Well we did it. This was the weekend we decided to go for a backpacking trip – a trial run for both Wade and Madison. We got up on Saturday morning, packed the backpacks, and drove to Pine Mountain, GA (near Columbus) to hike the Pine Moutain Trail. We registered with the park people and started hiking. We had a lot of fun – and saw a bunch of waterfalls. We kept Madison on the leash and she did fine – as long as she was in front. The only really funny incident was when we were playing in a stream/waterfall area. Wade had found a small deep pocket right before the waterfall. Madison was playing around and just walked right into it. Too bad the camera wasn’t on for that one!
We set up camp on the early side and built an awesome fire. We played Skip-Bo (and Wade won) and then sat and talked. Madison was asleep as soon as we stopped moving. She slept in the tent with us and woke us up around 7:30 when she suddenly went nutso. There were two Chow dogs off their leashes that had ventured near our campsite. She barked and growled long after they left – maybe she’ll be a guard dog yet.
Wade and I started celebrating Halloween early. We decided at the last minute on Friday afternoon to do some pumpkin carving. Jamie, Steven, Grant, and Shelly came over and got creative – or rather Wade got creative. The rest of us discovered how wonderful stencils can be. Madison was underfoot and ate quite a bit of pumpkin guts – but it didn’t seem to bother her. My pumpkin is the third from the left!
Since we carved the first pumpkins so early, we’ll hopefully be able to have at least one more pumpkin carving before Halloween. Now we just have to work on our costumes for Rob’s B & B Party in Washington D.C.
Ben and Stephanie Upshaw (part of the Toadfrogs and Elephants) just had a new baby girl – Liza. Now we have all of the toadfrogs and elephants paired up (as of Liss’s wedding) and a new baby too!
I had my first official EMT class last night. The instructor is pretty cool – funny and laid back. There are 34 students in my class, but I was told at the end of the quarter (this is a 3 quarter class) there will be about 25. I was making bets with my two new friends (and believe it or not, they are girls) on who wouldn’t last. One of the girls has an undergrad in Biology and is applying to med schools for next year. She is also recently married and her husband is a golf pro (he actually got a degree in that).
Anyway, I don’t think the class will be too hard (there are up to 2 re-tests on any test including the final). The worst part is that it meets from 6-10 two nights a week with occasional Saturdays. After working my 45 hours a week that is a little much. My poor puppy is already asleep when I get home. If everything goes according to plan, and we stay in the area – I will be certified and licensed (we got a lecture on the difference) by the middle of next June.
Oh yeah – and supposedly EMT people get very offended if you call them ambulance drivers. However, I still tell people that is what this program is for – so I can drive ambulances.
Wade and I decided to go for a hike in northeast Georgia after church. Wade could easily get to Anderson (his home away from home) and I could just come back to Atlanta. It turns out Panther Creek Falls Trail was a little difficult to find, but we eventually made it.
This was a new experience for Madison. She was tugging on her leash but did pretty well. We eventually let her off and that was great. There were lots of streams and waterfalls, which she loved. She even fell in once and got carried away by the rushing water. There is a video of it (and other pictures) on Wade’s website. She got herself out before we had to go in and rescue her – poor puppy. The rest of the trip was uneventful. Madison jumped in the water anytime she could, but no more rushing water. She liked to be in the lead when walking on the trail, but she never got more then 10-20 feet in front of us.
At one point, Wade and I stopped for water (I was wearing my camelback) and Madison was sitting all cute watching us. I squirted some water out of it towards her and she started drinking too!
The worn out puppy slept the whole way home and only woke up for a bath before going to her crate for the night. Now we are talking about a weekend trip for next weekend.
A few weeks ago, I played laser tag as a part of the corporate challenge I was involved in – my team came in 3rd. I had forgotten how much fun it is. This place had a huge indoor area, much bigger than where I last played in D.C. Wade has been begging to play for ages, so I planned a group activity.
Steven, Ryan, Brad, Wade, and I took on 6 other people our age and a mom with her two kids. The area was all blacklit and had three castles. It was supposed to be every man for himself, but we teamed up a little and had a blast. The two little kids were annoying and the mom kept trying to protect them – I admit to hunting them down the second game. Wade came in 3rd for both games and I came in 5th and 7th. I can’t wait to go back again with more people!
Afterwards, we all went to Steak n’ Shake, where I had such quick service I was dumbfounded. This is the same restaurant that ran out of ice cream last time I was there! We sat and talked for an hour or so. The guys spent time speculating why a couple sat in their car for 15-20 minutes after leaving the restaurant. I even furthered the Firefly cause – I passed my DVD’s on from Steven to Brad.
Wade, Madison, and I arrived in Paducah late Thursday night. The wedding festivities began early Friday morning – if you count going to have my dress altered. Then I ran my few errands for the weekend – a trip to the used bookstore and a stop to get my immunization records. Our old next door neighbors – The Haughs (Dabney, Leland, and Mary Marshall) hosted Melissa’s bridesmaid luncheon. Then we were on to the church for the rehearsal and then the fun began!
The rehearsal dinner was similar to our’s last year – it was outside at my dad’s with BBQ and a bluegrass band. What a great time! I even got to do some of my country jitterbug with Matt Hodges (my old partner from D.C.) Matt and I both hadn’t danced since my wedding last year, but we got most of the moves. The pull-the-shades was the one we never got – darn it.
Saturday was all day crazy. I had one last dress fitting and then I spent five hours at the beauty shop with the other girls. Melissa’s pictures were being taken at mom’s house so I rushed home for the pictures. Then we all rushed to the church for some more pictures and then some waiting. Finally we walked down the aisle and they said “I do.”
The reception was lots of fun – there was a chocolate fountain! My goal at this reception (as opposed to mine) was to dance and eat and do some visiting. It worked out just about right.
My M&M story – we realized that Tyler and Katrina (my little cousins) were a little apprehensive about pictures and walking down the aisle. However, they perked up and did as asked for an M&M. I had some M&M’s waiting at the end of the aisle for the flower girls and the best man had some in his pockets for Tyler. During the first prayer, I heard scuffling and realized the girls were helping themselves to all of the M&Ms left on the altar. Wish I had grabbed a few!
Friday night, Wade and I went out with Jamie and her new boy. I long ago told Jamie my only requirement for the guy she dates is that he like to play cards. You wouldn’t think it would be hard to come up with two other people, but it is. We always have three or five – never four. We did play cards after dinner, and it was Dan’s first time at Spades. He did pretty well, but Jamie and Wade still beat us.
Saturday, Wade and I spent most of the day in the car. We drove to Cullman, AL to meet his parents for lunch. (The main reason for the trip being the return of Madison.) Madison looked a little skinny and had stitches on her tummy, but she was as hyper as ever. The bad part is she can’t have a bath till Friday (she normally gets one every couple of days). Wade’s dad also told us she has fleas. Yuck.
Sunday, I had to play putt putt for the Gwinnett Corporate Challenge with a couple of people from SA. I managed to get 3 hole-in-ones and the third worst score – go me. Then Wade and I did the cleaning and fogging that went with getting rid of fleas. That also meant we had to leave the house for a few hours. We ordered some pizza from Mellow Mushroom (I am in withdrawal) and headed for Piedmont Park. I love watching Madison in the dog park. She isn’t sure about the big dogs and there was a Great Dane there tonight. It slobbered all over her and she jumped up into my arms. There were some Australian shepherds and Chihuahuas she liked playing with.
My company had it’s annual Legal Conference this past week. I haven’t been with the company for previous retreats, but this one was awesome. We spent three days at Chateau Elan in Braselton, GA. I was a little apprehensive about going. I know lots of the lawyers, but wouldn’t be comfortable with them in a social setting. This year was a joint legal and finance conference so I was hoping there would be some other young people. I wasn’t thinking that this was mostly high level people. I was the youngest person by about 15 years.
Regardless, I had a great time. There were about five speakers – a major investor, a board member, the CEO, and two panels of engineers. I learned a lot about the company and found some people in my department that are a lot of fun! We listened to the speakers for about four hours every day and the rest of the time was free. There is a spa at the hotel so I got a hot stone massage for my leisure activity- now that was relaxing!
The retreat ended at noon on Friday and we were done for the day. I decided to stay at the hotel and use their pool. I miss having a pool – that is the only bad thing about renting a house versus being in an apartment. I did get rid of those pesky strap marks though. Now I am ready for Melissa’s wedding.
Wade’s family (his mom, dad, and sister) came to visit for the long weekend. Wade and I both got off work early, and his parents arrived on Friday evening. We went out to dinner and then played dominoes – I won! His sister, Emily, joined us the next afternoon and we all got in the car to drive to Auburn. Wade’s dad and sister graduated from Auburn and Wade and I graduated from Tech. His mom tried to be impartial and root for both teams. We arrived in the early afternoon and revisited some old favorites of his dad. I am not a huge football fan, but I learned a lot about the game (Wade answered all my questions) and Tech won!!
I graduated three years ago, we were at an away game, and I still saw people I knew – how cool is that? We didn’t get back to Atlanta till 3:30 AM so most of Sunday was spent recovering and shoe shopping for Emily. Everyone left early on Monday and Wade and I spent the day relaxing. Wade’s parents took Madison with them. His dad is a vet and the plan is to spay her this upcoming week. It worked out great since I have a work retreat Wednesday through Friday and would have had to board her. Now I just can’t wait till she comes back.
I suddenly realized that my sister’s wedding was only a few weeks away. In most aspects, this is great, except that I have to wear a strapless bridesmaid dress. Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem, but the whole summer I have been getting a tan wearing my bathing suits, which have straps. Now I suddenly need the strap marks gone and to do that – I need a new bathing suit. I hate bathing suit shopping. It always takes forever, and then the suits are overly expensive. I decided I only needed this bathing suit for a few weeks so it didn’t have to be cute. I wanted a cheap one so I decided to do my shopping at Wal-Mart. The only thing I forgot in my master plan was the fact that it was late August and most stores are trying to get rid of their swim suits. There were two racks of suits, and each piece was only $5. I ended up with a neon orange top and neon yellow bottoms. Talk about eye catching! Amazingly, the suit actually fits really well – if only the colors didn’t scream 1980’s.
Wade, Madison, and I have been in our latest house since April – so of course I am only getting pictures posted in September. The pictures are in my gallery. Take special note of the bookshelves and the dresser in the spare bedroom. That was my project last weekend. We tried to match the colors to the bedspread, but that probably doesn’t come through in the pictures. I’m just glad to have one more project done!
You know those old photos of the 70’s when there were long lines of people waiting for gas? I saw that yesterday in Atlanta. I was on my way home from work with only an 1/8 of a tank of gas. I had heard stories about the gas prices, but I figured I’d just have to suck it up. Nobody had mentioned the “rush” on gas. I passed 6 gas stations on the way home. Three were out of gas and three had lines of cars that stretched at least a mile. I decided that was ridiculous. I went home and ventured back out at 10 – thinking nobody would be waiting in line then – wrong! I had to wait 20 minutes to fill up and then paid $3.15 a gallon. Geez!
If you read Wade’s blog, then you might have seen the planter he designed. After four months of being in our house, we finally got it hung in our bedroom. I decided it needed some color so I started looking for red flower pots. (Wade kept insisting it was designed for Terracotta pots.) I have decided, after much searching, that they don’t make red flower pots in the three sizes I need. Then I got the brilliant idea of painting the pots I already had red (yeah, yeah, I know I should have thought of this immediately). Conveniently for me, I always check out the Oops paint at Home Depot and buy the colors I like. Therefore, I had this great red color on hand.
When I moved from Georgia to Washington D.C., I discovered that Virginia did things a little different. They wanted you to pay property tax on your car and to get a county sticker. I knew I wouldn’t be staying in D.C. long so I decided to ignore the whole thing. I was warned that Virginia cops actually look for out of state tags, but I didn’t listen. I moved away in 2004 and thought I had nothing more to worry about.
A month ago, my dad (who lives in KY) got a call from the Arlington County Tax Commissioner looking for me. I debated, but finally decided to call them back. They wanted $174 in backtax for my Pathfinder. I spoke to probably seven people to find out that my apartment complex turned in my car and the fact that it was registered out of state. The woman told me I could argue the fee, but I had to specify the exact dates the car was housed in Virginia, the car registration, and the residence registered with my insurance company. I might could have fudged all but that last one. Darn it.
Then I told her I had sold the car in February of 2005 and didn’t have the car registration anymore. The lady informed me I could contact the TN DMV, but she would stop the account as of February. (She needed no proof for this so why didn’t I just tell her I sold it in January of 2004?) She informed me I would also be getting a bill for January of 2005.
I still hadn’t decided whether I would pay it. They couldn’t come hunt me down in Georgia and they didn’t have my new last name. I did submit the paperwork to show I left Virginia in July of 2004 and asked for an adjusted amount.
Three weeks later I got two statements in the mail. The one for 2005 showed that no money was due and the account was closed. The statement for 2004 showed the original amount, the amount adjusted to 7 months, and then showed that I had overpaid by $30.10. (No where on this statement was the $174 they originally told me I owed.)
My dad suggested I try to get the $30 out of them, but I think I will just count myself lucky and hope they don’t look at it twice. I love the government!
I had a dentist appointment bright and early today at 8:20 am. (With a new dentist of course.) I was very proud of myself for remembering it on a Monday morning. I showed up and was a little concerned because I had forgotten my dental insurance card. That turned out not to be a big deal since my dentist wasn’t there yet. The manager informed me that it was her last week with the office and her schedule was a little “erratic.” Evidently, I never should have been taken on as a new patient. Oh well, he offered me half price on my bill when they rescheduled me with the new dentist. The drama continues…..
Madison came to the beach too. She loved being in a house with 9 people – talk about never wanting for attention. Luke got her a little too excited once, but overall she was very well behaved. We only took her to the beach one evening, but she seemed to like it. She would even follow us out into the waves.
One of my best friends from high school, Kate, lives in Ft. Walton Beach. She recently had a baby, Taylor, and this was the first time I got to see her. She was adorable and Kate looked great! It is so nice to know a local person when you are looking for good restaurants, especially seafood places.
We weren’t a very active group – being out all day in the sun is tiring. Not to mention the beach Bocci, Frisbee, and football tossing. We did go go-kart racing one night – Melissa and I both came in first in our respective groups. Dad would be proud. The rest of the evenings we had some heated Spades games and random movie watching.
Did I mention how much I love vacations – I had plenty of time to read and relax!
Wade and I did it – we celebrated our first anniversary. I never knew other people remembered and celebrated too – we got cards and gifts from our parents, my aunt and uncle, Cori and Derek, and Carolyn and Jay. How cool!
