She is Whole Again

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.

 

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.

Grandma Bunny

I 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.

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. 

My Grandma at my age...beautiful!

My Grandma and I at my bridal shower- April 2011

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? 

Home, Sweet, Home

Hey 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!

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!




Closing Day, and just like *that* we're homeowners!



Only Baron and I would choose the hottest weekend of the year to move!



The thing I was most excited about was having a fence for these 2 monsters, this was their first day in our new yard!


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.

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.

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. 

Hope you all have a great week!

Grandma's Pennies

My 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!

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."

Whew! She's approved ;)

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!

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 :)

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 find 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. 

About to go into the rubble in the back porch (they'll pour concrete over it at some point)

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.

Weekend Catch Up

Can 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 ;)

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!

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! :) 

I can't wait to be in this kitchen!

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 ;)

Just look at the two of them :)

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!

Baron with the rebar!

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 :)

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!

Coming 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.

Dad, Mom, and little brother, Chris

They'll be staying until Tuesday afternoon so I hope to update you on our fun weekend then!  Have a wonderful weekend friends!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Happy Wednesday to ya!  I hope you are having a wonderful week so far.  Don't forget it's humpday, we're over halfway to the weekend!

Linking up with Jamie at This Kind of Love, to all share what's making us smile today!

- I'm loving that we're about to have two visits from family in the next two weeks. Hurray!  Baron's Dad is coming up early next week on a stop to another trip he's going on.  I'm trying to think of something delicious to whip up and impress my father-in-law.  Fred, any ideas?! ;)   Then in about two weeks my parents are flying up to spend the weekend with us.  I'm so excited to show them our new house.  Well, the pile of dirt where our house will one day be!  Trying to think of exciting things to do and show them while they're visiting.  Do any of you locals have any good ideas?

- I'm loving that I lost three pounds this week at my weigh-in!  Say whaaaaa?!  So I'm not entirely sure why that happened because I didn't really do anything different than normal, but I guess if you are persistent sometimes you may be in for a little happy surprise!

- I'm loving all the weird dreams I've been having lately.  Last night I dreamt that I was asleep and woke up (are you following?) to find my husband at our dining room table furiously flipping through magazines.  I walked up and saw that they were all home decorating magazines, think Better Homes and Gardens, Country Living, etc.  I asked him what he was doing and he said, "Brekke, what's wrong with you! We've got to start thinking about decorating our house! I've got a few idea boards for you..." and then he pulled up several posters of all of his ideas that he ripped out of the magazines. Haha, I don't think he could care any less about the decor for our new house, but tonight I'm gonna ask him if he's seen my copy of Better Homes and Gardens to see if his ears perk up, ha!

- I'm loving that it's almost Friday, which means that it'll be two weeks since we went to the design center for our house, which means supposedly construction will be started!  They said two weeks, which I took as at least a month because nothing has gone according to schedule lately.  Baron and I placed bets on when our closing date for our house would be.  I said June 28th and Baron's guess was "right around the time we need it to be done", never one for a commitment, that boy!  We need it to be done at the beginning of June because our lease for our apartment runs until June 13th.  I just can't see them starting construction, finishing the build, doing our walk throughs, fixing anything found in the walk throughs, scheduling closing, getting all of our necessary paperwork for closing, and actually closing before the first of June, but we shall see.

I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday! xoxo

World Traveler

Just a few days after getting home from Salt Lake City, I packed up my car and made the 11 hour drive down to my parent's house in Florida.  It was my Dad's birthday and my mom and I came up with a plan to surprise him.

The dogs stayed with Baron and I woke up bright and early on Saturday morning to make the drive.  I drove into town at about 6 o'clock in the evening and just walked through the front door.  My Dad was sitting in his living room when I arrived and just stared at me for a few seconds before getting up and whispering, "Does Mom know you're here?!"  Haha!  I guess it was a good surprise!

I got to spend a few days with my parents and see some friends too.  I got to see my friend Vicki and her kids, Rachel and Carson.  We're now working on a plan for Rachel and Carson to come visit this summer once we have the house finished!

On Monday evening I drove up to Jacksonville to have dinner with some of my best friends.  I wasn't really invited to dinner but I got the details from my best friend's sister and I just showed up on my best friend's door (where I lived before getting married).  She opened the door and just stared at me for a few seconds letting the door close on me!  I opened it and we both dissolved into puddles and hugs all around.  Our other friend was meeting at her house so I hid in the bathroom and when she arrived I yelled, "What took you so long?! I'm starving!!".  She just said, "NO WAY!!" and ran over to hug me, insert more tears!

We had dinner at "The Loop", one of our old stomping grounds.  And after dinner, as a tradition, we drove over one of the biggest bridges in Jacksonville, with the windows down, screaming singing "Don't Stop Believin'" at the top of our  lungs.  We may or may not continued our tradition of a chinese firedrill at the stoplight at the bottom of the bridge...things we'll never tell our kids...or will force our kids to participate in, we'll see!

It was the shortest trip ever but well worth the drive to see some friends and family.  Sometimes the thought of being so far away from people I love is overwhelmingly sad, but the fact that I haven't seen these people in six months but we can pick up right where we left off is a blessing.  I have to remind myself how lucky I am to have family and friends even though they're 682 miles away from me, because there are people in the world who don't have anyone to lean on.


House Update:
The short story is that the realty company who works for the builder has been acting totally unprofessional.  At one point the woman who we don't really care for called our realtor and yelled at her for being "hard to work with" and then hung up on her.  After that she called our realtor's boss and told on her for being difficult and told them both that if they had a problem with her they needed to talk to her and not her boss.  Um really?! Because we have...several times...then we went to your boss. 

Apparently they all worked through their issues and it was left at an agreement for the woman we can't stand to apologize to all parties and come up with a solution for us. 

A week and a half later we got an email from her that listed five options that we had to move forward.  Problem was that none of the options were really anything new, just variations of options that we already knew we had! 

Baron and I both decided that we are no longer comfortable moving forward until we can meet with the builder directly.  We no longer want to talk to people who have no authority and who keep promising things to us and then changing their story later. 

We are calling the builder today to set up a meeting as soon as possible. It will just be Baron, myself, and the builder.  We do not want the people from the other realty company there because it will turn into a "he said/she said" and nothing will get accomplished, therefore it would go against "ethics" for our realtor to be present.  Our main objective is to let the builder know how he is being represented and that we are not happy.  Hopefully we come to a resolution that we can both agree on.  It's not the money that is bothering us the most, we just need to get a feel of the builder and how he responds to our complaints.

Ugh...never saw this being a part of our house building process.  I know it'll all work out and in a few years we probably won't even remember all this drama.

Thanksgiving in Georgia

This year for Thanksgiving we drove down to Blue Ridge, Georgia and met both sets of our parents for a weekend in the mountains.  We stayed in a fabulous cabin on a beautiful lake that had tons of room for all six of us and our four dogs (my mom's dogsitter flaked out at the last minute).  It was hectic and fun!! 

Let me introduce you to Duncan and Cooper, my parent's dogs.  Duncan is a five year old Labradoodle and might possibly have been oxygen deprived at birth.  Cooper is a three year old Boston Terrier with an attitude.  His hobbies include winning lots of blue ribbons at agility competitions and growling at people.

We thought that the cabin would be a ton of fun in the summertime too! There was a boat dock and swimming deck attached to the house (well about a gazillion stairs down from the house).

My Dad was just in heaven.  You see, he really loves Boston Terriers, or as he calls them, BT's.  I got Macey and at one point my Dad called me and asked if I would ever consider giving Macey to them.  When I said NO, they got their own BT a week later.  That's Cooper!

My Mom's Birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year!  We had Pecan Pie instead of a traditional birthday cake, we brought all the stuff to bake her a cake but after seeing 6 pies in the fridge we vetoed that idea.  Maybe next year you'll get a cake Mom!

It was so nice to have time to see both of our families without making a whirlwind trip of it.  We played several rounds of Catchphrase, drank some wine, watched some football, and pigged out!

My Dad was begging for a picture of all the "BT's" and this is the best I could come up with for him. My Mom-in-law took a bunch so hopefully there's one I can frame for my Dad.  He's a little strange, what can I say?

My sweet little boy did great on the trip, took him a day or two to master all the stairs and he even scaled the mountain a time or two.  He loved running around with all the big dogs and both my pups were pooped when we got home.  Macey loved getting to see all the Grand-paw-rents (I crack myself up) and got lots of cookies.

In other news:
The forecast is calling for it to snow tonight. ACK! I have enough food to last a few days and am planning on staying inside as much as possible.  I have no clue how to drive in the snow!!  I bought the dogs some jackets because they start shivering like crazy when we go outside...this should be interesting!!!

For the Mommas

I dare you to watch this without crying.  This commercial makes me happy, makes me sad, makes me excited for the future, and scared to death at the same time.  This is for all the Mommas out there.  The ones with babies in their arms, the ones with babies in heaven, and the ones with babies who live in Alabama far away from them.

I'm alive!

Sorry for the lack of posting lately.  Baron had to go to Maryland for work for two whole weeks, so I took Macey and Max to Florida for a long visit.  Two weeks ago, Lindsay flew up to good ol' Alabama and the very next day we made the 11 hour car trip back down to Florida.  Trying to be all "internet-safe", I didn't want to post on the blog that my house would be totally empty for two weeks :)

I had a great time in Florida. It was so nice to spend time with my family and friends.  It wasn't long enough, but at the same time I was anxious to get back "home".  Baron and I haven't been apart for even one night since we've been married so it was hard to be apart for so long.  We actually came back a day early because Baron got to come back early, he beat us home! The dogs were angels in the car, with the help of some Benadryl.  I was also good, with the help of Lindsay, Diet Cokes, and a book on tape for the loooong trip back all by myself.

I brought the camera down to Florida but I don't think I ever took it out of my suitcase. Oops, I'm a bad blogger :(  I did take a handful of pictures on my phone:

Max says "I'm ready for FLORIDA!!"

Love my Macey girl!

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Strips- super easy and
 they've been on a week and still look great!

My Dad with 3 "BT's" as he calls them.
He was in heaven!

So glad I got to see Rachel at church.
 Can't believe how grown up she is!

My "little" brother

Big Surgery Day :(

Just dropped this little boy off for his big surgery today.  No puppies for us in the future!  I hope he does ok, he's getting the rest of his shots and a microchip during the surgery too. Poor little guy :(  He has to stay until about 5 this afternoon so I'm taking advantage of him being out of the house today!

Got my first Weight Watchers weigh-in in just a few minutes, hope it goes well.  I did really well this week, followed the plan perfectly.  Makes it a lot easier with a husband who supports me and eats my Weight Watchers conncoctions and tells me they're delicious.  :)

We had a great visit with my mom, it was so good to have her here.  Macey was crazy-excited when she walked through the door and slept with her a couple of the nights she was here.  We got a pedicure, went shopping, and made it to the Farmer's Market and Cathedral Caverns.  The caverns were awesome!! I wasn't sure if it would be interesting but I was so glad that we went. It was 60 degrees inside the caverns which was such a relief after being out in the 90+ degree heat and humidity.  We also drove through some of the tornado damage close to our house.  It's really humbling to see these foundations that used to have houses on them, makes you think twice and count your blessings.

Outside the opening of Cathedral Caverns

Looking out from the inside...awesome!

Driving allllll over being a tourist, caught a pretty sunset :)

Some tornado damage near our house

Just a few extras :

These 2 went to Chili's back home & sent me their pic :)  Course I was there in spirit!! Miss you two!!

Found this pic on my phone.  Taken @ Lindsay's wedding, haha, love my family :)

WILW

Happy Wednesday Morning!! Here's what I'm loving this week:

1. Saving $$$- I've been trying to be a little more conscious about my spending habits lately.  Several years ago I was a little reckless with my spending, it didn't help when Baron and I first started dating because we drove so much to see each other not to mention the wanting to look cute thing, which means I had to buy new outfits, jewelry, bags, etc.  Well by the time I realized that he was "the one" I had racked up some ugly credit card debt. It wasn't as much as some people walk around with but I can admit that even if I put 100% of my earnings towards paying it off it would take me more than a couple of months to do it.  I made a decision to get it paid off before we got married and it ended up being a race to the finish but I did it!  Since then I've been 10x more conscious of my spending habits and trying to make better decisions.  I've even started using coupons...the horror!! It hasn't been as difficult as I thought it would be and I've even gotten some things for free this week!  I got a bunch of handsoap, pens, and sharpies for free, not to mention the only money I've saved throughout the week.  And of course my responsible, money smart husband is proud :)

2. My mom is coming TOMORROW- Yay! I feel like I haven't seen her in a year!  Actually it's only been 7 weeks, and we used to go longer than that without seeing each other but I think the distance thing makes it feel like longer.  I'm excited to show her my new home and new puppy and get to spend some QT with her. Yay

3. Day #1 of Weight Watchers- Went to a meeting yesterday afternoon and got all the info I need to do this!  We had some of Baron's friends over for dinner last night and made this:  Zucchini & Bacon 3 Cheese Lasagn.  Yum!! A "last meal" of sorts :)  

4. There are no words necessary.  But it's the exact color of Tiffany & Co. boxes, I'mjussssayin.

5. My hubby- My heart just melts!  I walked in on this little scene the day after we got Max and he cried on and off most of the night= very little sleep for the rest of us!  I guess these two just had to catch up on a few zzzzzz's.  Precious!