Month: May 2007

A little over a year ago, Wade and I bought our house. One of the first purchases was a new fridge, which I talked about here. Well this week, something went wonky with the fridge controls. At first we just thought the door ice and water was out. Nope, turns out the fridge isn’t cooling. Wade had called a repairman the first day. Evidently our warranty was only for a year (we are three months past that) and the necessary part is back-ordered. In the interim, Wade now has a mini-fridge for his shop (after we get the kitchen fridge back up and running). Maybe the reason the Maytag man always looks bored is because the repair parts are never in stock!

Wade and I planned to go to the movies all weekend and we finally made it. We had dinner with Nate and Michelle and then went to see the latest Pirates of the Caribbean. We loved the first one, were “uh” on the second one, and loved the third one. I guess if one of them had to be “uh” it was best for the second to be. Anyway, if you are into pirate movies I definitely recommend “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”. I doubt there will be a fourth, but they sure left the story line open.

Wade decided to break out his new paint gun this weekend. I now have black rocking chairs – anyone who has visited recently will appreciate this. I also have a freshly painted bedside table and rocking chair in my guest room. Wade is really knocking projects off the list right and left. Guess I need to get to work on the mudroom.

Emily arrived late last night. We spent the day in Greenville running errands and showing Emily the towns (Anderson and Greenville). We all took a late afternoon nap and then cooked a low sodium dinner of beef kabobs.

While in Greenville, I picked up an item I have been wanting for a while. When Mom came to visit a few months ago we did some shopping in Greenville. I found a teapot that I fell in love with, but I don’t serve tea and I didn’t really have a place for it. I didn’t buy it, but it arrived in the mail as an Easter present from Mom. I loved it but still didn’t have a place for it. When I saw mom in Atlanta for Dorothy’s funeral, she gave me a table she had found. It goes perfectly in my dining room corner with the tea pot sitting out. Then I decided that I needed the matching tea cups. Now I smile every time I look in my dining room.

Our company is awesome – we get both the Friday before and the Monday of Memorial Weekend off. I spent most of the day running errands and getting ready for Wade’s sister to visit. I also started my next project – stripping all the paint from the mudroom. A quick lesson in painting – NEVER USE LATEX PAINT ON TOP OF ENAMEL. When latex paint is used on top of enamel, it eventually peels off and is a mess to correct. That is why I am having to scrape and strip so many parts of our house. I got quite a bit done, but this small room is going to take forever!

When I got married, Dabney gave me a Flutterby (drawings by a local Paducah artist) that showed Leland, Mary Marshall, Melissa, and I as kids playing in the backyard. The caption was a quote I made long ago saying “I will do cartwheels down the aisle.” I had it framed and hung it in my guest bedroom. For my birthday this year, my mom gave me a second Flutterby depicting Ben, Matt, Melissa, and I and captioned “Toadfrogs and Elephants”. I finally have the second one framed and hung in the bedroom.

The gym I mentioned a while back is now open. Wade and I joined and even got a couple sessions with a personal trainer as part of the deal. I was excited about this until I realized a big part of it is diet – a low sodium diet. I could be committed to eating healthier, but not eating anything prepackaged is a stretch – no boxed rice, no cookie dough, no Rice Krispies, no corn flake chicken, no pork chops, no cheese, no butter, no chocolate chip muffins. There are about 10 items that are on the approved list. Wade and I decided to give it a shot, but I don’t think we are willing to make a lifetime commitment. There are too many yummy foods out there.

Madison is a bird dog. She chases birds. She is not very smart about it. This birdhouse sits in the middle of our backyard. Madison spends all day on her two back legs trying to get to the birds. Occasionally she will bark at them, but amazingly they never come out for her…

Today was a girls’ day out. I have only seen my friend Michelle a few times in the past few months. She found out she was pregnant about the time I started working. She has not been feeling well and I have been crazy busy. We still email daily and talk quite a bit, but we haven’t had a lot of time to sit and talk. Today was great. We drove to Commerce, GA and shopped. This wasn’t a serious-dent-in-the-wallet shopping trip. It was more a buying of a few things with lots of time to talk in between. We had a great day and now I am hoping to finish my book before Wade gets home.

I love to read. I’ve always loved to read. I often have a book I don’t want to put down until I finish and Wade is very understanding. Work tends to get in the way but I avoid temptation by leaving the book at home. Now for my current problem. I not only have a book I don’t want to put down – the book is part of a 13 book series. I am currently on book number 5, but I started the weekend on number 3.

My friend Kate gave me the second book in the series for Christmas a few years ago. I am a little particular about things and didn’t want to start a series with the second book. However, it took me till my last trip to the used bookstore to find the first book.

Janet Evanovich writes the Stephanie Plum novels. The books center on a woman in her late twenties who grew up in and still lives in an Italian New Jersey neighborhood referred to as “The Burg”. She lives paycheck to paycheck and when she is out of work her cousin the bail bondsman gives her a job as a bounty hunter. Stephanie is a horrible bounty hunter. She is scared of guns, hates to run, hates to be shot at, isn’t in shape, gets easily distracted in the shoe section at Macy’s,etc. However, Stephanie does always get her man with lots of humorous encounters thrown in. There is also the neighborhood boy she grew up with who is now a cop. They seem to have a love hate relationship with lots of sparks. He is constantly annoyed that she ends up finding dead bodies and landing in the middle of his cases. I’m addicted – must read more…

Wade is gone for the weekend. Work is sending him to the Make Convention in San Francisco and he is very excited. He drove to Atlanta around noon, missed his flight, and finally flew out around 9 pm. I am completely on my own this weekend and what did I do? I fell asleep at 8:30 on the couch. I am such the party animal. I did manage to sand the basement door, iron the clothes, vacuum (read as I set the roomba on the floor and pushed the button), and read half of my book. Sadly I didn’t get a friend’s engagement news till the next day due to my early bedtime.

