Real quick

I finally got my new drapes ironed and hung last night. We were waiting to find time to get some new curtain rods. I was originally going to make cornices to go with them, but I don't think I'm going to. I've got a project I can use the extra material for I think. We bought new decorative rods and matching metal tiebacks. Here's a picture. I think they turned out great. We love them! Thanks Laura! Here's a picture of one window:

Hambone

Here's the new kitty...The other cats have accepted him pretty well...in one of these pictures he's lying right next to Furball. They're almost touching (gasp!). I think he's going to be a good addition. He's about a year old, so we're taking him to be fixed on Wednesday. He is pretty underweight, but I'm sure we'll fix that! His fur looked pretty stringy and rough the first couple of days, but he's looking better everyday. And he seems very happy to have a good home. He's very affectionate. I'm glad to have him...The first picture is from the first day we had him, the second is from just a few minutes ago. Here he is:

Happy New Year!

Well...in a couple of days anyway. I know it'll be a busy few days for us, so I thought I'd get a post in now. I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas. We were a bit worn out, but really enjoyed getting to see everyone. I just hated that we had to leave so soon. I really miss getting to hang out with my whole family at the same time.
We have a new addition to our little family...a feline one. So, now we're back up to 4...bordering again on "crazy cat people" status LOL. I'll post a picture as soon as I download one from the camera. Kind of a long story about how we ended up with this one, but he's really a sweetheart. He loves me...even more than Mark. Which is significant only because the others all prefer Mark to me. He's a bit malnourished looking, but I'm sure we'll fatten him up in no time if our other cats are any indication. Oh, and we've named him Hambone (yes, Laura, I got that from you...hope you don't mind).
We're having a New Year's party at our house. We did last year too, but we didn't have much of a turnout. This year is looking like we'll have a rather large turnout. Which is fine with us! We'll just have to line people up on the floor in sleeping bags because I don't think anyone will be leaving. We've got a lot to do before Sunday afternoon, but we're looking forward to it. We love having parties.
And here I'm going to get little thoughtful...Laura, you may want to avert your eyes LOL!
I was thinking last week while I was driving all over creation for work...I don't think I've ever been happier in my life. I would never have thought I'd have ended up where I am...geographically, professionally or emotionally, but I'm very, very happy. I love Martin, I love our house, I enjoy my job, and my marriage is great.
I think I had a very false idea of what marriage would be and I've really let go of that idea. It's nothing like I thought it would be, it's much more mundane I guess, but that's not a bad thing. It's just much less dramatic and much more secure and comfortable. And while I see Mark ALL the time since we work together, we've adjusted to that and I understand now when he needs some space. So I give him a little space and I find that I need a little space too. So it works out. And while sometimes we get on eachother's nerves, I don't get so wound up about it anymore. It's just nice. I'm very comfortable and very happy.
But it's not just my marriage, it's me. I just feel comfortable with me. I just am who I am I guess. I've changed alot and I realize that, I'd say it's all been for the better. But I don't feel alot of need to change now. I'm sure I still will, that's kind of inevitable, but I'm comfortable being me now. I have a confidence in myself that I never had before and it comes in handy at work and in my social life. I think I have more friends now than I've ever had, and I really enjoy the circle of friends that Mark and I have. I think that's a lot of the reason why I like Martin so much. It's just all so nice.
I'd say there are still things missing in my life, but I struggle alot less with that. I just feel much more peace than I ever have before. Every now and then I'll catch myself thinking about all this and it almost catches me off guard...this is what happy feels like. I know it all sounds very cheesy, but I've struggled alot with depression and I honestly thought I might never really be happy, that I'd never know what it meant to be happy. So, it makes me stop and think and it makes me extremely thankful. I had moments of happiness or contentment before, but now I have moments of not being happy or content. Because by far these days I am content way more often than I'm not. Life is good and that's such a great way to start the New Year. I wish you all the same! Happy New Year!

Home again.

Because I'm sick again. I went to work because I felt better this morning, but now I feel like I'm about to suffocate. So, I'm trying to concentrate on something besides the fact that I can't breathe. So, you get a blog entry out of the deal.

Last night I finished another scrap page. This one's for May. This is the only page I've done that Mark said something about (positive or negative). He likes this one I'm pretty sure. He came up behind me last night while I was working on it and told me I was doing a good job (awwww). It's a good thing he said that because I was getting a little discouraged. You just never know how Anne will take something. I'm sure she'll appreciate the effort I've put into this at the very least. Anyway...May is the mothers page. I spent a good hour searching for a picture of Anne and her mother. Mark got home when I was about 3/4 through. I finally had to ask him if they didn't get along or something because I found ONE picture of the 2 of them together and that's it!! There were a few that they were both in, but there were always other people. I didn't have this problem finding ones with she and her father. Not that there were a ton, but there were at least a few to choose from. So, when you see this layout keep in mind the pickins were slim.

I got the pictures scanned in for the June page. That would be the fathers page. I had a different problem with this one. I found several pictures of Anne and her father, but all but one of them were from when she was a teenager or older. This being a problem because I wanted the ages of the children in the pictures to be in the same ballpark at least. And Mark's dad died when he was 10, so all the pictures of the 2 of them are when Mark was pretty young. Even at that there aren't that many. I'm sure there are more, but I think Anne has them. So, I'm using a Halloween picture which seems a little odd for June, but it's kind of a sweet picture and it's the one Mark wanted me to use...I think it's one of his favorites. So I'll post that too. I'm rambling, so I'll get on to the pictures now!

I got 3 months worth of calendar pictures finished today! Woohoo! I didn't get any done yesterday, so I had to make up for it. They probably aren't my favorite scrap pages ever, but I guess they can't all be masterpieces, right? LOL

I'm really not feeling very well, but doing my best not to let a little chest cold get me down. I've got too much to do for that. I had all the usual weekend stuff to do, plus some extra things. Yesterday I got my hair cut then I had to make a trip to Wal-Mart. I dread Wal-Mart on a normal day, but there were 5 times the number of people there yesterday. It was really kind of ridiculous. I got through it though. Then came home and took a good nap. I wasn't feeling well at all. Then we went to a party at Tracy & Stephanie's house. We didn't stay all that long, mostly because I wasn't feeling 100%, but we had a really good time. We're usually the ones having the party it seems like, so it was nice to go to a party! We met lots of people and got to hang out with our friends. Tracy, if you're reading this, we had a GREAT time! Thanks for inviting us!

Today I decided I had to get some work done. So I started the laundry, which unfortunately is still going. Mark and I went out to lunch then I did some scrap pages and wrapped the rest of the presents. With the exception of one gift I'm still waiting to get (UPS) Christmas is ready to go! Oh, but I do have to re-stitch Mark's stocking before I can actually put anything in it.

I guess that's enough rambling...I'll leave you with the 3 scrap pages I finished today. If you have any input on these (and Laura, I'm sure you will ;)) let me know!

March:

July:

August:

Quick note...

Ok people...I'm blogging my butt off here and I've got NO comments. Ok...I got one comment a few days ago. If this is how it's going to be, I'm going back to once a week. Got it? LOL

Edit: I didn't mean to be pissy about it, I was just wondering where everyone was. I'm not sure what the problem was with posting comments to my blog. I did add a security feature, but that's been several weeks ago...it's just the squiggly word thing. I'm going to assume it's working now, but if it's not, someone please let me know. Thanks!

April layout

I swear, I should've just sent the pictures to Laura and let her do my layouts...We've been working on them using Hello to communicate. Here's April:






















That's all for tonight...Happy Friday!

Fun little project

This is my accomplishment for the evening...I saw this picture of Anne (Mark's mother) as a little girl and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. This is going on my Easter (April) calendar page. I haven't done the page yet...but I'll post the before & afters of the picture. The color may still need to be toned down a bit...y'all tell me what you think. I really enjoyed doing this...I may have to do another one! LOL Doesn't this picture remind you ever so slightly of Jennifer?

Here's the before:



















And the after:



















Let me know what you think! Have a Happy Thursday!

