Moving Tuesday!

Guess what this is?! I'll give you a hint. It has keys and an automatic garage door opener,that fits in my purse!!

I was with Noah and Ian this evening, while Jen and Brandon went out of town for the day, and got a call from Johnny saying, "come home and get me! We can sign the lease and see the apartment!" I called Nancy Maddox, who sweetly came to the house and watched the boys, while I went and got Johnny. There are a few more snapshots, click here to see them. The kitchen is not a bad size, but there are few cabinets and drawers. I've lived in apartments before, back in the '70's, and they were larger than apartments today. However, these ARE brand new, the grounds are going to be lovely, the walls are textured, and we begin moving tomorrow! Can you imagine how excited we are to know we will be sleeping on a bed tomorrow night?! The air mattress has been comfortable, but getting up off the floor gets harder and harder.

Johnny is planning to paint the garage in the morning and will begin moving furniture and boxes after lunch. Stay tuned for updates on the messes in two places now!!

Photographs!

Here are the snapshots from the meal at MarChelles, downtown Prattville! Thank you everyone for coming and thank you Jenny for the pics!! She has more on their family web site along with snapshots from a trip they took to the Children's Museum, which totally fascinated Ian!, and some funny observations of the latest T-ball game. Click here to go to their page. By the way, this is the second post tonight so keep reading after this one~
I am so totally still in love with this man and I know he feels the same. Staying with me while I struggled to stay alive in ICU had to be the hardest thing he has ever had to endure and my heart hurts when I think of the pain and fear he experienced. Our daughters and my brother kept him sane and made sure he was rarely alone. He still worries about me, but we don't sweat the small things anymore. Shoot! We don't even sweat the big things anymore.

Ian Todd will be five this December and has just found out his mommy will be at school with him next year. He is so excited! There's a cute note about Ian and tonight's bedtime books you'll enjoy on their page. Please note the "A" on his pullover. Can you guess who is hoping this child will attend the University of Alabama on a sports scholarship?!

Nancy Maddox. Jenny's second mother and a dear friend of mine. Her Brandon has become the son we never had and we thank God for him each day. When he came into Jenny's live, we knew a prayer had been answered. She and Thaylon love the grands as much as we do. Well, maybe. {a wink here}

And this would be our Jenny with her sons. Our Alabama babies. MarChelles has these old brick walls that have to be hundreds of years old. Ian and I were in the waiting area after dinner and I said, "Ian, look at this brick wall. It's very old." He crawled up on the sofa, reached out and tentatively touched it and replied, "I hope they washed it."

Noah James. A man after my own heart. The child loves to eat. I mean he really loves to eat! Here he is eating the cookies that came with his meal. And yes, he ate them before the meal. I just love it when one gets to eat what he wants when he wants. Kind of breaks up the routine and makes mealtime funner. (and yes I made that word up) Johnny teases me about my love for food because for the past week or so we've had to eat most meals out and I get up every morning planning where I want to go for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner!

Here's the group~John and me with Noah; Nancy and Thaylon Maddox; Kay and Kirk Mayfield, dear friends from Wadsworth; Johnny's sister JoAnn; Brandon and Ian (Jen was the photographer). No, Jo does not have her tongue sticking out and Kirk, along with Brandon, is watching a man playing the guitar. Just in case you're wondering. I would've been. Again, thank you everyone for coming and sharing this special time with us and thank you Brandon and Jenny for pulling it together and treating us to a scrumptious meal!

Celebrating Tuesday Early

This Tuesday will mark a beautiful time in my life with Johnny. We will have been married twenty-five years and my tummy still tightens when he walks into a room. He brought with him two of the cutest little girls that became two of my closest friends, as well as daughters. Jenny and I were truly blessed when John walked into our lives. Happy Anniversary a bit early, my love.

