I can't believe it's been almost three weeks since I posted last! WHOA! I always think about how I want to sit down and post, but there's always something else I need to do. And then when I start writing (like now) I wish I had great pictures to share.

Which brings me to my first point. I have been AWFUL about taking pictures this year! REALLY AWFUL! Every year I make a "year in review" photo book, and here we are with April TOMORROW, and I feel like I have 5 pictures from the first three months of the year. I guess the good news is that in this digital age, I can always get pictures from friends and family. So, I guess my shortage of pictures will turn out fine in the end. :-)

One of the major things that has been filling up our time these past few weeks is that we have had a young girl staying with us. I won't go into much detail, but suffice it to say God is moving majorly in her life, and has set her free from all sorts of things. She will probably only be with us another week or a few days, but it has been very healing for her, and nothing but a joy for us to have her in our home. We are so thankful the Lord continues to bring about opportunities to use the home He has given us: whether mentoring and counseling, (like tonight) having small groups, (like yesterday) hosting a party, (like next week) or being able to have people stay with us for a long or short period of time. Jordan and I realized the other day when we were talking that we've have about 7-8 people stay with us over the course of the 3+ years in our home, some over a year, some just a week or two. It is neat to stop and think back on how God's been able to use this house, just as we have prayed and continue to pray that He would.

Well, so much more to say, but as always, need to move on. Little bit more reading and then off to work. I pray you are abundantly blessed today!

I am up WAY too late. I can't figure out if it's because I'm more relaxed since I'm on "break" right now, or if it's because since I am on break, I try to fit way more things into a day than are humanly possible. And even though it's well past the time I should be awake, I am determined to see at least 80% of them accomplished.

You always have to take into consideration the things that come up out of the blue, too!

Jordan and I relaxed this morning, ran some errands, ate lunch at Costco...don't hate- appreciate! It was great! *smile*

We came home to do some housework-you know, the kind that you put off and off and off because it's tedious, time consuming, and you really don't see the results! Jordan mowed the yard while I worked on small paint touch ups. I also did things like meticulous cleaning of the blinds, and wiping baseboards. Don't you wish you were me today?!

I got some grocery shopping done. I really made use of some great coupons. Walgreens had extra virgin olive oil on sale for $3.50 for 17 oz, and I had two .50 off coupons, so I got two good sized bottles of olive oil for $3 a piece, among other things. At Kroger, I found two pumpkins for $3.49 (AWESOME!) and 2 bags of Starbuck's Espresso, already 30% off, plus my $1 off coupon, AND each bag is good for a free cup of coffee at Starbucks. Not a bad deal, if I do say so myself. I also snagged some "manager's special" steak for our dinner, and it was tasty! I grilled it, made some salad and sweet potato oven-fries for a yummy meal.

For the first time since we've been married, I carved a pumpkin! I did a VERY basic design; actually, I don't know if you can really call it that. I will hopefully add more soon, but for now, the pumpkin boldly welcomes all to our home:



And then certainly last but never least, poor Jordan had to spend his evening after mowing, working diligently on the putrid-smelling dishwasher. A couple of days ago it shut off mid-cycle, and was obviously stopped up. I got as much water out as I could, and washed all of the dishes in there, then left it for my wonderful husband to deal with.

He worked VERY hard and thanks to him, we currently have a working dishwasher. I am very thankful, because it was neither a pleasant nor a fun job.



Okay, there ya have it! I am going to ignore every fiber of my being telling me to clean each last inch of that kitchen before I go to bed; I will use my better judgement and get some sleep before it gets early rather than late. Hopefully, you are all sleeping soundly and will read this tomorrow.

Sweet dreams!

Fungus....eww GROSS!!!

So, we've been having a problem out in our front flower beds the past couple of months.....FUNGUS!!! It's disgusting and I was kind of worried about it when it first started. The first kind that I saw that was just CRAZY was this:



It looks like something from an Alien movie- I was completely grossed out. Jordan and I removed it and then a few weeks later we start dealing with this fungus that looks like yellow curdled mustard (I know, this post is not for the faint of heart) and then turns to a more solid, pizza-dough looking substance, like this:




...and then finally turns black and hardens and almost blends in with the mulch. I did some research and found out it's a type of fungus known as slime mold. Most of the time it's brought in with your mulch, which makes sense because we had just re-mulched about a week before I saw the first funky one! The particular one we are dealing with is nicknamed Dog Vomit fungus.

Isn't that horrible?

It's the weirdest stuff and SO hard to get rid of. I clean up like 3 patches and then the next day it's appeared in two more, completely different places! The good news is that it's not harmful to plants, animlas or people....and it certainly hasn't harmed any of my plants despite growing on the undersides of some of them.

It's just weird and disgusting!! Unfortunately, there's not much you can do about it...just remove it, and you can try and spray an anti-fungal thing, which I think we will do...but it's just crazy, and I figured I would amuse you today (or completely gross you out) and share our struggle with you!

I hope none of you have to deal with it!

It's Friday, how exciting! It's a beautiful day here in Middle Tennesse. This morning, I was out watering my flowers (which are growing splendidly, by the way!) and marveling at the size and height of my pink impatiens. Mom & I planted several plants a few months ago and despite some plants having difficulty growing in my flower beds, these have LOVED it. I've never seen some get so tall. Here's an idea of what they look like when you buy them at the store:

Here is what one of the stems from my plant looks like....plucked out of the whole bush of them:



I think it's hilarious! Who knows why some grow the way they do...it's just the mystery of God's incredible creation!

Big news to announce: Baby NOAH is here! Scott & Courtney Ray's little baby boy was born yesterday around 2:30 by C-section at Baptist Hospital. He was 8 lbs. 6 oz which was a BIG relief to Scott & Court who had been told based on ultra-sound that he was swiftly approaching 10 lbs!! (They thought he was 9lb.8oz) Jordan and I will see him later tonight, so we'll post some pics of that, I'm sure! I got to talk to the new momma this morning and she sounds great! So, CONGRATULATIONS!!

All of you have a marvelous Friday and weekend! May it be full of God's perfect will for each moment :-)(That's what I'm shooting for!)

I finally did it! I'm so excited. We have finally ordered blinds for our entire house! After price shopping and finding the VERY BEST DEALS out there- it's done. Well, almost....I ordered a couple of samples of the woven wooden shades I want to get, because I want to check the color of those, but other than those two windows, the rest is done!

No more paper blinds :-) WOOHOO!

Too much dirt!

So, I'm frustrated. I've got all this dirt and no where to put it. I'm not talking about gossip or talk, I'm talking about real, messy dirt. When mom and I worked on the shrubs the other day we had so much of this horrible clay-dirt and I tried to bag it up nicely for our oh-so-sweet garbage men to take today and they wouldn't! They left it all sitting there!

Oh the trials of living in suburbia! When I lived in Arkansas growing up, surrounded by woods, there was plenty of room for dirt, but now......nowhere, and I don't think our neighbors would appreciate us dumping into their lawn.

So, if anyone has any fantastic ideas of what to do with extra dirt- I'm all ears! :-)

Third Time's a Charm

I'm trying again....I figure I might be able to keep this thing updated once and for all. And I know our "far-away" friends and family will appreciate it. Maybe it will just become a part of my morning routine. I know Jordan and I can be bad with keeping up with people, so as an addition, not substitute, I will give this a try again and see if it works!

We have been busy lately- we're at a countdown on our closing....10 days! Wow! Our apartment is a wreck right now, boxes and pictures and clothes everywhere- stacked and scattered. We spent any free time we had this weekend boxing up and putting away. We have made a really great dent on it.

I really didn't want to spend much time today, so I'll post more tomorrow. Jordan and I are going out with some friends for dinner tonight to celebrate a birthday- should be a lot of fun. I will need to bundle up as it's going to be cold!! It's going to be 45 degrees tonight. (You Florida folks better enjoy your weather ) :-)