Just When You Think Things Are Okay...

So this weekend I got some disturbing news that sent shockwaves through my little family.  It had to do with some of my husband's crowd and thankfully it, meaning the situation, appears to be handled.  And without going into a lot of detail, the last few days were stressful because of the disturbing news.  And now that that seems to be looking up.

Or so I thought...

And then the little reproductive issue (as in the lack of a monthly period) I have been dealing the last few months seems to have returned unexplicably... and that worries the imortal hell out of me because I'm constantly living if fear that something is majorily wrong with me.

So my stress levels are up and all over the place.  The one bright spot in my week however, besides having Monday off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, was that on Thursday the Hubster and I were finally going to set a closing on our constrution loan with the lawyers and we'd be one more step closer to building the dream home... and we were so excited.

Back in November we went to the bank to start the loan process and things looked good but the process was slow.  Because of all the economic darkness the Hubster and I were put through the ringer when it came to getting approval and luckily last week we heard that we were approved.  All that was left was setting the closing.

I knew things were too easy... something told me that something would go wrong.  And at exactly 5:00pm this afternoon this went wrong. 

Back in November we were told how much we'd have to pay up front.  The bank was going to cover 80% and we'd pick up the remaining 20% plus closing costs.  Well, stupid me-- I thought we'd put the 20% down and pay the closing cost when we closed out the loan.  I should have asked more questions, and maybe the Hubster should have asked more questions, but we didn't know we were wrong in our thinking because we've never done this before.

So we get a call just as all the banks are closing that we'll have to put the entire amount down up front and we just were not prepared for that sort of news.  Needless to say I'm disappointed.  I've cried... I've pouted... I've even contemplated robbing the local bank... but thinking better of it, I called my banker and my laywer and I've pushed back the closing date.

The irony is all of this is the feeling word of the month is "Frustration" and now I have a great example to teach to my students!  AHHHHHGGGG!

Snowed-In Snow Den...

The view from my home office slash guest bedroom is rather wintery looking... Isn't it?  For the second time in a few weeks it has snowed once again-- which is rare in this part of the world. 

Actually it snowed a little bit and then came the freezing rain, which just cripples everyone and everything.  Channel 5 news spent the entire morning showing clips of 18 wheelers jack-knifing on overpasses.

Yesterday the school children had a two hour school day... and since 1:30pm yesterday afternoon I've not set foot outside.

I'm not big on being cold... or wet... and especially not cold and wet at the same time.  But I'm being as productive as one can be in this sort of situation or as Steven Cobert so rightly said, "the weather of Northern Aggression."

So far I've ordered underwear to clear out the credit my Victoria Secrets credit card had on it from before Christmas.  I've done a load of laundry and I'm seriously thinking of starting another load.  I made coffee and at this very moment I'm soaking dishes from the night before.  The Red Baron Mini Pizza I've made myself for lunch is cooling on the stove and after I eat that pizza, I'm going to start working on ideas for my sisters wedding.

I've also did some actual work-work.  Just moments ago I started to try to reschedule a meeting that was cancelled yesterday due to our two hour school day... and I copied my principal in on the emails so he'd know just how dedicated I am to my craft.

Who says you can't brown-nose from your snowed-in, snow-den? 

My sister's birthday is rapidly approaching so I'm even looking on-line for possible gift ideas as well.  I'm so content right now sitting in my pj's doing exactly what I want to do.

Let's hope this afternoon is just as productive.

Happy (Belated) New Year...

Christmas came and went in a hurry.  It always does.  It seems like just yesterday that we were standing stunned in our front hallway staring at the tree that had just fell (see previous post).  Since that fateful day I've hosted two holiday parties and participated in seven holiday celebrations.  With the New Year already in full gear, I have a feeling that I'll be talking about Christmas coming pretty soon in no time.

Times really does fly by.  These days I'm all business.  Between work, wedding planning, and house planning I barely have time to think, let alone find the time to write a meaningful blog entry.

I had several interesting ones prepared but I've since lost interest.  It snowed here, which is unusual and I had thought about writing about my new found appreciation for the snow...  and I thought about venting about how my sister's intended is constantly changing his mind about wedding colors and how it is driving me crazy-- but I thought better of it.  I even was going to share with you some pictures from the Christmas shower I threw for my sister, but I don't have access to the pictures just yet.  I intend to show them to you, once I get them downloaded off my parents' computer.

For now I'll think I'll wish you a Happy (belated) New Year!  I hope your's is off to a great start.  By accident I've made a resolution to eat less junk.  Just before the New Year I found myself suffering from a bad case of heartburn which was brought on by eating way too much junk and drinking way too much wine.  Word of advice-- never buy oversized wine glasses-- I ended up drinking almost a whole bottle of wine by myself and I only had two glasses!

I'm doing okay with my resolution-- partly because we've been eating earlier and I've not had much time to snack between getting off work and eating my evening meal.  Hopefully I'll feel better in the future.

Again, I hope you are having a nice New Year.  Good luck with your resolutions.  And hopefully I'll be adding those pictures soon.

Thanksgiving Aftermath...

We made it through the first major holiday in one piece... and surprisingly in the same pant size.  Considering that we attended and feasted at (count 'em) 3 Thanksgiving Day meals, remaining the basic weight and size is quiet a feat. 

So Thanksgiving Day went off without a hitch and we even got our Christmas Card pictures taken, designed and ordered!  Yes, the Hubster and I were on the Holiday ball, so to speak.  Thanksgiving night we drank hot chocolate and watched our favorite Christmas movie-- "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation"-- our first steps in starting our holiday off right.

We had decided to get the tree on Saturday.  We went to Spanky's near the Johnston Memorial Hospital which was the same place we went last year (see last year's post about our monster tree) and had very little trouble deciding on a nice 8 a half to 9 foot tree.  He paid for it, they loaded it up and we were off to the house to begin the decorating.

Everything was as close to perfect as it was going to get.  The Hubster was going to grill steak and string the lights-- he was even going to help get the boxes and boxes and boxes of ornaments and decorations from storage upstairs!  It was just great.

Most years, or at least since we've been married, the Christmas tree has caused us much trouble-- yelling, screaming, cussing, fussing-- you name it, we've either done or said it all while trying to get the damned tree to work.

Things were going too easy and neither one of us wanted to admit it.

Saturday night we started on the task before us.

We got the white tree down from the storage room upstairs.

We got the storage bins with all the decorations down from the storage room upstairs.

The Hubster started stringing lights.  And it was good.  No strands burned out... no bulbs shorted out.  It was good.  And we never argued about anything, not one little bit!

We noticed that the tree was a little bit off center-- it was leaning just a little bit.  But I started my job-- the decorating... because, it is a tree-- a live-honest-to-goodness-not-perfect-tree! So it might lean a little bit.  Big deal!

The first attempt tree decorations-- about 10 minutes into decorating...

Looking back, maybe we should have laid off the Crown and Coke... maybe we should have been a little bit more careful in our decorating.  Maybe I shouldn't just focus on the front side of the tree.  But in the moment, I was fearless, happy, and carefree.  What's the worst that could happen?

I remember going to bed so happy Saturday night.  I had successfully decorated our tree and it looked good.  My last thought, however, as I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep was, "Tomorrow I'll move that picture frame so it isn't even with the other picture frame." 

Sunday morning rolled around.  I was happy.  The tree was finished and all was good-- I made myself some cereal and told the Hubster that that afternoon I'd work on the white tree and then we could probably go to the Hanging of the Green's ceremony our church put on each year. 

I was making my way to our bedroom to change out of my pj's and into real clothing when I stopped to adjust the ornament my grandmother gave us for Christmas last year.  I took it off the tree and placed it on the table near where I was standing.  I remembered my thought about the picture frame... I reached to move it and....

BAM!

The tree, fully decorated went tumbling down.  The sound of broken glass and limbs hitting the hardwood floor interrupted my scream.  We righted the tree.  Thankfully, my Radko ornaments were safe-- all but one...  my favorite one.   We, in a daze quickly pulled off the ornaments, pulled up the soaking wet rug and swept up the mess.

Tears wouldn't come. 

Yelling wouldn't come.

We knew we were at fault.  We should have paid more attention to the leaning tree the night before.  In the confusion I told the Hubster-- "Next year we're getting a fake tree!"  and he retorted, "Never!  We are no quitters!"

So, Sunday night, almost in a panic, instead of attending our church service, re-hung our own Greens.  My sister and her soon-to-be-husband came over and argued about furniture.  I had her re-work the tree topper.  Strangely I think the tree looks much better now...

We are the Griswold's...

Merry Christmas

Lapland, Orphans, and Thanksgiving...

With the prospect of eating three Thanksgiving meals tomorrow, I'm forced to reflect on how this came into being.  Best I can figure, its all because of one word-- Inbreeding.  Where I'm from, it is highly regarded as truth that everyone born east of I-95 Highway is... oh how should I put this?... Is his own grandpa. 

Now this little "truth" doesn't bother me much.  My family tree branches off quite nicely, if I do say so myself and if my forefathers were relatives, there isn't much evidence to prove it.  Although, I do recall back in high school a teacher making us outline our family tree as part of a project.  A few of my classmates/neighbors ended up with a stump instead of a nice full tree.  But I digress... it seems to me that the whole problem with tomorrow's meals lies with inbreeding.

It's my own fault.  I married a boy from just around the corner.  My father always joked that a true "redneck" finds love by looking out their front door.  I found my love on a tractor one summer while standing up to my eyeballs in a tobacco field... and even though his last name overlaps some of my people's last names, I have never once saw any of his kin at any of my family reunions.  I don't think that quiet makes me a redneck or inbreed.  Maybe my future children, however.

My dear friend, Olivia, when we were in college called me, "Sweet Home Alabama" because I was, according to her, just like the character Reese Witherspoon played in that movie.  I beg to differ though-- I've never lived a fabulous life in New York, my father-- although he serves on the local historic association board- does not reenact the Civil War, and my parents live in a very respectable two story brick home and are the biggest Democrats you'll ever meet.  That being said, I do talk slow and my address does fall in the "east of 95" district.

Regardless, tomorrow the Hubster and I will be eating at 12 o'clock, 1 o'clock and thankfully, 5:30pm instead of 3 o'clock as my uncle had intended.

Now how does this, eating three times, relate to inbreeding?  Well, looking back on it, I should have married someone from far away.  Like someone from Lapland.  I don't think those from the "land of the midnight Sun" even celebrate Thanksgiving-- probably because there is little to be thankful about when it is daylight at 2:00am .  But if I had of married someone from far away I'd, at best be eating two big meals instead of three.  When you live 'east of 95' and you marry someone from that same region, you don't pick who you eat with-- you just cram it into one big day.

My grandfather, who was always full of infinite wisdom said this:  "Always marry an orphan."  And after being married for a little over three years, I get it what he is saying.  Families make life very difficult, even when they don't mean to.  Do you think that my mother-in-law is purposely planning her Thanksgiving celebration just an hour after my mother's?  No.  At least I hope not. It's just how she's always done it and so she isn't about to change a whole routine just to make life easier for me and her son (even though that would be greatly appreciated). 

Next year my mother has already decided to move her celebration to the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving.  It's a rather smart idea because this way she's getting to be the first of the many marathon meals, as my sister will be married this time next year to another local boy who isn't an orphan either.

Luckily, Thanksgiving night is all ours... the Hubster and I plan to watch a little movie we love called "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" and get ready for putting out the Christmas Decorations.

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

Scences from Charleston, South Carolina: October 29th, 2010

This pink hotel-- the Mills House-- is where we stayed while in Charleston.  It was recommended by a friend and Southern Living Magazine and I must say the service was awesome.

This last picture may take some explaining... it is an antique tin ceiling tile that the Hubster purchased for me in at the market in Charleston.  It was my birthday present and I intend to hang it on my living room wall in our new house.  It is over 100 years old and it is just fabulous.  Yes, we looked like idiots carrying the thing back to our hotel room, but we did get some positive comments from the people that stopped to stare. 

MIA...

So I've been on a bit of a blogging vacation-- well, actually I've just been too bogged down with other things to steal a few moments to record my thoughts.  Since my last post I've done a few things that I wasn't really expecting to do.

First of all, we did end up in Charleston over my birthday this past weekend.  It was fabulous.  I'll post pictures later, I only made a few, but as the Hubster and I rode in a carriage listening to a tour guide I kept thinking to myself, "I'm in love with this place!"  It was that sort of town.

I'm also very excited about the tin ceiling tile that the Hubster bought for me from Charleston-- its over 100 years old and I can't wait to have it hang in my new house!  Again, I'll post pictures of it, but not now.

Secondly, the house stuff is sort of coming along.  After giving the go ahead to a contractor, the Hubster's first cousin, who also is a house builder, gave us an offer we couldn't refuse and it looks like the cousin is going to get the job.  I personally feel much better about this because the cousin is as anal and detail oriented as I am.  We are supposedly meeting with the bank this week and then we'll start pulling permits.

Finally, I cut my hair.  I didn't mean to.  I just went in for a trim and some much needed highlights and the next thing I knew I was telling my stylist to just cut it own up!  The Hubster loves it and so says everyone else, yet I'm still on the fence.  I miss my hair but at least it will grow back! 

I hope to get back in the habit of blogging... there's plenty to rant about.  But for now, this will do.  I've got to go take a prenatal vitamin or something similar to entice my hair to grow, grow, grow!