Ten Weeks and Five Days

Ten weeks and five days till my due date – AAAAAA!!!!!! There’s so much I want to get done: a quilt, some clothes, a pregnancy scrapbook, a baby scrapbook, cooking, decorating, curtains, shopping, showers – eek! There’s so much I feel I need to get done before she’s born – stock up on groceries and easy frozen meals, take all those classes we’re signed up for, read those dreaded last chapters of my pregnancy books about labor and delivery, pack for the hospital, make a list of who all will want a phone call as soon as the baby is born, make a list for the birth announcements, settle on whether to make or buy announcements and then do it, and the list goes on and on.
And then there’s the deeper panic: are we ready for this, will we ever have alone time, will we still be able to develop our marriage, hang out with friends, eat in peace, will we survive the lack of sleep, will we be good parents, will I feel good and recover quickly so I can actually enjoy my baby, will we bond well, will I be successful at breastfeeding (and will I care too much if I’m not), can we really do this??????
It’s too late now – and we’re running out of time - only ten weeks and five days left! I feel compulsive urges to do things we won’t be able to do easily after the baby’s born – sleep late, snuggle with Tony, hang breakable ornaments at the bottom of the tree, shop at stores with narrow aisles and lots of breakables, sew and scrapbook with the door open regardless of the time of day, go do things with Tony and friends, just hang out with no responsibilities.
So little time left – only ten weeks and five days till my due date!!!!!

Ok, those are the panicky thoughts that just crossed my mind. I know deep inside that it’s really ok if most of these things don’t get done, and I know which ones I really want to do, and I know I’ll be able to do the most important ones in time. I also know everyone has fears about becoming new parents, and while some of them might be realized, God will help us adjust and enjoy it. I just had to have a moment of panic there :)

The other half of me can't wait and is really excited to be so close - the part that wants to hold and snuggle my baby, the part that can't wait to meet Cadence, the part that is done with heartburn and sideaches, the part that looks forward to having a bundle of fun and excitement around, the part that wants to try her hand at being the best mommy she can be - that part is getting more hyper and excited every day we come closer to our due date. Only ten weeks and five days!

Pictures of Cadence

Ok, we had our ultrasound today, and everything is looking great. She's still right on track for her due date and measuring like she's supposed to. The ultrasound said she weighs 2 lbs 14 ounces, but the lady that did it for us said it could be a few pounds more or less than that.
We did learn a few things about Cadence today:

• She's camera shy. Everytime the 4-D thing got close to her she turned her head back and forth and put her hands in front of her eyes.
• She sticks out her tongue a lot.
• She never stops wiggling!
• She also appears to never shut her mouth (go figure with us for parents!) :)
• She still has her poochie belly, and nice round cheeks, as well as a double chin!

Kari's friend did the ultrasound, and she printed us lots of pictures, but I only had time to scan my favorites today. Here they are:

This is her profile, with her cute little nose -

Here she looks like she's smiling :) -

In this one you can kind of see her tongue sticking out, and she's rubbing her left eye (both of which she did off and on the whole time we were there) -

And here is a good picture of her leg and poochy belly -

That's all the news on Cadence for now - enjoy the pictures!

Rice Crispy Treats

A few years ago, I went through a phase where I cooked a batch of rice crispy treats pretty much every day of the week. I think it was when I was dating Tony. Anyways, Josh and I loved them, and ate them constantly. Well, yesterday I thought, I should make some rice crispy treats, I haven't had any in foreer. So I did. Then I ate a few big chunks, and went off to work on Christmas projects. As I was getting ready for work, I thought, you know, I really should put those away so they don't get hard. And thats when it hit - I had never had to store rice crispy treats before. Josh and I always had them completely wolfed down before they were hardly even cooled off. We must have been pigs or something. :)


On a totally different note, I had to go to Kohls yesterday to buy a gift card for someones Christmas, and while I was there I discovered something very... um... interesting... about myself. *Drum roll*

I have been in certain retail bathrooms so many times, I can tell you which stalls are missing their coathangers.

Pathetic, I know.

