Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Birthday Bonzanza!
I absolutely love my birthday. Whenever I tell people that they just assume it's because I like to receive presents. While presents are pretty stellar, this is not the reason. I just love having one day all to myself to be a princess. Conceited? Perhaps.
Coming from a big family birthdays were the only thing that was really all yours. Well, except for the triplets; they definitely had to share a birthday. Momma always made a point to make our birthdays special (even for the triplets-they each got their own cakes and parties each year!) despite whatever else was going on. She even continued that tradition today by taking me out to Cracker Barrel this morning before school started. The 4am wake up it required was rough, but well worth the bacon and eggs!
David and I never do anything too crazy for birthdays, and that is just fine by me. My favorite part is just remembering in my head that I'm the princess for a day and can pull that card at any point if I want to. Trust me, I really take this stuff to the next level.
What really made today wonderful was celebrating it with my students. They told me "happy birthday" over and over again, and one class even sang to me. It was so neat how they all said it on their way in the door, and as they left. Hundreds of people wishing me a happy birthday? Talk about a birthday princess's dream! My teammates were even wonderful enough to get me cupcakes to celebrate with at lunch. How stellar is that?!
Even though the day is only part of the way over, I can guarantee this has been one for the record books!
Coming from a big family birthdays were the only thing that was really all yours. Well, except for the triplets; they definitely had to share a birthday. Momma always made a point to make our birthdays special (even for the triplets-they each got their own cakes and parties each year!) despite whatever else was going on. She even continued that tradition today by taking me out to Cracker Barrel this morning before school started. The 4am wake up it required was rough, but well worth the bacon and eggs!
David and I never do anything too crazy for birthdays, and that is just fine by me. My favorite part is just remembering in my head that I'm the princess for a day and can pull that card at any point if I want to. Trust me, I really take this stuff to the next level.
What really made today wonderful was celebrating it with my students. They told me "happy birthday" over and over again, and one class even sang to me. It was so neat how they all said it on their way in the door, and as they left. Hundreds of people wishing me a happy birthday? Talk about a birthday princess's dream! My teammates were even wonderful enough to get me cupcakes to celebrate with at lunch. How stellar is that?!
Even though the day is only part of the way over, I can guarantee this has been one for the record books!
Sunday, August 28, 2011
How Now Brown Cow
One of the major selling points of our house was the awesome backyard. It may not be big, but it has an awesome view-an old family farm. We're very well aware of the fact that a few year's down the road that land could be sold and used as a new neighborhood, or even a strip mall, and as soon as that happens we're planting tall tress. Until then, we're enjoying the view and all that comes along with it. The view just happens to include cows, and lots of them.
Our new neighbors mentioned it the other night when we were all hanging out. I'd heard rumors of the cows and was pretty stoked to hear them confirmed. They said they come out every month or so, depending on which part of the field the farmer opened. Little did we all know that in about 24 hours the farmer man would be opening the gates!
Early Saturday evening, we were on our way out the door for my birthday supper at Macaroni Grill (nom nom nom) when David took the pup out to go to the bathroom one last. Boy were they in for a surprise! Daisy ran straight to the fence "chicken bawking" up a storm. "Chicken bawking" is Daisy's attempt at being fierce without getting fussed at by us for barking. I should also probably let y'all know that for the past few months Daisy has reverted from fearless puppy to wussy dog. We thought it might have been all the boxes around the apartment and the move. We're still working on toughening up. Suggestions welcome because having a wimp for a dog is flat-out annoying.
Anywho, Daisy started squawking so we went out to investigate and holy canoli, there they were. They were about 10 feet away from the fence, and as soon as they heard the commotion of the dog they turned and trundled over our way. I was amazed at how fast these things moved! They trotted right over to the fence as if we had snacks, and by the looks of them, they'd had a lot of snacks in their day. The closer they came to us, the farther Daisy went back form the fence. She realized pretty quickly they were unafraid of her. Heck, she's smaller than the calves they birth! After about thirty minutes of watching the cows watch us, my tummy started grumbling and we headed out to supper.
Then, this morning at about eight they were back out there. Daisy began her squawking again from the back door since she figured they can't get to her when she's inside. Such a smart one, that dog of ours. Needless to say, it's probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen and I can't wait for them to come back!
Our new neighbors mentioned it the other night when we were all hanging out. I'd heard rumors of the cows and was pretty stoked to hear them confirmed. They said they come out every month or so, depending on which part of the field the farmer opened. Little did we all know that in about 24 hours the farmer man would be opening the gates!
Early Saturday evening, we were on our way out the door for my birthday supper at Macaroni Grill (nom nom nom) when David took the pup out to go to the bathroom one last. Boy were they in for a surprise! Daisy ran straight to the fence "chicken bawking" up a storm. "Chicken bawking" is Daisy's attempt at being fierce without getting fussed at by us for barking. I should also probably let y'all know that for the past few months Daisy has reverted from fearless puppy to wussy dog. We thought it might have been all the boxes around the apartment and the move. We're still working on toughening up. Suggestions welcome because having a wimp for a dog is flat-out annoying.
