alyssa.in.nashville

grumpy cat door decorating.

2013-06-17T13:34:00.004-05:00

We are having a door decorating contest at work, just for fun. Well, not just for fun. The winner gets a fabulous prize. I already own said prize, but I wouldn't mind a newer one … that's not what motivates me though. I'll participate without the urge of "I have to win!" So I was trying to come up with an idea for decorating my door. Meet …

Grumpy Cat.

Actual name is Tardar Sauce (aka "Tard") from the color of her fur. Became an Internet sensation last year because of her grumpy expression and won the 2012 Internet Meme of the Year award. The photos are funny; she's reportedly a very sweet cat, but she has feline dwarfism so she is extra small.

So this was my inspiration. The cartoon Grumpy Cat doesn't look the same as the actual, so I tried to use a photo for drawing/painting Grumpy Cat under and umbrella.

A very rough draft done on poster board. I was trying to figure out the best way to shade/blend the paint for the fur.

Then I painted on soft fabric. I double up the fabric, and when I was done, I hand-stitched on a felt nose, and then hand-stitched the doubled-up fabric to a poster board outline so I could easily attach it to my door. I only bought brown and white paint, so I used food color to make the blue paint for the eyes and pink paint for the paw. The paw was weird, because cats don't have opposable thumbs, so they can't really actually hold an umbrella.

Finished this up Sunday night. It took a long time! I cut the umbrella and handle out of scrapbook paper; the handle is reinforced with poster board. Then I stayed up extra late so I could finish folding the laundry.

Up on my door at work. My sister gave me the idea to hang hearts in front of the door which added a nice touch. I put heart-cutouts from photos of Miles and Otis on the strings. I originally had them mixed in on the door, but I didn't like how it looked.

Judging is at the end of July. I'm one of the first people to get my door decorated on our floor, so people are stopping by preparing to one-up me. Oh well. :)

how to fix* a leaky sink. (pt. 1)

2013-06-13T09:43:00.000-05:00

Our kitchen sink has been leaking. I think it has had issues since I moved in three and a half years ago. It's a double sink, and if you use the right side (especially filling it with water), the pipes below seem to leak and everything under the sink gets wet. Nate cleaned up a wet mess today so I took photos of the pipes and went to Home Depot for replacement parts.

Can we talk about Home Depot for a second? OK, I want to know what percentage of customers walk in there knowing what they are looking for and what percent of those people are professional handypersons. Because my guess is that at least 75% of people in Home Depot go there because they need something specific. Maybe they don't know exactly which product, but they have a project in mind. And most of those people are probably DIY-ers. So I'm sure I've said this before, but I'll say it a hundred more times: Customers in Home Depot need help. Basically a personal assistant. They ought to have a team of employees lined up at the door to match up one-on-one with customers unless a customer says, "I don't need help." Because unless they say, "I don't need help," then they need help.

Trader Joe's has an interesting strategy; they actually have someone walking around the store carrying a tall pole with a big question mark on top so you know exactly whom to ask for help. In Home Depot, I'm lucky if I find the right aisle on my own, but once I've found the wall of plumbing parts, I really need help find the exact pieces I need. And I come prepared. I had photos on my phone of the PVC piece I wanted to replace. If only I didn't have to wander so long to find an employee to help me. They need call buttons at the end of each aisle that you can just push. Finally, I wandered and an employee quickly rushed by me, not even a "Are you finding everything ok?" So I quickly made eye contact and said, "I need help!"

So with less than $10 of parts in hand, I went home to fix the sink.

The old piece. Kind of gross. Water was running down and dripping off the horizontal pipe.
We assumed the problem was at one of the connectors. One had a pretty warped plastic washer.

New parts. Less than $10.

Took out the old pipe and cleaned up the remaining pieces.

Assembled the new parts and tightened them in place by hand.
Easy, no tools needed.

Finally, the TEST! I plugged the sink and filled it with water … and it leaked.
But now I've discovered the true source of the leak. And it is that top black and silver piece.

We need to replace the sink strainer. Doesn't look like it will be difficult; just another trip to Home Depot. And I saw them yesterday, so I actually know where to find them. That will be "How to Fix a Leaky Sink" (Pt. 2).

To be continued …

title note—*fix … unsuccessfully this time

lately.

2013-06-12T21:16:00.001-05:00

The Glade girls softball team

Last night I joined Katy's softball team for the third week to fill in as a substitute. It's fun. I feel like I'm improving a bit in understanding where I should be and when and where to throw it. Considering I've had no batting practice, I do okay. Mostly because I can run fast enough to make it to first. Last night I hit the ball and took off and was super sore when I hit first. Left quad feels strained so I'm icing it.

The women on the team are fun. I play right-center field; I've played third and right field too. It was in the 90s when we started yesterday and muggy, but I like being outdoors and getting some exercise.

Touring the new building. It'll be cleaned up before we move in.

Immanuel Nashville is moving! Our church is outgrowing the building we got married in (which we were leasing) so we got a sweet deal on renting a bigger building closer to downtown. Our attendance is about 500 and this sanctuary holds 1,000. So we can go back to one service and have room to grow. Move date is looking like end of summer/early fall. Lots to do before then. (Nate is an elder and they literally have a list of over a hundred tasks.) But we are excited. The Lord has been good to Immanuel.

Instagram magnets!

I've mentioned before that I faithfully read the blog Under the Sycamore daily. One of her posts showed some Instagram magnets from PicPack, and I decided to get some. They come from Germany and the price is around $20. (It's shown in Euros.) They turned out so great. I think it was worth $20.

What else? Nate has Saturday off which is rare so we are planning to go on an adventure. Not sure where yet. Maybe I can finally get him to go kayaking a river with me! We'll see. :) I finally made him an appt. at Vanderbilt for an esophageal motility study in July. After two endoscopies, the cause of his regurgitation issues is still a mystery.

