Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, I'm a little bit older now. Not sure I feel any wiser. Monday was my bday, and looking back, it's been a really crazy year. Getting pregnant, Circle of Friends, having a baby, moving to Kansas...you could say it's been one of my more interesting years. Of course, there have been downs and ups, but I think there have been more ups, so that's good. This bday turned out to be a good one. My parents and sister came up to see me. They brought gifts and a cake (which Anna helped to frost oh so cutely). They helped me unpack some boxes and get things settled, and just hung out with us, which was great. I don't think it was the most relaxing vacation for them, but I was glad they came. Then I got a package on Monday from my super sweet friends at College Hill. It was full of cards and little gifts. It totally made my day! I put the kids down for naps and went through each one savoring memories about my friends and loving everything they sent. Then today, Ty's gift arrived. A POPCORN MACHINE!!! If you can't guess, or don't know, I LOVE popcorn. I really think I could eat it every day, and never get tired of it. I've always told Ty that I wanted my own machine someday, and today was that day. It's beautiful, and it made an absolutely delicious batch of popcorn. All in all, a pretty great celebration. Now here's to a year of growth and patience, with a lot of fun thrown in too.

Progress

Well, we slept in OUR house for the first time last night! Boxes are piled everywhere, and I have no idea where most of it is going to go. Still, I'm super excited! Abigail reacted by taking about 45 minutes of a nap today, but I'm thinking she'll get over that pretty quick when she wears herself out. I finally figured out how to get pics off my camera and on here, but it's going to take a while for me to sort through all the ones I've taken and get them up, so you'll have to wait just a little longer (or just come visit me :)). While you wait here's a slightly edited account of my lovely conversation with a customer service representative from a company called DishPronto. Enjoy or roll your eyes (or both). You must imagine the guy with a really thick middle eastern accent and me stuffed up and grouchy from being sick.
Guy: Hi my name is... How can I help you.
Me: Hi. I tried to order service last night online, but I didn't receive any confirmation that my info went through, so I'm not sure if it worked or not.
Guy: So are you calling because you don't have an account, or because you're not sure if you have an account? (1st red flag)
Me: Right. I'm not sure if what I did online went through or not.
(some more similar conversation)
Guy: Ok. What package were you looking at?
Me: I chose the one with the basic channels and local channels for $24.99 a month.
Guy: Ok...typing... Alright I've got you down for the "whatever" package, and that's going to be $49.99 a month for the first 12 months and $62.99 after that...
Me: Whoa! Wait a minute. I said $24.99 a month.
Guy: Right ma'am, but that's before we add on all the movie channels, HD channels, Etc., but they're free for the first 12 months.
Me: Ok. I don't want any of that. I just want the basic channels for $24.99/mo.
Guy: So you don't want "whatever" movie channels free for the first 12mo.?
Me: No.
Guy: No extra HD channels?
Me: No.
Guy: Ok....typing...That will be just $24.99/mo for the first 12 mo and then $39.99 after that...
Me: Whoa! Why is it going up so much after 12 mo.?
Guy: Well, ma'am, this is an introductory price...
Me: It didn't say anything about this online.
Guy: Well, it is, as I have told you, introductory, but it's ONLY $39.99.
Me: Yeah! That's way over $10 more a month! Forget it. I'll just go online myself again, and if I can't find it, I'll just go with someone else.
Guy: Well, ma'am, can I ask you a question? What is keeping you from committing today?
Me: Are you kidding? The price! I just said I don't want to pay more than the $24.99 a month!
Guy: Well, as I said that is introductory, but you could always order now, and then in 12 mo. you could call back and upgrade/downgrade your service for only a $5 fee.
Me: Oh now you want me to pay extra to keep from paying more? That's it! This is ridiculous! I'm just going to find someone else who can help me. Bye bye!

Seriously?!

40 Acres

So, I was on my way home tonight from a fun evening with friends (thanks Thad and Kristen), and I was listening to a Caedmon's Call cd. Good stuff all around, but the song "40 acres" came on, and it really spoke to me. I've been way to focused on the negative lately. I keep seeing everything here as the opposite of what I had, and loved, in TX. Instead, I am deciding to try and remember that out here I am surrounded by things that were actually made by the fingers of God. The grass, the trees, everything. I'm going to try and look at it as an opportunity to not be surrounded by things made by man and "of this world" and really see God every day. I know it won't be easy, but I'm going to try. I think remembering that, and knowing that my kids will grow up surrounded by these things will help me find a reason to be here. I know God has a good work in store for us here, and I hope I find it soon. In the mean time, I'm going to try and get back to looking for the blessings in life instead of the negatives. Wish me luck!
Out on these Texas plains you can see for a million lives
And there's a thousand exits between here and the state line
About the last time that I saw you
You said call me Pandora, call me a fool
And I'm thinking this view it could do you some good
So drop these scales and take a look
*There's 40 acres and redemption to be found
Just along down the way
There is a place where no plow blade has turned the ground
And you will turn it over, 'cause out here hope remains
'Cause out here hope remains...
Out here the Texas sky is as big as the sea
And you're alone in your room like an island floating free
Your spirit's hanging in a bottle out on a tree
You say that you're the black sheep, I say you're still family
So throw that bottle to the waves
They'll bring you in to me and from the shore you will see
*
Out here the Texas rain is the hardest I've ever seen
It'll wash your house away, but it'll also make you clean
Now these rocks they are crying too
And this whole land is calling out for you
*

Slow Motion

That's kinda what I'm feeling lately. Like everything is in slow motion. The days roll by, and I can't really distinguish anything between them. Progress on the house is slow. There has been so much to do on the "farm" that there hasn't been alot of time to work on it. We're getting really close, though, to at least moving in. Once we're there, there will be TONS more work to do. Of course, that makes me a little nervous because we (really just Ty) are so busy now, and I don't see that being improved by us living 10 minutes away. Hopefully we'll be able to carve out time to do things like put the floor back in what will be our bedroom. Sleeping in the living room should be at least a little motivation. We'll see. I can already tell that the main thing I'll be working on during my time here is patience. Thanks to my Mom, I really like to have things planned out. I can be spontaneous, but I just don't enjoy living day to day with no direction. Oddly enough, that seems to be exactly what farm life is. Everything is based on the weather or when so and so gets the seed/part/animal delivered instead of what works best for our schedule. Meanwhile I'm at home wondering if anyone will be home for dinner tonight. I don't remember praying for patience recently, but I guess I'm going to get a lesson on it anyway. I can't lie. I probably need it.

Nice Surprise

So, I didn't watch the VMAs, but I was bumming around the internet tonight and came across something quite interesting. I found a story about Kanye West barging in on Taylor Swift's acceptance speech. Apparently he was upset that Beyonce had not been recognized, and he wanted to make sure everyone new it. I found lots of people saying they didn't understand why people were so upset by it. Granted, these things are not really the "important things in life," but that's the whole point. Don't get up and ruin someone else's moment over something so silly that no one, I promise NO ONE, will even remember 10 years from now. Then I came across this. I was truly touched. I have never really been a fan of Beyonce. She seems like a nice enough person, but I just don't think she's all that talented. Now, though, I can really respect her. She totally gave up her spotlight to make things right for someone else. She didn't have to do it. No one would have thought less of her for just giving her speech. People would have glorified her if she'd just mentioned Taylor somewhere in there. But she did more. She stepped aside, for Taylor, and showed a level of class I think has been missing from Hollywood's "elite" for quite some time. So props to Beyonce for doing something good. If only I felt confident enough to wear that black leotard in front of millions of people. :)

Update

Well;

There's not really a lot to say here. Things are moving slowly with the house. Everyone but me has passed around a cold this past week. So, I've spent my time tending the sick and hoping I didn't get it. Since Ty's been under the weather too, not much progress has been made. We did go over last night and work on the floors a little, but there is at least a couple of hours worth of work left before we can feasibly get in. Even then, Ty and I will be sleeping in the living room while we work on the first bedroom, and we'll have to go room by room from there. Still, I'll welcome sleeping in my own bed again no matter where it is in the house. We've come right in the middle of what is apparently one of the busiest times of the year. This hasn't done alot to help me with the transition, but I guess Ty's getting right into the swing of things again. The girls are doing well. Anna will probably not want to leave after she realizes that all the snacks and ice cream she gets here won't be happening at our house. Oh well, things will get back to "normal" eventually I guess. I'm going to an estate auction this weekend to check out some stuff. I'm kind of excited to check things out and see if there is anything interesting. I'm seeing some good photo ops coming, but my battery is dead, and the charger is packed away somewhere. I'm going to have to make an effort to go look for it soon. Ty's grandmother came up from Wichita on Monday. It was her first time to see Abby, and they were so cute together. I got a pic before my battery died, but as always, I'm not able to post it yet. Maybe I'll figure that out soon too. Well, that's about it for now. Love you all!

Housing...

So...yesterday, we bought a house! I was super excited. We got a pretty cute little fixer-upper in town right across the street from Ty's brother. We knew it needed a little bit of foundation work, so we arranged to have that started today. We were thinking a couple of days of work should do it, but little did we know what we would find under the floor. In tearing out a little bit of the floor to work on jacking up on area of the house, we found joists literally sitting on the ground! Yeah! Wooden beams just sitting there on the dirt! No supports, nothing keeping moisture away, and some of them actually rotting away. What's worse is that someone before us had also found this, but instead of fixing it properly, they just nailed new 2x4s to the rotted ones and put the floor back down. So, we'll be doing some dirt work and actually replacing the joists that need replacing. Hopefully, this along with the supports the foundation guys are putting in, our foundation problems will be at an end. The real bummer is, that if they can't get the work all done tomorrow, the guys won't be able to come back 'till next week. Of course, the longer they take, the more time I have to wait before we move. So say a prayer for me and the foundation guys! I still can't post pics. Agh! Soon, though, I hope. There is so much to take pics of here, so I can't wait to get back to it.