Back to the books

Thursday I started my summer semester. I was really excited about getting back to school, because I love learning, and school = learning. I am taking a class on the Fundamentals of Journalism. I thought this class would be really useful, and I thought that it would be very writing centered. Day 2 of the class was today. We spent the entire class discussing the difference between "their", "there", and "they're". We also briefly discussed "its" and "it's". We were supposed to cover "too", "to" and "two"; but apparantly these concepts are a little difficult for some people. One might suppose that by the time someone is a sophomore or junior in college that at some point they would have needed to master these basic priniciples of grammar...not so. I suddenly felt like I was being transported to the 3rd grade. How can someone make it through high school much less a semester of college without knowing that "there" does not mean "their"? If a sentence says "They're are" then it is obviously wrong. Why is this difficult people? I began the class feeling really smart, and ended by feeling like a genius in a sea of idiots. I don't say this to be rude, but anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of grammar would have been annoyed by the end of today's class. I was appalled first of all that these people graduated high school, but I was further annoyed that they have gotten through college thus far. Hopefully, I did not pay $688 to discuss things I learned in elementary school. I love writing and I want my money to go towards hewning my skills, not discussing whether it is "two o'clock" or "too o'clock". I am sure future blogs will inform you further as to whether I am actually learning anything or not.

Our New House

As promised here are the pictures of our new house...

This is a front view of the house, I wish I could have gotten a better one, but hopefully I can do that later.


This is the porch swing in the front of the house, I would like to get some rocking chairs or some of those cute colorful ones for the front also. The house is in the country, so it will be nice to sit out there in the evenings.


There are lots of trees and bushes in the yard, but I have decided this one is my favorite.


Obviously this is the kitchen, we would eventually like to redo the cabinets and the counter...that is a ways down the road though.


This is where we are going to put the kitchen table and of course you can see the back door. Hopefully we can make this area a little bigger one day as well.


Here is the living room, yes it is tile. I am trying to find an area rug that isn't too expensive, and we are also going to paint in here also.


The hallway to the bedrooms and bathroom.


The bathroom, this will definitely be painted. We are also going to replace the wood fixtures with metal ones.


The garden tub...I am really excited about this.


More of the bathroom.


The laundry room.


This is the guest bedroom. This room is alot bigger than the one we have now. I plan on putting the regular bed and stuff in here, but also using this room for my craft room too.


This is going to be our bedroom. We are going to paint in here also, but I haven't decided on a color yet.

We are really excited about fixing this place up, and once we get everything painted and set up, I will post "After" pictures. Can't wait to move in!

These are a few of my favorite things...

This past weekend included some of my favorite things: Crafting, thrifting and family time. I love these things and when they can be combined I love it even better.

The weekend started with Drew's mom coming into town and while she was here we tried our hand at a craft we found on a blog. Calamity Anne is the site and it has lots and lots of crafty ideas. We made H's covered in our last name. I will have to share some pictures once this item is displayed in our new house. I made mine to be displayed on a black shelf, so I am going to wait until I have the shelf to reveal my creation. This way it is revealed with my original intent in mind and can be fully appreciated. ;) When we started, we thought it wouldn't take that long to do, but after about 6 hours we realized it was more intense than we thought. Even though it took quite a while, it was fun to just hang out with my MIL.

On Saturday Mrs. Michile, my mom, sister and I all went out for lunch and then to Eastbrook Flea Market. It was alot of fun and we saw lots of neat things. A random storm popped up as we were leaving, and I have never exerienced wind quite like that before...I kept imagining cows flying by in a Twisterlike manner...but no cows, just lots of branches in the road.

Sunday was full of family time. We had lunch with my dad and then Sunday afternoonish we hung out with Drew's family. It was good for Drew to just hang out with his dad and brother, enjoying boy time. Sunday night we went out to eat with my Grandaddy (my dad's dad). We had a great time...I am so thankful for this weekend. I needed that fun/restful time before school starts Thursday.

On a side note for those of you wondering about the new job...I LOVE IT! I feel less stressed and I enjoy getting up and going to work. I think I enjoy the fact that I don't have to be at work until 8 more than anything. (I do love my sleep.) I really hope that the job will continue being something I enjoy. As for the house we are still slated to move in August 1, but we now have a key so we can start cleaning, painting and making the house our own.

Thankful Thursday...on Friday

So I realize that this really isn't Thankful Thursday since it is actually Friday, but this is my blog, therefore those reading can choose to accept my reality or just not read...Your choice. Anywho, I am thankful for alot today. I feel like rather than focusing on just one thing today, I will share a few random things that I am thankful for.
First I am thankful for my new job. It is a great fit for me, and I get to work with a sweet friend. My boss is really nice and doesn't make me want to scratch my eyeballs out (I feel like this is a real plus.) I feel like more than anything this job will give me some real world experience that I can use should I choose to do something other than teach upon graduation.
Secondly, I am thankful for my second family. By this I mean the Hunts/Tullos'/Bonds.
They always make me feel like a real part of the family, and they genuinely care about us alot. Drew's mom and dad are here this weekend, and it is always fun to shop and talk about books with Mrs. Michile. On this note I have to give a special shoutout to Aunt Dede for the sweet card she sent us. (That was so sweet of you and we really appreciate it!)
I suppose that lastly I am thankful for yoga. I am addicted to this practice, and I think one day I dedicate a whole blog to my love for this newfound addiction. But for now I will just share that I absolutely love it, it makes me feel wonderful and if you haven't tried it you totally should...
I suppose I will wrap this up for now...time for some crafting with the MIL. I will try to blog more faithfully next week.

God's love never fails!

So for those of you out there in the blogosphere who haven't heard about my little ordeal here it is.

Yesterday after going into work...I was unexpectantly laid off. I had no idea and afterwards I was pretty upset and had no idea what I was going to do. I understand that I am supposed to trust God, but in the exact moment I was laid off, I felt helpless. So many things ran through my mind...what about our house? What about school? Why me? I have some amazing people in my life and I am confident that there were alot of those people out there praying for me. This morning I woke up and decided to settle into my life as an unemployed wife. I did some laundry, cleaned the kitchen...but I still felt pretty lousy. Around lunch time my good friend Michelle called me and told me that there was a possible opening where she works. I was immediately excited, but for some reason I was like "There is no way this is going to be that easy." Boy, was I wrong. Not only did God answer my prayers about a job, but He has provided me with a job that is less than ten minutes from our new house, close to the interstate, and a job that will work around my school schedule. Plus I get to work with one of my good friends, every day. God has blessed me above and beyond what I even imagined.

Sure I am going to miss being in and around the church and I will definitely miss Mrs. Angie and Mrs. D'Aun. But I feel like this is exactly what God would have for me right now. Just when I think God can't bless me anymore, He goes and does it again.

Deuteronomy 7:9 says: "Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands."

WE'RE MOVING!

The era of the apartment is drawing to a close...I can hear the Hallelujah chorus in my head. For those of you who don't know, we will be moving to a house in August. We were hoping to move in July, but we can't get out of our lease here at the apartment.

In January a house, not even a mile from my parents, went on the market. We really liked it from the beginning, but due to the fact that Drew's name is still on his brother's house we knew that it probably wouldn't be feasible for us to even try to get it. We knew we were going to go somewhere, because I can't deal with tight pants boy and crazy parking space girl anymore, but the problem was we didn't know where we were going. The whole time we have had this particular house in mind. It is in the country, but not too far...and it is the perfect size for us right now.

Monday night Drew called the lady who owns the house to see if she would even consider letting us rent the house until Drew can get his name off of the other house. At first I don't think she was too keen on the idea, but Drew being the sweet talker he is, worked his magic and she said she would think about it. Lots of prayer went up that night and even more went up the next day. Tuesday night she called us back and wanted us to come see the house. We went Wednesday and talked to her. God has answered so many prayers and worked it out in such a way that we should be moving in August 1.

We couldn't be more excited! The house comes with two acres of land and we have the freedom to paint and make the house our own...since in a year we will be buying it. I am already going crazy thinking about all the flowers and such I want for the yard and all the fun things I can do on the inside of the house.

As soon as we get the keys I will be sure to post some before pictures and of course the after pictures will be posted too.

BAD DAY?

Don't you hate waking up and going to work after a four day weekend? I know I sure do. Doesn't it seem like after a great weekend, that the work week comes and smacks you back into reality, that and then getting rained on while bringing in the groceries only to find the gallon of milk you just bought is busted. This is about how my whole day went and this is exactly how most of my day looked...


I really started to feel sorry for myself earlier and then felt like stuffing my face full of junk food, (I am an emotional eater ;) but then I realized that this would serve no purpose other than to make me fat and depress me further. Instead of focusing on the worst parts of the day, I cooked. I love cooking especially for my family (ie. Drew, my parents and sister, my inlaws etc.) My mom is out of town so I am cooking my favorite: Five Cheese Ziti for Drew, my daddy & sister, and while I was putting it all together, I tried to focus on all the good things rather than the bad. It worked for the most part, yes I still had a crummy day; but I have an amazing husband who will listen to me when I need to tell him about the busted milk and bad hair day. I have a roof over my head that keeps me dry when it's pouring down rain. I start school again in a few weeks, and I am looking at only a year and a half until I can start doing what I love. I have some great friends who love me and don't mind reading about my crazy days. I am blessed and I realize that it is simply a work of the devil when these kind of days come along. Sometimes I wonder what Job felt like. He had to deal with much more than I do, and he remained faithful...I am not always that way.In fact most of the time I do the complete opposite: I complain, I feel sorry for myself, and worst of all even when I look for the good in the day I don't always praise God. We are supposed to thank God in all things, and I don't do that. It's weird how a bad day can reveal so much...that kind of makes it a good day right? If anything I suppose God uses days like these to grow our prayer life and our patience. I am pretty sure someone out there is praying that I will have more patience...please stop! HAHA!