Ruby

It wasn't always easy and I'll just say it's a good thing she is sooo stinkin' cute :) Here are a few of my favorite pics of Ruby so far...

Playing Catchup

At some point I'll update this enough so every post doesn't have to start with a comment about how I haven't posted in forever... maybe I'll make a new year's resolution to keep up with this blog. Ok, just made it :)

So, of course a lot has happened in the past 2 and 1/2 years. One of the biggest things is this:

In November of 2009 we bought our first home! It has been quite a bit of work but so much fun and we love having a house! It really is the perfect house for us. Here are a few things that we did because of the house purchase:

Here is a list of what I can remember that we've done to our house:

• removed wallpaper (lots of it! lots of layers of it!) and painted
• sanded the upstairs paneling and painted
• replaced toilets
• replaced old weird bathroom vanity
• ripped out old carpet
• refinished hardwood floors (already under the carpet! lucky us!)
• removed popcorn texture on ceilings
• replaced old light fixtures
• replaced all the light switch covers (simple but makes a big difference)
• transplanted bushes from front flower bed to create a hedge in front of window
• planted lots and lots of daisies around porch
• tilling and planting garden

I wish that I was keeping up with this blog throughout the whole process of working on our house and all the projects we did cause, I'm not going to lie, it is a little dream of mine to have one of those cute home decorating / project blogs that thousands of people look to for advice... maybe someday! ha! :) For now, I hope my mom and sisters enjoy it!

Not sure what to do...

It's been a while again since I've posted... I didn't end up doing the Special K diet the whole time but did lose a few pounds anyways, softball has started up (going pretty well too!!), Adam went to Nebraska (No Turkeys) then LA (got some good work done) then I went to LA to spend the weekend with him (we had a lot of fun!) and now the latest thing we are dealing with is a sick kitty :( It's soooo sad and really stresses me out because I know she is uncomfortable but it's so hard to know what to do. We took her in initially because she was scooting around and making frequent trips to the litter box and they found she had a lot of bacteria in her urine and they also did an xray to make sure it wasn't something more serious and found she was super constipated! They gave us antibiotics for her infection and sent her home and said if she didn't "relieve" herself soon she'd have to get an enema done. Well, when I got home from work and saw her I noticed she was limping... I called the vet and they didn't know why she would be doing that but thought it could be because she was constipated which I didn't think was the case since it was just her left leg. Well, then as the night went on and the next day we noticed it was her right leg sometimes and then it progressed to where she was walking funny on both her back legs! I called the next day and they said we needed to take her in for the enema. I got an estimate on the price and it was going to be another $235!! (We'd spent almost $300 already the first appt!!) So... I called our old vet and got an estimate from them on what we had already had done and what the other vet was saying she needed and it was basically half the price! So... we took her into the old vet the next day and took her xray for them to look at and they thought she should try a stool softener and pain medicine and see if that works. Well, 2 days later it doesn't seem to be doing a whole lot... maybe has worked a little but it's really hard to tell with 2 cats who is doing what... She is still walking funny too so I called the vet this morning and they are going to call me back with what they think we should do... Anyways, that's kinda what's on my mind right now... how hard this is for me trying to make her feel better makes me realize how hard it must be to care for REAL kids :) So we'll see what the vet says later today... I just hope we can get her feeling better soon!

I know... I know...

That title actually refers to a couple different things... I know... I know... I haven't posted a new blog in a long time! I try to tell myself that not much has been going on, but that makes it seem like the blogs I did earlier were REALLY important or something... :) Also, I know... I know... the "Special K Challenge" is a major marketting gimmick but... me, Greta and my mom are doing it anyways! As I've realized over the past couple days, not as many people are aware of it as I thought. Basically, you only eat Special K product for breakfast, lunch and 2 snacks and have a normal dinner. (which for me has meant Skyline one night and lasagna last night...hmmm maybe not what they meant when they said "normal") So, for breakfast Greta and I have 2 waffles with lite syrup and fruit (strawberries today), then around 10.30 we have a snack. I usually have a snack bar but today I had a package of their multigrain crackers. All of it is portioned to be 90 calories for the snack. Then, for lunch we have 1 cup of Red Berries cereal and some more fruit and some carrot sticks. Then, at 3:00 (8 min ago) I had a "Chocolately Drizzle" snack bar. That drizzle is a very mere drizzle too! The plan is to do it for 2 weeks and this is day 3 so we'll see! I think we can make it! Being able to eat a normal dinner really makes it easier! Supposedly you can lose 6lbs in 2 weeks. We'll see :)

My Zone

So, lately (as Adam puts it) I've been nesting... not the "nesting" that happens when you are having a baby but some other kind that I've invented when you suddenly, after 5 years of working somewhere, decide your desk area needs some sprucing up :) It's gone beyond that too where I've actually taken great care to organize my drawers and file cabinets that no one even sees! I think maybe I've just really come to realize that this is the job I'll most likely have till I don't have to work anymore so why not make my little office zone more appealing to me? Plus, I don't have my own office so this zone I create is all I have. I got some new trays to hold some paperwork for Christmas from my mom, a really cute desk calendar from Jen, and just this weekend I added the two 3-ring binders in the cute patterns. It's starting to look pretty cute :) I'm still on a mission to find some stacking trays (I'm thinking white) to take the place of a tower 7 trays high I have right now now that is black. An awesome website for cute office stuff is seejanework.com

(The mouse pad is a gift from my boss...kinda tricky to replace) :) (The tower on the left is what I want to replace so it is white...)
(I want a new basket too now that I see this picture!)

Adventures in Babysitting

So, Adam and I babysat our friend Kevin's baby Jennahvieve on Tuesday night... there weren't really many adventures like my blog title would suggest, but it was pretty fun! Mostly because she is just sooo cute and seems like such a perfect little baby. She didn't fuss even once and we were there from 6:30 till around 11:30! Plus, she didn't ever poop in her diaper! :) Good girl! We changed her a couple times though just in case... Also, she was enthralled with Adam! (Girl's got good taste!) :) It was pretty funny! I was trying to feed her and she wouldn't stop staring at him so I made him move next to me on the couch so when she was looking at him she was still looking in my direction too so I could feed her! It definitely made me excited to have our own baby! I know Adam will be such a great dad and it'll be so fun to see him with our kids :) It also made me excited for our new niece or nephew! We'll find out in 4 days when Jen and Chad get their ultrasound! I'm guessing boy for some reason so we'll see!

We've both taken up smoking!

Adam and I decided it is about time we become smokers... we've gone this long in life without it but we knew we were missing out :) We had our maiden smoking experience on Saturday. Adam was planning on getting up at 5 to start the pork butt (hehe) and he told me Friday night when we were going to bad that it was my job to make sure he got up when his alarm goes off. Well, lo and behold I stirred awake at 5 as I noticed he was getting out of bed and I hadn't even heard his alarm go off! That's because it didn't go off! Like a kid excited for Christmas morning, he woke up at 4:58 just before his alarm went off cause he was so excited :) I know he was planning on putting it in and then going back to bed but he ended up staying up. I got up around 9:30 :) He added woodchips probably about every hour and sprayed a vinegar mixture on it every so often and at 5pm he took it out so it could rest for an hr. (it had had a very long day) :) Our guests (the fam) came over around 6 and by 6.15 we were eating pulled pork sandwiches with 2 homemade bbq sauces, potato salads, coleslaw, baked beans and several chip options. It was soooo good! I'd say we are both pretty addicted to smoking!

Not much going on...

I never did get a Thanksgiving blog done but I guess I've probably already talked to anyone who reads this about how it went. Plus, I have pics on facebook and flickr. Not too much out of the ordinary has been going on with us... Adam was SUPER busy last week finishing up a project for his friend Chris Keegan. Chris is playing a show in Baton Rouge when he goes home for Christmas and really wanted to be able to have CD's to sell at it so Adam had around a week to get it all finished up. It was a ton of work and really late nights, but he got it done! It all sounds really good too! The week before he had to finish this 1 song for a girl name Corrie Carlson in Chicago which was a last minute thing as well. Seems like that happens a lot with Indie projects where they don't have a clear deadline until all of a sudden they need to be finished immediately. I haven't been too busy at work... I think things are pretty slow with construction right now so that affects how much work we have to do as well. Oh! We (well, Adam basically did it) :) made chicken fried steak last night with mashed potatoes and gravy, and it was sooo yummy! It was the first time we've made it and I forsee many more makings of it in the future! Because I don't really have any pics to post I thought I'd put a random one up of when me, Adam and Jeremy went to St. Louis. This was in the "pod" on the way up in the arch. :) Don't they look just thrilled? :)

Sad night at Casa Fiesta...

So, it has been a while since I've blogged but something rather "exciting" happened last night to me, Adam and Jeremy so I thought I would tell what happened. After much discussion of where to go to eat last night, Jeremy was nice enough to drive all the way past our area to go to Casa Fiesta cause I was craving their Chimichanga (which is the best in town by the way!). We got there around 7pm and Adam and I waited just a few minutes in the bar area for Jeremy to get there. I noticed a couple with a little girl sitting at a booth near us and actually thought for a second how it will be crazy to have a baby someday and going out to eat with it and everything. We sat down and were eating, and I noticed some cop car lights outside but just figured they were from something going on on Nolensville Rd. They were there a really long time and I noticed more (there were some little curtains between us and the window so we could just see out a little)... then we saw an ambulance but didn't think a whole lot of it. After a while longer other people were looking out the window next to us so we looked out and there was yellow police tape all around the parking lot and actually blocking our cars in too cause Adam and I were parked right up next to the building by the front door. Jeremy noticed they had moved the bench inside the doorway so that it was blocking the exit so we were pretty much trapped in there! We started to really wonder what was going on... Adam got up to ask the host but he said he didn't really know but Adam saw in the entryway there was blood on the ground! Well, a girl who was sitting on the other side of the restaurant came over by us and she said there was a gun shot right outside the window by their table and that a man who was in the restaurant was shot when he stepped outside for a phone call! I guess he had started to come back in the restaurant after he got shot so that's how the blood got in there, but they went outside to help him so he didn't come in. When they were talking about him they said he was there with his girlfriend and her daughter and I asked if he had a lot of hair pulled back in a pony tail and they said he did so I'm pretty sure it was the man at the table I noticed :( They took him to the hospital and everything, but I found out this morning on the internet that he ended up passing away. They wouldn't let us leave the restaurant till after 9 and we had to talk to an officer and give him our name and address info. I was getting really irritated at all the people in the restaurant being frustrated they had to stay inside while the police documented everything because at least we were all inside and safe when someone else had just lost his life. It was sooo sad because I guess they wouldn't let his girlfriend leave so she was in the restaurant still and she was just crying so hard, and I felt so sad for her.

Maybe I'll do another blog later about the rest of our Thanksgiving weekend, and I'll have some pics later too.

Family, Food & Fun

This weekend we went to Adam's parents lake house in Lafollette, TN at Norris Lake. It was his mom's 50th birthday on Friday so we drove there after work and suprised her late Friday night! Blake (Adam's brother) and his wife Chandler who are from Cincinnati suprised her too and arrived not long before we got there. His sister Julie was going to be getting there from Richmond, VA where she dances at the Richmond Ballet so we were all excited about that too! Saturday we watched the NE game (We won!) and during that when Beth was in the shower Julie got there so she hid in the stairwell when Beth came downstairs and snuck out and suprised her which was really fun! :) Beth was so excited to see her! We had to leave for dinner at 5 for our 6.30 reservation so we all got all dressed up and ready and headed to Knoxville. We ate at a place called The Orangery. We arrived at 6.30 and weren't even given our menus till probably 7 or so. They intentionally give you a while to wind down and enjoy whatever you are drinking etc. It was a little odd but actually quite nice. We all got a first course (I got the veal ravioli and Adam got the Fois Gras) I didn't try his but mine was really yummy! For our entrees I got the Beef Wellington and Adam got the lamb. Again, I won in ordering :) We all tried each other's dishes and everything was really tasty! We all got dessert too and got a variety so we could try a little of everything. Well, Beth didn't order dessert which worked out well because they brought her out chocolate mousse with Happy Birthday written on the plate. We were there till almost 10, and it was a really wonderful evening! Sunday we went out on the boat for a while to see the pretty fall colors. The only set back at first was that the boat battery was dead so Adam had to pull the Tahoe up to jump the boat. Rufio (their dog) was really cute on the boat too! It was a really fun weekend and so nice that we could all be their together! Here are a few pics!

Weekend Activities

This started off as a pretty uneventful weekend for us. I was really tired and slept quite a bit Saturday afternoon. We did watch Nebraska win though! :) But then, Sunday we went with Jeremy to the Music and Molasses festival at the Agriculture Center near our house. It was actually a lot of fun! We have a lot of different festivals (Mule Day, All about Goats, Renaissance, Greek, Hot Chicken etc.) and you never quite know what you are going to get at each one but I was rather impressed by this one! EXCEPT... we didn't find any molasses. We did see a sheep herding demonstration with border collies (really, really cute!), I got to play a lap dulcimer, Adam had a turkey leg, Jeremy had roasted corn and I had a homemade root beer float, we watched a little old lady making some fabric, saw cotton plants and watched the cloggers who seem to make an appearance at all the Tennessee festivals. I really think someday I'd like to have some kind of item that I take around and sell at all the events... not sure what it is yet though. Last night we went to Michael's and he and Greta made dinner for us and Jen and Chad and then wehad Dippin Dots for dessert. So, Saturday was a pretty lazy day but we made up for it yesterday! We have softball tonight so should have more to report tomorrow! Enjoy the pics from the festival.

Just a Few of My Favorite Pictures

And so it begins...

I finally gave in and decided to start a blog. I was thinking about how I enjoy looking at other people's even if they probably think what the are writing isn't too interesting so I thought maybe there's a chance people would enjoy looking at mine... maybe :) I don't know that there is a whole lot going on in our life right now to write about but I'm sure some things will come up eventually. At this moment the biggest thing on my mind is our living room wall and trying to figure out how to complete the "look" of our living room :) Told you not much is going on! I'm going to try to attach a photo of the new wall decal we got. It was smaller than we thought so we need to figure out what to do with the rest of the wall... It is a pic from my phone so the quality might not be too great. Well, we'll see how the blogging comes along! Till another day...