Ok, I think that is enough randomness for one day, now to fill everyone in on the boring details of our life.
This afternoon we are going to have an ultrasound, so I'll try to post pictures of Cadence sometime soon. Speaking of Cadence, she's big enough and strong enough now we can watch her moving around at night. It's really funny.
My last day at work will officially be January 16th. I say official because I'm scheduled to help with a party in the library the next week, my shower is the week after that, and I'm planning to help with bookfair the week after that, and ... well, you get the point.
Tony had his concerts last week, and they both went really well. I'll have to try to remember to put some pictures up here. I finally got to sit off to the side of the orchestra, so I got to watch Tony conduct for the first time. It was pretty neat, I really enjoyed it.

Well, I'm going to stop typing and go do some desperately needed housework - hope everyone has a great week gearing up for Christmas!

A Christmas Song

So every year there is at least one funny Christmas song that Tony and I just fall in love with and listen to over and over. This year - (thanks for introducing us Linnie :)) The Twelve Days of Christmas by Straight No Chaser. By the way, the CD is on our Christmas list ;)

Submission

This post was prompted partly by Kristina's post, and partly by the verses I had been studying last week to share with the young people at church.

I have been thinking a lot about submission recently, and studying it, because it has always been a hard topic for me. Being a Christian, I feel Biblically compelled to submit to my husband. Being human, and raised to be very independant, I don't always want to. However, the more I study true submission, the easier it becomes.

First of all, I have a Godly companion, who is always willing to listen to my input and has never (that I can remember) just "laid down the law". Our normal course of action is to discuss things (sometimes mildly heatedly :)) and then decide together what to do. Submission comes in when I don't totally agree with what he is saying, but I can go with his way because he is the head of the household, I love him, and I know that's what I need to do.

Secondly, it was once pointed out to me by a very wise man (Papa) - there is a HUGE difference between submission and obedience. There is even a difference between submission and giving in. My favorite definition of submit from any dictionary I've used is this - to offer oneself of one's free will; to defer to another's wishes, opinions, etc. It makes it clear that when you submit, you are not just obeying because they told you to and you feel you have no choice. You are WILLINGLY defering to their wishes, WILLINGLY defering to their opinions. You are offering your whole self to their guidance and judgement. This makes submission so much easier for me, because it makes it something I choose to willingly give my husband becuase I respect him and love him. Sometimes when I don't wholeheartedly agree with Tony, I remind myself - I wouldn't have married him if I didn't trust him to take care of me. He didn't take me free will. I gave it to him.

To me, that is what true submission is all about. Giving yourself freely to someone else.

Randomness

Hello all! Yes, I know, we seem to have fallen off the planet here at Chancellor Manor. That is (mostly) beacuse we have a virus on our computer, so I have to go elsewhere to blog, and I hate blogging without pictures for inspiration because I can never think of anything to say. That's my excuse anyways :)

Everything is going well here. Tony is gearing up for winter concerts week after next, and we're settling into severe panic about Christmas coming up too fast mode. It seems that I've started about 12 billion projects that I want done before Christmas and another 12 billion for before Cadence comes - we'll see how that turns out :)

We went to Tulsa for Thanksgiving this year, that was fun. It would seem that all the little munchkins in the world are growing up way too fast! When we got back we went to Mom and Dad's (remember the code: Mom and Dad are Tony's parents, Mommy and Papa are mine) to help decorate. Which reminds me, next time we're in Tulsa I'm rearranging the Nativity set, no matter what it looks like, becuase there is no way I'm letting Josh and Alex put it up two years in a row without some sort of arguement from me.

On the baby front, Cadence finally caved in and gave Tony two good kicks the other night, so he's not mad at her anymore :)
I pretty much have to wear maternity clothes now (after 6 1/2 months) and unless I'm wearing Tony's shirts you can definately tell I'm pregnant.
We finally got a closet rod installed for her clothes, and we kind of know how we're going to pain the nursey and such. Our theme is frogs - here's a link to the bedding set we got (mostly for Auntie's sake :)) We also are going to have a lot of pink, my brain seems to be going into pink mode - must be the hormones ;)


Okay, for some random thoughts...

