearly is a point where kids are way too young to be responsible for their decisions. and then clearly there is an age (at least legally) where they are held responsible. but there are many years in between that are a gray area. the time when we say "we would hope they would know better by now.... but then kids are kids."

what do you guys think about this 14 year old? was she in that gray area? should she be tried as an adult? if she is convicted what kind of sentence is appropriate? would you want to be held fully accountable for all the decisions you made when you were 14?

ok... i don't know if the 16 year old victim was there to make a purchase but let's put it this way.. he wasn't an employee. as pearland police say around 10:15pm yesterday this 16 year old entered the store and struck up an arguement with a 19 year old employee. about the 16 year old's girlfriend. witnesses say the 16 year old got aggressive first... swinging a fist... but the 19 year old is alleged to have pulled out a pocketknife and started stabbing. 5 times in the face and back according to the police press release. the victime rode the chopper to hermann hospital in critical condition and as of this writing pearland police have not returned my request for an update on him.

so... i know stuff happens, but i have to say i'm frustrated by walmart's p.r. department. 1st i have to give them credit... and i do give them a lot of credit.... for returning my voice mail before their business hours begin... AND before my deadline, because i told them i would be doing a live report at 6:30am.

but... this is the frustrating part. the only thing she would say is that it's a police investigation and all questions needed to go to pearland police. sure... questions about the investigation go to police. i get that without being told. but i asked if they would comment on the store safety. maybe they'd like to give a message to customers who might feel uneasy that an -employee- would allegedly pull out a knife while on the job. maybe they might simply express regret to the 16 year old victim. NO i'm told. "all questions need to be deferred to the police department." so i say "you mean walmart has no comment." she corrects me: "yes, our comment is that since this is a police investigation all questions go to them."

sooo... i know corporate p.r. tend to be tight lipped. the rational on this one didn't sit right and i just wanted to explain walmart's position on this matter.

now... what do you think? and i'm not asking what do you think about the corporate reaction really. what do you think about this happening inside a walmart... allegedly by an employee on the job?  does it reflect badly on walmart or do you think it's just an isolated case they need not worry about?

a u.s. coast guard crew plucked 5 texas a&m students out of the water this weekend... saving them after they had been floating on 4 life jackets for 26 hours! on the second sorti by a  coast guard chopper this crew was able to find them at 2am with high winds and 10 foot swells. talk to any of them and they essentially say "just doing my job ma'am" but these guys found the needle in the hay stack and their success should be commended.

the pilots: lt. justo rivera and lt. lee allen... rescue swimmer: chief al shannon.... :hoist operator : louis bishop. they all seem to love their job, and why not right? the people they save have probably already considered they may not live through their ordeal. when they are saved i would think they look at their life in a brand new way. and then there are the people who love them... who get their prayers answered.

i'm on my way to galveston now to hear from a couple of the survivors. i'm looking forward to hearing about their 26 hours at sea... what do you think they talked about? what would you talk about?

 

 

 

the family of officer johnson was clearly disappointed that illegal immigrant juan quintero was not sentenced to death for murdering a houtson police officer.  jurors instead opted for life in prison finding mitigating circumstances... and saying quintero's life still has value and still deserves mercy.

what do you think? how many have very strong opinions and how many of you are on the fence? or perhaps you feel the public needs to support whatever the jury decides?

 

ok i gotta ask. barrack obama refers to the "57 states"  when he's refering to his campaigning across the u.s.  he was tired his campaign said, but there just happen to be 57 islamic states.

what do you think?  freudian slip or just a plain old slip?

well i had a great time. treated to a yummy breakfast (cinnamon pancakes, fried bananas with whipped cream), then went to the park and practiced baseball with pete andy and my husband. after lunch we all went on a bike ride, then went to the pool.. and then for dinner my wonderful husband cooked wonderful chicken fajitas. they gave me the cutest cards! (if i get a chance i'll show you the one from little andy... really funny).. and godiva dark chocolate,  godive liquer and kahlua. COULDN'T have been a better day! (oh yeah... the washing machine busted so it could have been a wee bit better if that hadn't happened.)  all in all  it was fun and relaxing and we all enjoyed it. what about you other moms?? tell me what you did.

this is a picture of me taking a picture of myself in an autozone security camera. (i'm wearing white standing at the door.) my photo doesn't do it justice because the image i could see this morning was sharp and colorful. i hope it got good video of the guys who robbed this store in north houston... where i was doing my live reports this morning.

from what the investigators say, it was a crazy string of events: 

1st- gunmen run into store demanding cash (11:30pm -ish)

2nd- pizza delivery guy shows up (to buy an auto part, although the story might be a bit cooler if he were actually there to deliver a pizza.) he gets jumped and robbed by the "lookout" man at the front of the store.

3rd - a houston police officer drives by on patrol and sees what's happening.  that makes the lookout man yell "cop!" and all the robbers run out of the store and hop the fence in the back to get away.

the robbers were in such a hurry they:

a/ left their getaway car running

b/dropped $3,000 in cash

c/both of the above

if you answered "c" you must have been watching this morning! good for you!

but there's no indication of any shots being fired, no one seriously hurt, and a police officer right there when you need him. (please don't take that the wrong way. we don't all have personal police protection so we know we will usually see an officer after we have a chance to call for help. our officers do a great job.)

and i think the only reason the officer could see there was trouble is because the pizza man was jumped in the front of the store. the other gunman were in the back, out of sight trying to get the cash.

as i was saying this morning, if it's possible to have an armed robbery with a happy ending, this may be it.

so now... how about it? do you have any stories of something that started out terrible but had a happy ending?

yes, the next time i walk pickles and rocket i think i'm going to have a can of mace. yesterday we had an ugly run in with a stray dog.  i have to say it could have been worse but it was scary enough.

i was walking the dogs and escorting my son to a friend's house within the neighborhood. an unleashed dog approached us, of the junkyard variety... possibly chow and australian shepherd mix... maybe about 50 pounds.

pickles and rocket barked at the dog as we approached, but like they always do they stopped barking when they got up to the dog. they wagged their tails, let themselves be sniffed... all's good right? after a brief pause to hopefully establish that this dog wasn't going to be a problem, i started walking with them again, only to have the dog growl and start to attack them. i scooped up pickles and rocket as fast as i could (a bit awkward with 25 pounds of squirming flesh in my arms) and the dog made a couple attempts to jump up on me, growling of course, and then he stood there continuing to growl at me. i started walking very slowly down the sidewalk, pete was walking behind me at this time, and the dog continued to follow us... angry and bouncing around like he was going to jump up again any second.

i yelled out of course. there were a couple young kids around, about 10 years old... and they told me it wasn't their dog and kept going. i also yelled as loudly as i could "who's dog is this!???" hoping a homeowner would surface and get the dog. no dice. then there were two lawn mowing crews within a couple houses from us on either side, but none of those guys came to help. i ended up using my cell phone to call my husband who was at home luckily, telling him in a panick to come get us.   i'm glad i brought my cell phone, because sometimes i don't.

severo's truck scared off the dog and i think i saw what back yard he belonged in... but i'm spending my morning looking up dog repellents. there's a product out there called "mace muzzle" that seems like it would help in that situation. anyone have experience with this problem or this product?

ok... talk about media bias. i see that first lady laura bush is going to be a guest host on nbc's today show.  next tuesday. last hour. that's the day of the pennsylvania primary. yes... it's true. i had to go back and read the wire story again because it seems too wacky.

i don't really have an opinion on it, although i wonder if it's nbc's way to compensate for criticism that it's "too liberal."  ok, maybe i do have an opinion.

why can't people with obvious biases stay out of  "news?"  when you have an opinion, you're a commentator. when you have an opinion, use a sharpie and write on your forehead:  "i favor _______________ (fill in what's appropriate: libs, dems, cons., reps, hillary, barrack, mccain, nafta, etc... you get the idea).  that way we won't have to guess. it's frustrating because i still have a "pie in the sky" idealism that  news presentors, journalists, and reporters should be "neutral." but then that's my opinion! ha!ha! (but it's a "neutral opinion" isn't it?)

anyway. now mrs. bush can do that borderline arrogant kick to the commercial break by saying "i'm the first first lady to say first, this is today on nbc." 

reincarnation was the topic of a radio show i heard coming into work this morning. (coast to coast a.m. with george norri). i'll be honest, i lean toward believing in it. what about you? 

i gotta tell you about a caller to the show that cracked me up though. she said she's CERTAIN that her father who died in 1995 has come back as her sister's pet shih tzu! she and her family see her dad's unusual facial expressions in the dog, and she thinks this was her dad's way of coming back to take care of them. the dog apparently has kept a 24/7 watch on this woman since she came back from open heart surgery.  he licks her when he notices her blood sugar is low and does other helpful things as she recovers. well who's to say they're wrong?! what a wonderful way to enjoy your dog!

