oh the blessings of wild animals

Friends! I know you have been waiting for this educational lesson! The picture below looks like cactus and desert debris. Actually it is a VERY large pack rat nest!! YUCKY!!! Brian and I have walked our property a bunch of times and have seen these but just thought it was tree branches, dirt, etc that the wind had blown around... not a harboring place for yucky little creatures!!!!! After the exterminator came and showed me "the largest nest I have seen in my 11 years of working in this business" I just had to take a picture and share it with you. This picture was taken after Brian was able to come over to see it as well. When we walked over to it we saw two little boogers scurrying back into their next!! GROSS!!!


After the washer incident and finding out about our pack rat issue, Brian decided that the laundry room needed a major makeover. The door hasn't shut of months now. There was no dry wall, just beams holding the structure up and brick around the outside. Brian invited Dave and Bill over to help drywall and clean out the laundry room. Then he bought a steel door that actually closes to help keep the pack rats out!! Isn't he is handsome working on the house with big power tools!! Man, I love this man!



Here is the wild hog that was caught in Uncle Morton's hog trap. This guy thought we was still tough and mighty in that cage. Andy told me that he was caught eating molded, soggy corn on the cob. Apparently, the grosser the food is, the more those little stinkers like it!


Riding around on four wheelers at The Jeffrey's ranch! We had so much fun during the pretreat for Come before Winter! I am so thankful to have these women as friends and mentors in my life!! What a blessing!


My BFF, Mariana Long, and I playing on a four-wheeler at The Jeffreys ranch in Baird! I love this lady!! I just wished she lived closer to me! :)


This is Bridgeport and Bagel the Beagle!! Philip's dog is Bridgeport! Veeves dog is Bagel bear! We love her!! She is getting old but still acts like she is a puppy!!

and our little friends keep coming!

Wednesday morning was quite eventful. I had an exterminator out roaming our property and a guy over to the house trying to fix Brian's car that hasn't worked since Sunday.

Lisa, the lady from NW Extermination came to check on a potential(!!!!!) pack rat problem and to inspect for termites. The termites really haven't been an issue but we felt since the house hadn't been inspected since Brian purchased it, it wouldn't hurt just to check it out.
Well, it turns out we have 6, you heard me, 6 large pack rat habitations within a 75 foot radius of our house. The good thing is that they are not nesting in our storage room (PTL) but they are running back and forth for various reasons.

As I let you know in the last post, Brian placed rat poison under the washer before the gentleman put it all back together. I'm pretty sure a rat found it and is now in the rat underworld...I have decided there is no way there could possibly be a rat heaven! :) Now our storage facility smells really yucky! Brian and our friend Dave have decided to drywall the storage room and clean it all out this weekend! I am thankful I will be at Starbucks and Chick-fil-A on Saturday!!

Hours later Brian's car was finally fixed with no major diagnosis. He changed the spark plugs and the car now starts...but isn't sure why it stopped to begin with. Hummm...

Chapter 3... sorry no pix Veevs

So, I was able to talk with our caterer today. The venue for our reception HAS fallen through so we will have to make plans to use another place. Yes, this is sort of annoying... wait! Very annoying. However, it is what it is and it always seems that in every wedding there is some sort of drama that comes with the territory.

I am thankful that I have a few more months to get everything figured out. JoAnn, the caterer, mentioned another venue that she thought might work out. It's closer to the church, on the same highway, same price. The only thing that she says it doesn't have is the winding staircase to do the grand entrance on. I didn't really care about that anyway... so we will see! Mom and Veeves are going to go check it out on April 26th!

My friend Susan was using the same venue though and her wedding is in July. I am hoping that the caterer will have a great recommendation for her too so it won't be any more stressful than it already has been for them. I would probably be a little more frazzled if I were getting married in just a few months.

This past Saturday was all fine and good when I left for Starbucks at 4:30 AM. When I returned home around 9:30 AM my roommate Amanda informed me that the washer had stopped working. Brian was out of town and with saving for a wedding, planning a trip with Come before Winter to Bosnia (Catherine) and a trip to Columbia (Brian), there aren't a lot of extra pennies lying around, you know? So, being the handy girls we are, we tried fixing it ourselves. That got us no where. I called the 1-800 number on the washer. That took me across the world to a call center in India where I was asked the same questions over and over again, was encouraged the spend more money on unnecessary things, got really frustrated and then made an appointment for the earliest time... the next Tuesday afternoon. I booked it with out a smile on this pretty face! Ughh!!!

