my morning.

Dog in the bed, weighing down the covers.
Early rising animals, ready to play at 6:30.
Cat in window, talking to the remaining snow and a bird.
Chad packing up recycling to take to recycling center.
Dog yakked on the carpet. She ate cardboard for dinner (her own fault).

The rest of the day:
Chad getting suits fitted and tailored (me=so excited!)
Running errands
Painting project (small, not room sized)

No house looking. Real estate agent didn't call me or email me back (no Emily, not yours.)
I have two days off and can't look at a single house.
Stinky.

not snow fun.

Get it...not snow fun...because it wasn't so fun.
It started snowing about 10 this morning when I was still at home so I carefully drove to work, expecting a light dusting and not much more. Well, it kept snowing and snowing and snowing - but didn't get all that cold. So, people stayed home. They quit shopping and we struggled to entertain ourselves for the last two hours. The roads kept getting worse and worse - we wanted to close early but no one could really make that call. So we stayed...and the roads were icy.
I got home fairly easily - most of the roads were still pretty clear.
Until I got to the road right before ours...I started down the hill at a crawl and just started sliding...yep, slid all the way down the hill to the bottom very slowly - so slow I could make complete thoughts and try to decide what to do. I have absolutely no experience driving on icy roads - none. So I sorta just ended up perpendicular to the road with the front half of my car off the road. My biggest concern was that another car was going to come over the hill and slide down into me so I put emergency brake on, ran up the hill, and called Chad to come help me. He walked up the hill (literally like 1/8th of a mile) and we were going to come around the block the other way. No luck there either - both sides of the block are completely iced over. Needless to say, I didn't drive home. We parked my car at the hospital (just about a 1/4 mile away) and walked home so I won't have to drive up the icy roads to get out and go to work in the morning, when the roads are even worse after it is freezing for 8 hours. No damage to the car, by the way. I gently slid into the grass but now I am concerned about getting back out to work tomorrow!

it's a good morning.

Tonight is my night to close at the HL so I got to sleep in for the first time all week...it was lov-e-ly.
Until the cat and the dog decided that the bedroom was an amazing playground. And sleep came no more. But, I stayed in bed until 8:30 which is late for me so I am happy.
The weather channel is predicting about one inch of snow for tonight and says there is about an 80% chance we will get it...Chad (who watches or listens to the news all day at work) says it is going to start while I am at work this afternoon and evening and wanted to know if I had a windshield scraper in my car. If it is going to be like that, I want to stay home and play in it!

So, best news you have heard in a while, and I don't think I have already told you yet - three of my best friends are coming up for our 2nd Annual Girl's Weekend in about two weeks. They are going to be here Jan. 22nd and 23rd atleast and might stay until Sunday (which would be amazing!). We decided last year that instead of buying each other gifts, we would save that money and all meet somewhere after the Christmas bustle died down. Last Jan. it was Atlanta and we had a great time strolling Ikea, eating at Eddie's, and just hanging out. Atlanta is pretty much central for the four of us - the same amount of driving for all. But this year, I convinced them that they needed to come up here. Two of them have never seen the townhouse that I have lived in almost a year and a half now and since we might not be living here next year (hopefully!) then they are going to all meet here and hang out! I am so super-duper excited but I have a ton of cleaning and organizing to do before they come. I guess it is a good idea to have a deadline so it is OK. We took down Christmas decor on Sunday (ok, I took it down. No help putting it up, no help taking it down. Just thought I would stray for a moment...) so it is all safely in it's storage boxes waiting for next year and needs to be put in the attic. I am hopefully going to work on our closet and bedroom this morning while I am home and no one to bother me!

thirsty soul.

I read it on her blog...and was reminded of Monday's gratefulness.

The Psalmist said that my thirsty soul is filled with what is good.
And it is.
Tonight, sitting here in my warm house, with my sweet husband, and full of the love of a Father,
my soul is filled with what is good.

nicest.

Chad and I had dinner with his parents and Jay again last night - his mom was going to cook but we all got a late start so we went to Zaxby's instead (no complaints here!) They invited us to hang out with them again today and Chad said that we would pass on the offer and that we were going to just hang out together today.
MY CHAD said that we were going to hang out with no one else today, just enjoy each other, run some errands and be together.
And I said he wasn't romantic! I might have to take that back!
So, we have plans to go to church, drive past a couple other houses we might be interested in, get some lunch, and come home and just hang out. Might catch a movie, put away some Christmas decorations, and generally get the house in order before M comes back home today.

Chad just looked over my shoulder and said "Do you always call her 'M'?" I said no, that I wasn't really sure, that I usually just don't call her anything but my sister-in-law. He suggested that I give everyone spy names (think "M" from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen he says)...I don't think I know enough about spies to be able to do that so I guess I will give Chad a try and let him give everyone in our lives spy names.

So, we are headed to church with Jay now and then hanging out - together - the rest of the day. I have such a wonderful husband!

nicer.

Well yesterday was nice...nicer than I expected. Chad and I didn't do one bit of housecleaning to recover from our New Year's Eve fun and the dishes that got left in the sink by someone else will probably still be there when that someone gets back from a trip to see some friends on Sunday. We did, however, get a lot of other errands run. Walmart to buy a couple more storage boxes for Christmas stuff (my Christmas decor at least doubled this year...some in thanks to me but mostly in thanks to my mom cleaning our her attic and passing it along!) We also had to get a few more Christmas cards printed because we keep thinking of people we forgot to send them to and we figure it is a "better late than never" sorta situation! We also...drumroll please....went to Joseph A. Banks and bought Chad suits. I know...it doesn't seem like that big a deal but he doesn't own one, didn't wear one in our wedding, and hasn't truly had a need for one at this point in his life. He has enough dressy clothes to get by but has been avoiding the suit-store like the plague for the last 26 years so his mom called and said they were having a great sale (buy one get TWO free!) and we went! He got threeeeeee suits...I am pretty excited. Now they just need to come in, get tailored, and he can take me on a fancy date (if we liked fancy dates that is! oh well...) We saw a movie with his parents last night and then drove past a few houses we had looked at earlier in the day. There are a couple that we think we are interested in seeing and we wanted to see how the neighborhood looked at night/what was going on. Admittedly, it was about 28 degrees outside so any sort of unpleasant activity was probably on the limited side. The crime rate goes up in the summer right?

Anyway, headed to the HL today...I keep thinking it is Sunday and I don't have to go so the 8 hours there today will probably seem longer than usual.

nice.

Last night was a huge success....the ten people that Megan invited to come did -not- in fact come and the two people I invited weren't able to come because of other invitations they had to follow through on. So, the two people that did come were a blast! It was actually really nice - I am not complaining one bit about only having two extra people in my house last night - people that we all know and enjoy hanging out with!
And the best part of all? There are still doughnuts, cheesy dip, pizza, and brownies for breakfast!
And the second best part of all? My house isn't wrecked like it could have been after 15 people destroyed it! Woohoo...
And the third best part? I am home to enjoy it today...with Chad, who also has the day off. I couldn't be more excited!

After staying in bed until almost 9 (and nice rarity for us...although I did get up about 4 times to deal with things the cat was climbing/eating/playing with/destroying/climbing/climbing), it was super nice to just stay in bed knowing I don't have to be anywhere at any particular time! Chad and I have some errands to run (his mom is making him go buy a suit...he doesn't own one and she thinks it is past time...and he is going to look sooooo good - so I support the decision) and then just general hanging out!

Happy New Year! I hope this year is full of God's blessings poured out in your lives!