Winter Break 2009

Today is my fourth day off and we have already done so much.

Saturday, despite 8 inches of snow and no power in some places, we wnt to a wedding. Not too bad until you find out that this was an OUTDOOR wedding! Yes folks, this lovely family hosted a wedding at their home, outside, on generators. The wedding was beautiful and we were actually quite warm in the tents. They had the big white tents set up with Christmas lights running all over. Our place setting cards were stuck in pinecones that were hanging on Christmas trees. The favors (which were wrapped in the prettiest paper) were boxes of white hot chocolate. They had evergreens behind them during the ceremony, a HUGE wooden cross standing at the front and a million candles! The programs each had a piece of black ribbon tied on them with a sprig of pine needles. The food was TO DIE FOR! Prime rib, asian something salmon, and little chicken rolls with spinach, tomato and feta. They had about 8 groom's pies to choose from, wedding cake and 2-3 more cakes. It was amazing!

Sunday morning, we had no church so we slept in until 10:30. That was really nice. After we got ready, we ran to Johnson City to pick up some last minute gifts and to take some "Santa" tags to Seth's sister for her boys (because you know Santa makes all his tags for each child). We picked up a Papa John's pizza for lunch and went home. Seth stopped and rented me Four Christmases with Vince Vaughan and Reese Witherspoon (pretty funny). After we got home, we watched our movie and ate pizza. We had to watch the movie on the laptop because we have difficulty with our DVD player. Our first one went out so a friend gave us one of hers. It didn't work either so my mom gave us one she had bought and never used. It doesn't work either! So, we watched it on the computer and shared a pair of headphones(the fan on the woodstove is LOUD). After lunch I wrapped, made tags, wrapped some more, made more tags and on and on.

Monday was movie day for Seth. He has about 4-5 movies he wanted to watch that I refuse to watch because I just don't want to. We got up early, went to the Walmart to get a few groceries, stopped at McDonald's and got breakfast and went to the video store. He got 2 and I got one (it was $1 day). He started watching his as soon as we got home and I called my mom to see if she wanted to run to the mall with me. She was already there so I met her there. I finished all my shopping, had a tasty lunch and spent some time with my mom. She got all her shopping done too so now all we have left is WRAPPING!!! Seth helped me wrap most of our gifts that night so I am free to help my mom.

Today I am going to WalMart to get stocking stuff and a few things that I could not get until today. After that, we are going to visit Seth's grandmother in the nursing home and then we have P and W practice at 2ish. After practice, my mother and I are going to wrap and bake pumpkin and chocolate chip cookies. Then, my sister and BIL will be here. Tomorrow we are all going to Dollywood to see the lights and then Thursday is Christmas Eve! This week has already flown by and it's not even half over yet.

What is all this white stuff?

Yesterday was my last day at work until after Christmas! I was so excited to be off for an entire week and just spend time with my family and get a few things done around the house. It rained all morning and we were all expecting it to turn to snow sometime in the late morning. I never even saw the first flakes of snow until around 2 pm. By the time I left work at 2:45, the roads were becoming slushy. By 4pm, the ground was covered and the roads were white. Now, we sometimes get snow around here but not this much often enough for people to be "comfortable" driving in it. All night on FaceBook there were updates about people being stuck on the interstate because of semis sliding and blocking the road. Seth's cousin left her job in Kingsport (about 45 minutes away) at 4pm and finally got home at 12:45am. She sat in traffic for over 5 hours before someone could get to her. Her car is still sitting on the interstate.
The Jones family however, was home. We had a fire going, Seth cleaned that morning and made a HUGE pot of chili. Needless to say, we were not going anywhere. The only time we went outside was to let Nattie out. She absolutely loves the snow. This is her first "big" snow and she had a ball. She and I played for about 15 minutes around 5 and then Seth and I went out to play with her again around 8:30. With all the snow on the ground and falling, it is not nearly as dark out at 8:30. She likes to jump and catch the snowballs we make and she collapsed on my start of a snowman.
18 hours later, it is still snowing, TDOT is still struggling to catch up and Seth and I have an OUTDOOR wedding to attend tonight! I know they did not think this would happen on their wedding day. There will be a tent though. My sister is coming with her husband Ben and dog Millie on Tuesday so we are hoping some of this sticks around long enough so Millie can play with Nattie. She is an indoor Florida dog though...wonder how that will go. She may need a parka. Here are some pictures of our snow day.

Pardon the snowflake

Seth and Nattie (she looks so vicious)

How much?!

New Screens!

A little more than a year ago, our church started blending our worship services a little. Every so often we would have a team of people lead the congragation with some pre recorded somewhat contemporary music. Then we started doing it every 3rd Sunday. Back in July, our longtime pianist and organist retired so we decided that this would become our new style of worship. Since July, we have worshipping on Sundays with mostly pre recorded music and have a screen placed at the front of the church for the PowerPoint. It is a free standing screen (like from the 80s) and is very much in the way. A few months ago, we talked of getting a new screen for the wall but the way the church is built, it would not have gone in the middle and it would have been very awkward. We asked for 2 screens to go on either side of the baptistry. They approved it and they were finally installed this week! This is not the best picture but you get the idea. Come out and join us for the "unveiling" of our new visual equipment this Sunday with the choir performing their Christmas Cantata at 10:45am. We are all very excited about this new media equipment because the possibilities are ENDLESS!

Just Kidding...

I found out this week that I will NOT be getting laid off...at least not before Christmas. I don't know what will happen after Christmas but for now I am still employed. I am glad that I will still be working but of course the good news came after I had all this stuff planned for while I was off. I was going to work for some people doing odd jobs, put in some much needed extra time working at church and clean my house from top to bottom (yes this includes the walls). Hopefully I can still do all those things over the next 4 weeks because today was also my last day of class for the Fall 09 semester!

Mini-Vacation

Last week I found out that I will be out of work starting December 7. Since we had a mishap at work, they are going to be working on/fixing some things in my building. Until those things are ready to go, I am not needed. We will be off for holiday shutdown starting Decemebr 21st so I will not go back until December 28th. Unfortunately the timing of this event could not have fallen at a worse time financially. But, the nice thing is, I will be home with my family for a few weeks while they are off. I will be able to get some things done that I have not had the chance to do and enjoy getting ready for the holiday without having the added stress of sleeping all day and working all night. Maybe this will work out :)

That being said, I am willing to do odd jobs while I am off, including holiday cleaning (because your mother-in-law would DIE if she knew your house really looked like that :)), gift wrapping (my favorite...includes handmade name tags) and any other odd things you might need completed for the holiday season. Starting December 7th I am available whenever so just let me know. I am looking forward to my mini vacation!

Operation Christmas Child 2009- COMPLETE!

Collection week is over... please visit this link to read about how we did at our local relay center.

FCC Erwin Blog

Once again, THANK YOU to everyone who participated whether is was through donations, volunteering at the relay center or praying for this mission. Because of you, we hope over 8 million children will have a wonderful Christmas this year!