So the other day I was pondering about being afraid of things, and how you should be able to have caution without overwhelming fear. One thing led to another, and I was soon running headlong down the winding road of speculation and worry. I wondered, how do you teach that concept of balance to a young child? How do you raise a balanced child? How do you allow your child to be free-spirited and fun-loving, yet instill in them self-discipline? How do you teach them a healthy caution without taking away their confidence and making them fearful? How do you gently show them the carnality and evil in man without making them unable to trust? It is these parenting challenges that scare me the most. Diapers, spit-up, toddler tantrums, lack of sleep – these are merely annoying in comparison. As I consider the specific challenges that face us in raising a girl, I have to ask even more questions. How do we raise a young lady who is feminine and womanly, yet tough and capable of taking care of herself? How do we raise a girl who likes girly things, and yet pass down to her our love of outdoors and adventure? How do we raise a young lady to be a II Timothy woman, with a sweet submissive spirit, and also a Proverbs 31 woman, with confidence and business savvy, not afraid to fend for her own?
I guess you just have to live your life as a good example for them, teach them the best you know how, and allow God to do the rest.

Well, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

A Name!

It’s official! We have decided to name our baby Ashley Cadence Chancellor. We will call her Cadence.

And You Though Band Nerds Were Geeks...

Tony has requested I share with you all the story I deemed important enough to share with him at the dinner table the other night...

Yesterday at work, I was busily shelving the non-fiction books, making sure they were in order as I went. I got to the 599’s – mammals – and had to stop in confusion. The 597’s – reptiles, fish, and amphibians – are shelved according to how the animals are related to each other within their class in the animal kingdom. So are the 598’s – Birds – and the 595’s – Insects. Surely all the animal books should be ordered according to the same rule. Right? I mean, surely Dewey wouldn’t change mid-stream – he was anal! He had to have been drunk.

But here, in the mammals, it was confusing. I had heard they were shelved according to continent of origin, and yes, look, there – in 599.64 was buffola, raccoon, lots of North American animals. But look, here – in 599.63 was a whale shelved right next to a hippo, next to a giraffe, next to a llama??? What on earth? Obviously they must be misplaced. No, they are in order. Maybe they are labeled wrong? No, that’s the correct label.

Ok, so they obviously can’t be shelved according to continent. I mean, gracious, whales don’t even have a continent, giraffe’s are from Africa, and llamas (I think) are from Asia ! Hmm. What is going on here? Are they randomly placed on the shelf? I must get to the bottom of this problem and save libraries the world over from the confusion of a drunk Melville Dewey. I went over to Mrs. Hunt (the librarian I work with) and posed my question. She replied, “Well, I think they are shelved by continent of origin, but that wouldn’t make sense because the other animal books are shelved by relationship within the animal kingdom.”

So, we then proceed to spend the next forty minutes discussing and researching the animal kingdom online to see how they could possible be shelved. And we discovered? Dewey wasn’t drunk. Who would have guessed a whale was a hippo’s closest relation?! Who would have guessed whales, hippos, giraffes, and yes, even llamas, are all in the same Order. They are class – mammal. And lo and behold, they are order – Artiodactyla. Shocking.

And that is how I spent forty-five minutes saving libraries world-wide from vast confusion. I thought it was rather important information, but Tony thought I was just plain geeky.

Our Ornery Daughter

We’ve come to the conclusion that our daughter is a teenager. She kicks and squirms and wiggles all the time – until Tony puts his hand on my stomach. Then she goes completely still. She won’t even twitch. Tony is beginning to believe she doesn’t like him already. You should see his interpretation of what she’s doing in there. He crosses his arms, pokes out his lower lip, and pouts about “Daddy, you’re embarrassing me.” “Daddy, quit touching me.” And last night, Godwill added one – “Daddy, get out of my womb (pronounced with a lisp so it almost sounds like room).” I keep telling him one of these days he’ll get to feel her moving around, and maybe even watch her kick and squirm, but he acts truly despondent. He does understand, and he’s very patient, but this little girl better watch it, or she’s going to be in trouble before she ever comes out!

Smelly Incidences

The last week has not been kind to the noses in our household. On Wednesday, I got home from the grocery store to find the milk jug had leaked all over the truck. In spite of my best efforts to scrub it clean and let it air out, it smells, you guessed it, like rotten milk. Tony won’t even get in it – I would like to not get in it, but I have to drive to work. Any suggestions?

