tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70412509099040114932024-03-13T11:26:53.415-05:00Sweet Home Alabama?I'm a twenty something girl, newlywed, dog-mommy, who's recently moved to Alabama. These are my stories.Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.comBlogger117125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-40768868059255954682013-05-22T15:14:00.000-05:002013-05-22T15:24:35.162-05:00Baron's 30th BirthdayHi friends! Once again, it's been months since I've sat down to put fingers to keyboard and filled you all in on what's been going on. We've been enjoying springtime in Alabama and traveling a lot as well. Baron's been busy with work and I've enjoyed being PRN as my job. I've been working two days a week (instead of the regular full time of three shifts per week) and honestly feel like I'm on vacation all the time. I didn't expect to notice such a difference in cutting back only one shift per week, but it certainly has been noticeable. I feel like I enjoy my job more when I'm there, and that's got to be better for my patients!<br />
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Last month we celebrated Baron's 30th birthday with a quick weekend trip to New York City. I visited NYC for the first time back in 2008 with my Mom for a girls trip. Baron had also been to NYC once before, back when he had a book published at the ripe old age of twelve. You can still buy it for until two bucks from Barnes and Noble: <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/history-takes-a-wild-ride-baron-johnson/1001364560">History Takes a Wild Ride</a>. We were excited to make this trip together to celebrate his birthday, after all, you only turn thirty once!<br />
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After arriving in New York City at around one o'clock and taking a quintessential, terrifying cab ride from the airport to Times Square we were starving. We decided to stop at the first place that looked decent and landed at Virgil's Barbecue. The service was terrible, literally had to stalk our waiter in order to pay our bill, the diet cokes were flat and the barbecue wasn't very good. We both walked away with a lesson learned. Barbecue doesn't get much better than in Alabama. Period. We won't make that mistake again :)<br />
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After our barbecue disappointment we headed to Central Park and spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the huge park and just enjoying people watching. The weather was beautiful! We had dinner at Serendipity, where we surprisingly were able to walk in and be seated right away. Dinner was alright, but dessert was delicious! We ordered a Salted Caramel Frozen Hot Chocolate, and it was so good. We waddled our way home to our hotel, which did I mention was right smack dab in the middle of Times Square? We headed up to the thirty-something floor and didn't hear any of the craziness going on below us. I don't even remember laying down to go to sleep...Zzzzz!<br />
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The next day we enjoyed walking around Bryant Park in the morning. It's so fun to watch all the craziness of Times Square and surrounding areas at 8:00 AM on a Friday morning. There's just a constant buzz of excitement. From there we headed to Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Terminal, and ended the day at the U.S.S. Intrepid Museum. Cool stuff!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tulips in Bryant Park</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baron doing a little shopping at Rockefeller Center</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grand Central Terminal</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Planes aboard the U.S.S. Intrepid</td></tr>
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On our second full day in NYC we decided to explore the rest of Central Park. We enjoyed the beautiful weather again while we walked...and walked...and walked some more. That park is huge! And beautiful! We had fun watching all the locals enjoy the beautiful park in the big city on such a pretty Saturday. After exploring Central Park we walked back to our hotel stopping along the way for some photo ops, which included a Boston Terrier sighting! We also made a pit stop at Levain Bakery, where we ate the best chocolate chip cookie that we'd every had in our entire lives. Yes folks, it was <em>that</em> good. I'm trying to convince Baron to let me <a href="http://www.levainbakery.com/store/all-products.html">order some online</a>, but I have a feeling that once it happens once, it will be just as bad as one click shopping on Amazon. Bad, very bad. We ended the day by visiting the Top of the Rock attraction at Rockefeller Center, for some beautiful views of the city at night. <br />
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The last full day of our trip was jam packed. Our feet were aching and we were exhausted so we decided to ride the subway to the first stop of our day. We spent the morning exploring Chinatown and Little Italy. We got some Bubble Tea and had lunch at a cute little restaurant in Little Italy. It was so good! From there we headed to the World Trade Center Memorial Site and were able to see the new memorial that is in place as well as the Freedom Tower which is still under construction. It was a very moving experience to be there and see the beautiful fountains. When I traveled there in 2008, they were still cleaning up the site and there was a lot of construction going on. What a transformation to see what has been built at the site since then. <br />
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Next we headed to Wall Street and to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge. We grabbed a snack at the Wafels & Dinges food truck and ate the most delicious waffle ever! We walked the Brooklyn Bridge which was nothing like you see in the movies. It was packed with walkers, runners, bikers, people pushing strollers, people taking pictures, people selling stuff, it was insane! We decided to turn back at the halfway point after almost being run over by a biker in the pedestrian lane. It was a little intense, but it was so neat to walk over such a famous bridge.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A bright spot of color on Wall Street</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baron and the Wall Street bull</td></tr>
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We had such a great time in New York City, but we were both ready to come back to Sweet Home Alabama. Things just move a little too quickly for our taste in NYC, so we decided next time we go back to the Big Apple we'll stay a little bit away from Times Square and explore the lesser known areas of New York. <br />
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We actually just got back from Hawaii for our anniversary trip, hopefully it won't take me a month to get our pictures up on the blog! We'll see! Hope you all have a great rest of the week. Keep on truckin', it's almost Friday!Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-33336795495332099492013-02-18T09:50:00.002-06:002013-02-18T09:58:40.466-06:00Dallas in a Day<br />
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Last weekend Baron had a big surprise in store for me. When I lived in Jacksonville, Florida I had always expressed an interest in driving to another state, in that case, Georgia, just to have dinner. One night we were trying to come up with something to do and Baron suggested we jump in the car and head north for dinner. By the time we got across the Florida/Georgia state line we were starving so we decided to stop at the first place we saw. With each bite of delicious, fluffy pancakes at the IHOP, I crossed something off of my not-actually-written-down bucket list. </div>
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Boy was I surprised when, on Valentine's Day, I got a note that said Baron was taking me to lunch on Sunday at Wolfgang Puck's Restaurant called "Five Sixty"...in Dallas, Texas! That's right, we were going to Dallas just for lunch, and we'd be back in time for dinner! I was so excited. This was a major step up from our little trip to IHOP a couple of years ago. </div>
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Unfortunately my <a href="http://mysweethomeblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/she-is-whole-again.html">Grandma passed away</a> on Friday afternoon after a few very rough weeks being in the hospital at the end of her battle with cancer. After talking with my Mom we've decided to not have a service right away. My Grandma wished to be cremated and her ashes spread in the ocean. She wanted all of us to be happy and celebrate that she was in her Heavenly home. My Mom lost her brother just a few short months ago and our family needs a little of bit of time before we are ready to celebrate, as my Grandma wished, when we lay her to rest. For now, it is just too painful. My Grandmother's faith was strong, she believed with all of her heart that when she died she would instantly be in the presence of the Lord and be healed. I believe this too. I have moments when I feel so relieved that she is at peace and no longer in any pain, and then moments where the sadness overcomes and I remember that I will not see her ever again on this earth. </div>
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We decided to go ahead with our plans to go to Dallas on Sunday. I know my Grandma would've wanted us to go. Texas was one of my Grandma's favorite places. She lived in Texas until I was born and she moved to Florida so that she could be closer. I've heard many stories of my Grandma, in her younger days, living it up in Dallas. It was a bittersweet coincidence that a few weeks ago, Baron randomly chose the city of Dallas for lunch that day. I know God had a reason and a plan in every detail of my life. It was a nice distraction to be in Dallas for the day, I know that my Grandma would never want me to shed a single tear because of her. I hope that she was watching down on us in our travels that day. </div>
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Our day started when our alarms went off at four o'clock in the morning. Ugh. The only part of the day that I was dreading. It was surprisingly easy to hop out of bed and get ready for the day. We made it to the airport in plenty of time and were through the security checkpoint just minutes after arriving. How nice it was to not have a single bag to check or tote around the airport. Just my purse! </div>
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We had a blissfully uneventful trip to Dallas. The skies were beautiful and I had a wonderful sense of peace as we floated above the clouds. We grabbed a cab right outside the airport in Dallas and were on our way to the restaurant. We had a little bit of time to kill before our 11 o'clock reservations so we explored the Hyatt Hotel next to the restaurant and even walked around downtown for a bit. </div>
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The restaurant in a revolving restaurant located in the top of Reunion Tower. It was fun to know that my Mom and my Grandma had eaten there many years ago. Did you notice there wasn't a cloud in the sky? When we left home it was 28 degrees! It was a warm 72 degrees in Dallas, and felt so good to walk around without a jacket. <br />
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After walking around the nearby downtown area we realized that there were a lot of people out and about for it being a Sunday morning. Then we realized that we were in Dealey Plaza, the place where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in the early 1960's. In the photo below you can see the Texas School Book Depository Building, where JFK's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, fatally shot the President from the sixth floor window. <br />
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In the next photo you can barely see, at the base of the streetlamp, a small white "x". This was where JFK was when he was assassinated while driving down Elm Street. We didn't have enough time to visit the museum now located in the Texas School Book Depository Building but both Baron and I decided that we'd love to return to Dallas to visit for longer next time.<br />
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Before we knew it it was time for brunch. The restaurant in located 560 feet above the ground in giant sphere that rotates. Baron and I have eaten in a rotating restaurant before, the one in Dallas seemed to rotate a bit faster. I found myself a little dizzy if I turned my head quickly. We started brunch with delicious mimosas and a beautiful view <span style="background-color: yellow;">of</span> Dallas. </div>
