my attempt at a series: Things I Never Thought I'd Say

"Where is the pig, *student*?! GIVE ME THE PIG."

Yup. I can't even try to explain that. There is no explanation besides...ridiculous. RIDICULOUS.

Also- I'm really good (like, a pro) at taking things from kids. Seriously, I'm SO good that a kid tried to steal from my desk when I was gone...that's how much stuff I have of his. I have his Nintendo DS, 2 Bakugan toys, 4 Beyblade spinners (I don't really know what they are either), a trading card and a GameCube disc. Yup. 

So, my girl has a Justin Bieber watch. What?! Who doesn't love the Biebs?! The boys in my class, that's who. Anyhow, my girl is playing with her brand-spanking-new-pink-plastic-Justin-Bieber watch and I tell her that if she plays with it again, it's mine. Well, needless to say, that happened. She was playing at her desk & I took it. You have to know, my favorite part of taking things (like her necklace full of Silly Bandz that I took in September), is gloating that I own it...so I walk away going, "Sweet! New watch! Nothin' like a little Biebs on my wrist!" Really? As these words are coming out of my mouth I'm thinking, "Biebs on your wrist, Jessica? You're nuts."

The kids loved it. What the heck. They may make me crazy, but at least they laugh at my crazy. 

P.S. For anyone who cares (I know you all are on the edges of your metaphorical seats), I have some posts of fun things we've been doing lately. I'm pretty pumped. Hopefully, there are lots of changes in my/our life/lives coming up soon! Hooray!

half.

Typically, being "halfway" to something isn't that inspiring. Typically, it means you still have JUST AS MUCH time/work ahead of you as you've already completed. 

Sometimes, half is lucky. Today is that day. 

Today is April 9, 2011. We are halfway between October 9, 2010 and October 9, 2011. Hallelujah.  Most of you probably do not know, but today is my 6-month-aversary with my amazingly-wonderful-so-good-it-still-shocks-me-after-knowing-him-for-6.5-years husband. Yup. That's the one. 

So, my sweet husband, thank you. I mean, really. Today we had the L-O-O-O-O-N-G-E-S-T yard sale day, ever. EVER (until next week?). You were a freaking. champ. Yes. A champ. I've said THE MOST RIDICULOUS things this week/weekend. I mean, ridiculous. I've been totally looney/loopy/can't think of any more "loo" words...but if there are some? I've been them. Spring break went to my head. You have just giggled, said nice things, and patted me. I don't mind the patronizing gestures. You could call me a dumb...well, you know. But you don't.

On top of all that, you helped me dig a cat grave and then listened to me whine about my GDTs (Grave-Digging-Thighs: yes friends, they do exist). Basically, you let your out of shape wife try to dig in rocky clay/dirt until she couldn't do it anymore. You let her swing the axe-thingy and try to jump on the shovel until she was so exhausted that she couldn't even deal with it and then asked, yes, you realized my control/closure issues and asked me if you could help. You are a God-send. I don't say that lightly. But then, when you knew you could've done it in half the time? You still let me complain all week that my thighs hurt. Why on Earth can I not swing an axe or dig without squats hurting my thighs. What. The. Heck. 

Moving on...

The last 6 months have been amazing. The last year has been amazing. When we were friends, I never knew this existed. There are so many comparisons I could make to prove how great you are...but, end of the day? Your greatness isn't in comparison to everyone else. #1- It's in comparison to everyone else. #2-  There isn't any comparison because you are fantastically amazing & wonderful.

As good as I am with words (hence why I always win arguments) I'm not nearly as good at feelings. Please continue to read my mind (maybe less with the negative/crazy) and realize how much I love you. Even when I'm a jerk, remember that my little dance means that I can't wait to kiss you. The lines in my face (you know the ones, between the brows) don't always mean I'm angry...or that you're crazy. Sometimes they mean both. Sometimes they mean I'm just joking you. Speaking of those eyebrows, thanks for telling me I'm pretty even when they're going from the larvae stage to full-blown caterpillar because I've spent my "free" money for the month and don't have enough for waxing. 

Thanks for wanting babies. Sorry I'm not quite there yet. Honestly, you make it hard not to be. You're the greatest husband I could've dreamed up and you will be THE greatest father on the face of the planet. Of. All. Time. 

Thanks for dealing with the crazy: the work crazy, the messy-house crazy, the Jesus-crises crazy, the emotional crazy, the cat-grief crazy, the people-grief crazy, the I-hate-showering-on-a-daily-basis crazy. Also- all the other crap you deal with is pretty impressive. One more thing, thanks for playing it cool whenever I have a new idea for the house (like re-painting the living room we painted not-too-long ago, repainting the *intense* kitchen, re-decorating any/all rooms, getting rid of your nightstand/lamp before we bought a new one (yup, that's today) and knowing what I need EVERY DAY of our life together.

