finally!

Please bless my I-am-too-busy-to-remember-to-breathe-and-pee, much less finish projects around the house soul and play along here.

I am finally getting around to some finishing touches projects around the house here and - drumroll please - also posting pictures!

I would give you the before and afters (mostly because I am so impressed by them!) but Blogger is only letting me load one picture at a time and the afters are so much better than the befores that it isn't worth wasting my time on them!

Made some curtains out of printed canvas from HL. Granted, I could have probably bought pretty sheets or even pre-made curtains for the amount I paid for this fabric but I just loved it at first sight and made curtains out of it anyway! Chad said they looked a little grandmother-ly but now that they are on the walls, I think he has changed his mind - even if only slightly.

Bought the empty black frame when I stil worked at HL on the super-cheap. Been saving it for some project. Got the middle two ceramic plates at Goodwill - 2 for $3. The others weren't quite as cheap - they are antique milkglass and I found them at this little antiques store just over the mountain.

I think this room is mostly done. There are still two blank walls that I am not quite sure what to do with. One might get my full length mirror just so it isn't laying around propped up on something anymore...and the other...who knows!?

most wonderful.

We had the most wonderful evening last night.
I went to my last school at 2 yesterday, done by 3:15 and I didn't do one more bit of work.
It was amazing!
I came home, hung out with Chad a bit, and then he left to go on a bike ride.
I went to the little antiques store over the hill and found exactly what I was looking for to complete a little project. Super excited!
Came back - Chad showered and then we walked from our house to Mr. T's pizza. It is about a mile and we sorta took the back alleys to stay off the main road and it was such a nice walk. We had pizza (and ice cream!) for dinner. We figured that since we had to walk there and back that it was totally allowed! Next time, we are going to walk to the Thai place and try it!
Walked back home, watched our Netlix movie (Up in the Air...good. not the ending I expected.) and just enjoyed each other's company.
It was a wonderful night!
Chad has a long run this morning and I am going to run to Hobby Lobby and pick up some parts to my project - I think I will go to the one I didn't work at - easier to get in and out quickly! Sorry folks!

well...

"It's me again Margaret..." (ok, I think only my immediate family will get the reference...)
It's me again though...posting at 6:30 in the morning, about to leave the house for work. Except today, I'm a doofus. I can't go straight to my school because I forgot all my flyers.
Didn't even print them.
Didn't even gather up my principal gifts.
Didn't even think of it until I was across town last night.
Ugh.
So I have to go to the office first.
Thankfully, my school is up on the Mtn. nearest the office so I practically had to pass by there anyway.
But still.
I can't seem to get my brain together for both the evening event and the following morning's event. I sure thought I was more organized than this...I guess stress does that to you.
So that's it...Chad is teaching a CPR class at my office today. Too bad I won't be there most of the day to pester him.
Oh well. It's Friday. I have two schools to visit today and then I am putting the Blackberry on silent and pretending I have nothing to do all weekend.
So there!

thoughts.

We missed church here in Chattanooga this past Sunday due to being in Columbus and attending old (yet very new to us!) stomping ground at Christ Community. We listened to Pastor Frank's (our pastor here at our church in Chattanooga - Calvary Chapel) sermon over dinner Tuesday night (thank you internet!) so we would be prepared for Wednesday night's small group. We just started another 6 week round of small group - hopefully I will make it to all but one. I know I already have a school talk scheduled for a Wed. night but that is the exception instead of the rule for Wednesdays.
I enjoyed it. It will take some time to get used to another small group. There is something really comforting about your "old" small group and it would be really easy to just continue on with them and never change things. But, we also think that we need to widen our community and learn new people (not that we didn't LOVE you guys!). We think we need to be newly challenged and newly taught by a new group of people!
Anyway, the main focus of the study for this week was our adultery to God.
Yep.
Wow.
Went there.
So here is the basics - and a challenge -
Frank talked about how we war with the world, we war with ourselves, and we war with God. But when you really look at our lives, and specifically our sin, we are committing adultery to God. Our sin is cheating on God. He is a jealous God. He feels emotions (come on, Jesus wept! and Jesus is God-man on Earth). And we cheat on him. Anytime we go to the world to fill our needs - whatever they might be - we are cheating on God. We are telling Him that He isn't good enough, He doesn't provide enough, He isn't present enough, He just basically isn't enough to fill our needs.
And that makes Him jealous.
And maybe even angry.
And of course, hurt.
Wouldn't you be if your bride told you that YOU weren't enough?

shhh...

I am at home.
It is 1:26 in the afternoon.
Shh...don't tell.
I have a good reason though! I came home to meet the EPB (electric co. - for those non-Noogans) guy to do a post-inspection on our window replacements. They give a $500 rebate for eligible energy friendly home improvements and we are eligible! I am pretty excited about getting a little bit of what we paid back - a small thank you for us doing our part to try to save a little energy!
I am loading up the car with all the recycling and going to drop it off before I go back to the office. Yep, back to the office.
Hopefully though, since I was leaving home at 7am this morning to go to a school and I have pretty much been working ever since, I might get to finish up my work and head home a few minutes early (or atleast on time). It will be the first night this week that I am home before 8pm and I am thrilled!
I might even get my new-transmissioned (word?) car back today. It would just be icing on the cake!

less weird. i promise.

We are considering having an Open House Party this fall to showcase our (not quite finished, cleaned or organized) new home.
Any suggestions? Maybe around Halloween?
My life at work should be settled down by then. And maybe that will give me some time to work on little projects here and there.
Who would want to come? :)

you pick it.

I told Chad that he could pick the blog topic for tonight and he suggested Sarah Palin.
Seriously.
Something about Momma Grizzly.
uh...yeah. I don't know what to say about that except for the fact that I have no idea what he is talking about. Momma and her Grizzlies.

So now he is trying to convince me to run the marathon with him in November. I can't even explain how much fun that would NOT be. I really, really dislike distance running. No joy. I really, really DO enjoy watching him run and cheering him on.
So, Ft. Benning. November 13th. Join me cheering. Or join Chad running. Just join!
Chad says to tell you that for every person who joins our cheering section, we will provide you with a t-shirt with our mascot on it. An official Team Fish shirt. Please, please don't ask.

Ok, since you asked - we have a stuffed piranha next to our TV. No lie. Well, maybe. Cause I'm not sure if it is stuffed so much as it is just um...dried out. Chad says it is freeze dried. Crunchy. And he is going to be Chad's mascot for this race apparently.

I keep telling myself that I should NOT ask Chad for suggestions about what I should write about. Better to blah, blah, blah about MY nothing (or just not blog at all!) than try to figure out how to make what we are talking about in our living room make sense to you!

"It's Team Fish people, get with the program!"

p.s. no alcohol was consumed in the making of this post. as weird as it might be.

long weeks.

I love my job.
I love knowing that I am recruiting girls to join one of the premier leadership organizations in the nation. I love knowing that we have a mission and a vision that I believe in and support whole-heartedly.
I do not, however, like being away so many, many nights in a row.
I will be at schools three nights this week - that means I still get to spend Wednesday night and Friday night at home with my sweetie (of 2 years!) but it means that I am so tired by then that I am not a particularly enjoyable person. I am trying hard though - to do things to take care of myself all week long - so that I can still be a fun, energetic, willing to still clean the house and hang out, wife when those few nights come.
Headed to 2 schools today!

2 years.

Today is our 2 year anniversary.
I have been so blessed with a husband who is caring, honest, trustworthy, reliable, hard-working, loyal, funny, strong, and ever increasing in his faith.
I can not believe it has been 2 whole years so far on this wonderful journey.
Here's to many, many, many more.

last one!

It is 6:41am and I am dressed and walking out the door for work - makeup on and cute earrings in my ears, my Girl Scout shirt and bless-my-soul, I can wear my chacos to work.
I am headed to my last school talk for the week. I am supposed to arrive by 8 am but considering school actually starts at 8 am intending to arrive at 8am would put me smack-dab in the middle of the traffic for parents dropping off their sweet little ones.
So I go early. Gives me a chance to count out my nice GS flyers and place them in teacher's boxes before we even get started.
Oh praise the fact that it is my last school visit for the week...praises, praises! I am exhausted. Happy but exhausted. My first parent night went well last night - got 33 girls registered and atleast one troop leader. I'm a proud Girl Scout!
I even had a parent almost make me cry at the end - talking about her Girl Scout experience and how it changed her life and now she wants that for her step-daughter and how her husband just got custody and he wants to be a great dad so very badly and she knows that participating in Girl Scouts will help him do that. Oh, le sigh. I love my job. Even the exhausting part.
Headed to Columbus this afternoon - jump for joy! Can't wait to see Dad and his new knee - or maybe just Dad and NOT his new knee.
Jess' "little" brother is getting married Saturday morning - I'm going to offer all the support my body holds. And maybe a little more.

girls date.

I am super excited about my girls date with A this afternoon. Like I said earlier, we are going to see the Eat, Pray, Love movie. I did read the book and I loved it. I actually just finished her next book, Committed: A Skeptics View on Marriage. I actually really, really enjoyed it. There were a few "ah ha!" moments while she discovered her own path to a "forced" marriage. It made some of the things that my own husband does make a little more sense too. Humorous, interesting, and sweet. I enjoyed it.
Hopefully I will enjoy this afternoon's movie and dinner with a friend as much. It is always nice to go see a girl-y movie that I am not forcing Chad to see with someone who really wants to see it too. And there is always the ever-cute and talented Julia Roberts to look forward to. And the popcorn and full octane Dr. Pepper. It's gonna be a good day!

unplans.

Oh how I love a weekend with no true plans...ok, that isn't what we are actually experiencing but it doesn't feel as rushed and stressed as it would if we had tons of other stuff planned. Our Saturday is pretty open. We just got up after sleeping until a late 8am (for us!) and we are headed out to get a little exercise in before it gets too hot. I am going to walk, Chad is going to run - weekends are his long run days in his training program so he will be gone a lot longer than I will. I will just head back and work in the house some. Last night I vacuumed up all the Gwendolen hair balls that terrorize our hardwood floors - no matter how often I vacuum - because I see more now already. It amazes me. I also cleaned bathrooms to save myself that particular Saturday chore. Today it is more cleaning and organizing after the walk - working in the second guest bedroom and the office/spare 'oom (come on...name THAT movie).
We have plans for a matinee movie this afternoon in the heat of the day - using more of the gift cards I won while I was still at HobLob. We need a treat because starting next week I expect to be home one night a week - if I am lucky. I need a date with my sweetie...
Our two year anniversary is coming up next weekend. It is almost a little too bad that we will be spending it on an air mattress at my parents house. My best friend's little brother is getting married next weekend so we are headed down to Columbus for a few days. It is always so nice to spend some time with my family and to see people that we have not seen in a while - catching up with old friends. BUT, seeing as how we never went on a honeymoon ("We will go when we can afford it and take time off work..." - hilarious.), we need to actually GO someplace!

lazy thursday.

I let myself sleep in this morning. It was lov-e-ly.
I have a dentist appt. smack dab in the middle of the morning so it was almost not worth it to get up, get ready, go to work for an hour then to the dentist. I worked nights this week and I will have to work nights next week so I just took a little time off this morning. I LOVE that my job is flexible like that. It make me like my job even more that I don't have to worry about dr's appointments, etc. I can just work over and then do what I need to get done! I am going to go walk then shower and go to the dentist. I dislike having the ole' teeth cleaned but it is a necessary part of life.
The rest of my week looks pretty normal. No more nights. Hallelujah.
Date with a friend on Sunday to see Eat, Pray, Love. Super excited about that one. As excited about the date as I am the movie.
Hopefully I will get some things done around the house. I still need curtains for atleast two rooms. And the second guest bedroom looks terribly unfinished. Anyone have a small lamp they would like to donate to the cause? I will pick up! :) Oh, and if anyone has one of those fancy laser levels, I would like to borrow that too! I need to hang a series of pictures and have no clue how to get them all straight without one. That would be a lot of time-consuming, tedious measuring. I think I might cry.

a good con-ber-sation.

Name that movie.

Here is how it went at our house tonight.
I ended up not needing to go to my meeting tonight (mostly because there wasn't one - my mistake!) and when Chad and I both got home, this is how the conversation went.

Paula: What do you want to do tonight?

Chad: I need to go run. Wanna walk?

Paula: Sure. What would you like me to fix for dinner when we get back?

Chad: Cheesy bean burritos.

Paula: Ok. What else would you like for dinner?

Chad: Just cheesy bean burritos. Like Taco Bell makes.

Paula: So cheese, beans, and chopped up onions.

Chad: Yep.

Paula: Nothing else?

Chad: Nope. Well, maybe ice cream for dessert.


Hm....and he wonders why it feels impossible to be healthy in this house.
Please note this conversation happened before he ran 6 miles and I walked 2.
Yeah. He sucks.

just another manic monday.

I woke up this morning and as I was heading into the shower, my phone rang.
It was Chad calling to report that he took his car keys to work with him.
See normally, this wouldn't be a big deal. It would even be expected that one would take their car keys with them.
Except for this morning - when that someone's loving wife needs to drive that someone's car to work because hers is in the shop. He started explaining that there was an extra key in a drawer somewhere and one hidden on the car somewhere. And that hopefully one of them would work..."you might have to jiggle it, you know, work with it a while to get it to turn."
Awesome.

I will let you know if I make it to work or not. I am thankful for our "extra" vehicle, since he drives a work truck home and back every day. I am not, however, excited that my car is in the shop needing a new transmission. It has been needing one for a while and we thought we might could get a decent deal on one and save up for a new car (debt=boo.).

Looking forward to another week at work. It is starting to get busy around here. I have meetings tonight and tomorrow night and I have to start calling schools to schedule my visits there. I like to be busy - I think it makes me work more efficiently.

sweet sunday.

It has been a sweet sunday...church with my sweetie this morning. Lunch with my sweetie and his parents - yummy chicken. Followed by a wonderful nap. Just what I needed.
Now hanging out with my Chad and about to let Gwen play in the creek so she can get her bath. One treat for the pain of the horrible monthly bath - woe is she.
Friends might come over tonight for dinner and a movie - working inside while it is helluva hot, getting the house straightened up bit by bit. No one told me it would be this hard to get it like you want it!
Playing on a sweet Sunday.

sighing.

I am home again. Maybe I will get a week in my bed this time around.
It was a sweet, not-a-dry-eye kind of funeral today. He deserved all those people loving on his family cause he loved on other people's family. I am glad I went - it was nice to see two of the besties today, even under the circumstances. I miss those girls - just being together, laughing, hanging, talking about the future and the past - sigh. I miss them.

I am thrilled to be home. I am looking forward to some time to me this weekend. I have a school recruitment/open house tomorrow from 7:30am-noon, work all afternoon, and then a service unit meeting tomorrow night. A normal work day on Friday and then we are going to an open house at a new scout hut in one of the rural areas Friday night (maybe I can convince Chad it is a date! and get him to go with me...!!) and then Saturday I am going to help K man a Girl Scout table at the rodeo. Yes. The rodeo. For 6 hours. In 99 degree heat. Whoa. Giddy-up.

shouting out.

I am at my sister's house in Atlanta, after eating dinner at Eddie's and filling up on deliciousness and sweet tea. It wasn't a bad trip down - a little traffic before I could get out of Chattanooga due to not leaving work when I wanted to and a little traffic in downtown Atl. but it wasn't a bad drive. I think my migraines are somehow stress related because I always seem to get one when I have to drive in Atlanta traffic and preemptively when I know I have to drive in a lot of traffic. I definitely have more anxiety about things than I used to and maybe that makes my head hurt - seems to make sense to me!

I am super tired - more driving tomorrow. Atlanta to Griffin, Griffin back into Atlanta, Atlanta back to Chattanooga. Hopefully my car will hold out for a bit longer. Please.

did you just say that?

One of the blogs that I periodically stroll through (mostly because of the photography) started this repeating post where she quotes herself and all of the weird things that come out of her mouth because she has children.
I read it and thought it was mildly amusing until...
I found myself doing it to our animals (a.k.a. children) tonight.
So I thought I would share...

"Gwendolen, the cat it not a toy. Please remove your sisters head from your mouth."

"Wooby, okra is not good for kitties. Please return the large okra pod to the bag."

"Wooby, do NOT drag that Okra across the kitchen."

"Gwendolen, get Wooby's head out of your mouth again please."

"Wooby, please do not stash your fake mice under the pantry door. Yes, I know it is a good hiding spot but I can't open the door 20 times a day to rescue them for you."

"Wooby, please do not rub your face on Chad's sweaty work shirt. Yes, I know you like the way it smells but I do not like the way YOU smell afterwards."

"Gwendolen, please come sit on the couch so I can brush your teeth" - this one was Chad, thank-you-very-much.

"Gwendolen, please do not pull Wooby off the couch by her fur. Yes, I know she is soft and fluffy but she does not like to have your slobber all over her."

"Wooby, I know you think it is but that pipe cleaner is, in fact, not alive."

change of plans.

I got some sad news over the weekend...one of my best friends, Jenna, lost her dear, sweet, wonderful grandfather. She sent me a message that said "death has truly lost its sting" and she could not be more right. I have such fond memories of her grandparents - almost as fond as those I have of mine! We have spend many hours hanging out with them at their lake house up at Lake Burton in North GA - I can remember hilarious games of Charades - no TV's allowed there! I can remember his fishing hat as he drove the pontoon boat loaded with giggling teenage girls - oh boy, is patience a virtue THAT man had!! Jenna and I have both been lucky to have grandfathers that were amazing, humble, patient men of God and I promise he will be missed by his sweet family and adopted grand-daughters alike!

I thought I would spend an entire week getting to sleep in my bed every night but life had other plans for me. I will leave tomorrow afternoon when I get off work and go spend the night with my sister in Atlanta. The funeral is Wednesday morning down in Griffin, GA. and I am trying to spare myself an early morning drive. My understanding boss told me I could take the day off Wednesday - knowing that I have to work Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights this week.