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Saturday, September 20, 2014

We have a house!!

Yesterday was amazing.

Yesterday we carpooled to work. Brad got off at 11:30, and picked me up at 11:45. We headed to the office where we were to have our house closing. We were super early. We sat in the car and took selfies & talked excitedly &, well, yeah. There may have been a little anxiety.


Our appointment was at 1:00, so around 12:50 we finally walked in. We didn't want to be TOO early. ;) The receptionist got our licenses & other info to make copies. We sat on a comfy couch & i looked at a magazine. Our realtor, Lisa, and our mortgage broker, Erica, arrived. We chatted with them. Then, the lawyer, Billy, called us to a room with big table and a huge stack of papers.

You didn't really need the play by play, did you? :)

It wasn't bad! We had fun! I understood everything the lawyer explained! (That should be a given, but I assumed that wouldn't be the case. I assumed i would just sign while my brain was in a fog...this is what usually happens when people start talking numbers/business/contracts/etc. I figured i would nod & sign, and let Brad handle the actual understanding part. This wasn't the case, though. It was easy peasy! Haha!)

Halfway through, the lawyer's secretary came in and handed him keys. He handed them to us. We were like, KEYS! YAY! He said, 'You still gotta sign the papers, though.' LOL.


Erica, Lisa & Billy have met together many many times, so they know each other very well. They were cracking jokes the whole time, which made it a lot of fun & relaxing. They're all pretty awesome!

with Lisa, our realtor. i have known her since kindergarten!

Erica & Lisa each brought us a housewarming gift! How sweet is that?! Lisa gave us my first Scentsy... and it's gray, which is the main color in our new house! And Erica gave us some cute dish towels. Love both gifts! (Yeah, i know I said in my last post we are totally NOT LSU fans, but that's because of our lack of love for sports. I love the dish towels, though, because LSU & the fleur de lis SCREAMS Louisiana. And I'm a total fan of Louisiana, even if i do complain way too much about the traffic. :)


We left, and headed straight to the new house, of course. Our parents were both sitting on go to come help with some stuff. The plan was to paint Saturday & Sunday but my parents wanted to go ahead & get started! And Brad's dad had a ton of stuff to drop off that he & Brad had picked up the night before at Home Depot. Plus, Jaimie (my sister-in-law) had her guys at her work deliver our new flooring for us, and they had just arrived. It was under the carport and needed to be brought in. MAN, that flooring was HEAVY. I think I carried two of them. Then my dad got smart & opened the window to the bedroom we were leaving them in & handed them through it to Brad.

 Putting the screen back on after bringing all the flooring in!

My mother-in-law and mom came. They both brought a few necessities that I never would've thought of. You know, hand soap, a towel, paper towels. They BOTH brought toilet paper! Hahaha. Good thinking!! My mom brought that flag she had bought me off etsy. I put it out front immediately! 


We needed a trash can & a broom desperately, so my MIL went to pick those up. Mr. Stan, my FIL, changed out our locks for us. My dad & Brad finished bringing in all the new flooring, and FINALLY we could leave to go eat lunch! Y'all. I know, i know. How could i be hungry at a time like this? Well, remember, we left work at 11:45, and i hadn't had lunch. We went straight to the title place and were too excited to eat. We decided to have lunch right after. But then we wanted to go to the house first and ended up having work to do! So at this point it was almost 4, and we were STARVING!!!! Ha! Everyone else had eaten. So Brad & I left and went to Rotolos. :)

We finally went home and did some PACKING! Ugh. Packing is my second most hated thing to do in the entire world (first being sitting in traffic... i did a lot of that this week!).

So today, we paint. All day long. And tomorrow we probably paint too. I doubt we will finish today. Monday we get floors put in. Tuesday, we MOVE!!!!!! YAY!

I'm so excited. So happy about our new neighborhood, our new area of town, our new house. GOODBYE BAKER! GOODBYE TRAILER PARK! GOODBYE TRAILER! (i have to say, i am most excited to just get out of Baker & the trailer park. The trailer would've been okay on some land. I just hate this area. Not to say that i wouldn't prefer my new house, because i so totally would and do! I LOVE IT! :) It's small, but adorable & we love it!


Nice work glove on his hand, huh? HAHAHA! Yeah, i may or may not have interrupted him from his hard work to take a picture. :) 


YAY!

P.S. I posted this picture on facebook, and had THREE people i know ask where it was...they both said, "it looks like ---" & named my neighborhood! Turns out two people i know live in the same neighborhood and another one lives right near our neighborhood. Plus, I had already found out a girl i know about my age lives on my street! Cool! Yay for good neighbors already! :) 

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Current Events, Personality & Funnies

Sometimes I like doing a post like this one... and it's been awhile, so...

CURRENTLY... 

Writing:  eh, this post. Ha. I don't do a lot of writing these days, other than writing people's names and their account number and the date and my signature at work. :) One day i will get back to writing... i have notebooks full of fiction under my bed.

Watching: I have been watching Melissa & Joey on Netflix. It's hilarious! I also recently watched two Amish reality shows, a theatre documentary, a ballet documentary & the movie Center Stage (which i'd seen before, but it had been awhile!). It's just a mixed bag over here!

Listening to:  Meredith Andrews... Not for a Moment & Strong God are played over & over. 



Anticipating: CLOSING ON THE NEW HOUSE!!!! It should have been scheduled yesterday, but it wasn't. This is really the most frustrating experience! I never want to do this again!

Missing: certain friendships, stage managing (but not enough to do it anytime soon... so time consuming & i like being home!), & EXERCISING, believe it or not!

Wearing: my night gown. It's only 9 am, y'all. :)

Craving: I would love a giant glass of lemonade.

Wishing: Hubby & I could get away for like a week... I'm thinking to the mountains in Tennessee or back to Cozumel.

Yes...take me there, please.

Thinking: of bedspreads and gallery walls and the color grey...

 Love this gallery wall.


Enjoying: my parent's new pool! I have been over every weekend to swim! Wishing i lived a little closer to them, though!

Oh, yeah...

I have been meaning to share with you this post from Erin on Freezer Meals. I seriously need to try this!

I have been wanting to order some pics on canvas, but they are always so expensive. And then when i see a deal, i'm not sure about the company. Well, my friend ordered from Canvas on Demand & said they turned out beautifully, so when i saw the coupon for 2 for $49, i jumped on it. They came in and are ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!! I am SO excited about them!!! Cannot wait to hang them in my new house! 

Personality Tests! My friend Tricia did it & it inspired me to take the test too. I took this one, and I am INFP. The detailed description was so accurate it was scary! Brad is INTJ & we were laughing as i read the description out loud to him, because some of what they said about his type was SOOO BRAD! Ha! However, what it said for his weaknesses wasn't necessarily true. For example, Brad doesn't have an arrogant bone in his body! Mine was pretty right on. Although it said many INFP's can easily learn 2 or 3 languages! Um...what? Maybe i should try to learn some languages?! LOL!

I posted it on FB & then others started taking the test & telling me their results! It was kinda fun! :) If you take it, let me know what type you are! Here are some very basic descriptions! :) 


And a few funnies... these are all so me! LOL.


 

 



I think i had other things to tell you, but they have slipped my mind! Plus, i need to get dressed. Off to run some errands with my man! :)

Have a great weekend!


Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Last Weekend

The weekend was amazing. Fantastic. Wonderful. Oh my gosh, i am so excited about our new place!! We should close early next week. And you know what? I'm okay with that. We still have a good bit of packing to do! Haha.

On Saturday, I took Fievel to the groomer,


And then headed to mom & dad's house. Mom & I went shopping. For furniture!! My mom is my favorite person to have along on these kind of trips. She is the BEST at interior decor. Before we left, she gave me a little gift! She saw it on my pinterest & ordered it for me! I love it! It's one of those flags you put in your yard. Oh, and yes, i guess i DID just tell y'all my last name (don't care even though maybe i should!). Isn't it cute, though!? :)



Mom & I headed out. First, we grabbed breakfast at Another Broken Egg. Then we went to SEVERAL furniture stores. We found a possible table for my kitchen, but decided to wait until i move in & see how much room i have. It's really kinda small. There are two tables i like, so it just depends on which one we have room for. (Our current table is really too big, plus it was Brad's parents & they want it back sometime!)

We went to Bassett, Rooms-to-Go, Inventory Liquidators, Furniture Outlet & Ashley. I *think* that's it. Maybe not. Haha. Maybe there were more!

I ended up getting a coffee table, two side tables & a TV chest!! Yay!!! And mom got me a really nice full-length mirror. I've been wanting & needing one of those!

I posted "furniture store awards" on FB because i am silly. You know, Best Salesman - rooms to go, Most Annoying Salesman - Inventory Liquidators, etc. Now, how crazy is this?! Inventory Liquidators is supposed to be like an outlet...cheaper furniture. I mean, their big slogan printed in giant letters on the wall is, "WE PAY LESS SO YOU PAY LESS!" Well, then. How come the brand new table & chairs we saw at Rooms-To-Go was $199, and the damaged one in Inventory Liquidators was $250??? Really?!

But anyway. I am super excited about my finds! :) :) Will show you soon!

Then we went back to my parent's & I jumped in the pool! Man, i'm glad they have a pool now! Haha! My parents went swimming too. 

Although... funny story... and I can't believe i didn't get a pic of this! We were in the pool and my dad's cell phone rang. So he is getting out of the pool to see who it is, and he sees a SNAKE! A baby snake, but still!! Mom said it looked like a poisonous one! EEK! So dad, um, took care of it! But if his cell phone hadn't gone off, that snake would have ended up in the pool! AHHHH! Gives me the heebee jeebies. (How do you spell heebee jeebies anyway?!)

So I was watching as he was throwing it over the gate when i felt something brush against me. I screamed and shook it off... it was the skirt part of my swimming suit. HAHAHA. Just a little freaked out, i guess! :)

Sunday... church was great & i got a pic with two of my faves!! After church, me & Brad went to lunch with Billy & Mandy. Love them!! Good times. 



Next week we should be painting & moving & all that! YIPPEE!!! :)

Friday, September 5, 2014

weekends, house buying & a little TV


Last weekend, Brad & i went shopping & we got a couch! I LOVE IT! :) It's a gray sectional, just like i wanted. The first pic is the couch, but the second pic is a better visual of the color it is. It's not as dark as it looks in the first pic. We are doing teal accents, though... not red/orange.



We also got a fridge & ceiling fans... but that is not as exciting, so i didn't photograph them. :)

What else happened last weekend? Well, i had dinner with my friend Tonya... it has been way too long!



And i went swimming again. Fievel isn't too sure about being in the pool. He was very nervous! He was only a little relieved when i put him on this raft! Haha! He LOVES my parents now fenced-in backyard though. I am thinking he will love the fenced-in yard at his new house even more though - because there will be no pool for people to get him in! ;)


It was an absolutely wonderful weekend. :)

And now we have reached another one. YAY! Tomorrow i will take Fievel to the groomer, go shopping with my mom, and hopefully go swimming again. Rain has been around a lot lately & it is in the forecast all weekend. I hope it stops for a bit, though! I really want to swim as much as possible before it gets too cold to do so! Even though it could be November before that happens! Haha. You just never know!

Well, our house closing got pushed back a week. Instead of being next week, it will be sometime the week of the 15th. WAHHHH!!!!

I know it will be okay. I was kinda bummed but I'll get over it! Haha. It's not the end of the world. Although i don't know if i will ever want to buy a house again! It's just TOO MUCH. I am a planner, and i hate not knowing WHEN something like this is going to happen. I mean, i have to give notice on when to take off work! Now that is being pushed back. Glad my boss seems to understand that that's just the way these things go!

I will have to reschedule our fridge delivery, couch delivery & floor installation. Things like that. But once all that is taken care of, i will feel better.

I am still so excited & ready!

There is so much to do before & after we close that my mind is just kind of swimming with a To Do list! Things like:

-Buy new back door (it is rotted & must be replaced)
-Purchase paint & paint supplies.
-Pick up already purchased flooring & bring to new house.
-Purchase tile from Lowe's.
-Get electricity/water/etc/etc/etc all set up.
-Hire someone to clean the trailer! (I want someone to clean it thoroughly after we move out so the people buying it will have a CLEAN new place! And i don't want to be the one to do it! Ha! I will be too busy at our new house!)
-Call Lowe's & reschedule fridge delivery.
-Call Home Furniture & reschedule couch delivery.
-Call Clay & reschedule flooring installation.

You get the idea. Geez!

But it's exciting.

In other news, i watched Breaking Amish on Netflix, which was a bit overdone to me & kind of crazy. But then i watched "Amish: Out of Order" & y'all. It's set up more like a documentary & it's very very good. I can't get enough. I love it. These people go through SO MUCH growing up amish. Bad stuff. Their religion is messed up big time. I love some things about how they live, but wow. It's kinda sad. But interesting to watch.

I miss Walking Dead, though. Ha!

In other news, I finished a whole30 & lost 9 pounds. But it's weight I've already lost. I still feel pretty miserable. I haven't been eating that well since it ended, though. Crap. It is frustrating. It is hard. But i am going to keep at it! This picture really resonated with me, though! Ha! This is totally me on whole30. ;) Even though it does feel GREAT to be eating so well... i will always miss crap food apparently. I don't know why that is.


I will say i had a Pumpkin Spice Latte after whole30 & I didn't like it. Too sweet. I used to LOVE those things! This rarely happens though. Everything else is still wonderful. It's a shame. I haven't tasted coke since, though. I'm just not willing to do that. I can't. I am SOOO addicted to that stuff. So at least i've kept that out of my life! But i could stand to do another whole30.I really want the paleo lifestyle (or primal, because it allows dairy) to be just the way i live. I don't want it to be something i constantly have to work so hard it. I guess it would just be nice if it became second nature. Is that too much to ask?!

Haha. I just re-read that last paragraph. I mean, COCA-COLA, people! Not cocaine. Just... wanted to clear that up. Since i know you probably weren't sure! ;) (Ha - right!)

Hope you have a great weekend! :)

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

August Happenings

It's September, it's September! I love September. September means fall is coming. And this year, for us, it means A NEW HOUSE!! And a new area! And a backyard! And a cute neighborhood. And nice floors instead of green carpet. Yeah!

Some things you missed this past August, while I was watching too much TV to do any blogging. Yeah, that's the honest truth. Just being real with ya. More on that later.

-FIEVEL'S  BIRTHDAY-
Fievel turned 10 on the 18th! Love this boy!

 This is Fievel when i first took him home! 6 weeks old! He's so cute, i can't handle it!

And here he is at 10! Still a handful! But i love him!

-COUSINS NIGHT OUT-
Brad has a great family! I love it! On his dad's side of the family there are a lot of first cousins. One of them, Whitney, randomly sent all the girl cousins a text (including me, even though i am more of their cousin-in-law!) to see if we wanted to go to dinner! She threw out a date, time & place & everyone agreed! Honestly, it had been too long since i had seen them. We missed Christmas with them this past year because we celebrated with my family instead. It's been AGES since I've seen any of them, except maybe Jaimie! And I've seen Megan a couple times. Anyway, we had a BLAST! We just ate dinner and talked & I laughed until i hurt. Brad comes from a family of comedians, i tell you. They are a HOOT! They even had the waitress cracking up!

from left to right - Shelley & Leah (sisters) & Leah's daughter Hollyn, me, Whitney, Megan & Jaimie.


-HILLSONGS CONCERT-
I went to the Hillsongs Concert in mid-August with my good friend Mary Claire. It was AWESOME! I know the old hillsongs, but wasn't sure if i knew any of their new stuff. Thankfully, i did! We sing a lot of their songs in church, i just didn't realize it. I was hoping they would sing Oceans, and they did. It was a great night of worship.

 Healing Place Church where the concert was held. I love this church.


 Yes...we're nerds. :)

 LOOOOVE her!!! So thankful for her friendship! :)

We are going to the Kari Jobe concert in October - can't wait for that! :)

-PACKING-
Oh, yeah... I also did a little packing in August. Do you think I got the point across here?!


Other Random Things-
I did another Whole30! August 1-30. I lost 9 pounds & 2.5 inches in my waist. I had better results last time, but this is still good. I don't know, i guess i'm not that excited about it because I am just losing weight I've already lost!! It'll be forever before i get back to where i was & start losing weight i haven't lost yet. That is disappointing. But i need to just stop thinking about that & keep on keeping on! :)

I got obsessed with Walking Dead. Have you seen this show?! I PROMISE YOU, i am NOT really a zombie/vampire/weird-stuff person, i don't want to watch anything with all of that. Now, I do watch Grey's Anatomy, so i thought the blood & guts wouldn't phase me. Haha. Hahahaha. Right. That's funny. Brad REALLY wanted me to watch Walking Dead with him (he'd seen it but was willing to see it again!), and i have friends who aren't zombie people that love the Walking Dead, so... I finally caved. After the first two episodes i was SICK to my STOMACH!!! I felt sad for Brad because he was so excited i watched it, but i knew there was no way i could watch any more of it. Well. I ended up watching again thinking i could just turn my eyes during the sick parts. Before i knew it i was obsessed (& the bloods & guts either lessened or just didn't bother me anymore). We are now DONE with Season 3 & i am SAD because it'll be October before Season 4 is on Netflix! Ahhhhh!

Y'all. I LOVE THIS SHOW!!! Can't get enough!! So good! So well written! So...creepy! And it's fun acting like the "walkers" all the time. Haha! (This might be the first year in my entire life i want to dress up for halloween. Ha!) The main thing about this show is the characters, though. That's what keeps you watching.

 Michonne, probably my favorite character of The Walking Dead

Now, watch... all this important stuff & i will just get comments about The Walking Dead. ;)

Anyway...

-INFERTILITY-
We are still on a break from treatment, but i am really excited about something! Beth, the head of Sarah's Laughter (the support group i go to) is organizing a 5k for infertility awareness. I know it's a subject not a lot of people will talk about, but honestly i think it's about time there is some awareness for this! It's not like nobody deals with infertility. It's 1 in 8. But you THINK you are the only one when NOBODY is talking aout it. Anyway. She is heading this up in collaboration with Dr. Webster (my RE & one of the best!).


One really cool thing is that Dr. Webster is donating a free IVF to one lucky winner! Many of y'all KNOW what a blessing this would be...the expense for IVF is outrageous. But this will give a couple a chance at being parents. I mean, NOBODY can afford IVF whether they do it or not. Most take out loans for IVF. Which shouldn't have to be! The cool thing is, EVERYONE who goes to the 5k will be entered in the drawing for the IVF, so if someone wins that doesn't need it, they can donate it to the person they are there for (or whoever). So basically if 15 people come to us, they can put my name in, upping my chances of winning.

I haven't said much about that part on FB, because honestly, i want someone to win it who NEEDS it. I don't know if that's me or not. Seeing as how i got pregnant through IUI, i feel like i could get pregnant that way again. Some women's only chance is IVF. So i haven't said a lot about the IVF part. The thing is, if we won it, i would do it. It's still a much greater chance of success than IUI. But i do want the person who wins to be the person that God has in mind to win! (And of course that would happen - He is in control!)

The biggest reason i want people there on our team is just to have support there. When this was in the early stages of being planned, i was elated to find out that i would have a newborn the time of the 5k. That was not to be, and now it is more important to me than ever to have friends there on our team. Nobody should walk through infertility alone, and even though it is sometimes awkward or embarrassing to talk about, I still want the support. I still want people rooting for us. Hopefully people can understand that.

So, I signed up & set up a team. And i shared the info on FB. I have had 5 friends join our team already, which is exciting! And several more saying they are going to! I really can't wait... i think it will be a great day. :) If you are local & want to join, just go here, click Sign Up Now, then click GROUPS/TEAMS, and then scroll to the bottom for Team Venable. :) We would love to have you join us! The run (or walk!) is November 22 at Pennington in Baton Rouge.

Well, there you go! I think I have caught you up on just about everything in my life! Welcome, SEPTEMBER!