So I wake up last week - drowning in sickness, head pounding and I feel like I could go back to sleep at any moment. Beginning of my sinus infection. I stroll into the dining room and Sandy plops something down in front of me - a honey do list. And by honey I mean me. On that list is to power wash decks, power wash house, de-wallpaper, sand, and paint three bathrooms and a couple other things. I think - okay, I have two weeks to do this. And then she walks into the bathroom and begins tearing down wall paper. I look in there, choke back tears of sickness and begin tearing it down as well. Begin the bathroom renovations.
Halfway through tearing down this wall paper - and some various medication later - I begin to get into the groove of things. The wall paper is coming off the wall in sheets, making this job fun rather than arduous. All it takes is some water and spackle spatulas and we've got completely bare walls. At this point we've enlisted the help of our friend Eric and the bathroom is coming along swimmingly.
Finally, we are finished prepping and have begun the task of deciding how to proceed. She decides she would like a pink bathroom and I add that dark distressed cabinets would be lovely in a pink bathroom. She bites - and we're all giddy with bathroom remodel fever. Sandy finds a chair and a wicker basket for her tone inspiration and it's off to Lowes to spend money and make bad decisions!!
Once there we realize that pink, as with any color, has sooo many many hues. We go on and on between the hues and finally settle on Soiree - which I tell Sandy means a fancy party haha! Next its the cabinet debacle. She thinks she'd like to do a crackle finish on the cabinets, so we receive a little crash course on crackle grab our Chocolate Fudge and Almond Fudge colors and head out the door.
Back home Eric's eyes widen as we open the pink paint and begin slathering it on the walls. At this point he asks what Jason thinks of our dive into the feminine pool of pink and chocolate, Sandy replies - Well its my bathroom, he has his own! Well said Sandy, couldn't agree more :) After a few more swishes of the paint brush, all of our eyes begin to widen as we take in the pink walls swirling around us. Stroke after stroke the walls slowly grow pinker until the pink has taken over and then it is done - the walls are pink and it is time for bed. We're all a little unsure of how we feel at this point but we keep reassuring the other it looks "GREAT!!!"
Eric spent the night in the guest room and wakes to help us continue painting in the morning. As we walk into the bathroom we all seem to relax - it really isn't that bad - it's actually GREAT. Now I don't know if Eric felt this way but we sure did love it! We unscrew the cabinet doors and I get to work priming and painting them. After I have primed them and painted them all two coats of Almond Fudge, Sandy decides she'd rather not do the crackle and instead maybe distress them lightly afterward. So on to the Chocolate Fudge. A deep brown color that matches most of Sandy's bathroom stuff.
Three coats of brown later, I screw the cabinet doors back on and we clean the bathroom - and go to bed. Another day over and the bathroom is looking amazing!!! The next day we attempt to lightly distress the cabinets and realize we painted the coats to close together and when we begin to sand, the dark brown melts away to reveal the white primer rather than the almond fudge. Well - that didn't work! So its on to the clear coat.
After another whole day of clear coating, waiting, clear coating, waiting, and clear coating - we add the pictures and the curtains. Now - Sandy has the perfect bathroom. The fanciest of chocolate parties. Her Chocolate Soiree!!
So despite being stricken with a sinus infection for the past week, I decided to head to Nashville last night! After going to Jonesborough Days with Forrest and nearly passing out from a mixture of benedryl and 104 degree weather, I found it a wise decision to make a five hour trek to Nashville to spend the night out on the town!
Weeks ago I had emailed a friend of a friend, explaining to her who I knew [name dropper!] and asked her if she would so graciously allow me into her home. She accepted!!! [this must be what its like to pop the question]. So after weeks of zero contact we realized this was the only weekend left for a little Music City fun! So I loaded up my little suitcase, put my hair in pin curls and headed to Nashville - medicine and tissues in tow.
Upon arriving I found myself driving on a sidewalk to park in front of their friends house - apparently this is how they do in Nashville because everyone else was also parked on the sidewalk! In true Southern fashion we ate a whole feast of a barbecue before becoming enamored in Final Destination 5. For those of you who know me, you can just picture me pacing between the living room, the kitchen, and the bathroom in sheer dread. After scarfing down food and eluding suspenseful death scenes we piled into my car [ another fantastic reason I do not drink ] and went downtown!!
The whole road was lined with people from everywhere imaginable - yet Holly still ran into at least five friends from high school! I was in awe at the number of musicians and homeless people there were laying about. Not only that but I was sourly disappointed at the number of people not dressed in cowboy boots and hats. The one "cowboy" I saw had to be close to fifty and made a habit of engulfing himself around the twenty something girl he was with. We hopped from joint to joint dancing and laughing.