Laura's Tag

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree? Wrapped (unwrapped?? How boring!)
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? I like both, but my tree has white lights b/c Mark likes them better.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? Yes, we have some that grows in a tree in our front yard, Mark shot some down last weekend. We also have a MistleToad that Mark hangs in one of the doorways...but that's totally different.
5. When do you put your decorations up? The weekend after Thanksgiving
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Sweet potato casserole
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child- Getting up early, early and everyone opening gifts all at once.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? 4th or 5th grade I think.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Just the ones from Mark (we open gifts the night before any occasion, I don't know why. It started with our wedding gifts to eachother and we've just continued it for some reason...like we just can't wait any longer to give eachother our gifts:))
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? White lights, old ornaments from Mark's family, some really old colored beads (also from Mark's family), beaded snowflake ornaments I've made, ornaments we made in school, ornaments Mommy gave me through the years, and a couple ornaments Mark and I have gotten on our vacations together.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love to look it, hate to drive in it. Not because I can't drive in it, I'm not bad at it...other drivers just scare me.
12. Can you ice skate? Yes, but I don't particularly like to.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I've had many favorites...too many to list.
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Family. The holidays have always been about family to me. Mark hasn't ever been a big fan of the holidays for understandable reasons I won't go into here. So, last year and this year, it's been very important to me to share my idea of Christmas and family with him and to build our own traditions together (thus the opening presents under the tree on Christmas Eve).
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Pecan pie
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Probably breakfast at my grandmother's house. I've never missed it and I'd never want to miss it.
17. What tops your tree? An angel holding 2 candles (lit up) that my mom gave me.
18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Definitely giving, I just love the look on a person's face when they open a present from me that they love.
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? O Holy Night
20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? They're ok...I don't go out and buy them by the boxful. Give me chocolate instead please.

Progress

I finished wrapping all the gifts I had tonight! Woohoo!!! AND...I got 2 calendar pages done. Well, I did one, Laura did the other. So, I'll post them below. One is December (this should look familiar from Laura's blog...it's almost identical except the picture, the words and I think she moved one element. The other is February...I used Mark's grandparents' wedding picture as well as his parents' and ours...tell me what you think...

Have a great Wednesday!!

December

February

Quick post

I'll make this quick because I really need to get to bed. It's nearly 11...so if I wait to much longer I'll be worthless tomorrow at work.

Unfortunately, I haven't made good on getting my calendar picture scrap pages started. I did get all the pictures scanned in last night, which took a good amount of time. Tonight I didn't feel like doing much. Mark only worked about 1/2 a day since he wasn't feeling well. I think he's like I am on sick days. He didn't feel good, but I think he got a little bored. So, he had a roast in the oven when I got home. That was nice! I spent most of my evening on the couch, but I did get some more gifts wrapped. I've got to get a couple more boxes and then I can finish up. I'm *almost* done. I did decide I didn't like what I'd gotten Mammaw D., so I found another one online and ordered it tonight, now I just have to remember to take the first one with me to work so I can send it back. I also finished shopping for Mark today (online), so as soon as those things get here I think I'm officially done...Haven't I already said that like 4 times?? I really mean it this time, unless I find something else Mark has to have. ;)

I don't have much else to post, but I did scan a couple cute pictures of Mark in last night, so I'll share those...these were both taken on our farm. One at the pond (which looked better then than it does now...and I think then it actually had fish in it), the other right by the driveway at the corner of the house...enjoy Mark in all his cuteness...

Anne, Mark and Mark's Grandfather Templeton

Mark fishing at the pond.

Weekend report

The weekends just don't ever last long enough, do they? I didn't do much of anything Saturday...laid on the couch and read most of the day. I had a really bad day actually. I won't go into it...poor Mark did his best to cheer me up. We did get out of the house for a little while. We went to Union City to get one last gift (for the guy Mark drew at work), then we went and bought me a new pair of running shoes (finally), we made a stop in Fulton for some beer (good beer, otherwise we could've bought it in Martin) and then we stopped by Anne's (Mark's mother) house to fix her phone for her. I'm not sure what the problem was, but I think Mark got it fixed. We stayed and chatted with her for a little while...she was in rare form. It was very entertaining! I love it when she's like that...she's got such a dry sense of humor (drier than Mark's) and she cracks me up sometimes.
Today Mark hasn't felt well at all, so he's spent most of his time in the recliner or in bed. I didn't feel all the great, but decided I had LOTS to do, so I got to work. I did ALL the laundry (last of it's in the dryer now) and all the dishes. Took out the trash, etc, etc. Then I got to work on the calendar I'm making for Anne for Christmas. I got the calendar pages done, now I just have to do the corresponding picture pages. I started looking through the photos I had already scanned in and decided that they would look boring just stuck on a page, so I'm going to do digital scrap pages for each one. I already had a couple done that I could use, so I altered them to fit the page correctly. So I think that leaves me 8 or 9 left to do. I downloaded some digiscrap freebies from Shabby Princess and scanned another picture in, but I haven't actually started creating the rest of the pages yet. I'm going to have to start one tonight so I can keep up my momentum or otherwise I'll procrastinate until the week before Christmas, which isn't that far off. I'll try to post them as I get them done. The ones I've already done, you've already seen on my blog, so that won't be new and interesting to anyone. I think if I can get one a night done, I should be fine. Then I'll just have to get them printed and take them to be bound down the street from work. Better get started now...I've still got gifts I want to get wrapped tonight! Have a great week everyone!

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I was very productive yesterday. Today, not so much. Yesterday Mark and I drove to Paducah and finished up our Christmas shopping (except for our gifts for eachother). We got to Paducah right when the mall opened,which made the experience ALOT better. There were plenty of people, but not the usual mobs you see this time of year. We had one store to go to there, so we did that and looked around at a couple other places. Then we went to World Market. I don't know if any of you have one of these, but we LOVE that place. Especially the food section. After that we went to PetSmart because we're dorks and we buy Christmas gifts for the cats and the dog. Yes, they have their own stockings...They should be very pleased with their gifts this year. Last we went to Books-a-Million and stocked up on books because we were both out of reading material. In between all that I managed to get lunch at Olive Garden, which was enjoyable. When we got home I went to Wal-Mart and then wrapped a few Christmas presents. Then we changed the sheets on the bed, did some laundry, ate some dinner.
Today, I've done nothing really. I spent alot of the day on the couch watching the America's Next Top Model Season 7 marathon. Mark read...he wasn't so into the show :)
I did a little more laundry, but not much. I think I needed a day to just vegetate.
This week is Mark's birthday (Wednesday). He doesn't want a cake, he says. He just wants brownies, so I'll make those Wednesday evening...they're best warm. I think I'm also supposed to take him out to dinner, which I CERTAINLY don't mind. And that's about it...I have NOTHING to blog about, so that's all you get. Have a great week everyone!

I'm done!!!

Well...mostly. With my Christmas shopping that is. We've got a couple of little things to buy for Anne, and I'm making her a calendar and I've still got a few things to get for Mark, but other than that - done, done, done! Ahhh, it's nice. Now I just have to start wrapping. I've been putting that off.

I also finished addressing my Christmas cards, except for a few. I must have miscounted because I'm short a few so I'll have to get some more. I imagine I can do that tomorrow afternoon. I hope to get those ready to go next week. I'm not sure I'll get them sent by then, but I'll get them ready at least.

I don't have much new other than that. I also finished the Christmas cards at work (which I designed and printed myself). There may be a few stragglers I'll need to finish, but pretty much done. We'll have the annual seal and stamp party tomorrow afternoon so we can get all 300+ of those off.

Laura, glad to hear you *might* have opened the pattern today ;) I didn't even think to send thread with all that. Sorry.

Man, I'm boring tonight, but I hadn't posted in awhile, so I thought I'd give y'all something! Have a great weekend!

Back to work!

I have had such a nice, relaxing weekend! I hate that we weren't able to be there for Thanksgiving on Saturday, especially since the phone didn't even ring the whole 1/2 day we worked on Friday. What a waste of time! I was, however, able to get a little Christmas shopping done. Now I'm down to 3 people to buy for...well 4 including Mark. I have several ideas of what I'm going to get him, I just have to decide which big gift it's going to be and then get that and a few small things for his stocking.

Our Thanksgiving went well with Anne on Saturday. Mark roasted a huge chicken (no...not one of ours!) and we also had mashed potatos, peas, corn, turnips (ick!). Fruit salad for dessert (Anne's diabetic and refuses to eat anything sweet, even if it's just Splenda). Mark did all the cooking except for making the mashed potatos. While he was finishing up, Anne looked around the house. I think this is her thing when she is invited over. She wants to look at everything! Which is fine, I guess...the house is still technically hers. So, she wandered around and looked at all the pictures and stuff. Then she asked me if I had any family pictures on the computer. She is very intrigued by the computer...so I pulled up Daddy's website and showed her a few. Daddy, I need some of the really old ones, like in the Garrity family album...the Cavanaugh's, etc. Then she asked me if I could find this out of print book for her...which I did. It's a 2 volume reference book on exotic plants...she's likes that sort of thing. She was pleased I could find it, and I'm pleased she asked...that makes buying her Christmas present alot easier! It's a little on the expensive side, but I'm just happy we can get her something we know she specifically wants!