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Brunch was delicious! It was a tapas style, Asian inspired brunch and we tried a bit of everything. My favorite was a Crispy Eggplant dish, tasted a little more Italian inspired but it was really good. Of course the Yuzu Cheesecake Brulee was another favorite. Let's start with dessert, shall we?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZhMm7dV3Hx8WQRercP76MuccBmFnYGc7RGpCFGyjFuPYANgwaVhRwkOKEsn_MLTXiNA-1Mlm8B5P5k9Hlx_CZvcXNWm_9U-GU19FqtpDdCZMms4PQFS5ShflwZSUhqHxCd4ABm7qFAxmJ/s1600/dallas41.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZhMm7dV3Hx8WQRercP76MuccBmFnYGc7RGpCFGyjFuPYANgwaVhRwkOKEsn_MLTXiNA-1Mlm8B5P5k9Hlx_CZvcXNWm_9U-GU19FqtpDdCZMms4PQFS5ShflwZSUhqHxCd4ABm7qFAxmJ/s640/dallas41.jpg" uea="true" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yuzu Cheesecake Brulee with Blueberries and Burnt Honey</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo5FTq6fVvfwCNbwKTdk9MTNW4FMIgi3QgHwIaFqOEGGG5DCUEJNk2qbTz8pvvgcm0vQqD7itTc8URLgdCmU_G4is8OTPUE_CJBmItlHxRkqKwwFLunSvX3QAbhtD3sjwRH14fnIyBB4qq/s1600/dallas36.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo5FTq6fVvfwCNbwKTdk9MTNW4FMIgi3QgHwIaFqOEGGG5DCUEJNk2qbTz8pvvgcm0vQqD7itTc8URLgdCmU_G4is8OTPUE_CJBmItlHxRkqKwwFLunSvX3QAbhtD3sjwRH14fnIyBB4qq/s640/dallas36.jpg" uea="true" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sea Scallop Sui Mai with Lobster Emulsion</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgNLocjjfGcVgpCqNamw6HV-9VGpdNlrCxeE5EZ-HcfZvjIEEMNwydJ9b882NOCPqeyzgyPcKZJ3S5sxWSePtWoLUQGTGiEWiSOlk05SV1n6RCTCBSbxom3hoB2jw2aX3f6K3XqCHZWeXm/s1600/dallas35.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgNLocjjfGcVgpCqNamw6HV-9VGpdNlrCxeE5EZ-HcfZvjIEEMNwydJ9b882NOCPqeyzgyPcKZJ3S5sxWSePtWoLUQGTGiEWiSOlk05SV1n6RCTCBSbxom3hoB2jw2aX3f6K3XqCHZWeXm/s640/dallas35.jpg" uea="true" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crispy Eggplant</td></tr>
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After lunch we hopped in a cab and made it to the airport right on time. We had another uneventful flight back home and were happy to sleep in our own bed that night. The dogs were a little bit confused that we didn't go to work that day ;) We decided this might be our new "thing". Next time...Chicago!</div>
Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-79997253090949031402013-02-17T20:36:00.000-06:002013-02-17T20:36:05.022-06:00She is Whole Again<div class="_1x1">
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<span class="userContent">My sweet Grandma Bunny went to be with the Lord on Friday afternoon, February 15, 2013. Although it was expected, it doesn't lessen the hurt. I thank God for His grace in her last few days as she was able to slip into His arms peacefully. She was such a strong encouragement to me all throughout my life and I am heartbroken to think of my life without her in it. I find peace knowing that she is healed and I will see her again.</span></div>
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<span class="userContent">Rest in peace, Grandma Bunny. I pray that you know how much you meant to me. I'll love you forever and always be grateful to have had you in my life.</span></div>
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Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-89511929589830458712013-02-14T09:21:00.000-06:002013-02-14T09:22:04.366-06:00A Sweet BirthdayMy sweet Macey turns five years old today! I can't believe that I've had her for five years, it seems like just yesterday that I brought her home as a sweet little rolly polly pup. Happy Birthday sweet girl!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Mom, this look a lot like a Valentine's Day cake."</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Yes, in fact, I'm sure this is a Valentine's Day cake."</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Valentine Schmalentine, can I have it now?!"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl42WYNOGqOI8D2sW64_hM2Hw8_ANI_IhhRsp1Uc0XnqfxTjWd0Jm2jFPSfPbcOch6O8MO__XS9axh9EHhUV0-jiPdatVXRBU4sA_pEj0wh-vc4_HCPYsSGrokSmJ4l5LcCbCrpI7oHP6m/s1600/blog9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl42WYNOGqOI8D2sW64_hM2Hw8_ANI_IhhRsp1Uc0XnqfxTjWd0Jm2jFPSfPbcOch6O8MO__XS9axh9EHhUV0-jiPdatVXRBU4sA_pEj0wh-vc4_HCPYsSGrokSmJ4l5LcCbCrpI7oHP6m/s640/blog9.jpg" uea="true" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happy Birthday Sweet Macey</td></tr>
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Baron and I are also celebrating our fourth Valentine's Day together. I've always loved Valentine's Day, even back when I was single I enjoyed celebrating this holiday of love. Baron surprised me with a bunch of chocolate and sweets, along with a beautiful bouquet of roses and tulips (my favorite!). Apparently he also has another surprise in store for me this weekend. I'm no good at the waiting patiently thing. I've got a hot pink sweater to put on and I think we'll go for a quick lunch together today. I have to work tomorrow so we don't feel like fighting the crowds tonight; I guess that makes us old married folks now. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sweets for my Sweetie</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I got Baron a chalkboard mug that isn't dishwasher/microwave safe. I'll let you take a guess how often we use this one! Ha!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Let's see how long I can keep these puppies alive</td></tr>
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Baron, I love you so much! I'm so thankful to have you in my life. You are the perfect balance to all of my craziness and I wouldn't want to do life with anyone else. Thanks for making this Valentine's Day so special! -xoxo<br />
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I wish you all a sweet Valentine's Day today! If you're single do something sweet for yourself today, you deserve it! And if you have a special Valentine in your life, let them know how much you care. Hope this day is fabulous!<br />
<br />Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-55545241796890355322013-02-11T10:18:00.002-06:002013-02-11T10:26:53.212-06:00Grandma BunnyI guess I'll just jump right in. My Grandma was moved to an inpatient Hospice facility late Thursday night. The nurses told my Mom to expect about another week before she would pass. Her first day at Hospice was horrible. She was very agitated, upset, in pain, and probably very confused. My only prayer for her was for peace. I know she is dying and as bad as it sounds I would like it to be soon because she is so miserable. The next day was much better. Although she isn't eating, drinking, or able to converse with anyone, she rested much better. I ask you all for your prayers for her to continue to be at peace and comfortable until she passes. They are telling my Mom that it will be very soon.<br />
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I ask for your prayers for my Mom too. She's doing this all on her own, as her only brother passed away in November (in a terrible coincidence, it was on my Mom's birthday). My Dad is a wonderful man and has been my Mom's rock during this time. When my Mom is upset and can't be in my Grandmother's room for a bit, he sits with her and talks to her for hours. My Mom has told me that she doesn't want me to come to Florida right now. I have mixed emotions because I want to be there for my Mom, but I've decided to listen to her advice and stay put. I'll probably travel down to Florida after my Grandma passes just to spend some time with my Mom and Dad. When I went to Florida after Christmas, I said my goodbyes to my Grandma. I had a strong feeling that it would be the last time that I ever saw her, so I made sure she knew how much I loved her. I am at peace with my relationship with my Grandma. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Grandma at my age...beautiful!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Grandma and I at my bridal shower- April 2011</td></tr>
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I ask for your prayers for my family. We will get through this and be okay, because I know my Grandma will be whole again in just a few short days. I know I will see her again. My own selfishness causes me to want her to stay here with us, but I know that what's best is for to go be with Jesus now. I ask for prayers for my parents. My Grandma has no other family left besides my Mom, my brother, a cousin in Texas, and myself. My Grandma has a large network of friends and as you know, sometimes people don't act they way that we do when they are grieving. Would you pray that people would respect my Mom and the fact that it is her mother that she is losing? </div>
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Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-15430678337922014672013-02-07T09:31:00.003-06:002013-02-07T09:31:59.292-06:00Life UpdatesMorning friends! How exactly should you start writing when you haven't written in months? I guess just jump right in? I'll try to do a catch-up post to fill y'all in but goodness knows, I'll forget something.<br />
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- My best friend delivered her first baby, a healthy baby girl on October 25 of last year. Hailee was born by c-section and in a too good to be true coincidence I was able to be there for her delivery! My middle name is Hailee and I can't tell you the tears that were present when her husband came out of the operating room and said "It's a girl! Her name is Hailee!" <br />
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- Baron and I hosted Thanksgiving in our home for both our parents this past year. I've always had dreams of having Thanksgiving in our home and was so excited to finally be able to do that. Granted we ate at the bar while two of us stood at the kitchen sink, but it was great! Hopefully next year we'll have a table big enough for all of us. <br />
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- On the last day of my parents' visit we got a phone call that my uncle (my mom's brother) had passed away. He had a lot of struggles throughout his lifetime and I'm thankful that he is finally at peace. My parents left the next day in order to get arrangments made for his service. <br />
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- We had a wonderful first Christmas in our new house. I may have gone a little overboard with decorations but I was so excited to finally have a home (and a MANTLE!) to decorate. <br />
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- A few days after Christmas I went home to Florida for a trip for a whirlwind trip of less than 72 hours. I'm getting pretty good at those whirlwind trips! I wanted to visit my best friend and her little girl before my friend's maternity leave was over. I absolutely loved seeing my friend as a mom. She's doing a wonderful job and just looked like such a natural. We went shopping at an outlet mall halfway between where my parents live and where my friend lives so my parents met us there for lunch and shopping. My friend told me that her feelings wouldn't be hurt if I stayed with my parents for my last night and she told me that she just felt like "I should". So after tearful goodbye's I headed off with my parents. That night my mom and I ended up taking my grandmother to the emergency room because she was in so much pain. 6 hours, a bunch of tests, and some pain medicine later, we found out that her cancer had returned with a vengance. I went to bed at 4am that day and was up at 7 in order to catch my flight back to Alabama. When I got off the plane and into my husband's arms, I never felt so far away from "home".<br />
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- My grandma had a major stroke on Sunday and has been in the intensive care unit ever since. They are trying to decide whether to send her to a rehab center or hospice. She's not herself anymore and is in a lot of pain. I hurt for my mom who is trying to figure all this out on her own. Again, I feel like I am so far away. <br />
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- Next month I am finally going PRN at my job, meaning I can work as little as six shifts every two months or as much as full time if I wish. I've always said that it's that third day that kills you so I told the scheduling person to put me two days a week for now and we'll see how it goes. To say that I'm excited is an understatement!<br />
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- Baron is doing well, he's been busy at work and hasn't had at all over the past few months. He's still enjoying his job. I'm so proud of him and all of his hard work.<br />
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- Baron told me about a year ago that he wanted to go to Hawaii for our second anniversary. I was totally on board but a little hestitant about spending a bunch of money. After all, we were about to close on our home when he first brougth this up. He told me that he wanted to pay for our trip using credit card miles. I thought to myself, "Maybe we'll make it by our 15th anniversary, there's no way we'll be able to get enough miles to get to Hawaii." About a month ago Baron told me we had enough miles to get there...first class...and we'd only have to pay twenty bucks for taxes and fees! Obviously when you buy a house, you spend a lot of money. A painful amount of money. But Baron used his smarts to work it out a little in our favor and use the right cards in order to get us tickets to paradise. Way to go, hubby! And I guess we can thank our refridgerator, washer and dryer, living room furniture, bedroom furniture, fence company, etc. It's nice to get a little "reward" for spending all of our money on our new house. <br />
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- Our trip to Hawaii is in May and I'm very excited! I've been playing with our camera a little more, trying to figure out the settings and even...gasp...Manual mode! I want to document our trip, it will be an exciting getaway!<br />
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- In honor of all my camera practice, I give you, a photo dump:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmFz2JM1Zv4Cygj1cywiUSU_YpTnJkk7Ofq0e5MFB9hkLLVpHeEt3H7u16InswAT8kzX5s9TFneZ0zEpJnBURZezpbqgtdcB2vUeVSWJ9f0RwyHKcMLyH2wmYRfpXA4SFlrnmmxJJkTulu/s1600/DSC_3173.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" jea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmFz2JM1Zv4Cygj1cywiUSU_YpTnJkk7Ofq0e5MFB9hkLLVpHeEt3H7u16InswAT8kzX5s9TFneZ0zEpJnBURZezpbqgtdcB2vUeVSWJ9f0RwyHKcMLyH2wmYRfpXA4SFlrnmmxJJkTulu/s640/DSC_3173.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A few weeks ago, we had a significant amount of snow (for these Florida people!)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9yNf6EbZcwd7wdKra0VnpbMhEhh4RBO7gLBBoRzcv_tBdXakT7ZpLl8SB9zpLKP_CfHCF4P_Gc86RnAfvqQ_bwca6Aaxk9sr90ca3dJ3CjsR6H0hXAAu5LgaNn44dEwbhh4rYYCBR_ENb/s1600/DSC_3430.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" jea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9yNf6EbZcwd7wdKra0VnpbMhEhh4RBO7gLBBoRzcv_tBdXakT7ZpLl8SB9zpLKP_CfHCF4P_Gc86RnAfvqQ_bwca6Aaxk9sr90ca3dJ3CjsR6H0hXAAu5LgaNn44dEwbhh4rYYCBR_ENb/s640/DSC_3430.JPG" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Loved this rainbow we found :)</td></tr>
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I hope to keep my little neck of the blog world more up to date than I have been, but who knows. Maybe you'll hear from me tomorrow, maybe in a year or so! I love to be able to look back at our lives and see what we've done, things we've been through, and lessons we've learned.<br />
Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-43477256451845705322012-08-15T09:18:00.000-05:002012-08-15T09:19:22.753-05:00Home, Sweet, HomeHey y'all! It's been a little crazy in our neck of the woods lately so bear with me while I try to play catch up for you!<br />
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First of all, we've finally moved everything into our new house. We were able to have our closing on July 12 and then slowly moved everything over to our new place for the next two weeks. All the while we both worked and Baron had to go out of town for a whole week...but we've finally moved everything and have a couch ordered and on the way!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Closing Day, and just like *that* we're homeowners!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHkWlkmuK4BJLsJKDXcOk803SC-XeJBhbVd_dV0upbbKPj-yegF-w1HKmsXOdXOvIIIpAtZ-BN7vTZP9BRvpptn9LeKIaheJ-yo-ArdATqcD_GAAVdfEDU7rGuNGsyB7-ohpMgIs56f7xv/s1600/uhaul.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="476" mda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHkWlkmuK4BJLsJKDXcOk803SC-XeJBhbVd_dV0upbbKPj-yegF-w1HKmsXOdXOvIIIpAtZ-BN7vTZP9BRvpptn9LeKIaheJ-yo-ArdATqcD_GAAVdfEDU7rGuNGsyB7-ohpMgIs56f7xv/s640/uhaul.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Only Baron and I would choose the hottest weekend of the year to move!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWueHACdZVlnyrP5C16pD34Cr19H5TGQ6GChi45oNI4dkh3JMWRyVShaTdjmftSIz3Ps0LTEm98TPhsBYppSqGnZ-mQ1UBs6HlbMzzlH5msf4trVBpCMmHPbSo2cs5dX_-mhpxevRTEWJm/s1600/dogfence.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="630" mda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWueHACdZVlnyrP5C16pD34Cr19H5TGQ6GChi45oNI4dkh3JMWRyVShaTdjmftSIz3Ps0LTEm98TPhsBYppSqGnZ-mQ1UBs6HlbMzzlH5msf4trVBpCMmHPbSo2cs5dX_-mhpxevRTEWJm/s640/dogfence.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The thing I was most excited about was having a fence for these 2 monsters, this was their first day in our new yard!</td></tr>
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Y'all we have the bare minimum for furniture right now. Two chairs to sit on in our living room and a bed to sleep in. Also some barstools. So we have a place to eat dinner and a place to sleep, what else do you need?! We have a couch and a breakfast table on the way. I can't wait to sit next to my husband and watch TV, ahhhh, the little things! The list of "Things to do for the House" is pages long but we're just trying to prioritize and check things off the list little by little. <br />
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My parents were supposed to come visit last weekend but unfortunately the week before held bad news for my family. My Grandma was diagnosed with lung cancer on Monday of last week, had surgery on Tuesday and on Wednesday was given a very grim prognosis. I flew home on Wednesday for a couple of days to be with my Grandma and help my Mom while they were staying in the hospital. My Grandma has decided to move forward with chemotherapy and radiation which started yesterday. Like any family, we have certain dynamics that don't necessarily help any of this news. Please keep my Grandma in your prayers as well as my family in Florida who are trying to help her as much as possible. It's very hard to be so far away while my family is going through a tough time.<br />
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Our schedules have been so busy lately, we are enjoying being able to walk around the neighborhood in the evening and just breathe. I'm trying to remind myself that everything doesn't have to be done right away and if it takes 5 years to get our house put together, that it's okay, and to remind myself of what's most important in my life and not stress about the other stuff. Trying is the key word. <br />
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Hope you all have a great week!Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-35293005980051033412012-06-13T08:23:00.003-05:002012-06-13T08:23:53.122-05:00Well Hi There!Y'all. I'm no good at this bloggin' stuff! It's been a month since I've updated and I feel like SO much has gone on. I think my <em>stressometer</em> if just way past the max and the last thing I want to do in my free time is sit down and write about all the craziness. But there are times when I think that it'll be nice to go back and read what's gone on in our lives, and what we've learned and such. So I write...<br />
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Baron and I celebrated our first anniversary on the weekend right before the real day. We dropped the dogs off at doggy camp and headed to Nashville for the weekend. It was such a fun time! We stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel which was so much fun! There's so much to see and do in the hotel that we barely left to venture out and see the rest of Nashville.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn-Wlp4ZP_5brKq1ODUFp8FigHMFiFe9EUB8gNKr5lhTlL5vko_i3Ccnal1UObN7jLd6LE9IXNpMOSNPIfaReRy2C2gPSTb0D7brTHhTIVyYUC56qHJi9iftCintlWUKSRa7BFT4SY1CZl/s1600/P1020164.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" pca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn-Wlp4ZP_5brKq1ODUFp8FigHMFiFe9EUB8gNKr5lhTlL5vko_i3Ccnal1UObN7jLd6LE9IXNpMOSNPIfaReRy2C2gPSTb0D7brTHhTIVyYUC56qHJi9iftCintlWUKSRa7BFT4SY1CZl/s640/P1020164.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From our balcony</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCUpM0sEgz1vf6iQNAnCOWYtaBgkVkrX1ZvW8C6T_PuHBTpyQKmUAbBVeZinkUzkLwFWMnEzSDZ-ykbhOPdgQiTg99EoVM2f37vQfB_2_4RpUHLhATIHGUSDpey1DqkqlyIp3NPN_qCF22/s1600/cake.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" pca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCUpM0sEgz1vf6iQNAnCOWYtaBgkVkrX1ZvW8C6T_PuHBTpyQKmUAbBVeZinkUzkLwFWMnEzSDZ-ykbhOPdgQiTg99EoVM2f37vQfB_2_4RpUHLhATIHGUSDpey1DqkqlyIp3NPN_qCF22/s640/cake.JPG" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I had Publix make a replica of our top tier, which I'm sure tasted<br />
a lot better than a version frozen would have!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyqyo5c7RtircaNfzqojF6YePrRMr1epuwnhMi8V23ilJHOpcZaQ19NJ8X_M8L2mBiy-M0hFoqF0b2JoTcfjT3XUgY-jWiyVpWv0XgLIluKQkmNOTCUGzt7NTnxI36gplfLR0Zm3KBvUXW/s1600/P1020165.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" pca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyqyo5c7RtircaNfzqojF6YePrRMr1epuwnhMi8V23ilJHOpcZaQ19NJ8X_M8L2mBiy-M0hFoqF0b2JoTcfjT3XUgY-jWiyVpWv0XgLIluKQkmNOTCUGzt7NTnxI36gplfLR0Zm3KBvUXW/s640/P1020165.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baron made a version of my favorite flower to stick with<br />
the traditional first year=paper anniversary gift!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWfxjE2TFejwh4VKPYEClA8JaAhZtc9-QUnEEZb5pmWDCpZ8W-uiANA6TZPMDxIQW_dCnkgqNchZiTOoVEHWbs3wshsptdJ2UQZksE4bz94n79F3xwH8SVQ33GDE-cUD64YufguDJrb4ta/s1600/P1020167.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" pca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWfxjE2TFejwh4VKPYEClA8JaAhZtc9-QUnEEZb5pmWDCpZ8W-uiANA6TZPMDxIQW_dCnkgqNchZiTOoVEHWbs3wshsptdJ2UQZksE4bz94n79F3xwH8SVQ33GDE-cUD64YufguDJrb4ta/s640/P1020167.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baron loved his Pinterest inspired framed maps <br />
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We really did have a wonderful (although far too short) weekend! We've decided we need to go back and explore the rest of Nashville on another trip! I just love Music City!<br />
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A few days after we got back from Nashville I was doing some homework for my new job and Max came walking towards me and I gasped! His mouth was so swollen! A quick trip to the vet's office, some steroids, and benadryl and he was all better!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibmw4xMy3rZUOEVDNd6qkKfcOq_sHmDXTIeLXB3Wb6VH6LhVmAkOjhoaGHN8JgtJxDG8Ylwo_zf-6xGncwQSje4L5LFw5p4jDSHZNhR2Ett2HqOV7uV08Pz4TShhOS9alTqn8GQz2TQ-gQ/s1600/maxvet.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" pca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibmw4xMy3rZUOEVDNd6qkKfcOq_sHmDXTIeLXB3Wb6VH6LhVmAkOjhoaGHN8JgtJxDG8Ylwo_zf-6xGncwQSje4L5LFw5p4jDSHZNhR2Ett2HqOV7uV08Pz4TShhOS9alTqn8GQz2TQ-gQ/s640/maxvet.JPG" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poor guy :(</td></tr>
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I guess I need to post some pictures of our house. It seems like it's moving very sllllooooooowwwly now but I've heard that's normal. Supposedly the house will be done by the end of this week and then we'll start all the walk throughs and inspections and such. I am SO ready to be done. This has been such a bigger headache than I've ever imagined. I just don't understand how so many things can be messed up...granted, most of the things are being fixed after a some <em>discussion, </em>but there are some things that won't be totally perfect because they've had to be redone the correct way.<br />
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Yesterday when we drove by the house we were excited to see that our mailbox had been installed! I got out to snap a picture when Baron dropped the bomb on me, "Um, that's totally NOT our address!" Haha! Par for the course, I suppose. Adding it to the list of things that'll need to be resolved before we close.<br />
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Talk about a photo dump!! I'm off to study for some classes that I'm taking for work. Let me tell ya, it's hard to get back into the swing of studying when you haven't done it in years! Hope you all have a wonderful week!Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-73179574643311686092012-05-10T18:44:00.000-05:002012-05-10T18:44:05.696-05:00House UpdateGreetings y'all! Hope this week finds you well, we're almost done! Hooray for Friday! <br />
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I haven't posted much about the house lately. Everyone told me that once the drywall went up it would seem like they were moving at a snails pace. I found that to be so true! Sometimes we're going out to visit only once or twice a week. Doesn't help that we've been really busy with work too. <br />
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I went out to visit today and had to break in through a window! Apparently we've been locked out of our own house...bummer! I was thrilled to see that we had cabinets installed! The kitchen is what really sold me on the house and I love watching it take shape!<br />
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They've also started painting and have put up all the trim work. I'm so excited to see the colors in real life! <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Office</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5OloB3uHUW0bKipako1d6nAgqzSnsPVAyttKNS2G1TGdWMr3wz5TQEog110G5QPXJXImpM78AXBhg9T9T9qNmdJf6iYpMZsn7gwgSqUISimQn3_tOiROsFPxlllxbqo-wrUyu-HlJFmzv/s1600/414-May5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" dba="true" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5OloB3uHUW0bKipako1d6nAgqzSnsPVAyttKNS2G1TGdWMr3wz5TQEog110G5QPXJXImpM78AXBhg9T9T9qNmdJf6iYpMZsn7gwgSqUISimQn3_tOiROsFPxlllxbqo-wrUyu-HlJFmzv/s640/414-May5.JPG" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dining Room<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Master<br />
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Day by day we're getting closer and closer. I still haven't really thought much about packing and moving because it still doesn't feel real. I suppose I should get myself in gear!! <br />
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Hope you all have a great week!Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-15346219822620164452012-05-01T15:33:00.001-05:002012-05-01T15:34:09.727-05:00Good in Goodbye<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNVCMG05rvtPTjB4MZHx5YJeEQVY0TGBcyUIU5Rhbs0pKcgjjFpyM-w2LiHcnIvUtTy5lceTH60r7_WMPT49vuQhzWH5vgXi5XsromBC8LYqT2G437FcQ2ylM8D2NesiCAmBSTwH1l5Eou/s1600/carrie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="386" mea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNVCMG05rvtPTjB4MZHx5YJeEQVY0TGBcyUIU5Rhbs0pKcgjjFpyM-w2LiHcnIvUtTy5lceTH60r7_WMPT49vuQhzWH5vgXi5XsromBC8LYqT2G437FcQ2ylM8D2NesiCAmBSTwH1l5Eou/s400/carrie.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.cambio.com/2012/03/06/carrie-underwood-blown-away-album-cover/">{via}</a></td></tr>
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She's done it again!! Carrie Underwood's fourth album has hit the shelves and y'all, I've been waiting for a looooong time for today to come around, like since her last album was released back in 2009! I just love Carrie! She's beautiful with an even more beautiful voice and just seems like we could be friends!<br />
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My favorite song so far is "Good in Goodbye". It's a song about someone running into their ex and realizing now that even though it hurt at the time, that it was for a good reason that they went their separate ways. I guess I'm having an <em><strong>I really miss home</strong> </em>day, because when I heard the song it really spoke to me as a sign that even though it was painful to leave <em>home </em>that it was for a good reason and will be worth it in the end. And like the lyrics say, I thought I deserved to not have to go anywhere to have everything I ever wanted. I thought I deserved to have my husband and my family and my job and my home all in the same place.<br />
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<em>As bad as it was,</em></div>
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<em>as bad as it hurt,</em></div>
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<em>I thank God I didn't get</em></div>
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<em>what I thought that I deserved.</em></div>
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<em>Sometimes life </em></div>
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<em>leads you down a different road,</em></div>
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<em>when you're holdin' on to something</em></div>
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<em> that you gotta let go.</em></div>
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<em>Someday you'll see the reason why. </em></div>
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<em>Sometimes, </em></div>
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<em>yeah sometimes,</em></div>
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<em>There's good in goodbye.</em></div>
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The difference for me was that I didn't have to wait until <strong><em>someday</em></strong> to see the reason why. I got the clarity and happy ending that I needed the minute I had to say goodbye to my friends, family, job, and home. He was standing at the end of the altar waiting for me almost a year ago. And I know that this move will be good for us. I know it will make us stronger and more united in our marriage. I just have to wait and see about the details.</div>
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<br /></div>Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-69471651371931675912012-04-30T13:02:00.000-05:002012-04-30T13:02:04.052-05:00Finding FurnitureBaron and I spent a lot of time looking at furniture this weekend. I'm so overwhelmed at the thought of furnishing a whole house that sometimes I want to give up and live with the same furniture for the rest of my life! But persevere I will!<br />
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We found a few pieces for the living room that we really like and thanks to my smartypants husband we were able to draw it up as it would fit in our new house. I think we're making progress in the living room. I look at Pinterest all the time and am constantly seeing things that I love....just not so sure how to piece them together in my own place. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photos <a href="http://pinterest.com/brekke_johnson/our-dream-house/">{via}</a></td></tr>
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I know it will all come together in time, I just feel like I have no clue where to start the search. Do I find a rug that I love? Or base all my decisions off of a TV console that we fell in love with this weekend? Hmmm, what to do, what to do??<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyjYFSUYU2y5JDHtFZ3r3jCL37IeEoHC_xScgMV9g-BfHCm6uRbilE62uOstO87QEcjSiOJori3oTuJl8GUqo2aH0CQV4oRXWUEq8WiEPOPwxsB0d_sh3LHxXlY5wzIHsIcmJDHjrCree/s1600/tvconsole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" oda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyjYFSUYU2y5JDHtFZ3r3jCL37IeEoHC_xScgMV9g-BfHCm6uRbilE62uOstO87QEcjSiOJori3oTuJl8GUqo2aH0CQV4oRXWUEq8WiEPOPwxsB0d_sh3LHxXlY5wzIHsIcmJDHjrCree/s400/tvconsole.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.hammary.onlinestoresinc.com/index.html">Hammary Furniture</a></td></tr>
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Do any of y'all know of any websites or sources of great decorating ideas? I'd love to have some more inspiration to pull from!<br />
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Other than the furniture shopping, we had a pretty low key weekend. Baron had to work a little on both days but we did manage to go to PF Changs on Saturday to celebrate Baron's birthday! Halfway through the meal we both decided we'd rather go to Panda Express. Haha! I guess Chinese food is Chinese food, period! We never claimed to be high class folks!<br />
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Later y'all! <br />Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-34367598542776761372012-04-26T09:26:00.000-05:002012-04-26T09:26:05.453-05:00A Quick Florida Vacay......and by "vacay" I mean run-around-like-chickens-with-our-heads-cut-off for 36 hours before getting in a car and driving for 12 hours to get back home. But I wouldn't have missed it!<br />
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One of Baron's good friends from high school (who actually lives in the same city we do now!) got married on Saturday in Melbourne Beach, Florida. Baron drove down to Florida on Thursday for some of the earlier wedding festivities. I had to work on Friday but caught an early flight to Melbourne on Saturday. Baron picked me up at the airport and we changed clothes, then headed straight to the wedding. Perfect timing!<br />
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The wedding was so fun! We stayed at a hotel right on the beach and slept with the windows open, listening to the waves. It was wonderful! I guess growing up ten minutes from the beach, I kind of took it for granted. It felt <strong><em>so good</em></strong> to be driving up A1A, seeing all the touristy beach shops, and looking at the ocean!<br />
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On Sunday, we woke up early and grabbed breakfast with some of Baron's friend's from school that now live in Melbourne. After breakfast, we headed straight to New Smyrna (about an hour and half drive) and had lunch with my Dad. My Mom was in New York so I didn't get to see her :(<br />
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After a quick lunch, we made the two hour drive to Baron's parents' house where we had dinner and spent the night before making the 10 hour drive back to Alabama the next morning. We finally got home at about 7:30 on Monday night and I had to be up for work at 4:30 the next morning. Ugh. Needless to say, the last two days of working in the operating room drug on forever it seemed! I feel so much better after sleeping in a little this morning and finally getting some groceries in our house!<br />
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Our house is coming along nicely. While we were gone they put up sheet rock in the whole house, and finished all the brick work. Here's a photo of our bedroom:<br />
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Today we have an appointment to pick out all of our shelving, mirrors, and towel racks. Oh my!<br />
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Now I need a favor from all of you who read this. Would you please take a moment to pray for this little boy? This is Joshua, he's the son of one of my friends and was in a very serious 4-wheeler accident on Sunday morning. He's in the Pediatric ICU and in very serious condition. He has a very long road to recovery and right now is still sedated and on a ventilator to let his brain heal. After his brain shows some improvement their plan is to slowly wake up and get him breathing on his own, before starting to work on all of his broken bones and other injuries.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Josh and his Mom</td></tr>
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Please pray specifically for progress in the healing of his brain, for comfort and rest for his parents, older brother, and family. Also for wisdom and strength for the doctors and nurses who are caring for him. I know his family appreciates the prayers!<br />
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I hope you all have a blessed week! Hope to check in sooner rather than later, but y'all know, I don't make any promises ;)Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-64127567765930703572012-04-19T08:59:00.000-05:002012-04-19T08:59:48.234-05:00Checking InGood Thursday morning to ya! I hope this finds you well, I've been busy, busy with work and just trying to get into the swing of things with L&D again. Our house keeps us busy as well. Everything has been fixed and the new (black) roof is in place. I really love it! <br />
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They started putting the bricks on a few days ago and it's really starting to look like a house. I know I keep saying that, but every little step gets us closer and closer and I'm so excited. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Love our new shingles!</td></tr>
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Baron and I are going to a wedding this weekend and I found the <em>perfect</em> dress for a beach wedding!<br />
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I'm a little excited because we haven't had to get all dressed up in a while and I can't wait to see my hubs in a tux again...will bring me right back to that wonderful day <em>almost </em>a year ago!<br />
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I can't believe that just <em>next month </em>we'll be celebrating our first anniversary! Time flies! I am happier than I've ever been and so glad to be married to my best friend, but I won't lie and say that this year has been perfect. We've been through <em>a whole crazy lot</em> this past year. We both left jobs that we loved, Baron finished his PhD and graduated, we got married, moved two states away from "home", Baron started a new job, I job searched for what felt like forever, and just recently I've started a new job. Oh yeah, and we started building a house in the middle of all of that!<br />
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I never ever saw myself marrying a rocket scientist and moving to the middle of Alabama...but I never thought I'd get to marry someone so perfect for me either! I'm so thankful that in the midst of all the craziness of the last year I always know that when I come home that I'm loved, I'm safe, and I'm cared for. That's more than enough to make my heart so very happy.<br />
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Happy almost a year, babe! I love you! Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-88540184673520668212012-04-02T09:01:00.001-05:002012-04-02T09:02:12.070-05:00Weekend Wrap UpHey y'all! Well it seems like the once a week updates will have to do for now, at least until I get into some kind of routine with my new job. I made it through my second week of working 8-5 and I'm so glad to be done with that! I may not think the same thing when I wake up at 5 o'clock tomorrow morning for my first 12 hour shift though!<br />