To my dismay I found out two things 1. that Nashville bars stay open until 3 and 2. you can smoke inside some places. Thank God we found our way out of lung loss lane and into a nice bar with lots of space to move, sadly without any country music. However, at about 2:15 I found myself still dancing the night away, hardly tired. Regardless of my perceived energy I rounded up the now very drunken troops and told them I wanted to hit the road before half of Nashville got into their whips, impaired.
Sleep finally came at around 4:30am after I downed two tylenol PMs and two benedryls. I did not wake up once until 1030 and then fell back asleep until noon. I feel so - wonderfully irresponsible!! Coming from the nonsmoking, non-drinking, sick chick - whatever!
I said farewell to Holly and Tim and drove off into the sunrise - just kidding. I went back downtown for more baby! Really I just went out for brunch at a cute little restaurant/grocery story/live band bar. After eating I found myself wandering in the Country Music Hall of Fame learning about the history of Country music and all those that have contributed to its awesomeness! It really opens your eyes, being in Nashville, the number of those who made it compared to the number of those who did not. Overall it was a great experience!
Although I didn't make it to church today I'd like to finish by saying that it was still a good day for God. I usually take note of songs i'd like to add to my blog and today almost every Christian song that played stirred my heart and I wrote half of them down! I found myself singing my little heart out with the worst voice possible - and loving every minute of it! So, even when we cant get to Church, it comes to us :)
Songs of the day -
That's Why I Pray - Big and Rich
I Can Only Imagine - Mercy Me
10,000 Reasons - Matt Redman
Busted Heart - For King and Country
Fields of Gold - Sting [lmao!]
In Your Eyes - Peter Gabriel
Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd [faaaavorite]
Sunday - one of my all time favorite days. First we went to church, surprisingly I don't remember what the sermon was about. However, I do remember Sunday School. We were reading II Corinthians 13. In which Paul tells the people of Corinth that he will be returning a third time, and this time he will not be as nice. He urges the Corinthians to take a look at themselves and prepare for his arrival. The Corinthians were people who participated in some questionable behavior and Paul was trying to break them of there immorality and turn them toward the ways of God. Well the people in Sunday school debated as to whether Paul should have the authority to tell the people of Corinth that what they were doing was wrong. This got me thinking and I realized something pretty valuable. We as people are not supposed to judge another human being. However, Paul was chosen to lead people to Christ, as we all are - essentially. But to me what Paul was doing wasn't judging, he was stating the obvious. The people of Corinth weren't following Gods laws and teachings and Paul was merely pointing that out. As Sandy put it, it's like a Doctor telling someone they're morbidly obese and that person getting mad - the doctor is just stating the obvious [we saw this in a show lol]. This realization brought me back to all the times I had thought my family and friends weren't acting morally in the ways of God. Now I would never tell someone who is not a believer that they are not following God - but when someone claims to be of strong Christian faith I think it's important to point out when we aren't following Gods desires for us. And although I am totally guilty of not following all that God asks of me, I felt that if I pointed it out in others that I would be judging them - but its the exact opposite. Simply stating the obvious is not judging, it's when we take those observations and turn them into character flaws. Such as - you drink and sleep around, you must be an alcoholic hussy. The first one is the obvious observation of two things God has called us not to do, the second is a judgement, and who are we to judge. In my opinion Paul was doing the former - pointing out the obvious, the things that God has called on us not to do.
After Church the family and I headed out to the Civil War camp where they were reenacting a battle. We walked around for two or three hours doing a scavenger hunt for the kids. We learned that a "housewife" wasn't actually a housewife in the war but rather a little sewing kit that a soldier would carry around to mend things haha! We also learned that the reason their bayonets had three sides was to make it harder for the wound to be closed up and it allowed for people to die quicker. However, many bayonets were used for holding candles rather than killing in the Civil War. We were also told that East Tennessee supplied more Union Soldiers than Confederate Soldiers. Oh and, for all the Northern [and Southern] people who use the Confederate flag as a symbol for racism - the flag was far from a symbol of racism. Not only proven by facts of the war but also by the black soldiers who openly supported the Souths desire to become independent.
A man by the name of William was sitting in a booth selling Confederate tshirts and memorabilia, each of them with the confederate flag and in a picture with me he also held one - he is black. When I asked to take a picture with him he first demanded he get his flag. The war was about commerce. Not racism. Yes there was racism, it ran rampant, and there is still racism. But it comes down to money - the South was going to lose a lot of money with the loss of slavery. In fact, we also learned that England - who could not supply guns to one side or the other would sell the guns to third party investors who would then sell the guns to the South because England stood to lose a lot of money on cotton imports. Either way, thank god the North won and we do not have slavery today.
