i heart fall

The weather is cooling off, the leaves are changing colors, my tigers WON a football game... Its been a long time since that happened, but fall means football season & tailgating. Pumpkins are everywhere... in the next two months I will get my "hour" back to sleep when we fall back(I know its all in my head... but it makes me happy). OH yeah, there are only 9 more days until fall break.

I feel like Bubba from Forrest Gump around this time every year. Just replace shrimp with pumpkin and that me!

I LOVE...

• PSL ( pumpkin spice latte for people who might be hiding under a rock lol)
• pumpkin spice cupcakes ( I MAKE THE BEST!!!)
• Pillsbury pumpkin cookies with cream cheese chips in them (OMG eating some right now... Amazballs)
• pumpkin roll (so yummy)
• pumpkin cake donuts
• pumpkin smoothies
• the perfect grouping of pumpkins on my front porch (have to have 3 every year.... short and squatty, tall and skinny, and just regular old pumpkin)
• pumpkin place mats

Do I really need to go on???? You get the picture, this is my favorite time of year!

Happy Fall Y'all!

another one bites the dust... I am sure I have used this title before

Well another cycle has come and gone. The last one started with the news of a niece or nephew... We weren't/ aren't getting all crazy this go round with trying and timing and the psycho stuff that it can turn into... But we also aren't trying not to get pregnant. Although it seems my body might be doing that on its own. So, I was hopeful. We really did synchronize around the right times, but then somehow I got off on a couple of days, so I thought that there might be a chance since I miscounted. No such luck, when I figured out my counting error... Clock work here she comes. So, another one bites the dust.

I really have a strange feeling deep inside that says we are still going to have trouble. I am really honestly trying to stop my negative thoughts about this, but they keep coming back. The thought that I could actually get pregnant is like... well the topic with my class today... A unicorn! Yes, we are studying realism and fantasy this week. You guessed it, we discussed how we would all love to have a unicorn, because they are SO FLUFFY and we LOVE THEM!!! (from Despicable Me) but, that they really are mythical creatures, to which we finally came to consensus that they were in fact a fantasy.  So, too is my thought of being a mother. I am trying to put my faith in it... but something keeps nagging at me saying, you know this isn't supposed to be or going to be a real thing in your life. I am sure that this is just the "darkness" creeping in. I am not all doom and gloom about it or anything, but it does still hang over my head.
Anyway... This is just my quick thought for the night...

End of the summer... back to reality

I am exhausted. The beginning of school is always hard. But this year, we planned our vacay right before I went back to work, our house was ripped up and the living room was non livable, my home state has turned against teachers as a whole, and voted to lower our minimum salary. Which means last year at year 11 I have TOPPED OUT on pay. Yep you heard that right. I am now looking at how much I will never make ever ever again. :(  Oh and then the school system merger... I can't even type about it, it is so depressing. But my saving grace, besides God (Thank You God for all your many blessings) are those sweet little faces I get to see everyday! Sometimes I wish I could just be as free as them, and not know all the woes of the world.

But, anyway

We went on a LOVELY vacation that was truly awesome! We had awesome seats at the Cards game... and we won! Go Cards! We toured the stadium... AMAZING! My dad had a bajillion hilton points so, we got to stay in the Hilton at the ball park with our room over looking the ball park for FREE, plus the hefty parking fee. We toured the Brewery where Robbie just about died and was in heaven! I saw my second love, Blake Shelton. It's ok, Robbie loves him too :) We ran into one of my oldest friends and her family and got to go out to eat with them and get some drinks. Vacay 2013 was just what the Dr. ordered so to speak.  I could go there once a month, St. Louis truly is an awesome city!

We came back to what we knew was going to be NO WORK on our money pit. See we have trusted the WRONG people with our house. The guy we had been dealing with from July 3rd when our leak happened was supposed to rip out the master bath while we were gone... Guess what. He didn't and wouldn't return our calls. Then we got the "owner" involved. Well, he talked a good talk and at least got it started... but then after our check cleared for the deductible... you guessed it, he wouldn't return our calls. So right now, I have gorgeous new hardwood floors that have a few issues at doorways, and a few boards not glued down correctly, a shower that has been ripped out, bathroom floor gone... And crickets are all we hear.

