More Home Improvement Stuff + Wacky Weather

This past weekend was another "gettin stuff done" weekend. Yay! On Saturday alone, we hung blinds in our breakfast area and kitchen windows and curtains over the breakfast area window, and then we capped the day off with a 5 mile run! How's that for progress? The kitchen looks so much more complete with the blinds and curtains up, and we actually have some privacy while we eat at the table at night now. Before, I felt like people were staring at us at night through those windows, but not anymore. Now, the only windows uncovered are the little sidelight windows on either side of our front door. I may end up putting some sheer curtains over them in the future though. Here are some pictures of our finally finished kitchen....

So much better!

The navy valence matches the navy in our china and placemats...

Matching blinds and curtain over the little window

Yay!

I'm hoping this weekend we can hang blinds in the guest bedroom and study. Those will be somewhat difficult because they'll have to be mounted a different way, but we've got the hang of this now pretty well, so maybe it won't take too long...

Gabby is the only one who's not happy about the new blinds in the kitchen. She loves to look out of that big window, but it's a little more difficult to do now that there are blinds in the way. Poor kitty!

Pre-blinds

She saw something!

Sunday, I worried about the weather all day because we were supposed to get bad storms and possibly tornadoes that night. Sure enough, I woke up around 1:15 AM to the wind blowing and rain pounding on our windows. The tornado sirens went off about an hour later(which is enough to make me freak out after last April), and we jumped up to go turn on the TV to find out that the bad weather wasn't going to come our way. I may have gone back to sleep for just a short while after that, but soon it was 4:30 and time to get up for work. Luckily, we had no damage at our house (just a lot of rain!), but on the way to work, I heard on the radio that northeast Jefferson County had been hit by a tornado. They specifically mentioned Clay, Trussville, and Centerpoint. Well, hearing that made me panic, so I called Mom and Dad at 5 AM (sorry!) to make sure they were ok. They were, but the tornado came through only a few miles from their house. I think I heard that over 200 homes were destroyed in Clay. Very scary and sad. I've never heard of tornadoes in January, but I guess that's what happens when it's unseasonably warm outside. I'm lobbying for us to have a storm shelter put in our garage since we don't have a basement or really any good spot to hide in our house, but they are pretty expensive. Next house we buy will definitely have to have an underground basement or storm shelter.

I felt like a zombie yesterday at work on such little sleep, and I'm still feeling like it today. I work tomorrow 5:30-2 and Thursday 6-5 and then I'm done for the week. Whew. Friday night, we're having a few people from church over for supper. Luckily, Travis is off for the day, so he can help me cook and clean around here. I know he's so excited! :)

Mom met with her radiation oncologist this morning, and she's hoping to start radiation at the end of this week. She goes back tomorrow to get marked. She'll have 36 treatments total, and they'll be 5 days a week until she's finished unless something comes up. The doctor told her that this is the "easy" part, so we're hoping so!! Hopefully she'll be done by the middle of March!

Well, that's all the "news" I can think of for now. Not too much exciting stuff, but I guess we're just living pretty ordinary lives. I wouldn't change that for the world! :)


Erin

Fall is my favorite!

I love this time of the year so much. The weather is SO NICE outside, football games are on every Saturday, and Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner. (It always amuses me how stores put out their Christmas decorations before Halloween even gets here!) Anyway, October is a great month. Later this month, I will be turning a quarter of a century old. Yikes! I guess it's a pretty big birthday, but I wonder if you ever look forward to having birthdays after your 25th. Most people seem to dread turning 30, 40, 50, etc. Guess we'll see! :)

I put out our fall decorations last week and, much to Travis's dismay, decided that we didn't have enough, so I've been out buying some more cute stuff at Kohl's and Michael's. So far, I've only decorated the inside of the house. If we (cross our fingers) get a lot of work done in our flower beds this weekend, maybe I'll buy some outdoor decorations next week!

This pumpkin candle holder came from Kohl's. I thought it was really cute!

Another candle display for the foyer table...also from Kohl's. Our house smells so good these days!

I already had most of this stuff except the leaf garland, which was $3 at Michael's...

This was my birthday gift from Alisha last year! The small pumpkins are supposed to be place card holders, but I just used them for little signs :)

Mom also said she has some fall decorations she's not using anymore, so I'll go through that stuff next time I go down. We're going to be so festive this year!

October is also a great month because it's Breast Cancer Awareness month. Pink is my favorite color, so I love seeing all of the pink everywhere. I finally got a pink ribbon magnet for my car last week when I was at St. Vincent's with Mom (I've been meaning to get one for a while!). And, I'm slowly getting in shape for the Liz Hurley Ribbon Run on October 15th (next Saturday!). I've been trying to run every other day for the past few weeks, and this week I've been running about 2 1/2 miles through our neighborhood and the connecting neighborhoods. This morning, I finished in 21:35...pretty good for being out of shape! The race is a 5K (3.1 miles), so I think I can handle it. I also reached my goal of raising $500 for the race...thanks to everyone who donated!! Thank you for your support and for being so generous!!! :)

Mom is feeling a little bit better every day since she left the hospital. I know she's glad to be home! She's had an extra week to recuperate and run errands/take care of stuff that she probably wouldn't have gotten to do otherwise, so that's been good. Her next treatment is this coming Monday, and it's her last treatment of the two-drug combo she's been on. Go Mom!!!

It's been a little while since I've given a kitten update. Felix and Gabby are as goofy as ever. I really do think Gabby has a demon in her sometimes. She's just crazy!  I don't know where she gets all her energy, but it seems like it never ends. She still loves to be petted and held, and she loves to climb in my lap when I'm sitting on the floor or at the table. I think I've said it before, but she can purr louder than any cat I've ever heard. We call it her "motor", and it definitely rumbles! She usually purrs even just being around us, so she definitely loves us.

Travis is turning out to be the disciplinarian of the two of us (who's surprised!), and he has even been known to "spank" a misbehaving kitten (a.k.a. like when Gabby knocked over a picture frame and the trashcan in the bathroom last night). We still catch them both on the furniture every once in a while (some days are worse than others), but they obviously know they aren't supposed to be up there because they jump down right away before we can even get on to them).

Felix is definitely coming out of his shell too. He loves to be petted (when he's in the mood for it...he won't always let us), and he doesn't run away when we come near him anymore. He lets us hold him, but he isn't too happy about it. He's got a lot of energy too, but he's still more relaxed than Gabby is. He definitely has an appetite like his daddy...I think he definitely eats more than his share of the food. They are both getting so big! They are still pretty long and lean, but I bet they weigh 5-6 pounds easily.

Felix loves "sunning" in the kitchen chairs!

Gabby doesn't like to pose very well for pictures!

Cat napping

Felix is so cute!

Gabby snuggled up in a blanket in my lap

Travis and "Motor Magee" (Gabby's nickname)

They really do love each other...even if it doesn't look like it here!

That's better!

We've really enjoyed having friends over to watch most of the Alabama games so far this year. I don't think we've watched a game yet by ourselves...except the first game that we went to. Bama looks good so far! They play Vandy at home this week, and Ole Miss away next week. We will probably go to the Tennessee game after that, but that may be the only other game we go to this year (unless we can find some *cheap* Iron Bowl tickets!!).

Tonight, Jeremy, Tyler, and Melissa are coming over for supper. Hopefully Travis will get home in time to eat with us! He has been working some crazy hours this week. He worked (from home) almost all weekend, and last night he worked until about 8:30. They have a big 3-day presentation coming up toward the end of this month, so they've been trying to get ready for that. I'm sure he'll be glad when it's over! Travis is actually having surgery next Wednesday, so that may be the only way he can get a little break from work for a few days. Ever since he broke his nose playing football on the Quad in t-town our sophomore (I think) year, he has really had a lot of sinus problems and trouble breathing. He had one surgery on it already, but this time an ENT surgeon, Dr. McCary, is going to fix his septum and shave his turbinates. Hopefully that will help him a lot! So, next week, I will be playing nurse to my hubby instead of my mom! I wish I could be in two places at once, but I don't think I can make that happen. I did tell Mom that I could bring her up here and I'll stick her on one end of the couch, Travis on the other end, and Felix and Gabby in the middle, and I'll just take care of all 4 of them at once! She laughed, but I don't think she'll be taking me up on that offer :) Luckily, she's got a lot of options for people to sit with her next Wednesday and Thursday since I won't be there. She'll be in good hands!

Well, I guess that's enough "news" for now. Hope you are having a wonderful week! :)

Erin

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! 

Are you in your place of safety? :)

This has been a crazy weather day so far. I'm definitely missing the basement at Baugay's on a day like today! We don't have a basement here at our house, so when there's bad weather, I guess our best option is to hide out in our guest bathroom. It's probably the safest room since it doesn't have any windows. Luckily, we have some awesome friends from church who have said it's ok to come over anytime there's bad weather in the area. The Hesters live about 2 minutes away, so it's really convenient! I've already been over to their house twice today with all of these tornadoes coming through, so thank you, thank you Melissa!! You're the best! So far, we haven't had any damage at our house, so hopefully it will stay that way for the rest of the day. 

Last night, we went to hear Bobby Bowden speak over in Athens. It was put together to benefit ABS, and we saw a lot of friends and people we know there. We sat with Baugay, and it was great to see her for the first time since we moved a couple of weeks ago. Bobby Bowden was really funny, and he seemed like a natural speaker. He spent most of his time talking about what's really important in life rather than football wins and losses, so it was pretty inspirational. 

Things are really starting to get busy for the two of us, and I have a feeling that it's not going to slow down until after July 28th! This weekend, Travis is going to a tool and gadget "shower" for Matt on Saturday night. Next weekend, we've been invited to FOUR parties/showers....not to mention that it's also Mother's Day weekend!!!! The weekend after that is Matt's bachelor party. Then, we've got Emily's graduation, Memorial Day, the Cotton Row 10k, the lingerie shower, Fripp Island,4th of July, bachelorette party, the wedding!!!!! AAAHHHH!!!!! :) This time of the year gets busy every year, but this year it seems even busier than normal. I think I just need to take it one week at a time. Sometime in there, we've got to get unpacked and settled so that people won't have to step over boxes at the lingerie shower!! I did manage to get my china cabinet cleaned and all of my china washed and put away. It looks so pretty displayed with the light on!!  We also rotated our dining room table so that it fits better in the room with the china cabinet. 

I've been running a good bit over the past week! Today, since the weather was bad, I went to the gym and ran 35 minutes on the treadmill. Monday morning before work, I ran 3.5 miles around our neighborhood and the one across the street. Sunday afternoon I ran some hill repeats in our neighbhorhood. So, I feel like I'm getting in better shape slowly. I need to start upping my mileage though b/c this 10k is only about 1 month away!!!

This is my week to work Thursday instead of Tuesday, so I'm working the next two days. Gotta get this laundry done and folded before church tonight! Hope you all are staying safe today!! :)

March is here!

I'm absolutely loving this beautiful weather we've been enjoying today and yesterday. It reminds me of sunny California...can't believe it's been over a year since we were there. Time sure does go by fast. 

Speaking of time, it's almost been a year since Travis graduated and we left Tuscaloosa. Now, that's crazy. I guess we're fully in the working world now. I've been thinking lately about how much I miss t-town. It was easy to take for granted having so many friends our age around. Now, we have a few friends up here that we hang out with occasionally, but for the most part, we don't do a whole lot...at least with friends our own age. Everyone I work with is at least 15-20 years old than me, and I'm sure it's the same for Travis. And, we love Kelly Spring, but there are very few people our age there also. I wish that I could just gather up all our friends from college and transport them up here permanently. Anyone in their mid-twenties who lives nearby want to be our friend? :)

Here's my weekly painting update: We've got the cut-in finished in the study. Yay! Our goal is to finish the study and guest bedroom this weekend. They are going to be the same color (taupe), so it makes sense to paint them at the same time. We'll probably dedicate next weekend to the guest bathroom, and the next weekend to our closet and the pantry, and THEN maybe we'll move in. I think we'll probably end up painting the other closets and garage after we move in...otherwise, it'll be this summer before we get there...haha. As it is now, it'll probably still be the end of March/first of April before we actually move. 

Travis ordered a programmable thermostat and a lawnmower online last night, so he was excited about that. The thermostat was only $65, and it's supposed to save you a lot of money on your power bill every year. 


This is my week to work Thursday instead of Tuesday, so I'm up at the crack of dawn (actually before) for the next two days. It sounds awful, but I actually like getting it over with early rather than staying late. Starting work at 5:30 AM means getting off at 2 PM, and that is awesome.

Spring break for Alabama and Auburn is week after next, I believe. This will be the first spring break since before I started kindergarden that I won't have off! Last year, even though I was already working by that point, they let me have the week off to spend in Tuscaloosa with Travis. Sigh. No more long breaks unless I take ETO. That just makes me look forward to Fripp Island even more! P.S. Jenn, you need to come up here during spring break and see us! :)

That's about all for now. Thanks for reading! 

Go away, snow!

I guess the groundhog lied, didn't he? No early spring yet! Last night we got more snow and ice around here. Not sure how much, but it looks like a couple of inches at least. Schools are closed again, and the Arsenal delayed its opening by 2 hours. Yay for Travis getting to sleep late! It's not supposed to warm up very much today, but I hope it will melt before I have to go to work tomorrow.

Last weekend, we worked over at our house pretty much all Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday afternoon. We got the painting in the kitchen finished up, so that's good. Mom came up Saturday afternoon, and she helped me decide on the rest of the colors for the other rooms, so that was huge progress. Thanks, Mom! :) Our living room furniture got delivered, and we love it. We might be doing things backwards to be painting the living room AFTER the furniture is in there, but at least we were able to pick out a color that matches well. Saturday night, we started painting the dining room. It's going to be a really pretty beige color. I didn't want it to be anything too dark since the room doesn't have any windows. We did the cut-in a second time on Sunday afternoon, and Travis rolled the walls once Monday night. We're hoping to roll them a second time tonight, and then the dining room will be pretty much complete! Next up is the living room and foyer....that's gonna take a while...

This weekend, we're heading to my parents' house to celebrate Jenn's birthday. Her birthday isn't actually until next week, but we'll celebrate a little bit early I guess. I picked out her birthday present yesterday, so hopefully she'll like it :)

Today sounds like it's going to be a good day to stay inside. I may head to the gym this afternoon when it warms up a little, but other than that, I'm going to just stay here. Plenty to do without getting out! :)

Scratch that...we just found out the Arsenal is closed today. Travis gets a long weekend! I guess we may go over to our house (if we can get there) and do some extra painting :)

Yipee!! :)

All mixed up

So far this week, that's what I've been. And, no, it's not from breathing paint fumes almost every day at our house :)

Instead of my usual Monday, Tuesday, Friday work days, this week I worked Monday and I'm working tomorrow and Friday (5:30 to 2). That doesn't sound like a big deal (it's just one day different), but I've got in such a routine on my usual off-days that it's really gotten me mixed up on what day it is! I think I prefer getting 2 of the 3 days over with at the beginning of the week, but at least I didn't have to work a late night on Tuesday I guess. Every 4th week, I'll work Monday, Thursday, Friday instead of my normal days. Don't try to figure it out...Travis can't even remember when I work. 

Update on the painting project: The master bedroom and bathroom are finished...COMPLETELY!! :) I'm really, really, really happy with the way the colors turned out. Now, we just have to get the outlet covers back on and do a little cleaning, and those rooms will be ready for our stuff! We've also got the kitchen almost finished. We did the cut-in twice this weekend (first coat Saturday and second coat Sunday), and then I rolled the walls for the first coat last night. We'll need to do a second coat, I'm sure, but I think we might get away with just one gallon of paint. Yay! Now I have to say...it's pretty green. It's a lot of green! But, I do like the color, and I think once we get the fridge and stove back in place and hang curtains and pictures on the walls, it won't be so overpowering...I hope :) This Saturday, we're getting our living room furniture delivered, so I'm super excited about that! I'm afraid it's going to be hard to get Travis up out of the recliner to paint once he sits in it cause it's so comfortable :)

This weekend was like a little taste of spring. I can't wait for warmer weather! I feel like I'm just a happier person when it's nice outside. Apparently the groundhog didn't see his shadow this morning, so maybe spring is just around the corner...

I guess that's enough rambling for today. One of these days, I'll take some pictures of our painting progess so you can see how it's going. Hope you're having a great week so far! And happy birthday this past Monday to you, Gran! I love you and hope you had a wonderful day :)

What a weird week so far...

It's just been crazy! Sunday night, we got MORE SNOW! It started around 8 PM Sunday, and in only an hour or two, the ground was already covered completely. When we woke up Monday morning, we found even more snow than on Christmas day! 

5 1/2 inches in the driveway, but I measured 7 1/2 outside our door downstairs!

Our cars are getting tired of the snow...

Snow footprints

Baugay's house covered in snow again!

Someone had already ventured out on the roads!

Mailbox :)

Trav looks so happy about the snow!

 
Redstone Arsenal was closed yesterday and today, so Travis has been off all week so far. They are opening back up tomorrow, though, so he'll have to go in to work! Poor thing!

With the roads being pretty treacherous around town, most of our surgeries yesterday and today were cancelled. However, I still had to go to work! It was utterly ridiculous. Basically, the hospital's inclement weather policy is that you either have to make arrangements to get to work for your shift or spend the night at the hospital, or you get a written warning and disciplinary action. I can understand that reasoning for departments like the ER, but I work in outpatient surgery! Most of the surgeries are elective...not life-threatening! But, apparently, they want to treat everyone the same, so I had to come in just like everyone else. My sweet husband drove me there both days, and luckily I got to leave early so we didn't have to drive home in the ice and the dark! Out of my two work days, I've worked about 6-7 hours and taken care of 3 patients. It was a total waste of time and gas money. Oh well! I did my time (or part of it at least), so at least I won't be fired...

Moving on, Thursday is supposed to be our big closing day, but I'm not sure it's going to happen. The sellers' realtor is hopeful but not positive they will be able to get the repairs done in time "because of the weather". I'd like to remind her that if they'd gotten started when they first found out the results of the inspection, we wouldn't be up against the clock like this! Luckily, if we have to push the closing date back, we've got our good interest rate until next Friday the 21st. Cross your fingers that it works out ok! We did get the results back from the radon re-test, and the house averaged 1.0!! We were so excited! I guess the big ugly PVC pipe is worth it after all :)

P.S. Happy birthday to the best mom in the world! When I told Travis how young she was turning today, he said, "That doesn't seem right...she seems about 43!" So, Mom, we think you're definitely still young at heart :)

Radon, Lovely Weather, and Other Fun Topics...

Just to be upfront...a lot has transpired in the past week, so this will probably be a pretty lengthy post. You have been warned :)

I'll back up to last Friday. Travis and I met with Amy at Regions to sign paperwork...lots and lots of paperwork! Good thing I have to sign my name 50 million times a day at work, or it probably wouldn't come so naturally. She explained all of the stuff about our upcoming loan to us, which made me excited and nervous at the same time. Closing day is less than a month away. So we leave the bank, eat a quick supper at Rosie's (yum!), and then head to the mall for some Christmas shopping. In honor of my parents taking my sister and me Angel Tree shopping several times when we were growing up, I wanted us to do the same thing this year. I let Travis pick out our "angel", and he chose a little 10 year old boy named Ramzie. Now get this...what made this little boy special, apparently, was the fact that he listed a "science kit" as one of the items on his wish list. Haha :) So, off we went in search of a science kit. We finally found a "cool" one at a toy store (I think Travis was reliving his childhood a little!). We also bought Ramzie a card game from another toy store and a new pair of jeans and a sweater. I hope he'll enjoy everything!

Saturday morning was the big inspection on our house. We met the inspector there at 9 AM, and we were there until almost 11:30! He'd set up a radon test last Wednesday in the house (which takes at least 48 hours to complete). Steve, the inspector, walked us through the house inside and out and showed us all sorts of things we didn't know. Overall, we learned a lot, and the house was in pretty good shape according to him. He found a couple of safety issues that can easily be fixed (by the sellers, before closing), and a few other minor issues that the sellers would hopefully fix as well. If anyone needs a recommendation for a home inspector, let me know because he was great! Darlene, our realtor, took our picture in  front of the house before we left Saturday morning:

Yipee!

 So, we left the house feeling pretty good about everything. Steve said he would download the results from the radon test and send us an email with his inspection report later that afternoon. We went home and got ready to head to Montevallo for Alan and Katie's wedding. Andrew came over and rode with us down there. The wedding was beautiful, and we had a lot of fun! Katie looked gorgeous, not surprisingly, and they both seemed really happy. It was great to see a lot of people from Tuscaloosa that we hadn't seen since May as well! 

Alisha and me at the wedding!

  Bad news, however, arrived in the form of an email just about the time we got seated for the ceremony. Steve sent us the results from the radon test, and the house tested really high with radon. Really high. According to the EPA, if your house tests higher than 4 pCi/L, you need to have a mitigation system put in. Well, our house averaged 20 pCi/L! 

Some of you may not have ever heard of radon. I hadn't until earlier this year. If you go to the EPA's website, you can learn more about it. Basically, it's a gas that you can't see, smell, or taste that is formed from decaying uranium in soil. It can get into your house from cracks in the foundation or even through the water supply, and if it builds up to high levels, it can cause cancer. It is the 2nd leading cause of lung cancer (behind cigarette smoking), and the EPA estimates that almost 1 in 15 homes in the U.S. have high levels of radon. Check out this map to see which parts of the country have the highest radon levels (red = the worst). 

Anyway, my first thought (since we know someone personally who lived in this area, never smoked, got lung cancer and died in his 40s) was to say "Let's walk". Because we can technically get out of the contract, since radon is considered a safety issue. But, what's to say that the next house we found that we liked wouldn't have the same problem? All of north Alabama is in the red on the map. Plus, we've also learned that just because your house tests low or high for it at one point, that doesn't mean that the next test will have the same result. The results depend on the weather and the pressure in the atmosphere at the time. So, what if we found another house we liked, got it tested and the results came back ok? Who really knows if the results would be the same time if it was tested a month later? Here's the kicker: the people who own the house now say that they had it tested back in 2007 when they bought it, and the results were fine. Now they're 20??

Basically, the only way to assure yourself that the radon levels in your house are within the acceptable limit is to have a radon mitigation system put in. We got a couple of quotes from different companies in the area, and they cost between $1000 to $2000 to put in. Of course, if we decide to stay with this house, we'll have the sellers pay to put a system in. 

Right now, the house is being re-tested for radon by a different person. The sellers offered to pay for it just to double-check that the first results were accurate. This test should be finished tomorrow, so we'll hopefully know by tomorrow night what the new results are. I'll keep you posted, of course!

Moving on, it has been freezing cold around here lately! I feel like we are living in Antarctica, not Alabama! Travis actually got to leave work around lunchtime today because of the sleet/freezing rain in the area. It was so nice having him home during the day...brought back memories of our college days when we'd actually see each other at other times than just at night.

Work has been crazy this week. A lot of out-of-the-ordinary stuff happened to my patients, which translated into me feeling like a pretty awful nurse. Most of it I guess wasn't really my fault, but it was still frustrating. I wish everything went smoothly all of the time, but some things are just out of my control. Anyway, I had a breakdown yesterday after everything happened. Luckily, Mom answered her phone and helped calm me down and remind me that I'm a good nurse and stuff like that just happens sometimes. I have the best Mom :)

If you're still reading at this point, I'm proud of you! I figured this one would be a little long-winded :)

Hope you are staying warm and dry this week! Aren't you thankful for a warm place to sleep at night? I know I am!

Babies...

Today in class we talked about babies. Babies. I'm officially scared to death of them. It seems like there's so much that can go wrong.

- They can swallow balloons (and we learned that once a baby swallows a latex balloon, there's no way to get it out and they WILL suffocate to death).
- They can choke on their food.
- They can aspirate their vomit.
- They can die while they are asleep (SIDS).
- They can fall off the bed when you're not looking.
- They can get really sick before they've built up a good immune system.
- And those are just a few of the things we talked about...

EEEKK! I'm afraid that I'll be in a constant state of anxiety when that time comes. There are several people in my class that have kids, and I wonder how they do it. How do you find time to take care a baby, go to class and clinicals, study, and still have time to sleep? Who knows!

In other news, it is beautiful outside today! It's amazing how much the weather can affect my mood. When it's nice all the time, like in the spring, I take it for granted, so I guess it's good that God made the seasons; otherwise, I wouldn't appreciate the nice weather so much!

We are going to a wind ensemble concert tonight at Moody. Travis has to go to two concerts for his music class, so I'm tagging along. Tomorrow night we're going to a wedding in Bham. And for the rest of the weekend, I guess we'll be studying. At least, Travis will. I've got my first test a week from Monday, so I may go ahead and start reading for that.

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend too! :)