*Katie

Venting

If I may, I would just like to vent for a few moments about my class. This is the most unorganized/frustrating/religion losing/anger management needing class I have ever attended in my life for the following 5 reasons, not listed in any particular order:

1) Since August 15th, I have probably turned in well over 20-25 assignments. I have gotten back 3, yes 3, grades and this class is over December 5th

2) I have emailed my professor numerous times about questions that I have and have only gotten 1, yes 1, reply.

3) We have skipped and/or omitted at least 3, yes 3, assignments that I think are pretty important. Ex- LESSON PLANNING!!

4) I received an email last Wednesday saying that my grades should be up soon. This was after a motivational speech with the director of our program. I still have yet to see, one week later, a SINGLE new grade posted.

5) Outside communication is slim to none. If you don't talk to her in class, you can forget it.

Thanks for reading. I feel better anyway.

~Katie

Operation Christmas Child

Many of you know about the mission called Samaritan's Purse. Each year around this time, SP does a ministry called Operation Christmas Child. This is where they ask those of us who are able to pack a regular size shoebox full of necessities and goodies for children all over the world. The boxes are then packed up and sent to different countries and handed out to children as Christmas gifts. Sounds simple right? It is but there are some things you need to know.

1) We are asking your to use a REGULAR size shoebox. We know you mean well when you fill a boot box but the boxes are placed in larger shipping boxes and we MUST average 14 shoeboxes per shipping box. Field teams place their "orders" for the boxes and SP decides how many of the larger shipping containers to send them based on the avg of 14 shoeboxes per shipping box. If they place an order for 140 boxes, they will receive 10 shipping boxes. If some of the boxes only have 11 or 12, someone is getting left out.

2) If you do not have a regular shoebox, the plastic containers from the Wal-Mart (some people actually buy them to hold their shoes) are perfect. Not only can they carry your items to the child but the child can then use the container to help out their families. Many families have to travel/walk to get clean water and the container serves as the perfect child size container for them to help carry water back to their home. Many of them are too small to carry the large containers their parents do.

3) Many of these children need basic things such as underwear, socks, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc. While we hope you can send a toy or fun thing in your box, they also need the bascis too. Please try not to forget to pack these items along with something fun.

4) Shipping is $7 per box. This is not mandatory for the shipment of your box but is extremely helpful. If you have more than one box, please place all your money in the envelope in ONE box only. They will remove the money anyway and this just makes it easier. IF you want to pay online, you will be able to print your box label on your home printer. It comes with a UPC type code and you will be able to TRACK YOUR BOX!!! That is so amazing because you will know where your box ends up.

5) If you want to send a box but are unable to get out to shop or are too busy, I am offering to do the shopping for you. For only $25, you can "adopt a box" to send. This amount covers all the items AND the shipping! If you are interested in doing this, please contact me ASAP! We start collecting boxes on 11/16 and they have to be ready to go to Boone, NC (the main shipping place for our regions) by Sunday afternoon. Either leave a comment here or call me @ 423-361-4893.

6) Here is a list of things that can be put in boxes and things to NOT put in the boxes.

TOYS small cars, balls, dolls, stuffed animals, kazoos, harmonicas, yo-yos, jump ropes, small Etch A Sketch®, toys that light up or make noise (with extra batteries), Slinky®, etc.

SCHOOL SUPPLIES pens, pencils and sharpener, crayons or markers, stamps and ink pad sets, writing pads or paper, solar calculators, coloring and picture books, etc.

HYGIENE ITEMS toothbrush, toothpaste, mild bar soap (in a plastic bag), comb, washcloth, etc.

OTHER Hard candy and lollipops (please double bag all candy), mints, gum, T-shirts, socks, ball caps; sunglasses, hair clips, toy jewelry, watches, flashlights (with extra batteries)

A PERSONAL NOTE In a separate envelope, you may enclose a note to the child and a photo of yourself or your family. (If you include your name and address, the child may write back.)

DO NOT INCLUDE: Used or damaged items; war-related items such as toy guns, knives or military figures; chocolate or food; out-of-date candy; liquids or lotions; medications or vitamins; breakable items such as snowglobes or glass containers; aerosol cans

Trunk or Treat...or Not

Last Saturday, Halloween, we had our annual Trunk or Treat at our church. Unfortunateky, yet not surprisingly, it rained. Since we couldn't very well stand out in the rain and hand out candy, we moved into the Fellowship Hall and set up "stations" there. We had quite a few people from church show up to hand out candy and a few of us dressed up. We started at 5:00 and ended about 7:00ish. I think we ended up having over 300 kids come through and get candy. At the end of the line we were also handing out flyers for Operation Christmas Child but that is another post all its own. We also had a group from Campus House at ETSU come over and play live music for everyone and we also a group line dance for us!

A couple from our church, Tommy and Kathy, had planned a get together for those who came and handed out candy. We had every thing imaginable...they really outdid themselves. We had pizza, popcorn balls, candy corn, brownies with icing, moon pies with icing (I'm dying here), candied orange slices, drinks, etc. It was amazing!

It was nice to see everyone come out and get together for a fun activity and just spend a nice evening together. I have posted some pictures below.

Kira was a caterpillar

Kathy and Tommy

Jack and Beverly

Lori and Andrea (Aaron?)

AR was a "chick magnet" hehe

Seth's Birthday

October 7th was Seth's birthday which fell on a Wednesday this year. Wednesdays are his LONG days and he doesn't usually get home until 10:15 pm. Since he is gone all day, I usually try to work extra this day. I went in at 6:45 that day since I wouldn't see him anyway. Since we didn't get to spend any time together that day, I told him that we could go to Pigeon Forge that weekend and go to Bass Pro. He could pick out his birthday present there since I had no idea what to get him. He had school Friday so we didn't get to leave until 6:00. It was about 7:30 when we got to Bass Pro and getting ready to pour the rain. They didn't close until 10 so we had plenty of time to shop. He found a couple small things that he wanted and we got Nattie a bag of rawhide chewies.

Last time we went in August, we found a jacket that he really liked and it was on sale. Under Armour is rarely on sale and I tried to get him to go ahead and get it. He wouldn't and told me he didn't need it so I thought, "Fine, I will just get it for you for your birthday." I tried to find it online but I couldn't find it on sale and I wasn't sure what size to get. I knew what size fit him but he has to wear it over two or three layers of clothes. I figured we would just wait and get it when we went down there. Needless to say, they didn't have it. Apparently, the ones we saw in August were leftover from last year. They had one left in a medium but that is not his size. They had new ones, which looked almost identical, but they were definitely NOT on sale. Anyway, we fussed about it for about 30 minutes until he finally gave in a tried one on. He said they were too expensive for a jacket but with Under Armour, you get what you pay for. He only has a couple new hunting clothes that were bought for him. The rest of what he has is hand me downs or just a quick fill in from the Wal-Mart that do not fit him like they should. If he is going to wear it and it fits him, I don't mind to get it.

