Month: December 2006

Wade and I decided to forgo church in the traditional sense. Instead, we built a fire and listened to a sermon we had missed in the current series from the comfort of our couch. To sound at least a little productive, we did reconnect the doorbells. We accidentally cut the wrong wire when we had rewired my basement (a long time ago), but had never fixed the problem. Lots of people would push the nonworking doorbell and never knock on the door.

We spent New Year’s at the Floyds’. They had a few couples over for dinner and games. They introduced us to Attack Uno, which I lost. They also had Pictionary. I haven’t played that since I was a kid. They had a large wipe board on an easel and my team won – all because of me, I’m sure. Welcome 2007!

Tubbles is now a healthy, active dog. She has lost about 20 pounds and her limp seems to have disappeared. (Did I mention she is looking for a home if anyone wants to adopt her?) She also has an adorable face. You wouldn’t think she would be responsible for my busted lip, but she is. I leaned down as she raised her head – bam. I now have a swollen lip that is turning purple. I’ll let everyone think Wade was responsible. No one would believe the dog did it.

And since I was taking pictures, here is one of Madison burrowing into the couch for a nap.

Wade and I are starting to get the house back in order. We are slowly finding homes for all of our presents. Two of my favorite gifts are the frog pictures now hung in the guest bathroom.

Wade and I got the car loaded, mostly. We are dropping the dogs off to be boarded in Atlanta, but we still need room for them that far. Tubbles has one seat in the back and Madison is riding in my lap. I think we have it all – amazing. It will be nice to spread out a little once we drop the dogs off.

After packing the car, we had time for a second movie this week. Wade picked Casino Royale. I wasn’t very excited, but I was going willingly. The last two James Bond movies I saw were horrible. This one was great – especially compared to the last two! I know it is a remake and I haven’t seen the original, but I really enjoyed the 2.5 hour movie. I liked all the background it gave into who Bond is.

Wade and I were sitting around the house about 8 o’clock last night watching television. We saw an ad for a movie, “The Holiday,” and decided to go to the movies. We haven’t been to the movies in ages. The movie was a romantic comedy with Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Jack Black. I normally don’t like Jack Black, but he played a very normal, sane character. We both enjoyed the movie and decided maybe we should do this more often. I think Wade even has another movie picked out for us after Christmas.

Santa is everywhere! Here is a picture of my friend Kate’s daughter. I seem to remember a similar one of Kate when she was that age, but she was screaming. Or maybe it was her brother screaming. Or maybe I just have a bad memory. Regardless, Taylor is cute.

The temperature was 70 degrees today. That just isn’t right. Wade and I worked outside – I worked on refinishing my tool chest and Wade organized his shop. I was wearing jeans, flip flops, and a t-shirt. I really wanted to wear shorts, but I just didn’t feel right putting them on. I knew we wouldn’t get any snow living in South Carolina, but at this rate I’m not even going to get to wear a single sweater!
On an unrelated note: I discovered Belk’s is a decent department store. I bought two jackets the other day, but I knew I would only be keeping one. I am the queen of buying and returning. Well somehow I misplaced the receipt – very unlike me. I really didn’t want that much money in store credit, but I didn’t want the jacket to go on sale any further either. I finally called the store and they can look up purchases from your credit card – just like Home Depot and Target. This makes returns so much easier. Now if only all the stores would save my credit card info my returning would be simple.

Wade and I made a quick trip to Milwaukee, WI. Wade’s company recently bought Milwaukee Tools and he had a new toy he wanted tested. We flew up yesterday and got home late tonight. We didn’t have time to do much, but there was a nice mall across the street from our hotel.
We did get home to a note from the dog sitter saying Tubbles ate the tree again. There is now only one row of popcorn on the very top of the tree. Our tree is definitely looking pretty sad. I guess having a 50 pound dog climb it will do that. This time we had several ornament casualties and two gifts were opened. Poor Christmas Tree.

I was looking around the living room today and realized I never posted about our new chairs or rug. (Or if I did, I have forgotten.) My mom found the chairs at an auction and offered them to us. The eventual plan is to get them recovered, but they actually don’t look too bad as they are.

A friend of Wade’s from work suggested we look for a rug at a factory rug store in Anderson. We actually found a few we liked, but we weren’t sure of the color. Then we found one we both liked for $35. We decided we would buy it for now and then buy a new one if we found something we liked better. We will keep this rug until we get our new couch and then make a decision. At least we now have some seating in the living room.