Today, I walked into the nursery/Tony’s closet room, and there, on the floor, was a roach. I hate roaches. Without looking any closer, I rushed to the bathroom and got the ant and roach spray. I then proceeded to drench the poor bug. I was trying not to look to close, but I noticed the stupid thing wasn’t dying, so I looked – and low and behold, it wasn’t a roach at all, but some poor lame cricket who was missing a couple legs. I hope it dies anyways. Now of course, the whole house smells like roach killer, so I get to open all the windows and turn on the fans before I leave for work. Oh well, at least the house will get aired out.

Guess what?

It's a girl!

This is a head shot - she was upside down :)

Here are her legs, you can see her right foot pretty clear, with toes and all.

Here are her legs and tummy pooching out (thats an umbilical cord, not boy parts :)).

This was the telling shot - her bottom.

This was just the heartbeat one.

Well, enjoy the pictures - we're very excited. We went shopping for girl stuff, looked at all the pink stuff.

Kickin' and Rollin'

Well, it's official. Our baby is (quite predictably) the most hyperactive child in the universe. I'm serious! He/She/It never stops moving and kicking and jabbing me. It's actually quite exciting and reassuring, but I love harassing Tony about how hyper he/she/it is.

Tomorrow we get to have our ultrasound, and we are definitely planning on finding out if it is a boy or a girl. (Finally! No more he/she/it business :))

After I posted on Saturday about how I'm finally showing, we went to a church potluck, and I had like four people tell me how tiny I was, and how they couldn't even tell I was pregnant and they couldn't believe I was 5 months already. The same thing happened at school yesterday. I guess pregnant belly is in the eye of the beholder!

Well, hope everyone has a wonderful evening, I will try to post ultrasound pictures tomorrow afternoon.

Josh's Wedding

Josh and Desiree got married September 27th. They had the wedding at Mommy's house, and it was very pretty. The weather was just right for standing around outside all day. I thought I would post some pictures for all the out-of-town relatives.

Mommy and Josh got the yard and flowerbeds looking really great for the ceremony - and the dog decided she really didn't want to be left out. She killed... something... and planted it right in the middle of the flower beds Saturday morning.

Little Josh is so cute, and getting so big. He's hyper like the rest of us, and likes to run all over the place. Here is he is still in his PJ's.

Here is Alex in all his wedding finery (with his hair combed even!)

Josh and Little Josh right before the ceremony.

Desiree watching Josh and L. Josh get their picture taken.

The aisle runner provided hours of entertainment after the ceremony. Alex and Echo stretched it from the tree to the fence and played all sorts of games with it. They used it as an obstacle course (jump over, bend under it, then crawl up it into the tree) and when they were tired, it became a hammock. All in all, it was a fun, beautiful day.

"Man is an Endangered Species"

Well, it's finally happening. I have a definate pregnant belly. There is one outfit I wore last week that totally hid it, but for the most part you can see it no matter what. We are now at 20 weeks (halfway - yay! ack!) and we get to find out what gender our baby is on Wednesday. Of course, knowing us, we'll have a child that is uncooperative from the beginning, and will have it's legs in the way or something. I'm actually starting to get excited about the idea that it could be a girl, so either way, I'll be happy. Here's some pictures starting when we very first found out I was pregnant.

This is at four weeks, the day we found out.

This is at fourteen weeks, when I finally started to regain a tiny bit of the weight I lost from morning sickness. Before this point, my stomach had actually shrunk instead of getting bigger.

These last two were taken today, at 20 weeks. I soon won't be able to wear the same outfit to take pictures in :(

Oh well :)

Time has seemed to fly by the last month or so. School is 1/4 of the way over already, Josh got married last month, Alex is doing great in school, and I'm starting to get excited about Christmas.


Uncle David was in town this week, and we got to visit with him for several hours on Wednesday. That was very nice, we hadn't seen him since last April.


About the random title of this post - That's the first line of a great science fiction book called "Battlefield Earth". It was one of only two books Papa actually assigned as required reading as high school (the rest he trusted me to choose through research and recommendations). He wouldn't even tell me what class I was reading it for. He just said "About half-way through the book the plot turns, and you'll know what class it's for." I was like, great. It turned out to be for economics of all things, and come to find out, it had inspired him to do all his research on banking, stocks, and market manipulation. Anyways, it's a good read, and also happens to be the cleanest science fiction book I've ever read. (If you saw the movie, please read the book instead - everyone I've talked to said it was the worst movie ever made from a book.)

Well, I think I've bored everyone enough for one post, so I will write again later ;) Ta-ta for now!