Tonight, Brandon and Jenny invited us for dinner at MarChelles and we had such a great time. If you haven't been there, you need to go at least once. Nighttime is a very romantic time to go, although the prices are better during their lunch hour. At any time, the setting takes you back to a quieter time in life. Several of our close friends and family met us there, and our Alabama grandsons entertained us all with their smiles and their love for laughter. Jenny took snapshots and I will share them as she sends them. Can't wait to see them!

It was two years ago, also this Tuesday, that he brought me home after spending seventy-seven days in a hospital room, seventy of those in an ICU Critical Care cubicle. I still don't recall much of the first year, spending much time in recovery, therapy, and counseling for trauma. We survived, however, closer than ever and knowing that life is far too short, far too precious to worry about the annoying moments in life. So Tuesday will definitely be a time of joy and a time of thanksgiving. And ~

also happening Tuesday, we move into our new home!!! Crossing fingers, feet, legs, arms, and praying, praying, praying that nothing stops us we should be sleeping in a bed, finally!, and able to wash our own clothes as of Tuesday night!! We are pumped and asking Him to please let all things go according to plans. It is getting harder and harder to get off that air mattress each morning {insert a groan here}

Jenny has been washing our clothes, thank you Jen!, but it will be so nice to have my household back in some semblance of order. John is not wearing a smile often these days unless Ian and Noah are near. I don't know how your man handles best laid plans that continually go off on a tangent, but this man of mine doesn't handle it well. That frozen smile and those eyes that warn 'don't step on me' are becoming too familiar these days {insert a wink here}

I hope your day has been filled with love and laughter and that tomorrow will bring a restful respite for you. Be sure to check back for pics of our time in historic downtown Prattville!!

It did. It has. And they love it already. We'll be moving next week into our new home on the other side of town and will be there a bit until we find something that grabs our hearts as this one did. We're packing, grinning, and getting ready for a new chapter in our lives together~

If You Love Home Decor

then by all means, go check out the sites I have listed to the left under "Places I Go". Through Susie's site I blog hopped to others just like me that love to decorate, move things around, and look for cheap ways to make a house look beautiful. I think you'll enjoy them!! Happy blog hopping, girls!!!

Hiding the Thermostat

What a unique idea!! This is my second post for the day, but I just had to tell you about my visit to Nesting Place. I love this site and she has the most awesome home decorating tips. Cheap ones at that!! Go visit! Now!!

And So On, And So On~

Right. We just thought we were moving Monday. "the best laid schemes of mice and men" ~ Robert Burns (I believe)

The apartment manager called early early Monday morning, after we'd loaded one trailer of furniture to say the walk through's by the inspectors had NOT been done and that they could not let us sign and gather keys until this happened. So. We're in waiting mode.

UPDATE: John just got off the phone with the apartment manager. AND. It was not. good. news. Apparently a retainer fence that was to have been built behind the complex, wasn't. So now it has to be built before any inspections can be approved. We're looking at the first to middle of next week now. {insert frustrated face here} The good news is that we can continue packing, get all the boxes going into storage to the storage building, move all the furniture left to the tiled areas of the house, and move all boxes going to the apartment to the wooded areas.

By doing this, we can stay on schedule with getting the carpet stretched and cleaned. I won't have my washer and dryer {insert grimace here} but Jenny has one!! And she has two of our grandbabies to boot!! Nelson has offered his guest room, as has Jenny. It's nice to be loved {insert heartfelt smile here}

Stay tuned. This move just gets better and better. NOT.

Dropping In, Dropping Out

This week will be ultra busy and I'm starting it out feeling not quite up to speed. UTI's can make me feel horrible all over!! I'm telling you! John and I both have had many anxious, 'wish we could move some stuff' moments this weekend. We can't begin until we get the keys Monday morning, but are already planning to be there with a trailer load when we sign the lease. I hope to post some 'before' snapshots of the apartment tomorrow evening and I expect to be offline more this week. Stay tuned and check in. I'll be back. Eventually~

Just an update~

To update you, well there's not really anything different. The house is still a wreck. Only worse. There were problems, unexpected ones, with getting one of the a/c units fixed. Johnny brought home boxes, but I'm doing circles trying to figure out the best way to pack what's going to the apartment and what's going into storage. aarrggh!!!

