Patience is a Virtue

So this blog is going to have a theme... yes, it is about patience.

First of all, to all my millions of readers (yeah, right!), you have to have patience with me about blogging! I haven't seemed to be able to find the time lately! Lots of new things to tell... let's see... where do I begin??

The last time I blogged was after my friend Leslie had been here for a long weekend trip. It was great to see her since it had been many, many months since a visit. Almost the entire time she was here, it RAINED!! She came in on Thursday night, and we decided to go out to eat close to home. We drove up to Clarksville which by interstate is only about 20 min away. We were both tired so we just decided to eat, go to Wal-mart, and then go home. We had Rafferty's. I like the food at the Rivergate Rafferty's better. Don't really know what the difference is?? Anyway... the next day, we went into Franklin because I wanted to take her downtown. When I say that we were soaked to the core, I mean "sopping wet." It rained on us all day long! Neither one of us thought to bring a stupid umbrella. We ate lunch at HRH Dumplins which is a cutesy little "tea" room in downtown Franklin. I got poppy seed chicken casserole and Leslie had tuna salad I think. They have the best cloverleaf rolls there with honey and strawberry butter. After eating lunch, we walked along the storefronts on Main St. trying to stay underneath awnings. We went in a cool tea shop with all different kinds of homemade tea leaves; then to a bath store that had homemade soaps, powders, face masks, etc; next to a cutesy store that had Vera Bradley; also to a gourmet kitchen store; and finally to a cupcake store. About this time, the rain stopped! We decided to go get a pedicure in Green Hills! It was so great! By this time, the rain was back, and we were thankful for the parking garage at the movie. We saw Ghosts of Girlfriends Past with Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner. I thought the movie was good, however, it is a definite chick flick! After the movie, we ate at Carrabba's for supper and then it was on the way home. The rest of Leslie's visit was a basic rewind-repeat visit. Because of the rain, we did pretty much the same thing everyday... minus the pedicures.

On to other big news, I am going to be a homeowner on June 26th, Lord willing and the creek don't rise (as my Memaw says). I am beyond excited!! My Dad is being very gracious in helping out so that I can afford to have this house. This is where the patience comes in that I was talking about in the first part of the blog. I can tell you from this experience, patience is the best option when deciding on how to deal with buying a house. We had to go through 6 offer/counter-offers, and there were many times when I thought I wasn't going to get the house. After the inspection, we asked for some work to be done on the house regarding the outside, the owner refused. Here again, I thought the house was a goner. However, God had other plans. We came to an agreement (finally), and I have some wonderful family and friends who have volunteered to come help out on some of the issues that will not be fixed by the owner. During this whole process, I have become addicted to watching HGTV, and it has really, truly taught me lessons about buying my first home. Whenever people are asked on these shows to give advice to other home buyers, they always say "Have patience and let the process work." If you are interested in watching some of the HGTV shows, I would recommend House Hunters, House Hunters International (amazing prices for not very much square footage), My First Place, Income Property, Property Virgins, the Unsellables, and the Stagers. They have tons more to choose from so go check them out. Here are some pictures of the front of the house.

So there you go... my new humble abode! I can't wait to start painting the inside and moving all my stuff in.

That is about all the news I can remember for now. I will leave you with a couple of pictures that Maggie wanted me to take of her this morning (yeah, right!) I title this masterpiece "the Faux Mohawk."

Her hair isn't quite long enough, yet. Until next time, have a shiny, happy smiley day!
Love to all~ =)

Bad Bruise

Hey everyone out there in Blogger world. I just thought I would put up a short blog as an update that I will be posting a longer blog soon.For your viewing pleasure, I will attach a pic of my arm. It has a ugly greenish-yellow bruise on it where I got swiped by one of those purse-hanger-upper thingy in the bathroom stalls. Man did it hurt!

Here's the pic.

I will be posting a longer blog about exciting news in the near future. I am in the process, if everything works out, of buying a house!! YAY! NO MORE RENTING!

I will also include info about my rain-soaked weekend with one of my besties, Leslie.

Gotta get ready to look at houses now. Hope this finds you all doing well,

S =)

Pictures are worth a thousand words

Ok, so this post is mainly going to have pictures because I haven't been able to upload any for awhile. We will start off with the outing I went on with Cara and family.

This is Cara and I outside Cock of the Walk in front of this beautiful tree that you can't see in the picture.

This is Mr. Ricky, Cara's dad and Kyle, her brother. Kyle obviously didn't know I had the camera on him.

These next few are my attempt at acting like paparazzi.

So enough of that... my paparazzi camera needs more flash for nighttime obviously.

The next pictures are of my aunt and uncle's farm in Ashland City. Since it is springtime, they have had new additions to the barnyard. Very sweet babies!!

This is baby Issac running towards me. He is Rebekkah's firstborn. This is Leah, the milk cow, and her new baby Mordecai. He is so soft and reminds me of a baby deer.

This is a close-up of Mordecai, who is affectionately called Mordi!! Here is Issac and Diana playing together. He kept going under her belly and coming out the other side when she was trying to butt him. Glad humans don't play like that! She is trying to bite his tail. Diana is fairly new. She was born last summer. Her mom is Rachel. Chickens doing what they do best!

A rooster doing what he does best, struttin'.

This is sweet Mr. Ollie (Oliver), the barnyard cat.

So these are all the barnyard pictures. I will upload one more for those of you who haven't seen the "new ride."

I hope this post finds everyone doing well. I will try and make another post this week. Don't hold your breath!! Love to all, S

Tuesday morning (not the store)

Good morning everyone! It is 4:22 am on Tuesday morning. We are having warmer weather here right now. Yay! I was getting tired of the cold. I haven't been able to put up a post with pictures from the farm. My computer has been down at home....BOO! My new modem was supposed to arrive yesterday, but I never saw it. I might have to call AT&T back today. I am also watching Twilight for like the 50th time! I really like the movie. I think I could be a little obsessed. I think about watching the movie when I am not watching it. Isn't that a symptom of addiction??
So, let's see... what's been going on since I last posted on here:
Last Thursday, I had to go back to the dentist for a "special" cleaning and a "review of findings" session from my first visit. I was told that I had periodontal disease which I knew....(such a procrastinator about the dentist), and I would need a special cleaning for my gums that is called scaling. I got happy gas and every tooth got some numbing jelly on it, so I was feeling no pain. My nice dental hygienist, Trish, used a special instrument that pushed out Chlora-hexadene around and between all my teeth and down into my gums. I made it through the ordeal fine and got instructions for using Chlora-hexadene at home with my brand new Waterpik which my Mom bought for me that day as well. I guess I should have been a dentist!! They seem to be able to make a very good living!!! My next appointment will be a regular teeth cleaning, and then we are supposed to get down to business!! Yippee... I have to say that going so many times recently has helped me with my fear. I guess if you do something that scares you often enough, it will stop scaring you.
After the dentist, I went here, there, and yonder in search of an Easter dress. I finally found one at yonder!! I went all the way to Hendersonville from West Nashville to the Lane Bryant at Indian Lakes. I got three dresses. I ended up not wearing the one I got for Easter because it was chilly. I wore the longer dress with a sweater. After finding my dress, I drove back to West Nashville to Green Hills, because I had plans to meet up with some friends from church. We went to a place called Brushfire, a pottery-painting workshop. It was a lot of fun. I used to go to a similar place in Alabama called All Fired Up. I chose a shallow bowl which could be used for serving . I painted it a pretty light green and put a purple paisley print in the bottom center. I am looking forward to seeing how it turned out.
The next few days are not worth mentioning because I had work.
Sunday morning was Easter. I got off work at 7 am, and I went to the house to get ready for church. I wore my new black maxi-dress. It has turquoise colored straps at the top and turquoise piping along the edges of the top. It is very flowy and drops from black to white-printed flowers at the bottom. I love it!! It is just the dress I was looking for. I had to add a black sweater to the ensemble, because like I said, it was chilly. We had a short, but sweet Sunday school class, and then it was time for church. AWESOME!! It was the best church service to date!! It was a little drama, mixed with preaching, mixed with singing. The singing gave me chill bumps!! After church, I went to eat lunch with Cara and family as usual. The rest of the afternoon was spent with me trying not to fall asleep, falling asleep, waking up to take a nap, taking a nap, and then waking up to be in a fog for the rest of the evening before going to bed.
Tonight, I am supposed to go and visit Tonya and Adam's new baby with Cara. I can't wait to meet her. Wednesday and Thursday will be spent at work. This weekend is the Ladies Renewal Retreat down at Henry Horton State Park. Hopefully, I will have some good pictures to post.
I hope everyone has a great week and weekend. Love to all!! S :0)

Busy, Busy, Busy Bee

Well, it has been another long stretch since I updated last!!! So sorry! I have been putting it off and don't know why. But here I am. It is Wednesday morning at 12:46 am. Unfortunately, it is a chilly 40 degrees outside. BOO! I am ready for warmer weather. The crazy thing is that I was in short sleeves on Sunday and probably will be again tomorrow since it is supposed to be in the 70's. We even had a few snow showers between Monday and Tuesday. Gotta love this crazy Tennessee weather!! The landscape/scenery definitely makes it worth every minute though. Ok, enough small talk about the weather. On to bigger and better topics!! Like:
Root canals!!! I had another one on Monday at 10:30!!!! I should be an old pro at it by now. That makes the 6th tooth to be tunneled! I have horrible, horrible teeth!! I wish I could go get every single one permanently capped and just be done with it!! This is going to be the week for dental visits because I have a cleaning scheduled on Thursday. Yippee! I am getting better, but I still would rather not go! Enough of this subject:
Church...We have been busy!! This past weekend we had regular church services and then went on to have a fun-filled afternoon! Ok, let me think....Cara, Meredith, Kyle, Mr. Ed, Seth, Heath, Lindsey, and I all went to see Fast and Furious after lunch on Sunday. This is the fourth installment in the series, and I found out that it is a prequel to Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift, (which I heard was awful). Let me just say..... onscreen there is nothing better than Vin Diesel and Paul Walker!!! They are HOTT!! The movie was good too. LOL! It was definitely geared toward the fellas though. It is about street racing and then they had scenes with scantily clad females and even some females kissing. Ewww! They definitely could have left all that out! All in all, I give it 4 out of 5 stars. Having Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in the same movie earn it an automatic 2 stars!! Did I mention they were FINE!! Ok, so then after the movie, Mr. Ed was so nice to invite us over to their house until Lifegroup started. Cara and I had a great time visiting with the Matlocks'. They always keep you laughing!! Lifegroup was wonderful. We had 25 people at Mr. Ed and Mrs. Cindy's house. The food theme was pasta and salad dishes. The guys voted and thought it was the best meal ever!! I thought it was pretty good. I made Ramen Noodle Salad, and it was good, if I say so myself. I also made Cinnamon Pound Cake, and I think it made Lindsay pretty happy, because there was A LOT left over, and she got to take it home with her. I got to hold her new baby Evelyn for most of the night!! She is such a sweet baby!! After I got home, I passed out in the bed!!
**This blog seems to be going backwards so let's continue!!**
Saturday, I overslept. My clock was set for 7:30 because I was going with Cara to Franklin. She is going to be a bridesmaid in a wedding in August, and we had to meet up with the bridal party on Saturday so she could try on dresses. I woke up at 9:10, and miraculously I was ready and meeting Cara at 9:30! The whole shop for bridesmaid dresses was fun. It made me want to get engaged and married!! The wedding dresses were gorgeous!! We all went to eat lunch afterwards at HRH Dumplins in downtown Franklin. It is a small cafe that specializes in Chicken-n-Dumplins! I tried them and thought they were good but not as good as my Meme's!! I sure do miss her dumplins. When we were done with dress shopping, Cara and I went over to the Galleria and did a little shopping. Then, we went to Wal-Mart and did more shopping. Needless to say, when I got home I was pooped!!!! TIRED!! I had to lay on the couch for almost 2 hrs before I was ready to cook for Lifegroup!!
Friday: I don't remember the morning part of Friday, but I know that Friday night, Cara and I made a quick stop at Opry Mills and then went to eat with her parents and brother at The Cock of the Walk. As I usually do when I am around this family, I laughed until I almost peed my pants!! I was hurriedly searching for a bathroom at the end of the meal!! I took some funny pictures at the end of the meal and will post them on here separately!!
Ok, that is all you get for now. I am off today and tomorrow, and I should have some fun and interesting stuff to talk about next time!!! Hope all my followers (2) are having a good week. Thanks to my 2nd official follower, Cara! You have been noticed and logged!!! Love and peace! S \/

I have 1 follower!

Yay!! Thank yous going out to cousin Laura who is now a follower of my blog. At least now I know one person reads this besides my Mom.

Today is a partly cloudy day, and we are up to 62 degrees. I am a little sick today. Sinus season has officially begun. I don't feel too bad, but today I have no voice. Oh wait a minute.... hold the phone... Maggie wants to say Hi!

Ok. There she is... she just came back inside from eating grass... which makes her puke (Great!)... and now she is standing here and expecting me to give her treat for going outside which I only do if she comes in when I call her. Yeah right, like I am going to give a dog who is about to puke some food!! Sorry for the grossness. I am a nurse, so stuff just doesn't bother me.

Ok, so back to me....my Mama wants me to go to the doctor, but I am being stubborn. I don't really feel that bad, like I said, and if I did I would go. I am self-medicating, and that seems to be working out. I am going over to Cara's house tonight to help her and her Mom, Stephanie. We are making bookmarks that will be given out at the Ladies Renewal Retreat in April. Cara told me that they were having steak, baked potato, and salad for supper! WOW! I told her that I wasn't the preacher and that they didn't have to cook all that just because I was coming over!! She said they weren't....but YUMMY, I can't wait. I will try to remember to take my camera and make a picture of the bookmarks.

Some of my good friends from church had their baby girl yesterday. Rachel Abigail was born at 10:05 am weighing 6 lbs 20oz and measuring 20 in. The new family is doing fine, and I can't wait to meet her. This makes our 3rd girl born this year. We have Lilli, Evelyn, and now baby Rachel. A boy is in line to be born next!!

I have to work Friday and Saturday this week, and I have to get up early in the morning to go to a freaking staff meeting!! I usually like to sleep really late on the mornings before I have to work all night to help with fatigue. I guess a long afternoon nap will just have to be on my to-do list tomorrow. Well... that is about all the news I know. I need to go and try to scrap up something small for lunch since I am having a feast over at Cara's tonight. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.... Love to all, S :)

Look what I found