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I work Tuesday, Thursday and Friday of this week. Here's hoping for a good one!<br />
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Baron and I had a low key weekend. After working Monday-Friday for the past two weeks I feel kind of torn on what to do on the weekends. Part of me wants to lay in bed all day and not think about a thing, and another part of me wants to get up early and run and play all day long! We had a good mix of both this weekend. <br />
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Lunch with friends, brunch at a cute cafe, exploring our new house, going to the dog park, and watching lots of House Hunters= a great weekend!<br />
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We took the dogs to the park yesterday because they were needing to let some energy out after being couped up all week. Max had a great time and Macey....well we're never really sure if she's having fun or not :)<br />
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<strong><u>House Update:</u></strong><br />
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This past week has been so exciting as we watch our house literally going up before our eyes! Amidst the excitement, there has been a lot of stress as well. We've found several things that have not been built correctly including, a TV box above our fireplace, a missing door in the Jack and Jill bathroom, the landing of our stairs isn't built per the plans, and there was supposed to be a big bench seat in front of one of the windows in the bonus room which isn't there. Ugh.<br />
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The most disappointing thing, however, was discovering that our entire roof had been shingled...<strong><em>in the wrong color!</em></strong> Ugh. They gave us two choices, grey or black. We chose black, clearly chose it. I have pictures of some of the roof/brick color combos that we chose in <a href="http://mysweethomeblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/wilw.html">this post</a>.<br />
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So here's a picture of our grey roof. While waiting to hear a response from the builder about the wrong colored shingles, we noticed another problem! Look closely at the picture above. Do you notice that the left side appears to be a tad darker than the right side? It makes me want to scream!! If they didn't think that they'd be replacing it, then there's another thing coming because that looks absolutely ridiculous and it's not even the right color in the first place!!<br />
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I know that this will all work out and eventually we'll be in our home with all of these little mistakes being a distant memory. Right now, though, it seems like it's a never ending array of problems and that <strong><em>nothing </em></strong>can be done correctly. <br />
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I hope you all have a blessed week!! Think of me this week, would ya?? I'm nervous about heading back to work.Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-57860523920509903222012-03-25T20:24:00.000-05:002012-03-25T20:24:12.365-05:00I Promise I'm Alive!Hi y'all!! What a blur of a week it's been! I'm sorry that I never checked in and let you all know how my first week was going, I had good intentions but, alas, never got around to it. <br />
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First off, thank you all so much for your well wishes for my new job. I guess no one really likes change, but I appreciate all of your thoughts! I have to do two whole weeks of 8-5 orientation days (that are a little boring if I must tell). I'm halfway there!! My first day on the floor will be a week from Tuesday. I'm nervous and excited all in one.<br />
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I have to give credit to all of you folks who work 8-5 jobs. I don't know how you do it! I was exhausted and ready for bed by nine o'clock every night and the thought of cooking dinner was enough to send me over the edge. Baron and I are a good team, so we didn't have to eat out <em>every </em>night :) The dogs had quite the adjustment period and were surprisingly well behaved. Thank the Lord!<br />
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We did manage to find time to drive by the house every night this week and were amazed at how quickly things are happening! The next two photos are from last Sunday, and exactly a week later, this afternoon:<br />
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I can't wait to see what it looks like in another week! This stage of the process is happening so fast!<br />
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I hope you all have a wonderful week! Back to the grind tomorrow :)Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-58844599168113196602012-03-18T19:14:00.000-05:002012-03-18T19:14:31.832-05:00On the Eve of ChangeI never really understood the Sunday evening blues...until today. Ha! My first <em>real </em>job was working night shift as a nurse and each week I worked on different days so there was never the feeling of having to get ready for a full week of work.<br />
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I start hospital orientation tomorrow for my new job and although there won't be any clinical work tomorrow I'm still a little nervous. Never having been a huge fan of change, I've kind of been dreading this afternoon for a while. <br />
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I've got my lunch packed, paperwork ready, and my clothes laid out for my first day. Here goes nothing!<br />
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Baron and I had a low key weekend that started out by celebrating my new job at the Melting Pot on Friday night. Imagine my surprise when I saw this on my little menu board:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9eyrmClDUKC6dtrdUbZqghg_ftFg0Nt3n9UGc7WRasFXu5IrfunY9cjO-IIqetv5N9YGtpXvaa6bAr56f2-Ta0Dl2ElSUYm5y2v1r8CEIk0K5xnquzD98cWx7d_99zDlY1ObT5C-fKFlI/s1600/weekend4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9eyrmClDUKC6dtrdUbZqghg_ftFg0Nt3n9UGc7WRasFXu5IrfunY9cjO-IIqetv5N9YGtpXvaa6bAr56f2-Ta0Dl2ElSUYm5y2v1r8CEIk0K5xnquzD98cWx7d_99zDlY1ObT5C-fKFlI/s640/weekend4.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>We had a nice dinner and fun experience cooking all of our own food. Baron had never been before and I think he liked it :) While trying to cook some shrimp on a skewer, this guy walks by and I think, "<em>I know him!"</em> But then I thought, "<em>we just moved here and there are very few people that we <strong>know</strong> and I'd be able to identify them easily." </em>Hmmmm.... <br />
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Then it clicked, it was Jared the Subway guy! At the Melting Pot. Certainly <strong><em>not </em></strong>eating a five dollar foot long. Baron didn't believe me at first and after it was confirmed by our waiter, he too, was in awe of the big celebrity sighting in our city. <br />
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Speaking of Subway, there is one pretty close to our new house. We went and grabbed dinner one night last week. Our <strong><em>sandwich artist </em></strong>was very enthusiastic and even penned the words "His" and "Hers" on our sandwiches. Ha!<br />
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Saturday was spent doing absolutely nothing. We did drive around late in the afternoon to check on our house and just see the city. Spring has definitely sprung here in North Alabama and it is beautiful!<br />
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I hope you all have a wonderful week! I'll try to stop in at some point but won't make any promises, this is going to be quite the 180 for a girl who's had a year off of work. Gulp! I'm excited to get started but kind of wish I could snap my fingers and have been at my new job for a year. I remember saying that about my last job when I first started and the three and a half years there went by <strong><em>so </em></strong>fast. <br />
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I hope I can touch peoples' lives. I hope I can be a caretaker, pain-reliever, answer giver, comedian, baby rocker, comforter, and perfect counter-to-ten (you do a lot of that in Labor and Delivery) for all of the women that I will care for. The way that all of the doors were closed until this opportunity came about, and then this door was wide open and I was practically shoved through it, helps me to be less anxious about the whole thing. This is where I'm supposed to be. This is what I'm supposed to do. I can't wait to get back into the groove of it all. I'll just keep repeating that to myself until it feels natural again.<br />
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Have a great week, friends!Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-29983984939406814872012-03-16T09:06:00.001-05:002012-03-16T09:07:33.789-05:00Grandma's PenniesMy Grandma Gloria, my Dad's mom, used to find money all the time. And I'm not talking loose change on the ground, I'm talking ten dollar bills in the bushes on the way into a restaurant. All the time!<br />
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My Grandma passed away when I was twelve and I still miss her and think of her all the time. Ever since she died I started finding pennies everywhere! It's funny because it seems that if I'm upset about something I almost always find a penny on the way to my car. I've found pennies on all of the important days of my life. My graduations, first day of college, nursing school interview, you know, the big days. I was a little sad that I hadn't found a penny on my wedding day when my Aunt walked up to me while I was getting my hair done with a shiny penny in hand and said, "Look Brekke, Grandma's here."<br />
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Whew! She's approved ;)<br />
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In fact, as I walked out of the hospital after the interview for the job I start on Monday, I found a shiny Abe Lincoln in the revolving door of the hospital. I almost lost a limb trying to pick it up! <br />
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I've kept my Grandma's pennies all these years except for one year when I was desperately trying to pay off my credit card and I knew Grandma wouldn't mind. I never keep pennies that I get for change in my wallet because I don't want them to mix with my Grandma's pennies. It's wierd, I accept it :)<br />
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I knew that I wanted to leave some of my pennies in the foundation of the house somewhere so that I knew that they were always close by if I didn't <em>find </em>one that day. But where?? I thought long and hard and decided they'd be tossed into the back porch, that's where my Grandma always was anyways. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRLAWYefRkXm2FwW1Q18cK-JidfSXu5PJt31CMYEhEHlIVVVDdkmKvRrxkQH64ESBH1oII641kWdK2Qluk9I9wosB3-uZN9nE4TnPUPCN1mzktl-x_WDKRrm4mg6euQiNQYU112PPxDSuE/s1600/50-March15.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRLAWYefRkXm2FwW1Q18cK-JidfSXu5PJt31CMYEhEHlIVVVDdkmKvRrxkQH64ESBH1oII641kWdK2Qluk9I9wosB3-uZN9nE4TnPUPCN1mzktl-x_WDKRrm4mg6euQiNQYU112PPxDSuE/s640/50-March15.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">About to go into the rubble in the back porch (they'll pour concrete over it at some point)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggJw2V0r5LOaMAXpeixad5s5UGGxTsvD9Z2NHIzbylQJ-yIURbQHtrqqSzLYmqRe3lsUr2Gdq2n3W1nWWHYLSsJk70in-sLGYtG-86LSM58lfqG9kG80xqxQcOWhzVgtJNqBXk6F9XOaQ8/s1600/51-March15.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggJw2V0r5LOaMAXpeixad5s5UGGxTsvD9Z2NHIzbylQJ-yIURbQHtrqqSzLYmqRe3lsUr2Gdq2n3W1nWWHYLSsJk70in-sLGYtG-86LSM58lfqG9kG80xqxQcOWhzVgtJNqBXk6F9XOaQ8/s640/51-March15.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpH6UxBNfdFQ_amePsP3xOirA6GtOHdqz26Mp6kqUAF0XXMc8p9Epx7yslWhE1_ra_rF20OcIJ_u9K-DUURGOZPHRf_rGKQbiertmYXgharkg0uqhwBlx7KgcVPkKRORxl6-z5zUfonDFm/s1600/55-March15.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpH6UxBNfdFQ_amePsP3xOirA6GtOHdqz26Mp6kqUAF0XXMc8p9Epx7yslWhE1_ra_rF20OcIJ_u9K-DUURGOZPHRf_rGKQbiertmYXgharkg0uqhwBlx7KgcVPkKRORxl6-z5zUfonDFm/s640/55-March15.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
See 'em?? I'm hoping to be able to catch the wet concrete after they pour it and press one penny into it so there's always one I can see but who knows if I'll be able to catch it in time. At least I know that they're there.Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-49878795638587623732012-03-15T09:22:00.001-05:002012-03-15T09:25:08.722-05:00What goes up...There is so much happening with the construction of our new house and it's happening so quickly that I want to try to document it and keep up with it as best as I can.<br />
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Remember yesterday when I posted about the <a href="http://mysweethomeblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/weekend-catch-up.html">mini-crisis</a> surrounding our storm shelter? Baron's been looking at that picture over and over and kept saying that something just wasn't right. He didn't like how the two interior walls would be anchored by a long length of rebar but the exterior walls were just anchored with a few inches. Doesn't make much sense. We couldn't see how the exterior walls would be anchored to the foundation. We got a response before they "fixed" it a few days ago from the builder's assistant who basically told us that we were right and they totally forgot about the shelter and it had been remedied. Oh, and P.S., don't contact me anymore, go through the realtors that don't know a dang thing and I'll see you at closing. <br />
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Baron waited to respond to her email until we had a chance to go by the house and see it yesterday afternoon:<br />
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When we saw that our storm shelter had practically been finished we thought, "Crap! Hopefully it's done right!" When we got home Baron responded to the verging-on-rude email and stated his concerns about the integrity of the shelter. He made sure to point out that because it had been entirely missed when the poured our slab that he's concerned it was just given a quick fix and not done correctly, including a picture of the questionable work. He responded to the woman who basically told us not to contact her as well as our realtor, the two realtors working for the builder that don't know squat, and lastly, the builder himself. Let's call him Jim. That was at 9:30 last night.<br />
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This morning Baron decides to go by the house on the way to work and was happy to see that Jim, the owner of the company and his construction managers were all there. Jim had Baron's picture that was sent in the email pulled up on his iPad and was furious according to Baron. He apologized profusely and said that he was humiliated and could not believe that this had happened after all that we've been through. He said he felt like they had lost all credibility with us and were very sorry. He talked to Baron about what they were going to do to fix it and let us know that it would probably push everything back another week. My understanding is that they'll be ripping up all of the foundation and repouring everything to start over again.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdwciF4JnbUYGkrIFA47ciY5QFsBb8gJDmLJkfhgGa2MxJ6CtYTbbBy4EwU9Tss4EwstyTGbWHNwzwAgYCvmSjM2jhiv4eQZaTrwAo2GXNTZ9cQRX_3tOOHh7bW59bTuMLjjblffc-rdrF/s1600/45-March15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdwciF4JnbUYGkrIFA47ciY5QFsBb8gJDmLJkfhgGa2MxJ6CtYTbbBy4EwU9Tss4EwstyTGbWHNwzwAgYCvmSjM2jhiv4eQZaTrwAo2GXNTZ9cQRX_3tOOHh7bW59bTuMLjjblffc-rdrF/s640/45-March15.jpg" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tearing down the storm shelter</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I have a lot of different emotions about this whole process. I still feel like we chose a good builder who builds a good product and that we will be happy with the final result. At the same time I feel like there have been one too many mistakes along the way and we're only about a week into construction! The is the first problem we've had with the actual builder and not the realty team that works for him. Everyone that we've talked to that has ever built a house says that it's a lot of work, a lot of stress, and that they've caught mistakes during the construction. It makes me feel a little better to know that it's not <em>totally </em>out of the ordinary. I'll just keep looking at pictures of my kitchen and telling myself it'll be okay!Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-69476667689039724802012-03-14T10:33:00.001-05:002012-03-14T10:42:23.348-05:00Weekend Catch UpCan it still be a "Weekend Catch Up" on Wednesday?? I feel a little late with this one but I'm gonna do it anyway. No rules, that's how I live ;)<br />
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My parents came into town late Friday afternoon and we went straight from the airport to Sonic to get fried pickles, duh! They don't have them in Florida and Momma needed a snack! Then we went and explored our house under construction and saw that they had dumped a bunch of gravel into our foundation footing and were ready to pour some concrete for the foundation! Hurray!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrBTLDCZQ-WEwUd5QaW0WPtpx3SxBZ7paPQ4675fAoY4HxaBvpI1I-En6OGko2hFE-DA3x5OzSre1ob6o_mVw5j_H7TFWGGSJ3LMeSr_X3QIn7P2KS0pWmtPEXEZIszThPEYdOIeAUGtvq/s1600/18-March9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrBTLDCZQ-WEwUd5QaW0WPtpx3SxBZ7paPQ4675fAoY4HxaBvpI1I-En6OGko2hFE-DA3x5OzSre1ob6o_mVw5j_H7TFWGGSJ3LMeSr_X3QIn7P2KS0pWmtPEXEZIszThPEYdOIeAUGtvq/s640/18-March9.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>On Saturday we took my parents to the model home and let them see what our future house will look like. It was a nice reminder for me because I haven't seen the model in months! I still like it! :) <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGBUWiywziim6YMn64zElsHD3jy56YWcW6yNuyKrcQHUOl-PtpPBixUF9PRah28J5usVPnVtQs4jTrIimQzIMpYNUhTe-QOFDXseHR_CK-OS9U7iXXbUjKLkCFWDTti_3t6gO1Pc-SqRVf/s1600/modelkitchen.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGBUWiywziim6YMn64zElsHD3jy56YWcW6yNuyKrcQHUOl-PtpPBixUF9PRah28J5usVPnVtQs4jTrIimQzIMpYNUhTe-QOFDXseHR_CK-OS9U7iXXbUjKLkCFWDTti_3t6gO1Pc-SqRVf/s640/modelkitchen.JPG" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I can't wait to be in this kitchen!</td></tr>
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We showed them the sights and sounds of our city and spent some QT with the pups. My Dad loves Boston Terriers and was in heaven. Max cried for a solid two hours when I came home alone after dropping my parents off at the airport. I joined him for an hour or so ;)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just look at the two of them :)</td></tr>
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We had a mini crisis yesterday when we thought the builders had forgetten about our storm shelter. They had poured the entire slab for our foundation but there was nothing sticking up for the storm shelter to tie to like we had been told. When we came back later that evening they had cut out a portion of the concrete and poured new concrete with rebar sticking up to bolt the cinderblock walls of our storm shelter to. Whew! I'm still not sure if they forgot and our phone calls reminded them or if that's just how they do it. Either way, we're getting our storm shelter! I dare say that they will start framing our house today...we'll see this afternoon!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcrmoFMNH3glBEeGQg9zhmfke3JEffVgBzxV1f6O6GqBYPMR5LfvjcLS4wqtdaqlvkhXIL0hy-0qaS9fnU1Hc-Towi6hBxKp9_oHUB1w0dx1CmWl9rxJGIzxIAh1QoRwNMvdAluMKWQyo9/s1600/baronrebar.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcrmoFMNH3glBEeGQg9zhmfke3JEffVgBzxV1f6O6GqBYPMR5LfvjcLS4wqtdaqlvkhXIL0hy-0qaS9fnU1Hc-Towi6hBxKp9_oHUB1w0dx1CmWl9rxJGIzxIAh1QoRwNMvdAluMKWQyo9/s640/baronrebar.JPG" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baron with the rebar!</td></tr>
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I was a terrible blogger and only busted out the camera once or twice...oops! Better next time, I promise! I don't think I got any pictures of my Momma. Here's an older picture of my mom and I for good measure. Getting ready for our wedding :)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk-MIUXiDcQ9H_d8eMzElEYT9UNSxhyOCKgjzX-r9CpNPSq4ZdMf6_vfoq9SlSZR3ur_Y2suKco9Hua9Qf37m5eXg4KjBiFJm99joBmKZ_e9ULNCuq9iNRpsFzsO8Hhn2auOCWsXZ9nqah/s1600/brekkeandmom.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk-MIUXiDcQ9H_d8eMzElEYT9UNSxhyOCKgjzX-r9CpNPSq4ZdMf6_vfoq9SlSZR3ur_Y2suKco9Hua9Qf37m5eXg4KjBiFJm99joBmKZ_e9ULNCuq9iNRpsFzsO8Hhn2auOCWsXZ9nqah/s640/brekkeandmom.JPG" width="456" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Happy Hump Day friends! I'm savoring my last few days as an unemployed woman and dreading my full time, 8-5 orientation that takes place next week. Ugh. Nurses aren't supposed to work like that ;) Can't wait to get to the three day a week stuff!</div>Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-44586598456627437722012-03-09T08:50:00.001-06:002012-03-09T08:51:36.586-06:00Coming to Town!Hi y'all, just wanted to touch base and let you know that I won't be around for the next few days. My parents are coming into town this afternoon and we plan on showing them the sights and sounds of our little town over the weekend. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPSW1aajebRndcwIdkioloNVp0iGf-I62uG5nCtl1nyOk9fskOZFgSvW2RMVn-n5DLW0wrp3sERta7BFxv9t-tXYbh8DL58QYD1jlzvq6g-3Hl-oYYrGcjOX9OgkFDVFTu9WEIA8NB3kYC/s1600/BBJ1740.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPSW1aajebRndcwIdkioloNVp0iGf-I62uG5nCtl1nyOk9fskOZFgSvW2RMVn-n5DLW0wrp3sERta7BFxv9t-tXYbh8DL58QYD1jlzvq6g-3Hl-oYYrGcjOX9OgkFDVFTu9WEIA8NB3kYC/s640/BBJ1740.jpg" width="640" yda="true" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dad, Mom, and little brother, Chris</td></tr>
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They'll be staying until Tuesday afternoon so I hope to update you on our fun weekend then! Have a wonderful weekend friends!Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-88262071278511096372012-03-08T09:12:00.000-06:002012-03-08T09:12:31.843-06:00Big News!Hi friends! I've got quite the update for you guys today. There are so many exciting things happening for us right now that I know will swirl the calm waters of our lives for months to come.<br />
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No, we're not having a baby.<br />
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Actually, I am having lots of them, but not Baron. Weird, right?? Not really because, you guys, I am going to be a labor and delivery nurse again!! When I wrote <a href="http://mysweethomeblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/crossroads.html">this post</a> in August, I had no idea that <strong><em>six </em></strong>months later I still wouldn't have a job. After searching high and low and submitting application after application with no bites, it got me a little down. I only had one bite and had an interview at a doctor's office that I wasn't terribly excited about, a few months ago. I was terribly conflicted after I left the interview because I really wasn't feeling it, so I prayed that they wouldn't call and offer me the job. Well they must have picked up on my vibe, because they never called.<br />
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I now see exactly why all these doors have been shut right in front of me. Why I get e-mail after e-mail about how they chose another candidate, they had already filled the position, I didn't have the experience they were looking for, blah, blah, blah. <br />
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On Monday afternoon I got a call from the Nurse Manager at a hospital in my town, she wanted me to come in for an interview the following day at 1. The interview went well and I met with about six nurses from the unit and really liked their personalities and the feel of the unit. At six o'clock that night I received a call from the manager and she said that she wanted to offer me the position. Say what?! I went from having absolutely <strong><em>no </em></strong>prospects to having secured a job in about 26 hours. Okay God, I hear you! This is where I'm supposed to be! :)<br />
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The best part? It's a PRN position, which means as needed. After working full time for one year I'll go PRN and be able to work basically whenever I want to. There is a minimum shift amount that I'll have to work and I can work as much as up to full time, whatever works for my schedule. How great is that?!<br />
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I am so, so excited to get back into my old thing. To do what I do best and get back to where I feel like I'm making a difference in this world. Of course I'm nervous beyond belief too, but with the way everything worked out I have no doubt that God has placed me here in the position and that it will be okay!<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">House Update:</span><br />
In other news, right after getting called about the interview on Monday, Baron and I headed to our lot to see if any action had been done on our house. Much to our surprise, they had broken ground!!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo3eru1qz1MPgtvfZU_3Xy9Tuusbry2gSAucSVvDNiUYDd1xuu6Algkd_q9kXP5h5Bhr4lOYgW5ejJNQc3Q_Fdw6ogHIp9QfEZXb2jhndsuRZbbR64SmtYOAnurtN1qp2gWUJtvxzcvlCe/s1600/7-March5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo3eru1qz1MPgtvfZU_3Xy9Tuusbry2gSAucSVvDNiUYDd1xuu6Algkd_q9kXP5h5Bhr4lOYgW5ejJNQc3Q_Fdw6ogHIp9QfEZXb2jhndsuRZbbR64SmtYOAnurtN1qp2gWUJtvxzcvlCe/s640/7-March5.JPG" width="640" yda="true" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our lot has been scraped!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgepkac6xzD9qfTarUY6yK7k8jWniEI2ZqG3g6B36kDpkoqqPe2sTv68mYm_sGR9MEXhVmoZJ0g7PYIOFeb_iIHj_CacRftovnw8U1h58xLMSIv7I7dz4m9Ur9DdIoGuaqUgx9G8mMjRITo/s1600/8-March5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgepkac6xzD9qfTarUY6yK7k8jWniEI2ZqG3g6B36kDpkoqqPe2sTv68mYm_sGR9MEXhVmoZJ0g7PYIOFeb_iIHj_CacRftovnw8U1h58xLMSIv7I7dz4m9Ur9DdIoGuaqUgx9G8mMjRITo/s640/8-March5.JPG" width="478" yda="true" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rebar for our storm shelter!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>What an exciting Monday it was! After my interview on Tuesday, I was mentally exhausted and mulling things over in my head when Baron and I headed back down to the lot again. What did we find?? More progress!!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjMKBtXMOUKrrmplkeGuedc6Yo4Ztlth6Abu72K9yALeVCU0PvE5lB0fB0jgStzydAFD8I4lAK8rKbEBo4OsYgIbHDw9mAswpGw9nE6NzwQfis7bjUM1zq5yIgPIl9CZ2uZWBRYZK85XKu/s1600/10-March6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjMKBtXMOUKrrmplkeGuedc6Yo4Ztlth6Abu72K9yALeVCU0PvE5lB0fB0jgStzydAFD8I4lAK8rKbEBo4OsYgIbHDw9mAswpGw9nE6NzwQfis7bjUM1zq5yIgPIl9CZ2uZWBRYZK85XKu/s640/10-March6.JPG" width="640" yda="true" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Concrete footing for our foundation</td></tr>
</tbody></table>As we were exploring the outline of our house my phone rang. I didn't recognize the number at first so I wasn't going to answer it and then it clicked. It was the hospital! I answered and when I heard the voice of the Nurse Manager that I had just met with earlier that day, I teared up. She offered me the position and we spoke briefly about my next steps. When I hung up I jumped up and down and told Baron that I was a labor and delivery nurse again!! It was surreal to be watching our new home being built while I got the call about my new job. Lots of things happening for sure!<br />
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Last night we didn't have a chance to get to the lot until it was dark, but we still went! We were impressed that they had already started laying cinder blocks for the foundation. It's all going so fast!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRBXNNMZjJJPi2yN_xHWg6EqdjpvkD-yLcIgxyK1k2OlmA9hxrfH1Lr67FXlCZXiZtxluXu3x0kl5vwlFOJlc7_Dg16XVdLun-cS8DBnF2OX4Tr-WG04anET1sdab4ZISjpKZd5VJMbD0G/s1600/14-March7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRBXNNMZjJJPi2yN_xHWg6EqdjpvkD-yLcIgxyK1k2OlmA9hxrfH1Lr67FXlCZXiZtxluXu3x0kl5vwlFOJlc7_Dg16XVdLun-cS8DBnF2OX4Tr-WG04anET1sdab4ZISjpKZd5VJMbD0G/s640/14-March7.JPG" width="640" yda="true" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our future garage</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday! I'm heading to the hospital today to get some paperwork out of the way and then prepping for my parents' visit tomorrow! This week has become a lot more crazy than I thought it would be. Such is life, right?!<br />
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Be blessed friends!Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-90391407331811881982012-03-05T11:56:00.001-06:002012-03-05T12:00:03.681-06:00Weekend RecapHey y'all! We had quite an eventful weekend and Baron even had a <em>surprise</em> three day weekend! We were expecting rough weather on Friday afternoon so Baron went to work that morning to try to get a few hours in before the storms came through. I sent Baron this picture and said, "We're ready for the tornadoes!" <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoYCUL_hEGxOF6sfpnBYtZwQpeD9u9ppsHk-UQtLJTPcgpPeob6T_AllGCio1BnSUL_JWLlbFDXezGOce4WPFh-Skh-_ZVF8khMlgmteV2NvdZe46F7trHuRTCwentFvP_T8dLH8fFazTL/s1600/photo9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoYCUL_hEGxOF6sfpnBYtZwQpeD9u9ppsHk-UQtLJTPcgpPeob6T_AllGCio1BnSUL_JWLlbFDXezGOce4WPFh-Skh-_ZVF8khMlgmteV2NvdZe46F7trHuRTCwentFvP_T8dLH8fFazTL/s640/photo9.JPG" uda="true" width="640" /></a></div>Well imagine my surprise when at about 9 o'clock I heard tornado sirens! I flipped on the TV and was instantly sent into a frenzy! We were under a tornado warning and the weathermen were calling for people in my area to take cover. I grabbed the dogs and my phone and hopped in the bathtub. I called Baron and because they were reporting a tornado between the two of us, he stayed put while I waited in the bathroom with the dogs.<br />
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It was really scary and I may or may not have been crying on the phone with my husband. Finally, after the worst was over, Baron raced home and we were glued to the TV for the rest of the day. There was a break around lunchtime with no storms so we drove out to check on our new neighborhood and grab some lunch. When we drove past our lot there was a huge truck dropping off a dumpster and a Porta-Potty! The first action on our property, hooray!<br />
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There was another strong string of storms that went through that afternoon but thankfully we were safe. I cannot wait until our storm shelter is built!! This was the view from our apartment right before the second string of storms came though. We were really lucky!<br />
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On Saturday we had plans to drive to Birmingham to see <a href="http://www.flyingmonsters3dmovie.com/">Flying Monsters</a> at an IMAX theatre there. Baron had the opportunity to help in the production of the film about two years ago so we were excited to see the finished product. We had lunch at The Fish Market, in downtown Birmingham and it was really good! It's hard to find good seafood in northern Alabama but we were impressed with this place. Did it help that <em>everything </em>we ate was fried? Probably.<br />
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The best fried pickles I've ever had! Yum! Baron was excited to see his movie!!<br />
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After lunch we headed to the theatre and settled in for the movie. Unfortunately none of the parts that Baron worked on made the final cut but it was still neat to see the final product, since he had gotten to see behind the scenes!<br />
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Sunday was a very lazy day, Baron made breakfast and was in the kitchen for a looooong time just to make a bagel, but I understood when he came forth with this little masterpiece.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">How sweet! I hope you all have a great Monday! </div>Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-30427328574575419892012-03-01T11:21:00.001-06:002012-03-01T11:22:02.831-06:00Happy March!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjecbWqvSumYBH4x9i6vyI31uX_2u1FPakL3XpVq0iUOcriyjTx4g_Z3mMV4P1abHjnjxDmZsIYriGGbGNkmGLekzeC-YKxjMETzmxAF-xQShDAyEU0e5tCWcrWYlV_ny24K-vNIWcVWFu7/s1600/dog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjecbWqvSumYBH4x9i6vyI31uX_2u1FPakL3XpVq0iUOcriyjTx4g_Z3mMV4P1abHjnjxDmZsIYriGGbGNkmGLekzeC-YKxjMETzmxAF-xQShDAyEU0e5tCWcrWYlV_ny24K-vNIWcVWFu7/s400/dog.jpg" uda="true" width="288" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.ibeatyou.com/blog/2010/03/15/cutest-st-patricks-day-pets/">{via}</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Well folks, it's the first day of March!! Do you know what that means? Spring has almost sprung! Hooray! Spring is the happiest time of the year; Beautiful weather, beautiful flowers, beautiful babies. Ahhh, everything is just a little merrier during springtime.<br />
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The weather in North Alabama is beautiful today! Our current temp is 68 degrees and I've got all the windows open enjoying the sunshine and cool breeze. It's hard to be in a grumpy mood when it's this pretty out. <br />
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Nothing more to discuss today. Sorry! Here's a cute picture of the pups I took yesterday:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgouBrkZ-cegdswXTO6V7UMaHhR8nf2ClH08TX84UYxgJwoVwjOvPEXAKHjQmu9HJ57RDHS24KX7NYgapxRB6GnxpNiRgSFS_hTUu0LAUFPn638zmK8FPoYh8pcex5hHCTLkU9KWCXz_3la/s1600/DSC_1294.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgouBrkZ-cegdswXTO6V7UMaHhR8nf2ClH08TX84UYxgJwoVwjOvPEXAKHjQmu9HJ57RDHS24KX7NYgapxRB6GnxpNiRgSFS_hTUu0LAUFPn638zmK8FPoYh8pcex5hHCTLkU9KWCXz_3la/s640/DSC_1294.JPG" uda="true" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Don't worry, Macey doesn't need Doggie Antidepressants, she just hates having her picture taken. She's definitely <em><strong>not</strong> </em>cut out to live the life of the rich and famous.Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-79602835124791042462012-02-29T10:37:00.005-06:002012-02-29T10:55:40.351-06:00Little Pick Me UpsHi friends! I've seem to come across a bit of a writer's block so I thought I'd share with you some things that have popped up around our apartment lately. <br />
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First, let me give you a little backstory. When Baron and I moved to Alabama, I brought <strong>no </strong>furniture with me! I only had a few pieces of furniture that I owned and my best friend bought them off of me for her little sister when I moved. I was happy to oblige because the thought of moving it all to Baron's apartment in Gainesville for two weeks, then moving it all to Alabama made me a little queasy. I was <strong><em>all </em></strong>about downsizing when we made the move.<br />
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Baron, on the other hand, had lots of furniture! It's a long story about how he acquired all these pieces, but boring. Let's just say he was blessed with matching <strong><em>college apartment-esque </em></strong>furniture all free of charge. We agreed to not buy any new furniture until we get into our new house. <br />
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I am <strong><em>not </em></strong>a decorator. I wish that I had that touch that could make house, or apartment rather, feel like a home. I'm not entirely sure what I'll do when we actually get into a house and I'm faced with the decisions of how to decorate. Guess I'll worry about that later ;) I do however, like to shop! I've picked up a few things recently, and repurposed other things to try to spruce up our little humble abode.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5XGYVz_Ta9mgjEXqq1-RbHLXsmtMKuhoUBsgtbYkWIBS5WB_n8J3Rbheb6vgtH6ANMrfCwjwW0nQpMdowShtq7PDgZBS2svk8dOPaO9puJncI5-AeLWvk7476ETqGSYSJn0aE6IV2mzQ8/s1600/apartmentbed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5XGYVz_Ta9mgjEXqq1-RbHLXsmtMKuhoUBsgtbYkWIBS5WB_n8J3Rbheb6vgtH6ANMrfCwjwW0nQpMdowShtq7PDgZBS2svk8dOPaO9puJncI5-AeLWvk7476ETqGSYSJn0aE6IV2mzQ8/s640/apartmentbed.jpg" uda="true" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Ahhhh, my honey's old comforter used on the bed in our guest/office/storage room. It was boring and dark and sad looking. I watched an episode of <a href="http://www.hgtv.com/dear-genevieve/show/index.html">Dear Genevieve</a> (HGTV is my new BFF) and she broke down how to spruce up a bed by just adding a throw and a decorative pillow. I never would have thought of that and that bed would have sat dark and dreary all covered up in geometric patterns with no break had it not been for Genevieve. I've been window shopping for bedsets because when we move into our new house we're gonna need <em>something </em>to cover up the plants when it freezes!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcjJ7SGTOR_vp3i89zDA6XGgNiZf_XNQfiEEdSbxaE80SePAQJS0OvBMVjim_mRjjVsXamtiT5lS3sJGo57BBTxS_7ts_L-SykFZiy0Ee7xZmCUxY142DTEuSKVo29FRlnsX9-PNsdty-R/s1600/ApartmentCouchPillow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcjJ7SGTOR_vp3i89zDA6XGgNiZf_XNQfiEEdSbxaE80SePAQJS0OvBMVjim_mRjjVsXamtiT5lS3sJGo57BBTxS_7ts_L-SykFZiy0Ee7xZmCUxY142DTEuSKVo29FRlnsX9-PNsdty-R/s640/ApartmentCouchPillow.jpg" uda="true" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="left">I picked up these couch pillows just yesterday and haven't decided yet if I like them or not. The coloring is a bit more muted in real life and there's a bit of green in the pillows that matches the dark green couch. I'm leaving the tags on for a few more days to decide it I actually like them! I've been looking for pillows since we moved here and because I can't make a decision about anything to save my life, the couch has remained naked since June. </div><div align="left"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKs8T7GlQ98wuk4_PR9ABlGnm8J1RPg7J2rbBp5kRdzMptgVytvq1FbVZeWNfkYtSJPgv1_hUTOlLyzHusqECuR9NMcdIuBdCn6P-3GthHVPfr7Pdr7CnpTfZQQuHzQGc50ueKNtZYG1rg/s1600/ApartmentWaxBurner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKs8T7GlQ98wuk4_PR9ABlGnm8J1RPg7J2rbBp5kRdzMptgVytvq1FbVZeWNfkYtSJPgv1_hUTOlLyzHusqECuR9NMcdIuBdCn6P-3GthHVPfr7Pdr7CnpTfZQQuHzQGc50ueKNtZYG1rg/s640/ApartmentWaxBurner.jpg" uda="true" width="640" /></a></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left">This is my most favorite thing that I've purchased in a long time! It a wax burner that I picked up at Walmart for 15 big ones. True story! The wax cubes that you use with it are only two dollars a pop and they are wonderfully fragrant! I don't have one of the more expensive brand wax warmers, but I've heard that this bad boy totally levels the playing field! <a href="http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_constraint=0&ic=48_0&Find.x=0&Find.y=0&Find=Find&_ta=1&search_query=wax%20melter&_tt=wax melter">Go here</a> and check out all the cute little designs they have! Baron says that they all remind him of urns but at least they smell good! </div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8UyfOS-co9rrdyvGY4KRCtLhqZkP1HiuNq_2quT6tf06HOU-KpmZcJd6EmP-s9FGSFkiT-oMy9LITMOEsyAKNc5OZJmvTOENh-SNVVUjMn_FDV8Z3x_4A-qbJ8nCuNGBLnBl986qiPK5T/s1600/ApartmentTulips.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8UyfOS-co9rrdyvGY4KRCtLhqZkP1HiuNq_2quT6tf06HOU-KpmZcJd6EmP-s9FGSFkiT-oMy9LITMOEsyAKNc5OZJmvTOENh-SNVVUjMn_FDV8Z3x_4A-qbJ8nCuNGBLnBl986qiPK5T/s640/ApartmentTulips.jpg" uda="true" width="426" /></a></div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">This cute little wooden tulip set I've had for years and just brought it out of hiding. I bought it at a little street market in London. One of my best friend's and I traveled to London and Paris for about two weeks all by ourselves back in 2008. It was the trip of a lifetime and we had so much fun! Quite the adventure, but those are stories for a different day! There were tulips <em>everywhere </em>that spring and I was so happy to find a set to buy and bring home on the plane with me!</div><div align="left"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVlrzXrr5RPxREBlFnXKmJNawijQD2u24ISVNzOqP5HO-fgC40FVGDplJ66xk6O1JJrQUjcbJRTaqbUu41vS-P4S7rRyD884VQs5rnZMsXiEpERQInDYX7CezZqr4Uqls1nMbVN7xW8fdM/s1600/LondonTulips.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVlrzXrr5RPxREBlFnXKmJNawijQD2u24ISVNzOqP5HO-fgC40FVGDplJ66xk6O1JJrQUjcbJRTaqbUu41vS-P4S7rRyD884VQs5rnZMsXiEpERQInDYX7CezZqr4Uqls1nMbVN7xW8fdM/s640/LondonTulips.jpg" uda="true" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tulips in Hyde Park</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwdUfjXD07kaZ9BBaQq2L1_rigYJ0fEqR2dlfG_OTDCCv9h9BP9UDh8RuS6ewlfsnfMr50_U8OFZ4OFqfEArlt1ECv7-2vLYovW4vdTGMp0_ezS-f8Rvjp649B8Am80MOH87sPQ7rP8ard/s1600/LondonCrandall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwdUfjXD07kaZ9BBaQq2L1_rigYJ0fEqR2dlfG_OTDCCv9h9BP9UDh8RuS6ewlfsnfMr50_U8OFZ4OFqfEArlt1ECv7-2vLYovW4vdTGMp0_ezS-f8Rvjp649B8Am80MOH87sPQ7rP8ard/s640/LondonCrandall.jpg" uda="true" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ashley and I with Tower Bridge pictured in the background</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTrW9OqnCT0aD5XI8u6KIofbGJ-ugew4sOZ78Z5URf2gaDb7ElWzkpSsngL7RpZCMxHK43eUICIqUqyjizk7uyQk6t-jcIWBb7KuFJLXE3VPY_ejOvcBInE3td0PjP5o14KM2o6KGSX2wW/s1600/LondonBrekkeEiffelIceCream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTrW9OqnCT0aD5XI8u6KIofbGJ-ugew4sOZ78Z5URf2gaDb7ElWzkpSsngL7RpZCMxHK43eUICIqUqyjizk7uyQk6t-jcIWBb7KuFJLXE3VPY_ejOvcBInE3td0PjP5o14KM2o6KGSX2wW/s640/LondonBrekkeEiffelIceCream.jpg" uda="true" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ice Cream while sitting underneath the Eiffel Tower...check it off the Bucket List!<br />
Photo by my friend Ashley :)</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <div align="left">That's all folks! I hoped you liked the mini-tour of randomness today. Thank goodness I've got my <a href="http://mysweethomeblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/making-emergency-kit.html">Emergency Kit</a> all put together because we're expecting some nasty storms later this afternoon. Hubs, if you're reading this, come home before it gets scary!!</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">I hope you all have a blessed Wednesday!</div>Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041250909904011493.post-71807839878156328342012-02-28T09:30:00.001-06:002012-03-05T12:00:56.324-06:00Making an Emergency KitWelcome back friends! Today I want to share with you how I put together an Emergency Preparedness Kit for our family. I've been putting off assembling it because I was overwhelmed with how to make a decision about what should and shouldn't go into it. I finally realized that <em>something </em>was better than nothing when it comes to an emergency so I should just jump right in!<br />
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I visited the <a href="http://www.ready.gov/build-a-kit">FEMA website</a> to get some ideas for our kit, then I headed to the store and dove right in!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvjpjGh6TcXRJj1XZ1Gu296AtsAtNkYjbKJ2Ly5VL7ZpCZ_3KYUl0RoJKiZE4kYgHqHFkR-e5otxXvettezFyHnVo2AOURx2JxuWQwHYv1HaO0I0MHR1u70Lo2TWRFxyJZ9sTFX9doYbCN/s1600/EmergencyWater.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvjpjGh6TcXRJj1XZ1Gu296AtsAtNkYjbKJ2Ly5VL7ZpCZ_3KYUl0RoJKiZE4kYgHqHFkR-e5otxXvettezFyHnVo2AOURx2JxuWQwHYv1HaO0I0MHR1u70Lo2TWRFxyJZ9sTFX9doYbCN/s640/EmergencyWater.jpg" uda="true" width="640" /></a></div><br />
First things first, water! The FEMA website says that you need one gallon of water, per person, per day. There's no way of knowing how many days you're emergency will last so just grab a bunch of water from your local grocery store and hope for the best.<br />
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I picked up four gallons of water to keep with our emergency kit. We always have lots of bottled water, sodas, and sports drinks at our house so most likely we'll be able to use those too. Did you know that water has an expiration date?!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQQ6ZRbqmpE5pP3tjOLTwi7SIhF7CwCRRNOHJZ7AfIGSo_ZFMPuwp9UkUfBcRlixWF8RM-KElX3ZBKNG-iT09pjkhZzR4gdChfI8phRNnxdf7pw39HbW6krOcwEkLSIfySMxtgqR4Jwhcr/s1600/EmergencyWaterDate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQQ6ZRbqmpE5pP3tjOLTwi7SIhF7CwCRRNOHJZ7AfIGSo_ZFMPuwp9UkUfBcRlixWF8RM-KElX3ZBKNG-iT09pjkhZzR4gdChfI8phRNnxdf7pw39HbW6krOcwEkLSIfySMxtgqR4Jwhcr/s640/EmergencyWaterDate.jpg" uda="true" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Hmmm. My plan is to replace everything when the canned food expires. So we may just end up having to drink expired water, I think we'll live.<br />
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Max is here with a friendly <span style="background-color: white;">Public Service Announcement:</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwxnmIp1UvEswu2ykd7BMIEbd1Q7Tl4fZ1EgSb-plZUIV9X7MHMhyP78RSqfwxOgXSkxy3Eg2bb02nL9zwb0kShrMWv3W7DSTOsceL86uxNm7eWwW453Rz9yByiiKEkGhPEv4r2NdNHxoj/s1600/EmergencyWaterMax.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwxnmIp1UvEswu2ykd7BMIEbd1Q7Tl4fZ1EgSb-plZUIV9X7MHMhyP78RSqfwxOgXSkxy3Eg2bb02nL9zwb0kShrMWv3W7DSTOsceL86uxNm7eWwW453Rz9yByiiKEkGhPEv4r2NdNHxoj/s640/EmergencyWaterMax.jpg" uda="true" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Speaking of pets, don't forget to pack some food for them! Our dogs normally eat dry dog food, but it was easier to store and keep canned dog food. I grabbed a few cans of their dog food and also picked up a bowl for them to use at the Dollar Store! I was able to buy a lot of our supplies at the Dollar Store, which is nice because I didn't want to spend a lot of money on things I was <em>hoping </em>to never use!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidNJ7m4tIdnpwh4nf1e87RV1rdFyoGAuQWybPebZ2YiTuN4-TJyqBWDMzrfyxOXkekZ_phrHej04FvF04C6Z0l_0VGX0S6H7i-5C2NFOFdytgSFQXkczDxf9Yqe-tblNIApKrPThxOe4yV/s1600/EmergencyDogfood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidNJ7m4tIdnpwh4nf1e87RV1rdFyoGAuQWybPebZ2YiTuN4-TJyqBWDMzrfyxOXkekZ_phrHej04FvF04C6Z0l_0VGX0S6H7i-5C2NFOFdytgSFQXkczDxf9Yqe-tblNIApKrPThxOe4yV/s640/EmergencyDogfood.jpg" uda="true" width="640" /></a></div><br />
I realize that three cans of dog food is not the equivalent to the seven days of food that FEMA recommends, but again, I'm just packing the bare minimum in our emergency kit. In the case of a loss of power for a week at a time, we have other food that the dogs can eat. The canned dog food would only be if we had to grab our emergency kit and leave our home to evacuate for some reason.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_kiGDTbnyFK5ae8msyfb9Lk6oj28qwPd-Vv0uBSvx8mNz5RXQTQ7HiU0kuAqEDRq2tra4erJdOsO4bI3GXLlVHWLVByJP3cAv4ezMh4Flfut4pXa6YRRNwxTUKQdMouNiYVbBO9Zcd1jq/s1600/EmergencyFood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_kiGDTbnyFK5ae8msyfb9Lk6oj28qwPd-Vv0uBSvx8mNz5RXQTQ7HiU0kuAqEDRq2tra4erJdOsO4bI3GXLlVHWLVByJP3cAv4ezMh4Flfut4pXa6YRRNwxTUKQdMouNiYVbBO9Zcd1jq/s640/EmergencyFood.jpg" uda="true" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Okay, now that we've gotten the dogs taken care of, let's talk about human food. Things like ravioli, fruit, and vegetables are easy things that don't need to be cooked in order to be <strike>scarfed down</strike> enjoyed in case of emergency. I bought about ten cans of various items to have in our kit. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkE69HX8TIVaw0NwcUy-9kQZK35Zn-foubHhFNQi8_3p2sQahGwwkysyfEk9CvEuMPMs0otHEPqMqtdZ3ZOBqzwzERzzylSLDDToAkmiuCJaGVd59uvrkFeQSkxfmAiDJoET5V6YnFpCXR/s1600/EmergencyRandom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkE69HX8TIVaw0NwcUy-9kQZK35Zn-foubHhFNQi8_3p2sQahGwwkysyfEk9CvEuMPMs0otHEPqMqtdZ3ZOBqzwzERzzylSLDDToAkmiuCJaGVd59uvrkFeQSkxfmAiDJoET5V6YnFpCXR/s640/EmergencyRandom.jpg" uda="true" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Along with all the canned food, you're going to want to have a can opener and utensils on hand, unless you want to do it cave man style and try to bust open cans of ravioli with a rock...no fun! I found my can opener at the Dollar Store and threw in a couple plastic cutlery sets that we've collected along the way. Things like garbage bags and wet wipes may come in handy too! <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Xp7Q39poSsIeCi2D-0KVmbJfyRGfCSZS_RZGvMJs9YlrYXxrA_y7b3R0seHSlcRRRkrl3MAYkUg0DRrd4g09WMjnVE_lVwuxNcFbxTdJpZrLks5OyxGFhaEYoIdI4pu45C3ZWqSmb8vG/s1600/EmergencyWhistle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Xp7Q39poSsIeCi2D-0KVmbJfyRGfCSZS_RZGvMJs9YlrYXxrA_y7b3R0seHSlcRRRkrl3MAYkUg0DRrd4g09WMjnVE_lVwuxNcFbxTdJpZrLks5OyxGFhaEYoIdI4pu45C3ZWqSmb8vG/s640/EmergencyWhistle.jpg" uda="true" width="640" /></a></div><br />
The FEMA website suggests having a whistle to alert rescuers in a case where you are buried under a pile of ruble. I couldn't find a real whistle but thought that this one (which sounds like a duck) would work just fine. Let's just hope we never have to open up our emergency kit because I can just see my husband's face when we pull this out. Ha!<br />
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Last but not least, you want to have plenty of candles and flashlights on hand! These went into the kit last, so they would be easy to grab in the dark if necessary. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNvTJKeDhbvN2D9_BSc2HJa4o5clVFPeVLh9MgqRm31ryBtso-QN4ohENkijDsNWP_H7t1pwAwncarvc8IsH2ZURC63XHHDg3kkBJmVOVFNRgCEsRoOnBVU0YTRJqErKIkOWkvvStR4i0k/s1600/EmergencyFlashlights.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNvTJKeDhbvN2D9_BSc2HJa4o5clVFPeVLh9MgqRm31ryBtso-QN4ohENkijDsNWP_H7t1pwAwncarvc8IsH2ZURC63XHHDg3kkBJmVOVFNRgCEsRoOnBVU0YTRJqErKIkOWkvvStR4i0k/s640/EmergencyFlashlights.jpg" uda="true" width="640" /></a></div><br />
I bought quite a few candles and flashlights (not all pictured) because I don't think you can ever have <em>too much </em>light in a case where you've lost power. Make sure to have extra batteries and lighters on hand too. If you choose regular matches you should put them in a Ziploc baggy to make sure they stay dry. <br />
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I have a few more things to get for our kit, like a weather radio, a couple pairs of cheap rubber flip flops, and a first aid kit. You may also want to throw a bottle of this in your kit:<br />
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Kidding. Kind of. You may need a bottle of something for entertainment or to work as a disinfectant too! Ha!<br />
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So I piled everything into an old Rubbermaid bin that I had and made sure to put the flashlights on top! I shoved the whole kit in the back of our closet where hopefully it will remain, untouched, until I need to replace the food because it's all expired.<br />
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You should also put copies of important paperwork into your kit. Things like birth certificates, marriage certificates, social security cards, etc. We have all of these important documents in a fire/water/kid proof safe that sits right next to our emergency kit in the closet.<br />
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I hope that this helps you and your family to at least <em>think </em>about getting prepared for an emergency. It is overwhelming to think of all of the things that could go into an emergency kit. But the fact of the matter is, you'll be better off if you even have the bare minimum put away in case of an emergency than if you let the task overwhelm you and never get around to it. <br />
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Have a wonderful Tuesday!Brekkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177359228360058978noreply@blogger.com7