The rest of the weekend we spent cleaning up the yard and lounging, nothing interesting, but much needed relaxation. Unfortunately, it's back to work tomorrow...blah.

I'll leave you with a scrap page I did of our house. This picture, according to Anne, was taken some time in the 1850's. It's so neat to see how the house has changed over the years. Thanks to Laura, as usual, for your input on this page. I hope everyone has a great week!

All elements and paper: Iron Orchid

Almost Thanskgiving

We had the BEST Thanksgiving lunch at work today. I made 2 pies...chess and chocolate chess, neither of which I'd ever made before and they were GOOD...the chocolate probably could have cooked a tad longer, but it tasted very good, it was just a little gooey.

Laura, the fabric has been purchased!! So RELAX!! Mommy found some at Joann's...I haven't seen it, but she had a swatch of the fabric for my chairs with her and said it matched perfectly. So, I told her to get it. And she got the lining too. For a really good price I might add. I still need to get some contrasting green fabric, but I haven't exactly decided how to do that yet. I think it's just going to go on the valance/cornices, so I'll be doing that part anyway. So, as long as I remember to bring the pattern with me Thursday, you're all set. I'll try to remember to go ahead and put it in the car so I can't forget it.

In other, WONDERFUL news...Nan gave Mark an extra day off so he can take off the day after Christmas. That way we won't be so rushed. So we don't have to go back to work until Wednesday after Christmas. I need to know everyone's plans for that. Are we going to do what we did last year and go to Mommy & Daddy's after Mammaw's? Did we do dinner there? I know Jennifer and Laura have other places to be, so let me know so we can plan accordingly...Oh, and Mommy and Daddy might want to know to be prepared too ;) I'm hoping everyone can be around on Christmas Day, because that's really the only time we'll have to spend with everyone. So, let me know!

The weekend already?

This has been a bit of a weird week. I went home sick (stomach bug...woohoo!) on Tuesday afternoon and didn't go into work at all on Wednesday. I don't know how I ever stayed home before...I was bored out of my mind! So I worked on painting the trim in the hallway. We have now pretty much finished that project except for the ceiling and trim. That might get done tonight, but I kind of doubt it. I also got a lot of my Christmas shopping done online thanks to an IM session with Laura. I think, except for Brent, all of the kids' gifts are done. Of course, those are the easiest ones really. I have a pretty good idea of what the rest of the gifts are going to be, it's just a matter of getting around to shopping for them...online or otherwise. Mark is a bit difficult to buy for and I've got to come up with 2 for him...birthday and Christmas. I have ideas, but I'm not sure which way I'll go with it yet. I better get on it though, his birthday isn't that far off!

Mommy and Daddy are coming to visit tomorrow and miraculously the house has stayed pretty well clean and straightened up all week. Mark's just been in cleaning mode. So, I've got to do a few things tonight to de-cat everything for Mommy's sake. Not that it'll help much, but it will help and it needs to be done anyway. I dread doing it because it makes my allergies nuts, but it helps in the long run. So, I will vacuum and Febreze Allergen Reducer everything within an inch of its life. I was noticing that the drapes needs lint rollered, so I'll do that too.

My friend Tonia is supposed to get back to me today about fabric stores. Her father does upholstering (sp?), so she was going to ask him if he knows of any fabric stores nearby. If he does, hopefully Mommy and I can check those out while they're here. I'm sure Daddy and Mark can find something else to do that will be more entertaining for them. I'm down to the wire on getting fabric for Laura to make my drapes. My deadline is Thanksgiving. I can't for the life of me figure out why it's so hard to find solid color fabrics, but I will find it...I just hope I can get it done in time. I do have a Plan B...different curtains for a different room. Hmm...Laura, I didn't tell you about that, did I? LOL Probably easier to make than the drapes, which is why I was saving that project for myself.

And, in work drama, our new sales rep quit yesterday...I think he found a better offer, which is unfortunate because we all liked him alot. So, the search is once again on for another one or two sales reps. We just can't seem to find anyone that will stick. Ugh!

Ok...I've seriously been slacking on my posts. I'll try to do better next week. Have a good weekend everyone!

Shopping, shopping and more shopping...

Whew! Today wore me out! I can't remember the last time I spent the whole day shopping. I spent my birthday money plus a little more, but I think I did well. I'm not even going to try to find picture of everything. I got 1 pair of pants, 1 suit (pants & jacket), 2 shells to go underneath my suits, 2 skirts and 2 sweaters. I'm rather pleased with myself ;)
While I was at the mall I went to Gymboree and got Madeline & Caleb's birthday presents....Toys for Christmas, clothes for the birthday...Here's what I got for them.
I was able to get 2 pairs of pajamas for Caleb because they were having a good sale on those:

















And then I got an outfit for Madeline...I just can just see her in it...so cute:













Before all the clothes shopping, I went fabric shopping for the drapes Laura's making for me...not fun and I didn't have much luck either. Very frustrating!

After all the clothes shopping I had to go to WalMart...so let's just say I've had enough shopping to last me for quite awhile. AND every place I went today was SO crowded. It was like shopping in December. It took me 30 minutes to get a parking spot at the mall!

I don't know where the week went. This is a good thing, though. It didn't seem to be going all that during the week, but now it seems like it flew by. Nothing terribly eventful happened at work and at home Mark and I continued to work on the house some. Mostly cleaning things up and getting things back in order. Last night we took some extra furniture up to the attic and Mark swept floors and dusted a little. He was certainly in a cleaning mood! Not that I was sharing that feeling...I wasn't. He moved the trim and closet doors from the library out to the shop last night so he could trim the doors down some and then we can paint them. While he worked on that, I cooked. I believe it's the first time this week that I've cooked! We had beef stroganoff, which turned out really well. After dinner Mark was buzzing all over the house straightening things up and cleaning. I sat down at the computer to scan a drapery pattern in for Laura so she can see what she will be getting me for Christmas ;) Then I talked to Mommy and Daddy until we were all 3 about to fall asleep.
So that's about it for last night.

This certainly hasn't been the best week. My birthday, overall, was pretty crappy. It was a nice day outside and everyone at work remembered my birthday and spent a large part of the day teasing me about being 30...which they can do because all but 2 of them are OVER 30. Anne (Mark's mom) stopped by the office that morning and gave me my presents and chatted with us for a minute or 2. Then Mark and I went to the Pub after work for a few minutes. We hadn't been in quite a while and we thought maybe we'd get to see some friends, but there wasn't really anyone there, which was disappointing. So we went home. Mark made me a pizza on a flour tortilla (one of his specialties) and then fixed me a huge piece of birthday cake. About 8:30, I decided I'd just had enough of the day, so I went to bed. Birthdays just aren't that much fun anymore. Not that Mark didn't try, he did. He took me out on Sunday and baked my cake and gave me a present on Tuesday night. Maybe that was the problem...my birthday was just anticlimatic. It was depressing...and it wasn't that I was turning 30. It would've been depressing if I had been turning any age. Anyway...it's over. So, tomorrow I'm off to Paducah to spend my birthday money on myself! And hopefully find some fabric for the dining room drapes...which I think is going to be a challenge. Maybe some retail therapy will be good for me.

Still going...

Yesterday Mark took me to Jackson for my birthday dinner. We had Japanese...and oh my gosh it was good! Not Kobe's good, but really good. Before that we did a little shopping. I can't believe the money we spent this weekend, but 90% of it was for the room (library). We bought a roman shade for the exterior window. It's red to tie in with my Van Gogh (Field of Poppies) and add a little color to the room. It looks very nice. Also, since that room has no overhead light, we bought a floor lamp. So, except for painting the closet doors and getting them rehung, the room is complete. Furniture and all AND we got it all cleaned up and the books neatly arranged on the shelves. That gave Mark a chance to exercise his OCD tendencies. He put all his paperbacks in alphabetical order and the non-fiction books in order by subject. This was kind of a long, drawn-out process, but it's done. Mark really was in rare form this weekend. He usually gets up pretty early, even on the weekends. Usually he spends that time before I get up lounging, reading, watching TV, or on the computer. This weekend he did laundry, arranged the books, cleaned up the dining room (where all the books and knick-knacks had been sitting while we were working on the room), cleaned the kitchen, polished some furniture, etc. He even arranged some bittersweet in a vase for our fall table centerpiece. He did a good job with that too. I was quite impressed. He got a ton of stuff done. I did far less, but still had a productive weekend. I'll post some more pictures when I get a chance to take them.

