TGIF!!!

Yes Friends! It's Friday!
I am thrilled.

This has been an incredibly long week...I've been attempting to not allow the drama surrounding me to infiltrate my shields and bring me down...as I have plenty of my own drama to contend with...but that is neither here nor there.

It's leap day....and I think that we should get the day off of work....but I'm afraid that's just not going to happen. I'm hoping today flies by because at 5, I'm picking up the Bug and then we're headed off to the C Home for a whirlwind weekend which hopefully gives us some time to veg....

Tonight's activities shall include some food ....probably from Charlies....and then....wait for it.....
CLEANING!!!
Hopefully the house is being shown tomorrow and I want it to smell all fresh and clean like I do nothing but stay home to polish the place...tee hee....yes, I'm pathetic......but ya know....it's better when the place smells of Mr. Clean :-D

Tomorrow Mom is picking me up bright and early and we're venturing to the baby shower...then venturing back....hopefully early enough so I can enjoy dinner and a movie with the Bug.

Sunday we're going to J brother's to see his progress!! I have SO got to get a new camera phone so I can post pics.....

Do YOU know why I'm smiling?

Well...in this pic it's because it's warm where I was...I was laying down....being taken care of my momma and K....oh yeah...and doped up on Loritab so not feeling much pain....

This has been quite the long week...I've been sick all week...this morning I woke up wondering if someone had put an ax in my face while I slept...so I got up and swallowed a couple of Excedrin and went back to bed for a bit....now I'm upright and at work and wondering how long the day is going to be....
I had hoped to be all bright eyed and bushy tailed by this point in the week....talked to C last night...all is going well....after this weekend they are taking her off the med and she can deliver any time...the baby looks good, is near five pounds and trying to "breathe" on her own :-) So that is a huge answer to prayer.

It's 15º outside...um, yuck? I keep trying to convince Bug that we live in the wrong state.....he just laughs at me......but spring IS coming, right?

So I'll take a deep breath and get through this day and know I can veg tomorrow night...and in the meantime meditate on this:

"You're all I want in heaven! You're all i want on earth! ...I'm in the very presence of God - oh, how refreshing it is!" Psalm 73:25, 28 MSG

I love it when they're wrong....

the weather man was wrong! we got about 4 inches...but not too bad! wahoo!
It's still bitterly cold and my sinuses are so packed my face hurts....but such is life....you'd think I'd be smart enough to stay home in bed...but I'm not....I'm....dedicated...yeah. we'll say dedicated!

Heading "home" for the weekend...my cousin C's baby shower is Saturday.....this baby is such the little miracle...C has had a few miscarriages....and has gone into premature labor a few times with the little one she is carrying now...she's due mid-April but the docs don't think she'll hold out that long....a couple more weeks and they think it will be safe for her to deliver. I am so excited :-)

Snowy Tuesday.....

The weather man says 6-14 inches of the white stuff today...ugh...I pray he's wrong!
The people that looked at my house on Saturday aren't interested....so we'll see what happens with this other guy...I'm refusing to get discouraged or sad this time....something will happen when God says it needs to....so I am attempting to stock up on some patience...too bad they don't sell that at Wal-Mart!
We're both fighting colds....ugh...Bug went back inside at work so he's adjusting to the weird schedule again....I'm still plugging away between work and babysitting....and waiting to hear about the "new" car.....
hope you're having a good day

Saturday was good....

We tasted two more flavors of wedding cake...We are ending up with a main cake and two side cakes...so the baker suggested we do three flavors....so we loved the white cake we tasted the day we ordered it....and this week tried raspberry and strawberry...ohmybob....the raspberry marble was the best cake ever!! SO! we're pretty sure we're going with that!

Then my wonderful Bug....he fixed my car again....Thursday night I was driving down one of the lovely expressway type routes and I hear something under my car.....yep. my muffler.
So I pull over and Bug comes to my rescue and we finish pulling it off and realize that the exhaust pipes we bought labor day weekend have rusted straight through to the point of unraveling. So Saturday we take it to the auto parts place...I set it on the counter and ask the man if they warranty their parts. He looked at it and asked "what is that?" So I tell him it's the exhaust pipe I bought from their store labor day weekend....we end up getting new parts and Bug gets me all squared away (yes....I am looking into replacing the car.....my wonderful mechanic is looking for something for me).

Then we head off to run a million errands.
but the part that was good...you're looking for that....