Good news ~ we are NOT having a yard sale!!! We have someone that is taking it off our hands! They have a booth at a flea/antique mall and that takes care of that! I am so relieved. There's a Bronco filled with clothes, shoes, and purses going to Goodwill early Monday morning. All of the furniture we wanted to sell has sold. I spoke today with Deanna at Sweetwater Apartments and she says everything is looking good and we should get our keys to the apartment Monday morning!!! Please God, don't let anything go wrong and don't let anyone change their minds about anything. Except for the house, and for some unforeseen reason, if it doesn't sell, we're still moving out, and giving the other couple a call.

It's a freeing feeling to get rid of things I haven't used, or even seen, since the accident in 2006. And I'm not through adding to the growing pile in the living room that's designated for the flea market! Can't wait to get the furniture into the apartments, the kitchen cabinets readied, clothes hanging in the closets, and boxes to the storage facility - and most of those will be Christmas! Johnny is cheerfully storing all the yard equipment and working on cleaning out a garage that became a 'drop all' place. It was never just his and I hope to remedy that once we leave the apartments. He needs a place to park a bass boat, his tools, and a workshop bench. That's long overdue, bless his heart.

Last night we went over to some friends home and had a most delicious meal. The laughter, conversation, and relaxing were much needed and very much appreciated. Thank you Deborah and Lorenzo!! It was just what the doctor ordered!!

The Have's and Have Not's

Wow, you must read this~

Brief Notes of the Day

It's raining. Again. I worked. John cut grass. The house is a mess. Still. We are sleeping on air mattresses. The yard sale will be late Friday afternoon, the 27th, and Saturday morning, the 28th. The next two weeks will prove to be crazy, exciting, tiring, unbelievably busy, and just all around fun. Stay tuned~

Treated With a Visit

We have some great friends that came in this afternoon to spend a couple of days in central Alabama! They're from central Florida and on their way to south Louisiana! Yeah, I know, this isn't exactly on their way, but we're flattered they drove OUT of their way for a visit. Jim works full time, but uses his vacation time to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. They are headed to Covington, LA to help build three homes! We are thoroughly enjoying their visit and have plans to show Sue Prattville tomorrow. They leave Tuesday and we'll miss them. What a blessing it is to keep up with them on a computer!! That works when phone calls get too expensive and snail mail is to slow. So here's to you and Sue, Jim, a great friendship, and many more years of laughter~

A Father's Day Celebration

Brandon and Jenny came over late this afternoon with the boys. Since Johnny is working a day shift tomorrow, we won't be able to celebrate with him tomorrow after worship SO Jen suggested we order in and have a family celebration here! Amidst the hustle and bustle of moving. It also happened to be the perfect time to watch the Orientals doing their obstacle course races. If you have never see this, you are missing such a treat! I don't what I enjoyed more, listening to Jenny laugh or watching Ian try to do what the athletes were doing! There was much laughter, much happines, more laughter, and good food~
and with such a tangle of legs, arms, fingers and noses, toys, drink cups, and pizza plates, (and the red Christmas balls Noah found!)

what more could a dad ask for after working all day, only to come home to moving boxes, a blow up mattress where his king size bed used to be, and to find that there's still no groceries in the house?

Thanks, Brandon and Jen, for making the evening such an awesome time for all of us. You had no idea it would be just what we needed to end a week on~

To my husband, the father of my girls,

Happy Father's Day~

You've made it possible for so many

of my dreams to come true.

You are my rock,

my hiding place,

my comfort during storms.

You offer us your love,

your support,

and I know that there is nothing

absolutely nothing

that you wouldn't do for me

and our daughters.