We're done!

Well...pretty much. With the library that is. I've still got to scrape a little paint off the windows and then wash the windows and we have a couple small pieces of trim to paint, but other than that it's finished! It looks really good too. We do good work-if I do say so myself. We drove to McKenzie today and bought a new computer desk and a lighted curio cabinet. We had been using Mark's old drafting tables for a computer desk, but that wasn't really working out so well. The curio we bought because we're dorks. We like rocks. We had a lot of geodes and fossils that were just collecting dust on the bookshelves and were all lined up in front of the books. So we cleaned them all up today and put them in the new curio. We also have a shelf full of shells and stuff. It looks really good. We both love it. AND I found a new home for my Van Gogh painting. It looks much better in here than it did in the living room. Here are some pictures...







The view towards the porch...no books on the shelf yet.









The view towards the dining room with the new curio and a very busy Mark.

And the new desk, disregard the can of Pledge to the left...still a work in progress.

And you'll notice there are no pictures of the middle of the room...there's a good reason for that! Still a bit of a mess, but Mark's working on that as I'm typing this. I guess he might want some help, so I'm off to help. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Friday! Woohoo!

It seems we've all slowed down on our blogging, haven't we? Is that an indication that everyone is very, very busy?

I'm doing my very best not to get sick, but I'm starting to feel like I'm losing the battle. Just a little cold I'm sure, but I hate not feeling good! Work has been a little less busy for me this week, but promises to make up for it next week. We hired a new tech a few weeks ago (I think I already mentioned that) and this week our new sales rep started. Both seem to be fitting in quite well, which is no small feat in this office. We are a very tight knit group, so it's like voting someone into the family when they are hired. These 2 seem to be successful additions.

Outside of work we haven't done much except for work on the library. Thankfully we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel on that project. I really like it. The color actually looks more like a Frappucino than really khaki, but I think we both like it. It looks very nice with the new white trim. We were afraid it was going to be too dark, but since we've gotten a couple coats on now, it doesn't look too dark at all, it looks nice. I can't wait to get the furniture back in there and get it out of the rest of my house! We've been talking about rearranging the furniture in there too and I think that will make as big a difference as the wall color. I'm going to split up the 3 bookshelves instead of having one full wall of them. Or at least I think I'm going to do that, we'll see how it looks. I think it'll look better with them split up, and it will also allow us to move the computer desk to a more practical place in the room.

Hmm...I can't think of anything else to say other than I'm dreading Wednesday a little. How is it possible that I am going to be 30? I sure don't feel 30. Or maybe I do...it's not like I know what 30 is supposed to feel like. It just seems like a bit of an adjustment or something. 30 sounds so adult. Then I think about it, and I guess that would be what I am, right? I go to work everyday, I pay bills, I get the oil changed in the car, etc, etc. Oh my Lord, have I become responsible? Is is possible? I guess 30 isn't so bad. It's really just another day, right, I'm basically already 30, so what's the big deal. I guess I always imagined myself to be in a different place in life at 30 and I'm not at that place. It would really be worse if I didn't like where I'm at. I've most definitely been at worse places in my life. So, this is pretty good. I should have a really big party to celebrate that I made it 30, shouldn't I? I'm supposed to have a girls night out the day after my birthday, so maybe that will be my celebration. Or maybe I'll just hang out at home with Mark because either one sounds about as appealing really. I mean that in a good way. Ok then...I'm wrapping this up now. At the rate I've been going I won't blog again until after my birthday, so goodbye 20's...you were fun, well sometimes anyway. Hello 30's! Everyone have a good weekend and have a good my birthday next week!

It was such a nice day today here. I think the temperature was in the 70's and it was so clear and sunny! Which was good since I spent alot of time on the road today. It most definitely looks like fall now, the trees were beautiful all the way to Camden. I don't have a whole lot to blog about, but since I haven't blogged in awhile, I figured I'd at least try.

We had a pretty busy weekend. Redoing the library is proving to be more difficult than I thought. Mark had a wallpaper border up in there and since we were going to take that down and paint, we had to remove all the glue residue. That was a messy and tedious job, but we got it done. Mark replaced the baseboard and I got 2 coats of paint on all the trim except for the windows. There are 2 windows in the room...one to the outside and one that is between the library and the enclosed back porch (the yellow room). Mark got one coat of paint on the sun room window, but the outside window has to be scraped and then sanded. I got to do lots of that when we redid the sun room. I don't like it. So I'm procrastinating. Mark also got a couple of coats of paint on the ceiling. All the trim and the ceiling is bright white (like the trim in the guest room and the sunroom). It's amazing how much brighter the room already looks with just the trim and ceiling repainted. And with the border down. In a house that is as dark as this one, that dark border just made the room seem smaller and darker. Not what we're going for. Mark painted a little on the wall color on last night so we could see what it looks like with the trim. I think it's actually a little darker than what is currently on the wall, but it has a much cooler tone to it, so I think it will still brighten the room up and make it look much cleaner. It's sort of a crisp khaki color. It's not exactly what I remember picking out, but I think I like it better. It should look really good.

It would appear we're taking the night off from painting, though. Mark seems really tired. I think the time change is not agreeing with him. I'm not a big fan either. I hate it being dark when we leave work. It doesn't exactly motivate me to want to work on anything when I get home. Although, other than the library project, there isn't much I want to work on, there isn't much point. We have all the furniture out of the library, so it's cluttering up every other available space in the house. So I don't see any point in cleaning any other rooms since they all seem filled with miscellaneous clutter and furniture from the library. It's driving me nuts! Hmm...maybe I should find something to paint so I can get this project over with. It may even be motivation enough to sand something.

One of my friends at work is redoing her kitchen. She was asking my opinion on it last week and they started on it this past weekend. She is repainting her cabinets, and after that whole LONG project with Mommy's kitchen I felt I had a little experience to speak from. She is doing a similar thing with her kitchen. Kind of an Italian/Mediterranean feel. The walls will be a sagey green and the cabinets are going to have a crackle finish...I wish we had thought of that when we did Mommy's...what Jimmie's doing sounds pretty cool, AND it was my suggestion, which makes it that much cooler, right? Her base color will be the same as the walls, then you paint on a crackle glaze. Then you paint on the second color (cream in this case), then you seal the whole thing. So it'll be cream with little veins of green...I think it'll look pretty neat. Four coats don't sound like fun, but I think it'll look good. She seems excited about it.

That's about all I can come up with for now. You people need to blog, so get on it! I have nothing to read! Except for you Daddy, I read yours.

Another yucky, rainy day. Blah. Yesterday I was out in it all day long...driving. My morning started off with a drug test, always my favorite way to start the morning. The company has decided (after I've been here 2 years) that everyone that drives a company vehicle ever has to have one. I've been doing quite a bit of driving for work lately, so I qualified, lucky me. So me and the new tech drove to Union City first thing yesterday morning for that. Both of us passed (for all you interested parties). Then I took him with me to hook up a color machine at a church. This guy used to work for Geek Squad, so hooking up a networked printer is no big deal to him. This is a great help to me. Before Mark and I were the only ones who could do it, so when we went on vacation...bad things happened. Now we have back up, I LOVE IT!! I won't bore you with anymore work details. Most of the rest of my day was spent driving to Reelfoot (about an hour) spending 3 hours at the customers' office there and driving an hour back. All in the rain. The best part of my day was still ahead...little did I know. So, I get back to the office and Nan asked me to go with her to deliver a typewriter across town. So, I get in the van and we drive across town. We have to make a left turn. It was all nasty and rainy. Next thing I know....WHAM...someone hit us from behind really, really hard. So, we get out, I run across the street to call Mark and the police. Then we stand in the drizzle for another 45 minutes filling out paperwork, etc. Everyone is alright, Nan and I both have sore necks, but neither of us thought it warranted going to the hospital. The van's bumper was mangled and some of the metal of the van itself is a little crumpled, but not too bad. Mark got there about the same time the police did and stayed with us. I've never seen him walk so fast! He had to park about a 1/4 mile away, but he got to us pretty quickly. Poor thing, he looked SO worried.
After all that, it was time to go home, so we did. Mark helped me make dinner...we had Italian sausage tortellini, peas and cheesy garlic bread. Everything we cooked took about 10 minutes tops. I was SO glad I thought to buy something quick, but good at the store last weekend. We ate, I had a glass of wine and spent the rest of the night laying on Mark. He was a good sport. I swear I'm such a baby when I don't feel good.
So, I haven't gotten hardly anything done on the library this week. We got all the books off the shelves (which was the hard part), so now I'm hoping this weekend we can replace the baseboard that needs replaced and start painting. Woohoo! I'm also hoping to make a trip to Paducah to look for fabric for the curtains Laura is making for me for Christmas. I've got to find some tennis shoes too.
That's about all I've got for now...hope everyone has a good weekend!