We may only be halfway to a year, but instead of halfway meaning "so much more ahead", I'm glad to say that halfway means, "not enough time in the world ahead". 

I love you.

wifey. xoxoxoxoxo --these are an IOU 

we have. the. best. friends. ever.

Sooo...I've mentioned a million times before how awesome my good friends, Sarah and Drew, over at Kitt Creative are at all things photography. Today I got a text from Sarah asking if I was free...she called me and told me that they want to enter a photographers' magazine cover contest with A PICTURE OF US!!!!!

WHAT?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! It's the most exciting thing of, well, a while. I don't know how long. :) 

So. If you're out there and don't have any other vested interest in this contest (or even if you do & you want to spread the love around), go to this link and register. Once you do, if you can't find our photo again, search Andrew Kittredge and rate/vote for our photo! I gave it 5 stars but, ya know, I'm a tad impartial!

Please please please help our incredible photographers to get some more recognition. They're SO hard working, such amazing people, great parents & friends...and we love them. And- it's our picture! 

THANKS in advance! :) 

 

spring broke.

This is how I have felt about the first 4 days of my illustrious spring break...yup. Basically, I had tons of excitement planned for my break. By excitement, I mean nothing-ness: cleaning, organizing, getting ready to yard sale, reading a book (or 4), seeing Mama, going through some of my grandparents' amazing antique items and figuring out what we could take...etc.

Friday, I got a call from Mom. My dear, sweet, wonderful cat is extra super duper sick. We had him taken in for surgery twice in the last few weeks for a big tumor-ish spot on his neck. After the first surgery, he felt GREAT. He was skipping around like a much younger (and smaller) cat- he weighs 26 pounds. We noticed he had lost some weight...and then after the second surgery he stopped eating/drinking. Besides that the cat is HUGE, he LOVES to drink water. I mean, he'll come in, drink for 30 seconds...walk out for 10...come back in for 30 more seconds and drink tons and tons of water. I saw him a month ago, after his first surgery, and I brushed him, petted him, used him as a pillow (he liked it, trust me), and was SO glad to see him feeling better. Mom had been telling me since the second surgery, two weeks ago, that he wasn't looking so great. Well, I went up there (as planned) on Sunday and...he was not doing so hot. My poor baby had lost tons of weight. It was. Awful. I mean, awful. That's my baby cat, ya know? 

We decided to take him to the vet and have him "put to sleep" on Monday. The vet confirmed everything we saw...he was already gone and just hanging on for us. He was already down to 16 lbs. It was heartbreaking. That's a lot of guilt, by the way. This poor cat knows that we're SO SAD that he's hanging on for us. God bless him. He was so calm/lethargic that they didn't even sedate him...they just came in and gave him his shot. He was looking at us as he relaxed. It was one of the worst things ever. Stupid pets. They really suck you in. 

Needless to say, I've been a mess for two days. I never thought I'd be this big a mess. I do better with real life tragedies than I do with losing my pet. We'd never had a pet that long before, I guess. My sweet Gimmel outlasted half of middle school, all of high school, a second cat, countless boyfriends, and endless drama. He was the best. We buried him Monday- also, one of the worst things ever- and I just can't get past the sad. I kinda feel like it'd be better to be at school. Either way, not the way I wanted to start my spring break. 

 Next up: headache. WHAT THE WHAT?! I had THE worst headache I've had in a long time on Tuesday. Tell me why this is the crappiest spring break ever?! I got through it. A lot of sleep helped. 

Soooo...today! Hooray for Wednesday! Disclaimer: I thought it was Tuesday when I woke up- stupid trips on Sunday/Monday throwing me off track. 

So. Now some goals for spring break: 

Wednesday 
-finish laundry
-wash some dust off of our cool new antiques (LOVE my Memaw & Pa)
-work on the closets & living room

Thursday
Day off with my husband! Hooray!
- finish living room!!!!!! (#1 priority!)
- get yard sale stuff cleaned off
- finish closets/upstairs for Jess :) 
- groceries. we should eat soon.
- Craigslist yardsale ad 
- make signs!

Friday
- breakfast with one of my favorite families
- finish yard sale set-up
- meet other yard-salers (made that word up) to get stuff
- put a few non-yard-sale items on Craigslist
- get the house cleaned up & ready 
- get last minute yard sale items & price everything
- pick up tables

I think that's it...? I really need to thoroughly clean things once everything's all gone through...so hopefully I'll be able to clean some bathrooms and stuff too. Also- it'd be great to be READY for school on Monday and maybe even planned ahead? The weekend looks to be busy too. PLEASE pray for me accomplishing my goals FOR ONCE in my life. :)

how to not be lame.

Rule #1: When you see someone in a store that you recognize from a blog, try to hide your double take and jaw-drop-expression.

OK, so basically, this is THE ONLY rule.

Today, my husband indulged my need to find new ideas for our home...mind you, we don't know what the future has in store for us even living in this home, but I always need to check. We went to World Market, Target and Home Goods after church. It. Was. Awesome.

We got some new curtain panels...they're gorgeous. Then we picked up some last minute stuff I needed for my kids at Target. Then we stopped by Home Goods. On the way through the parking lot, I joke "Haha, John & Sherry (yes, in my blog-filled mind we're on a first name basis) from Young House Love talk about shopping here ALL the time. Wouldn't it be crazy if we saw them?" You see, a few months back when my stepfather was ill with cancer, I was at my mom's for weeks. Every day at 2 p.m. I could be found OBSESSIVELY watching the Nate Berkus show. Seriously, we'd be out running an errand and I'd say, "I'd really like to be home by 2." Mind you, when someone's dying, you may only leave the house ever 4 days. I cherished the time with my stepfather in those days. I also cherished home design shows that we don't get in Newport News. One day, they had a DIY challenge and "guest hosts" named John and Sherry. No big deal...until they said, "We're from Richmond, VA." WHAAAT?! I love that stuff. One time TAPS from Ghost Hunters came to Chesapeake and I was all, "THEY WERE IN HAMPTON ROADS!" So, I checked out their blog and realized that I LOVED their ideas...better yet, they're frugal (cough:: cheap ::cough) like me...but their house looks a.ma.zing. So...during my hours of sitting, nursing, watching Nate Berkus, etc...I read the archives of their blog.

Well. My excitement for home re-design and DIY projects inspired me to finally clean out my office. Anyone who has ever seen my office can attest to the enormity of this project. Anyone who has been to my house and has not seen my office...well...there's a reason for that. Pictures of that will come when...I'm ready to admit my clutter problem in more detail. Chris & I were driving to church one day when I saw this lovely white house on the corner of Chamberlayne & Wilkinson. I said to him, "I swear I've seen that house before." It bugged me for HOURS. Finally, we got home and I thought, "Could it possibly be one of the houses that YHL crashed? Nahhh. That'd be so crazy, it's right by our church." Um. Yes. Yes it is. So...I called my dear soon-to-be-roommate Jess and squealed into the phone that my blog obsessions & real life were colliding and I was super duper excited.

Today. Worlds collided. Again. Chris & I walked through Home Goods and discussed lamps, rugs, nightstands, GLASS GAZING GLOBES (I have no idea why I want one so badly), faux coral (not as cheap as the one we got from Kohl's), and lanterns (I love them). On the way out, I checked the displays by their registers because it was MOBBED when we walked in and I didn't want to be around people. I'm sure you can see where this is heading.

I make a loop around the last display and see this woman on the other side of the aisle...then I do a double take and realize that her husband CATCHES me double taking like a creep. Holy. Crap. Ya know those people whose blog I stalk follow every day?! Why, yes. It's John & Sherry Petersik (in real life, I realize we're not on a first-name basis). I say, "I might pee my pants." SERIOUSLY, JESSICA. THOSE WERE YOUR FIRST WORDS TO A COMPLETE STRANGER?! Yes. Yes they were. Fortunately, he made a joke, introduced me to their super-cute daughter Clara (thank God he realizes that his blog is not real life...as though I haven't seen their 52-week project), Sherry turned around and introduced herself, I proceeded to apologize over and over for interrupting their Sunday afternoon outing- professing that I do realize that they are normal people and I'm usually not so star-struck/crazy in the middle of Home Goods. Thank you, Jesus, my husband was there. He introduced himself, said he'd heard a lot about them (yes, his wife is, indeed, their blog-stalker reader) and I continued to apologize, saying how weird it was because we run errands often on Sundays in Richmond and I never imagined I'd actually meet them. Yup. They think I'm a total loser.

So again, rule #1: When you see someone in a store that you recognize from a blog, try to hide your double take and jaw-drop-expression.

Quickly followed by rule #2: Don't open up with a joke about a bodily function.

Ugh. Positive note- they were lovely and charming and didn't- AT ALL- treat me like I was a psycho. So thanks for that, John & Sherry (sorry, we're back to a first-name basis- apparently I can only be un-creepy for so long)!