"I'M NOT YELLING, I'M JUST LOUD TEACHING!"

Ha! This one's in honor of my dear old dad. And somehow I managed to learn to drive.

The Floor War

Is it really only 9:30? It feels later. Does it make me an old married woman if I'm ready to go to bed right now? In my defense I have been at war. I went to DC today armed with a bucket, a mop, some Pinesol, and 2 gallons of water. Three hours later, I think I won, but I'm paying for it now. Who knew that mopping could be so physically demanding?

Last weekend I had war with the kitchen floors at our apartment. I was sore, but that was because I scrubbed with 409 and a washrag on my hands and knees. Even with the mop it was quite the workout. Of course the fact the DC is larger than our entire apartment may have contributed to that. So I banished dirt while burning calories. Take that!

New, free tunes

I have been loving my new tunes lately so I thought I would share with you all. FREE MUSIC! Does it get much better?

I was sent an email to get free music and discovered an awesome website called NoiseTrade.
You can get free music by sending an email (offering free music) to three friends or pay whatever price you choose. This was so much fun. I was able to download Derek Webb and Jill Phillips. I did have some trouble with the download for Alli Rogers, but I'm not sure why. So check it out and send me and email if you find a new sound you like. :)

Also, this artist is offering a free download of her newest music. It's pretty good. Original.

TEN.

This is Matt and Jackie.


We went to college with Matt (hey cool shirt, Matt) and met Jackie through him. Matt was the best man at our wedding and we hadn't really seen them since then. Roadtrip! Josh and I had a blast hanging out in Tennessee, getting to see the church where Matt works, getting an icthus engraved on Josh's arm, and just relaxing.

The guys went disc golfing on Saturday and left Jackie and I to play with pretty paper for hours - aka make cards. Ahhh. It was so nice to see them again and just to get away for the weekend. It was totally stress free if you don't count the traffic we hit on the way down and the way my stomach flip-flopped when they brought out the needle at the tattoo shop.

Speaking of work

Good ol' Cracker Barrel with their good ol' country cooking. I have received my first (and only) star. This star not only means I made it, but that I got a bit of a raise in my hourly pay.

However, I will not be getting any more stars, because as of next week I will not be working at Cracker Barrel any more. That's right, I quit. I'm so a quitter. And I'm glad.

It wasn't really a bad place to work. I wasn't a big fan of the sales part. Not really my thing. But mostly I'm just a wuss and it was way harder to have two jobs than I thought it would be. I mean I worked like three jobs in college and took classes. But I guess you have to love your job and work for really awesome people to survive that. The whole night thing and never knowing until a few days before what nights they would be - definitely didn't like it. It made it very hard to have any social life/ever cook dinner for my hubby/keep volunteering at DC. All things that I enjoy very much. (Remind me of that later on the cooking thing. )

So now, thank the Lord (and I mean that literally) I got an increase in my pay for the day job and it made me feel like I had more of a choice. So, goodbye Cracker Barrel. I may still shop in your clearance corner, but it won't be as good without my employee discount. Although I guess I'll get to keep the apron.

Weddings are fun (and work)

I got connected with Leigh through some friends at our church. She is a wedding planner and does a great job at it. Every now and then she hires out help to do the set-up and decorating for a wedding coming up. I'm not sure if it is something that will continue in the future, but I've been able to help out twice now and had a lot of fun.

The first I only worked for about 4 hours, so I wasn't there to see the finished product, but it was on it's way to ah-maz-ing. The "theme" was East India. Not a theme really because that's where the couple was from. She used a lot of bright colors and fabrics to decorate with white lights behind them to brighten things up. The pictures aren't that great, but I had to share anyway. And Andrea, I totally thought of you when I took these. :)



The other wedding was an all day thing and unfortunately I only got one picture. I was pretty much exhausted by the time I left. It was gorgeous though. The wedding took place outside by a lake and then everyone went inside for the reception. This one's for you, Lindsey.

Mammoth Cave ... Finally

Ever since I came to Kentucky, I've been wanting to see Mammoth Cave. I mean it's like one of the natural wonders of the world or something. That's pretty cool. It's a shame to be close enough for a day trip and not ever go. So, after 4 years, we finally made the drive and spent the day exploring the park along with a cool tour of the cave. And on my birthday! It was a great day and here are some pictures to prove it.




It was also horribly humid while we were there. I'm not sure if it's always like that because of moisture from the cave or if we just picked a good one, but the cave felt awesome once we got down there. (The hundreds of steps on the way back up however...)



As we were walking on the path, we came across the cute baby deer. I guess it's a little late in the season to see one that young. It was totally unafraid of us and so close to the trail! The picture doesn't even do it justice.

On a side note, it is amazing how much my husband likes to admire deer in the spring/summer and hunt them later in the year. :)






And just because I love the way this picture turned out.





















My talented hubby took this one.






Ahh, just looking at the photos makes me want to go back.

Let's backtrack a little...

... I was not looking forward to this day, but it has turned out to be pretty good. Mom's surgery went very well. I talked to her this afternoon and she sounded good. She said she may even be able to already tell a difference in the way she feels.

The funeral, well, it went as well as a funeral can I suppose. It was a Catholic funeral, which was a little distracting to me because it was a new experience. I didn't get to sit with my hubby since he was sitting with the other pall-bearers in front. But I did get to sit with his family. And just for the record, I like my in-laws. They've really made me feel like part of the family.

So now, it is only 6:30 and I am at home for the evening without things waiting. Well, there's always laundry, dishes, the huge pile of clean clothes on my bedroom floor, dinner I haven't made yet... but I've gotten pretty good at ignoring them. I'm ready to enjoy an evening at home.

And since I have been a very bad blogger lately, I thought I'd take some time to get caught up on the exciting happenings of life in KY.

Where to start?

I guess I just want to share some stuff going on. Tomorrow is going to be a tough day.

First of all, my mom is having surgery on her thyroid. They're (hopefully) fixing a whole lot of stuff and she will return home feeling wonderful. This also includes removing a tumor.

Josh and I will be attending the funeral of his grandmother. She passed away this last weekend after struggling with health issues for years. He will be a pall-bearer.

This is also my beloved's birthday. Poor guy. So please say a prayer for him and my mom.

A new addition

A little snapshot from our weekend ....

I mean really

So, one day I'll upload the pictures off my camera and have some great new posts. But for now, I just have one question ... how many phone books does one person need? Seriously, I think there's been one outside our door every day this week. (Well, it's only Monday, so ... today anyway). We're up to four now. What a waste.