What universe do I live in?

What a strange day. I actually got some things done, which is nice. Mostly laundry & dishes...that seems to be my life, doesn't it? But those are the 2 things that constantly need done. I had to go to Union City to try to find some new tennis shoes (unsuccessful) and get some groceries. I don't go to Union City all that often...I'm really not a big fan, but...there's a shoe store there and a Goody's, so I thought I could check both places, which I did...unsuccessfully. Just before I left, however, Daddy called. Which really is ironic...I'll get to that in a minute.
It turns out that Lee and Mykaela are moving to Union City (or already have?). I didn't really catch the whole story about why because I was rather shocked. And admittedly, I freaked out probably a little more than necessary. Ugh...it's just that now we could run into them at any time and I'm afraid it will be all kinds of uncomfortable. I'll get over it, I'm mostly over it now. The ironic part is this...When I have to go to Union City for something, I try to stop by the house just to check on it, make sure the grass is getting cut, etc. and I was planning to do that today before Daddy called. So, in light of the news, I thought I'd go by and leave my key and garage door opener. It didn't occur to me until later that I couldn't leave both because I'd have no way to lock the house if I did. Anywho...I went by there. I didn't go in...mainly because it appeared that someone might be there. There were new mums planted in the flower bed that weren't there before and there was a lamp on inside...so apparently their stuff has already been moved. So, wow, that would've been bad if I'd just opened up the garage door! Lee was in Kansas City, because he had talked to Daddy about meeting for dinner or something. So, I'm assuming Mykaela's there. Me being me, I contemplated knocking on the door, introducing myself and giving her the keys and stuff. Then I thought better of it. I don't have anything against her but you never can tell how someone will respond to something like that. I really want everything to be friendly, I really, really do. I'd love for them to be able to come over for parties, that would be perfectly fine with us, really. Not so much for them I think. That's just how I operate. I see no reason why we can't all be friends. I know there are several of you rolling your eyes about now...but that's just how I feel about it. I really wished Lee would have let me know himself, but after our last conversation, I'm not surprised.
Moving on! I went to TWO places to look for shoes and neither had anything in my size! I was pretty unhappy about that! I looked around at Goody's for work clothes, but overall the quality kind of sucks, so I didn't get anything. I found a cute suit that had a jacket, pants and a skirt, but when I went to try it on it was all so ill-fitting I just gave up. It was cut so weird!
After that I went to Wal-Mart and spent about 30 minutes shopping and about 45 minutes in line. It's Saturday people, schedule some more cashiers, for the love of God! I think they had 4 lanes open...I mean really, what were they thinking? I finally got home and got all the groceries unloaded. This was a particularly large shopping trip because it seemed like we were one ingredient short for everything. I had to restock alot of staples. While I was gone, Mark finished up some laundry and cleaned up the kitchen. When I got back I was not in the best of moods, so he made me some tomato soup and a grilled cheese. I think that may be one of my favorite comfort meals. Then we watched the first game of the World Series. Do I care about it? No. Does Mark care about it? Not really. It was an ok game...more background noise than anything. I was reading a Glamour I bought. I quickly remembered why I quit buying magazines like that. I think it was 3/4 ads and the other 1/4 was nothing special. I was highly disappointed. The interview with Faith Hill was not even particulary impressive. So, that brings us up to now. The cats are all napping and Mark poured me a glass of wine, so I'm going to wind down a bit and then get some good weekend rest! I'm hoping to tackle the library tomorrow.

Has it already been a week?

I can't believe it's been so long since I last blogged! Sorry about that, I know y'all were missing me! LOL I've been fairly busy with work and all that. I won't bore you with the details, except to tell you that today we hired a new technician...which is GREAT for Mark.

This past weekend I was busy working around the house. Mark and I just now got around to taking out our window air conditioners (since we got central h&a). After we got those out we put up new storm windows. Woohoo! Then we cleared a few trees out of what will be our cow pasture (don't ask!) and chopped them up to use in the chimnea(sp?). It felt good to get so much done. Next we're going to start on the library. We're painting all the trim white and the walls a soft tan color. At some point I'm either going to make or buy some curtains, probably dark red or burgundy. The biggest problem with getting started is going to be taking all the books off the shelves...that's going to be a big dusty mess! Then we've got to replace a baseboard that is basically disintegrating. That'll be fun too. Oh, and Laura asked...the library is the room between the kitchen and the bathroom. You know, where all the bookshelves are?

That's all I've got for now. I'll try to be a little better about blogging regularly.

I had a pretty uneventful day. A little tense at work, but not bad. I've managed to catch up on some little projects that I've been putting off because I haven't been out at customers' offices too much this week.

It was pretty cool outside today! We knew it was coming, though. As soon as we got home we brought in all our water plants from the pergola pond as well as the banana plants. Mark seems to think the ferns will ok as long as it doesn't stay cold. I hope he's right!

Mark's second cousin (same age as his mother) owns the land across the road from us. I don't know if anyone remembers seeing it, but there was an old dilapidated house over there. They started tearing it down this past weekend. Mark saw Gerald (the cousin) over there and went over to talk to him. The house was sitting on brick pillars (instead of a foundation) and had a brick chimney. Mark asked if we could have the bricks and Gerald said sure. Our pergola floor is brick that Mark got from the old Martin Manufacturing plant that used to stand in downtown Martin. So these bricks are probably pretty close to the age of the pergola bricks. We plan to redo the pergola pond in the spring. So we'll rebrick where part of the current pond is to give us more seating area in the pergola. So these bricks will be used for that and to build walkways around the new pond, which is going to be much larger. We went over this afternoon after work (and after moving the plants) and picked up about 300 bricks. Some of them are the larger, heavier fire bricks. There are still lots over there, but they were buried under the roof of the old house, so we're going to have to wait until we can get to them.

I updated my Amazon list today. It is listed under the email address srgarrity@yahoo.com. Most of the new stuff I put on there are sweaters, etc. Nothing terribly fun, but things that I need and that I like. I'm trying to pin Mark down to write a list for him, but I haven't been terribly successful yet. I know he can always use shirts for work. He likes solid colors the best, he's not much on plaid or other patterns. I'll have to find the size later. He prefers to buy pants himself, but he isn't really short on pants now anyway. Sweaters would also be good. Lowes or Books-a-Million gift certificates are good. That's about all I have for him at the moment.

Jennifer asked about the shelf I requested. After I listed that, I thought better of it. I think that may be something I'll have to get myself after we get the library redone. Because I'm not even sure what color I'll want to go with the new paint color. So, mark that off my list. Concentrate on sheets and clothing! I'll keep adding to my list to give you more to choose from!

I need lists on everyone too!

I don't have much to blog about, but it's been a few days since I blogged, so I'm blogging just to say I did.

My house is a disaster area. It was all neat and clean before we left, but since we got back we haven't really done much in the way of housework except for laundry and dishes. The pest control guy came this afternoon and I was ashamed to let him see it like that! He called me at work to say he'd be there in 30 minutes, so I rushed home to get the dirty clothes off the bedroom floor (Mark!) and get some dishes washed, make the bed. It's amazing how much you can get done in 20 minutes when you need to. I picked up and straightened up and then started a load of laundry. Discovered there were still clothes sitting in the dryer (whoops!) so I turned them back on for a couple minutes to knock the wrinkles out. Filled up the kitchen sink and started washing dishes. Got all the dishes done. Wiped down the stove and counters. Started Elwood (Mark named our Roomba...robot vacuum) in the living room. Fed the chickens some leftover rice. Folded the clothes I had in the dryer. Got another load started in the washer by the time the pest control guy left. Woohoo...I was on a roll. Unfortunately I had to come back to work for a little while, so my momentum is now broken. But I did get alot done. Or at least I felt like I did. The floors all need swept really badly.

I the first of the 3 Tumble Towers I ordered. It is in as good of shape as the one at Mammaw's, so I was pleased. I have all that stuff sent to work because it's just easier since I'm there during the day. No one at work was nearly as excited about it as I was. They don't know what they're missing! No one has kids that were born in the early 70's nor were any of them kids themselves in the early 70's (except Mark), so none of them even remember such a toy. Maybe I'm just easily amused, but I really like it! I've played a couple times today already! And I must say, I'm pretty good at it. Of course, I guess I should be since it's designed for toddlers!! LOL!

Well, that's about all I've got for now. I am working on Christmas/Birthday lists for Mark and myself. Well, more for myself ;-)

I'll list a couple of things here while I'm thinking about it...Flannel sheets (all of our beds are full size), pajama pants (mine are beyond ragged), a shelf for above the computer (for CD's and office supplies)...Can't think of anything else at the moment, but I'll try to get a formal list together. Hope everyone is having a fabulous week. Happy Birthday to my younger sister Katie who is 24 today!! Hope you're having a great Birthday Katie, hopefully you'll get your gift by tomorrow if you didn't get it today.

Back to reality...

I can't believe how fast our vacation flew by! I'm almost ready to get back into the swing of things though. I haven't felt all that great today, so I hope I'm feeling better by tomorrow morning. Just sinusy I think. It's just that time of year. The weather has been beautiful for the past week, everywhere we went it was nice. And it's been nice here, mid-70s during the day and just cool enough at night to warrant turning on the heat just a little. Our heater works great too! Ah...I love central heat and air!

I've gotten a few things accomplished since we got back on Thursday morning. I've done lots of laundry, bought groceries, etc. Today we went to Union City to eat lunch and go to Lowe's. I bought lots of bulbs...I love bulbs, so low maintenance! I got lots of crocus and tulips, Mark bought some Muscari and I got a few very pale purplish/blue iris. Nothing out of the ordinary really, we just wanted more of what we already have. I'm going to do a tulip border on either side of our front walk. You know, the sidewalk that goes nowhere? That never did make sense to me why you would have a sidewalk that just goes out a little ways and then ends in the middle of the yard. Anyway, back to the bulbs...I'm hoping to get those in the ground before too much longer. We have stuff we have to dig up for the winter too, but I'm really hoping Mark will handle that part.

After Lowe's we went to Tractor Supply to get birdseed, not for the chickens, that would be chicken feed. This is for the wild birds. The cashier even commented that it looked like we were feeding everything. We had 3 different kinds of birdseed. Mark mixes 2 kinds together for the big feeders and we bought thistle for the finch feeder. Then we had huge bags of cat and dog food. Thankfully the chickens were already well-stocked!

I am now the proud owner of 2 Fisher-Price Tumble Towers (ca. 1971). One goes to Mommy. For those of you who don't know what this is:

I love it!

That's about all I've got for now. I am WORN OUT!!! And I haven't gotten ANY scrapping done at all. :(

I've got to work on that! Have a good week everyone! And for those who haven't blogged in forever (and you know who you are!)...you need to get on that!

Home again

We got back home about 9:30 this morning. What a long trip back! We stopped in to see Jennifer and family yesterday afternoon. We'd already been on the road about 6 hours at that point. Then we ran into some traffic issues on the way to Jennifer's. So I think we spent more time in traffic on the way than on our actual visit! Mark was very anxious to get home, which is generally the case once we start heading that way. So we didn't get to stay very long at Jennifer's and Dan had gone to the office, so we didn't get to see him at all. Sorry we missed you Dan! We had a nice visit, though, even if it was short. I hadn't been to Jennifer's in a LONG time and Mark's never been, so we got the tour (lead by Madeline and Caleb). They done a lot to the house since I was there last. Jennifer, I meant to tell you, I LOVE the roman shades in the living room/kitchen! Those are roman shades, right? I think that might be the way to go for our bedroom windows (Laura, are you interested in making them...'cause I'm not! LOL). Anyway, like I said, Mark was anxious to get home. He wanted to drive the rest of the way last night...and we didn't leave Jennifer's until 5ish. I didn't think we'd even make it to Nashville. We ended up stopping in Dickson. So it was only 2 1/2 hours away from home. That made for a pretty easy drive after the drive yesterday. Ok...enough of that! Here's some pictures. I'm going to try to scrap this weekend, so I'll post the pages when I'm done.

This first one I like. This is one I took with the tripod at Greenbrier on "our" rock. The second isn't a terribly good picture, but it's the only one I have of both of us at Folly Beach. That's all for now, I'll post more later. Happy Thursday!

Soooo relaxed!

Well, our trip started off a bit rushed. We had several things we wanted to do in Gatlinburg (mostly in the National Park), but we only had one full day there...which was our anniversary. We got to our hotel on Friday at about 4pm, thanks to a pretty early start. From there we went directly to our favorite pottery store in the Arts & Crafts community. It's a pottery store, but he also has lots of fossils and things. Mark likes his fossils, so that was our first stop. Mark had seen one there last year he really liked and he couldn't wait to get back there to get one. So, we did that and picked up a couple other things. Then we walked downtown (from the hotel) to eat. When we got back to the hotel, we went ahead and gave eachother our anniversary presents. We couldn't wait until Saturday...and as I remember we did the same thing last year. Mark got me a ruby necklace. Very pretty and dainty. I got him some stone bookends. Yeah, I know that doesn't sound exciting, but as I said, the man likes his rocks. He was a geology major. And, well, I like rocks too...so we're dorks and we like it that way. Saturday we got up and had the obligatory Gatlinburg pancake breakfast then drove over to Greenbrier. That's the area of the National Park where we got married. I wanted to take a few pictures (which I would share, but someone left the cable for the camera at home). When we got there, there were people on our rock getting married. I mean, can you believe the nerve!! LOL So we explored a little bit further down the river and then came back when they were gone to take some pictures. Let me tell you, it's way easier to climb around on those rocks when you don't have heels on! We took lots of pictures there and had a good time climbing around on the rocks. Then we drove over to the Arts & Crafts Community again and went through several of the stores. We bought a couple more things, but I can't remember exactly what off the top of my head. I know we got a vase for the dining room table. I'm going to put some bittersweet in it (from our yard) and use it as the centerpiece when we have Thanksgiving dinner at our house with Mark's mother. After lunch we hiked up to Grotto Falls. I was very proud of myself. I wasn't nearly as whiny about hiking 2.6 miles as I was last year. In fact, I really didn't whine at all. After the first 1/4 mile it wasn't bad at all. It was a really pretty waterfall and the trail actually went behind it, which was cool. We got lots of pictures of that too. After that Mark kicked my butt at skeeball. I was not pleased. We had dinner at Cherokee Grill, which had excellent food, but really crappy atmosphere. They had people crammed in there like sardines. It was bad I tell you. Right after our food came they seated a group of 6 or so people next to us. This would've been fine, BUT...they had a very sleepy baby with them. Which was also fine. They weren't just letting the child scream or anything. BUT when the hostess set these people down, she moved their table even closer to ours, so close, that we really couldn't get out without making some move. AND they had the high chair at the end closest to us, which was fine, but the baby was really more at our table than at theirs. We certainly weren't upset with the people, but the restaurant was really trying to cram too many people in, so while the food was good...we paid way too much for it considering the atmosphere. It was so loud our server couldn't even hear us when we were ordering. Ok...rant over. Sunday we slept in a little, then got up, checked out and got the heck out of the tourist hell they call Gatlinburg.
We got to Folly Beach around 5pm or so and went pretty much STRAIGHT to the beach. After we had walked up and down the beach for awhile we got some dinner at the hotel (we were TIRED) and then I hung out in the room while Mark explored some more. I was soooo completely exhausted when we got here. Yesterday we spent the whole day here. I slept alot and we went to the beach a couple times...got in the water and played in the waves a little. I managed to get sunburned in record time. Not too bad though. Then we walked a block or so to a great tapas restaurant. I was introduced to this kind of restaurant in Columbia and I really, really like it. Tapas means "small plates" I think. It's a cool concept. You order small portions of as many different menu items as you want. The presentations were really nice and the food was great. Mark really liked it too. I had sesame crusted seared tuna and asian pork ravioli, Mark had quail wrapped in Italian bacon and scallops wrapped in bacon with truffle oil (that's lots of bacon!). So I got to try all 4 dishes and so did Mark. Even the quail was good and I didn't think I would like that.
Today we went to the SC Aquarium, then did some shopping in downtown Charleston at an open-air market. Had lunch downtown too. I got some moonstone earrings and we bought a few gifts for Beth and Talley (who are taking care of the house and animals while we're away)...Thanks guys!!! Mark bought a shirt that would make Daddy proud (his words)...it's very LOUD and flowery!!! He's really getting into the Hawaiian shirt thing. I'll post pictures later, you know, when I have a cable! When we finished shopping, we went to the beach again...with some sunscreen this time...and got in the water some more. Mark's really loving the beach. He's not been to the beach nearly as much as I have, and he's really enjoying it alot. Today when we were swimming there were dolphins not 10 yards away! It was SO cool! They were almost scary close! Mark had never seen dolphins and we've seen them several times a day since we've been here. It's really been nice. We've slept with our balcony door open so we can hear the ocean and feel the breeze. I really don't want to leave, but we're leaving tomorrow. I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and I'm missing all my critters, so it's time to go I guess. We plan to stop in and see Jennifer on our way back. Hopefully Mark isn't going to want to drive all 12 hours tomorrow. I had thought we might stay in Atlanta, but Mark wants to make it farther than that tomorrow, so I imagine we'll make it to Chattanooga or so, MAYBE Nashville, but I doubt it. This has gotten rather long, hasn't it? I'll wrap it up now and post again when we get back and I can post some pictures.

