Busy Week!

Over the weekend, we had the honor to host friends of our's from Purdue for an evening! Mitch surprised his wife Alice by taking her to a TN football game and staying a night at our house on their way home. We had a delightful time with them and it went by all too fast! We took them to our favorite BBQ joint and to our local tourist trap -- Casey Jones Village. We walked around the old country store and played with various chotsky.

The weather as finally cooled off some. In fact, we've turned off our air, and I just keep the windows open (plus we have a ceiling fan in each room, but I don't use them much). So on Monday, I pulled out my fall clothes. It was like Christmas came early! I always forget what clothes I have, so when it's time to pull out a new season's clothes its like I just went shopping.

Yesterday, I got a callback for substituting. I had to go into the central office, finish paper work, go take a drug test, and go get a background check/finger printing. After driving all over in order to complete my new job needs, I decided to celebrate with a trip to Target. Where is Sarah Cardinal when you need her? I had to browse the clearance racks alone. But I came out with a cheap new bathing suit for next year, and a few new shirts. New shoes at Walmart complete my needs for new clothes to teach in (okay, more like wants than needs).

Now I am awaiting a phone call stating that all the paperwork and testing went through and I will be on the official Jackson-Madison County School Substitute List. . . .

While Boys Play, Girls Go Away. . .

Before we left for St. Louis, Steve had ordered himself a new Xbox Gaming system (he figured, why waste a brand new tv on piddly little games...). So it arrived a couple days after we got back. He taught me how to play the new game (Halo Reach) that came with the system, but I am not nearly as good as he is (he has a few years experience with the game on me). So, he asked if his friend (who just moved to Memphis) could stay the weekend and play games. My response, "Sure he can come, as long as I can go visit my parents :)". So, while Steve gamed with his friend all weekend, I spent time with my family in Indiana.

I drove all day Friday and arrived into town in early evening. I got to meet up with good friends for dinner before heading to my parents' house. My mom was the only one who knew I was coming. When I got home, my sister was the first to be surprised that I was home. Shortly after I surprised her, my brother and sister-in-law were surprised to see me answer the door. They came over to show my mom an ultrasound of their baby (they just announced they're expecting in April!). My dad was supposed to arrive home early in the evening from a business trip to France; however, due to unforeseen circumstances, he wasn't going to make it into Indy until midnight. The original plan was for him to rent a car and drive home; however, he was too tired so mom and I went to pick him up. He only knew mom was coming, so I got to surprise him at the airport :).

The next day, I went with my mom to Glendale Days (a little airport in town had a fundraising event-- my dad is a non-commercial pilot and he was in charge of helping planes take off and land via radio). My sister brought her little girls there to play in the bounce houses and to watch airplanes. They were all surprised when I showed up holding their lunch instead of mom :).

After Saturday, my trip became a blur. I got to visit with some friends (some I got to introduce to the glory of Glendale, while I met up with others for ice cream). The rest of my time was packed with soaking up niece time, family time, and helping out my mom with her latest project (to be blogged about at another time). I got to be "the bestest aunt ever" for letting Gabs and Als spend the night (Em had school :(, next time!). The time went by all too quick. I had to leave on Wednesday and nearly cried most of the time. Poor Steve, he expected a jovial wife to return, and instead got a tired emotional wife who wanted more time with her family. You can never have too much of a good thing!

St. Louis

A couple weeks ago, Steve had to go to a town close to St. Louis for some business. His friend from work was in charge of the trip so we got to ride along with him and his wife (Jake & Jennifer -- whom we've been hanging out with). We left on Sunday and drove to St. Claire, MO. There were only 2 options of motels in St. Claire, and we chose to stay at "Budget Lodging". We knew going into the trip that it would be an experience... and boy was it!

Our room reminded me of a room you would stay in while visiting your Great Aunt Millie (I don't have a Great Aunt Millie... but you get the idea. . . ). The furniture had probably been around for 50+ years, the bed frame was broken, and the room was cramped. The blanket on the bed was "sandwiched" between two sheets (one can only assume that the reason for the sandwiching is that they don't wash the blanket... ewww) and the bath tub hadn't been cleaned in who knows how long (plus the bathtub had jets... why on earth would a hotel with the name "Budget Lodging" have jets in their tubs to begin with?). Oh well, I can do anything once (and no I'm not talking about using the tub, I just mean staying at the motel!). On the positive side, they did have a nice complementary breakfast and allowed us to have a late check out so that Jennifer and I could hang around until the boys were doing checking out some salt machinery. They ended up getting done around noon, so we packed into the car and headed off to St. Louis.

There was some traveling drama that occured. Once Jake checked in with his boss upon leaving the plant they were visiting, the boss decided Jake and Steve needed to come back; however, they had already been told Tuesday was their travel day back and Steve had made arrangements to stay at a nice Hotel in St. Louis. So we continued on to St. Louis despite the boss's pleas (the boys just ended up doing some work from the hotel and we left early on Tuesday morning so that they could pop into work in the afternoon -- all was well).

If you ever need to stay the night in ST. Louis, go to the Moon Rise Hotel (pictures to the left were taken from inside our room!). Steve got an amazing deal on the rooms from Hotwire. We got to stay in this 5 star hotel for only $75 (which was the same price for our experience at the 2 star Budget Lodging the previous night). The hotel was very modern and space themed which made the stay very memorable! The hotel is also conveniently located along a touristy street so we were able to walk around, eat at an affordable unique root beer brewery, and take in the sites of downtown St. Louis. All in all, this was an enjoyable ending to our travels.

While on our trip, Steve and I got to know each other a whole lot more! This was our first experience traveling with others (besides family). Steve got exposed to different traveling styles (Steve likes to get from point A to point B quickly, whereas the other couple enjoyed taking the trip at a leisurely pace). Another thing we learned on the trip is that we prefer to have it planned out and know what to expect, whereas the other couple enjoyed being spontaneous. Even with the differences in traveling styles, we had a really great time hanging out with our friends!

You can't put a leash on this!

Ha ha, so the title of this blog is a joke between Steve and I. We joke that his working and my staying at home allowed him to "control" my comings and goings. But now that I have my very own car in Jackson, he can't stop me! Okay okay, I guess he could stop me by cutting me off the credit card, but of course I don't really spend that much (and when I do, it's groceries for him).

Well, now that I'm mobile and able to get out whenever I want, I have been able to get some things done in town. For instance, on Thursday I went to the license branch and got my TN driver's license. Steve hasn't done his yet, but I can't control him either! When I went to get my license, I had to prove residency. You had to bring 2 forms stating your name and address on it (like a bill or bank statement). Luckily, I had a bill that I could use and then thought the lease for our house would work. When I got there, I had some issues with the lease. Apparently the lease is only in Steve's name (even though I signed it at the bottom). The license branch could use the lease as long as I proved I was married to Steve. Good thing I brought my marriage license with me! So what could have been a disaster turned out very easy (especially since I didn't have to take a test).

On Friday, I went to the Jackson-Madison County School central office and applied to be a substitute teacher. I have to wait for them to contact me with information on the next substitute workshop. So, it's still just a waiting game. Now, Steve and I are just wasting away our Saturday in preparation for our trip to St. Louis tomorrow. Steve has to do some business in St. Louis on Monday, so we're headed their tomorrow with another couple (our friends we've been hanging out with). So we'll spend Sunday night in St. Claire (outside of St. Louis) because that's where the place Steve and Jake have business. Once they're done running their tests and looking at equipment, we'll all drive to St. Louis and stay in the city on Monday night and return to Jackson on Tuesday.

Where'd the time go?

I can't believe it is already Saturday again, let alone the fact that we're into the 2nd week in September! Ridiculous! I haven't been able to blog much this week because we have been going non-stop! Steve's friend stayed with us a few days last week (and surprisingly he did find an apartment in Memphis and got to move into it the next day!). The day his friend left, Steve's parents arrived. We had a delightful time with them filled with a nature park walk, tours of Jackson, and tv shopping.

That is correct, we bought a new tv! Steve kept telling me we wouldn't get one until Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving) so he could get a great deal. However, our little 19" tv was not going to do Doug's football games justice, so he convinced Steve to get a new tv during their visit. Thanks Doug!!!! I think his convincing also helped with the fact that Dough & Trish went in halvsies on the tv. I can't thank them enough (not just for the tv) but for everything they've done for Steve and I. They drove almost 20 hours to bring me a car, helped buy the tv, and continually pour love and encouragement on Steve and I. What a blessing they are to us!

They left Tuesday morning, bright and early. They were supposed to have a short flight from the Jackson airport (it's a regional airport that just offers a couple of flights to St. Louis and Nashville) to Nashville. However, they discovered that they're lay-over time was not enough to get them off the little plane, through security, and to their gate in Nashville. So instead, I rode with them to Nashville (I slept since we had to leave at 4:30 in the morning, thanks again Doug!), dropped them off, and then I drove back to Jackson (about 2 hours). Since they could drive nearly 20 hours to bring me the car, it was no problem to wake up early to take them to the airport.

Their time with us flew by all too fast. But luckily, the holidays are right around the corner and we'll be able to see them again soon!

Daily Struggles

I don't know if it's still me recovering from being sick or the boredom of having nothing to do, but I it's a struggle for me to get out of bed lately. I haven't been sleeping the best at night and finally fall into a good sleep in the morning -- just in time to get out of bed! I know if I don't make myself get up, I'll totally screw up my sleep schedule. Once I'm out of bed, it's a struggle to get motivated to do something. Again, I don't know if this is because i don't really have anything to do or still recovering. Maybe it's a mix of both, because once I get up and start doing stuff, I have to sit down for awhile before I can do something else. My issue is feeling light-headed as if I'm going to pass out (but as Steve points out -- I used to feel like this a lot and have never passed out).

This got me thinking -- when I was back in high school, I had mono. How I feel now (as well as the cough I had) remind me of that whole experience. After doing some research, I guess once you have mono, you never really get rid of it. It can flare up from time to time, so maybe that's what happened last week? I just think it's weird that it happened all of a sudden (especially since I had mono almost 7 years ago!).

Another struggle that I have is working out, but probably not for what you think. Most people just struggle with fitting it into their schedule or just getting motivated to exercise. I have recently been more serious about losing weight (more-so getting "fit"). I have lost a few pounds which has encouraged me, as well as motivated me, to keep it up. Here's the problem -- Before getting sick, I could work out for an hour a day (I aim for 5-6 days a week). However, now I am only able to do about 15 minutes and then I'm done. I just feel wiped out and weak. Very odd! I'm guessing that this is just due to sickness last week and that I'm probably pushing myself too hard. Oh well, maybe tomorrow I'll last for 20 minutes and build back up to the hour a day I was doing.

Now I'm side tracked in my blog-- instead of talking about more struggles I'm going to explain my "getting fit" strategy. I actually started back in January with a new eating practice. I would not eat past 8 pm (shout out to Alice for this inspiration!). I was really surprised how hard this was! I discovered that I really eat a lot at night (probably because at night I'm just lazy watching tv). By cutting out those late night snacks, I think I lost a few pounds. In the summer, I extended the allowance of food until 9 pm ( I stay up later now that I don't have early morning class or student teaching). In July, I added on daily (intentional!) exercise. With the daily exercise, I find it easier to make wiser snacking choices (like eating 1 cookie and yogurt as opposed to 5 cookies). So hopefully, I will bounce back from my ridiculous lack of energy and get back into full workouts. I find myself happier when I feel healthier (Steve is a fan of this plan !).

Oh and Steve has a weight plan too -- He has to eat MORE food. He is one to forget to eat as well as not eat a lot at each meal. So I'm trying to fatten him up a little bit by making more cookies and brownies (for him, not me :(, sad day). He has also found a new love for fruit snacks and eats several packs a day. All that food, along with his daily pringles, I'm hoping he'll gain a few pounds (let's face it... Steve's a bean pole!). But-- he's my bean pole, and I love him :).