the sink debacle

All I wanted for my anniversary was a new kitchen sink. After all, the old one was boring and ugly, I could never make it look nice no matter how clean it was, and the faucet leaked. After much trial and tribulation (we bought one sink, it didn't fit right, so we bought another one, same thing again...) and paying the plumber for hours of work with nothing to show for it, we finally have our new sink. I ordered it Thursday morning from a place with a nearby warehouse, and it arrived Friday afternoon. I rushed over to pick it up and the plumber came on Saturday to put it in. Yay! So, without further ado...here's the old sink:
And here's the new sink still in the box with Sam testing it out:
And finally, our new sink:
Yay! I'm so happy with it! Happy anniversary to us. 8 years. Wow!

and...i'm up.

Right now I'm so mad...I want to destroy something. It's after 3am and I'm STILL awake. What I want to know is this: why do I have insomnia on the nights before my BUSIEST days???? I'm going to need energy for tomorrow!!!! It makes me SO MAD!!!! Does anyone know of a good cure for insomnia? This is seriously affecting me this semester. And there's no reason I should be awake. Today was busy and I spent over 5 hours on my feet without sitting down once. AND I taught a class. And did a million other things!

What a great way to start our anniversary.

>:(

a great day

I am blogging from my brand new adorable TINY laptop that I got today! It's so small, it's really hard to type on. I have to type slower than usual, but I think I'll eventually get used to it. It's the size of a portable DVD player! Insane. Here's a link: Eee PC

Brian also got a new 22" HD flatscreen monitor today - he's been wanting one forever and now that he's making games for the iPhone, he needs something bigger than his laptop to program on. He set up a temporary workspace in the kitchen tonight - we will be re-vamping the piano room after Christmas so he can have a workspace in there. When I came in to see what he was doing, here's what I found: How cute is that?! It was nice to put the dining room back together...he's had his workspace in there for awhile and it has gotten messy!

So we had a great day today. It's been awhile since we had a whole day with nothing on the agenda. I can't even remember when the last one was. Anyway, we stayed up late last night playing cards with Tim and Christi (girls won both rounds, yeah!) and after they left, we stayed up even longer, just getting things cleaned up and lounging around. We turned off the phones last night and slept VERY late this morning - it felt great! It has been nice just to be together.

Tomorrow we're going to Disney after church. We want to ride Everest - every time we go, the line is too long. But tomorrow we're just going to tough it out! Our anniversary is Tuesday, so it's perfect timing to have a non-stressful weekend together. :)

For our anniversary, we bought a new kitchen sink and faucet today. I cannot WAIT to have it installed - the plumber is coming on Wednesday to do it. Our sink now leaks - it's the faucet, it leaks all over behind the sink and we constantly have a puddle of water there. It drives me nuts. So I am really excited about my new sink!

Well, I want to get a little more work done before bed. Kindermusik is awesome and I will give an update on that soon. Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

wow

Oh my goodness, has it really been over a month since I've posted? Wow. September has been REALLY busy. I'm now working with the kids at our church, and I also agreed (apparently in a moment of weakness) to fill in for the church secretary for the month of September. Those two things along with Kindermusik and piano lessons have taken up more than all of my time. There have been many days when I've said to Brian, through tears, that there aren't enough hours in the day. I really don't know what I'd do without Brian - he's helped hold things together here on the homefront...cooking, cleaning, and overall just being my rock. :)

However, this month is almost over and once the secretary thing is off my plate I think I'll be ok. Never again. That's all I'm saying.

My cousin Chris got married last weekend to Gloria. We have loved Gloria from day one and we are more than thrilled that they are married! The wedding was absolutely gorgeous and I was honored to be a part of the ceremony - I got to sing in an awesome trio and I also played keyboard on a few songs. It was fabulous to have our old band together again!

Our Kindermusik semester is flying by...we're already halfway through! I can hardly believe it! My classes are just amazing - I love the kids so much and all the funny things they do and say. I'm teaching an "older" class (4 & 5 year olds) this semester and I'm just amazed at the musicality of the class. They can clap quarter notes and they say "shh" for quarter rests, and I'm so proud of them. I have more students than I ever dreamed I would have beginning my second year!

Brian is doing great. He's loving his job and he's happy that Apple is letting people make games for the iPhone and sell them on iTunes. He's been working on a few games for awhile and he hopes to put one of them up for sale on iTunes this weekend. He's got some cool stuff going on at work, so look for some major news soon!

That's about all. I'm just barely keeping my head above water - but today I've been working hard and feel like I can take a minute to post. I'd also like to say that I am really REALLY missing my friends from New York lately. I've been thinking about them ALL the time and I have been horrible at keeping in touch. So girls, if you're reading, I LOVE you guys and I MISS you!!!!

Did I mention the cooler weather? It makes me so happy! It still gets in the high 80s during the day, but the mornings and evenings are MUCH cooler. I love it. Bye for now...

things you never think you'll hear on the news

"there are fish on the runway" (at the airport)

"be careful of standing water - there could be fish, alligators, or snakes in it"

"a fish just swam by me on the street"

"catfish are swimming up people's sidewalks"

We're ok. In our area, we've just had some heavy rains and just today we had some high winds. We feel fortunate that we weren't hit hard by Tropical Storm Fay. This afternoon I stood at my sliding glass door and watched as our neighbors' tent flew all around their yard - it nearly blew over the fence and into our yard three different times before it tore into several pieces!

It has not stopped raining all day. I rather like the rain, since it means the sun is not relentlessly beating down on us! But tonight we discovered some moisture around some of our windows. Yuck. The carpet in our bedroom is pretty damp under the window. We set up our dehumidifier, hoping to dry it out, but I'm worried about mold. Maybe we'll have to get new flooring! That wouldn't be so bad. (Except the part where it costs money!)

jump right in

I have officially survived my first week of the semester. Boy, am I exhausted!

I decided that I would just jump right into my new routine with both feet. So I started a new exercise routine this week, too. I've been walking 3 nights a week with my wonderful friend Sarah, but the walking just doesn't seem to have the same effect that it used to have. So I decided to join a gym that has classes. I know that I will go to classes.

So on Monday, I taught one class and then did some work at home, then went to Pilates. It was HARD, but really fun!

Then Tuesday I could barely move, but I had a super busy day! I had 2 Kindermusik classes, then piano lessons until about 6:00. I cooked dinner, walked with Sarah, showered, and fell in bed.

Wednesday: 3 KM classes, more piano lessons, cooked dinner, worked on the computer, crawled to bed.

Thursday 3 KM classes, worked on the computer, sat down to eat lunch and fell asleep for about 30 minutes, more work, then did an open house at a preschool. Practically had to be carried to bed.

This morning, I got up and went to a Body Pump class at the gym. It was SO HARD but super fun. I went with a friend and she and I were both hanging onto the stair rail for dear life after class. It was SO hard to go down the stairs!!!! It was like one leg alone was too weak to hold me up! :)

Anyway, today I have more work to do and I need to figure out something for dinner. Tomorrow I have a class in the morning, Sunday is church...I'm feeling like I'm not going to have much free time this semester. Things will settle down, though...right?

pacing, calling, working

It's that time when the Kindermusik schedule starts going crazy and I start having more thoughts than my brain can hold! It's exciting! I am SO THRILLED that my program is doing so well, words just can't express.

I pace when I'm on the phone. I walk all around the house, stop to pet the cats, and keep walking. By the time I'm off the phone I'm usually sweating. Does anyone else do this? I used to never do this! But I think it's because I WANT to multi-task, but it's hard to do that and concentrate on your conversation on the phone.

In other news, KINDERMUSIK. That's what's occupying my brain right now. Maybe something else will happen in my life once the schedule is finally set and the semester starts.

lm tag

My favorite scrapbooking site, Lifetime Moments, has been down for most of the week. So my friend Melissa started a game of LM tag! Here's the list:

Mestebla
Melissa
Mandipig
Becca
Jen Kalyn
Kysha
Montana's Mom
Angie
Simply Susan
AnnaMarie
Arlyn
JenniB
Stephanie
Renee
Jen Bergeron
Wendy
Kate
Nichole
Shamrock

Go leave someone a comment! Or leave me one! And have a great day!

(I'm too busy working on the Kindermusik schedule (again!) to worry about blogging right now! Maybe later!) ;)

ing or een

Since when did everyone become too lazy to properly pronounce the suffix ing? For the "ng" sound, the back of your tongue must lift toward your soft palate. Which is QUITE different than the "een" sound, during which the tip of your tongue comes right up behind your teeth. Seriously. I'm SO SICK of hearing people say things like "workeen" or "playeen"!!!! Are you REALLY that lazy? Too lazy to pronounce ing???? What really gets me is when people say "singeen" - like they are not too lazy to pronounce the first ing, but they just can't bring themselves to do it twice.

I probably shouldn't have gotten on this subject, because now I'm thinking of 4 million other commonly mispronounced words. And don't even get me started on spelling.

I think that in my old age I'm becoming less patient with things like this. Of course, I don't say it to the person, I just vent to Brian or my brother or dad, because they understand, sympathize, and agree. :)

So. I have about a week and a half until fall semester starts. Kindermusik is crazy as ever. My classroom is in the middle of being remodeled, so we're going to be in another room for awhile, which is ok. I can't wait to get back in MY room. I need to go to Ikea and find some fun things to put in there. Right now I'm working really hard on getting my classes filled and studying the curricula. I'm also trying to work ahead on my weekly emails, newsletters, and etc. It's exciting, fun, and exhausting!

That's all for now. I have to study. I actually just spent about 30 minutes playing through some old piano pieces I played in high school and middle school. It was fun. I should play more often! OK, off to study! More updates later. ;)

how boring am i?

I do have stuff to write. I'm not in a funk from my birthday. (I was, but it only lasted for like 2 days.) I have things to say. What I don't have is time! I will write more soon, I promise!

stop this train

Well, I'm turning 35 tomorrow. I have a quiet day planned; I'm finished preparing for my lessons for Tuesday except that I need to take some things over to the classroom. I also need to run to Lowe's. Other than that, the house is clean and I'm planning to scrap the day away. Brian is in charge of dinner - we haven't decided if he's cooking or if we're going out. Not an exciting birthday, but a pretty good one in my book.

And I can't quite articulate my feelings about this birthday. I'm not really sad or worried...I'm reflective. Lately, I can't get enough of John Mayer's "Continuum," so I'll let this song explain it for me:

No, I'm not colorblind
I know the world is black and white
Try to keep an open mind
But I just can't sleep on this tonight

Stop this train, I wanna get off and go home again
I can't take the speed it's moving in, I know I can't
But honestly, won't someone stop this train

Don't know how else to say it
Don't wanna see my parents go
One generation's length away
From fighting life out on my own

Stop this train, I wanna get off and go home again
I can't take the speed it's moving in, I know I can't
But honestly, won't someone stop this train

So scared of getting older
I'm only good at being young
So I play the numbers game
To find a way to say that life has just begun

Had a talk with my old man
Said, "Help me understand."
He said, "Turn sixty-eight,
You renegotiate...

Don't stop this train, don't for a minute change the place you're in
And don't think I couldn't ever understand, I tried my hand,
So honestly, we'll never stop this train."

Once in awhile when it's good
It'll feel like it should
And they're all still around,
And you're still safe and sound
And you don't miss a thing
Till you cry when you're driving away in the dark,

Singing stop this train, I wanna get off and go home again
I can't take the speed it's moving in, I know I can't
Cause now I see I'll never stop this train

vacation pictures

I am aware that it's still my birthday month. I have things to say, but I'm trying to put them into words.