Car Show

See? It hasn't even been a whole entire month since my last post ;)

A couple weeks ago we went to the Mustang Car Show in Mustang, OK. It was pretty fun - I’m not a huge car person like Tony, but since we didn’t stay all day long it was cool. They had a parade (the only part we payed attention to was the flag presentation and the National Anthem), carnival rides (which I couldn’t ride because I’m pregnant, and Tony won’t ride because he pukes – roller coaster are fine, swings, etc., all those are great, but the whirly twirly ones not so much). It also looked like they had craft fair style booths and concession stands, but we were there (apparently) for the cars.

I took all of about three pictures before my battery announced it was exhausted and my camera shut off. I felt very prepared (not). Then, when we were almost finished looking around, we found a car that is pretty much exactly like one of Dad’s cars he’s wanting to restore. We managed to coax the camera back to life long enough to get a few pictures.

The car below is exactly like Dad's, except his hasn't been restored yet, and I don't think he'll be painting his red. I don't remember what color he said though.

A Song

First, allow me to report I have been feeling really good. I only throw up about once a week now. I am very thankful for this wonderful turn of events. I can also drink milk again, which is great, because I am totally addicted to milk. Anyways, while I was in the midst of being sick all the time, I ran accross a Baby Blues comic strip with this great new version of John Lennon's song, "Yesterday." I thought it was funny, but only the first verse fit my situation, so I changed the other verses. The shower part refers to me not being able to take a full shower standing up without puking, which thankfully is also gone.

"Ode to Pregnancy"
(with apologies to John Lennon and the makers of Baby Blues)
(Sing to the tune of "Yesterday")

Yesterday, procreation seemed so far away,
Now it dominates my resume,
Oh, I can blame that negligee.

Morning sickness, seems to haunt my every waking hour,
I find it sad that I can't even shower,
Oh, how can nausea have such power?

Why it is so bad,
I don't know, it makes me sad -
But when baby comes, I know we will be so glad!

So all in all, I think it's worth each bathroom call,
Each midnight trip down the hall,
Oh, I believe we'll have it all!

Mmmmm, mmmm, hmmm........

The Best Hot Chocolate

I was reminiscing the other day and thought I would share.

Growing up in Oklahoma, snow was exasperatingly rare, and always looked forward to with great anticipation. When it would finally snow, the very first thought in my mind was always the same – If I walk to Nonnie’s house, she’ll fix me the best hot cocoa in the whole entire world.

Getting to Nonnie’s house always turned out to be a grand adventure. The cousins would call each other up and excitedly talk of all the sledding and snow ball fights we would have that day, then the search for the sleds began. Some years we actually managed to find the sleds and unbury them from their spot in the storm cellar. It didn’t really matter though – our snowsuits were plenty slick enough for sliding down the small hills between our house and Nonnie’s. We would meet at the pond halfway to Nonnie’s, and hurl ourselves down its outer bank, over and over again, trying to see who could make the most daring start. My favorite was to start with a flip at the top and slide the rest of the way down on the seat of my snowsuit.

When we were tired of testing fate, we would traipse the rest of the way to Nonnie’s house, making grandiose snow fort plans along the way. We had, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the worst snow forts in the history of all snow forts. But my, if you could only see the way they were supposed to look!

When we finally couldn’t feel any of our body parts, we would head inside for the real treat. Nonnie would see us coming and start some of her famous hot chocolate on the stove. Then she would meet us in the laundry room and make us take off all our wet clothes to throw in the dryer. In exchange, we were allowed to wear Grandpappy’s pajamas, with the legs rolled up and the waist clothes pinned behind us so they wouldn’t fall off. Next she would sit us at the breakfast bar, and we would tell her all about our awesome snow forts and how brave and daring we were in our snow adventures. She would fill us up with hot cocoa, then read us books or play scrabble with us until our clothes were dry. Thus entrenched in love and warmth, we would head back out to face the wilds of the snowy day.

There are some things Nonnie will always hold the record for. She had the best cinnamon rolls, the softest sheets, the nicest reading chair, and, of course, the best hot chocolate in the world. Come to find out, Nonnie’s famous hot cocoa was a recipe pretty much straight from the Hershey’s cocoa box. Maybe the secret ingredient that made it so yummy was drinking it after the blustery cold of playing in the snow. Maybe it was getting to wear Grandpappy’s pajamas while our clothes dried in the dryer – but I think it was love.

Pictures

Here are some pictures to go with the Catch-Up blog. They're not anywhere close to in order, but I'll caption them so you'll know what they are.

This is Mommy on her birthday in April.

This is Alex, looking onery as usual. They came to visit us sometime over the summer, and we had just gotten out of the pool, so his hair is all spikey.

This is on our camping trip in June. I think technically baby peanut was camping with us :)

Godwill, Steph, and Makanaka on our camping trip. Tony, Godwill, and Makanaka all ended up with walking sticks, but Makanaka didn't like his.

This is a recent picture of Will - he's changed a lot since the hospital pictures huh?

This is the class I was in at Bible School. I like the youngest class - they fit my maturity level best.

This is Makanaka sprawled out on Tony's lap. It must have been more comfortable than it looked, he stayed there forever.

This is us on our trip to Eureka Springs. We went to a really cool wildlife refuge that specialized in big cats. Baby peanut is definately with us on this trip.

This is what my flower bed looked like in very early June. Now all the plants are huge and overflowing the bed - unfortunately, so are the weeds.

Playing Catch-Up

Okay, first of all, allow me to acknowledge it has been six months since my last post. I apologize profusely :) I shall diligently endeavor to swiftly recap all the stuff that has happened since then. Here goes:

March
-Nothing that I remember (how was that for brevity?)
-By this time, Baby Will is thriving and growing at a tremendous rate

April
-Unfortunately, April seems to be holding true as a sad chapter in the progress of each year. At the beginning of April, my Uncle Phillip passed away in a motorcycle accident. His family is doing well considering, but of course could still use your thoughts and prayers.
-Stephanie and Godwill's baby, Makanaka, was born

May
-We got a new camera (Yay!)
-School let out for the summer
-Kari had surgery on her ankle. Everything went well, and she is doing great.
-I started my first flower bed. It did great until July, when I started severly neglecting it. Some of the flowers have lived in spite of themselves, but the poor dears have definately been abused.
-I went to Branson with Mommy, Auntie, and Alex

June
-Vacation Bible School
-Camping with Steph, Godwill, and Makanaka
-We went on a short vacation to Eureka Springs, and while we were there, we found out I'm pregnant! Since Tony is always giving me tigers for special occasions, I got him a cute daddy tiger holding a baby tiger as my way of telling him the news. At this point, I felt totally great and normal.

July
-Started getting sick with the baby. This note pretty much dominated July and the beginning of August.

August
-Finally got to see Mommy, for the first time since getting pregnant. Since I couldn't drive two miles in the car without throwing up, driving to Tulsa before this point seemed a little daunting :)
-Back to school for Tony and I! I will probably keep working until January-ish, for all of you who are wondering :)

September
-We celebrated our second anniversary yesterday. As my gift, I didn't throw up all day long!
-Today, we got to hear our baby's heartbeat for the first time. This was very exciting for both of us! :)

Well, thats all the catching up for now - I might try to post some pictures later, if my internet connection will let me. Tata!

Meme's (at little overdue)

Okay, Okay, I'm finally getting around to answering the tag I got from Kristina's Soapbox! Here goes:

(1) Link to the person that tagged you.
(2) Post the rules on your blog.
(3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
(4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.(5) Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

1. I love dill pickles. I eat them anytime, anywhere, any form. No, I am not pregnant.

2. I never wear shoes unless I have too.

3. I play the piano and flute, but not as often as I should.

4. Sometimes, maybe, possibly, I'm a little OCD about symmetry and organization ;)

5. I love little kids - the younger the better, from about 4 down.

6. I can't wait for the next Sara Pennypacker "Clementine" book to come out. (i.e. I love all books, children's, young adult, and adult included!)

1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.
2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name or your mother's maiden name).
3. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged.)

E - Enthusiastic does not even begin to describe my hyperness at times, but other times I'm lazy as all get-out.
L - Laughter is totally and completely neccessary to survive hard times.
L - Learning throughout life is something Papa instilled in me. I loved school, would love to go back sometime, but each and every day I want to learn something new, and never let my brain go totally to mush.
E - Economics still fascinates me.
N - Never say you can't lead a good, moral life and still have fun. Trust me, I could never begin to count all the great stuff I've been able to do in just my short lifetime.