While we were there, the power went out so it was almost impossible to look for anything in the dark. We finally got everything we wanted/needed and went to the checkout. We have a Bass Pro credit card and since my school was on it, we had accumulated quite a few points. They come as cash rewards so we got about $40 off our purchase. Seth got gift card for his birthday that he used on some stuff and we ended up getting out of there spending only as much as the jacket. It was like we got everything else for FREE!

Since we were already down there and had Season Passes to Dollywood, we thought we would run through their Fall Festival. Not much was different except the decorations and some booths set up for individuals. We got a roof slate welcome sign and some Kettle Corn while we were there. We didn't stay but maybe 2-2.5 hours but it was so nice because it was cloudy and cool. We also stopped by the Christmas Place...wow! I had never been there before and Christmas is my favorite holiday. You need an entire day (or two) to look at everything in that place. We found a couple ornaments for our tree, a CD, a couple tarts for our warmer and a set of wooden deer to put next to our tree (they were 40% off!). We had a really nice time and found some nice things. Here is a picture of his new jacket which he takes very good care of by the way.

Doctor visit

Many of you may know that Seth had surgery on his ankle back in August to remove some hardware from a previous surgery. The original accident happened in 2005 and he has never been able to walk very well since then. Some days are worse than others and most of the time it is really bad after he has been working all day mowing or walking around. The doctor gave him some arthritis medicine earlier this year to help with the arthritis but we decided to go ahead and try surgery to see if it would help. The surgeon said that when he went in to take out the plate and screws that he would also cut off the bone spurs that restricted alot of Seth's movement. We decided to do it now because Seth graduates in May and we didn't want him to have to take time off from a brand new job to have a surgery.
We went August 12th for an outpatient procedure and after about 2-3 weeks, he was starting to improve. We had a hard time getting the incisions on the outside of his foot to heal but we kept bandaging them tight and they finally started to heal. About the second or third week of September, Seth was starting to move pretty well and not have as much pain. He felt so good one day that he walked all the way across campus to get something to eat with a friend. That was when the pain started coming back. He has more trouble ever since and actually told me he wished he never would have had the surgery.
He went back to the doctor this week and they did another xray. It looks much better than before the surgery but the doctor said that it is very inflammed and he has less movement now than he did two weeks after the surgery. They ended up giving him a cortisone shot to see if it would help with some of the pain and told him to really work on stretching it every day. Some mornings when I get off work, I will wake him up by stretching his foot. It is easier for me to push him because I can't feel when it hurts. I know it does hurt but he has to get some movement back in it. He has discovered that by changing his shoes every couple of hours, he can keep the pain from getting bad. He thinks it is because he is changing the position of his foot. He rotates between his boots, tennis shoes and Crocs He also says that he thinks the cortisone shot is helping.
Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers that he will be able to gain more movement and have less pain in his foot. He is back to hunting a little so that is a good sign. It makes me a little nervous thinking about him climbing up a tree but he says he is ready so what can I do?

It's been a while...

Well, since it's been almost a month since I posted for real, here is a catch up of what we have been doing since August.

August 12- Seth has surgery on his ankle to remove hardware from a previous surgery and to remove bone spurs

August 15- Katie starts graduate program at LMU in Kingsport

August 29- Seth starts his LAST YEAR!!! at ETSU

September 1stish- Katie's job decides to offer 40/week OT that she can have. She accepts approx. 4-8hr/week...let's not overdo it folks.

September 3rd- Seth's grandmother, from his dad's side, passes away...viewing, funeral, family visiting for the next week or so.

September 6th- Katie buys a Cricut with her OT $ (you know, it's a scrapbooking thing...still have yet to really play with it).

September 10thish- The Jones family decides they will have no life from now until May. It's sad but true.

September 13th- Katie volunteers for another project (at church) that she really doesn't have time for.

September 26th (tomorrow)- Seth starts deer season...now Katie is single until January :)

That is our life as of right now. We are busy and trying to get everything accomplished on time until the grass stops growing. I am ready for fall, Apple Festival and winter break ha! Hopefully I will be able to blog a little more regularly than I have been now that I am a bit more adjusted.

Busy Busy

I noticed that I haven't posted recently and I thought that I would just make a quick post. We are still here, still alive and still busy. Between me working extra, going to school, Seth going back to school and trying to get his jobs done with a bad ankle, we have just about had enough. Hopefully we will slow down at the end of this month and be able to breathe... but then starts hunting season. Ha! What was I thinking?

As if 17 years weren't enough...

Today was my first day of a new graduate program I started. I decided to go back to school to complete the work to get a teaching certificate. One reason I decided to go back is high school freshmen starting this fall will be required to take one semester of Finance in order to graduate. Since that is what my bachelor's degree is in, I figured this would be a good use of my knowledge.

When I graduated ETSU, I really wanted to be a financial planner OR someone that helps people go through the transition of retirement (especially if they are moving). Well, in order to get any kind of job that works solely off commission, it is helpful to have another steady source of income...you know, just in case. Well, we don't have that at the current moment. Seth is a full-time student and since I went to school while only working part-time, I figure it's only fair that he can do the same. Anyway, he works part-time doing odd jobs and for our church. Since any type of job (especially in my field) is hard to come by right now, I am working for Nuclear Fuel Services in Erwin. It's a great job but definitely not something I want to do forever. Since I work night shift, I decided that going to school 10 Saturdays a semester for 2 semesters would let me finish right as Seth finishes. Then he can work while I do my student teaching in the fall.

While I was in college, I said that I did NOT want to become a teacher. I think most of that stemmed from the fact that both my parents and my sister were teachers. You know, something about being different, etc. Now, I have decided that I like the way we grew up: Having summers off, having both parents at home in the evenings and the summer, snow days, etc. It's perfect for when we have children. Then, at least I will be on their schedule. So here I am, going back. By next December I will have completed my student teaching and will have 18 hours of graduate credit. Then I will only have to take 15 more hours to complete my masters. What a deal! Pray for me though, it's been awhile.

Birthday Girl!

August 7th was Nattie's 3rd birthday. I know this is SO cheesy but I remember the day we went and picked her up from the breeder. She was 10 weeks old and such a momma's girl. She stood right up against the fence where her momma was and didn't want to play and didn't want anything to do with us. Of course, we picked her and I almost cried the entire way home because I had taken her away from her mom. She just cried and laid in Seth's lap the entire way back to my house.
Fast forward 2yrs and 42 weeks. She is still a momma's girl and a daddy's girl (wow Kate, you have severe problems :)) Anyway, she still loves to crawl in your lap like she is a 5 pound poodle, if you will lay with her, she will wallow you to death, and don't even think of rolling down your car window to talk to her unless you want it scratched because she will jump up to say hi. She may be a German Shepherd but she is so gentle and so obedient. My neighbor actually told me the other day that she is amazed how loyal Nat is. She stays in the yard when we let her out, she comes when we call her and when we say "House" she goes and stays regardless of whether the door is open or closed. Anyway, I can't believe she is 3 already. For her birthday, we took her out for one of her favorites...ice cream cones! Shhh...she loved it!

Happy Birthday Nat!

Nattie and me celebrating her birthday!

Umm...Mom, I think you dropped some.

Dad, can I have some of yours? It seems to be melting faster than you can eat it. I can help:)

PS~If I am like this over my dog, watch out when I have kids. Whoa!

Dollywood Date

Every year in August, NFS gives all their employees/spouses a free ticket to Dollywood. The Family Fun Day was August 15th but we couldn't go that day due to previous plans. We were given the option to go earlier but if we went, we had to upgrade to season passes. We decided to go 8/8. The night before, I went to bed really early because I hadn't slept that morning when I got home. Seth came in to tell me goodnight and I said, "Why don't we go in the afternoon? That way all the little kids will be ready for naps and they will all be leaving." He said okay and that we could get up about 9 and run by a couple places before we went. Note: This was tax-free weekend :) Anyway, I was wide awake at 6:30 the next morning and of course he didn't want to get up then. Figures. I got up and got ready and played on the computer a little. I finally got him up and we were off. We had to run by the bank and the gas station before we could go so it was almost 10:15 by the time we left.

We got to Sevierville at about 12:00. Since it was tax-free, we decided to run by Bass Pro and see if we could find anything we couldn't live without. We did. They had their trail cameras on sale for $70! What a deal. We got one of those and a little book that has all the tracks of the animals in the Southeast. We have a Bass Pro credit card and we had store credit so we ended up getting the book for free! I love free stuff. We ran by the knife store next because Seth needed a little thing to put his knife in because it always falls out of his pocket. He forgot the knife at home so we ended up getting 2 just in case we got the wrong size. They were only $2 each so it wasn't a huge crisis. Then we were off to Dollywood.

Okay, I must tell you that going to Dollywood, or any theme park for that matter, isn't Seth's idea of a good time. He doesn't care for the roller coasters or all the people. Me on the other hand...I love it! I would go all the time if I could. Anyway, with only half a day in front of him, he went anyway. We had a good time but got a little wetter than we expected. Who ever thought Timber Tower was a water ride? Apparently not the people in seats 21 & 22. And of course, after that on a 90 degree day, you are just miserable and sticky the rest of the day. Yuck.

After Timber Tower...I mean, really?

We got there about 3:00ish, ate lunch and watched a show. By 4:30 the majority of the little kids were gone. I think the longest we waited in line for a ride was about 15 minutes. We got a whole bag of chocolate and vanilla taffy and a big bag of Kettle Korn. That was all I wanted, just those 2 things. We got to ride the train before we left and I had to sit on the outside. I got covered in little black specks. Seth told me, “I had to sit on the outside last time. This time is your turn (smirk).” We decided to upgrade our tickets so I/we could come back for the Fall Festival and to see the Christmas lights. I haven't seen the lights since I was probably 14 or so. I’m looking forward to it. I hope my taffy lasts until October.

The train ride

On the way home, we decided to stop at Burger King and eat dinner. When we came back out to the car, besides having two high schoolers sitting in their car playing their music super loud, we saw the biggest beetle I have ever seen. We wanted to move it into the grass (over my dead body was I touching it) because if I would have hit it with my car, that definitely would have been an insurance claim. We took this picture next to Seth’s foot so you can see how big it really was.

~shudder~

Cooking 101

Rule 1: Never cook any shrimp that has been in your freezer for 3 years.


Can you say disgusting?! I decided that I was going to attempt to make a homemade alfredo sauce last night and Seth reminded me that we had a bag of frozen shrimp in our freezer. That sounded like a good addition to the noodles and sauce. I knew they had been in there a while but they were frozen, how bad could they be? Well, let's just say that if it wouldn't have been for the shrimp, my first alfredo attempt would have been wonderful. The sauce was really yummy (a little thick but I left it on the heat too long) but the shrimp was nasty. I don't even know how to describe it. It was rubbery, and very dry. I thought it looked a little odd when I got it out to thaw but I figured we would try it. Bad idea! Seth said that the sauce was really good, we just needed to get some fresh (shudder) shrimp the next time. Thanks for allowing me to try again and not be completely turned off by the thoughts of it. I made him an personal oreo dessert for his kind words. I think I have the best husband EVER!


Next time, we will try with chicken

It actually didn't look too bad when it was hot. My, looks can be deceiving!

Silly girl

I found these pictures on my phone while I was cleaning my card off today.

She absolutely LOVES the water hose!

This was a rawhide gift basket my mom had gotten somewhere. Seth said she carried it around for a little while like it was her pocketbook. haha

Not anytime soon...Thanks

Since Seth and I just had our one year anniversary, I have been getting the "baby" question quite a bit from different people. So just in case you were wondering, no we are NOT planning on having a baby anytime soon because

1) Seth is in school
2) I am going back to school- start Aug 15...YIKES!
3) We want to buy a house first
4) I work third shift
5) We both like sleeping for 8 hours STRAIGHT with minimal interruptions
6) I have not reached that level of organization yet
7) We have too much stuff and don't need to add anymore until we purge some of our own

It's not that we don't want a baby, we just don't want one right now. We are happy being together and doing things that we may have to eventually give up once we have children. But, thanks for asking :)

Touch2O

http://www.deltafaucet.com/kitchen/details/980T-DST.html

You need to go to this website and check out this kitchen faucet. It is turned on by a touch from your finger, arm, wrist, etc to help reduce cross-contamination. It also shuts off after four minutes if no one is there to stop it. This is really neat. Too bad it's $500! I bet it would be well worth it in a busy kitchen, restaurant or bakery. Found it interesting and thought I would share.

Spa Day

Today was the day. The day we had talked about and planned for quite a while. Today was..... SPA DAY! Not for us of course but for Nattie. She has been in need of a bath for quite a while now but seeing as she is an outside dog, we just don't do that every week. I feel really sorry for her because she has been getting eaten up by gnats and mosquitoes. She had a couple places on her rump that had scabbed over where she had scratched so much so we decided to give her a bath. Not only would she get a bath but she would also get her nails done, her ears cleaned and a good pen scrubbing. Good thing she is a dog because if she had known ahead of time, she would have packed her little bag and hit the road.
If you have ever been by our house when we play with Nattie, you know she LOVES the waterhose. We have to put her up when we clean the mower, water flowers, etc because she just wants you to spray her constantly and she always tries to bite the water. This is fun when we want to play but not so much when we need to use the hose. We decided to clean her pen out first, that way it could dry while we were giving her a bath. We had cleaned her ears out and trimmed her toes before this so she could play for a while and not be so stressed. After we scraped all the hair from the fence, Seth sprayed everything really good. We mixed some bleach and water in a bucket and used a big brush to scrub the pen. I had to shut him in while he was cleaning the inside because Nattie lept trying to get in and get in the water. After he finished the inside he came and scrubbed the outside to get all the algae and dirt off the pen frame. We rinsed it really well and shut the door so a dirty dog didn't run in :)
As far as water, she doesn't mind one bit if we spray water in her face or on her chest but the minute you try to get it on her back or belly, she goes nuts. Well, that was the first issue we ran into. She also hates for us to clean her ears and clip her toenails but we can deal with that. I mean, she knows who is in charge :) Anyway, the only way that we could get her to stand still while we got her wet was for Seth to bear hug her while I sprayed her. Let's just be honest, you didn't really think I was going to hold her and get wet, did you? Well, needless to say the water wasn't exactly bathwater. I thought Seth was going to die when I first got him wet; maybe a little more than necessary but that's not relevant.
Once we got her good and wet, we soaped her up with about half a bottle of flea and tick shampoo. She liked that part. She just stood like a good little girl and let us shampoo her. It was kind of like a cold belly rub. Once we scrubbed her really good, I attempted the rinse. That went over about as well as the soak. Once we got her still enough, she just hung her head like we were beating her so all the soapy water kept running in her face. I tried to hold her head up but she would have none of it. I think she was really upset with us. After we finally got her rinsed off, we let her run and do what clean dogs do. Rolling in the grass, shaking and of course, a snack. My mom had given me a peanut butter flavored Luna bar. She loved it once she realized we weren't going to take it away from her.
After she ate her snack and dried off completely, we put some antibiotic ointment on her bug bites and put some cream in her ears to help with any itchiness. I think she was glad when we finally told her "House" and she could relax. Her coat was so shiny and she smelled much better. She didn't have to say it but I knew she felt like a whole new woman :) Here are a few pictures of "Spa Day"