Wade had been with his dad to a car show in KY so he flew into Florida on Sunday (our actual anniversary). We went out for dinner at Destin Chops (on Kate’s suggestion) and the prime rib was fantastic. We had an awesome view of the setting sun on the harbor as we sat and talked.
Talk about a delayed post! My dad and Laura gave me a new living room chair for my birthday, but Wade and I waited till we were settled in the new house to pick it out. Then there was a month wait for delivery. We’ve had the chair for a little while now and love it!
With my new job came a new health insurance plan, which means a new doctor. I hate looking for doctors and dentists. I guess when you grow up in a midsize town and your mom is a nurse, you end up with a great doctor. It’s a little harder to pick one by their name on a list. My general theory has been that younger, female doctors tend to be more personable and down to earth. (I am still waiting for this to be proven true.)
That theory was shot down (again) a few weeks ago. I needed to find a new dermatologist. The woman I found was only about 5 years older than me – perfect I thought. This lady was horrible. I got lecture upon lecture. I was just answering her questions – I wasn’t causing any trouble.
Most of the appointment was her asking questions and not really listening to my answers. My favorite was when she asked what I used to wash my face. The last two dermatologists I have visited in the past 10 years have been adamant about using Dove soap. Hence, that’s what I have done. This lady gives me a super long lecture on why not to use it. (I would have gladly done what she preferred. All she had to do was tell me.)
Now comes the funny part. As I am walking out of the office, I am given a goody bag. There were only two items inside, and one was a sample bar of Dove soap.
My goal for this fall is to take an EMT certification class (you know, the ambulance people). Wade is going to be gone during the week, and there is a technical college literally next door to my office. Even better is that the college offers a night course. Being the slacker that I am, I didn’t turn in my application until July 20th and they were of course due by July 30th. I checked the status online and it turns out I have to take an entrance exam (This of course is listed no where on their website). Only an SAT score within the last 5 years would satisfy the requirement. This led me to believe the test was an SAT type test. Now the SAT isn’t that bad, but some of the math I knew I’d need a refresher for.
Well, I downloaded some sample questions and brushed up on my math skills – I don’t really ever use geometry or trig anymore. Then I took time off work to take this untimed test. I almost laughed out loud in the testing center. The reading comprehension was several 3 paragraph essays with 3 questions. And these weren’t thought provoking questions. These questions were directly taken from the essay and if you didn’t know the answer, it didn’t take long to reread the right paragraph. The second section of the test was writing skills. I was given 3 more paragraphs and had to find the grammatical errors. There were multiple choice answers which would contain double negatives, mixed verb tenses, etc. Once again, cake. Then I get to the math section. It was entirely prealgebra with questions such as if Sue is going this fast and Jane is going that fast, when do they meet. It took a little longer, but no big deal.
Because the test is computerized, I was supposed to wait for my results. This woman comes in with a huge smile on her face and tells me I scored perfect in every section. Then she says “You don’t look surprised.” What do I say to that? Do I make fun of their test? It’s obvious they don’t get many people scoring that well – which kind of makes me wonder what kind of people take classes at their college….. Before I got out of the building, I had 4 women working in the department come congratulate me on my score – hmm.
After a long, hard day of sitting by the pool for me and thesis writing for Wade, we decided dinner was going to be Papa John’s. Since we have lived in this house, we have ordered a few times from the same particular Papa John’s. We have never had a “real” phone line so I was rather confused when the boy answering the phone seemed at a loss on how to handle no home phone. Our entire conversation was ridiculous. This boy is a perfect example for the stereotypical young, low wage worker. Instead of “um”, “ah”, or any other verbal place holder, he used “hold on just a minute”. He did not mean, I am putting you on hold or this will take a second. Normally as soon as he got the words out of his mouth he was asking another question or talking again. Very odd.
Then my favorite part of the conversation. I wanted to know the price difference between a medium and large pizza. His response was, “The price varies.” We have a real genius here. I asked again what the actual prices were and he came up with the price for the large. He told me he guessed the medium would be less. Then the boy remembered they were having a promotion. I asked if the promotion price made the large as cheap as the medium and he told me “I guess.” This whole thing is filled with lots of “hold on a minute”.
I finally got my pizza ordered and it was delicious once delivered, but wow – what a trying phone conversation!
My parents used to send my sister and I to visit my Aunt Gayle and Uncle Bob in Washington D.C. during the summers growing up. The poem below is courtesy of my crazy Uncle Bob and a long car ride one night:
I come before you to stand behind you to tell you something I know nothing about. On next Thursday, which is Good Friday, There is a Mother’s meeting for men only. Admission is free, pay at the door. Pull up a chair and sit on the floor. There will be dancing for the crippled, music for the deaf, and movies for the blind. In one of the movies a blind man saw, One day in the middle of the night, two dead boys got up to fight. Back to back, they faced each other, pulled out their guns and shot each other. If you do not believe this lie is true, ask the blind man who saw it too.
We have gone through most of the typical “puppy issues” with Madison. The one we haven’t had an issue with is chewing up things. She has never touched furniture, electrical cords, or things just laying around – until lately. We keep a bucket of toys for Madison and for some reason the bucket ended up on a shelf. I guess she used that more than we realized.
Wade woke up the other morning to Madison chewing his hat, which he’d only had for a week. Yesterday I came home from work to find Wade’s Doc Martin’s chewed (mostly the insole). I think we all see a trend here – it is Wade’s stuff that she chews. Know what that means? Yes, he leaves his stuff all over the house. Maybe Madison can train him better than I ever could!
I came home from work last night to a very excited greeting. Normally that is just Madison jumping and whining and begging attention, but last night Wade was just about as excited. He finally finished his rough, rough draft of his thesis. He was happier than Christmas and Birthday combined. I swear he was almost jumping up and down and squealing like a girl (well, not really).
His dad recently mailed us some money to use for a celebrating-finishing-thesis. Although the money disappeared into Wade’s wallet and is long gone, we went out to celebrate. Wade wanted ribs so we drove to Corky’s, the only one in Georgia. (Wade is extremely picky and snobbish when it comes to BBQ. He feels he is an authority, coming from Memphis and all.) But wouldn’t you know, Corky’s closes at 9 and it was 9:12. Wade had to settle for O’Charley’s (another of his favorite’s) instead.
It was a nice relaxing weekend at the Burch house. Wade spent most of the weekend working on his thesis and I spent most of it doing nothing! We rearranged a lot of furniture (love our living room), spent Saturday at the pool, and then watched a bunch of movies. Oh yeah, and we dyed Madison blue.
Dyeing Madison had been in our jar of activities and was recently chosen. Wade bought some dye – essentially colored hairspray. We put Madison in the tub and turned her blue. Then we topped that off with a glitter layer. She was a pretty good sport, i.e. she just sat in the tub and watched us. Due to the torrential downpours we have been having, we had to give her a bath after getting some pictures. Madison has a doggie door and can go outside at will. That would have led to a dog dripping blue everywhere she went
My dad is a race car driver – at least on the weekends. Since he was 16 years old, he has raced in one form or another. He is now racing NHRA and IHRA Pro Modified. His car is a replica Viper and he races a nitrous oxide system (NOS). Last year he came in 8th place in the points (yeah!). More about his racing here. I don’t get to see him race very often, but it is always fun. The last time Wade and I saw him it was in the fall in North Carolina – and it was very cold. This time, we saw him in Huntsville, Al and it was hot!
One of our friends from GaTech, Daniel Chandler, lives in Madison, Alabama so we begged a place to stay and invited him to the races with us. Saturday is three rounds of qualifying and Sunday is a single elimination bracket. The sweltering heat plays havoc with the cars and with the track – but that works in my dad’s (and the other NOS cars) favor. There were not many cars in his class this weekend so everyone made it to the elimination rounds, but their order was determined by the qualifying times. My dad was near the bottom, but his crew finally realized what was wrong and spent the evening switching out the clutch and the transmission.
Sunday morning Daniel cooked us breakfast and then it was back to the track. Dad won his first round – both cars had some trouble, but Dad made it to the end of the track first. The guys on his crew now knew exactly what was wrong this time- too much weight on the clutch. His next race was against the No. 1 guy – Shannon Jenkins (the only other NOS car). Dad had an ETA of 4.17, but Shannon had a 4.13 (this is on a 1/8 mile track). Oh well, you win some and you lose some – but we had a blast.
Drag races are interesting places – kind of like redneck central. The announcer uses phrases like “He brought a pocketknife to a gunfight” to describe a car that isn’t as fast as it’s opponent. The people all around us in the stands were exactly what the stereotype would imply. We mostly hung out in the pit area with everyone else that came to see my dad race – Laura’s family and some friends. We had awesome snacks and goodies (Starne’s BBQ) and electric fans – sadly the AC was out in the trailer. They do put on an awesome firework show on Saturday night – I can’t wait to see what Atlanta does this year for the 4th.
The next activity Wade and I chose was to make sugar cookies. This required a trip to the grocery for icing and sprinkles and a trip out for cookie cutters. Cookie cutters are surprisingly hard to find – we ended up with a bone, frog, heart, fish, and flower. Jamie was looking for something to do so she joined us for dinner and decorating.
Sugar cookie dough is a little different from normal cookie dough, but tastes just as yummy! You have to get the dough very cold and work with it before it softens. We had it in the fridge for 2 hours, but to get it cold enough, we had to put it in the freezer for another hour. The best idea would have been to make it the night before, but that would have required too much forethought (We went to see Grease at the Screen on the Green in Piedmont Park the night before and got in late). Then you use lots of flour and roll out the cookies for the cookie cutters.
The last time I decorated sugar cookies, it was at Wade’s parents’ house. His mom made her own icing, which I thought was awesome. We decided to make some of our own and in retrospect, that’s what I’ll always do. I’m not a big icing fan and the store bought stuff is too thick and rich.
After all the decorating was finished, Wade’s cookies looked the best – we’ll say it is because he is a design major. We took the cookies to Huntsville and I told everyone my little cousins decorated them. I will admit they tasted great though!
The “c” key has broken on my laptop. In the beginning, it would pop off at random times and nicely pop back in. Now the plastic prongs are broken and it will stay for about one click before becoming tangled under the other keys. I hadn’t realized how much a missing key throws off my typing. Even when not using it, my fingers feel odd. There is a hole with a small round nub where there should be a nice flat, plastic key.
Replacement keys are a little difficult to find. A whole keyboard is a couple hundred dollars, and that seems a little absurd when mine works fine now, just not like I like. Then I checked eBay. I love eBay. There is a nice man selling keyboard keys for Sony Vaio Laptops. $7 seems a little steep for one key, but it is a small price to pay for the fixing of my keyboard. Now, I just hope the mailman brings it soon…
(No, I didn’t type this on my laptop, then I would have not used words containing the letter “c”.)
Wade and I recently decided we had too much down time. I would come home from work, and he would want to go out. It would take us forever to figure out what we wanted to do. By then, nothing was open. Then, Wade came up with a great idea. We made a list of random activities and put them in a jar. We pull one out and then know what we are going to do on our next free night.
Our first activity was a trip to Centennial Park. I love the water and music show. Of course, with our luck, that particular fountain was closed for repairs. Instead, we played around with Madison. We are working with her in the hope that she will eventually sit calmly and meet new people. Right now she gets super excited and jumps and nips. This makes it a little difficult for little kids to come meet the cute puppy.
I grew up in Paducah, KY, which has two large lakes conveniently located nearby. In high school, my family got Sea Doos and a lake house. My sister and I spent lots of time on the water, but I never attempted to water ski. When I went to college at GaTech, I met Jamie. Her family also spends all kinds of time on a lake, and her’s is much closer than mine. The difference is her family is big into water skiing. Her dad quickly taught me to ski and by the end of the summer I could also Slalom. The wakeboard, however, kept alluding me. I would try and try but never quite get up.
Well, after moving away and then back to Atlanta, I am once again spending time on the lake with Jamie. Wade, Madison, and I went this past weekend, and I was determined to wakeboard. After a few unsuccessful attempts, I did it! What an odd feeling. Water skiing feels a lot like snow skiing except that my back starts to hurt after a while. Wakeboarding is just awesome. I can’t wait to go back and try again soon. Jamie is a pro at the wakeboard and her brother, Jason, is awesome to watch on Slalom. I can get up, but I am definitely not impressive. Wade can ski, but he wanted to try wakeboarding. He didn’t quite get up this time, and after what happened to him this weekend, I don’t know if he will be back.
Wade has tried repeatedly to get a tan and is never successful so he decided to forgo sunscreen for the first few hours. Because of that, he is now a bright pink color. He tried to wakeboard for quite a while, so his arms, shoulders, and back are sore from the jerking. Then the good stuff happens. Jamie, Madison, and I were taking a nap and Wade decided to go out on a big inner tube with Jason and his friends. The tube holds two people and was pulled behind the boat. When I woke up, Wade is standing over me with a bloody head and telling me he lost his wedding ring. Evidently he collided with one of the other guy’s knees while on the tube and busted his forehead up. The ring he lost while slowly letting go of the handle on the tube. It was definitely a hard day for him – he spent all of Sunday recovering.
This was Madison’s first trip to the lake, and we weren’t quite sure how she would do. We bought a lead on a stake and put her in the lot next to Jamie’s family. I was a little worried she would bark while we were out in the boat and annoy Jamie’s mom. Madison was on her best behavior and only whined when her lead got tangled in the various pipes, poles, or picnic table. The funniest part of the day is when we put Madison in the water. She was okay as long as we were there, but she didn’t do too well on the Jet Ski. We thought she would love the wind (like sticking her head out of the car window), but evidently the water in her eyes made the experience horrible. Wade came back from the ride with scratches all over his legs. I guess it was a rough day for Madison – she has slept all of today!
I spent the last two years working for the government at the U. S. Patent Office. The work environment was loosely structured – to say the least. Each group had one supervisor and about 19 examiners. The examiners ranged in GS level, which mostly meant pay and a small about of added responsibility. There was one support person for the entire group. As a whole, this environment led to a united group of examiners who mostly only had their supervisor to complain about. In retrospect, there was plenty of socializing but almost no office gossip, especially anything malicious or backstabbing.
My current job in a corporate setting is much different. I am a patent agent in the legal department. I have the lawyers above me and various admin staff below me. I don’t really “belong” with either group. It has been suggested that I not mingle too much with the admin staff or people will treat me as one. However, I am routinely asked to do things like file and check over things – admin tasks in my opinion. I decided to go my own way and I hang out with the girls – who are much more fun than the lawyers.
Then comes the gossip. Some of the laywers love to gossip – sometimes about the admin girls. The girls like to gossip about the lawyers. I have heard some crazy conversations lately. One of my favorites is about an admin and the lawyer she supports. They do not get along to say the least. I recently went to lunch with her and she spent most of the meal talking about people we work with. However, she also tells me she doesn’t like to get involved in other people’s business and doesn’t like to gossip. There was recently a big ordeal when she didn’t want to do some work asked of her by the lawyer. At this meal, she speaks of another admin who isn’t a team player because she only does what is asked of her and no more. I was sitting there wondering if she was listening to the words coming out of her mouth. Hello?!?
I must admit that work is much more interesting with all the little subplots going on, but I also feel the need to tiptoe around. I sure don’t want to be the one everyone is talking about.
I happily lived without cable for three years. I would occasionally download a tv show off the Internet, and I did watch a ton of movies, but I didn’t miss tv. There was no show to watch every week – no worrying about missing an episode. Nada.
Then Wade and I got married, and he convinced me he needed cable for football. I didn’t really care one way or the other – at the time. Now I wouldn’t be too happy to lose my cable or my TiVo. I love TiVo – I program in the shows I like and don’t have to worry about the VCR being set correctly or having enough space on a tape. It didn’t take long at all for me to become caught up in every single “popular” tv show – from the WB, to ABC, to reruns on the Sci-Fi channel. The problem is now I seem to watch every tv show – Roswell, Lost, Alias, Gilmore Girls, Charmed, Medium, 4400, Numb3rs, One Tree Hill, Will & Grace, Sliders, and so on. Well, thank goodness for summer. Most of the shows take a break, and I can focus on other things – like movies!
Last night, my friend Josh put together an outing to see Batman Begins at the IMAX theater. Wade and I met some friends for trivia – where we lost badly – and then we headed to the theater. The movie was awesome! It makes me sorry the older ones exist. This new one provided some great backstory and had very cool fight scenes – well what I could see of them. Because of the super large screen, and my particular seat, most of the fight scenes appeared to be a black blur with one man (Batman) left standing at the end. The only issue I had with the movie (don’t read ahead if you haven’t seen it) was the dissipation of the toxin. It was used on various people in the movie and once exposed, they didn’t recover unless they received an antidote. Before Gordon and Batman manage to stop the vaporization of the city’s contaminated water, quite a large number of people are exposed – both in the Narrows and in Gotham. Then suddenly everyone seems better. Oh well, I definitely like movies that have bigger issues.
And now my most exciting news. I have tickets to an advance screening of Serenity! This movie is based on a canceled Fox tv series – Firefly. Jamie Richey introduced me to the show after it had been canceled. I watched all of the 12 episodes in two days – my addictive personality peeking through. Then Wade gave me the DVD set for Christmas and I discovered a couple of unaired episodes. The sale of the DVDs showed the network and the creator, Joss Whedon, the show’s tremendous following.
A movie script was written and finally picked up. All of the original cast members are in the movie – a wester sci-fi set 500 years in the future. It is the story of a crew of misfits and renegades aboard a spaceship as they travel far out in space. The movie was initially going to be released in May, but it was decided Star Wars was too much competition. The release date is now September 30th, but there have been a couple of advance screenings in select cities (Atlanta included), next Thursday is the third. I have tried to get tickets, but have always been too late – until now. A friend of a friend actually went to the theater and got us all tickets – I can’t wait!!!
Wade and I have made quite a few trips to Memphis and Paducah lately so we decided one more wasn’t too much to ask. My dad was hosting a Harper Family Picnic and I wanted to attend. I got off work early on Friday afternoon just to beat traffic so of course, we hit traffic. We did get into Paducah in time to eat at El Chico – my all time favorite Mexican restaurant.
All day Saturday was spent at my dad’s house helping get ready for the picnic. There were fresh strawberries to cut, ice cream to make, and tables to set up. We got all of that done early enough to go for a horseback ride – Wade’s first. We debated which of the horses was the safest for Wade to ride and finally decided on the Arabian, Mia. None of the horses are regularly ridden so they tend to be a little head strong in the beginning. My dad rode Beau and I was on Trigger – my huge Palomino. Both Beau and Trigger need a strong hand and vigilant eye in the first lap or two – they tend to want to buck. We had a good time riding around the farm and Madison loved running behind. She tried her hardest to keep up, but couldn’t quite do it. She got a little close to Trigger and quickly learned to avoid her back hooves. The picnic was a lot of fun and old albums and family trees made their appearance.
Wade has been trading my fix-it projects in exchange for certain home cooked meals. We recently finished redoing the kitchen table and Wade wanted fried catfish for payment. I have never cooked catfish so I decided to go to an expert, my mom. My grandfather loves to fish and always brings home catfish so Mom’s had lots of practice. We invited my grandparents and Wade’s grandparents for lunch after church. It was great to see everyone and Wade seemed to love the food. My grandmother even brought some dishes she wanted to pass on to me. Then we stared our 5 hour drive home – yuck.