I'm not actually going to tag anyone. If you want to do these, feel free, and be sure to leave a comment on my blog so I'll know to go read all about you!

Home Improvement - Weekend One

At the beginning of January, we sat down and decided which projects in our house we were going to tackle this year, what order we would do them in, etc. It was decided the entry way would be first. The list for the entry-way went something like this:

1. Take down that ugly granny wall-paper.

2. Paint a light, neutral color to make the space seem more open.

3. Replace the old fixtures and switches - including light switches, light fixtures, electrical outlets, and the doorbell outside.

4. Tear up the cracked, moving, also ugly flooring.

5. Level the floor as much as possible without making it impossible to open the front door all the way.

6. Put in new flooring.

7. Take the door down. Sand it, stain it, fix the hinges, and put it back up. (We really love the style of the door, it just needs some work.)

So the first weekend we tackled steps one through three. It was super fun - the whole project has been. We love having something to work on together on our weekends and evenings. We still haven't gotten to step seven, but it'll happen. :)

The View from Saturday

I'm supposed to be vacumming, but I got about half way done and the motor started smoking really bad, so I'm taking a break :)

I finally got hooks put on the back of my Christmas present from Kristina, and it is proudly hanging in the hobby room.

Tony and Kurtis played games on Kurtis' Wii for a while. Kurtis is doing very well, we are all proud of him for the way he's handled the last few months. He can still use prayer, it has, of course, been very difficult for him.

Saturday morning bright and early (9:30) Tony got up and went over to help Dad smoke some brisket, which we later had for supper (yummy!)

While the guys played games and cooked, I went to Eva's personal shower (yes, she's getting married in May).

Tony also worked on his '66 Mustang for a while. It runs great, but it has a leak somewhere in the body they have to fix before we can take it out too much.

I'm surprised Tony had the emotional fortitude to make this decision, but we've decided to trade his '66 for his dad's black '66 GT. The difference is engine power, power steering, etc. Great car, just needs a new paint job - we're going to paint it blue - yay!

We also played games Saturday night - being around Tony's family made me miss my family - I'm glad I get to see at least Mom and Alex on Saturday. Until later - tata!

The View From Saturday

*I was going to write this way back on Monday, but since then the internet and my pictures have never been in the same place :) *

The View From Saturday
3/1/08

Saturday was so incredibly beautiful, we simply couldn't stay inside. So right after lunch we headed to the driving range, to finally put our golf clubs to some use other than holding down the floor for the winter.

After the driving range, it was over to the David Chancellor's house for Rusty's 18th birthday party. (Shocking I know, he's one of the "little" boys). There was, of couse, volley ball, touch football, gifts, food, and 4 1/2 hours of "Gotcha." Needless to say, I was slightly sore Sunday and Monday.

This is "Gotcha."

All the players line up, and the first two are given basketballs. As soon as the first one shoots the second one can shoot. If the first person in line makes a basket first, they're fine, and go the end of the line to start over. If the second person makes it first, the first person is out, and only the second person can go to the end of the line to keep going. The key is quickness - as soon as you make it in, you pass the ball to the next person so they can get someone out too :) Its kind of like horse on steriods.

Lindy and Ruthie - They're so sweet to each other, totally bonded... unless they're in direct competition :)

The "Out" line up.

Tony wrestling Bobby.
Typical Chancellor guys. On the ground more than standing up :)

The other team...

Bobby on the ground again. His body seems to have a communion with the earth the rest of us just don't have. Every time he moves he falls theatrically over - kind of reminds me of Tony in his younger days :)

Speaking of ;)

Well, that's about it for now. We finished re-tiling our enty-way also last weekend, but I'll get those pictures later in a home improvement sort of issue :)

This weekend is shaping up well. Last night we went to Andy's new house (Andy and Brent are living there... Brent will move out eventually, but he just sold his house and needed a place to crash for a while) and played games with some of our friends and family. It was great fun. Trust me, there are some people that you only let be on your team for pictionary because you like talking to them - NOT because of their artistic abilities. (J/K)

Where have I been since February? Well... like I said at the beginning, I just haven't really had access to the internet... sorry for the huge lapse on Chancellor Manor :)