Helping Dad clean out the pen

Somebody please help me!

Snacktime :)

Getting all the water off

Smores and Deer

After the horseshoe tournament, Mandy and I went to get more ice and Seth and Andy decided to start setting up their fishing stuff. By the time we got back, they had lines in the water and were getting hungry. We had already prepared all the food on Thursday, we just had to cook it. They brought a little tabletop propane grill that was wonderful. We had hamburger steaks, Texas toast and fried potatoes from the fire pit! Andy made them in a cast iron skillet over hot coals. It was very good. After we ate and picked up I was so sleepy. It started getting dark so they worked on making the fire bigger and hotter because it started getting a little cool. The bugs were pretty bad too. We had bagged up all the trash and put it in the back of the truck just in case. Mandy had brought all the ingredients for Smores. I hadn't had a smore in forever so I was very excited. We ended up eating quite a few marshmallows by themselves too.

We were all sitting around the fire with radio going and I was about asleep when we heard this crash in the woods behind us. As soon as we jumped up to see what it was, (I was actually jumping up to escape to the truck but that sounds better :)) we heard this snort/blow. Seth says that deer do that when they catch an unfamiliar scent. They blow all their air out and take a deep breath so they can smell the air around them. We never did see it so all he could figure was that it ran across the river road and momentum carried it down the hill to where we were. I'm sure it stood up and mentally brushed itself off and thought..."Oh boy, I'm in big trouble. What's that smell?" It's funny now. I wasn't so funny that night... in the dark... with no way of defending myself...oh listen to me. I am the biggest wuss :)

The next morning, we got up and started packing our stuff. I went to get my bag full of snacks and stuff and discovered some little critter had come along and eaten all my trail mix! I had made a bag with peanuts, raisins and M&Ms. Whatever it was had taken the nuts and raisins and left a little pile of M&Ms at the bottom of the tree. It was almost half full when I put it in the bag and there wasn't a half a cup left. I'm sure the poor little guy was out in the field on his back rubbing his big belly thinking "Oh, I shouldn't have done that." After we went home, we spent the afternoon napping, washing clothes and just resting. Then it was time for fireworks!

Seth and I after Smores

Andy and Mandy...post Smores

They are thrilled, just a little tired.

Time to go home...to the nice comfortable squishy bed and pillow :)

Close only counts where?

After we got back to our tents, we changed into warmer clothes, ate some lunch and decided to play horseshoes. This is a tradition with Seth and Andy when they camp and they let us play this time. Since the girls were on 2 different teams, we designated a line at each end for our throwing line. It was about a 6 foot "handicap" for us. Well, I must say, we were quite awesome. There were a couple times when I wondered if our male counterparts were going to contribute to the score at all. They always came through though.

Seth and I won the first 3 of the 7 games. Then Andy put his CD in the truck and we had to listen to it while he and Mandy won the next three games. Lt me explain the significance of the CD. If you have ever competed at anything with Andy and Seth at all, they are very odd about things like that. I hate playing cards with them because everything has to be so so. You can't touch the cards after you deal or the cigarette has to be behind the ear or the right CD has to be playing and on and on. I finally told Seth that we would have to change the CD for the final game. I wish I had a picture of Andy's face when I hit eject. It was like I had killed his dog. I told him, " You didn't really think we were going to let it play for the championship round?" There are no aids for the last round. It's all skill and a little luck.

Seth ended up putting a Tim McGraw CD in just to be neutral and guess who won?...that's right, Seth and Katie! It was close for most of the game but Seth capped one of Andy's ringers and it was all over! I think that CD will need to play next time I play, just to be on the safe side.

Red, white, black and blue

The weekend of July 4th I got an extra day off of work. Since Seth's friend Andy and his girlfriend Amanda work at the same place I do, they got an extra day off too. Friday morning we all packed up one day worth of stuff (AKA our entire house) and went down to the campground early to try and get a good spot. Well, early should have been Sunday night because this place was PACKED. People had big tarps set up over 2-3 grills, 4 tents, a couple picnic tables, a makeshift clothesline, etc. We could have squeezed into the spot where Seth and Andy usually camp but it would have basically been in some other guys tent so we decided to drive on down a little furthur. Apparently, there is one camping spot all the way at the end of the property. It was pretty big and had HUGE firepit!

We set up all our stuff and got all the ice in the coolers and started blowing up our float tubes. I don't know how many of you have ever floated in a tube but these are not flimsy, plastic tubes like those in the pool. These are heavy duty. There are made out of thick plastic and zipped into a canvas cover. Andy brought one of those little pumps, like for an air mattress, and used it to start all our tubes. It would only take them so far and then we had to finsh blowing them up with a little plastic tube. I was pretty sure I wasn't even going to make it to the river before I passed out :) Seth and Andy went and dropped the truck off a little ways down the road and when they got back, we put in the river right at our campsite. It was FREEZING!!! Friday was one of the cooler days we have had this summer and it was slightly overcast so it was little chilly.

I had put a disposable camera in a baggy so I could take pictures and not ruin our good camera. Once I got used to the water (numb) it was actually pretty fun for the first 20 minutes or so. Seth and Andy were fishing here and there but sometimes it was hard for Mandy and I to find places to stop to wait for them. Once, I ended up a good 200 yards down the river from them before I could get stopped. Well, needless to say, the canvas isn't waterproof and the baggy wasn't very good at it's job. Especially when I submerged it for a good minute or so. About 20-30 into the float, my tube started losing air. The arms started deflating and I had to keep pushing myself back up into my seat. We only were planning on floating for about an hour and a half so I wasn't very concerned.