Jesus Christ, Superstar was awesome!! Corey Glover, who used to be the lead singer of Living Colour, a cool band from the late 80s/early 90s, played the character of Judas. He was amazing! I'm so glad we got to see this play!! I love the music, too! I recommend seeing it if you have the chance.

OK, here are some pictures from vacation.
This is Sofiya, the one-month-old leopard we got to see! Can you believe it?!!
This bear loved peeking at us from his pool.
Brad & Kari on the top level of Busch Stadium.
Brian's first Major League game!
Many things were explained.
Mandi & I at the arch.
Brian in the top of the arch. A conversation between Brian and I at the top of the arch:
Brian - I can feel it moving.
Me - Yeah, it has to move a little or it would just fall right over!
Brian - Let's not use the words "fall right over!"

Mandi & Brad in the arch.
In Tennessee, Mama Taylor took us out to see her corn.
Brian at the World of Coca Cola Museum in Atlanta.

2500 miles

We're back from vacation. We're tired and overwhelmed with real life, trying to get back into the swing of things. We got home Thursday night and spent part of yesterday recuperating and the other part cleaning my new temporary Kindermusik classroom. We cleaned more today and moved things in, and we'll clean more tomorrow - we have to shampoo the carpet.

All in all, we drove right around 2500 miles on our vacation. We left here and drove straight through to St. Louis, where we met up with my friend Mandi and her family and spent a day at the zoo - in the rain, no less. Then Brad & Kari came and we all ate at the Spaghetti Factory (yum!) and then Brad, Kari, Brian, and I went to a Cardinals game. It was Brian's first MLB game, and sadly, the Cards got stomped by the Phillies. The score was 20-2, pretty ridiculous. The next day we all went to the arch together, including Mandi and her husband Brad. Yes, we had Mandi and Brad, Kari and Brad, and Kerri and Brian. :) After the arch we went shopping, and then Brad and Kari went home and we went to church with Brad & Mandi the next day, Mandi & I played a piano duet (fun!), and we went out to eat. Then we took off to see my grandmother in Tennessee and finished our trip in Atlanta. Whew. It was a whirlwind.

Did I mention that Mandi and I met on Lifetime Moments? :) I will write more about vacation later and share pictures.

Tonight we're going to see Jesus Christ, Superstar. Brian is taking me for an early birthday present. Life is busy and wonderful.

happy june!

June is my birthday month and I have lots of thoughts about that. But they are for another day.

I've been scrapping this weekend! It's the big kickoff of Summer Scrapfest at Lifetime Moments!! I love Scrapfest - it always motivates me to get lots of stuff done. So I was scrapping on Saturday and got up from my desk for just a minute, and when I came back, I found this:
Come on! How am I supposed to scrap?! =^..^=

Anyway, here are some of the projects I did over the weekend. Enjoy.

a HUGE waste of time

Last night, Brian and I watched Cloverfield. It is truly unfortunate that I will never get that hour and a half of my life back. I like most movies, but this one was simply ridiculous. There was no point!! Let me warn you of possible spoilers now (I'm SO rolling my eyes) - but here's the plot: a monster attacks Manhattan. That's it!! They didn't bother with details such as where the monster came from, if it was ever destroyed, what happened to Manhattan, etc. It was just this attack and then the movie ended. My opinion: don't waste your time.

the lost has been found

That's right, I'm back. It has been so long that I have dreaded the thought of trying to remember everything we've done over the past month or so! I will try to give an adequate update, starting with this past weekend.

On Friday we headed out around lunchtime for Tampa. We visited the Big Cat Rescue and took an awesome tour! It was one of the neatest things we've done in a long time. Below are several pictures that we took of the cats. I was just fascinated, despite the heat. They were so adorable and you could tell many of them were pretty hot, too. One tiger named T.J. even got in his pool to show off for us. It was fabulous!!

After the tour, we went on to St. Petersburg where we spent the rest of the weekend. We stayed in a wonderful bed and breakfast, Inn at the Bay. It was luxurious and relaxing. We spent the weekend doing a whole lot of nothing, and boy did we need that! We've both been working so much and we needed to unwind and recharge. Saturday Brian surprised me with a couples massage that he had arranged earlier. It was heavenly! Sunday afternoon we came home and then met some friends for dinner and a movie, Prince Caspian. It was great! All in all, it was a spectacular weekend.

Some other rather large news is that I resigned from my church. Yes, folks, we are now undergoing the great church search. Although we LOVED Winter Haven and really felt at home there, with gas prices climbing, the hour-one-way drive was getting pretty old. Not to mention that we were gone 7-8 hours every Sunday, meaning that Sunday had turned into another work day. April 27 was my last Sunday and I greatly miss my boys in the band. I'm hoping to still be able to play with them on occasion.

Let's see...my cousin Chris got engaged to his fabulous and amazing girlfriend, Gloria. We love her and we cannot wait for her to be part of the family!! We haven't seen them since they've been engaged, but we hope to get together with them soon for dinner. Maybe we'll try out their church. :)

The first weekend of May we went to Ft. Myers to see my grandparents. They have since gone back to KY, so we were at least able to get in a quick visit before they left. I don't know what I can really publicly say about the visit - I guess I'll say that senility is a very sad thing. Nan and Pops aren't who they used to be. :(

My Kindermusik semester has ended and I have a few weeks off. Summer camps start near the end of June and I already miss the kids, so I'm looking forward to that. The church is renovating my room and I'm SUPER excited about it! Stay tuned for pictures of the demolition and remodeling.

I have 2 days left at the Montessori school and I've already informed them that I won't be back next year. I really enjoyed the people there and the kids too, but my life has just gotten too busy. Health and exercise have taken a back burner and I promised myself I wouldn't let that happen again. I don't want to gain my weight back or let my life get out of control again. So now I only have ONE job, Kindermusik, and I'll be able to focus on my own studio and still have the time and energy to eat well and exercise.

Let's see. I think that's just about all. I'm sure there are more things to tell you about, but I can't think of them right now and I just want to get a post done so you'll all know that we're still alive down here! So, more later.

AND - YAY! DAVID COOK WON! :D

OK, here are the cat pictures. Amazing. I'm ready to go back.

idol yawns

I don't know what's up with Idol this year. First of all, I'm just not as into it as I usually am. Second of all, last night was really weird!! The best singers did just ok, and the bad singers did pretty well (for them). I still think that Kristi Lee Cook (aka Country Bumpkin) needs to go home, as well as Jason Castro (aka Ladyface Travolta, because we think he has a ladyface and looks like the daughter of John Travolta. Plus, I HATE his hair, SO gross!)

I love Carly, Michael, and the Davids. I also totally love Syesha and I thought she ROCKED last night. I couldn't understand why the judges gave her bad comments and said she didn't emote - I was nearly in tears at the end of her song! And they thought Jason Castro was so great? Is it because he screwed up his face and closed his eyes when he said, "Bluebirds fly?" I don't get it.

Also, while I'm talking about shows...I'm totally into The Biggest Loser Couples. I was just watching last night's show and my jaw totally dropped and I nearly died when both girls were above the yellow line!! Go, girls!! I am thrilled. I cannot believe how much the brothers (Mark and Jay) have cried this season! Especially Mark - he has provided so many waterworks!! It's actually kinda funny. He just cries all the time. I'm really anxious to see who wins this year, I'd LOVE for it to be one of the girls!!

