Month: July 2007

I didn’t really hit Wade. He was replacing the pull-down attic stairs in our garage and got hit with a spring. He comes rushing in the house and I see a cloth on his head and blood on his face. We cleaned him up and determined stitches weren’t necessary – just a butterfly bandage and a nap. On the bright side, Wade will have a scar and I love the rough and tumble look!

Today seemed to fly by. I was somewhat productive – I got the attic cleaned out and the donations dropped off at Good Will. Then I seemed to run out of time. Wade and I squeezed in a work out before hustling to Greenville for dinner with Nate and Michelle. We finished dinner just in time for our 7 o’clock showing of the Simpson’s Movie. I’m not big into cartoon humor, but I do find the Simpsons somewhat funny. My favorite part were the added comments and scenes making fun of movies and the movie going experience – Bart writing on the chalkboard “I will not illegally download this movie” or an ad for a new TV series by Fox that scrolls during the middle of the movie or even Homer’s dialogue about why people pay good money to go to a theater to see something they could watch from their couch. All in all, it was a good evening.

Holly has asked me to be a guest blogger tonight. So sit back and enjoy as I regale you with a story of deception, intrigue, and mostly absurdity.

Yesterday we were robbed. But let’s start the story well before that happened so forget I already mentioned it. About 3 in the afternoon I received a call on my cell phone about our dog. Our neighbor, Brooke, found her roaming the streets and was calling to let me know. This happens once in a while when Madison finds a new way to get out, so I didn’t think much of it. Brooke put the dog in her backyard (with a much higher fence) and we would pick her up after work.

As it turns out I was going to be late getting home. Holly and I had driven separately. Although this doesn’t happen often, it did mean that she could still go home at 5. She returned Madison to our yard, ate dinner, and then went to work out around 7. She didn’t seem to notice anything out of sorts.
I finally came home from work around 8. When I got out of the car I was relieved to hear Madison’s collar jingling in the back yard. She often repeats her escapes several times before we figure out what needs to be fixed to keep her in. However I was surprised when she trotted over to the car to greet me. It turns out the gate was ajar. Now Madison is a talented pup, but lacking opposable thumbs I determined she probably required some outside help to get the latch open.

Wade and I both got our chores done around 10:30 last night. He had tried to motivate me earlier with the promise of a Chick-fil-A milkshake (my new favorite). I thought they closed at 10 so when I wasn’t done by then I gave up hope of a milkshake. I finally finished and Wade brought up the milkshake again. I told him Chick-fil-A was closed and he suggested Sonic. I haven’t tried Sonic yet, so we got in the car around 10:45. We pulled up in the drive-thru behind a truck. The truck moved to the window and we sat there and sat there. Finally at 11 we pulled up to the window. The lady leans out and says they are closed. Wade asked what time they closed because we had been sitting there for 15 minutes. She asked what we wanted and said they could still make milkshakes. She even gave them to us for free. (I am guessing it was more trouble to ring us up and she wanted to go home.) My evaluation is that Chick-fil-A’s cookies and cream milkshake is still the best, but Sonic isn’t too bad.

Wade and I spent the morning at my Grandmother’s house. She has recently moved into an assisted living facility and the family is starting to sort through her house, the barns, and shed. Wade and I decided to put our trailer to good use – we got lots of chairs (not sure what I will do with them).

Wade went into the scary diary barn and found all kinds of “junk”. I think my mom and aunt were rather surprised at the things Wade wanted. They most likely would have been thrown away. He did find some cool old tools and I found some old pottery.

The drive home went smoothly and we unloaded the trailer without too much trouble. Now we have to spend the week finding a place for all the stuff we brought back. I also have quite a few boxes to go through.

Wade and I left work early on Friday and started the long (very long) drive to Paducah. We left work at lunch, loaded up Madison, and hooked up the trailer with the extra couch and hope chests we didn’t want to store. The drive would have been perfect if we could have avoided Atlanta. We hit it at rush hour, during a rain storm. The 30 mile stretch took us 2.5 hours. Thank goodness I had a movie and Wade had an audio book.

We arrived in Paducah around 10 pm and made a quick stop to say hi to mom before driving to dad’s house. Dad and Laura had El Chico chips and cheese waiting so we talked and munched awhile before heading to bed.

All Saturday was spent playing at the pool. Madison got along well with the three resident dogs. The horses were intriguing until she got close enough to realize how big they were. Then she ran the other way. Frank (the yellow lab) is fascinated by the water jets in the pool. He will stand for hours trying to paw and bite the bubbles. He is also a great retriever and will even dive for his plastic fish. Eventually he gets tired of fetch and tries to run off with the fish.