30 minutes to go!

I've got 30 more minutes until my vacation begins! I'm a little antsy. Today went surprisingly fast. I had lots to do, lots of loose ends to tie up before we leave. I got those things taken care of, so I'm ready to go!
We got back around 2pm from Hopkinsville yesterday. All of us were dead tired. Our presentation went really well. Nan was very proud. I'm glad she was so pleased. We put in a lot of hours on that presentation...I'm glad it was a success. Enough about work, though!
We're leaving early tomorrow morning, so I've got to finish packing tonight. Go get a few things at the store, etc, etc. I have managed to pay all the bills and the ones that needed mailed in the mail. Mark got all the extra crap out of the car. The house is relatively clean...or at least neat. Mark mopped and shined the floors last weekend, but they need swept thoroughly again. I don't know if that'll happen. We've got the guest room sheets and comforter cleaned and back on the bed for Beth who will be housesitting. I took Ramona to the house at lunch today...she will also be stopping by to check on things, so I showed her where everything is. I've been steadily checking things off my to-do list all day. I actually got up early to get the guest room together. I must be excited about this trip if I got up early. After my trip to the store after work, I'll finish up packing everything, then we'll be ready to go. Woohoo! I can't wait.
I should wrap this post up, though. I'm going to take my work laptop with me I think, so I should be getting it packed up before 5:00. Lord knows I don't want to stay over today!

Have a great rest of the week! And Happy Anniversary to Mark and me! It sure doesn't seem like it's already been a year, but it has definitely been one of my happiest years.

Real quick

To answer a couple of Jennifer's questions before I go to bed...which will be very soon.
Our frozen meals...
I always get a bag of Bocelli's (I think that's right). That's a fully prepared pasta dish in a bag...frozen of course. It takes about 15 minutes to make because you just heat it up in a skillet. Most of them have been pretty good.
Tonight we had frozen lasagna, and I'm sure Mark will probably be eating that again tomorrow night.
Then we got a frozen pizza, which we had last night. As I mentioned in my last post, I still have a dish of chicken enchiladas in the freezer, so that should cover us for the week since we're leaving early Friday morning.

I just finished reading a Jennifer Weiner book...I don't remember the title off the top of my head. It's not terribly thought prevoking material...very much chick-lit, but entertaining. I've read several of hers. It really depends on what your group is wanting to read. There are several authors similar to her that I've read quite a bit of...Jane Green being one...she actually has a book called The Reading Group. Some of these have discussion questions in the back of the book specifically for the purpose of reading groups. Jennifer, you may also enjoy Mary Kay Andrews...all her books are set in Georgia. If you want any of these books, let me know and I'll bring them to you when we swing through Atlanta on the way back from Charleston. I need to get rid of some books anyway. Most of these have a bit of a mystery to them, which I like, but they aren't so complex that they make my head hurt. Since, if I'm reading, I'm probably doing it to relax.

My list making is in full swing. I think I'm going to busy up until the minute we leave, so I'm trying to be as organized as possible. I always make a pretty comprehensive list for trips like these, so packing is never that difficult. So...before I go to sleep I'm going to add a few more things. I've got finish packing for my work trip before I go to bed too. I guess I'd better get to it!

Not such a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

Saturday...
It has rained so much in the past 2 days!! Luckily none of the really bad weather got us, but we do have flash flood warnings out. Thankfully we live on a hill.

I got up this morning, drove to Union City and got my hair cut and my eyebrows done. Much better! I got out of there right before the deluge started and made my trip to Wal-Mart. You could hear the rain on the roof and it was very loud. Luckily it wasn't raining when I got out of there...instead it waited until I pulled in the driveway and then it started pouring. Wonderful.

Sunday...
Mark got all the laundry done, the floors swept and mopped and did some mowing on the tractor (all between Friday and today). I'm impressed! I did little but work on my laptop and read my book (which I finished this morning). I've still got a long way to go on my work presentation, but I won't bore anyone with that.

I ordered my fall/winter Yankee Candle tarts this afternoon...after consulting Laura for scent recommendations...here's what I got: Madarin Cranberry, Pumpkin Pie, Autumn Leaves, Autumn Wreath, Biscotti, Cranberry Chutney, Gingerbread Maple, Harvest, Holiday Bayberry, Holiday Sage, Balsam & Cedar and Christmas Wreath. That should hold me for awhile. I may get some more apple scents though, I always like those. Today I burned my Home Sweet Home candle in the bedroom, a Macintosh tart on the porch (sunroom-where I was working) and some light blue one in the living room (don't remember the scent, but it's a little too floral for me). And that was your tart update.

I'm not even going to post this week's menu because I fear the backlash. It's ALL frozen. We were trying not to buy alot of extra stuff since we leave Friday for our trip and I won't be here to eat on Tuesday night. The good news is one of the frozen entrees is one a made last week. When I made chicked enchiladas I had enough for 2 meals, so I froze one. I think it'll reheat ok.

Have a great week everyone! Sorry I'm slacking on my posts, but I've been super-busy. Hopefully I'll get back on track after our trip.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

I love this being out the office thing. Especially on days like today. It's so nice outside! Of course all the driving I do around here is on state highways, we aren't near any interstates really. So that makes for some really pretty driving. I've spent the last few days in Paris and I really enjoy the drive between here and Martin. It's a nice winding road, and the trees are just barely starting to change here. I can't wait until they really change. It's going to make for some spectacular drives. I love fall!! From the sound of everyone's blogs, we're all ready for it to get here.

Other than being really in love with the weather, there isn't much going on with me. Just work, and I know how everyone loves to here about that.


2 days later...Friday

I can't believe I'm just now getting around to finishing this post! What a busy week!! Next week promises to be even busier. I have a presentation in Hopkinsville on Wednesday morning, so I will be staying in Hopkinsville Tuesday night (with Nan and Jimmie). That'll kill at least one of my vacation preparation evenings. Of course, I'll probably be working on this presentation all weekend and all Monday night, so it's going to kill MOST of my vacation preparation time. My mind is already buzzing with ideas on how I'm going to manage all of this. Of course, there's plenty of time to work while loads of clothes are in the dryer. That's my main plan. Other than that I'll just have to squeeze other things in on my breaks. I'll got to go to Wal-Mart so we can eat next week and have some snacks to take on our trip. So that'll probably have to be done before I even get started working. Enough rattling...it's 5:00 and I'm going HOME!!! Have a great weekend everyone!!

2 more weeks...

Until our vacation, that is. I can not wait! We figured out everything we want to do in Gatlinburg (which has as little to do with actual Gatlinburg as possible). We're going to do one hike when we get there to Grotto Falls. One that we had thought about doing last year, but didn't have the time (or energy after Laurel Falls and Clingman's Dome). It's like 2.6 miles round trip, so it could be worse. I'm sure it will be pretty, but I'm also sure it'll kick my butt. So hopefully we can do that first. On our actual anniversary (which is on Saturday, the 30th) we're going to take it a little easier. We'll go back to Greenbrier I'm sure, which is the area of the National Park where we got married. Then we're going to spend the majority of the day going through all the stores in the Arts & Crafts community. In our opinions, this is the best part of Gatlinburg. I'm sure we'll have to venture into tourist hell to eat, but other than that, we're going to try to avoid it. It should be fun. Then Sunday, we're off to Charleston, SC. We haven't planned that portion of the trip so much. That's ok though. We like to wing it.

This weekend was rather uneventful. We went to Jackson yesterday to get Mark some new hiking/walking shoes. I got some fall/winter shoes for work out of the deal. Then we went to a nature park there in Jackson. It was pretty cool. It was all boardwalk, so it was pretty easy walking (we're trying to warm up for our trip, I think). They had a birds of prey thing. Very large cages with various types of eagles and hawks. They had one owl, which was my personal favorite. The trail went out across part of a small lake. It was neat.
After the hike, we went to Petco and Target. No significant buys at either place. Sorry.

