Welcome 2012!

I can't say I'm sad to see 2011 go. A lot of good things happened, but we also experienced some pretty hard stuff too. Here's a quick recap of last year:

January: We bought our first house! The search was an exciting but long process. We were glad to be able to finally call this place ours. It didn't take long before we started repainting all the rooms...

February: I think we spent all of our free time painting. We were still living with Baugay, but came to the house after work and almost every weekend to paint. We got pretty good at it after a while!

March: More painting + re-shelving the pantry and master bedroom closet. By this point, I was very ready to be done with painting and just move in!

April: We finally moved into our house on the 9th! Thanks to a lot of friends and family helping, it really didn't take too long. I also fell in love with a china cabinet at a consignment furniture store and bought it.  Just when we felt like we were getting settled in after a few weeks, the 27th brought crazy storms and tornadoes across the state, knocking out our power for a week, damaging a lot of our electronics, and taking the life of our friend, Marcus, in Tuscaloosa. I've never felt so many emotions like I did that last week in April, and I hope I never do again.

May: I think it took the whole month to start feeling semi-normal again. It seemed like week after week we kept finding something new that was broken or not working in the house, which just made it harder to feel like ourselves again. We replaced several things, but still had a long way to go. Emily also graduated from high school, so that was an exciting way to end the month.

June: This month can be summed up with two words: wedding stuff. Travis was in Matt and Maggie's wedding. I hosted Alisha's lingerie shower. Alisha also had a couple of other wedding teas/parties. Almost all of this happened in one weekend. Oh yeah, and Travis turned 25...the same weekend. Needless to say, we didn't have time to do much of a celebration. We also installed a new garage door opener, and we went on a much needed family vacation to Fripp Island.

July: I would classify July as another rollercoaster month like April was. We spent the 4th with my parents at the lake house and had a great time. Alisha also had another wedding tea, and we went to PCB for a few days for her bachelorette trip. Somewhere in there, though, we found out my mom had breast cancer, which was initially like a punch in the stomach. She had surgery to remove the tumor the week after I got back from the beach and the week before Alisha and Tyler got married. The best news was that her lymph nodes were clear!! Alisha and Tyler's wedding on the 28th was beautiful and a great way to end a pretty difficult month.

August: August brought us back to a semi-normal routine. We cleaned out our garage so that we could park both cars inside. Mom had her port put in and started chemo toward the end of the month. We also fixed our fence and hung more pictures on the walls in our house. The happiest day of the month was probably adopting two sweet kittens, Felix and Gabby, who aren't so little anymore!

September: Travis and I went to Alabama's first football game of the season and saw an easy win over Kent State. Mom had chemo treatments #2 and #3 and felt pretty up and down. She ended up in the hospital with a fever at the end of the month and had to get IV antibiotics. We watched a lot of exciting Alabama games and enjoyed seeing Gabby and Felix become more social and used to living with us.

October: October brought some cooler weather, which was wonderful. I decorated our house with some fall decorations. Travis had outpatient surgery on his nose to fix his breathing and sinus issues, and Mom had chemo treatment #4 that same week. I ran the Liz Hurley Ribbon Run and raised my goal amount of $500! It was a 5K, and although I didn't run it as fast as I wanted to, at least I finished! Since the weather was so nice outside, we also pulled weeds in our flower beds. Toward the end of the month, I turned 25, we went to the Tennessee game in Tuscaloosa, we bought a new (to us) car, Mom ended up in the hospital again, and we went on our annual bed and breakfast mini-vacation with Ashley and Seth. Whew!

November: Alabama lost for the first time of the season to LSU in overtime. At least we ate some yummy gumbo while watching the game with friends! Mom had another chemo treatment. We had a great Thanksgiving day with the Dvorak clan and stayed out from midnight until about 5:30 AM on Black Friday to shop for a Christmas tree and some other stuff. Alabama also got revenge for that terrible Iron Bowl loss last year.

December: Mom had her 7th chemo treatment. We decorated for Christmas, which the kitties were extremely excited about. We did most of our Christmas shopping online. And, we had a great time celebrating our 4th anniversary and a few days later, Christmas with our families. Felix tried to throw a damper on the holiday by tearing up Travis's hands, but we think he's going to survive :) We ended the year by hanging out with Matt and Maggie and a few other friends on New Year's Eve.

Well, I guess that wasn't so quick a recap. Really, a lot happened in 2011. I'll admit I have mixed emotions about the year in general, but I'm definitely glad to see a new year on the calendar. Here's to hoping 2012 won't be quite so much of a rollercoaster!

I think Travis and I definitely grew up a lot over the last year. Not that we were necessarily "immature", but I feel like we were getting too focused on stuff, especially when we bought our house and starting fixing it up. It only takes something like a natural disaster or a cancer diagnosis to slap you in the face and redirect your focus onto more important things. Since April and July's events, I know I've been more focused on family, friends, and God.

2012 is a new year, and I'm looking forward to it. I've got some goals in mind for this year that I'd like to share. Hopefully, putting them in the blog will keep me accountable, and at the end of the year, I can report on how I've done.

Here are my 2012 goals, in no real order...

1. Keep up with the KSR daily Bible reading schedule. Every year, I start out reading for a few days in January, and then I'll miss a day and never really get on track again. This year, I've got the schedule printed out and lying on my nightstand, and it's also on my computer. It's only a chapter per day, so I've got no excuse...

2. Run a half-marathon. I've done the hardest part already, and that's signing up. I'm running in the Nashville Country Music Half Marathon on April 28th! That's 13.1 miles, and I'm pretty nervous about it. Aimee and Mollie are running it also, so that will definitely make it easier and more fun. I know if I don't run a half marathon this year, I probably never will, so here's to hoping I can finish! :)

3. Send one card per week to someone who is sick or needs encouraging. This is something that doesn't take very much time to do, but it means a lot to the person who receives it. I know I can dedicate 10 or 15 minutes per week to this.

4. Invite someone to our house for supper at least once a month. We've got our house (mostly) in order these days, and we really need to start being more hospitable. Last year, our excuse was that our house wasn't set up yet, but it's good enough. It's always fun to cook for others, so this is something we can look forward to doing.

5. Enjoy the present. That's kind of an abstract goal, but I find myself always thinking about future plans and events coming up instead of enjoying the day and time that I'm in. As 2011 reinforced, we aren't guaranteed to live another day, so I'm going to try to do a better job of enjoying the present day.

At that risk of making too many goals to keep up with, I'm going to leave it at that. Every once in a while, I'll try to update you about how I'm doing. What are your goals/resolutions for 2012?

Gabby enjoying the moment!

She knows how to enjoy life :)

Erin

Blessed

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, here are just a few things I'm thankful for right now...

1. Gotta start off the list with Travis. We've been married almost 4 years, and it's been awesome. It's pretty cool to think about how far we've come since we first met in Tuscaloosa...all the places we've lived, graduating from college, starting our jobs, buying a house and getting settled (still working on that part!). He's a hard worker, always offering to help others, true to his conscience, a good example, and just fun to be around. Especially during tough times like this year has been, he's been a great support. I'm lucky to have him!

2. I'm also blessed with great family, both mine and his. I don't think you ever really appreciate what your parents do for you until you leave home, and that was definitely the case with me. It took moving to Tuscaloosa for me to realize how much my mom and dad sacrificed for me. Thank you, Mom and Dad!! I'm especially thankful this year for my mom. She's been a trooper through chemo so far and a real encouragement to me. I'm also thankful to have some pretty awesome sisters and a new brother too. Love all of you! And, I have a wonderful mother-in-law, Cheryl, who is definitely my mom away from home! Thanks for everything you do for us!! :) It would take a lot of typing to list everyone in our families by name, but I'm definitely thankful for all of you. We're really blessed...

3. Would it be silly of me to mention Felix and Gabby in this list? Those kittens just bring so much joy into our lives! They are entertaining and a lot of fun. They definitely love us...that's for sure! And, even though Travis wasn't crazy about cats before we got them, I think he's changed his mind about these two. It's been really neat to watch them grow from skittish little kittens to adventurous and playful bigger kittens. They are best buds, and I'm really glad we got them!

4. We're also blessed to be part of a great church at Kelly Spring Road. It's awesome to be part of a group that really enjoys being together and worshiping God together. We're always encouraged every time we are there, and when we're out of town, we definitely miss being there! If you live in the area and are looking for a great group to be part of that is trying to follow God's word, please come visit us!

5.Finally, I'm thankful for fall and the holiday season in general. The weather is perfect, football games are played every weekend, and it's the perfect time to get together with family and friends. This time of year always makes me stop and reflect about all of my blessings, and I can't help thinking about those who aren't as fortunate, either financially or health-wise or whatever. It's a time of giving and reflecting, and that's what I love about it. Thinking about everything you have should make you want to help others who don't have as much as you do. Last year, we went to the mall and chose an "angel" off the Angel Tree to buy gifts for, and I'm hoping we can do the same this year. It's funny how your idea of Christmas changes from when you are young. As a child, all you can think about is what gifts YOU are going to get that year, and as you get older, you tend to think more about what you can give to OTHERS and how you can help OTHERS. I guess that's called growing up.

I'm currently teaching the K-1 Bible class at church, and tonight's lesson is about Moses and the burning bush. When God told Moses about His great plan for Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses started making a bunch of excuses and trying to convince God that he wasn't the right guy to do the job. Of course, God wasn't convinced, and with the help of Aaron, his brother, Moses went to Pharaoh and did just what he thought he couldn't do! Many times, we make excuses for not doing something that we really could do (and I'm talking to myself here, too). We're too tired, too old, too inexperienced, too busy, etc. Even if it's just something "small", it may mean a lot to someone else. This holiday season, let's do what we can to help others...

My encouragement to you today is to stop and think about all of your blessings and how you can use them to help someone else. No excuses!

Erin

Sickness and My Attitude

"When Jesus heard that, He said, 'This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it." ~ John 11:4

The sermon on Sunday morning was about the story of Mary and Martha's brother Lazarus who got sick and died, and how Jesus raised him from the dead. The above verse really made me think about how I view sickness and death. Physical sickness, whether it's cancer or anything else, is just part of life. There are things I can do to try to be "healthy" physically, but I can't change my genes. I could do everything right from a health standpoint and still get breast cancer. Or some other disease. What I'm realizing is that getting sick just happens sometimes. The important thing is how I view it. 

Lately, I've been wondering why Mom had to get breast cancer. Why her? Why right now? I can't answer any of that unfortunately, and I guess the answers aren't that important anyway. It's here, and we will deal with it. I'm trying really hard to keep the right attitude about it, and some days I do better than others. I am trying to look at this as an opportunity instead of a difficulty. It's an opportunity for my family to grow closer. It's an opportunity for us to set a good example for other people going through similar situations. And, ultimately it's an opportunity for God to be glorified if we handle this the right way. 

"Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die." ~ John 11:25-26

If we live and believe in Christ, we will never spiritually die. And that is the most important thing. Physical sickness and death shouldn't be something to fear. 

I'm not saying that I've given up hope that Mom will beat this. In fact, she has gotten a really good prognosis for having such an aggressive type of breast cancer. It seems like they caught it pretty early, and I'm really thankful for that. It's hard to be a by-stander throughout the whole process though. I'm not her doctor. I'm not even living in the same town anymore.  I wish I could be there to go with her to her appointments and just to be there every day in person. But, I can't just pack up and move home for the rest of the year (Travis would starve..haha!). I guess I'm really not even a by-stander when I pray. I know a lot of people have been praying for Mom, and God hears us. We'll just have to wait for the answer.

Mom met with her oncologist on Monday and found out the tentative schedule for her chemo treatments. She is getting a port put in next Monday the 15th, and chemo starts the following Monday (August 22nd). She will have chemo every other week for 8 weeks (4 treatments), and then every 3 weeks for 12 weeks (4 treatments). So, it is 8 total treatments. If it stays on schedule, she will be finished just before Christmas...yay! Then, she will have about 5-7 weeks of radiation (which will be every day Monday through Friday). Hopefully, she will be completely finished and cancer free by about March of next year! We will have to have a big celebration when she's finished! :)

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." ~ 2 Corinthians 4:16-17

We can do it! Please keep your prayers coming! 

4.27 until now

Disclaimer: One of the main reasons I write in this blog is to help me sort through my thoughts and emotions and to help me remember past events in my life "in the moment". This is going to be extremely long, may be unorganized and seem like rambling, and will be difficult to write and read. But, I need to write it, and I am sharing it in hopes that maybe something that I write will help someone else who is trying to deal with this tragedy or some other difficult situation. 


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When I wrote my last blog post on the afternoon of April 27th around 3 PM, I had no idea how bad the weather situation across the state was, or how bad it was about to become. When I ended it with "Hope you are all staying safe today", I never actually thought that someone I knew might not be. Travis ended up getting dismissed from work an hour early on Wednesday afternoon, so he got home just a little after I'd finished blogging. I'd been at the Hesters' house twice already that day, and the weather was starting to look bad again. They were saying another tornado was coming for Monrovia, and Melissa called me just as I was about to call her, asking us to come back over to take shelter in their basement. It was between 4 and 4:30 when we went back over there. 


We got down in the basement and stayed until it was safe to come back out. The power went off around 5 or a little after, and we all got our flashlights out and turned the battery-powered radio on. We went up and down out of the basement probably 5 more times over the next couple of hours, as they kept saying that more tornadoes were headed our way. The lightning, thunder, and rain were some of the worst I'd ever seen, and Jeff and Travis even saw what sounds like a tornado up in the air that wasn't too far away. Thankfully, we stayed safe in their house.


Around 6:45 PM, I got a text from my mom that said, "Whew. Too close for comfort. We are fine." We had no idea what was happening around the rest of the state at the time since we had no power and the local radio station was only discussing the tornadoes hitting north Alabama. My cell phone was dying and I couldn't send a text or call out from my phone even though I could receive texts. Jeff pulled out their "old-timie" landline corded phone and told me I could use it to call my parents. When I got in touch with Mom, she told me that a huge tornado had come though Tuscaloosa and destroyed 15th Street, and had come up toward Trussville and missed their house by only about a mile. I felt sick to my stomach as I got off the phone, even though I was so thankful that my parents were ok.  My thoughts immediately went to Tyler since he lives right over behind 15th Street. After I told Travis what happened, we got back on the phone trying to call Tyler and Alisha. It was almost impossible to get through, but Travis finally got in touch with Alisha. 


And that's when we found out that Tyler and Alisha were fine, but Marcus was missing, and his apartment building was gone. I don't really know how to describe the feeling that went through my body when we heard the news. I felt like the blood just drained out of my body from my head to my feet. I've never felt that sensation before. 

Over the next couple of hours, more storms came our way, and we continued to go back down to the basement and up again. Travis and I did our best to hold it together in front of all the kids, but it was really hard. We were finally able to leave the Hesters' house and go back to our own house around 9 PM. We counted our blessings that our house was still there and we had no damage that we could see. 


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The past couple of weeks have honestly been a blur. I've never felt such a whirlwind of emotions in such a short time period. Thankfulness that we and our immediate families survived the storms. Shock when we found out Marcus was missing. Hope that he would be found alive. Grief when he wasn't. Questioning about why this had to happen at all. Regret that we couldn't be in Tuscaloosa with our family and friends who were searching. Loneliness when we sat in the dark in our house at night feeling disconnected and so far away from everyone. Encouragement from the number of people who showed their love and concern for the Smith families. Comfort knowing that God is in control and knows best and wants the best for each of us. 


Travis and I met Marcus in the fall of 2008 when he moved to Tuscaloosa for college. I distinctly remember us going to up to meet him at church the first time we saw him there. His smile, of course, was one of the things I'll always remember. Travis gave Marcus his cell phone number and told Marcus to call him anytime if he needed anything.


Fast forward to the beginning of the spring 2009 semester...that's when we really started getting to know him...when he and Katie started dating. The first time I can remember us hanging out with him was at the Valentine's Day scavenger hunt that Alisha and Katie organized. (You can actually read about that here.). 

Marcus was smiling, as always! :)

Throughout the next year and a half that we lived in Tuscaloosa, we continued to get to know him better. We enjoyed going to football games and eating lunch together after church on Sundays on occasion. Marcus was the type of person that didn't try to be the center of attention in a group, so what he did say was always meaningful and thought out. I was always impressed with the amount of thought he put into his prayers before he led them at Northwood. 

Supporting his Hokies with a bunch of Bama fans!!

After the Tennessee game in 2009

 We'll always think of Marcus when we see Trent Richardson out on the field since Trent was his favorite player on the football team!

Celebrating with Elijah and Leisha at their baby shower (spring 2010)

When it came time for graduation last May, Marcus and Katie came to the cookout that we planned for Travis, Tyler, and Jeremy. 

Some of our best friends in t-town!

After graduation, Travis and I got ready to pack up and leave Tuscaloosa. This is where we saw a great example of Marcus's character. We planned our moving day for the Thursday after graduation, and we asked several people to help us load up our moving van. Wednesday night, Marcus came up to Travis at church and asked him if he could help us move. Now, that's a good friend! Moving is not my idea of fun, but sure enough, Marcus showed up Thursday morning and was a great help to us. After we got the truck loaded, we took some of our "helpers" to City Cafe for one last lunch. After we ate, I made the guys pose for a picture. Even though they didn't seem too thrilled about it at the time, I'm so glad I took that picture. Travis is planning to put it in a frame and put it on his desk at work :)

Great friends...a year ago today

Travis planned a guys' weekend at the lake last August, and a bunch of his friends came, including Marcus. From what I hear, they had a great time (mostly) playing Settlers of Catan and fishing all weekend. Marcus apparently was a natural at Settlers even though he'd never played before! 


Although we didn't get to see Marcus as much in the last year since we weren't living in Tuscaloosa anymore, we always looked forward to seeing him when we went down for a football game or when he and Katie visited her family up here. Despite only knowing Marcus for a couple of years, he definitely made an impact on my life and the lives of many others. We will never forget him.


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I can honestly say that the events of 4.27 were a huge wake-up call to me. They literally have changed my life. Here are just a few things I've taken away from it:

Lesson #1: It's just stuff.

I'm afraid that from the time that we bought our house in January until the storms happened, Travis and I were consumed with painting, buying "gadgets" and "toys", decorating ideas, furniture arrangements, etc. Now I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to have a nice house, but it shouldn't be our main focus. Just like a lot of people learned on April 27th, your house and everything in it can be totally destroyed in a matter of seconds. All of that hard work, time and money...totally gone. Although we didn't have any structural damage to our house during the storms, we did have a power surge that fried some of our stuff inside. The list includes: our TV, Blu-ray player, garage door opener system, laptop power adapter, cell phone charger, GFCI outlet, and an alarm clock. At least, that's all we know of so far. But, you know what? It can all be replaced! It's going to be a hassle, and it's not going to be cheap, but it can be done. It's just stuff. 

Lesson #2: Stuff can be replaced, but relationships can't. 

Instead of worrying as much about how our house looks, I need to be worrying about my relationships with my family and friends. Chances are they don't care and won't remember what my house looks like anyway, but they will remember me as a person. They'll remember my attitude, my outlook on life, how I treated them, etc. When I die, I'm pretty sure my obituary won't mention that I was a "super-couponer" at Publix or that we had the best landscaped yard. I hope it will say that I was cheerful, loving, hospitable, a good example, helpful, humble, etc. I need to be spending more time with my loved ones and less time with my stuff. I need to be telling them that I love them every chance I get because who knows when it will be my last opportunity. 

Lesson #3: Be prepared.

The Boy Scout motto...be prepared. There are a number of ways this can apply. On a trivial note, I've learned that whenever there is a chance of lightning, we apparently need to be unplugging our electronics, even if they are in Monster surge protectors! I've also learned to take tornado warnings seriously. I cannot count the number of tornado warnings that Travis and I ignored when we lived in Tuscaloosa. It's that attitude of "it's nothing serious, weathermen always overreact, nothing bad is going to happen to me." Well, it only takes one time of something bad happening to someone I love for my whole mindset to change. You better believe I'm going to be taking cover for the next tornado warning we have, and all others. However, even if I am in a "place of safety", that doesn't guarantee my safety. There were plenty of people on April 27th who knew the tornadoes were coming and took precautions but didn't make it. Ultimately, the best and only way to be prepared is to be prepared spiritually. If I'm not guaranteed to make it through a bad storm, then I better be ready to meet God at the judgment day. And, not just in a storm, but really every day of my life. I'm sure the odds of dying in a car accident are a thousand or a million times higher than losing my life in a storm, and I drive my car usually every day. If my soul is prepared, then I'm always prepared. It's hard to keep that focus on heaven, but I think that's what Marcus was doing. And it'll be great to see him there one day! 

Lessons of Life from Paint, Mud, and Sandpaper

Last weekend started off a bit rough. All of the rooms in our house were painted, and it was time to paint the closets. Except that I didn't want to paint the closets. In fact, I didn't want to do anything except move all of our stuff in and stuff the closets so full that we wouldn't be able to paint them if we wanted to. I was tired of painting; after all, we'd been at it for 2 1/2 months...

When we first started our painting marathon back in January, Travis wanted to paint every room including all closets and the garage before moving in.  Then, the next several weeks flew by, and we quickly realized that if we didn't do something, it would be the end of the summer before we moved in! So, we came to a compromise. We would paint the pantry and master bedroom closet (basically, the essentials) before moving in, and we would paint the other closets (linen closet, coat closet, and the other two bedroom closets) and garage afterward. So, I was satisfied with that. I didn't really think we should worry with painting them in the first place, but after some convincing by him and others, I agreed.

But, suddenly, it was the middle/end of March, and we still weren't moved in. Every week that passed I was getting more impatient. Then, Travis decided somewhere in there that he thought it would be a good idea not only to paint the pantry and master BR closet before moving in, but that we should take down all of the shelving and replace it with totally new shelving as well. It's just the perfectionist in him. And I just about had a meltdown. I could just see this taking weeks and weeks, and we would never move in, and what's the point of painting a closet anyway when you can't even really see the walls after your stuff is in there?

You see, this painting project has been a real learning experience for us. We definitely have different standards of quality when it comes to work. 

Here's Travis's thought process: "Do it right the first time; take your time and don't take shortcuts; buy the nicest stuff, and it will last a long time; it doesn't matter if you're painting a closet or the living room, you put the same effort into it."

And here's mine: "Do a good job but don't obsess over the little details that most people (especially me) won't ever notice anyway."

You can see how those philosophies don't exactly hold hands and love each other. 

The problem lies in the fact that although I may not notice the little details (like the paint in the closet or the shelving in the pantry), Travis does. And "the popcorn from the pantry will taste better with new shelving up and fresh paint on the walls." Yes, he said that. I guess that's what I get for marrying an engineer. It's all in the little details.

So, how do we get anything done when we work together? Here's what I've discovered:

1. Compromise: Sometimes, it's just not worth arguing about it, even if I think he's crazy or he thinks I'm irrational, etc. We meet in the middle, and come up with something that will satisfy (at least partially) both of us.  This is why we aren't going to paint every closet before moving in, but we did paint two of them.

2. Patience: What's important to me may not be important to him and vice versa. If it's that important to him that it will make his popcorn taste better to eat it from a newly renovated pantry, maybe I should just agree to the new shelving and paint. If I take a step back, I realize that it's going to get done eventually. We will move in sometime this century. And it's not worth getting upset over the fact that we haven't moved in yet. 

3. Love: We really do make a great team. Yes, we butt heads occasionally...sometimes every weekend. But, in the end, I love that we're different. We each bring our own mindset and ideas to the project, and when we work together, we end up with a great outcome! I think every room in our house looks way better than it did before we got a hold of it. (That's a teaser for the upcoming "after" pictures in a few weeks...haha). Working with someone on a big project like this can either be a disaster or a success, and it all depends on your attitude.

I'm glad to say that our house projects have been a success so far! :)

So, here are a few pictures of our recent work before I end this novel:

Here's Travis's newest toy (he gets one just about every week...haha). Meet DeWalt, the Cordless Drill:

DeWalt was a lifesaver when we started taking down all that shelving!

Part of the pantry shelving before we took it down

Dismantling the pantry

Master BR closet before we took the shelving down

Let's just say we mudded and sanded well over 100 holes after taking all that shelving down. Then, we painted the walls. After this weekend when we put up some new shelving, the pantry and closet will be new-and-improved for sure! Told you we work well together! :)

Tentative move-in day is April 9th. But don't hold us to it :)

Lessons Learned (and Re-Learned)

Here are some random things I've learned in the past week:

Lesson #1: NEVER give your phone number to a realtor at an open house, especially when you aren't seriously looking to buy in the next month or two. I made the mistake of giving my number to one who said "I promise not to bug you. I know how that feels, and I hate being harrassed." Ok, so what do 4 emails and 3 phone calls in the past 2 days equal? HARRASSMENT! Oh well, I'll know better for next time :)

Lesson #2: Stressing out about taking a class for your job is pointless. Chances are, they won't fire you if you don't do good. And chances are, it's not going to be nearly as hard as you think it might be. Translation: I got all worked up over taking ACLS last week because I'd heard from several people that you need to study a ton for it and it's really hard. And it wasn't super easy. But it went fine anyway! Always does :)

Lesson #3: "Working life" is just as busy as "college life" is. For some reason, I thought we would have all this free time on our hands to enjoy now that we don't have class, tests, and homework to worry about. Well, I'm not sure where all the time is going, but it's going somewhere! I guess life never slows down...you just have to take advantage of the time you have right now.

Lesson #4: Publix is awesome. Unlike at Wal-Mart or Target, you never have to wait in line more than a minute or so. Last week at Wal-Mart, I waited 20 minutes to check out....literally. Publix is clean, the associates are helpful and nice, and they have an awesome coupon policy that lets me save money! Every time I go to Wal-Mart or Target, it makes me love Publix even more!

Lesson #5: Perspective. It's all about the way you look at things. If you automatically view everything and everyone in a negative light, it can really bring you down. But, if you look for the good in people, chances are you'll have a better day.

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes." ~William James

Hope you all are having a GREAT day!

I'm happy today, oh yes I'm happy today :)

It's Wednesday already! We've had a pretty good week so far. Last weekend we went to Trussville to hang out with my parents. It was great to see them! We also got to see Gran, Dadaw, and Granny for a little while Saturday afternoon, so that was really nice. Bo (Jenn's dog) is just as goofy as ever. Mom has been redecorating practically the whole house, and we hadn't been there since April to see any of it, but it all looks great! The living room especially looks totally different...in a good way. Whenever we buy a house, I'm hiring Mom to do my decorating :)

This week I worked Monday for 4 hours, and it was a total waste of time...haha. They really didn't even need me, but oh well. At least I got paid for it. I may work tomorrow (if they need me), and I'm definitely working Friday 6A-6P. Travis's Friday off is this week, so he's looking forward to that. He's stayed up late every night this week trying to help me get my new phone set up. That thing is so complicated! I think we finally got my email on there the way I want it, so that's progress at least.

A not-so-funny-but sort-of-anyway thing happened on our way back from Trussville on Sunday. Well, we actually didn't realize it until we were about to go to bed Sunday night. Travis and I are now both sleeping in retainers because we grind our teeth according to the dentist. I just got mine a couple of weeks ago....it's a plastic mold that fits over my bottom teeth. Well, Travis (like a good patient) took his to Trussville this weekend, but I left mine here accidentally. We unpacked all our stuff Sunday night, and Travis grabbed his retainer to put it in for the night because we were about to go to sleep. He put it in his mouth....and it didn't fit. At first, we thought he'd grabbed mine by accident. But, I got mine out of the nightstand and put it in....and he had the right one....it had just shrunk! We turned on the light so we could see...and it really had shrunk! It looked like it had been made for an 8 year old's mouth! It must have happened on the way back to Huntsville Sunday afternoon, but he wore it Saturday night and it fit fine. The car was pretty hot when we first got in it, but we were only in it for 2 hours. You wouldn't think that would be long enough to melt a retainer and change its shape. Oh well! So, Travis called yesterday and made an appointment for this afternoon. I'm afraid they're going to say he needs a whole new retainer...and they cost like $400....eek.

Moral of the story...don't travel with your plastic retainer when it's 100 degrees outside apparently.

I did good with my Publix trip yesterday. I got a lot of great deals! I spent more than I usually spend every week ($88), but I saved $71, so that was pretty good. I also found (for the FIRST time) coupon booklets in the store!!!!! They never have any when I look, and yesterday I found two different ones. Yay!!!!

Travis's left hip has really been bothering him for the past couple of weeks. It usually feels ok in the mornings, but by the end of the day he's limping on it pretty bad. If it doesn't get better soon, he's going to have to go the doctor about it. He's not sure what caused it, but hopefully it's nothing serious.

That's about all the news around here that I can think of. Hope you're having a fabulous week! :)