We are having a door-decorating contest at work and there is a fabulous prize. I have what I think is a great idea for my door. There are really no guidelines; we have until the end of June to decorate. I won't give away my plan yet but I'll post about it when it's up!

Nate's family (sister, mom, aunt/uncle, cousins) are coming to Nashville next Friday. We are excited to spend some time with them.

ICT: Wichita Trip

2013-05-29T12:17:00.000-05:00

Took our spring/summer vacation last week. We flew back to Kansas for a wedding. The last of Nate's high school friends to get married. I flew out early to visit Jenn in Manhattan, then drove through Burlington, helped my grandma out for a day in Leon, and then drove to Wichita Friday. Nate flew out Friday, and then drove to Wichita. Funny thing, we had the same rental car. Chrysler 200. His black, mine white. We returned his in Wichita and used mine the rest of the trip. We had a great time. Here are some photos from the week.

Kansas! Scientifically flatter than a pancake.

Amos! The smartest 20-month-old I've ever met! So cute.

Tofer Jones. Part Irish wolfhound. Sometimes described as "a big slug."

We walked around the riverside. Here is Andy touching a butt at the Wichita Art Museum.

A troll at the river

Ryan helping Nate with his tie. Nate read Scripture at Ryan & Alicia's wedding

Ryan and Alicia getting ready to cut the cake that Ashley made.

Ryan and Nate

The unofficial reunion of Maize High Class of 2003

Nate and me with the Boyles at KC's "Celebration at the Station" … KC symphony and fireworks

I think Otis missed us. He seemed glad to have us home.

I cleaned up the grill, so Nate grilled on Memorial Day.

the silent storm inside my arms.

2013-05-21T07:24:00.000-05:00

the silent storm inside my arms

The lightning struck where thunder failed to give warning:
a harsh blow in springtime afternoons.
We are all left
with smoking trees
and towers
and TV antennas.

Where tall cliffs once stood straight and strong,
the rocks now rest in a crumbling pile.

The clouds stooped low and blinded out the sun,
so I embraced the tempest as it mutely raged.

Steaming geysers release hot streams over rolling hills;
cold rain falls on even the most beautiful of roses.
The distant quake erupts without a sound,
a shudder detectable only when you hold your breath
and feel the shifting in the gentle breeze.

The breaking heart is still the beating heart.
We’ll pray on these tears for years,
and I’ll hold tight
to the silent storm inside my arms.

Alyssa Reeves Jones
Fall 2008, Kansas State University
ENGL463–Intro. to Poetry Writing

first half of may.

2013-05-16T08:57:00.001-05:00

How is May flying by so quickly? Here is what's been going on this month.

First, Nate is finishing up his semester. Like probably this week he will turn in his last assignments. Then he only has two semesters left! Well, we have to confirm that with an advisor but that is what it looks like. So if we're correct on what classes he still needs, he will be able to take the summer off from schoolwork! That makes for a happy student and a happy wife.

Rev. Robert Warner (father-in-law to my 2nd cousin, 3x removed)

I'm still quasi-obsessed with working on our family tree. Genealogy is just so fascinating to me, and between ancestry.com and the general Internet, there's a gold mine of information on relatives who lived a hundred years ago. One relative (whose daughter married into the Reeves family) is Rev. Robert Warner (1864-1937). We have a lot of pastors in the tree, on the Reeves side and Jones/Link side.

Anyway, I was Googling him and found that there was a book about him published in the 1930s. It's actually his testimony, recorded by his wife and two daughters. There are a couple of copies in two libraries in Washington state, and then I found one available at abebooks.com for $8. So I bought it, and it immediately said it was no longer available at abebooks, so I must have bought their only copy. It's a first edition. The cover is purple velvet (some sun fading) and the title is gold stamped letters. It's only 40 pages long, and it is written in first person (from Robert Warner) about his ministry in the Methodist Episcopal Church in the Northwest—Washington and Idaho and such. He preached on circuits, traveling around to various cities for revivals.

Miles is growing up.

Surprisingly no photos of Otis in this post, but I assure you he is still as cute as usual. Instead, Miles! Miles is getting all grown up! Here's a photo of him shortly after I adopted him in January 2010, and then just recently. He has such a different personality than Otis, so he comes across as a grumpy old man sometimes. But he's not against sitting on my lap or purring when I brush him. He's always sweet to me. :)

Indoor cat getting some outside time

It's been kind of hot here. I mean "hot" relatively. It's been in the mid-80s which is hot enough to heat up the car in the parking lot and make me sweat. Nate and I took Miles and Otis into the backyard for some outside time. Miles enjoyed it, and he managed to get seeds/pollen all over his head. Poor Nate came inside with watering eyes and sneezing, and his legs were covered in chigger bites.

Miles curled up on Hannah's bed

This week our summer lodger, Hannah, moved in. Hannah's from Texas and is working at the Y this summer. Her boyfriend, Josh, is in the college community group we lead at Immanuel and it's fun having them around. (Josh goes to Belmont.) They are 19 and 20, which makes Nate and I feel really old! :)

Bacon-Wrapped Green Beans

I've been trying to keep up with cooking. Last night I made meatloaf and bacon-wrapped green beans. Turkey bacon. Then I mixed up soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic salt, and a little butter and glazed the beans before baking them. Yum!

I finished reading Jim Gaffigan's book, Dad Is Fat, which is hilarious. We also got the audiobook for free with a free trial at audible.com. I read the book on Kindle. It's a fast read. It's about his family who lives in a two-bedroom apartment in New York. Five kids. He says that thanks to his [very fertile] wife, they have an open-door policy—which basically means that at any time in the night, any of their children is welcome to come into their room and pee in their bed. haha This book is probably funnier for parents but we were cracking up too.

Just a few more days until I fly back to Kansas to spend some time in Manhattan with Jenn and then swing through Burlington and then to Wichita to meet up with Nate for a wedding. This trip will be the first time I've rented a car! I'm finally old enough! I'll fly out Tuesday night, and Nate will fly out Friday afternoon. The wedding is Saturday, and we have Monday off for Memorial Day so we'll fly back Monday morning. Can't wait.

despicablimp.

2013-05-01T14:02:00.000-05:00

This happened in Nashville today … The Despicablimp!

The Despicablimp over Union Station in Nashville (Photo: AdamDYork)

The Descipablimp over the Tennessee State Capitol (Photo: pgalbreath)

Here's a close-up from @despicablimp

How fun is that? Despicable Me 2 hits theaters July 3.

afternoon at the zoo.

2013-04-30T07:28:00.000-05:00

Everything in Nashville is so green. After getting 3.3 inches of rain on Saturday, everything has bloomed and we're enjoying 70s and sunshine. After work yesterday, I was planning on going to the zoo to walk. Fortunately Nate got out of class early, so he went with me! Nate doesn't love the zoo, but he loves me. :)

We were walking toward the petting zoo when we saw two Canadian geese and six babies! I've seen a gaggle of adult geese walking around the zoo before. This group waddled over to the concessions area to eat up dropped popcorn.

We sat down on the benches, and the little goslings got really close! Nate took this photo.

The mama goose kept watch. (Photo by Nate)

The tapirs weren't in their exhibit, so Nate didn't get to see baby Felix. We saw the red pandas and clouded leopards before heading to the nearby rhinoceros hornbill. Usually it stays up in the tree, but as soon as we walked up, it jumped down and came right up to the fence. Then it grabbed some bamboo and was trying to stick it through the fence. Such a strange creature! It hopped on the ground like a kangaroo. And look at those feet!

soft ball, sore muscles.

2013-04-24T11:21:00.001-05:00

Me jumping up *and catching* a fly ball in right field!

Yesterday morning, my coworker Katy came by my office and asked if I play softball. I think I laughed. Growing up, softball was the sport I didn't like because I wasn't good at it. Volleyball, basketball, track … all fun. Softball, well, let's reserve that to P.E. and college intramurals.

But Katy's team just needed an extra body; if they were short on players, they'd be forced to take an automatic out every inning. So I agreed and showed up at the fields in Mt. Juliet yesterday evening for a double-header. It was a great day for softball. Mid-70s, partly cloudy. A little windy, but not terrible. I warmed up and headed to my spot in right field.

Fortunately it was church-league slow pitch softball, so it wasn't highly competitive and everyone was there mostly to have fun. I was nervous; it had been at least four years since I put on a glove. I don't have cleats, but I found Nate's in the attic. A bit big, but better than nothing.

One of the reasons I'm not good at softball is because I don't understand where I'm supposed to be and when. If the ball comes to me, I don't know where I should throw it. I like basketball because I have court knowledge. I have no field knowledge. I watched the other outfielders to try to gauge how far I was supposed to stand from the infield.

Fortunately the other team only hit the ball to right field a few times. And a few times it went over my head. But twice, I caught a fly ball! First one standing; the second time I jumped up and caught it over my head. (See photo above, from Katy's husband. Try not to go blind from my whiteness and don't laugh at my form. Nate says I look like a ballerina!) Nothing sounds greater than the "whoosh–thunk" of a ball landing squarely in your glove.

I was at the bottom of the batting order, and only batted twice in two games. (The other team shut us out both games and I think the run rule kept us to three innings each game.) :) My first time up to bat, I didn't even know which bat to use, so I used a red one—the same one as the batter before me because it was already at home plate. One strike watching, then I swung—whiff. The next swing, I got a piece of it. Not enough to get it out of the infield, but I took off. Any success I have at softball is from natural athletic ability. I can't run long distance, but I can sprint. And I beat that ball to first base by a half-second.

Next time up to bat, I picked a black bat. A Louisville Slugger. Mostly because it was one of the longest, and it looked nice. :) First pitch, swing! Contact felt good, solid. I knocked it just left of second base and made it to first, no problem. Unfortunately the next hit was to shortstop, so I was thrown out at second.

It was a fun two hours. Loved being outside, loved playing on a team. Even if we didn't win. I probably won't be a regular, but it was fun to fill in. And today, I'm sore. Every muscle from the waist down; back and shoulders. Hurts in a good way.

birthdays and anniversaries.

2013-04-15T12:49:00.000-05:00

This past Friday, I flew to Kansas City to join in the celebration of my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. Since Nate had just arrived home from Orlando, he stayed in Nashville to get caught up on his schoolwork. My sister picked me up from the airport, and we drove home.

The party was Saturday afternoon in El Dorado. Neither of my grandparents were feeling 100%, but they were glad to see everyone. Probably about 50 friends and family members came to celebrate. We had cake and punch, and my dad put together a slideshow of pictures of my grandparents.

Me and Grandma (Mauricia)

Grandpa (Roy) and me

There were also some old family photos on a table which were fun to look at. It is crazy how looks are passed down! This first photo (left) is my dad at age 9 months. The photo on the right is my brother, probably close to the same age.

This next photo is Grandpa Roy. It looks exactly like my brother's face. I couldn't find a good example of my brother to compare it to, but I seriously can't stop looking at this photo because the resemblance is crazy.

Sunday was Mom's birthday, so Erica made a homemade ice cream cake.

(I helped by crushing up the Oreos.) It was good.

Mom's not that old, but old enough for us to start throwing around old-age jokes. I got her a card that said: "I decided not to get you a funny card for your birthday …" "… because I know how easily people your age pee their pants." ahahahaha

sunshine state.

2013-04-10T12:43:00.001-05:00

Nate's view from his hotel in Orlando

Nate is coming home! He has been in Orlando since Sunday at The Gospel Coalition conference. He's driving back and should get here around 10 p.m. But then Friday afternoon, I'm flying out to Kansas for my grandparents' 60th anniversary celebration, so he'll have a weekend alone. I'll miss him but hopefully he can get caught up on homework. :)

I had big ambitions of spring cleaning the entire house while Nate was gone, but … didn't happen. I'm just so dang tired when I get home from work! On Sunday, I did start to trim bushes in the backyard, which was a lot of work and I feel like I made no progress. Monday I did errands and washed/vacuumed my car. Tuesday I installed two sets of shades in the study. Tonight I'm hoping to get another layer of mulch down and do some light cleaning/dishes. We're supposed to get crazy storms here Thursday.

More later. Ciao.

throwback thursday.

2013-04-04T12:41:00.001-05:00

Image credit

I Call Her "Harriet"
Death hangs outside my window,
a dumb silhouette before the blinding light.
Small silk coffins shudder
like nervous hammocks.
Connect the dots.
An eight-legged ambition carried out flawlessly.
Premeditated murder.

by Alyssa (Reeves) Jones

Throwback Thursday. Throwing it back to Sept. 22, 2008. A poem I wrote in my Intro. to Poetry Writing class as a third-year/senior.

buddies.

2013-04-02T07:12:00.000-05:00

Nate is used to me reaching for the phone to take a picture (or 12) when Miles or Otis is looking extra cute. But sometimes I catch Nate and Miles or Otis looking extra cute … and I take a dozen pictures. Nate always says, "No Instagram-ing!" Maybe he is embarrassed to be seen as a man who admittedly likes cats. ("You've turned me into a cat-liker," he says.) But I loved this photo too much not to share. (And until we have kids someday, Lord willing, you all get photos of us and the cats, haha)

It was about 4 p.m. I came home after work and a quick grocery store trip. We put up the groceries and were tired, ready for a nap. I was asking Nate about his day. Otis joined us. We napped maybe 10 minutes and I got up because I needed a snack. And okay, so Otis was at the end of the bed but he never fights a cuddle. I kind of posed him, but he happily stayed when I started taking pictures. The sun was coming through the window. Warm afternoon, relatively.

This is my favorite place to be. And I always say that I love Miles and Otis equally; they are just different. I have a special place in my heart for Miles because I adopted him when he was 4 months old, 3 years ago. He was with me my first year in Nashville when I was single. Sometimes Miles meows for seemingly no reason; he just wants me to pick him up. Maybe once a week he'll sit on my lap if I'm brushing him. Otis is a year and a half younger; a snuggler, always happy to climb on your lap. Purring and playful.

How is it that April is here already? We had incredible Good Friday and Easter services at Immanuel this past weekend. I love our church. What a gift. April is a busy month for us. Nate to Orlando for The Gospel Coalition conference, me back to Kansas for my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary, and some frantic cleaning and organizing to get ready for a summer roommate moving in next month.

birthday boy!

2013-03-19T10:05:00.001-05:00

Today is Nate's birthday! The big 2-9. I remind him how close that is to 30 which sounds old to a 25 year old. :) I know it's not too long before I'm there.

Nate had to open at Sbux this morning (at 4:30). I got up with him and dropped off a couple of our friends at the airport at 4:30 this morning. I love the city when it sleeps. Driving when it is still dark: no traffic, streetlights flashing yellow, building lights shining. It's beautiful.

After the airport, I drove to Nate's store and waited for it to open at 5 a.m. Nate made me a hot chocolate and sausage breakfast sandwich, and I headed to work early. I'm dragging a little this morning … thankful for a standing desk so I can't fall asleep!

Nate and Miles :)

Nate worked on his preaching homework last night, and Miles kept him company for a little while. :) Nate also has a Hebrew class this evening. Not much time for fun on his birthday, but his family (mom, grandma, and sister) is arriving tonight for a few days.

I've got to get home after work and do at least a week's worth of dishes that have been piling up. I've been putting them off for several days. Oh, what a wonderful day it will be if we ever live in a home with a dishwasher. A luxury! :)

Happy birthday, Nate. Here's to a week full of fun. To many more birthdays. To time with family, time to rest, and time to celebrate you. I love you! :)

landscaping.

2013-03-16T17:20:00.000-05:00

Ah! The last two days in Nashville, the temperatures have been in the mid-70s. I had to scrape ice off my car windows Friday morning before work, but things quickly warmed up and I could hardly stand to work in my windowless office all day while it was warm and sunny outside. As soon as I got off work, I went to Home Depot and got some shrubs, flowers, mulch, garden soil, and a garden hose.

Then Amy James (a friend from church ... I always refer to her by her full name; I'm not sure why.) asked me if I wanted to meet her and her toddler, Hudson, at the zoo. So I met up with them and it was fun. We stayed until the zoo closed at 6, so it was getting dark and I didn't try to do any yard work Friday night.

Before picture.

Nate was away Friday night and Saturday morning at ITG, so I slept in Saturday until 9 and then got some tools together to get started. All the overgrown grass had to go. There were some weeds and lots and lots of wild onions. I think we have wild onions clumps all over the front and back yards; eh, a problem to deal with on another day.

raking up dead grass

Once the big stuff was out of the way, I used a shovel and a trowel to loosen and break up the dirt. A tiller would have been faster and easier, but I don't have one or easy access to one, and also I was working around those daffodils and didn't want to transplant them. So this was the hard, tedious part. I pulled out lots of weeds and roots by hand. Then I mixed in a bag of Miracle Gro garden soil and lightly sprayed weed killer. While I was at it, I sprayed the rest of the front yard for weeds.

Pulled more weeds after loosening up the soil

Finally, I started planting. Oh, and I decided I like this warm weather, but I also liked the bit cooler temps last weekend and the weekend before because there weren't many bugs out yet! I can handle anything slow that doesn't jump on you, and at least spiders generally run quickly away from you. I was startled by a couple crickets and a beetle, and I pushed some worms out of the way, but some little buggers kept landing on my arms; maybe flying black ants? They are super annoying. Though not as bad as mosquitoes, I guess.

making progress

I put on two bags of brown mulch. Spread it by hand. (I'm glad I didn't have a bigger area to work with!) I probably could have put on two more bags; it's only an inch or two deep now. I'll probably pick up a couple more bags whenever I get back to Home Depot.

Ta-da! Finished.
(plus Otis photobombing in the window)

So the taller yellow plant at the back left is a shrub—a swamp jessamine. It blooms in the fall and is a climber, so I want to get a tall, thin trellis to put between the shutter and downspout for it to grow up. The tag says it gets 10- to 20-feet tall and 10-feet wide, which is gigantic, so I'll keep it trimmed to a reasonable size.

Then next to that in the back is another shrub—a golden euonymus, which is an evergreen. It's supposed to get 4- to 6-feet tall and 3 feet wide. It's such a little guy now! I like the yellow and green leaves.

Then spaced around those and the daffodils, I have eight more plants of three varieties. I have two pincushion flowers that will bloom in summer/late fall with "pink mist" flowers; three tickseeds that bloom yellow flowers in the summer, and then I have three more pincushion flowers that have "butterfly blue" flowers.

I didn't think about putting on sunscreen in early March. I worked in jeans, boots, a ball cap, gloves, and sunglasses, but thanks to my T-shirt, I'm sporting the start of a farmer's tan. Pink forearms and triceps which hopefully will tan out.

Nate got home from ITG just as I finished up and I wobbled into the house feeling like an 80-year-old woman. I took a shower and got some food and water and a nap. Nate wasn't home for long before he had to leave for a closing shift at work. I said, "Be sure to appreciate the landscaping as you leave!" :)

I've still got half a front yard of bushes that need trimmed up, but I am done for this weekend. We have people coming over for lunch after church, and then Nate's mom, grandma, and sister are coming next week for his birthday, so I've got a lot of cleaning and laundry and dishes to do tonight and maybe a trip to the grocery store tomorrow. But right now I'm watching basketball and the widows are open. I'll clean when it gets dark. I love spring!

spring.

2013-03-11T12:57:00.003-05:00

I love spring. We're still about a week away from the official start, but we enjoyed high 60s/low 70s here in Nashville this weekend and I've decided that spring is my favorite season.

As soon as I got home from work on Friday, I put on my old jeans, a pair of rubber boots, one of Nate's baseball hats, and some work gloves and I went outside. (Nate was working fervently on a sermon for his preaching class Saturday morning.)

Our bushes and hedge and lawn (mostly weeds) was a little out of control. Not enough to need mowed, but I used the weed whacker to trim up along the sidewalks, and on Saturday I used loppers and hedge trimmers to shorten up the bushes. I only did half of them because it was a lot of work picking up the trimmings. I'll finish next weekend. Sunday afternoon I went after the backyard and felt like I barely made a dent. I gave up on that for now. Metro brush pickup doesn't come until the end of May and I can only throw so many branches behind the shed.

Next weekend I want to finish up trimming in the front yard and add some plants under the kitchen window where my azaleas and mums and basically everything else there have died. It used to be mulched but the grass (read weeds) has grown in and I suppose the mulch has blown away. It's kind of a mess; I just cut it real short with the weed whacker. I need to buy a garden hose and spray for weeds. We have purple deadnettle and/or henbit everywhere. Maybe this fall we will overseed. Probably need to kill everything and reseed, but that seems like a lot of work …

Anyway, we're a bit cooler today but looking at 70s again this weekend. Nate has ITG this weekend and lots of work for his classes. He says if he can survive March he'll be good for the rest of the semester. Nate's birthday is coming up next week and some of his fam is coming, so we are excited for that.

Oh, also this week I bought an ice cream maker! I used some birthday money for it and it is awesome! The first recipe I made was mint chocolate chip. It was better than store-bought! (It is dangerous how easy/quick it is to make. I have already eaten too much!) My only real problem was that it leaves a waxy residue on my spoon and I guess kind of in my mouth but I googled it and I guess if you let it churn too long, some of the heavy cream starts to turn into butter. So I'll try to adjust my timing for the next batch. Nate has requested cookies 'n' cream.

Our friend Sam of the duo Samne was back in Nashville for work last week. It was fun to meet up with him and let him stay on our couch. We wish Anne could have visited too! They are fellow Kansans who lived in Nash for a year, and we miss them. We went with Sam to Sweet Cece's in Hillsboro Village and Nate and I were driving separately since I met up with them after work. Well we didn't see the signs about getting a parking receipt from the booth for free parking and both of our cars got tickets. For a total of $52. It's debatable whether private lots can really enforce tickets. (They do have the right to tow you.) But I emailed the lot owner and nicely asked if he would consider forgiving our violations. And he did. Boom.

Also our AT&T U-Verse bill was too high ($51/mo) so I called them and agreed to a 12-month contract, and they lowered our bill to $36/mo and gave us a $25 instant credit for being loyal customers. (I played "happy customer" who didn't want to switch providers but it was just too expensive, rather than unhappy customer. I think agreeable people have more weight when it comes to bargaining.) So that saved us over $200 for the year. And that's why Nate calls me his money savin' maven.

I know I've been terrible about blogging this year. Once a month, eh? I want to write more often. I'm reading a book about being a church planter's wife so maybe I will share some thoughts here about that. It's very good and convicting.

That's all for now. If it's still cold where you are, my advice is move south! haha, I love this weather.

goodbye, beard.

2013-02-14T11:16:00.000-06:00

I've never known Nate without a beard. I've seen pictures of his baby-faced college days. His Nashville friends have seen the picture and said, "That is not you!" Nate replied, "I'm beginning to think all you people see is my beard!" All "my eyes are up here" jokes aside, the beard was sort of a legend around here. Strangers would say "nice beard" and "I like your beard!" But alas, the beard is no more.

Nate's beard (02/12/13)

Nate has been growing out his beard since we got married in July 2011. About 19 months. Except for the occasional trim, he pretty much let it go and was chosen for Beard of the Month and was the focus of beard envy everywhere he went. I even dressed up like Nate for Halloween, beard included.

That's a lot of beard.

Nate had been talking lately about cutting his beard short. I told him it was up to him. (Despite popular beliefs, I am not that wife who made her husband cut off his beard!) ;) I liked the beard. It was softer than a short beard, and sure, he got food and things stuck in it sometimes, but it was a very distinguishing feature. Charles Spurgeon did say, “Growing a beard is a habit most natural, manly, Scriptural, and beneficial.”

The last photo of the beard. 19 months old.

But on Tuesday (my birthday), Nate came home from his Hebrew class and announced the time had come. The beard was going. Time to look a little more professional. It would be a different look, but his beard was short when I married him, so it wasn't going to be a total shock. We went in the bathroom, put a trash bag in the sink, got out the clippers, and started cutting.

I'm going to be vacuuming up beard hair in the bathroom for a week.
On the bright side, Nate can stop using my hairbrush.

The quantity of beard hair was impressive. He didn't go completely bare-faced, just short beard and mustache. And I shaved the top of his head. It all grows back in a month. Nate took a shower and cried a little (just kidding) and it was late, so we went to bed. He worked the next morning and when he walked into Starbucks, all the other baristas just stared.

Goodbye, beard.

Nate and I laughed when the beard first came off because his chin looked so small! And the beard had grown back/down his neck so I had to bic a lot of neck-beard. But there he is, just like the day I married him. :) Nate says there is such as thing as post-traumatic beard disorder. I like it however he wears it, but if he wants to grow it out again, it could be back by August 2014.

RIP, beard. You were pretty epic.

crazy storms in january.

2013-01-30T12:43:00.003-06:00

Our phones woke us up last night at 2:52 a.m. This is a relatively new thing with the iOS 6 … an alarm goes off when there is an emergency alert, which is kind of handy. Nate rolled over and I checked the @NashSevereWx feed on Twitter to see what was up. They were saying straight-line winds at 80-90 mph which is as strong as a tornado, so I got up to watch the news. It wasn't raining, just windy, and the tornado sirens were going off.

The weather reporters were showing the radar when the power went out in the studio. Then it came back on. They were reporting power outages around Nashville. Miles and Otis knew something was up because they were standing in the hallway and looking at me funny. I sat in the hallway with Miles and Otis thinking it would be smart to get their carriers out of the attic if we ever did have a tornado, and I put on my slippers so I'd have something on my feet. (Advice from a writer whose house was hit in Joplin.)

Nate finally got up and I told him to put on some shoes. He looks like he's trying to protect himself in this photo, but he's really just trying to go back to sleep. The storm was moving fast, so we were in the all clear before too long and went back to bed around 3:30. I left for work at 6 and there were some small twigs in the road and everyone had their trash at the curb for pick-up this morning and most of the lids had blown open and the bins were getting rained in. Some of them had fallen over.

The news confirmed a EF2 hit Mt. Juliet just east of Nashville and there was some structural damage done throughout Middle Tennessee. I liked this super warm weather the last few days but it's supposed to get back in the 30s. Crazy weather for January.

Last night Nate had his first Hebrew class of the semester. I stayed home and bothered Otis. :) I crack myself up.

quick clips.

2013-01-28T12:33:00.000-06:00

Well, blogging this year has been a fail. Life feels pretty routine these days. Going to work, researching genealogy, hanging out with Miles and Otis, doing life with Nate. Since we don't have kids, I share our cats. Twitter just released a new app for iPhone called Vine that lets you shoot and share 6-second videos Instagram style. In the app, the videos loop automatically. So get the app (it's free) and follow me, or enjoy these that I uploaded to YouTube.

5:45 a.m. - Cats in the Bathroom

Miles is scary when he yawns

Miles is not impressed

Otis yawns and flips over

bakin'/bacon.

2013-01-09T07:52:00.001-06:00

One of the things I'm trying to do better this year is plan/cook meals. It will save us a lot of money; I planned a week's worth of meals and it's lasting us two weeks because we have leftovers every other day. Last night, Nate helped me make these recipes:

Yum! Relatively easy, but if you're making both at the same time, there's a lot going on so it's nice to have a second person take over one of them. (Tip: Break the ends off the green beans before you cook them, and peel the apples … I was just lazy; the apple skins were still good and I left the bean ends on my plate.) My grandparents got Nate an electronic food thermometer for Christmas to use when grilling, but it has been super helpful in the kitchen. I could easily check to make sure I wasn't over-/under-cooking the pork so it was nice and juicy.

Basically what we concluded from this meal is that if you wrap it in bacon (or turkey bacon in our case) or melt butter and brown sugar over it, it will be delicious! :-) Nate said this meal qualifies as "Top 10." It will definitely be a go-to plan when we have guests over.

ready . . . break!

2012-12-31T14:46:00.002-06:00

Miles and Otis moments before we left for Kansas …
Cute, but they're going on diets in 2013!

Our work schedules panned out this year, and we were blessed to take nine days to travel back to Kansas to visit our families. We flew from Nashville to KC and rented a car, and then we drove to Wichita. (Thanks to our Southwest Visa points, the roundtrip + 9 day rental car cost us $10!) Our awesome friend Kierston (who I grew up with and who recently moved here) checked in on Miles and Otis for us. I missed them! They were happy to snuggle with us when we got home.

Me and Nate outside the historical museum in downtown Wichita

Nate's immediate family is in Wichita … familiar stomping grounds to me because my grandparents used to live there, and my parents grew up there. We had a lot of fun hanging out and seeing movies and eating delicious food and napping and doing puzzles and playing dominoes. Fortunately we flew in Tuesday night, missing the Wednesday night snow that stranded my brother in the northeast for three extra days.

One afternoon we went downtown to the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum where someone was playing Christmas songs on the tower bells. Some other people were there to listen too, and Nate's dad struck up a conversation with strangers. We love that about him.

Nate, Tofer, and Michael

One day, Nate's friend Michael drove down from Manhattan for the day. We watched the KU basketball game and took Tofer on a walk. Tofer is part Irish wolfhound, they think. Nate's sister, Hannah, adopted him, and he really is a great dog. He just doesn't know how to drop the ball after he fetches it!

Then we met up with my extended family at my grandparents' house just east of Wichita before looping around to Burlington for a few days. Both of my siblings were home and we did the traditional Christmas Eve meal, Christmas Eve church service, presents at Mom's, Christmas morning brunch at Dad's, presents, and relaxing. Nate watched football while I worked on some family tree leads from my dad.

Our flight on Thursday morning was at 6:05, so we drove up to KC Wednesday evening and stayed with two of our favorite friends, Sam and Anne (originally Kansans, but they lived in Nashville for a year and we love them). Anne made dinner, and then we went to The Roasterie for coffee (hot chocolate for me) and a few rounds of Mexican train dominoes. We had to get up at 3:30am, so we were in bed early.

KCI—even at 4:30am—was nuts. The line to check bags was loooong, and of course we were checking bags. In Nashville, if you've already printed your boarding pass (we had), there was an express line where you could just scan your pass to check your bags. But we got to KCI plenty early and made our flight with no problem. Two of our friends from our church here were on the flight. They come from the KC area.

When we got home, the house was 42 degrees. We made it a month without a heater, but we called someone the day we got back and had him give us an estimate. He installed a new furnace the next day. It is sooo good to have heat! You don't appreciate it enough until it's gone. So we got the new furnace Friday, and on Saturday it snowed. Didn't really stick until the sun went down, but it was beautiful: fat flakes dropping very slowly.

We had Thursday off to get settled back in, and I worked Friday. Me and two other coworkers (everyone else took vacation) so it was so quiet. I loved it. I worked today, too, and there were just a handful of us. I really do think we should institute no-talking days two or three times a month because productivity would sky-rocket.

Tonight—New Year's Eve—will be fun; I have tomorrow off as a holiday, so I can stay up. Nate and I are going out for thai and then going to see Les Miserables. It'll be fun. I had all these ambitions of entering 2013 with a completely organized house and meals all planned out and a budget I can keep track of … we are headed in the right direction on those things but I think my unpreparedness reflects the pace of our lives in 2012. Maybe one of my resolutions will be to do a better job blogging regularly! :) Happy new year!

this week.

2012-12-14T14:57:00.001-06:00

So, this is how this week went down. Sunday, one of our sweet college students gave Nate and I a gift card to The Cheesecake Factory. Yum! So Monday night was date night. Nate was finishing up some work in the kitchen from an afternoon project, and I saw something black on the cabinet/under it. It may have been small, but these eyes are trained to notice anything that does not belong in our house. Spider! We don't have spiders inside very often, and Miles and Otis are pretty good about taking care of crickets and flies and other occasional uninvited guests. But spiders are another story.

Of course, I won't get near them, which is one of the reasons I'm so glad to have Nate. :) He hates spiders too, but he loves me more than he hates them, I think. I directed him to the big bottle of bug spray under the sink. He squeezed the trigger and soaked that sucker … and soaked all the front of the cabinet and probably some of the utensils inside the cabinet, so we pulled those out to be cleaned.

It was just a big black scary spider and it made a dramatic drop to the floor in its final moments before turning over on its back and revealing … THE RED HOURGLASS OF DEATH! That there, folks, is a black widow spider. Neither of us had ever seen one in real life, but a quick Google search confirmed our suspicions. And apparently this is a female, because the males have orange markings on their backs and aren't as dangerous as the red-bellied females.

At this time, we were ready to just burn down the house and move to a new one, but we decided we kind of like having a house to live in, so we went on and enjoyed our evening at The Cheesecake Factory.

Tuesday I came home and got into bed with blankets, my coat, the space heater, and Odie. We still haven't fixed our furnace. Mostly because it's so stinkin' expensive. The space heaters keep us warm, and I'm perfectly comfortable at night with an electric blanket, it's the opening the bedroom door and stepping into 55 degrees on my way to the shower that is hard.

We are hoping to be able to make it through this winter so we have several months to build up a furnace fund. It's frustrating too because our neighbor's furnace is real close to ours and it looks like it's 30 years old! Our looks almost brand new, but the furnace guy said it was 11 years old. The home inspector in 2009 said he thought it was from 2005. So whatev. Fact is, there's a hole in the heat exchanger, and the heat is off.

Thursday I took a Family Care Day so I could be with Nate at Vanderbilt. He had another endoscopy scheduled for Thursday morning. For the last few months, he has been on high dose Prilosec for eosinophilic esophagitis. The bad news is that he is still regurgitating when he eats. The good news is that the photos of his esophagus look way better/normal than last time, so the meds have been helping. They did another biopsy and will wait for those results before deciding what to do next. His doctor said we might have to do an allergy test or some other kind of test to check out how his esophagus works when he swallows.

The procedure went really fast, like 30 minutes or so. Nate was asleep in recovery when I went back, and as he woke up, he was pretty out of it. I think he was more out of it this time than last time. Last time, he woke up almost right away.

Ha! He will hate me for posting this, but this is the blank stare I got when I said, "Nate, look at me." He asked if he had oxygen in his mouth, and I told him no, it's in your nose. Then he proceeded to tell me about his great grandma Elsa who had oxygen that she carried around everywhere. And his great grandpa Jack who would draw letters and numbers with Nate using a yellow pencil. And Nate would sit on his lap.

Nate also told me he was going to audition for the TV show "Duck Dynasty." I said, "What's that?" And he said, "A beard show." OK, so we've never watched that show because we don't have cable but apparently the characters on the show have big beards, and the male nurse who took Nate back from the waiting room was talking to him about it.

The nurse got Nate to sit up and he slowly mumbled, "I need to work out more." The nurse said, "What?" And he said, "I need to work out more."

She was ready to take his IV out and asked what his favorite color was. "Orange," he said. "For the Denver Broncos." She said she didn't have any orange bandages, so he said blue. She also offered red. So he said, "Not blue, red." The nurse used red and blue bandages to wrap his arm, for KU.

My mom sent us an early Christmas gift: a cat condo! It has a platform on top with a ball attached by a spring. Miles plays with the ball and sharpens his claws, and Odie does that and also gets inside of it. (I think Miles would barely fit.) Otis was sleeping on Nate all day yesterday when Nate got home from Vanderbilt, and when I moved him so Nate could get up, he got in his house.

Just a few more days until we're off for Christmas vacation! This weekend I am planning on doing some crazy cleaning around the house. Like pulling everything out of the kitchen and cleaning like we are moving. I don't want to be overwhelmed by a messy house when we get home and start a new year.

odie the model.

2012-12-06T08:57:00.000-06:00

I washed our bedding yesterday and when Nate and I went in to make the bed, Otis thought it'd be fun to play between the sheets. When he does this, don't wiggle your finger around or he will pounce on it and he will draw blood. Kid's got talons. Anyway, last night he decided he liked laying on his back and holding the sheet up with his paws. Exhibit A:

Yeah, he puts little holes in the sheets with his claws but there are more important things. I wanted to get a photo of him with his legs up like that, and when Nate lifted the sheet for me to snap a pic, I discovered the white sheet above and below made for some pretty nice lighting. So I did a little Odie photo shoot.

1930s.

2012-12-03T07:19:00.002-06:00

I spent some time Saturday scanning all the family photos my mom brought me over Thanksgiving. This photo is of my grandma, Flora Elizabeth "Bettie" McClain, her father William "Bill" McClain, and her sister Willa Irene McClain. I like the little cat at the bottom and its shadow on the steps. My grandma was born in 1925 and her sister died in 1938, so this photo is probably circa 1937.

I've really been enjoying digging into our family tree. Saturday evening I discovered a college acquaintance on the tree. (She married my fourth cousin, once removed.) I discovered that Nate is related to NBC anchor Jenna Wolfe (of the Wolfeld family … the maiden name of Nate's great grandmother). Her father's name is Wolfeld, so she must have just changed her name for TV.

I'm glad to have these photos digitally now, but I'll have to get a nice album for keeping the originals. Right now they're just in an envelope. If you're my Facebook friend, you can see all the photos in my "Family Photos" album.

thanksgiving week.

2012-11-28T13:26:00.001-06:00

Back at work after a great 4-day weekend over the Thanksgiving holiday. Mom and Mark drove out to Nashville and we had a lot of fun. Mom brought me a lot of old family photos and some genealogy documents like funeral programs and obituaries. I need to sit down and scan all the photos, but here's one of my grandma, Flora "Bettie" Elizabeth McClain Richwine and her sister, Willa Irene McClain. My mom told me that my grandma had wet her pants in this photo! Haha. They grew up in Garden City, Kansas. I have a lot of photos of these two together.

Grandma Richwine and her sister Irene

Mark, me, and Mom hiking the Warner Woods loop

Thanksgiving day was beautiful! Like around 70 degrees. Around 10 a.m., we drove out to Percy Warner Park and hiked the Warner Woods loop (2.5 miles). The trees weren't as pretty as a couple of weeks ago, but it was still nice. I got hot and hiked in shorts! Loved this day. The following few days dropped into the 40s.

Nate took a panorama with his iPhone. As soon as he got past me the first time, I jumped into the last part of the photo. :) Twins!

Thanksgiving lunch/dinner

We were understandably hungry after hiking, so we came home for showers and football (watching, not playing!). I had started the ham in the slow cooker at 6:30 a.m. The ham we bought was too big, so we could only cook half. I also made candied yams, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, Hawaiian rolls, and we had corn and cranberry sauce. Yum.

Nate and me at Opryland hotel

Friday Nate had to work so Mom, Mark, and I went to Lynchburg, TN, for a distillery tour. It was really neat and interesting. Long drive down there (1.5 hours) but it was worth it. On Saturday, we went to Opry Mills and saw Lincoln. He's my favorite president, and not just because we share a birthday. Then we walked over to the Gaylord Opryland hotel and walked around. Nate had to go to work Saturday evening.

Sunday we went to church and then came home and put up the Christmas tree. Nate and I didn't put it up last year since we were in Kansas for Christmas. We'll be back in Kansas again this year, but I like the tree. Otis and Miles like it too. I mean they like eating it. And batting the little bells and knocking off bulbs. Then it was back to work Monday morning. Working hard for the next three weeks until Christmas vacation!