The battle in the streets lasted a total of 40 minutes tops and was so loud your whole body vibrated each time the guns were loaded and fired in unison. I had to laugh because both sides had musicians playing while the battle was being fought - apparently this was normal battle etiquette. The confederates had a violin player while the unions had a four person marching band lol!!
After all the excitement of the day, I curled up to finish my book and watch the kids swim. Our friend Forrest invited us berry picking and so we suited up and headed up to his riding trails to pick blackberries and raspberries galore. We had so much fun riding the four wheeler through the thick trees and finding the berries, we decided next time to wear long pants and shirts so we could go deeper into the thorny branches that held life's sweet little rewards. :)
I got invited by the boy scouts Venture Crew to participate in horse back riding at a farm near where i'm staying in Tennessee! For those of you who know me, you are aware at how exciting this is! We were scheduled to meet around 11am but, brimming with anticipation, I walked up the hill to my friends house 40 minutes early. Once at the stables I walked from stall to stall talking to the horses and petting them, trying to control my heart rate so as not to get them all anxious. After the other 4 or so people showed up the farmer took out one of his trustiest mares haha! We learned how to put on a saddle, tighten the saddle, put on the reigns and bit, and also how to properly ride the horse. Most fascinating to me, though, was the bag. He told us a story about how he used to break horses, and how he wanted to learn a new way because the physical problems that come with breaking in a horse. Now, obviously they still need to be broken but one of the best ways to train the horse, according to the farmer, was to use a plastic bag. You tie the plastic bag to the end of a stick and rattle it around the horse - rubbing it on the horse and the ground, up in the air, and in the horses face.
At first the horse is going to go crazy with fear and excitement, but eventually it calms down. He uses this trick for building trust in the horse and rider, as well as building confidence and minimizing fear for the horse. I just found this amazing. Oh yes, and I have decided I love cutting horses. He uses his mare for cutting cattle around Tennessee and she is QUICK. We'd be backing up and i'd drop the reins and she would stop so quick i'd have fallen off if I weren't positioned correctly. She also turns in tight little turns, not wide ones. I know a lot of this is her training and not all cutting horses are alike but I loved the motions associated with cutting. Needless to say we didn't get to ride a lot but what we did learn was invaluable. I wish I could ride and learn these kinds of lessons daily!
Sandy and the kids planted a simple and innocent idea into my head. They suggested I head to North Carolina early, so that I could stay later in July. Sadly, I cannot stay any longer in July and I decided to take them up on their idea and go to North Carolina early. I called Beth and quickly made plans to head there on Tuesday. I spent the 7 hour drive listening to music and relishing in my own little bubble of freedom on the open road. It's amazing how quick a 7 hour drive can seem, before I even realized I had left Tennessee, I was pulling up alongside Beth - ushering her into the car. Ahh the happy reunion. I hadn't seen Beth for almost two years - which in retrospect to how long it's been since I've seen other people, isn't that long. Once parked I was greeted by her shirtless husband, of which she warned me about. Nolan doesn't mind at all who witnesses his bareness in the sunny afternoon light. He just smiled and shook my hand. Once inside Beth and I gossiped about our new lives while Nolan went and picked baby up.
Brody is by far one of the cutest little pumpkins I have ever seen. And I can actually call him a pumpkin with some accuracy considering the blaze orange hair that adorns his little round head. He smiles in all sorts of directions at anyone willing to pay attention. With each new excitement he turns to the nearest parent giggling as if to say "Look! Look what's happening Mom! Dad!"
Beth and I decided to head to Surf City with Brody in tow. Beth probably found my excitement level to be that of a puppy, experiencing a car ride for the first time. As usual I talked incessantly the whole way there and nearly burst out of the front seat when we arrived. Thank God my mere 22 years resulted in some composure and instead I helped her with the things and nearly stumbled down the stairs to the beach.
Laying on the towel, feeding Brody, Beth observed me in my "oceanic state" - gracefull belling flopping through the waves and getting unexpectedly knocked over by sneak-attack-surf. We only stayed a half hour but that half hour was exhilarating and mind altering. Back at home Brody, Beth, and I snuggled up with dinner and shows. Peaceful.