By the time we got to where the truck was parked, it was pretty shallow and I was so mad I could have screamed. My tube was so deflated it actually flipped me over because the head/back rest was so full of air and the bottom was EMPTY. I had my Crocs on and they kept coming off so I had to chase them down twice. Then, while I was barefoot, I kicked a rock and absolutely thought I was going to die. I was half swimming, half walking, pulling my float and carrying my shoes. The canvas was so full of water I couldn't hardly pick up my tube and I was afraid the camera was ruined. By the time we got out, I was cranky and cold and I was ready to go home and lay down in my bed. I had quite a few nice bruises on my back, butt and chest (where I got flipped over) to show from my adventure but it was all worth it in the end. Especially when Mandy and I drove the truck back to the campground and the boys were in the back and we had the heat on the whole way there :) I will try to get the camera developed from the float and see if any of the pictures turned out. There should be at least a few good ones on there. I'll post them soon.

One year down...

On June 21, Seth and I celebrated our one year anniversary. I can't believe we have been married for a year already. It has flown by! We celebrated by going out to a movie and dinner. When we got home, we cut some of our thawed leftover wedding cake. It wasn't bad but it wasn't straight from the bakery either. We each ate a little and took the rest to my parents. I think my dad helped it disappear so we wouldn't feel so bad about wasting it.

I opened my gift from Seth and was shocked to see that he had confiscated my pearl necklace and had had a matching bracelet made for me. I have been wanting a pearl bracelet but real pearls aren't exactly cheap so we hadn't gotten one yet. I actually borrowed a little pearl bracelet from one of my bridesmaids on my wedding day so it would match a little better. It has the same type of clasp and everything. I love it!

I know this may sound crazy but I got Seth a chainsaw for his gift. I know, who wants a chainsaw to create more work for a present? Well folks, welcome to my family. The work has to be done one way or another. It's either a chainsaw or an axe...take your pick. He liked it and was pretty excited so we took it up to my parents so he and my dad could put it together. Unfortunately, it was missing a small piece so it had to go back to the store and be replaced. If you get cold this winter, come to our house. Between he and my dad, we should have enough firewood to thaw the North Pole.

I have attached a few pictures of us eating our cake and my bracelet.

Our cake...it looke so pretty last year at this time. It has started to collapse and the icing coloring has started to run. Oh well.

My new bracelet

The not so newlyweds

Update

Once again, I haven't posted in a while so here is a quick update. Many of these will have their own post soon.

We still have not found our bikes so we are researching our options...meanwhile saving a little dinero to purchase them.

We have each lost more weight and are now doing much better as far as eating habits

We celebrated our first anniversary on 6/21

We camped out and floated the river with some friends over July 4th weekend

We had a spa day with Nattie...nails, coat, bug bites, the works :)

Lock the Door

I don't know about anyone else, but being from Erwin has always allowed me to be a little more relaxed about leaving my car unlocked or house unlocked. We are also really bad about leaving our keys in the trucks when they are in the driveway. It is not uncommon for someone to call and say that they have something to give back to us or to drop off and we just say, "Lay it on the washer, the door is unlocked." Well, it finally caught up to us. Usually when Seth mows his yards and ours, he does it over a few days. He will just leave the mower in the back of his truck or in the carport instead of putting it back in the garage. That is okay except he sometimes leaves the garage unlocked. The other day, I asked him if he would go put air in our tires so we could ride our bikes down at the trail. I was worried that they had dry-rotted(is that a word?) and we would have to get new tires but he assured me that they just needed air. He went out to get them while I was getting ready but then came back in and just had this look on his face. I said, "They were dry-rotted weren't they? I knew we should have checked them." He just shook his head and said, "They're gone."

Excuse me? Come again please.

Yes, someone had gone into our garage and stolen our bikes. We have no idea who it was but we were very fortunate that they dodn't take anything else. We had some tools and hunting stuff in there that was a little more expensive than 2 bikes from Wal-Mart. I filed a police report Wednesday but I doubt we will get them back. Oh well, I guess we are lucky it was just our bikes and not something very valuable. I suppose we would be smart to start locking the doors, taking the keys out of the trucks and just practicing better security.

BTW, if anyone does happen to see them, Seth's is a 26" red Mongoose mountain bike and mine is an adult (I don't know how tall) greenish teal and purple(it was bought in the 90's people, give me a break) with black handlebars. Be on the lookout! :)

Third Shift

The second week of June, I went back to third shift at work so that is whyI haven't done much "blogging". It took me quite a bit longer this time to get on the schedule. When I first went to third back in March, I slipped right into a routine. I never had any trouble sleeping or anything. This time is a different story. This week marked my third week of being back on third and I just now started sleeping for a full 6 hours before I wake up. Last week, I was up and down every hour or two. Anyway, I think part of the problem has been the new routine of not going to sleep until later. I used to go to bed as soon as I got home but Seth and I have been meeting at the YMCA everyday when I get off work at 7am. We will walk for 30 minutes and then go to the weightroom for 30-45 minutes. This is all part of our new lifestyle. We have actually started to enjoy that time together. We decided this week though that on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I will just come home and go to bed and we will walk when I get up. We only lift 3 times a week so T and TH are just cardio with some ab workouts. We can do that at home. We have been doing very well so far. I lost almost 5 pounds in 2 weeks and Seth has lost 4. We had thought about adding in a few days of riding our bikes to the mix but that didn't work out. See the next post for more on that story!

Birthday Numero TRES! Pictures

Here are pictures from our family birthday party.

Seth and Me

Making dinner

Amy's birthday present from us

The kids...Hannah, Benjamin, Kalin, Aiden and Dylan

Our yummy cookie cake!

Knoxville Zoo

Yesterday we took a family trip to the zoo. Seth and I took our nephew, Kristian; Amy and her 2 boys went and Seth's cousin Chassidy came with her little boy. It was such a good day to go. It was hot but not sweltering. We packed lunches in a cooler so we wouldn't spend a million dollars jsut eating. We walked around until about 2:30 and then Amy had to leave. We walked out to our car and unpacked our lunches and ate in the parking lot. About 3, we went back in because Kristian wanted to go back and see some things we had rushed through. We walked all the way through again and saw some things we completely missed the first time. We went to the Wee Play Zoo and that was neat. They had kid-sized enclosures with animals like naked mole rats, brightly colored frogs, hamsters and a HUGE rabbit! We bought a shirt, some cups and a few Christmas ornaments (they match our colors). We stayed until 5:30 and as soon as we closed our car doors it started raining. It was a long day but we had such a good time. We decided the aquarium is our next trip. I will post some pictures as soon as I get them on the computer.

Baby Bird

One day last week, Seth came home and saw a little bird in the carport. I guess he scared it because it tried to fly and only made it to the bottom of the grill. We figured it was still too small to fly very far or very fast so we tried to be careful about letting Nattie out when the bird was around. Well, a few days passed and we didn't see it and then last night, he was mowing and I was out at the garden talking to my dad when he came over and told me the little bird was back and over by the bird feeder. I look and there it was, sitting there chirping like crazy. I thought that it couldn't get up to the feeder so I went inside and got a piece of bread. By then it had flown over to a rock by the sidewalk so I tossed some bread over there. Nattie was completely oblivious. The bird chirped and chirped and finally got down and ate some of the bread. Nattie went over that way and finally saw it and started to run after it. Surprise! The baby can fly! It came back a little later and sat in the tree next to our kitchen window and chirped. Who knows where it came from or how long it will stay. I took this picture yesterday when we were feeding it. It's not very good but it's the best I could do without scaring it away.

Birthday Numero TRES!

Parties, parties, parties! I love PARTIES! Tonight we had a Whitson side party. We celebrated mine and Amy's birthdays. Mine was last week and hers is next week so we met in the middle. We had everybody come over to our house and we grilled. It was so tasty! Pam brought potato salad, Amy made baked beans, Chassidy bought a cookie cake, and I made a fruit pudding salad...YUM! Good thing I remembered the buns 20 minutes before we were supposed to eat! I can't believe I forgot them. Today was such a perfect day and we were able to sit outside and visit and eat cookie cake. The kids were able to watch a movie, run our track (our house is just one big circle), play with Nattie, and catch lightning bugs. They were so funny. Amy even got a Farm Town tshirt! The funny part was, everyone had to leave to put kids in bed and then one hour later, we were all on Facebook chatting. Anyway, I will post pictures later as soon as Amy sends them to me.

The Cat Whisperer

Not even three weeks after I bring home an adorable white kitten, take care of her and find a home for her, another one appears...word travels fast. I was getting ready to get into the shower the other night when I heard meowing outside the window. I grabbed a flashlight and ran outside. There she was, right underneath the bathroom window just crying for all she was worth. I tried to talk to her to see if she would come to me but she ran back under the house. She had found a small opening that goes down to the cellar and could barely fit her fat little belly through it. She is a little older than the last one but her momma isn't around anymore. She won't have anything to do with me so I have been putting some food and milk out for her. She has no problem with it :) Unfortunately, it is right in the side if the house and it has been very rainy. The food goes under the eave but when the wind blows it's hopeless. In order to keep her food dry, I put two short 2x10 against the house like a little lean-to. It keeps her and the food dry and Nattie can't fit under it to steal :) She is gray with little white socks and is probably about 7 weeks old. If anyone is interested, I'm sure we can get her out for you. That little belly isn't going to fit under there for much longer. Until then, she will continue to pig out every night in her lean-to. Just let me know.

Birthday Numero Dos

So today was my real birthday and I was able to spend it with my family. Seth went and got us breakfast and let me sleep in. We got to be lazy all morning until about 1:00. Then we had to take showers and get ready to go eat. My parents picked us up and we went to RYAN'S! My favorite. I have always liked going there for lunch because they are never as busy but today it just wasn't that good. They were missing stuff from the bar and the rolls weren't very substantial. Anyway, after we ate, we went to Books-A-Million and browsed for a little while. My mom wasn't feeling very good so we went back to my house. I got to open my presents from my parents, aunts and grammy. I got some really pretty new shirts, some socks, a really comfy nightgown and some secret stash $. My sister even got me a super cute wristlet from Vera.
After we rested for a while, we went fishing. We went to the park, but once we got there, Seth realized he had grabbed the one pole that doesn't have the handle attached. He had it in his truck but we had the other truck. So, we packed up, went home, got the handle and rode up to Rocky Fork. We fished in the creek up there but we had the wrong kind of bait. We saw about 5 brown trout just hanging out but they weren't interested. We fished until it was almost dark then went to my parents for cake. We hadn't eaten dinner yet so we ordered a pizza before we ate cake. It was a heavy buffet, sugary, carby day and it made me very happy :) Happy Birthday!

Birthday Numero Uno

Tomorrow is my real birthday (I'm going to be 24) but now being married, sometimes it is very hard to hide things. When I came home from work today, the door was locked. I didn't have a key with me because Seth was home so I stood and knocked on my own door until he came to open it. As soon as I walked in he took my things from me and laid them down. He covered my eyes and walked me to the living room and said that it was time for my birthday present. When I opened my eyes, this is what I saw.

I was so excited! I saw this set a few weeks ago and since it is just the 2 of us and we live on Main Street, I thought it was perfect for our little front porch. We ate outside the other night and had to sit in our chairs with our plates in our laps because we didn't have a table. Happy Birthday to me from Seth! He does such a good job!

Now that I am part of a larger family, it is also necessary to celebrate things more than once. Seth's dad and stepmom wanted to fix us dinner for my birthday so tonight we went to their house for cube steak, mashed potatoes, corn, carrots, soup beans and biscuits. She even made me brownies for dessert. It was so tasty and after dessert, we played a game of Rummy. Seth and his brother won. I'm terrible at that game. I just can't remember everything people picked up. Anyway, I think I had a pretty good day considering it wasn't even my REAL birthday. Tomorrow we have plans with my parents to go out to eat for lunch. Where are we going you ask? Ryan's!

About a week and a half ago, Seth and I decided that we seriously needed to attempt a lifestyle change. Not a diet mind you because let's just be honest, who does that forever? We reworked things in both a financial way and a health way. We decided that instead of paying for EVERYTHING, and I do mean everything, with a debit card, we would get enough cash out once a week to last us through the week and pay for bills, gas, groceries, etc with our checking account. If there was anything that we needed such as a can of snuff (and I use the term need loosely) It made me sick when I realized how much we had been spending just eating out in the first two weeks of May! Eating out...that brings me to my next point. We also decided that we are going to start making an extreme effort to eat at home instead of going out/eat healthier. Now, we do have our "regular things" like pizza on Fridays with my parents and sometimes on Sunday after church we go out. Oh, and I typically eat at Panera on Tuesdays before my dance class. Anyway, other than those times, we had been eating out ALOT! Not only is it not healthy for us it doesn't exactly help our bank account either.

Last week was the "starter week" and the times you tend to fall off the wagon. But, I must give us credit; we did very well about eating at home. It's a little easier when you only have so much cash to go on and I have to take a lunch to work since I can't leave. We did end up eating out one night because we went to say bye to a friend that was leaving for Kenya (how exciting)! Friday night though, instead of buying pizzas, my mom made the pizza instead. It was way better than delivery anyway.

This week, we have done much better. Sunday evening we went out because we went fishing and it was on the way home and it was late(we did eat lunch at home though). Monday, the holiday, we stayed at home all day and ate sandwiches for lunch and grilled chicken in Italian dressing for dinner (Yum!). Now, here we are on Wednesday and I must say that the turkey sandwich is beginning to get a little old so we are trying to spruce it up a little by making a little extra for dinner so we have some lunch. There is only problem with this is. Take last night for example. We grilled hotdogs for dinner and just made the whole pack so we would have lunch today. I'm not exactly sure how healthy hotdogs are two days in a row.

The next step of this "change" is to learn to cook healthier and make sure that we don't get burned out on the same old same old. Also, included in the next step is more exercise. I will admit that this is difficult in the summer because we are so busy but between mowing lawns, going to dance class and our Y membership, hopefully we will be able to transition to the newer, healthier and hopefully fuller bank account us. Please let me know if any of you have any suggestions for yummy recipes that are good for us and will keep us on the “straight and narrow”.