I am ready to buy a house. It will be nice to have our own space and be able to paint and remodel, but the biggest reason is the absence of a landlord. Although everything seems to work out in the end, I have never had a great renting experience – especially with a house. All of my rented apartments have been through large companies so in the end they return deposits and don’t charge for normal damages. They also have the convenience of having a full time maintenance staff.
Renting a house is a whole different story. Wade and I decided to try to find a house to rent in Atlanta after we got married. We had decided on what we were willing to pay and looked around to see if it was feasible. We found a cute little yellow bungalow in Midtown Atlanta. The landlord seemed really nice and even agreed to give us a discount on rent in exchange for repairs on the house. That was perfect for us! That way we could change things the way we wanted, be reimbursed for materials, and get the cute little yellow house. We should have realized we had a problem when it took weeks of phone calls and some strong words to get the money for the repairs. I don’t think we ever had a phone call returned in less than a week and never on the first call. When it came time for our lease to end, we asked if we could go month to month until we decided if we would be staying in Atlanta. After much waiting, remember he doesn’t return phone calls, our landlord finally said no and he was raising rent by $300 a month if we wanted to sign a year’s lease.
Wade and I decided this was ridiculous. We quickly found another house that was bigger and closer to my work. Our landlord now returned phone calls because he wanted to show the house and make sure we weren’t there. He eventually found a tenant, and ended up only raising rent by $100 a month from our discounted rate. I did warn the prospective tenants I met about the lack of communication between landlord and tenant.
Because of our previous issues, Wade and I were a little concerned about getting back our security deposit of a month’s rent. We cleaned and cleaned and patched holes and painted. We made an appointment with Rob so that we could go over everything with him and fix anything he noticed. He said it looked great and he would mail us a check in a few weeks. Right. At the end of a month, the time to have a check specified by the lease, we began calling him. Of course he didn’t answer the phone. Wade mentioned that he would be looking into court proceedings if we did not have our check by the specified time. Now Rob calls back. He leaves a message saying “You didn’t get my note? You know where to reach me.” Wade called him back and I have no idea what he said, but it must have bothered/scared Rob. (Rob is taller than Wade but physically intimidated by him. I have seem him shake when Wade uses a stern voice.) He called back and said he was mailing the check that day, certified mail. The funny thing here is he wouldn’t tell Wade how much the check was for and he told Wade if he called again he would be in violation of some law.
To make a long story longer, we got a check in the mail for the full amount. We laughed to see that the check and the letter were backdated to comply with the month deadline, but of course the postmark on the envelope told the truth. We have deposited the check and are hoping it clears. As well as we can figure, Rob is overextended financially (he owns a house and has two rental houses) and probably just didn’t have the money. If he had just told us this, we could have worked something out. However, did he think we would just forget about the money?
Our current landlords are wonderful and we don’t anticipate having any problems with them. However, I think our next location will be in a house of our own. I had at one time thought leasing property would be fun, I have definitely changed my mind!
This past Christmas, Wade gave me an IOU for the dog of my choice. Wade’s dad is a vet and we decided to take his advice and look for a Brittany Spaniel. I quickly decided I wanted a liver and white – I personally call it chocolate and white – Brittany. Wade’s dad also suggested we wait till it was warm outside so that house training wasn’t miserable for us. That was excellent advice. We picked out Madison and brought her home in March.
Since then, Wade and I have become those people that obsess about their dog. As much as we try not to, we find conversations and activities center around Madison. When we decided to go to Birmingham, Alabama for a country concert, we suddenly had to worry about Madison. She couldn’t be left alone for 8 hours in her kennel. Oh well, we have decided Madison is the best dog ever and we’ll just be those people we used to make fun of.
My gallery has random pictures as she grows. Her estimated final weight, according to my veterinarian father-in-law, is about 40 pounds. That’s not really important one way or another except that Madison is a true lap dog. I’m starting to have trouble picking her up as it is.
I am going to explain the title of my site simply because I like the story. My dad and Buddy Upshaw have been best friends since they were teenagers. They both went to the University of Kentucky and eventually settled in Paducah, KY. Buddy married Mary Anne and they had two sons – Ben and Matt. My dad married my mom and they had my sister and me. The four kids were born in three years, and I grew up thinking of the Upshaws as my second family. I am sure it was pure chaos when we were all together, but I only remember it as fun. My mom began referring to us collectively as “toadfrogs and elephants”. Over the years we have all accumulated numerous toadfrogs and elephants in various forms.
As our families have grown, we have simply added to the collective “toadfrogs and elephants”. This picture was taken last Christmas. The back row has Matt and his boyfriend Jason, my husband Wade and myself, Ben and his wife Stephanie. Melissa is sitting on the floor. She is getting married soon so next year’s picture will have her husband and we’ll have doubled the original number of toadfrogs and elephants.