The story of these boots started long ago in Aspen, Colorado. (Melissa if any of this story is wrong, feel free to correct me.) My family was on our annual skiing Christmas trip around the year 1994ish. The girls had gone shopping and Melissa bought a pair of cowboy boots. I was with her when she found them and I thought the boots were awesome, but I remember thinking I didn’t want to spend the money on buying myself a pair. I have regretted the decision ever since. I have even looked for the boots online and on eBay, but never found exactly what I wanted. Melissa has occasionally let me borrow the boots, but it’s just not the same.

I was talking to Melissa on the phone the other day and she was talking about cleaning out her house. She has been on a wild declutter spree. She is selling and donating unwanted and unused items left and right. She offered me the boots or said they were going to GoodWill. I immediately said yes and even offered to pay for them. She wouldn’t take the money and apologized for the bad shape the boots are in.
The boots arrived today. Talk about immediately putting a smile on my face! She warned me that they were in bad shape, but now they just look well worn and the tread looks brand new. She did say if I ever want to get rid of them to offer them back to her. Maybe these boots will turn into the “Sisterhood of the Traveling Boots”. Regardless, after 12 years I now have the boots I have always wanted.

Wade and I attended our first (and as of yet only) wedding of the year. Marshall (my boyfriend before Wade) married Tarver (his long time girlfriend) in Birmingham, AL. Wade and I had an awesome trip. The drive was only three hours, we got to the wedding on time, we loved the reception building, and we saw old friends. After the wedding we went out for a little shopping and ice cream!

The bad news just keeps coming. I got a phone call this morning that my step-grandmother, Dorothy, died last night. I knew she wasn’t doing well, but I didn’t realize it was this near the end. My mom and I drove to Atlanta to visit with her in February and my mom and Aunt Gayle were planning on another trip sometime soon. Her funeral will be on Tuesday, which means I can’t make it to Matt’s funeral in DC. Sadness. It is all very sad.

I opened the front door a few months ago to find a young boy standing on my step. He was selling candles and bubble bath for school. His big sister was walking him around the neighborhood. He was cute and it was only $8 so I picked out a scented bubble bath and lotion combination. The same boy showed up at my door today and handed me a box. It wasn’t until he left that I realized I received a chocolate covered nectarine scented candle – yuck! Where’s the bubble bath? Oh well, hopefully the cute little boy sold enough items for a prize. Anybody want a candle?

I was working on my computer this morning when I heard a crashing sound. I was rather confused because Madison was outside and Wade was still asleep. I searched the house and finally found the culprit – the project board. The board fell apart – as in the frame broke and the cork hit the floor. Wade swears he had nothing to do with it. Maybe we weighed the project board down with too many projects?

Never fear, Wade has offered to build me a new one!

And a tradition is born. Last year on Cinco de Mayo, my SA friends and their husbands got together for the first time. We’ve had various outings since then, and had another one today. Tina, Dave, Carol, and Rick drove up from Atlanta to see Wade and I. They came to our house and then we all went bowling. Tina had her own pink ball (which I am convinced has lots of luck, I used it too) and Carol had a brand new ball named Wilson. We bowled two games and had a great time. Then we had Mexican, of course! I showed off my favorite local restaurant – the rocket donkey. The waiter spoke no English, but we mostly got what we ordered. Tina’s chicken fajitas had a few pieces of beef and Dave’s beef fajitas had a few pieces of chicken. Now I am stuffed and thinking about a nap.

Yes, I know it is a blurry picture. However the woman who took it didn’t speak English and seemed very confused. I was just glad we were all actually in the picture.

I mention that Wade and I don’t have time for movies and then we see two in one week.
We watched “Prime” from Netflix and both enjoyed a night on the couch. A 37 year old woman is having a difficult life and seeing a therapist. She finalizes her divorce and meets a guy, a younger guy. It turns out the 23 year old guy is the therapist’s son. The therapist realizes this early on but decides to keep treating the woman because that is what is best for her patient.

Tonight we went to see Spiderman 3. A friend had bought us tickets in advance, which we left on the kitchen table and had to go back home for. We called to make sure someone was saving us a seat and were told not to worry about it. The EMTs were there because someone had dislocated their knee – the movie was going to start late. We arrived just in time. The movie was about what I expected. I wasn’t a big fan of the other two Spiderman movies. I still liked the action, but most of the comic book movies are much better (in my opinion). Anyway, it was a nice way to spend a few hours, but I’m not raving over it. Topher was an unexpected, but cute surprise.

I have to say – I just love my job. I am constantly moving and learning and doing. The department now consists of myself and a paralegal. We get along great and have similar styles of working. My boss is excellent. He is personable and always has time to answer a question. I enjoy the products we deal with and the engineers I have to talk with. Basically, it’s just awesome. I look forward to going to work and am always shocked when it is 5 pm and time to go home. Anyway, there are no regrets about going back to work full time. Not to mention the money is good too!

Another project has been completed – we have a brick floor in our mudroom. Of course, now I see all the other things that need doing, shoe molding, painting, new stairs, and one more door to finish.
Before:

After: