Footprints of a Crow

"I've just had an apostrophe!" ~Hook

So i had a horrible epiphany the other night. I am a nerd. Plain and simple. I was watching Big Bang Theory and as I started to realize how much I love that show, I also started to realize how much of it I understood (not all of it, let's don't get stupid - 3.0 gpa here).

At that point I started to think back on my schooling days and came to the conclusion I have always been a nerd, but tried to ignore it. I hung out with the smart kids and outcasts (nerds) in elementary school, and in middle and high school I was with the brainiac Christians. This horrifying shock made me realize that I have been hiding and running away from my true self for many years. At a young age I loved Rummicub and Gin Rummy, in college I learned how to play MTG "for my boyfriend," but I enjoyed it too. Chris taught me how to play Rollercoaster Tycoon one afternoon, and 5 hours went by in a flash. And now I am addicted to Settlers! I'm pretty much a sucker for any game where it's require to manipulate the board.

To all of the nerds out there, I am sorry I tried to be "cool" or "popular" by not giving into my true self. Who knows where life would have taken me if I had cared about grades or played WOW or DND (neither of which I had heard of before I was 18, I might add). So here I am announcing to the world, that I am going to start giving into the nerd-nature within me :-0

New Blessings in Our Life

No, I'm not pregnant! I want to say thank you for many gifts God has given recently. One of which is our new church home. There are so many special people there, and we are very excited to watch them grow earthly and spiritually over the next few years. Some of you may know that I grew up in the church, but I was never in one church longer than a year. So I am not used to the wonderful benefits of a whole new set of friends. We have meals together, play games, keep each other accountable at church, and are learning about all of their spiritual journeys. Every one of us have come to Christ, and all of our paths are currently crossing, but it took years for each of us to get to this point in life.

Things I am thankful for on this Easter Sunday:

My Lord

My Husband

My Family

My Church Family

My Friends

My Work

My Home

Short Thanks

I just wanted to say "thank you" for all of the cards and presents for my birthday! It was lovely! And if you're interested I received lunch, a picture frame, clothes, sheets and an iron-I'm now old! Also, Austin took me to see the King Tut exhibit in Dallas, and it was nice getting to spend the day with him :) There are no real pictures as you can't take photos of any kind into the museum, and there are people everywhere to make sure of it! Oh well!

Anyway, thanks again! On with another year.....

Making Changes

So every January first we hear the same things, "I'm going to lose 20 ponds," "I'm going to stop cussing/smoking/drinking/playing WOW/etc," "I'm going to church more," "I will have a nest egg by the end of the year." But do any of these ever happen after January thirtieth? Maybe the reason we can't keep these up is stress, or hectic lifestyles, kids, boredom, or maybe because we can't make these huge changes alone.

Here is what Austin and I have started, and maybe you all can help us keep this up, as a buddy system! First off, we are broke, and have stopped eating out - currently, we have eaten out twice in over two weeks. (Once a week is considerably better than what we were doing, and both of these were for other people coming into town.) Next we joined the nearby rec center, and have started walking/lifting weights/playing racquetball or something athletic about three times per week. Lastly, Austin has a new mindset that we sleep TOO MUCH! He wants to ween himself off sleep and do more with his awake time - no disagreement here. So this week we have instated a new regimen: from 10-11:30pm we will have read/study time together. This has three main, and huge, benefits:

1) Spending time together

2) Studying to better our selves spiritually

3) Makes Austin stay up later than 9

We are very excited to keep this up not only for our physical health, but for our spiritual growth, better efficiency at work, deeper relationship with each other, getting in a routine before we talk about kids, and about 1000 other things. Here's my call to you: do the same - publish what your goals are; also - support us in any way you can, whether that be eating at houses instead of starbucks, encouraging us to continue our education, building up Austin's confidence for working out, or simply wanting to hang out with a more positive attitude.

Let me know what you will try to do for the next eleven months, and what I can do to help you succeed in 2009!

Labels: eating out, life, losing weight, read

Christmas List to Santa

For another year I keep hearing the question, "What do you want for Christmas?" But this year we bought a house, a car, went to California, visited Austin's family in Pennsylvania, went tubing in Austin, saw several concerts, along with a host of other things. So I feel guilty trying to think of more things I want when we have been soooo blessed! So I have decided to come up with a list on-line, that way you can look it over if you were going to get me something. Please don't think this is a list for everyone to have to get me something for Christmas, but if you were planning to anyway, here it is. Oh! And this doesn't count for Austin, he has to be thoughtful and get something different ;)

Small Curlers
Hairspray the movie
House Greenery
Swing CDs
King Flannel or T-shirt cotton sheets (we only have one set of King sheets right now)
Dining Table Cover for a 10 seater
Clip-on Earrings-dangly
Bedside Trashcan
6 pk of ankle socks

Hmmm, well I guess I'll add more as I think of some stuff.

Upcoming Travels

Hey All! I just wanted to let you know where we will be for the next couple of months.

Nov 8-12 we will be in PA to visit Austin's g-ma before she passes
Nov 23 we will be at the Cowboy's/49ers game
Nov 27 we are hosting Thanksgiving for the family at our new house
Dec 13-21 we will be in Hawaii
X-mas we will be local, may have a little "post xmas" party for K11 Dallas

Please feel free to call or email us to set up times so we may see all of you during the holidays too!!!

NEW HOUSE!

Well, I still haven't taken any formal pic since we moved in, but here are some from Thanksgiving, this should give you an idea of what it looks like!

Family Room overlooking backyard

Kitchen sort of clean....

Open Floorplan

Fireplace getting some use

Formals with two dining tables

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Pics 10/15/08 with a nicer camera-capturing the new flooring everywhere!

Family Room

Formal Living & Dining (new chandalier on floor!)

1st coat of Master Bath

Study has carpet!!! Still needs touchup, and one more piece of trim

Spare BR has Carpet too!!!

As of 10/14/2008.....
Master Bedroom is nearly complete, King matress will be in tomorrow.
All baseboards are in and calked!
Carpet for the other two bedrooms goes in tomorrow.

***Move Day is set for 10/18-please feel free to come help move furniture and hang out!****

Yeah-new furniture!

My hubby lost in thought!

Flooring went in 10/6-7/08 - ALMOST THERE!

Master Bedroom

Family Room

Formals

Painting 4" Baseboards for a newer finished look

Be careful! Get it smooth!

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And as of 10/6/08....
We have pulled all of the carpet and padding out, finished one Br, nearly finished the master and the study. Flooring starts today, then all we have is kitchen and baths. Should be able to start moving in this weekend!

Picnic lunch after carpet tearing 10/5

Carpentry HELP!

Austin & Tyler measuring for molding

First Chair Rail goes on!

Carpet's gone and paint almost done in the study

Formal Dining in disarray

Loy tearing out carpet Sat night from the master

Chris & Austin trying to scare me!

Learning the trade

Miranda's a doll! She and laura knocked the master BR out in a couple hours!

Carrying the lighter molding...

chris, proudly displaying his carpet pad

Tyler showing off his mohak and crowbar tools

Formals - getting down to the concrete

Staining trim pieces in the garage

3
Secondary BR-almost done!

hmmmm, austin displaying his ability to accidentally spray his face with stain
(click on photo to get the full effect!)

"I know how to use this thing!"

Austin's new toy-a table saw

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Okay, here are some "in-process" photos as of 10/1/08....

Fun times

Green acres

This is how we paint the wall, paint the wall, paint the wall.....

First primer coat over the blus room

Taking off the electric plates

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9/19/08

Yes, that's right, we should be closing next week (keep your fingers crossed). If we do we will appreciate all of the help for painting, trim work, sanding, cleaning, moving, making sandwiches, or just helping us procrastinate ;)
I am uploading some current photos and will put up more as the updating process continues. Again, remember, these are "as is" pictures. But take a look, and say a prayer for us.
Thanks!