In the midst of the euphoria of eating good cake....my phone rings...it's my realtor....my house was shown that morning....she's putting a call in later to find out how it went....another person is interested....needs a ranch style house for his mother in law....maybe show the place next weekend....
wahoo!!

Update?

We ordered our wedding cake!
and next weekend we'll taste some more flavors to decide if we're going with the phenominal white cake we tasted or a flavor....wicked cool yes?

Not quite what we planned...

When we planned our weekend....it went something like this:
Depart B City around 6....get to the C Village around 7:30....make some dinner, read....sleep...Get up Saturday....visit O Town and get my ring fixed and cleaned up, make a payment on our bands...venture to A Village to pick up K and her boyfriend....venture to W Village or H Town to let teens be teens....take them home....visit dad and fix my sax....venture home...dinner...sleep....get up Sunday, clean the house and "lock down"....venture to H town to hug people....venture back to B City.....sleep.

Went more like this:
Friday...Eye worked until 6....Bug until around 7....got to C Village around 8:30-9ish....scratch penne, garlic, olive oil, three kinds of peppers, asparagus and mushrooms....instead...have macandcheese....sleep....go get ring fixed....make payment...pick up K and best friend...stop in S Village for some food and arcade games...Head to W Village....let them shop at two stores in plaza...try to bowl...but it's tournaments.....go to B Village for another bowling attempt.....tournaments again....so we take the girls back to mom's and end up making a stop at brother J's house (saw flashing hazzards by his house and being....well...me....had to make sure everything was alright ...it was. flashing lights were the tractor coming home with hay.......shush....I know.... :-P)
anyway, that ended up being cool because Bug hadn't seen J's house yet (he's building it himself!) so we hung there for a while which was cool....then to dad's to fix the sax...had a "gut busting" moment when dad was checking the sax and Dad's austrailian shepherd mix decided to sing along....
head home...order food...have a happy conversation about maybe possible potential interest in the house by the nice man that delivered the food....eat...sleep....
wake up to snow and yuck on Sunday...talk to one of the ones we wanted to hug and discover they're all sick and the weather is nastiness....and the other ones can't make it...so we decide to postpone the visit....take care of some things around the house....head back to B City....without our power steering....yeah. fun adventure.
We left and Bug says "steering is a little stiff." I tell him to kick the ice out from behind the wheels. he does and says it's a little better.....but still stiff. I tell him to pull over at the gas station and I'll check the power steering fluid...it's dry. so we add some and venture off...stopping halfway to put in more fluid....now, I know it needs fluid, but have no idea how much so, no, it didn't occur to me that it was leaking since it was dry again half way...I thought it was just funneling down to where it needed to go. yes. laugh at me. silly girl.
so anyway. we get to W. S. Town and we stop at an auto store...I get a can of stop leak and more fluid.....we put it in and head to Bug's house....steering still not playing nice. so we put in more fluid...I work the wheel to see if it's working....take the car around the block...add more...we do this a a few times...and then....on our last trip back around....I see the puddle of pink snow....yep. leaking right back out.
So of course, I handled it like a mature, responsible woman.
I cried. then I called my daddy, my mommy/stepdad and then my brother. My brother was kind enough to tell me it was going to be alright, don't cry, I'm not going to die....I can drive the car without the power steering, it's just going to be hard (yeah you should see my biceps today...strong like bull!!)...so I stop blubbering....Bug comes back out and says that his dad said the same thing as J brother...so I pull myself together and venture back out with the sweet offer from my brother to call if I get shaken up again (awwww! what a good boy!). So I kiss Bug goodbye, pray for safe travel and venture out....man alive, I will never take power steering for granted again!!
Got it to the shop yesterday....apparently the power steering fluid filter froze and cracked. yep. that was all. So the wonderful mechanic replaced it and around 8:00 last night I once again enjoyed the beauty that is power steering...
I think I've had enough adventures for this week......

Ooh!

Hey! Look at that! We're under 200 days!!
which is awesome because well, we're ready to be married allfreakingready!
still have lots to do...but we'll get there.
we got thrown a monkey wrench yesterday.
The Brown company Bug works for told him the week after our wedding is closed for vacations....so Bug told the man "look, I'm getting married...really need that week off..." so the man is going to talk to his boss and see what he can do....so I'm praying it works out because I don't want to have to be all bridezilla :-D

We have to fly to Virginia for a wedding I'm in in October....so maybe we'll take that week if we can't have our chosen week...dunno.
right now, I'm choosing not to stress about it.

This weekend should rock....gonna take the K sister and her boyfriend out for some fun and then hopefully see some awesome people...yep. you know who you are...world travelers and home bodies and such ;-D

We Survived!

Bug: We're gonna be good at this parenting stuff.
Eye: Yeah I think so.
Bug: It's exhausting.
Eye: Um, yeah.

We watched his two (almost three) year old niece P for the weekend...it was a ball of fun and she's adorable and hilarious and very well behaved...but for us the non-parents....very tiring. We give many many many props to those of you who do this full time!!

Bug got to go home and not enjoy the midnight diaper change.....so I'm a little sleepy this morning...but all in all we had fun.

We took P to Chuck E Cheese and oh my bob how cute were Bug and P!!! We took her shopping and got her a new book and some plush toys....although the funniest was her with her bunny....she'd put him to "bed" in her play refrigerator....

but yeah...it was a ton of fun and great practice for the many many moons down the road when we decide we're ready....but for now, let's focus on getting down the aisle and figuring out how to take care of each other :-D

WAHOO!

"He went Wahoo!
He went wahoo?
when was the last time he went wahoo?
I'm sure I don't know.
when was the last time YOU went wahoo?
well, I'm SURE I don't know."

tee hee. I love that movie.

It's one of those days when I'm ready to run in a hundred directions or just sit down and take a nap. TGIF Friends!
It's been an incredibly long week...and yes, I survived it.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend....we're taking care of Bug's niece!
Ms. P will be 2 in April and is downright adorable!!!
Bug's already got big plans in mind...the mall...Chuck E. Cheese....I hope we have enough energy!!

STILL love me some message....

Romans 8:26 -28 MSG
Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves...and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

Drink it in...let the peace flood your soul, and may your day be blessed.

Color Me Prepared!!!

I think I am now ready to take on the world. Thanks to this site and my J brother's Christmas Gift to me.

I can create safety pins from paperclips and create a mattress shack and forage for edibles and I'm thinking I'm ready to take on the world!!

Spent the weekend in the C Village...it was a good trip....Friday night we vegged in front of Sweet Home Alabama and ate take out...Saturday we ventured in to O town and saw my daddy, got my ring re-tipped and put the deposit on our wedding bands....ventured off to do a little shopping and then delightful pancakes at a little place in the P Vill....mmm...all you can eat and you can even change up your flavors...and I'm not even a pancake fan. However, I did eat three blueberry pancakes and was sad when there wasn't room in my stomach for more...
Then off for a quick stop by Dad's to get some colloidal silver...you see the Bug had an emergency root canal and is still facing a bit of the infection...however...this colloidal silver stuff is good!! It's what I used on my face after chewing on the airbag...and look ma' no scars!! I've also used it on canker sores, strep throat and athlete's foot to see amazing recoveries. Gotta love natural antibiotics....google it and you'll discover the wonders ;-D
After seeing Dad we ventured home and played Scene it and then had a candlelit dinner....sorry, no pics....after my delightful mint chocolate bit the dust twice in two weeks and they told me "these are known issues" and that even though I'm under manufacturer's warranty...it's $50 to fix it....I reactivated my dinosaur of an LG and await September to get a new phone for free....so no pics but it calls out, receives calls and I can text, so really, I can't whine too much.....

but I digress. dinner...yes...rotini a la vodka, salad with homemade (!!) Italian herb dressing (yep, from scratch, not a mix!), garlic bread and bananas foster ice cream for dessert....then another round of scene it...it was fun! Bug annihilated me but we had a good time.

Sunday we ventured off to A town to see my mommy and a couple of the sibs....saw the progress the J brother is making on his house - can I just say I am so incredibly impressed!?!?!?! He is doing an amazing job building this place and I wish I had pics to post!

Then we made nachos, watched Macguiver and laughed at how we used to think he was so high tech and that show was the living edge....and then ventured back to the BCity.....

Terribly exciting isn't it? This weekend we get to fix my car...again...tell me that doesn't sound like a big stinking pile of fun.

But every day brings us one day closer to August so I'll get up, smile and venture on.....

I PASSED!!!!!

Yep!!! I am now a certified administrative professional!!! (see this) and Yes, I've been jumping up and down and chick flailing and crying those happy tears....*WHEW* what a relief!!!

Well, I'm impressed...

My sibs did this....

nope. no photo shopping involved. they had a lot of snow...and a lot of time on their hands....and they created this.....pretty cool huh?

As Christmas (and Bug's birthday) rapidly approach....I scramble for last minute gifts, ingredients for yummy treats and wonder just how many cars can fit into a parking lot......I'm forced to stop for a breath and remember why we do all of this....the real reason for the season....Jesus' birth...family togetherness.....and I smile and plod on...wishing those clerks a Merry Christmas.....even when they get all startled and wish me Happy Holidays....

I've decided not to get offended by it....because well, to stand there and wish each customer Merry Christmas, Happy New Year is exhausting...... ;-)

May the joy of the season surround you, may you be filled with God's peace, may your joy be complete in the promises of Christ.

Merry Christmas to all!

Thanksgiving

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endureth forever.

Just a few of the starters.......

It's deep dish peach....and no. it's not a "non-pie" because it's rectangle ;-) I set up a little buffet behind dad....I actually got to use ALL of my crockpots for one meal!!
Methinks me father enjoyed the meal ;-)
Me brother too.....
It was a successful dinner!! sorry I wasn't able to snap more yummy shots....I got up at 4:30 to put the turkey in the oven (threw out my back doing so...thank God for strong fiances!)...my H sister knocked on the front door a few hours later so I made her a mocha and myself a macchiato....and then the Bug and Eye ventured to Giant for just a couple things....and then I began to make the largest mess ever out of my kitchen to create a feast :-) and not one of my family members picked on me for having a large rectangle deep dish peach pie.....

It was so nice having so much of my family there....it was a good day...and as I sat at the table with a full plate and surrounded by the ones I love....the aches left my body and I forgot about the effort to make the meal, and I smiled.

As we enter this Christmas season, I pray that you are blessed beyond measure and that the peace of God that passes all understanding saturates your soul and home.

know what?? know what???

I get to get up at 4 a.m. and put a turkey in the oven!! and then I get to spend ALL DAY in my kitchen!!!!!!! I get to make a huge feast and serve it to my family!!!!!!
Yes, I am genuinely excited! I'm hosting dinner for 8 at my place...and it shall be divine! Thus sayeth Eye!!
Pictures to follow...provided I can pull my hands out of the flour and such to take them.....

now this is cool.

So my IAAP newsletter included this link this month...
So of course, I clicked away and wow....instantly this woman was brought to mind...as was this one....
I mean how many times am I surrounded by paperclips but no safety pins?
this site would make Macguiver smile!!

So...

It's Thursday.
Dropped the price on my house today. Learned that the lack of garage/basement is deterring people...which kinda sucks a bit...
*sigh*

Weekend....success!

So...we went to the little C Village for the weekend with every intention of being vegetables...didn't quite work out like that, but it was a good weekend...Friday night we ordered a veggie pizza and watched a movie....Saturday...we chased my mother around Otown in an attempt to shop with her. I still maintain she was trying to ditch us ;-) She says she was just trying to not let us see Christmas presents.....

We thought we'd get home late morning/early afternoon, veg for a while, maybe head to H town or something...yeah...got home early evening....popped in a movie...I made dinner...we finished the movie and rubbed each other's feet with tingly mint lotion (man I love Bath & Body Works!) and that was the ball game....

Sunday...ah Sunday....we had a bridal show slated for the day....so we knew we were headed back to the City earlier than usual.


My eyes flew open at 7:30 and wouldn't close, despite the fact that I didn't need to be up for at least two more hours...

so...for some reason I thought it would be a grand day to watch the video from my high school grad party...nearly 10 years ago....
I smiled when I saw this one and the 2 month old TINY baby....cried when the heaven dwelling brother showed up on screen...and had a good laugh at the adeptness (stop laughing.) of my volleyball skills...

then I decided the day must be productive.


And how is this done? Simple!

Find the laundry room floor after cleaning out the linen closets a couple weeks ago and discovering that EVERYTHING must be washed.

Gather your fuel making ingredients.

Check on the strawberry muffins...(forgot to take the pic of them in the bowl...sorry...)

Make the espresso...

Pair the uber yummy muffin with a raspberry cappuccino...
Serve to the adorable fiance...

Kick your feet up and enjoy...

Let him read for a bit....

and then venture off!!!
yes. it is a sticker. it says here comes the bride.

And should the bridal show not be all it was hailed to be....

comfort yourself with food you shouldn't be eating anyway....

REMINDER

http://www.fathersloveletter.com/fllpreviewlarge.html

I don't think I need to say another word.