I pray we are blessed with your presence

for many, many years to come.

Happy Father's Day, John~

What a Mess!

My brother and Johnny moved furniture this afternoon and made me even more thankful that God created me as a female and NOT a male! I got to stand around and hand them iced sodas and attempt to stay out of their way as they struggled with those heavy, heavy, awkward bookcases that I managed to talk him into moving into the study not long after we moved in to 204 Spruce!! He told me then he was never moving them again. Wrong. Of which, he reminded me several times today! Claire, you have no idea how close you came to getting a home that included a full set of bookcases~really, you were close. Now they are on their way over to deliver the furniture, bring some back for the yard sale, and will be taking the bed up to Nelson's. That is, if Nelson doesn't talk himself out of moving any more furniture tonight ;) The pretty-much-empty dining room. I'm taking one piece, and the card table is holding a few items that came out of the buffet and hutch that will travel across town with us.

Breakfast room is empty. High chair will go into storage until we hear that another grandbaby is on the way! Oh, and girls? Someone needs to be pregnant by Christmas {insert a smiling plea here}The entertainment center left a couple of weeks ago and this is the mess I still haven't plowed through and organized. Half of it needs to go directly to the trash bin. Jenny disagrees, saying someone somewhere will pay something for it. Maybe. I did. But then, my love for anything pretty or unusual or odd or loved or whatever! got me to the position I find myself now! There's just so much stuff!The bed will be going out tonight, if Nelson isn't too worn out. And he looked really really tired when they left a little while ago. Maybe it's because his relief didn't show up today at work and he had to stay an extra couple of hours at the Mill?! They are gone!! Gone. Gone. Gone. The bookcases are gone and there's a mess, mess, mess now to organize. I have a love for books and this is only half of what I had before the last yard sale.
I'm not sure much of this will be left behind or sold. Except for the mirror!! Claire? Anyone? The mirror's going to be in the yard sale!! Let me clarify something here ~ the sale will be held under the carport and in the detached garage!! I keep saying yard sale, but you'll have to walk down the drive.
Here's some of the stuff going with me!! See? I'm not leaving everything!Oh, and Jim? Yep. This is the bed you'll be sleeping on when you and Sue get here Sunday. If you're lucky, it might even be cleaned off~

UPDATE ~ Nelson and Johnny were too tired to take the bed apart and haul it up to the country, so we get to sleep on it tonight!! Whoo Hoo!! I think I'll tell him we want to keep it until the week we move. I just love that bed! In the apartment, we'll be sleeping on the one in the above picture, which is a nice bed BUT there's just something about that California King water bed.

A Rainy Afternoon

It's raining!

It's raining, it's really really raining!

We have needed this liquid badly

and now that it's here,

I intend to

watch it, listen to it, and love it,

and do absolutely nothing

until tomorrow.

Isn't that what

a rainy afternoon

is for?

Still in Love

It's early Wednesday morning. Early early early. I don't normally get up this time of day! but I went to bed about 8 last night, so I'm good to go. Jenny posted this snapshot of Ian and his 'monster face' on her page and I had to share it. Don't you just love the fact that children don't mind making fun of themselves? Much like I did yesterday when I was trying to make Noah laugh. Walking through Walmart, following Jenny, and acting like a complete fool just so I could hear Noah cackle at me. Have I told you lately I'm a fool in love?

'nuff said

Just a Question~

This is a quick, second post~am I the only one not finding the SITS blogging material cute and funny? In fact, I go there thinking the language will be cleaner, maybe some home decorating tips, or uplifting messages for the day~and so far, all I'm finding is offensive language, off color stories, and nothing uplifting. Help me figure this out. Are you liking it, and if so {which won't hurt my feelings!} share with me what I need to look for. I'm wondering where the 'funny' and 'uplifting' is in all this. In fact, I'm to the point of taking it off my page~