I'm gearing up for Kindermusik summer camps - it's going to be fun. People are really excited about it and so am I! I absolutely love teaching Kindermusik. I feel so lucky!

i saw one of the dinosaurs spitting

OK. We went to Disney Quest last Friday for Brian's birthday. It was a great time! We got to do some really fun Virtual Reality stuff. We were just about to get on the Jungle River ride when i saw that the rafts were actually a little wet - I said to Brian, "There's water. We might get wet on this one." Brian's reply was, "I saw one of the dinosaurs spitting." ROFL!!!! This struck me as so funny! He was right - one of the dinosaurs spit right on me. It was hilarious.

All in all, I'm glad we did Disney Quest, but I don't feel like I need to go back anytime soon! It was REALLY loud in there. Luckily, it was at Downtown Disney, so we took a break in the middle and went and saw a movie - "21." It was REALLY good!

Saturday morning we got up at the break of dawn to get to our Segway tour at Epcot. I wasn't feeling the best, but I was still really excited to go. We had an ABSOLUTE BLAST on the Segways!! I would recommend the tour to anyone - it was fabulous! We learned how to ride them at Innoventions and went through some obstacle courses, and then we went off into the countries. It was amazing!! We didn't want to get off the Segways when the tour was over. We LOVED it.

After we finished the tour, we rode Soarin' and then left. By that time, I felt REALLY bad. We went to the walk-in clinic at Walgreens. I had a FEVER!! And I had a lot of pressure on my ears and a really irritated throat. To make a long story short, I spent my whole spring break sick in bed. :( Here it is Friday, the last day of spring break, and I'm JUST now feeling better.

Anyway, hope this finds you all well. Enjoy these pictures of us on our Segways! I'll write more soon!

happy birthday, brian!

Today my sweet husband turned 34. He had a great day at work, went out to lunch and had Mexican, and tonight I made lasagna in the crockpot (lowfat, of course) and we had strawberry cheesecake parfaits for dessert (fat free, sugar free). Yum! He's taking the day off from work tomorrow and we're going to Disney Quest. Games all day - fun for B! And then on Saturday comes my gift to him - we're going to learn how to ride Segways and then we're taking a tour all around Epcot - the Around the World Segway tour. It's going to be SO much fun! We are SUPER excited!

In other news, we FINALLY moved back into our bedroom. It is SO NICE to sleep in there again! The bathroom is done, all except the glass shower enclosure. I don't know when we'll get that done - at this point, I'm SO OVER having workers in and out of our house, we may NEVER get the glass done. So, we have new tile in the shower and around the tub, new tile on the floor, 2 new sinks, a new toilet, and new fixtures in the shower, on the tub, and on both sinks. I know I keep saying that I will post pictures, and I promise I will. Whenever I have time.

Kindermusik is going great - next week is Spring Break and I will be happy for the break. Although, I will be visiting a Mommy and Me group to talk about Kindermusik and do a demo class. I also hope to help my friend Christi get unpacked in their new house, I'm having lunch with a friend on Thursday, and I need to go to the dentist and probably some other doctors too - dermatologist, etc. So, part of my week is planned, and I also hope to organize and clean out a little in the piano room and maybe the guest room - I'd love to get some things listed on eBay! We have so many things to sell. Oh, and we're having date night with another friend and her husband, which will be fun! Plus, I want to wash the windows and do some other spring cleaning. It will be a busy week!

Anyway, pics coming soon of the bathroom and also of Brian's crazy fun birthday weekend! Cheers!

murphy lives here

Well, the bathroom STILL isn't done. *sigh* It's been over 2 months and we are sick and tired of sleeping in the dining room! Our clothes are hanging on all the doorknobs, the laundry, furniture, our shoes, etc. are in the guest room (along with the litter box, yuck). My makeup mirror is in the office, our dresser is in the piano room, and on and on. We just need our bedroom/bathroom back!!