Anywho, Daisy started squawking so we went out to investigate and holy canoli, there they were. They were about 10 feet away from the fence, and as soon as they heard the commotion of the dog they turned and trundled over our way. I was amazed at how fast these things moved! They trotted right over to the fence as if we had snacks, and by the looks of them, they'd had a lot of snacks in their day. The closer they came to us, the farther Daisy went back form the fence. She realized pretty quickly they were unafraid of her. Heck, she's smaller than the calves they birth! After about thirty minutes of watching the cows watch us, my tummy started grumbling and we headed out to supper.
Then, this morning at about eight they were back out there. Daisy began her squawking again from the back door since she figured they can't get to her when she's inside. Such a smart one, that dog of ours. Needless to say, it's probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen and I can't wait for them to come back!
She was totally captivated
Here they come
They travel together as you can see
A little love nuzzle
More pictures on Facebook!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
. . . In The Middle Of Our Street
Like the title? I tried for a continuation from the last one. What can I say, I'm kind of a dork. Anywho, I promised more pictures, so here they are!
Waiting for nutrition after a long, hot day of moving
I think it's safe to say Daddy was tired.
Boxes of clothes. There were a lot of these.
Part of the kitchen
Other part
The only bathroom all the way put together. Cut me some slack, there are three!
The office my sweet hubs put together.
Bonus Room/future NC State room!
Sorry I haven't posted more. Did I mention that our teacher workdays started the day before closing, and school started less than a week after we moved in? Yea, you can say I'm a smidgen busy right now. I promise to be a better blogger once things slow down a scoach!
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Our House. . .
I figured with all the details in the last post, y'all were a bit overwhelmed by our housing adventure. Imagine how we felt! I pick up where I left off below:
Chapter Seven-Let's Talk
The next step was to put in an offer, so on our one year anniversary we did just that. Happy one year babe, let's fork over all our savings! We met with Lisa and talked terms before heading back over to the community to put in a bid. The next week was one of the most excruciating of my life. I'm not known for my super patient nature, and waiting for word from the division head was killing me! After much back and forth we finally came to terms we could all agree on. Let the fun begin!
Chapter Eight-What Did We Just Do?
As soon as we signed the papers we went out for supper to wrap our brains around it. Holy canoli, we had just made the first steps toward home ownership. Yes, we were about six weeks away from the house even being complete, but this was still huge to us.
Chapter Nine-Wait and See
It was extremely difficult not to drive over to the house every single day to see the progress. In fact, I made myself a promise that I wouldn't go more than two times a week, and I am happy to report I stuck with that. The next six weeks found us visiting the house and monitoring the growth while we tied us loose ends with the mortgage peeps and our apartment complex. We also began to realize how much a new house required. Did you know new houses don't come with blinds? Because I didn't know that until about halfway through the process!
Chapter Ten-It's Ours!
Here we are now. We signed the papers yesterday and just about everything was moved in while I was at work. We certainly have a long way to go, but Rome wasn't built in a day. My emotional brain is learning to be more logical as we make big decisions and make big purchases (hello, furniture) and we are constantly acclimating to new things. Feel free to offer advice, but I can't promise we'll take it!
Here are some pictures of the process:
Chapter Seven-Let's Talk
The next step was to put in an offer, so on our one year anniversary we did just that. Happy one year babe, let's fork over all our savings! We met with Lisa and talked terms before heading back over to the community to put in a bid. The next week was one of the most excruciating of my life. I'm not known for my super patient nature, and waiting for word from the division head was killing me! After much back and forth we finally came to terms we could all agree on. Let the fun begin!
Chapter Eight-What Did We Just Do?
As soon as we signed the papers we went out for supper to wrap our brains around it. Holy canoli, we had just made the first steps toward home ownership. Yes, we were about six weeks away from the house even being complete, but this was still huge to us.
Chapter Nine-Wait and See
It was extremely difficult not to drive over to the house every single day to see the progress. In fact, I made myself a promise that I wouldn't go more than two times a week, and I am happy to report I stuck with that. The next six weeks found us visiting the house and monitoring the growth while we tied us loose ends with the mortgage peeps and our apartment complex. We also began to realize how much a new house required. Did you know new houses don't come with blinds? Because I didn't know that until about halfway through the process!
Chapter Ten-It's Ours!
Here we are now. We signed the papers yesterday and just about everything was moved in while I was at work. We certainly have a long way to go, but Rome wasn't built in a day. My emotional brain is learning to be more logical as we make big decisions and make big purchases (hello, furniture) and we are constantly acclimating to new things. Feel free to offer advice, but I can't promise we'll take it!
Here are some pictures of the process:
It's all ours! Well it will be in 30 years when we pay it off. . .
What will eventually be the kitchen
The den which looks out into the backyard and our gas fireplace!
The downstairs bedroom/office
The den with drywall
Dining room crown molding and tray ceiling
Kitchen cabinets
More cabinets
Pretty door
Foyer heading upstairs
David checking out the light fixtures in the bonus room
Master bathroom
More pictures to come!
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