Good news the tile guy who is also getting hosed on this deal seems to be a good guy and is trying to keep us updated if he hears from them and vice versa. So, tomorrow I am supposed to sit here and wait for a plumber who may or may not show since our project manager ( aka "owner") has not returned our phone call. I mean really its BAD BUSINESS people to not return a phone call! Oh and did I mention that "owner" said that the job would be done today... YEAH RIGHT! So, maybe before 2014 I will be able to post pictures of my new living room/entry floors and my master bath. But please don't hold you breath, I value your blogger buddy status too much! :)

Sorry for the long post... I need to work on posting more often :) Happy Weekend!

It happened...

The one thing that I thought all this time I would be completely hysterical about, mad at the world, inconsolable... need I go on. My sister is pregnant.

Strangely enough, it was more the hubs that had a full out temper tantrum and went on and on and on about it. See I have been going to a Bible study all summer at my moms. We are doing a study of joy even in rain of our lives finding the joy that comes from GOD alone! I really think that it is the reason I am not beating my hands on the floor screaming why??? At our last meeting we were discussing finding joy even in our worst disappointments. Well I hadn't planned on totally unleashing all that is IF to this small group of women... but the moment presented itself and for once with people I don't know that well and have no idea if they have any idea about IF, and then of course my mom,  ( whom I have never really been able to discuss this part of my life with because well,... she doesn't understand and just wanted to fix what couldn't be fixed) I let it all out. I was calm and collected then I burst into tears.. Explaining that I am so thankful for my husband and relationship with God, because without both, who knows where I would be at this point. How really it was hard for me in the first few years. I smiled through the pain and then unleashed the wrath of an infertile woman on my husband and God. Then something changed and I realized that with God it was going to be possible but that it wasn't the right time. But needless to say, I got it all off my chest. It was much easier than I had thought it would be. But the message has really helped me. Along with other things that have happened over the past year. I am blessed with so much Joy I can't let the unjoyous ( if that is a word)  over shadow.

But, that has got to be the reason this is not hurting me more. I think I am more worried for this child than I am about her being pregnant. She is not married as of now, and her boyfriend doesn't have a job right now. I mean PERFECT freaking timing right??? I think I also had some notice... she blurted out over here one night that they were trying. She actually said to me..."Morgan, I am not getting any younger!!!" I almost punched her in the face. But, she has always done things her own way and not listened to ANYONE. So, how would this be any different?

So, my problem comes in that now my husband who was pushing for us to start trying again said last night... I don't even want to try anymore. I don't want to get pregnant and be pregnant at the same time. Which I can completely understand and kind of agree... I don't want to share the lime light that we have tried so hard for, for so very long with  "Miss. we really weren't trying" ( ok I know that was totally catty.. sorry)

So, I am going to be an aunt in late February. If you know me in real life this is not public knowledge yet so please don't say anything. This was a quick post I apologize for typos or if there are parts that don't make sense..

Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls...

Well, I sure didn't chase one, but I got one... in my living room. When we bought our house we knew that they previous owners might have walked away from it because of all the leaks that they had. My hometown is known for its pin hole leaks in the plumbing, due to a glitch in the code enforcement between about a 20 year time period. So, most if not all of the people in my hood have had to re plumb or fix multitudes of leaks. Our thought was, 1: they already had them so hopefully they fixed the problem, 2: for the price we were getting it was worth taking the chance, because we would run into this problem with any houses in our price rage and area we wanted to live.

So, Wednesday started out like any other. I got up to take a shower so I could get ready to go pick up some chairs that I scored for $5 each and then to lunch with my best friend. During my shower I noticed that the water wasn't draining... I was like oh crap! I still needed to shave my legs and the water was getting close to the bottom of the door. So, I hurried and got out. Sent a text to Robbie (who I thought was still at work... but was actually about to come into the house) showing a pic of the water just sitting there. I then got the plunger. It wasn't working correctly, but the water finally started going down. About the time it was all gone, Robbie yelled up to me that water was coming through the ac vent all over the floor and chair sitting by the fire place. I was like WHAT?!?!?!? I really thought he pulling my leg. I ran down and sure enough, my chair that I have been planing to recover was SOAKED! Water was everywhere in that area. We dried it up with towels and called Home Warranty Peeps asap. They sent someone out and low and behold... IT'S NOT COVERED! Yeah we paid for the "covers everything" home warranty and it has yet to cover anything we have called about. :( BOO!

The plumber called a restoration company that deals with the mess and cause of our problem... the infamous shower pan. This guy measured the water under our already warping wood floors... 100%. Upstairs there was water under the flooring in our bathroom. The ceiling was wet... His thoughts. New floors up and down, new ceiling, new shower. But that they shower pan was not going to be covered by homeowners either. BOO! Well, until we found out it cost like $40 bucks.

Of course this all happens on July 3rd, the day my town is celebrating the 4th. So, restoration guy sets up 5 million loud fans and dehumidifiers and leaves, to be back with the adjuster on the 5th.

Crazy part, we can still use the shower as long as it doesn't stop up. It only leaks if it stops up. So, until we start demo... We are still using it.

Fast forward to the 5th. I have been prepared to FIGHT TO THE DEATH on making sure that insurance pays for the demo and reconstruct of the shower... Because it was in question since they don't cover the pan. Much to my surprise, I didn't have to fight for anything, they were going to do everything I wanted done and then some! HALLELUJAH! Farm Bureau insurance is AMAZING!

I am now picking out paint colors, wood floor samples, tile etc. Here's what they are going to do:

Livingroom - scrap and re do ceilings after replacing 1/2 of the ceiling on the end where the damage is. Paint walls & trim. But,  get this... the living room is open to the entryway... SO, they are doing the ceilings in there too. they are also going to paint... trim too!!! Oh and the stairs' walls are also continuous... so they are getting painted too!

Bathroom - Gut shower, we pay to fix the shower issue, re-do the shower, re-do floors.

Now the even more awesome part is that we have a friend who will be doing all the floor and tile work... So he is going to charge us WAY less so we can do more areas of floor... ie the flooring in the entry and the toilet room in our bathroom. ( its a different type than the living room right now, so insurance isn't going to put that in the paper work)

Ironically, we had all that they are going to be redoing on our punch out list for "one day." I am so thankful for all that God continues to provide for Robbie and me!

5 Years

Yep, celebrated 5 years of marriage on June 14th. Its really crazy to think how fast 5 years have gone by. Then again there were years during the last 5 that seemed like they would never end. Thanks to IF we have grown closer as a couple and our love has grown and changed a lot. For that I am thankful. I know there were years that I would never have thought those words thankful for IF would ever come from my mouth. But, really it is a blessing. We are stronger in all aspects of our lives because of that. We might not have children yet, but we have two sweet fur babies, a beautiful home, and loving friends and family.

The greatest night of my life so far...

Our first Anniversary... The only time we have eaten on our china :)  

Our Second Anniversary - Zack Brown Band, Beale Street, Spent the night at the Westin

Our Third Anniversary - Bone Fish for Dinner and we gave each other new carpet so we could list our house for sale... 

Our Fourth Anniversary - Steam Boat Days in Iowa with BLAKE SHELTON and Robbie's family

5 Years! Headed downtown to eat an overpriced meal in a cool restaurant that used to be a movie theater. Funny thing is we ate dinner, and were home in bed asleep by 9:30... We are getting old!

Catch me if you can...

Thats what I feel like my Blog is saying. If I had a dollar for everytime I sat down to write a post, but got side tracked... I would have about 20 bucks tops. lol I have been so busy that the blog has been on the back burner. Most times I would check on  and read the blogs I follow, posting a few comments here or there... but never enough time to actually write a post.

At this point there are so many things I need to say, but can't possibly remember them all or get caught up right?!?!

Summer has started with a bang! I am LOVIN' being a pool owner! This skin is getting sunkissed after 2 year in the dark! Literally, I didn't get in the sun for two year. Robbie joked that I must really be a russian, I am guessing they must be very pale. Anyway, still hard to believe this is our house and our lives are going so well. But, I am going to take both of those and thank God for them every minute of the day and night!

I have been a busy little beaver though, between laying out and swimming I have made a few things. You know I love being crafty. I'll share a few pics.

Super cheap HUGE frame I got and painted and added burlap, chicken wire for a cute memo board for my kitchen :)

 Painting the Kitchen wood work.. pain but looks great now that it is FINALLY done :)

 House Warming for a friend

Guest Bedroom twin beds

 Cute Hospital Door Sign for a friend and her baby boy

 Cute diaper cake and sign for my best childhood friend who is going to be a daddy in August or September. 

I am currently working on a chair and a few other things I have picked up. I think I must have been Samford from Samford and Sons in a different life. LOL my garage looks like I have been dumpster diving for trash to turn into treasures :)

Two more posts to come in the next two days, 5 Years of Married Bliss & My Fur Babies Gotcha Days