What has happened is that we've had a 4-day job that has turned into a 2.5 month job. It's because our tile guy doesn't bother to show up when he says he's going to. And when he DOES show up, he wants to talk to us or talk on his cell phone instead of working. However, the tile is FINALLY done and he's coming tomorrow (I'll believe it when I see it) to do the final details - touch ups on the grout, etc. The plumber is coming on Saturday to finish putting the shower fixtures on - that has turned into a big mess with things fitting, etc. I won't even go into all the things that haven't fit, worked, etc. It has been a nightmare! And tomorrow morning a guy is coming to fix our tub where the tile guy dropped tiles or something and made FIVE nicks in the tub. Our nice, beautiful Roman tub!! >:(

I'm REALLY hoping to move our bed back in this weekend, but the plumber is going to have to cut into the drywall to install the shower fixtures. Which means then we're going to have to patch the drywall. Ugh! So I don't want to move the bed and furniture back in until that's fixed, because I hate drywall dust and I don't want to have to clean it off of all the furniture! Y'all pray for us that we can get our bedroom back soon. Of course the mold problem has turned into a nearly complete bathroom remodel with all new tile, a new floor, a new toilet, new sinks, and new fixtures on the shower, tub, and sinks. Whew!

That's just about all that going on with us right now! This project is taking over our lives! However, Brian's birthday is next week and I have something VERY FUN planned for him!! He's taking Friday off and we're going to Disney Quest for the day. Then on Saturday morning, I have something REALLY exciting planned but it's a surprise so I can't blog about it yet. But I will share pictures afterward!

I will also post pictures of our bathroom very soon!

quick menu

I know it's Friday, but I'm doing MPM anyway. LOL I'm going to the store TODAY. Here's the menu for this coming week. This week's menu went down the drain - Brian had to work late every night. However, I am making chicken casserole tonight. :)

Monday - leftover Milligatawny soup (making it tomorrow)
Tuesday - peanut crusted fish, veggies
Wednesday - game night, no cooking
Thursday - Brian's night to cook
Friday - BBQ chicken, veggies

i don't think...

...that anyone reads this blog anymore.

Anyway, for those out there who care, I'll tell you my favorite Idol performances this week. They are, in no particular order:

Michael Johns
Carly Smithson
David Cook
Amanda Overmyer
Syesha Mercado

Now, those are just for THIS week. I'll tell you who my top picks are (in no order):

David Archuleta
Carly Smithson
Michael Johns
David Hernandez
Syesha Mercado

a day of good news

Today has been a great day in our household!! First of all, this morning we paid off my car!! YAY!!!! We now have no car payments. In fact, we have no debt except for the house! We got our tax return on Friday and we were able to save part of it, put part away for a trip to Hawaii next year, use part of it for our bathroom (which is now getting close to a full remodel), and pay off my car. We are SO excited and happy!

Also, today we welcomed into the world our brand new nephew, Jason Luke. Welcome, little Luke, and congrats to Brian's brother Jason and his wife Angela! :D We are a proud aunt and uncle (for the fourth time!)

All in all, things are going well for us. The new tile in our bathroom is looking really pretty. I'm excited to get it all done! OK, I have to go and try to learn how to play the guitar. I have to teach my 4-6th graders guitar! :P

new favorite page

I went to a crop today with a friend and had lots of fun! Of course, I only got one page done. I put the finishing touches on when I got home, but it's turned out to be my new favorite page! Here it is: Of course, there is a lot for me to update, but I just haven't really had time. Our shower is finally underway - the tile is in the shower but still needs to be done on the walls around the tub. Then the floor will be done and we also have to get the glass enclosure. Still lots to do, but it's progressing. I'll post pictures soon.

PS - This week's menu:
Monday - BBQ chicken, veggies
Tuesday - peanut crusted fish, veggies
Wednesday - game night, no cooking
Thursday - Brian cooks, chicken biscuits (?)
Friday - chicken casserole

mpm again

Totally slacked last week, so here we go:

Monday - spaghetti w/ turkey sauce
Tuesday - eat out w/ Aunt Linda & Uncle Gene
Wednesday - game night, no cooking
Thursday - Brian cooks - stir fry
Friday - take out - Olive Garden minestrone

me...a runner?

Remember the days when I would talk incessantly about my weight loss? Well, I've been maintaining that loss for about a year and a half now, and I'm about ready to try and lose the last 20 lbs. I need something NEW to do...and over the last month, as I've been walking (occasionally), I've noticed that I can run for 3-4 minutes at a time. I've NEVER been able to do that before.

So, after talking to one of my Kindermusik moms, I've decided that I'm going to try running. I'm going to do this program called Couch to 5K. And I'm starting today. It doesn't look too horribly hard...but we'll see about that now, won't we? Wish me luck!

*Edited to add: OK, I did it. 5 minute brisk walk for a warm-up, then alternating 60 seconds of running with 90 seconds of walking for 20 minutes. Sound easy? Try it - it's SO not easy! After the 3rd time running, I thought, "I'm going to die." After the 4th time, I thought, "Now it's worse." And then it got SLIGHTLY easier. I ended with a 5 minute brisk walk cool down for a total of 30 minutes. And I feel great - now, let's make this a habit!*

julie, this is for you

A few weeks ago, my wonderful friends Rob & Julie came to Orlando for Children's Pastors Conference. I used to work with them at Brentwood-Benson. Anyway, this is the third year in a row that I met them for dinner when they were here! It's always such a fun, enjoyable time, and I love catching up on all the gossip from the office. Here we are this year:

And here we are last year (check out Rob! He's lost 104 pounds!):

And here we are the year before(2006):


Let's see. I still need to update about Valentine's Day and stuff like that, but for now, I'll leave you with a few scrapbook projects! I've been a fiend lately! Have a great week, everyone.

mpm; shower update

Real quick, just planning the menu for this week.

Monday - coconut chicken
Tuesday - veggies, mac & cheese
Wednesday - game night, no cooking
Thursday - Valentine's Day - roast w/ red potatoes & carrots
Friday - veggie soup from leftover roast

In other news, our shower is finally coming along. We're still sleeping in the dining room and stuff is still all over the house. But this morning, we got the new shower floor put in. It's a pre-fab floor, so no more tiles leaking!! Monday evening the tile guy is coming over to do the tile. He's also going to do ceramic tile on the bathroom floor - I'm SO thrilled about that!! I will update with a picture soon. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

the mold

OK, here are the pictures of what took place in our bedroom/bathroom on Saturday. The mold was behind the tiles in the shower. It was also all over the liner of the shower pan (the orange plastic you see in the pictures). We are getting a whole new shower! Yay!

Here's a picture from our bedroom side - we cut some holes in the drywall first to see if there was mold in there. There wasn't, thankfully. You can see all the way through to the shower here.

As soon as we took off the first tile, we found the mold. See how the bottom is black? You can also see how wet it was behind the tile. AND - we hadn't turned the water on in this shower for 2 weeks!! It was still that wet! Gross!

Here's when we got a bunch of the tiles off the wall. You can see the orange liner and how moldy it is on the bottom. Water was just sitting in there. It came through a tiny hole in the grout. (I think there was more than one hole!)


Aaahhhhhhh, our shower in pieces. Gotta love it!

Brian shows off the mold.

Eventually, the glass door and glass walls had to come out, along with the entire shower frame. Apparently, there was a ton of gross water inside part of the shower frame. Yuck!! Our new shower is going to be so wonderful! :-)


We are SO grateful to our wonderful friend Pete for all his help! We would not have been able to do this without him. I can't even tell you how much money he is saving us! Thanks, Pete! :-)

In other news, the cats are rather enjoying the bed being in the dining room:

And Sam is loving the dresser drawers on the guest bed:

Yep, nearly everything in the house is displaced right now, but - I'm sure we'll survive. Somehow! Ha!