the Journey

I truthfully am feeling a ton better, but you wouldn't know that by listening to me.  Although they aren't very painful, my swollen tonsils have left me with a less-than-pleasant sounding voice.  A few years ago I had no voice for almost a month  I'm hoping this is not a repeat. I have been on my medication for a month, and in that time I have lost thirteen pounds.  That's ten from my original starting point back in March.  I'll be honest, I had hoped for more.  I know that's ridiculous, and at some point I have to be grateful for any and all progress.  I'm down almost twenty-five inches since this journey began, and I notice a big difference in the way my clothes feel and look.  I know had it not been for the exercising, I would never have been able to contribute to the house renovations the way I have been.  I'm sure Matt's thankful for that, also.  Perhaps tomorrow I'll post a picture, you'll just have to wait and see. Do you know...

I had a good reason for not being back yesterday as promised.  Two words:  stomach virus.  Four more words:  I felt like death.  I won't even elaborate.  The memories are too hard. There has been a ton going on the last couple of weeks, truly too much to summarize.  I'm just going to detail out this past Saturday and you'll get the picture. Saturday: Get up at 6:00 a.m. - already, you should be tired.  Take shower, get semi-presentable. Go to the grocery store for items needed for Saturday supper. Return home by 7:30 a.m. so that Husband can go get JR, and they can go take all the trash they loaded up the night before to the dump. Get toddler ready for the day.  Drive thirty minutes to the floor store to purchase all the new downstairs flooring. Pay for all the new floor. Entertain toddler while Husband and JR load all the floor (2 and 1/2 pallets worth) onto the trailer.  The boys head to the new house to unload flooring, I...

No caption needed.

This is what we got going on today.  Headed to the Tenneesee Aquarium for J's birthday. Uncle Matt and KK have the dual DVD player, so we got the kiddos. We're looking forward to a great day.  I'll be back tomorrow.

Y'all.  How long do your roots have to be before you have to do something about it?  I'm asking for a friend. That's not true.  It's me.  I could see that you really believed that it wasn't me, and I couldn't let you be mislead that way. So seriously, what's the rule?  I mean, they're not bad, really.  It's just that between taking out a mortgage on a new house, remodeling a kitchen, and replacing all the flooring, we're not exactly rolling in the hay right now.  Can you believe that stores actually expect you to pay for things?  Up Front?  I know, I was surprised too.  So, shelling out the Benjamins for a color visit is not on the list of things the hubs is currently willing to say "yes" to.  I really don't want to box dye it all one color because I have a pretty color picked out for the fall and don't want to damage my hair.  Truthfully, I'm hoping you all will say, "sure, you can go another eight weeks int...

I grew up in a pretty traditional household, but as an adult our family shifted and I became part of a bigger, blended family.  Marriage brought with it more family, and now we have six places to be for any given holiday.  I enjoy being a part of each of these families, they are each unique and special to me.  My paternal grandmother's family is so special based on size alone. My great-grandmother, my Mama Young, gave birth to eleven children on nine different occasions.  She had not one, but two sets of twins.  Back-to-back.  My grandmother is one of those twins, and anytime someone announces they're pregnant, we all hold our breaths waiting for that twin gene to pop up. (A side note, Matt's paternal grandmother is also a twin, so if I make it out of my child-bearing years without any it'll be a miracle.)  Of all my great-grandparents, she is the only one I remember.  The others all departed this life before, or shortly after my ...

But, that's what happens when you cram four full days of activity into one blog post.  It gets lengthy. Thursday we had about the same fourth of July experience as everyone else - wet.  We did have a great time with family, but my anxious husband decided a day off could not be wasted on folly alone and home renovations could take place. So, he and I spent a couple of hours Thursday night pulling up carpet.  The file you're looking for is labeled - Lame; subclass - Super Lame.  Here I am getting ready to get my work on.  These gloves were the smallest Home Depot had and were promptly exchanged the next day for a smaller, pink pair from Lowes.     Let me state that the "poof" was a function over form thing, and I try really hard never to let that much of my forehead be seen on a daily basis.  Don't I embody the image of a renovation diva?  Yes, I do, thank you.   Here are some pictures of Thursday's progress.  Thankful...

I know I've been sparse the last few days, what with jet setting all over the southeast and figuring out how much money it's going to cost us to do the renovations on the house.  Let me just tell you, dwelling on the last part has left me mortified.  Yes, it's truly exciting to get a new kitchen, floors, lighting, etc., but geez that stuff gets pricey.  We happened upon another money gem when we went by the house last night to take a few measurements and discovered the downstairs A/C was blowing hot air.  Nice.  Since the house was a foreclosure, we have no idea exactly how old either A/C units are (there is a small unit for the two upstairs bedrooms).  There is a sticker on the big unit that says "2001-005", so I'm hoping that's an indication of age.  Twelve years is an older unit, but at least it's not twenty.  And, as you would suspect with a foreclosure, it's been sitting empty for some time.  We're praying it's a small i...