I think the last time I posted about our television, I said it was working. Then it stopped working again. Wade decided to take it to a repair shop and get a quote on fixing it. Then we would decide whether to buy a new one. Wade did not tell me that on the way to the repair shop he slammed on the brakes and the tv slammed down on its face (I was told this part after the tv returned home). The repair man called the next day and told us he couldn’t find anything wrong. He had had it plugged in and turned on for 24 hours. Wade told him to keep it another few days. The man did and it continued working. The only thing we can figure is that Wade actually fixed the tv when he slammed on the brakes. It’s been working fine for a week now.

I have never been a shoe person. I have narrow feet and most shoes don’t fit well. I like Chaco flip flops in the summer and slide on Merrell’s in the winter. Going back to work has forced me to wear “dress up” shoes. Then I realized ballet slippers are everywhere. I just bought a new pair and have them on today. Maybe I could like shoes….

Wade put up the door tonight. The last little part associated with the mudroom is complete. I have a feeling this door will require a lot of cleaning (lots of dust in the garage), but I don’t mind.

Wade and I were glad to have this week behind us. I had three big meetings yesterday at work and some visitors in from Hong Kong. 5 o’clock didn’t come too early. We spent some time shopping for new kitchen appliances and then visited the local bowling alley. You never know what kind of people you will find. We had people on either side of us and they obviously knew nothing about bowling etiquette. We had a lot of fun anyway. We each won one game and then played some Area 51. Kill the aliens!

Wade and I decided to take a walk tonight. It was already dark as we were walking back to our house. Wade happened to glance down and see a video iPod in the middle of the street. It had a case on it identical to the one Wade had on his that got stolen, but we quickly decided it wasn’t the same one. We spent a few minutes looking at the material on the iPod and determined it belonged to a family man with a couple of kids that attended a local church and listened to Andy Stanley (the pastor we like so much). We didn’t see a house or neighborhood in the pictures that looked familiar, but we have friends that go to the same church. Hopefully they will be able to identify the guy in the pictures.

Moral of the story – put a name or pictures on your iPod and a good Samaritan might return it to you.

Wade and I tried out a new church this morning and both left feeling it was so-so. Wade immediately jumped into a new project – the mudroom/garage door. He removed all of the old glass and dog-chewed molding. Then he put in all new. The door required a lot of spackling and sanding, but he almost has it ready for me to paint.

I bought a new organization system for the cleaning supplies and grill utensils. I had to have some help installing them, but that is another small project off the list.

Wade and I drove to Greenville this evening for a Yopp Family performance. Some of our Catalyst friends had been talking about the Yopp family for months. They used to have a Christian children’s theater, but had fallen on hard times. The performance we saw had a Fourth of July theme. The father, four sons, one daughter, and one daughter-in-law sang about our country, the Declaration of Independence, and the war. Wade and I enjoyed the show.

Months ago, Tina had invited all the SA girls (and their spouses) over for a pool party. The day was overcast and sprinkled rain, but we always have a good time together. Tina requested my chocolate chip cinnamon cake – I love any excuse to make it. Carol brought chips and salsa from La Botana (yum!). There was a little swimming, some eating, a lot of talking, and a dunking in the pool for me (thanks Rick!). Madison was invited and even got in the pool voluntarily. She was very intrigued by Allie, the resident dog who loves to swim.

And for a special someone out there, this is from all of us to you:

Wade has completed the new stairs in the mudroom. The polyurethane has dried and they are ready for use. Hopefully by next weekend we will have the mudroom/garage door up and the mudroom can be marked DONE.
Before:

After:

My co-worker, Debra, has a birthday tomorrow. I knew she was taking the day off so I brought a cake in today for her birthday. I got to work and she had called in and decided to take today off as well. I knew the cake wouldn’t keep until Monday so we celebrated Debra’s birthday without her.

Wade and I spent the day working (of course). We hung the basement door and had to take quite a bit off the bottom of the door. Turns out an uneven brick floor requires a shorter door. Wade polyurethaned the new steps in the mudroom and I spent the day stripping and sanding the garage/mudroom door. We both finished our projects. Now I need to do touch up paint next to the stairs and Wade needs to put new glass in the door.

We got cleaned up and headed to Greenville for a night of celebrating. The first stop was Mellow Mushroom – my favorite pizza place (although I only order pretzels) and then we found a great spot in the park to watch fireworks. Happy 4th of July!

A friend at work offered us tickets to the new Transformers movie. I knew the movie was coming, but I have yet to even see a preview. We showed up (barely on time) and watched an awesome movie. It’s amazing the types of movies that are made now and look cool compared to what was available when we were kids. The movie was awesome. Now I’m ready for a second one – but I know I’ll have a long wait. It did bring back memories of my favorite Transformer toys. Now I feel compelled to go dig them out of the boxes at Mom’s house.

Wade spent his evening taking pictures. I keep discovering googly eyes in random places:
Inside:

And Out: