It was very cold this morning, in the teens, which is extreme for us here in the Dallas area. When it gets this cold, if there is any sign of impending moisture, schools and government offices tend to close. Face it, we do not know how to drive in "weather" and we are better off at home.

This morning I was driving east along U.S. Hwy 380 at full speed, about 60 miles per hour. The roadways were completely dry, and I was behind other traffic that was moving at the same pace. There was no one behind me.

As I approached Hardin Road, the signal turned to yellow. It was one of those moments: Can I stop safely, or do I go on through? I probably should have stopped, but I saw some sort of slow moving convoy of work vehicles approaching from the opposite direction, and I somehow processed that they were sand trucks, and therefore I should not apply my brakes in case of ice on the roadway.

The light turned red just as I entered the intersection.

I made the requisite "horrified that I did that" facial expression to signal to other motorists that I am not a jerk.

As I drove through the intersection, it became clear that the convoy was a street sweeper and not a sand truck. I never see street sweepers here in Texas, so where did this come from and why was it sweeping the center lane of the three westbound lanes?

As luck would have it, a police vehicle turned onto Hwy 380 from Hardin Road and began to follow me in my lane. There was no other traffic behind me, so it was glaringly obvious that he was behind me. I could even feel him glaring at me, running my plates.

He followed me for a while. I fumbled around the center console of my car for my work badge. At least if he saw the logo on the badge he would assume that I was poor and perhaps take pity on me and just issue a warning. Except for my car, while several years old, is considered a luxury vehicle. Crap.

So he followed me almost to Central Expressway, in that intimidating way that cops do, by driving near or behind one who has just committed some infraction.

Then he turned into Chic-Fil-A, a popular place for the officers to stop for a meal.

I seriously thought, as I continued straight and he turned into the parking lot, hooray, "Eat Mor Chikin!"

It is a frequently asked question in our area. What can we do when the relatives come to visit? And it's a good question, as Dallas doesn't have too many interesting natural sights to see. We've no beach, no mountains, and not much that really stands out from the rest of the country. In fact, we seem to have a large percentage of chain retail and restaurants, and a short list of unique or interesting attractions.

So, I'm assembling this catalog of good things to do in the north Texas area, especially those things to do near McKinney.

I'm not ruling out shopping altogether, but I am leaving out most malls and chain stores. Who really wants to travel across several states to go to a generic mall with the same stores and merchandise as one can find at home?

If you have any suggestions of additions to my list, feel free to comment!

Just a friendly note to small businesses:

I know that your employees may be stressed right now. Many businesses are having tough times, and that makes things even harder for those small businesses who are already up against the low prices of the corporate giants and the anything-for-a-buck-made-in-China-loving American public.

So, if you, Mr. Small Business Owner, decide to run a special in order to attract business, please ensure that your employees know about the special and that they hide any dislike for what may be a loss leader.

If you own a hardware store, and you have to special order an advertised item, please actually order the item for the customer. Odds are fairly high that the customer actually wants the item for which they drove to your store to purchase. They may even want it fairly quickly. And if the customer calls to inquire if the advertised item that had to be special ordered has arrived (since your employees didn't call like they said they would), please tell the employees to check thoroughly before saying "yes, it's here". The customer has already gone out of their way to shop at your store, no need to have them return solely for an exercise in asking for a product that isn't there.

Also, if you own a hardware store and an item is advertised at a specific price in the sales flyer and on the shelf tag, it would be good if you actually charged the sales price for that item. If the Murphy's Oil Soap is advertised at $2.50, please ring it up at that price, and not $4.29. As a matter of principal, I will be back for my $1.79 and I will be less inclined to go out of my way to shop at your place if it takes 3+ visits to get what I need. I may be a savant as far as what everything in the cart should ring up, but I should be able to send my husband to buy a few things without being grossly overcharged. He isn't a savant in that regard, and he trusts you to do what you say, i.e. charge him the correct price for the stuff he buys from you.

If you own a restaurant, and you run an ad for a weekday dinner special, please inform your waitstaff of said special. Let them know that you need the new customers and perhaps even mention that the customers are not a bother but rather an asset. Customers who come in for the special, but are served up a heaping plate of attitude along with their Italian food are not likely to return to purchase entrees at full price. I don't want to be treated like a burden for taking you up on an offer that you voluntarily extended. By "you" I mean you or your employees because they are representing you. Yes, we took you up on your two dinners for $17, which was a killer deal, but we also bought a bottle of wine and a dessert, and tipped and spent $60 at your restaurant instead of our original plan of eating soup and sandwiches at home.

Small business cannot survive "just because". I will not pay the same or higher prices to be treated poorly. We don't live in Mayberry, RFD. There are alternatives out there and while I may not like them, if their service manages to surpass yours, I don't plan on paying more for inept or flat out bad service. Yes, everyone messes up from time to time, and I'm the first one to acknowledge that, but a bad attitude is not okay.

Times are tough right now, small business owners. Don't let bad attitudes or misguided employees sink your business!

Nothing makes me long for apartment living more than having to replace a large part of a fairly new house.

Last year, our neighborhood was hit with a series of fairly strong hail storms. The most memorable one hit around 5:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning. The loud cracking noise coming from the roof woke me, and fairly convinced me that the house was on fire. Baseball-sized hail tends to make quite a racket, I can attest.

Many of the houses in our area needed a new roof. Perhaps a third of our subdivision, and slightly south of us, almost entire subdivisions. The roofing trucks were on the prowl, like sharks looking for prey, many with out of state plates.

We got conflicting opinions on the state of our roof, so we put it off. With the one year mark coming up, and the accompanying insurance claim deadline, we had the adjuster out. Yep, we need a new roof, in the $10,000 range.

Our eighth anniversary is coming up:
Traditional 8th wedding anniversary presents have a theme of Bronze and Pottery.
A contemporary or modern 8th anniversary present has a theme of Lace and Linen. 
The flowers associated with the 8th anniversary are Clematis

Perhaps our eight anniversary gift will be a bill for a new roof on some nice linen paper! Ugh. Let's pray for a year of no hail, please. At least not the big stuff.