Finally

Finally.....November 30 is here.  Whew.  I am tired of posting every.single.day on this blog.  It hasn't been all bad.  But I am ready to go back to posting about what I want and when I want, rather than feeling compelled to post every day.

Made it home a bit ago after an uneventful drive back from my parent's house. This morning we were joined at church by Phillip's parents and grandparents and my granddaddy for a blessing of Emily.  It was very sweet and she was mostly good in church. Being out of her element the past several days has meant that her naps are short or non-existent. She was a little fussy in church, but finally fell asleep on mommy.

Now unpacking and settling back in.....and ready for a mad dash week to the Big Office Move later this week.

ACU Football, Part 2

Today was the Quarterfinals in the NCAA Division II playoffs. ACU vs Northwest Missouri State played at Shotwell Stadium (because we were #1 ranked in the super region).....unfortunately for the Wildcats, the Bearcats of NW Mo seemed to want the game more and defeated us 46-35. It wasn't a horrible game, but it was obvious that ACU just wasn't on stride today. Oh well, maybe next year!

However, I was able to spend the second half visiting with my good friend Sara whose husband is the director of Big Purple (ACU's marching band). While it was a little noisy sitting in front of the band, it was good time for us to catch up. And yes, we did actually watch the game as well!

Creation....

Over the past several months I've been reading Shaun Groves blog. It began while the authors of several blogs I read traveled with him on a trip for Compassion to Africa and then more recently to the Dominican Republic.

This post does a great job at reinforcing my belief that my desires for a husband are not unreasonable and are, in fact, God-breathed at creation. Go read it.....it is good.

Turkey Day!

Thanksgiving

Headed home to spend some quality time with family over this Thanksgiving holiday....good eats to you all! (oh and I'll also be watching ACU play football on Saturday - can't wait!!!)

Tomorrow

Nothing much to say today, so I'll just share a picture of the precious girl I get to see tomorrow!!!

The Godfather

So, awhile back I put "The Godfather" on my list of movies to watch. I'm sure I had seen bits and pieces, but was pretty sure I hadn't watched the movie all the way through (though I had read the book).

Several weeks ago, I noticed it was on A&E, so I set my DVR to record. Last night I laid on the couch and watched the whole thing. All 157 minutes worth (excluding commercials, which I of course fast-forwarded through!).

Being the huge "You've Got Mail" fan that I am, I knew a few quotes/scenes:

• "leave the gun, take the cannoli"
• "Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday"
• "It's not personal, it's business!"
• when the horse's head ends up in the movie producer's bed and the "AH, AH, AH" screaming
• the whole idea of going to the mattresses

Seeing all those in context was interesting......now it all makes more sense!!

I've got "The Godfather, Part II" recorded already and will be watching for Part III to come on as well.

I did have to stop and make a run to the computer near the beginning of the movie to figure out who all the actors were. And of course, once I figured out it was Diane Keaton, James Caan and Robert Duvall, I could totally see it. Just that since the movie was made in 1972, I didn't quite recognize the younger version of those actors!

Sunday

I am trying very hard with the Sabbath challenge at church to bring back Sunday afternoon rest time -- not errand time, not household chores.  But rest and relaxation.  So, does Christmas decorating count as work?  :-)

I got about 98% of my decorating finished yesterday and cleaned up. But my new outside tree really required daylight for decorating. Because it gets dark so much earlier these days, I had to do it today (only about 30 minutes total!). And, if I might say so, it looks GOOD! Watch for pictures of my decor coming with BooMama's Christmas Tour of Homes in mid December.

ACU Football

Just finished listening to the Abilene Christian University - West Texas A&M NCAA Division II playoff game.....ACU won 93-68!

Next week we will play NW Missouri State in Abilene in the SuperRegional Quarterfinals! 

Packing.....and unpacking

Have I mentioned that my office is moving?  Today was a crazy busy day.  Packing.  I boxed up about 15 boxes of old audit workpapers and financial reports. From 1983 to today.  Also threw out many duplicate binders and binders of correspondence. 

I really can't fathom keeping correspondence in binders filed by addressee.  How would you ever find anything, really?  These were memos from the mid 80s.  Still filed away in our file room as if there was really anything meaningful to be gleaned from them.  As if the company hasn't drastically changed since then in size and focus. As if any of the people referenced are even still employed!  As if our accounting system was still the same!

And so, things got packed into boxes and pitched into dumpsters. 

And I come home and unpack Christmas ..... and this is what it looks like right now:

Thursday.....

Today was Board Meeting Day at work.....which means lots of running around stressed crazy folks up until about 9:30 am when the meeting starts. Because I was out yesterday playing with Emily, my morning was a bit more hectic than usual!! Thankfully it is all over now. But it is amazing how crazy it can be to try to get caught up from just one day out of the office!

Tonight I plan to begin my Christmas decorating! I'm going to at least haul it all out and start to unpack. I may try to do some purging as I incorporate new things I've bought for this year. And I'm planning to try and pack up more of the "normal" stuff than I usually do - so maybe my house won't feel so overwhelmingly decorated when I am done.

