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!

All hail the mighty soybean...

The Soybean Festival is underway! Woohoo! Today I got to sit through the Soybean Festival kickoff luncheon. Not because I wanted to, but because I got roped into it. So I had a so-so barbecue sandwich, some chips and baked beans. The lemonade was excellent at least. The parade was last night, which we didn't go to. Tomorrow the Spin Doctors are playing, then 38 Special on Friday and Diamond Rio on Saturday. And it's all free, so any of you who have nothing better to do, come on over. There will be funnel cakes. That's the big draw for me.

Moving on...tomorrow we are having company pictures taken. That'll take up part of my morning and then we get the pictures back (usually a couple hours later since it's all digital) I'll have to begin the process of updating our company brochure, ordering some new business cards and updating the website (which Daddy may need to help me with). Work has been slower this week, which is great because I just can't my brain back into work after that long weekend.

OK...girls weekend...if we are all reading eachother's comments on eachother's blogs we would be up to speed on this, but let me outline it. Brent has football until early November, so we can't do it until after then. I think most of us are interested in the Meal making thing like Jennifer did over the weekend. All in favor? I'm sure there's at least one of those places in Nashville. Other than that, I vote for a girls' outing to The Melting Pot. I know Laura's with me on that one. If we all split the cost it shouldn't be too bad. And I need to eat there...it's been a whole year almost!!

We also need to go ahead and draw names for the sisters drawing. Who would like to nominate themselves to do that? Or we can do a big Yahoo IMing conference and do it then. Katie, we just need a Yahoo name for you. I'd like to get started with my Christmas shopping soon and Mark and I found a cool place to shop for the kids while we were in Paducah last week. So, let the lists start coming in! I need Katie's, Laura's, and Mommy's list anyway since birthday season is upon us. Make an Amazon list at least please. Thanks! Ok...very sleepy, must get ready for bed (even though it's only 8:15). I have to be up early to make myself pretty for pictures. Happy Thursday!

Back to work tomorrow...

Well, the beer tasting went well. There were only 3 other people besides Mark and myself. It was a nice, small gathering like we wanted. We each had just a little of each beer and then rated them. The best being O'Hara's (an Irish beer sort of like Guiness but better), Samuel Smith India Ale and Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale. The last 2 were British beers. We also liked the one from the Czech Republic and the one from Slovenia as well as one French Amber called Fischer's. The ones from Brazil and Belize ranked the lowest. Laura, I don't remember off hand which Belgian beers we had, but I have them written down so I'll try to remember to look.

No pictures to share. There were no "moments" to capture this time. Everyone was pretty subdued and it was a relaxing evening. I do have some pictures that Mark and I took before everyone arrived. Since we were dressed like we were and it was such a pretty day I decided to take a few with the timer and tripod.

















That's really all I've got for now. It's been a very quiet day of laundry and napping. I've got to go finish the laundry up so I can get to bed at a decent hour.

Labor Day Weekend...Woohoo!

I'm sooooo glad to have a long weekend. On top of which, now that it's September, I can look forward to my vacation at the end of the month. Again...woohoo!

We've had a pretty quiet weekend so far. We drove to Paducah yesterday to go to World Market. This may be the coolest store ever. They have things from everywhere! Our favorite part, though, is the food section. They have food from around the world. Candy, spices, sauces, wines, beers, cookies, olives, etc, etc. We bought a few different things. I got some polenta mix. There's a specific recipe that I bought this for. You can buy it at Wal-Mart in a tube, but that wasn't very good, so I bought the mix. Mark got his usual ginger something. This time it was Ginger Altoids. I didn't know they even made those. He likes them alot. Then Mark bought some jerk seasoning...I'm not sure what we'll use that for yet, but it'll probably involve pork, knowing him. Then we bought beer. We're having a few people over tonight. Not really a party, just a small gathering. So we decided we'd make it a beer tasting. They had a Beer Around the World sampler pack, so we got that and then they have individual bottles so you can put together your own sampler. So we made up a 6-pack of our own. It should be neat. I'll list some of the countries these beers are from: Czech Republic, France, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, England, Scotland, Ireland, China, Jamaica, Belize, and Brazil. I think that's it. They had Murphy's Red which I remember from Seanache (or however you spell that Irish restaurant that used to be in dowtown Nashville). Anyway...should be fun. Maybe I'll get some pictures to post. Right now, I need to go finish getting ready.

But before I go...I went grocery shopping yesterday too, and since we enjoy sharing receipts and food. This is the perfect combination of both. I try to plan out a menu before I shop, but this hasn't been happening lately. I did manage to do it this time though, so here's what we're having in no particular date order. Salmon patties (not salmon from a can (yuck!), but salmon from a pouch (without all the bones and yuckiness)) with a spinach salad, pork tenderloin (again) which Mark plans to cut into medallions and bake with rice, pork chops (I'm not sure how were cooking those yet), and Chicken Enchilada Casserole (recipe from my Southern Living Cooking Light book). The casserole is a little time consuming to make, but it reheats well, so we usually get a few days out of it. Of course I bought vegetables to go with each meal, I usually pick the vegetables when I start cooking. We had burritos last night, which I thought turned out pretty well. And that...is my menu for the week. I'm not sure what we're having tonight, but we're supposed to eat before everyone gets here, so I'd better be figuring it out. Must go make myself presentable....