I called my sweet friend Shannon who is just wonderful. Amanda (while leaving her wet cloths in the broken washer), Shannon and I went to La Encantada to get out of the house and enjoy the weather for a while. We talked poorly about old housing equipment and our dependency on so many things. Then we went on our separate ways.

After church on Sunday Shannon and I both had some errands to run. I was going to meet her at her condo once I went home to change. From the time I got home to the time I got to her condo she had already called 5 different washer repair people to help me find someone that could come out today (Sunday). See, I told you, wonderful friend!! :)

We found a guy that would come out and look at it for only $35! If he had to repair anything it would be $85. I was totally down with that since the Sears people were going to take three more days to come over and it was going to cost $65 just to have them come out.

This guy, David, took that sucker apart to figure out what the problem was (I had no idea was a washer looked like without its casing on). Can you guess??? Veeves..shhhh...don't tell!!

It was a massive RATS NEST!!!! Seriously. I family of rats had made their home under our washer and had chewed up all the little wiring underneath! David cleaned up all of the mess they had made, Brian bought some rat poison, David re-wired the washer, put it back together... and it works like new again!!

Brian has covered the little boogers front door and hopefully they will not be getting under there any more. We will hopefully have exterminators out some time next week to make sure we are good to go!

But isn't that exciting... God bless this desert of ours... with live animals... cute and not cute all around!

Wedding News, Chapter 2

This past Friday my mom was doing me the wonderful help of looking for/choosing the hotel we are going to use for all of our out of town guests. In her search she decided to stop by were our dinner will be held. Here is what happened:
Front desk man (FDM): Hello. May I help you?
Mom (M): My daughter is getting married in October and she will be having her reception here. Is it okay if I just look around?
FDM: Ma'am. We don't do weddings or receptions here anymore (soundly slightly appauled). We haven't for a month or so. Are you sure this is the building?
M: I believe so. This is the AIG building.
FDM: Well ma'am. We don't do receptions here any more.
M: Well, would you mind if I still look around a bit.
FDM: Sure.

Mom called me right after that to make sure she was in the right spot. She was.
I started calling the caterer/reception person to figure out what is going on as well as my friend Susan who is using the same venue this July. She hadn't heard anything about this either.

JoAnn, the caterer, called me back later that afternoon to inform me that there were some issues and that they are in the process of working everything out. If for some reason this venue falls through she has some other recommendations so there shouldn't be any big issues...of course, this is her telling me that there shouldn't be any big issues... easy for her to say.

I'm planning on calling her tomorrow (Wednesday) to figure out what she found out from the AIG management.


Brian spent this past weekend in Las Vegas will a bunch of his college buddies. He finally asked one more groomsmen. 2 down. 2 to go...or actually...when he got back on Sunday and asked if we could add one more person to our wedding party! So now we each are going to have 5 people standing with us!!!

I've got my 5!!! 3 sisters, 1 childhood friend and 1 college friend... the perfect mixture of sweet friendships over the last 26 years!!!!!


Work is going well. I am so busy and am not sure if I will be able to stay at Starbucks much longer. I really don't want to leave but I don't feel like I am being very fair to them either. We will have to wait and see how the next month or so goes.

Chick-fil-A world is well. Just super super busy.

Congratulations to the Brooks clan on baby #3 growing so strongly!! Can't wait to see her in person sooner than we can believe!!

Love you kids!!!

And sorry that I am never on my computer any more. It's amazing the difference when you have a job where you are out on your feet talking with people all day long...you don't stay up on all your computer stuff!! I'll try harder!!

gift registries, movies and cold weather

Well, I wished I could tell you that my life were more exciting...however, that would be a big lie. :)

I have been busy working a lot of hours, enjoying being on my feet and talking with people. What I have noticed with this life change is that I don't keep up with the news as much as I would like and I don't send near as much time any more in front of a computer.

Most of my afternoon has been spent starring at my laptop working on our gift registry for Crate & Barrel. Brian and I registried there over a month ago, only selected 30 things in the store and then haven't done anything since. It's hard to do any fun registring when there is a boy walking around with you constantly saying, "Why do we need that? Don't we already have that?"
When I head home in April I am planning on making mom and Veeves head up to B,B&B with me to register like crazy there as well! Hopefully that will be a little more fun! I am sure it will be!

Sunday has been a good day. Brian and I met up with friends at church, enjoyed a great sermon and then headed to the movies to see Horton Hears a Who. The movie was very cute and enjoyable. It is nice to watch a movie not filled with foul language, blood and guts. Though I am in no way, shape or form ready for children (sorry Vic & Veeves) enjoying the movie as much as I did makes me look forward to the times when I do have children that I can experience those moments with!

As I said early, I haven't done a very good job of staying current on the hot topics of "today". It is freezing in Tucson today!! I had NO idea! The weather has been fabulous this whole week and then it had to go off and snow in the mountains today and rain in the city. Blah... I was looking forward to sitting outside in my hammick chair reading a book and enjoying the warmth. Alas...

That's all I got for now! Enjoy...

So guess what??!!

Well, I guess most of you have already heard but...
I HAVE A NEW JOB!!! Officially :)

I am now the new marketing director for Chick-Fil-A in Tucson! I will miss the people at the radio station but I am really looking forward to the new experience!!

I'll keep you posted on how it goes!!!

My hair

I finally said goodbye to a little more than 4 inches of my hair today. It was getting too long and heavy... and I was just tired of dealing with it! After talking with mom this afternoon I decided to go and see if I could walk into a salon and make something happen! I was lucky and found an opening at Regis in the Tucson Mall! Alejandra, the girl that did the cut was super sweet and liked to talk... a lot! :)

Here's what she did...



I'm really happy! I like it. It isn't very short (a little short for me)! And I like it a lot! Good job girl!

More news on the Wedding front

Sometimes I wished I were more excited. The engagement was really exciting...not at all how I imagined it...but still super exciting. Since the planning has begun there hasn't been much to get me going. I find myself telling most people, "I really don't care. Do whatever you think looks best." I have some wonderful friends doing all my flowers..."I really don't care. Do whatever you think looks best." The girls and their bridesmaid dresses..."I really don't care. Do whatever you think looks best. Just as long as it is Wine, Dept 20 and in Satin!" The music..."I really don't care. Do whatever you think is best." Brian with the tuxs..."I really don't care. Do whatever you think looks best." Whether the dad's and Ronnie have to wear tuxs...I let the mom's fight that one out...Why? You might ask..."I really don't care. Do whatever you think looks best."

So...on it goes! :)
I went to Office Max the other day and was so excited to see that they had boxes of 'do it yourself' invitations on sale...and then 20% off on top of that! Man, I was excited and I couldn't get a hold of ANYONE to share in my joy! Brian, mom, sisters, girlfriends...ANSWER YOUR PHONE WHEN I CALL PLEASE! :)

Other than that, Brian and I are just trying as hard as possible to stay within budget. Let me tell you friend... that is stinkin' hard to do with a small budget for a Saturday event. I'm SO thankful for all the people that are wanting and willing to help out where they can! That means so much to me!!!

Thank you!
Love ya'!
Bye

Oh...PS: I have decided I have two favorite things!! Starbucks doubleshot Light. This is their 6.5oz can of cold goodness! Also, Fiber One cereral. I knew I loved that stuff but MAN, I really LOVE that stuff!! It's delicious. I just bought to other types to try them out and their SO delic!!!!!!!! Lyndsey... you should try these. Keep the original for cooking but these are yummy for breakfast cereals...

After six years...

KO JO KAI WON SING SONG!!!!!!!!! Congratulations girls! I wished I could have been there with everyone to cheer you on!!!

Here's the Abilene Reporter News article!!

YEAH!!!!

NYC Extravaganza part 2

Saturday part 2:
I don't remember if I talked about Magnolia and the Natural History Museum. Both were fabulous and super fun times with Lyndsey, Kathy (the roomie) and Veeves!
Both Lyndsey and Veeves blogs do a fabulous job of adding to what I have already said!!

Sunday:
Lyndsey had her first experience with a Zip Car. We drove to New Jersey for the Mavs/Nets game! The Mavs played one of the worst games ever but it was still tons of fun to go to and I was still so surprised how many people were there in Mavs Gear!!!
The walk to the apartment was FREEEEEZING and super windy! We ordered pizza and just relaxed the rest of the night knowing that we are heading to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Monday morning!!





Monday:
A little history lesson!
Oh my word it was cold and windy! The ferry ride to Ellis Island and the Statue was freezing!! Valerie did a funny on the ferry ride over...I won't go into detail due to embarrassment but I am sure you can ask her and she can fill you in on the details! :)

Here are a bunch of pictures!






























This is my favorite picture of Valerie...I think we should send it to Earl! :)

Goode Girl Extravaganza

Thursday:
Flew to Dallas super early in the morning...Brian had to pick me up at 4:30 AM (normal time for me...but not so much for him)!
Met up with Veeves in terminal C and made our way to the NYC!
We met up with Lyndsey at the airport. Did the massive hugging, squealing, smiling thing and then grabbed a taxi to her apartment!
After the unloaded and had a snack we went to WICKED!!!!!!!! I have been waiting for this one moment for 3 years.





The show was AMAAAAAZZZING!!! It was all I thought it was going to be and more! Now I can't wait for it to come through Tucson or for me to go back to NYC!
After the show, Lyndsey's fried Meredith(?) set us up to meet with one of the stage managers for Wicked to take us back stage and show us around! How cool!!

This is a picture of Veeves, Lyndz and I on stage with the theatre in the background! As we were touching the props and looking around the actors will slowly filtering out to go home for the evening. We were saying hi, smiling and watching them leave from up close and personal! At the end of our play time on stage we left out of the same door all the actors do...a bunch of people were waiting eagerly for autographs and pictures...it was sort of funny when we walked out! :)
What a great first night in NY!

Friday:
Thursday after the show and tour Lyndsey had to head off to work. Veeves and I took our time getting home, crashed for the evening and then made our way back out to the world on Friday! We walked all around the city. We stopped at Buttercup and got a yummy cupcake, split a sandwich at Starbucks (God bless discounts nation-wide!), say crazy people all over the place, played in Central Park, were amazed at all the stinky mulch around the park to make it pretty, went to Macy's, walked through Times Square just for the heck of it...and I'm sure so much more.
Toward the end of our evening Valerie and I stopped at Social, an irish pub close to where we were going to meet Lyndsey, for dinner and to relax or feet for a while. We ended up just staying and hanging out until we needed to meet Lyndsey for Mary Poppins!
Again, another great show. It wasn't as fabulous as Wicked but it definitely was enjoyable. And for all of you ACU-ers out there...it was Sing Song MADNESS!!! Lyndsey turned around from the box she was sitting in and we both mouthed at the same time "SING SONG!!!!!"! It was hysterical and so enjoyable all at the same time! I would love to learn that cherography!

Saturday:
Slept in! On Friday and Saturday mornings Lyndsey was getting home as we were getting up! It was pretty cool and overcast but nothing too awful. Kathy, Veeves, Lyndz and I made a day of shopping at MAC and around SoHo, getting a cupcake at Magnolia bakery...


...and eatting at Ruby Foo's that night! Michael Miller (from the ACU days) works there! He did a fabulous job and we enjoyed some super yummy sushi!

Sunday:
Veeves and I tried to go to Manhattan Church of Christ but after getting on the wrong train and 40 minutes after figuring out where we were...it was a little too late for that. We were both bummed and really were looking forward to going back to the c of c and seeing if anyone we knew was there. We walked around 59th (Lincoln Square or Columbus Circle...I'm having a hard time remembering), got some coffee for me and tea for her and with the cold weather coming in we decided to head back to the apartment. We spent the rest of the day relaxing until we had to go pick up the Zip Car and head to New Jersey for the MAVS game!!
Lyndsey bought Valerie MAVS tickets for her Christmas present and included me in the deal! :) So, needless to say, I can add New Jersey to my list of states that I have been to and the MAVS will go down in the history for playing the worst game Valerie, Lyndsey or I have ever watched! I was so amazed at how many Mavs fans were actually at the game too! It was a bummer for the game but fun to see another part of NY & NJ that I had never seen before. PS: Lyndsey lives super close the the border of NY & NJ so did didn't take long at all to get there!






This is Lyndsey with her silver Jetta Zip Car!

The Nets stadium and the Giants stadium share a parking lot! It was pretty neat to be able to be right where the Super Bowl champs play!



So here is the deal for now... I am tired and want to get ready for bed so I will continue on Monday and Tuesdays excursions tomorrow. For now... enjoy! :)

I'm going to NYC!!

I'm sorry I don't have any cute pictures of new hair-dos like Veeves but I apparently and not allowed to cut my hair because I'm getting married or something... :)

Anywho... Val and I are heading to NYC on Thursday to go play with Lyndsey!!!! I can't wait. I have been waiting to leave for the past week!!

On Thursday night we are going to see WICKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been waiting for this for two years now!!!
Then Mary Poppins on Friday and Mavs on Sunday (I think!!!!)!

I'm pumped! I'm sure there will be tons of pictures when we get back!

Veeves...I updated... happy now? :)