we've talked at my house about my 8 year old being a japanese man in a previous life. he took to oregami several years ago and is really quite amazing with creating his own designs now. and when he got a taste of taekwondo he was instantly hooked. (ok... that's korean right?... but asian nonetheless.) he was also really good with chopsticks at an early age! lol! (i know that's weak...)

but what about you?? what do you think you might have been in a past life?

i love a good long walk but i'm not sure about pickles and rocket! pickles is a year and a month old and rocket is 11 months old and they are finally enjoying going on walks... but "mom" is wiping them out.

but i'm curious if anyone else has been concerned about exhausting their small dog. honestly i've always walked labs and standard poodles, and there's no lack of energy there. but saturday we went for a walk along the bayou.. figured we'd be gone an hour so i took water and snacks for them. my family ended up coming along and we had a great time but soon it was nearly two hours later! rocket kept pulling me down to the water. he just wanted lay down with his belly in it to cool off. ok.. no prob. but after 5 minutes of that i needed to get going home and he refused to walk. just wouldn't get on his feet.. and he wouldn't take a snack anymore either. so i decided to carry him the last 25 minutes of the walk, all the while thinking it wasn't worth him having a heart attack or getting heat stroke. (pickles thank goodness kept walking. he's 14 pounds and rocket's 11. )

when we got back to the house i soaked them both with cold water from the hose. rocket found his legs again, and chasing pickles around the back yard

they're actually in pretty good shape. i take them roller blading too (i can't wait to get some pictures of that to put on here). in fact when we're blading i call rocket my "track star" because he runs and runs and runs without stopping pulling both me and pickles.

so what do you think? was i asking too much or was rocket just stubborn? anybody with little dog experience? (and pbmom, i'm sure you don't have the same problem but i know you've got alot of dog experience... )

ok how much trouble would it be for metro to put a sign 1 mile, or 1/2 mile, or i'd settle for a 1/4 mile in advance of splits in the hov lanes (ie off to one side to stay on the highway, off to the other to exit or go to the park and ride) ?

when the  split comes you have to make a "split" decision which way to go. the only sign designating where the lanes go is right there at the divide. now how hard would it be to give people some advance notice?

i'm talking about the i-10 hov lane because that's really the only one i'm familiar with, and i wonder if all the hov lanes are poorly marked like this. but on i-10 with all the construction, the splits have changed up a couple times... and i tend to forget and... well i darn near freak out (panic) hoping i'm going to make the right choice. i haven't always picked the right way, and that doesn't make me a happy camper.

so is it just me? does anyone else feel the signs are lacking?

yes that is news! but i went to the church and didn't go in.

i'm talking about the co-cathedral of the sacred heart, of course. the brand new catholic church in downtown houston. i did all of my morning live shots looking at the church from this angle and this distance. i had hopes i would be able to go in, but for security issues or whatever else needs to go on in there, that was an impossibility.

i did enjoy looking at the video that our photographer shot inside though during media day last week. it looks gorgeous and grand.  the cost of it, $49 million dollars seems to bug alot of people because "it should have gone to the poor." but  bishop fiorenza addressed that by saying the catholic diocese continues to take care of the poor and needy just like it always has,  and the money donated to build this cathedral was donated because people -wanted- the church to build a new cathedral. he says even the "poor" donated money because having a beautiful place of worship was important to them.

since i'm not catholic, i was worried about getting everything right this morning. so far i haven't heard any complaints and for that i'm grateful. and i'd like to say even if you're not catholic, i think there's plenty to enjoy about this building. relics, newly commissioned artwork, even spectacular stained glass windows protected by an exterior window built to withstand 180 mph winds! no kidding! (i'm told they build these cathedrals to last for centuries). this may be a go-to place when another cat-5 is headed our way.

ok.. i'm just blabbing... it's your turn. tell me what you think about the new co-cathedral. do you plan to go in for a tour? a mass?

geez! have i been living under an ornamental rock  in my garden?? did you guys know that SALVIA is a hallucinogenic? is this the stuff i loaded my backyard with years ago when i had a massive hummingbird garden! (the flowers are great nectar producers) i missed out on the plants other hidden benefits! lol!

so salvia is illegal to grow now in many states. and kids are "doing" salvia because it's still -not- illegal most places. i just want to know how common knowledge it is. what do you guys know about it?

now i guess i know why it's so popular with hummingbirds.  no wonder they don't fly in a straight line!!!