Now, a question for the bloggy internets.....do you know of any battery powered (or solar?) Christmas lights that are outdoor friendly? I have no plug on the front of my house and don't really want to string a cord from the garage (across the walkway) or from the back of the house all the way around through the bushes. But, I'd like to have lights on this new metal tree that will go in my front flowerbed. Any ideas??

Mini Holiday

I took the day off today because my Emily was coming for a visit.....since we've been so busy playing today, I don't have time to write much. Jump over to Heather's blog to get the play-by-play of our visit!

Telephones

In about 3 weeks, my work will be moving offices. You think moving a family and home is difficult? Try packing up 40 people (just in my subsidiary), file rooms, supply rooms, conference rooms, junk storage and getting it all ready to move.

Your kids ask lots of questions about how and where and when? Imagine 40 grown adults (some of whom are control freaks and perfectionists) asking all those same questions.

I'm responsible for all our stuff that is going to offsite storage rather than making the move to our new office space. Thankfully, I don't have to box it all up, but I do maintain the database detailing each box's ID number and contents. So far we've sent about 40 boxes offsite. There will be another pickup of probably 60 or 70 boxes before we move.

I'm also responsible for cleaning out our accounting file room and making plans for how the new file room will be organized. I get to box up stuff to send to storage and pitch lots of OLD stuff in the garbage. Because, really, if it hasn't been touched in the 10 years we've been in this office, what are the chances that we really need to keep it? And those folks that don't work here anymore? Their stuff that just got crammed in a drawer? We really don't need to keep it either!!

Today, I get to go learn how to use our new telephones. It is a 2 hour training session. Yes, you heard me right. A 2 hour training session to learn how to use the phone. Sound crazy? A little. But I think our new phones are supposed to be pretty slick. Tied into our email and magically a fax machine as well. And this way, the IT folks get us in small groups to learn the phones and get all our defaults set before the move so they can focus on things like computers and networks and servers and printers after the move.

A 2 hour training for a phone still sounds a little pointless to me, but we'll see.

And so it begins....

invitations are printed.....and the planning begins in earnest with the decorations beginning to emerge this week.....

Sore.....

I forgot how much it hurts to work in the yard...... all the pulling and twisting and lifting. Every move is difficult today - even holding a pen to write notes at church this morning.....ugh.

Saturday

Today is the first Saturday in a while that I've been home with no schedule. I had plans to work in my front flowerbeds in preparation for a new Christmas decor item that will be going up next week, but with no timetable, I was able to sleep in until about 9:00. Dressed and ate breakfast, had my first Google Video chat with my parents (MUCH easier than Skype, by the way) then headed outside.

I have decided that I don't hate yardwork. I hate yardwork in the summertime. I had an enjoyable morning outside today - it was about 55 degrees - dressed in scrubs, a tshirt and sweatshirt. It was perfect.

So, to the project at hand. More than a year ago, I had some rather hideous bushes removed from the front flowerbeds. I have recently decided on what needs to be done there and what I want to plant. First order of business and task for today: remove the brick edging.

Here is the before (and to echo all my friends' frustrations - why is Blogger all of a sudden posting pictures backwards?!? had to do some planning to get these in the right way)



















The bricks are out! All 158 of them (yes, I counted). It only took about 45 minutes, sitting on the driveway and knocking out the dirt, snails, and earthworms. Also took the opportunity to pull up some particularly ugly weeds by the root.




















And the transplanted bricks......along the side of my garage in a particularly useless piece of back yard. Yes, I lifted carefully (from the legs, not the back) and took stacks of 4-5 at a time.

























In among trips to the back, I used my yard rake to spread out, break up, and even out the dirt in the front bed. Still isn't perfect, but is much better. While I was digging in the dirt, I found all manner of crazy objects. Including, but not limited to: a golf ball, a tennis ball, a piece of rebar, a padlock, a child's spiderman skull cap, marker, pencil, and at least two spoons. Guess the boys living in the house before me liked to play in and around those old bushes!!



















Next order of business will be to get someone (not me, preferably) to till the soil up, set new weed barrier (is that really necessary?), put in some stepping stones and plants! But this will do until after Christmas, at least.

While I was outside and in the working mode, I also moved stacks of wooden posts that are in my backyard as bed edging to the front for pickup. Most of these had rotted out and fallen over. So over the past two years, I've just been piling them up. Today was the day for transport. This is just about half of the posts. The rest would have required a little more effort to get up and I was tired by this time.
















Resting now before I finish getting ready to go to dinner with my friend Sarah tonight. Also just turned on my heater for the first time - it felt good for the house to be 55 degrees after I finished working, but once I cleaned up and cooled off, it was quite chilly!!

Where I Blog

Several of my friends have posted where they blog, so in the spirit of posting on this blog every day.....here you go! The first photo is my home computer.....the second is at work (where I probably shouldn't be blogging, but that is a whole other story!!).....

Hugs

I somehow, somewhere stumbled upon Rocks in My Dryer a while ago. Can't remember where or why....doesn't really matter. She does some fun things and posts interesting articles. Most recently Shannon has begun hosting guest bloggers who write about what they want her readers to know.

