Pictures!!

On Thursday Josh and I went over to the church and took some pictures. Mom had been talking about how pretty the Cherry tree was looking this year and how she wanted a couple pictures of us under it; especially since after this year the tree will be removed to make room for the big church reconstruction thing. Here's a few of my favs from the Toddler Playground (aka, Cherry tree). Then I noticed how pretty the courtyard looked, so we stopped for another photoshoot. Aren't we just the cutest???

The Wait is Over

It is now time for the long-awaited/overdue update. So..where do I begin??? Let's start with the house.

This was the last picture I took of our poor home. It was right after they tore down the kitchen and began work on the rest of the house. Estimated date that this picture was take was about 3 weeks ago (give or take). Now, just image the whole front porch gone and the walls of the house extended out to where the porch was; with the front door in a little alcove type thing. Very cute on the outside...however, not the case on the inside. They have decided to take our nice, cozy house that was just perfect with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath and turn it into a 3 bed 2 bath house. Now, as you can tell the house is not that huge..so putting an extra bedroom and bath inside makes it quite cramped. Not to mention the fact that our decent sized living room and now split in half to accommodate for the extra rooms and has to be shared with the kitchen.

And this is not all. The main reason why I have not taken a picture since the beginning of the process is because we are NOT moving back in after the remodel. Our landlord informed us a couple weeks ago that because of all the money going into the remodel and bringing the house up to code, he will be putting up for sale after the contractors are finished. GREAT. So this past Sunday and Monday I spent my only two days off to move my entire house (which had be smushed into either the basement or the guest bedroom to be out of the contractors way) back up to my parents house (which is now smushed into their office and living room). So, we are back on the house hunt. BOO.

Now, on to my car. Josh and I had been doing very well with sharing a car for a month or so, but it was getting really hard on both us. If one went in to work before the other, then the other had to find a ride or something do until time for work. And the same went for when we were done with work. So, after saving some money and using my tax return money I had enough money for a down payment on a new (well, used, but new to me) car. We went to Marshal Mize Ford and got approved to do the Buy Here- Pay Here deal they have. (Being a server really stinks when you go to get loans...there is no real proof of income so loan officers don't particularly want to risk giving you money, especially in today's world). Sooo...I got myself a 2002 Chevy Blazer.(I would have a picture, but for some reason, my camera won't work.) I love love love it. And it was very handy in moving our stuff last week. 2 trips with this, 2 trips with my mom's SUV and 1 trip with a UHAUL and it was all moved!

Well, I do believe that is it for the update. Still working like crazy and having fun on my days off. Lookin' for a new home and cruisin' the town in my new ride. Ha. Yup, that's it. Until next time (Which I PROMISE won't be like a month away. My bad.).

A Promise

I know it's been a good while since I have updated on everything that has been going on...buuut I double pinky promise that I WILL update this week. Tonight is just not the night for it. Stay tuned!

Update

I thought it might be about time to post an update about my house. The tree is finally off my kitchen and car and work has started in restoring my house back to some order. There is a huge orange dumpster in my front yard, which is now completely treeless ( ugly in my opinion) and cabinets have been emptied and moved to a dry space for the duration of construction. We went by yesterday to get a look at progress and were told that the outside wall of our kitchen was only being held up by one wire, as soon as they cut that wire, the wall went falling. If all goes well we will be moved back in April/May. The construction part shouldn't take too long, what could be the hold up is the inspector coming out to make sure our house is up to the new codes...keep your fingers crossed.

TIIIIMBER!!!!

Late Thursday night we had an unwelcome house guest.......a huge oak tree that was residing in my backyard. I guess it was too wet and cold for him outside, so he thought he'd come into the kitchen to dry off. And since he decided to come inside, he figured he should take a nap in the nice warmth of my house. He made my car would make a nice pillow for this snooze. He hasn't gotten up since. So for the time being, we are back at my parents' house on Signal. Which sucks since we work downtown and work late nights, but at least we have somewhere to go. We will probably be out of our house for 2-3 months while our kitchen gets redone. As for my car....I will be purchasing a new one and selling mine for junk. No one was injured during this and both animals are safe and sound with us.

Following the Trend

Since New Year's Resolutions didn't work, and neither did my "genius" idea of doing Birthday Resolutions.....let's try MONTHLY GOALS. It seems to be working for everyone else, hopefully it works for me. For my first month, I based mine off of Sarah Lawhorn's. So...here we go:

FUN:

Read 2 books: The Blade Itself and Before They Are Hanged both by Joe Abercrombie.

Get better at throwing darts. For Christmas from my boss I received a really nice dart board. So, Josh and I have decided to start throwing darts. We played two rounds the other night, it went pretty well and we had tons of fun. It's something I definitely want to keep doing, especially since Josh and I both found it enjoyable.

Catch up with friends. Since the holidays I have not gotten to catch up with a lot of my friends. This MUST change.

DIY/CRAFTING:

Complete 4 "events" for my Family Scrapbook. For a few years, yes a few years, I having been putting all the pictures my mom has taken throughout the years and compile them into a scrapbook for her. So far I've only ready year 1987, and what's even worse, I started with my birth...in 1986. Yeah, I should work on that.

Work more on the Clymer Family Tree. I've slacked on this. I really want to get it done and be able to finally put all the pieces together.

HOME:

Clean my house from top to bottom. I "straightened" my house after Christmas, but since then...it's become a little less than clean. EEK.

Along with this, my house is slightly unorganized. So, starting with the kitchen, I will be one heck of an organized person.

COOKING:

Cook more meals at home. Josh and I have probably 2, maybe 3 days off together. Instead of cooking meals together at home (for a couple different reasons) we just go out to eat. I think we both want to change this.

Since I will be working on cooking at home, this means I want to try 2 new recipes.

WELLNESS:

Start having a better eating routine. This includes time of meals and healthier foods.

Begin a good work-out consisting of cardio/ flexability/ and toning.

Well, I think that's it for now. Maybe this will be more helpful...but you won't know until the end of the month! hehe. I like teasers.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

A lot of walking is exactly what I did on Friday night, but let's start at the beginning. When I woke up mid-afternoon (yeah, I know, I'm lazy....but I work most nights til 4/5 am...so I deserve it!) I realized that it had been snowing for awhile, considering we already had maybe an inch of snow on the ground. So, after an hour of catching up on some TV shows, I bundled up Lola and myself for some snow fun.

My house in the beginning of the snow.

All bundled up for the snow!

Lola really wasn't a fan....

So, after our fun it got a call from my mom saying she had just left work on Cherokee Blvd. She left early in hopes of beating the snow and making it home for the weekend. No such luck. She got stuck right before the tunnel going into Red Bank and with the help of some very nice strangers she got pushed and on her way. However, by this point in time the snow had yet to let up and the conditions were only getting worse. So, I told her to come stay at my house, rather than try to make it up the mountain; especially since my dad was stuck at home and couldn't even make it out of the driveway. WEEEELLL....after 3 hours of driving around and trying to make her way to my house (which I should mention is surrounded by hills) Mom was unable to make it. She ended up getting stuck AGAIN but this time on Ashland Terrace..got pushed out AGAIN and parked her car at the Rite Aid at Ashland and Dayton Blvd. From there she walked to the gas station on the corner of Ashland and Thrushwood Dr. During this time I bundled up again and made my trek up Thrushwood to meet her at the gas station and walk her back to my house. What a mess I saw. Of course I was in rescue mode and neglected to take my camera, but there were cars everywhere! Which I'm sure everyone saw.

Well, we finally reached each other, grabbed some essentials at the gas station and made our way back. This whole time Josh was still at work and unfortunately not made enough money to be able to just stay downtown where he was safe. So at 6:00, with it getting colder, whiter, and darker, Josh tried to make his way home. He got as far as the S Curves on Hixson Pike. HE GOT STUCK and had some very nice strangers help him get out of the muck and he turned down Haywood Dr. He was able to make it about a block and a half before he realized there was a big hill coming up and there was no way he would make it. So he parked on the side of the street in front of a house, bundled himself up as best as he could, and started walking. Everyone was finally safe and sound by 7:00 that evening.

The next morning Josh and I once again put on the layers for outside and headed to his car....walking..yet again. All in all I probably walked 3+ miles IN THE SNOW....I think I'm good on my cardio workout for at least a week, don't you???

Unfortunately we never got to actually play in the snow. Which made me super sad. No snowball fight, no snowman...nothing but walking. Oh well, maybe next time.