Before we bought our Christmas tree, Wade had told me he would take care of the star. I wasn’t quite sure what he had in mind, but I told him to go for it. It was a little late in coming, but we now have a star over our tree. Wade hung the star from the ceiling, directly over the tree. He put a spotlight up where we used to have the hideous chandelier. When the spotlight is on, it lights up the star and puts an awesome star shadow on the wall.

Wade and I were in a rush (as usual) to leave the house for bible study. Madison followed us out the door so we put her in the backyard. Tubbles has been left alone inside before and never caused trouble so we didn’t hunt her down to take her out. When we got home, we noticed the tree looked a little funny. Upon closer inspection, we realized Tubbles had eaten the bottom row of popcorn. I thought it was well out of her reach, but she much have climbed on top of the presents. The lights and beads were all falling off, ornaments were on the floor, and pine needles were everywhere. At least the popcorn was air popped. Tubbles didn’t fall off her diet too much!

Sadly she did seem to tear one package apart. Jamie’s bag is now in shreds, but the present is still in one piece. I have one more gift to wrap it seems.

Tonight we had our first Host Team Christmas Party. Wade prepared the invitations, I planned a canned food drive, and Kendall coordinated dinner. We had almost everyone attend. The best part of the night was definitely the gift swap. No one was exactly sure of the rules, so Wade made them up as he went. Our newest recruit, Miller, ended up with Wade’s odd purple noodle. That just goes to show you that the interestingly wrapped packages might not be the best. I brought home a new cookbook and Wade brought home a Moose Pooper (which dispenses jelly beans in just the way you would think). The hottest gift of the night was the box containing a hidden $20. Too bad that wasn’t discovered earlier!

Since I already learned about my Christmas gift of a new front door, Wade decided to get to work. He picked up the large cut sheet of tempered glass and removed the screen door.

He took off the screen and hardware, sanded the door and trim, and secured the glass in place. It was about midnight when Wade came inside in a bad mood. It turns out he was putting the last nail in the trim wood and slipped. The slip meant the nail hit the glass. Now there is shattered glass where there shouldn’t be. Poor Wade.

I’m ready. We can have Christmas now. I have mailed my Christmas cards, finished all of my Christmas shopping, and wrapped my last present. Now I am ready for the unwrapping!

I have also learned my mom’s trick of making neat gift baskets. Here’s hoping the recipient likes IBC root beer.

Danielle called and asked if I would watch Emma today. I was more than happy to spend a day playing. Emma turned three yesterday and her favorite gift was a tea set. We played tea party most of the day, but took a detour to my house to make cookies.

My car was taken into the shop last Monday. Due to USAA (my insurance company) and Enterprise Rent-A-Car, I didn’t get a rental car until Wednesday morning. I suppose that isn’t the end of the world, but it would have been nice to get a car when mine was no longer available. The Enterprise people were really nice to me as soon as they found out my sister used to work for their company, but I still didn’t get a car for two days.

The body shop called today to say that my car was fixed. I returned the rental car and was about to drive off in my car when I noticed a light on the dash. The light was telling me I had a brake light out. I went back inside and the nice man told me he thought he’d fixed that. Then he asked me if I had had a brake light out before I brought the car to him. I told him no. He said he had driven my car all the way to Greenville to have the Acura dealer replace the brake light that was out – no comment on the fact that he had to drive 60 miles to have someone else change a light – I can change a light. We checked the lights and they were all working. Then he tells me I can drive it to Greenville to have it looked at or let him do it. I drove my car home that night but I am taking it back to him. I don’t want to deal with this mess. I have the feeling something in the repairs isn’t quite right and it has nothing to do with the Acura dealership. I also found a run in the paint on the bumper. This place is a USAA guaranteed shop which is good since I wasn’t satisfied and they will make it right. I’d much rather it had been right the first time.

Now I will be without a car once more. It will take me another two days to get a car back from Enterprise and by then mine will be done.

My friend Kendall invited me to a bible study. I thought, sure, I have plenty of time. I knew the group met at 9 on Monday mornings in Greenville. I had directions from Kendall and from the internet. I left my house at 8, which should have given me plenty of time. I showed up at 9:30. I finally walk in to the correct place and find Kendall and a group of older ladies – I was embarrassed. I felt a little better when one of the women told me a road had been closed that was on my directions. I blamed it all on becoming too dependent on my car’s navigational system. My car is in the shop being repaired so I have a little tiny rental car with no extras. The bible study was good once I got there. Now I have lots of homework to do before next Monday.

The living room took a weekend to paint, but the dining room took a full week and a half. I think the big difference is I didn’t have Wade to help. Regardless, I painted all weekend and I love the color. I’m not sure if it will show in the picture, but it is a very tomato red. Now I just need a dining room table.