The article she posted today was great. It is something that I've posted about several times before (being single but desiring a marriage and family), but always walked away from my posts feeling like I've been whining and having an emotional breakdown or asking you to join me in my pity party. Tammy so eloquently spells out what I've been trying to say.

Pretty much all of the article resonates clearly with me. The one part that really stuck out to me today is the lack of human physical contact. Going to ACU and having chapel every day, I probably got 50 hugs every single day of my college career. Now, 10 years later, I might get a half dozen a week. It is something that I really miss. So, don't be surprised if I intiate a hug next time I see you!!

And please go read the article.....it might give you some other ideas on how to relate to us single gals.

More driving

Last night I spent some more time on back country Texas roads.....183 from Austin to Lampassas, then 281 up to Hico (where I enjoyed a lovely piece of chocolate meringue pie at the Koffee Kup), caught 220 to connect to 67 and then on home.

I still like the back roads better than the interstate, though a small two lane road at night is a bit frightening! It took longer than I would have liked, but I think even the tension over an unlit small road was less than fighting construction and big rigs on I-35.

On a completely different note, my Wal-Mart is officially no more. As I was driving to work this morning, I looked over and cranes had already removed the sign. Pooh. Not sure if they will remove the gas pumps as well, but they probably will.

Toad in the Hole

My friend Sara asked for an elaboration on what Toad in the Hole is (see this post from last weekend for the reference). So here goes:

Take a thick sliced piece of bread (preferably homemade). Cut a hole out of the center with a biscut/cookie cutter and make sure you save the hole! In a skillet, melt some butter and toast one side of the bread/hole. Flip the bread over and break an egg into the hole. Cover and cook until egg is cooked to your preference (personally, I like my yolk runny). Slice a piece of Velveeta cheese and place over the egg, the put the bread hole back on top and cook until cheese is melted.

This is a specialty of my daddy - he is the only one in our house that ever makes it! (Just like he is the waffle king).

There are many other names for this lovely breakfast food -- Pioneer Woman recently had a post on her very similar version. Personally, I think the melty velveeta and bread on top is what makes it complete.

And, of course, as we ate this last Saturday morning, we debated the perfect way to eat your Toad. I like to eat a little bit of the edges, then dive right into the middle, using the other crust edges to sop up the runny yolk. My mom and sister eat around the crusts first and end with the middle. Either way, it is a pretty yummy treat.

Enjoy!!


p.s. HAPPY 30th Birthday HEATHER!!!

Texas travels

Yesterday I drove through some beautiful country. Lots of small towns from Early to Zephyr to Bozar to Lometa and more in and through central Texas. Four lane highways, but not freeways. Having to actually pay attention to road signs and make turns! I'm pretty used to just getting on the Interstate and going straight.

The drive yesterday was as long as it always is back home, but didn't feel nearly as long. Those back roads are just more relaxing to drive than fighting the 18 wheelers. I knew that from our family travels in Tennessee, but it was reaffirmed for me even driving here in Texas.

I even saw the Goat Meat Capital of America .... do you know where it is? Mills County!

Great weekend

So far it has been a great weekend! I got to Panther Creek about 3:30 on Friday. Miss Emily was sleeping, so Heather & I had some time to visit. After a very yummy dinner, we loaded up for the football game. It was a cool evening (all the rest of my family was FREEZING) and the Panthers pulled out a victory in a tight game to head into the playoffs.

Saturday, we just played and celebrated! Miss Emily will be 5 months on Tuesday and her mommy will be 30! We ate specially requested foods (Toad in the Hole, Cracker Crumb Chicken and Disgusting Potatos, most notably), watched movies (Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium and Charlie Wilson's War) and hung out. Such fun!!

After a yummy dinner at Big O's, we all enjoyed rooting for Texas Tech in their win over Oklahoma State!

Canton finds!

Only one photo today....the rest will have to wait for my Christmas decor post!

This is a cookie jar just like my mom's! I can't remember ever seeing another one, though mom tells me that when one of my friends came over (in college?), they had one like it. It looked to be in good shape, though I didn't open it up. If I didn't have Cookie Monster, I might have been tempted!

Visiting the Country

Today, I get to see this cutie!! And take in my first (I think) 6-man football game watching the Panther Creek Panthers....should be interesting!!

Plus it will mark my first solo arrival at my sis's new place - my parents are coming down too, but I'm not going to their place first. We'll see if I can make it there without getting lost!!!

Decorated shelves

These shelves were much harder to fill than I thought they would be. I guess they are just smaller/narrower than in my head. And no, I never did actually measure them first! But I think it turned out well! Feeling a little like the bottom shelf could use something else, but I don't know what.

From a distance.....thinking that I probably don't need anything above either!


























Bottom shelf, up close

Top shelf, up close

Both shelves, up close

Another project

Last night instead of listening to election highlights, I did another little project! I finally got set in my head what to do in my guest bath. Sunday evening ran to Wal-Mart (when I discovered it was closing!) and bought two chrome/glass shelves. Last night I hung them!

Still need to figure out exactly what is going on them - cutesy stuff maybe, or qtips, cotton balls, etc for guests. Also will probably look for some art something to hang above - just to eliminate the dead white space!