Still a Few Items

On my Flickr site you'll see snapshots of what's left. We're not taking my swing~so if anyone wants to give it a good home, please do so. I've loved spending time there, but there won't be room on our patio at the apartment and John promises to get me another at some point in time. These swings are $99 at Lowe's and the back folds down to make a swinging mattress. If you have $35, you can have a swing that's been loved.
Now we're just waiting for the okay to move into the apartment!! I'm already decorating it in my head and thinking of wall colors. Hopefully, we'll be moving in the next two weeks and having a yard sale the 21st of June. A few of my friends and Jenny are also bringing items to sell, so mark it on your calendar! You know the old saying, "the best laid plans of mice and men" well, I'm hoping everything goes according to plans {insert crossed fingers here!}
It's hot. Hot. Hot. And I am NOT a summer time gal. Lindsay and Jeremy came this afternoon with sweet Molly and I had to explain why the shutters and blinds were closed. Alabama Power just loves getting a check from us :) because we do like to keep it cool in this humble abode!! I would hate to do without a hot shower or air conditioning! That would be a nightmare.
I did so enjoy their visit and was tickled to see furniture leave with them!! I hope to spend more time with you, Lindsay, when we get moved in and settled. I would love to have you, Heather, and Jenny over with your girls and her boys. I think I need to plan on that! Molly is Ian's age and Audrey Kay is close to Noah's age.
It's been a quiet weekend and John is working on some items that need tending to before we move. Me? I'm just waiting for the packing to take place. Right now my job is to get rid of as much as possible and that's proving to be not so hard. I am trying, however, to look busy when John's around and kick back when he's not {insert a fat wink here!}

Thank you to Melissa Lester for giving me an Arte Y Pico award. I'm honored and always appreciate the kinds words she leaves in comments. I've never met Melissa, finding her blog by hopping around one evening. I visit daily now and find such joy in the lessons she gives, the decorations for family celebrations, and her zest for the beauty of Life.

The rules for accepting this award are:
1. Choose 5 blogs you consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material and contribution to the blogging community, regardless of the language.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that presented him/her with the award.

4. The award winner and the one who has given the award have to show the Arte Y Pico blog so everyone will know the origin of this award. (It's in Spanish, which I can't read, so I'm hoping it's something nice!! If NOT, please let me know!!)

5. Show these rules.

My first award will go to our daughter, Jenny. I love clicking onto her blog and getting daily updates and snapshots of what her boys are up to. I check in at least twice a day to see what she's added. Her posts and pics never fail to tug at a heartstring.

Secondly, here's to Kelly. I was blog hopping one evening from Leah Hunt's and found this woman with the most beautiful little angel named Jenna. And then there were two angels! She's one of my favorite bloggers.

Kristy Gray would take the third award simply because she makes me laugh out loud when she's posting on the antics of her dog, her daughter, or Life in general. I miss having them live in Prattville.

Tony and Susan Griffies are raising twins, a boy and a girl, and I love visiting to see videos and snapshots of these babies! I've known Tony since he was in high school. He and Susan are working with the youth in Lakeland, Florida and stay busy!! Especially now that there are two little ones!

Dawn Edmonson not only shares so much of her heart with her posts, but she is a very talented artist. I would love to share some conversation with her over some good food.

Consider yourselves hugged, and thank you for bringing smiles to my heart. I love this means of staying in touch, learning new things, and meeting new friends~

My Life In Six Words

Sum up my life in six words?

"I love,

and I am loved."

Our Lunch Date

It's a bit after 1 am Wednesday and I've just remembered there were snapshots on my camera from today's lunch with Jenny, Ian, and Noah. Although, from these pics you wouldn't know Noah was there, bless his little forgotten heart. I promise to make it up to you, NoahMan, if you come over Thursday~

Jen always takes good pictures~
unlike her mother. Have to give Ian credit, though,

he did a great job taking the snapshots of Jenny and me!
Sweet Ian, the little one that's not very little anymore~
and still has a bit of a shy side :)