The next day while Beth was at work, Nolan treated me to breakfast at IHOP. I must say - these two really know how to treat their guests! Once Nolan was at work, Beth text [and call] directed me to the beach we had been to the day before, where I layed out in my big floppy hat, book in tow, for two hours. My book of choice was Marley and Me - and I cannot express how hooked I was. I was not only hooked to my book but instantly hooked to the ocean. I grew up near here the first part of my life but honestly thought over the past ten years that the ocean had nothing a lake didn't have. Maybe I had suffered some sort of prolonged denial because I realized in that moment of solitude that I could definitely trade in my digs by the lake for this.
It seemed Beth, too, needed a day at the beach. When she called me after work I drove back from Surf City, we loaded into her car, and headed to the beach on Camp Lejeune. There we lay, for two hours, each engulfed in our own books [Brody was at daycare]. We only broke our attention for a half hour frollick through the rolling waves. We had such a blast out there. A much needed break from reality that Beth needed. And although I am having a blast out here on the open road - I, too, needed a moment of nothing but pure relaxation. Something anyone who knows me knows that I am not good at. After the beach we enjoyed macaroni and cheese, Hot in Cleveland, and quiet time.
The next morning I bid farewell to Beth and Nolan as they left for work. I made myself some leftover coffee and sat outside on the porch reading Marley and Me for an hour, sipping coffee and laughing hysterically every other paragraph. Once an hour had passed I decided it was time to hit the road.
I stopped in Charlotte, one of the places I have always wanted to go, and decided to dress in my turquoise dress and white floppy hat. I strolled down the avenue to a place called French Quarter and scarfed down a burger, salad, and drank sweet tea while enjoying my book, once again. [I really do recommend this book to anyone!] It took me a total of ten hours to get home what with the pit stop and the traffic but Charlotte was totally worth it. Just as glamorous and small town as I had pictured - with all the ritzy-ness and old Southern charm I had conjured up on the drive over there. Each person who passed me said something or asked me a question and everyone smiled as they walked by. I really enjoyed myself.
Back in Tennessee I picked the kids up from VBS and drove home, listening to their endless excited chatter about making soap and learning the Bible. I guess we both had the week we needed :) Exhale.
Today began like any other. I pulled myself out of bed - half asleep and in no shape to mingle. Sandy had been up a while and was asking me questions at what seemed a race-cars pace. As I fumbled with the coffee maker and gave her half blank/half confused stares I think she finally realized I wasn't coherent. Needless to say, it took me a while to hop on the bandwagon. A while and some coffee that is :) We opted for the early service this morning and I loved the message today. Not only did they play one of my favorite songs but we also spoke about giving to the Lord and having faith that we will receive what we give ten fold. Our pastor even pointed out different examples of when churches had challenged people to tithe for three months, or some other random number, and if they didn't receive blessings beyond that of what they gave, then the church would refund them the full amount they tithed. Of course nobody asked for their money back.
I would love to believe this was due to the wonderful blessings they received but the skeptic in me wonders what type of person would ask a church for their money back ha! Never the less, I have noticed that each time I give, I do in fact receive much more than I put in. It was also brought to our attention the blessings we fail to recognize. For instance the pastor considers penny's on the ground blessings. So if he finds a quarter he's really impressed because he's been blessed 25 times, and so on. The line I loved was "Don't miss the penny's, looking for the dimes" - amen. After church I rushed to get ready to go out on the boat! My friend Forrest invited me to go water-skiing with his family! Ahhhh!!
I have never been water-skiing so obviously I jumped on the opportunity. Once out on the boat we decided to stop at this cliff and go cliff diving!!! Well, the water is really high right now so it was only a twelve foot drop but I still had a BLAST and it was such a rush!! After lunch it was time for ski lessons. Eeek! Autumn went first in order to show me the ropes, and then it was my turn! I got up on my very first try but somehow instantly hit a wave and biffed. The second and third time I decided that "lean back" meant "lay down" and we all laughed at the hilarity of me basically just stick falling backwards into the wake ha! Fourth times a charm and I got right up and skied for a good ten minutes before calling it quits.
Somewhere around the second time up I pulled both of my forearms and now, 8 hours later, i'm finally starting to feel [a little] better. Oh and did I mention that I was experiencing all of this on one of the U.S's top ten most beautiful lakes! The lake was created by a dam but I cannot believe the gorgeous views of the Smoky Mountains and Cherokee National Park. Amazing! Once we got back home Forrest took me out on the four-wheeler and even let me drive! I had so much fun tearing up the trails behind their house. I was a master at even the deadly hills ha! So, church, lake, four-wheeling - and all with wonderful people!! Thank you God :)
Heading back to Tennessee = dreadful. We got on the road late, a little past 7:30am. We were supposed to leave at 5:30. Oops! Around 9:30 . . . trouble in paradise. As I told the kids once again they could not lean on me I look up and notice a man jumping up and down flailing his arms and pointing at the road. Naturally I think this man is drunk and just as I start to voice my opinion the car hits something and jumps in the air - landing with a thud. As we pull over to the side of the road the car begins to smoke profusely and by the looks of it we're about to get a view of smoke pouring out of Jason's ears as well. While pacing back and forth Jason ushers us out of the car and instructs the kids and I to run across the street and wait at the deserted restaurant for a tow truck to come. Our transmission is shot. Standing across the road the kids and I piece together what has happened. Some truck, who knows how far ahead of us, had dropped something in the middle of the road. The man on the other side of the road noticed this and jumped out to get it - upon realizing that there is no way to grab the object before cars traveling 60mph pummel him he decides to jump up and down like a mad man. Once Jason realizes there is something in the road he realizes something else - there is nowhere to go but over it. Swerve to the left, kill crazy man. Swerve to the right, kill us upon running into semi.
Stop, who knows - 50 car pile up? So the kids and I decide to make the best of the situation and kick rocks around the parking lot in a game of "Who can kick the farthest?" until Jason yells across the highway at us to sit down. Fun over, oh and I feel 8 again ha! We sit there until two police officers and a tow truck drive into the parking lot and retrieve us. Their son is thrilled he gets to sit in a police car - he even got front seat!! Jason, their daughter, and I pile into the back of the other car while Sandy piles into the back of the one their son is in. Once we're at a car repair shop we learn that their backed up for a week and the nearest Jaguar place is an hour away. Time for a rental. Call Enterprise, they'll pick you up ;) We got into a mini van which all of us but Jason felt much more comfortable in! We each had our own seats and little air vents [no more kids leaning on me!!] The ride was great! So, by noon we are back on the road and on our way home!! Around 5:30 Sandy begins feeling a lot of pain, excruciating pain in fact, in her right side and head. Jason insists we go to the hospital. So - 2 hours from home we stop at the closest hospital and wait. and wait. and wait. and wait. 4 hours later at 10pm Sandy is given medicine for a migraine and we are sent on our merry [exhausted, crabby, hungry] way. 2 hours later we are home. 17 hours. That is how long it took us to travel a 6-8 hour trip. And poor Sandy and Jason, their Jag won't be ready to be fixed for another two weeks and even if it can be fixed, the insurance company may just total it. All I know is that I thank God nobody was hurt and throughout the whole ordeal we found ways to laugh and have fun :) Somebody was lookin out!
Halfway through tearing down this wall paper - and some various medication later - I begin to get into the groove of things. The wall paper is coming off the wall in sheets, making this job fun rather than arduous. All it takes is some water and spackle spatulas and we've got completely bare walls. At this point we've enlisted the help of our friend Eric and the bathroom is coming along swimmingly.
Finally, we are finished prepping and have begun the task of deciding how to proceed. She decides she would like a pink bathroom and I add that dark distressed cabinets would be lovely in a pink bathroom. She bites - and we're all giddy with bathroom remodel fever. Sandy finds a chair and a wicker basket for her tone inspiration and it's off to Lowes to spend money and make bad decisions!! 
Back home Eric's eyes widen as we open the pink paint and begin slathering it on the walls. At this point he asks what Jason thinks of our dive into the feminine pool of pink and chocolate, Sandy replies - Well its my bathroom, he has his own! Well said Sandy, couldn't agree more :) After a few more swishes of the paint brush, all of our eyes begin to widen as we take in the pink walls swirling around us. Stroke after stroke the walls slowly grow pinker until the pink has taken over and then it is done - the walls are pink and it is time for bed. We're all a little unsure of how we feel at this point but we keep reassuring the other it looks "GREAT!!!"
Eric spent the night in the guest room and wakes to help us continue painting in the morning. As we walk into the bathroom we all seem to relax - it really isn't that bad - it's actually GREAT. Now I don't know if Eric felt this way but we sure did love it! We unscrew the cabinet doors and I get to work priming and painting them. After I have primed them and painted them all two coats of Almond Fudge, Sandy decides she'd rather not do the crackle and instead maybe distress them lightly afterward. So on to the Chocolate Fudge. A deep brown color that matches most of Sandy's bathroom stuff. 
After another whole day of clear coating, waiting, clear coating, waiting, and clear coating - we add the pictures and the curtains. Now - Sandy has the perfect bathroom. The fanciest of chocolate parties. Her Chocolate Soiree!!