Today we spent forever in Wal-Mart. We decided to go ahead and get the tires rotated and the oil changed in the car before our trip and we also had to get groceries. Well, we were hungry when we left, but there's a Subway in the new Wal-Mart, so that ended up being ok. However, the tires and oil change took FOREVER!!! They had a hard time getting the lug nuts off one of the wheels apparently. Whatever. Now the car doesn't drive straight, AT ALL. It wasn't doing that before, so I don't know what they did, but I'm going to do my best not to go there again. I'll drive to Union City before I let the morons in Martin work on my car again. No telling what they screwed up with the oil change. Time will tell I suppose. We might have gone back, but the girl (that had been working on the tires) told me she couldn't get the key out of the ignition (???). Not a good sign. It came right out when Mark tried it. So, I'm not risking any further damage there. We'll have someone we know check it out this week. At least it's still driveable right now.

And, that is it! That's all we've done. I have absolutely nothing else to post right now, so I'll just have to come up with something bloggable in the next day or so. I'll do my best. Have a great week everyone!

On a lighter note...

I feel like I should redeem myself after yesterday's post. I know not everyone agrees with me on all that, and I'm not sure I expressed what I was trying to say very well. So, I really hope I didn't offend anyone. I am most definitely a patriot and I most definitely want to be supportive. I just have my views. Really, really, I wanted to keep this light and so I will!

Jennifer, I love the menu you posted in the comment section. I've already started the grocery list for next week. It'll be nice to have something different for a change.
Tonight we had black bean soup...a variation of Mommy's. Mark just can't have a meatless meal, so I put a little beef in it, but it's basically the same other than that. It was pretty good. More of a cold weather meal. Perhaps I wanted to make it because I'm anxious for fall. The weather had been so much cooler before the end of last week and then we had some hot days thrown in. I suppose I should enjoy those while they last because I'll be ready for warm weather again by the first of the year. I always am.

Later tonight I think I'll make a milkshake. Mark doesn't really care for them (what the heck is wrong with him, right?) so he'll probably just have his ice cream in a bowl sans milk. I have yet to try the Nutella. I did have a conversation with Tracy about it last night. I think I'm a little scared of it, but I'll be brave, I promise.

I had a pretty uneventful day again today. Just working on some online training at work. Woohoo! The more I do, though, the more prepared I feel. To do the more complicated aspects of my job, that is.

Zoe just jumped in my lap, such a sweet kitty sometimes! I just threw that in there to be random. And maybe as filler because I don't have much more to say. So, I'll wrap this up and try to post my latest scrap page, which may or may not be finished. I haven't decided yet. Maybe everyone can vote...let me know.

September 11th

I had a pretty uneventful day. Not a good day, but not an awful one. Then I got home.

I knew what would be all over the television tonight. I didn't plan to watch. I haven't watched it for the past 4 years, and I didn't plan to do it tonight. But we started watching the National Geographic Channel and I got wrapped up. I can believe how it made me feel. I remember Sept. 11, 2001 very clearly. I remember the night before. I stayed with my friend Chelsea in downtown Nashville. Anyone who knows me well knows what stage of my life I was in at that point in time. Enough said there. I drove back to Hendersonville the next morning about 8am. I heard on the radio when the first plane hit the first tower. They didn't know that it wasn't an accident. By the time I got back home and turned on the TV, the second was about to hit. I saw it. I went and woke up Katie and Daddy. All I remember was sitting there in the den watching it all unfold. We had no concept of what was going on, or at least it seems like we didn't looking back. I don't remember feeling much emotion watching it. It was scary I suppose, but at the time, it was unclear what it all meant. The shock prevented me from feeling much emotion.

I drove to work later that day. They had practically shut down everything in downtown Nashville. All the govt. builidings were closed and much of the rest of downtown as I remember. I worked at the Doubletree and we had TV's set up in common areas of the hotel and there were stranded travelers everywhere...stunned...sobbing. It was crazy and sad and at the same time absolutely numbing.

A few days later when they allowed air traffic to resume I remember sitting on I-65 in rush hour traffic that first morning. There was a plane, we all saw it. The strangest single experience I'd ever had sitting in traffic. Everyone was frozen, watching that plane. Like it was a bomb, not a plane. I'll never forget it.

Tonight when Mark and I sat watching the footage, 5 years later. I found myself shaking. Shivering like it was freezing cold in the house, but it wasn't. I suppose now it's more evident the impact that day had than it was on the actual day. It's clearer now how absolutely awful that day was. It freaked me out a little...how I responded to it tonight. I don't typically agree with the media replaying that stuff. I don't know that I agree with it still, but it was powerful stuff to watch it again. Here I am, way down here in Tennessee, but that really affected me. It still does, apparently. It did change my life in ways I could never have known at the time. I saw a husband off to war. I saw him come back not nearly the same as he was when he left. My sister has a husband over there now. I have a lot more I could say about that, but it would just come out angry, so I'll leave it at this. I don't agree with this war. I can not make myself agree. I tried really hard when Lee was there fighting, but it was half-hearted. I don't agree. It keeps me awake that my brother-in-law is there. I hate it for Laura and the kids. I hate it for all involved. And I'm involved. War is just an ugly thing. I'm not a terribly political person, but I just can't stand it sometimes. It just seems wrong. Sorry for the heaviness of this post. I've always had an opinion on this. Watching that tonight just set me off. September 11 was a terrible, terrible thing. I'm just not sure the war in Iraq is helping at all. In fact, it may be hurting more than it helps.

Why do I always need a title?

I've had a lazy day. And I liked my lazy day. I have accomplished nearly nothing. I'm ok with that. Unfortunately, I'll have to make up for it tomorrow. Can I just say that I love blogs?! I've spent the evening (before and after talking to my mother) reading blogs. Each of my sisters and both of my parents have blogs. I don't know anyone else who can say that (of course, I do live in Martin which isn't necessarily the home of the technologically aware). After reading the family blogs, I read my friend Tracey's blog(s) and my friend Beth's blog (who really needs to update, but since I'd never seen her blog, that was ok...this time). It's neat reading everyone's blogs, you kind of get a perspective on the person that you wouldn't necessarily get otherwise. It's also neat (as I was telling Mommy earlier...and Tracey if you're reading this, yes I do call my mother Mommy, don't point and laugh at me later) to read my sisters' blogs and see how they go about their day to day lives. It's weird to think that we all came from the same family sometimes. We have our similarities and our differences. Their lives are so different from mine, and yet their are commonalities. I swear I was going somewhere with that line of thinking. At any rate, I like reading their blogs. All of them.

So today I slept in as long as I could (until 9:30 or so), got up, ate breakfast, put a load of laundry in, took a shower and then a nap. It was a good nap. Mark took me to Union City to eat. Then I decided if I wanted to eat at all tomorrow I would have to drag myself to the grocery. So I headed to the new Super Wal-Mart. Thankfully, the Soybean Festival is still going on and Diamond Rio was playing tonight, so their were mercifully few people at Wal-Mart. This was a first! I'll spare you all a list of what I bought. At Katie's recommendation, I bought some Nutella, although I'm not entirely sure what to do with it (someone please tell what to do with it!). I noticed later on Tracey's blog that she mentioned Nutella on her top 100. So apparently this is more popular than I would have thought.

I had a good conversation with Mommy when I got back. We talked for an hour or so. Mark has been engrossed in a book all night, so he's been in the recliner being really quiet. I almost forgot he was here. That man can really go through a book once he gets started. I think he just started it this morning and he's almost finished now. AND he mowed the cemetary this morning. I was going to have to help him, but unfortunately (thankfully) "my" mower wouldn't start. I do not enjoy working in the cemetary. The last time I kept apologizing the people buried there in my head. I just felt like I was disturbing them or something. I know that we have to do some work up there in order to keep it up. I am sure they would appreciate us keeping the cemetary looking nice and that's how I console myself when I do have to go up there and do things that involve walking over the graves. I hate that!!! If I'm just up there walking, I do NOT walk on the graves, I walk around, it just feels more respectful. Particularly after hearing that Tracey and Stephanie's house has had some recent "events" of a ghostly sort. I'm weird enough about that stuff without freaking myself out by walking over the graves of Mark's ancestors that lived in this very house. Ok, I'm weird. Sorry.

I'm rattling on now, so I'll wrap this up and post more later. I'm hoping to work on a new digiscrap page tomorrow, so maybe I'll get to post that. Other than that...my to-do list for tomorrow: laundry, dishes, change the sheets on the guest bed and wash the comforter, sweep the floors, paint my nails...I'm sure there's more, but I can't remember it at this point. Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend!