Moving Tips

Okay, I figured since I'll be new at this whole moving process, I needed some tips from wiser people that have done this before. So, any tips for moving into a house? Any little things that worked out well for you? Anything you would recommend not to do? I'm trying to be as organized as possible come August 20th. I mean I already took toilet paper to the house and hid it in a cupboard so we would know where at least one roll was. I thought that was pretty good!

Few of my favorite things...

Mainly due to the fact that I'm avoiding doing anything productive today, here is my list of a few of my favorite things:

10. The smell and warmth of clean laundry right out of the dryer. I wish I experienced it more (and that it stayed warmer longer)

9. Flea markets. I have become obsessed with the thoughts lately. I just love a good project and I seem to find lots of ideas at flea markets, and who doesn't love the price.

8. The idea of having our own house! This thought is possessing my thoughts lately. I'm very distracted, but my house is decorated great in my day dreams.

7. Diet coke. I just can't get enough. How many cans a day are too many?

6. The idea of running and working out. I love running and working out (well love as much as one can), but I find by the end of the day that I have not had any time to do it. Hence, tomorrow morning, I am going to try to get up and work out. We will see if this really does happen. (Don't get your hopes up).

5. My family! They are great. Wonderful. Amazing! I love them all.

4. Fall! I am ready for everything fall: the smell of candles, pumpkins, the brisk cool breeze, cute warm clothes, BOOTS!

3. Energy. I wish I had more of it. Period.

2. Blankets. I think I'm obsessed. One can never have too many soft, cuddly, warm, fluffy blankets. Another reason I'm ready for fall. Pile on the blankets.

1. 5 p.m. It means the work day is done and I can begin my few hours of a real day. I look forward to the 5 o'clock drive home... It's relaxing in a strange way. I realize that once I get home I only have about 5 hours of a "real day" ahead of me. And that's if I stay up late! Oh well... How many more years until retirement? : )

*Non of these are in a particular order. It's just all random. I'm just random.

Welcome Home

Happy Birthday to me!

Surprise! Below are some pictures of our "new" (but not ours until August 19th) house

Entry way and view into the dining room

Spacious laundry room

Our bathroom!

Looking down the hallway toward the bedrooms

Our living room and the windows to the back of the house

The kitchen and eating area

Our lovely dining room!

And the happy homeowners!

Chase and I close on our house August 19th, providing everything goes good from now until then! Here are some pictures of the humble abode (let's hope I didn't just jynx our home inspection that is tomorrow!)

* I don't know how to blog yet, because this short blip was supposed to be at the top! Oh well!

You know you live in Oklahoma when...

(I plan on making this one "theme" that commonly occurs on here!)

You know you live in Oklahoma when... they say a cold front is coming and that cold front is still 95 degrees. Here I was all excited to not sweat anytime I stepped out my front door. Better luck next time, i guess.

And there was a dip in pride levels today

Can I just paint this picture for you? It's Oklahoma in June, which means it is hot and humid. If you are surprised by this little fact, well... I just don't know how that can come as a shocker to anyone. Below is the story of how I faced humility in the hot and humid Oklahoma weather. I really should take a look at my priorities after this incident. Bear with me, since this story is a little long winded, and has no pictures (for a very good reason). 

I am taking my usual trip to Sam's Club for work. The list is pretty much the same every time I go in there. Lots (and by lots I mean 5 flats) of Diet Dr. Pepper, a little less diet coke, and maybe one or two other regular sodas, some crackers, plates, paper towels, etc... That's really the extent. The thing that kills me is trying to push a cart and maneuver a cart around Sam's Club with that much soda on it. Not to mention that strange stares (and comments) I get all the while. I swear people think I'm ADDICTED to diet pop. I just want to tell them no because it does not have sonic ice in it. That's another addiction to face on another day. 

I checked out and decided that an ice cream cone sounds amazing! I'm standing in line to purchase my much anticipated treat to satisfy my sore throat (goes with all of our housing issues) and sweet tooth. Well, I'm contemplating this ice cream cone thing. After all, how smart is it to get an ice cream CONE when I still have to LOAD all of those cans of soda into my car. What will I do with the ice cream cone? The very nice cashier lady tells me that they do not have ice cream cones but I can get an ice cream cup. SPLENDID. This solves all the problems I'm hashing out in my head. Not. The nice cashier gave me the most for my $0.97 and filled the cup about 3-4 inches past the brim. My cup overfloweth with ice cream  (and yes, I used my debit card for this purchase, which is a later problem) Now I am sorta back to square one. 

I head out the doors and into the blazing sun with my cart of diet sodas, my ice cream-- which is now melting rapidly, my purse, and my Sonic that I went into Sam's with (yes, I came out double-fisting). It's a long trek to my car. The whole way there I'm wondering how I'm going to load my groceries with one hand when I can't lift the pop at all with just one hand. I'm thinking I can set the ice cream down on the pavement, well it's windy (hello, it's Oklahoma!), and I would risk my ice cream blowing over. Well, I worked too hard to get this little treat and that cannot happen. I seriously was stressing out about this.  By the time I get to my car, I must have this frazzled look on my face. 

A wonderful cart-collector boy strolls up like he is going to save my day, or what's left of my ice cream. He tells me not to worry about my groceries and to just start my car and he'll load everything, so I can take care of the ice cream soup I'm about to have. Apparently, I looked like a damsel in distress with ice cream melting all over me. I am a little wary about getting into my car with this much of a problem. Chase will think I trashed my car (and I'm trying to prove that I can keep a clean car)

So a brainiac idea comes to me... I'll kneel down and scoop some of the ice cream out so it's not so full, and then it will quit dripping. Well, that's great except I'm about 20 degrees and 5 minutes too late for that. It's already melted a lot and so I am kneeling next to my car (in my skirt) and shoveling ice cream into my mouth since that's the best solution I have come up with at this point. I never once thought that I'd be kneeling in public, in a skirt, just to get the ice cream down my throat, QUICKLY. I paused for the briefest of moments when the nice fellow came around the side of the car to put the toilet paper in my back seat. He made some comment about how he should tell my husband what I am doing. As embarrassed as I am, I stand up and try to recoup this whole melting situation. Just in time to drop a load of ice cream down my skirt. Lovely. I mean where are your friends when you need them. When I really want to laugh about some absurd situation, where are your friends. Then again, had my friends been there, I may not have been in that predicament. 

The nice fella' loaded all my groceries, proceeded to help the crazy ice cream lady get herself off the parking lot and quit shoveling ice cream in to make some comment about helping people load groceries as a summer job to get tips for school. Well, that's the icing on my cake. I just paid for a $0.97 ice cream cone with my debit card. I have no cash, so I ignore the comment and go on about the ice cream melting all over me. Let me just say had I had cash, he probably would've gotten a hefty tip. I mean how many people would help a distressed looking lady just so she can squat in the parking lot and eat her ice cream. I am pretty sure this guy was thinking this white girl has some serious problems, not to mention that she's holding her skirt down from the wind in between her knees while ice cream is dripping down her hands, up her arms, and on her shoes. Let's be honest, he may not have even wanted my money because more than likely it'd be covered in ice cream and sticky. 

Yes, there was a slight dip in my pride levels today. I may never get ice cream again at Sam's, or do it in the winter time. I just hope I never run into that fellow again, for good reasons! 

Man of my dreams

Can I just tell you how much I love this guy?

I am a little overwhelmed with the thought that we have been married for 9 months (tomorrow). It just seems like it has flown by (overall). Any of you that know us, know that it has not been a boring 9 months, and we still have 3 to go. I am somewhat nervous! Let's recap. 

September 12th - we got married and the power went out at our reception. Our honeymoon was in Hawaii. We loved it, but our flight was about 8-10 hours delayed, and we found this out once we got to the airport. Fun times were had by all. 

Things mellowed out for a while until I rear ended a truck (with a huge trailer hitch). This was my first accident too. Then  Christmas time came and we were hit with a huge snowstorm. 

And down below we have the great ice storm of 2010, which was accompanied by our furnace breaking. WE HAVE GREAT LUCK.  I like to look at it more like little obstacles from God. We definitely have had our laughs over these past 9 months. We've endured hail storms, orbital blow out fractures, just about anything you could imagine to go wrong with a house HAS. 

Let me just tell you...... I LOVE BEING MARRIED and I LOVE CHASE! I just completely adore him! He is so sweet and sincere. He is never one to let me down or keep me from laughing. He definitely knows how to put a smile on my face. How can you not love that? 

Yup, Neko and Max LOVE each other

I just love this girl. She's amazing! 

Yup, gang's all here- after a long weekend! 

If anyone knows Tater, this is SO solemn of him

And here's the real Tater. 

Chase was so brave, and he didn't cry, that he deserved a whole post dedicated to him and his injury. Here are a couple more pictures of our trip back home, unfortunately, none of them were taken before the great hit of 2010. Excuse our looks in any of these pictures, as you can imagine, we endured a lot!