Holiday

So yesterday started the 3 day weekend. I love holidays just in case I haven't ever mentioned that before. After work Seth and I went to watch our nephew play a little league game. We didn't get to stay for the whole game because it was pizza night at my parents. It was late when we got home and we just slept in today. It was nice to not have anything to do this morning. We had a family picnic/birthday/holiday cookout.

The picnic was up Spivey and we didn't get home until after 5. I started a load of laundry and did some odd jobs and then asked Seth if we could go to the park and go fishing. We packed our stuff and left about 6:30. We hadn't been there for 10 minutes when I got a bite. I have been fishing before and I have gotten many a bite but I have never actually caught a fish that I can remember. I caught my very first fish today plus two more. We had intended to catch and release but these are stock trout and apparently they don't do well when they get stressed. We got the first one off the line and Seth tried to put it back in the water but it wouldn't swim. It died. I felt really bad because I didn't mean to kill it. Luckily Seth had brought a stringer with him so we had a place for it. I caught another one about 20 minutes later and the SAME thing happened. I don't think they were out of the water for more than thirty or forty seconds but they just couldn't make it. Here is me and my first fish.

We ended up letting some people try our bait (power bait) so we had to use worms then. I caught a THIRD fish with a worm and it lived so we threw it back. We hadn't intended to bring any fish home with us so we were dreading cleaning them and putting them up. Luckily, the people that we gave the bait to didn't catch anything. They asked us if we were going to keep the fish and Seth told them they could have them. They were pretty excited aout it. At least they didn't go to waste. Tonight after we got home, we heard the sirens and stood out on the porch to welcome our STATE champs home. Our Blue Devil softball team won the state tournament today so that was very exciting.

Tomorrow is contemporary service at our church and then we are off ALL DAY Monday! I am so excited. Maybe we will go fishing again.

Long Day

Today was a very long day for some reason. Sometimes I go through days that seem like they will never end and today was one of those days...yet here I am on the computer instead of bed. After I got off work today, I came home to a happy husband that had just started mowing our yard. I told him I would mow while he "past tense of weedeat: weedeated/weedate, ???". That took about thirty minutes which wouldn't have been so bad if 1) I was in shape and 2) I wasn't mowing on Main Street and on a hill. We try to be careful about throwing the grass in the road so it is very awkward sometimes. After I mowed ALL the hills at our house, he kindly came over and took the mower from me and told me to go get ready. I had dance class at 8 so I was meeting a friend for dinner.

Jennifer and I have been friends since 6th grade. She only lives in Johnson City yet the last time I saw her was December 31, 2008. Even still, we have the kind of relationship that we just pick up where we left off. We summarize and hit the highlights of the last however many months and move on. I like it. Anyway, we had PANERA!!! My favorite :) After we ate and visited, I ran to KMart to see if I could find a book Seth wanted. After that I went to dance from 8-9 and then went to WalMart to see if they had the book since I couldn't find it at KMart. I finally got home at 10 to no dirty dishes, no laundry to be folded and no dinner mess to clean thanks to my wonderful very helpful husband. That was why my day seemed so long. Whew!Now, it's time for bed. By the way, I am very excited about tomorrow because 1) I get to come home for lunch :) That will give me and extra 10 minutes of sleep in the AM and 2) It will be hump day...the best day besides Friday.

Pancake Dinner

I don't know how many people actually like it, but having breakfast for dinner is one of my favorite meals. We don't do it very often because I don't think about it but tonight was the night. We have started trying to eat at home more because 1) It's much cheaper and 2) The majority of the time it is much healthier. Seth was busy and running errands today and I went to practice after work, then we went for a walk when we both got home so it was 7:00 by the time we were home. I hadn't thought to lay anything out to thaw so we decided pancakes and sausage with milk and juice was much better than a cold turkey sandwich and a bottle of water. Now it's time for pj's and RAW!

Yard Day

I love days like today. The kind of days that you can lay in bed in the morning, slowly wake up, talk to each other and discuss how much you are going to accomplish. We set our alarms today so we could get started early. We went out for breakfast and then went down to the church. We cleaned the church and fellowship hall by 12:30, dropped the trash off at the dump and then were on our way for the fun part. We got to go to the nursery today to pick out our flowers for this year. We have quite a few pots that we have bought over past years so obviously, the more pots you have, the more flowers you have to buy. After going to the nursery and Wal-Mart we ended up with begonias, petunias, impatiens, something called Yugi, a new pair of hedge trimmers, replacement liners for our hanging baskets and a nice big pot for my hydrangea.

We were both starving when we got home so I fixed a sandwich and Seth had leftover pizza. His dad came by and helped us move a cabinet into our house that has been sitting in the carport for almost a month. It stays out of the rain but as much rain as we have been getting, it was starting to get ruined so we had to take it in. Once we got that inside, we started mixing our "dirt". We planted white wave petunias in our hanging baskets, put light purple impatiens in our boxes out front and potted the other flowers in our random assortment of pots. While we were potting, Seth's friend Andy came by to get a fishing pole so while they talked, I used the new hedge trimmers to work on the hedge by Nattie's pen. It didn't get trimmed last year so it was a little wild. It's much harder than it looks with a "non-electric, hand-powered" trimmer. I must say though, it looks pretty good.

I had to be at church at 6 to practice so after I left Seth watered all the plants, swept the porches, put away the last few pieces of firewood we didn't use this year, pulled LOTS of weeds, fed the birds, put out the birdbath and put our buckets out to catch the rain. When I got home, we decided to run to Johnson City since there were some things I wanted to look at. Sears had an electric hedge trimmer on sale and since I discovered the other one is much better for small, single bushes, we got the on sale trimmer for the long rows that we have out front and back by the alley. After Sears, we went to Books-A-Million where Seth bought a new book, then we went to Fuddrucker's for dinner. Yum! It was a long busy day but now it's raining and it's time for bed.

Nattie "helping"... these are her chew toys: A piece of wood, a trash can lid, a brick and a can. She loves to chew on rocks, too.

Daisy Grae pt 2

Today was Daisy's last day with us. Seth's aunt decided to take her and I am thrilled that she went to a good home. Pam picked her up today while I was at work so I told her bye this morning :)

After I posted yesterday, I realized I had bleach but no bathtub cleaner so I went to the store and bought some. While I was there, I bought some kitty litter and a couple cans of soft food. I poured some litter into an Al pie pan, took it into the bathroom and put her in it. She kind of looked at me as if to say "And?..."but then she hunkered down and did her thing. She did #1 and #2 then tried to cover it up. She wasn't very good so I picked her up before she could create a huge mess and cleaned her up.

I took her to my parents house to show her to them before she left. I was holding her and talking to my dad when their cat Baby came up. She started meowing and Daisy went crazy. She was climbing all over looking for this "momma sound". It broke my heart but Baby wanted nothing to do with her. I took her home and put her in her box and she was so good. She was very quiet all night and was still in her box when I got up this AM. I am glad she has a good home and secretly I am glad she is out of our bathroom.