August 31

Our new couch came today!!

A few weeks ago, we decided to buy a couch with a pull-out bed in it for Jack's office, so that it could be a second guest room if we needed it. It finally arrived today, and it's so pretty! It's a shame nobody's ever really going to sit on it!

August 30

Today, after church, we had lunch with our friends Jared and Christelle, and their son Rylan. It's crazy how different he is compared to the first time we went to lunch with them. He's a lot more fun now, since he plays and responds and such. We had fun visiting with them!

August 29

I do have a picture of the day today. But I was told not to put it on the internet. I really don't know why. I think it's fabulous.

Today was my Friday off, so Jack and I went shopping at our favorite shopping center, and Jack bought me a necklace and earrings at Charming Charlie. He's so nice to me!

August 28

Today was black belt club testing at Jack's taekwondo school, so after work I headed over to where they were testing to watch some of our favorite people receive their black belts. It was fun to see the students Jack has worked so hard with finally get their black belts. It's always a proud moment.

August 27

My dad has a new hobby. And it's very meaty.

You can read more about it here, but basically he's making sausage, and a lot of it. Today, when I went to pick up Maggie, this is what I found.

When he commits to something, he really commits. 

August 26

Sharon was out sick today. So obviously, we decided that it would be appropriate to wreak havoc on her work area for when she returned. We decorated her desk, wrote her little notes, and, my personal favorite touch, moved all the keys around on her keyboard so that it said her name. Ahh, a day of hard work. Nothing like it.

August 25

I know you think all I ever talk about is the war on geckos, but let me tell you, they're vicious. As I was turning on the light last night after walking in the door, I swear the biggest gecko I've ever seen ran between my legs into my living room. If ever there was a time to scream and wet myself, this was it.

I'm pretty certain that if Satan had a pet gecko, this would have been it. He was big and evil and had sharp teeth. I couldn't even put a glass over him and save him for Jack; he was too big for the glass. So I did what any reasonable, adult woman would do.

I called my daddy.

August 24

Today Eric got back from Russia with a whole bag of Matrushka dolls to hand out. I got what I think is the prettiest one (I love love love it!), and Jack was completely shocked by how tiny the littlest doll was. We had a lot of fun playing with it today.

August 23

Today was my friend Lindsey's bridal shower. It was really fun to see her and her sister again (I hadn't seen them since high school!) and it was equally fun to see her open up all her gifts and get excited about all her new stuff (She got really excited about the pink knife I got her and the "Hubby Helper Toolbelt" I made her, like the one the Seiberts made for me!). 

August 22

This weekend I went to a Women of Faith conference with some of my co-workers. My boss was generous enough to get us all tickets, and I had a nice time with everyone, and I was very excited to see Steven Curtis Chapman perform on Friday night.

However.

I have a hard time enjoying conferences like these, partially because I'm fairly cynical when it comes to religious "productions." I'm usually on the production side of such things, and so maybe I'm jaded, but I kind of hate it when people put on a show for me and tell me to feel spiritual. Matthew Turner calls this hype a "joygasm" in his [awesome] book "Churched," and that's the word that kept coming to mind when I was sitting there listening to the show.

It also didn't help that they took about 40% of the time plugging their books, future conferences, WorldVision, and their other sponsors. I mean, I realize they have to spend some time doing that, but I feel like they wasted a lot of mine.

Also, the whole "let's tell a sad story and cry and then sing" thing doesn't really appeal to me either. I'm not the girl you see in church putting her hands in the air during the worship songs (or sometimes, even singing at all), and I'd rather hear teaching and theology than stories about "How God changed mah life when I was saaaad." I'm sure this stuff has a place for some people, but for me, not so much. I don't need an emotional experience to believe what I believe.

So there you have it. I have no soul.

August 21

Tonight, I went to Women of Faith with a couple of my work friends. My boss was nice enough to get us really good tickets, and it was nice. What I was really looking forward to, however, was seeing Steven Curtis Chapman perform! And he did not disappoint. It was a great show!

August 20

Tonight after work, my mom and I headed to Arlington to go to a Rangers game together. I got some free tickets, so all we had to pay for was the parking and the food (and we ate a lot of food!) It was really fun, and the Rangers played really well.

August 19

Today, Jack got up before I did, and I came out to find him already hard at work shredding a bunch of papers, getting himself that much closer to having a perfectly-organized office. What a hard worker.

August 18

Today, while Michelle was away, Chris and I painted some of her wooden letters that she bought for her apartment. It was so much fun, and I think they turned out really well! I painted the "L" and the "V."

August 17

Today, Jack had some money burning a hole in his pocket, so he insisted on buying some new blinds for our living room (we're slowly replacing all the blinds in our house).

I said okay, we could buy them, but since we had only saved $200, if we got to Lowes and it was more than that, we wouldn't buy them. When we got there, we calculated the cost. $209. So I told him no, it was more than our budget. He was so sad. But then he found out that he was looking at the wrong set of blinds, and that it was, in fact, less than $200. Dodged that bullet.

I must admit, the blinds look fantastic. We love them!

August 16

I know most of you don't know what this room looked like before, but oh my gosh, Jack cleaned up his office today, and it's insane how much better it looks! We literally couldn't walk in here before since the room was so full of stuff we were storing. I'm so proud of him!

August 15

Today, I went on a crazy organizing spree when I couldn't get all the new food into the pantry. I ended up with a beautifully organized pantry and laundry room closet! there's nothing like an organized pantry.

August 14

It was a BIG night for us. All week, I've been looking forward to Saturday's Kroger run, since they were doubling coupons up to a dollar! I know that sounds pathetic, but it gets me excited.

Tonight, Jack and I went to Sarah and Owen's for a couples party thing (it was so fun!), and then Susan and I decided to go coupon-shopping after midnight tonight (which, technically is tomorrow, but whatever), and we were there until 4 a.m.! It was ridiculous! But very fun.

I ended up getting 91 items with a retail value of $310.33. Subtotal after sales before coupons was $264.12 Total I paid after coupons = $90.79, for a savings of 71% off retail and 66% off sale prices. 91 items for 91 dollars isn't bad!!

August 13

They're after me. Again!

As I've mentioned before, I have this strange habit of showering in the dark. Just before I turned the water on tonight, I happened to flip the light switch on, and boy am I glad I did.

There he was. Just sitting there, waiting for me to trap myself inside a glass prison with him. Waiting for me to grab that conditioner so that he could crawl up my arm.

Ewwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had a peeping gecko!! Even worse, just before I took this picture, he also had a little video camera and binoculars in his tiny hand. He was ready for me.

Get out of my shower, pervert gecko!!

August 12

It's been a long while since I clipped, organized, or pulled coupons. It's because quite daunting. Today, I pulled out all the expired coupons to send to the troops. Still a long way to go, but baby steps.

August 11

Jack got a new phone today! He's very excited about it.

August 10

Work all day. Come home. Design blogs!

It's a good thing I enjoy it!

August 9

Tonight my parents came over for dinner. We're lucky to have them just a few houses down.

As for us, it was just another Sunday. Today's tweets:

5:34 p.m. - We're buying this right now. For our 2nd guest room (Jack's office.) It has a sleeper bed for TJ! :)

6:16 p.m. - Jack: "I have to go home and do my homie-work! [Pause] That's where I do work with my friends."

6:18 p.m. - Sonic guy: "Would you like to try our spicy cheddar peppers today? They're really spicy." Is that why you call them "spicy cheddar peppers?"

10:28 p.m. - Watching "Chuck." Life does not get better.

August 8

It's scrapbooking day!!
(In this photo: Ashley R., Sarah W., Susan S.)

Enough said.
(In this photo: Aubree and Ashlyn S.)

August 7

I love Fridays off!!! Today, when Jack went to teach his private lessons, I started working on these wooden letters, that are for my friend's baby girl's room. I think they turned out well!

August 6

I arrived home and noticed that our front lawn was mowed.

Awwww! Jack mowed our lawn! And on his busy day at work too! I thought.

When I got inside, I opened up his laptop, opened a Word document, and typed a nice message to him.

Thank you for mowing our lawn, husband! I love living with you!

When it came time to make dinner, I went into the kitchen and opened the pantry, noticing a box of red beans and rice on one of the shelves.

"Jack loves Cajun food! Since he was so nice to mow the lawn today, I'll make him a special dinner - Cajun grilled chicken, red beans and rice, and fresh green beans," I thought.

And it was an awesome meal. Not only did I go all out with the Cajun-ness (when Jack took his first bite of chicken he made a loud yummy noise and said "you nailed it."), I decided that, for the first time ever, I would cook the fresh green beans the way his mom makes them - boiling them in chicken broth and real bacon - rather than steaming them, which is how I always cook them.

I may have created a monster, because he went crazy over them (and I must admit, they were pretty amazing).

After he had finished eating, he opened his laptop to play a game. Seeing my message, he looked at me, confused.

"Thank you for mowing the lawn?" he read aloud. "I didn't mow the lawn."

"You didn't?" I asked, surprised.

"Nope," he confessed.

Turns out my Dad mowed it. Guess I owe Dad a Cajun dinner.

August 5

Today, I was walking to Starbucks and talking to my friend Joanna, when I happened to glance down and notice something strange. The front of my white tank top that I was wearing under my shirt looked weird.

Upon closer inspection, I found this:


Oh yes. I was wearing my undershirt backwards.

23 years old and I still can't properly dress myself.

--

When I got home today (in the pouring rain, by the way), I was anxious to see how Maggie did on her first day in "jail." After coming home way too many times to urine stains (or worse) on my carpet, I decided it was time to invest in a baby gate. She just couldn't be trusted to roam free when we were gone anymore.

We have a little tiled area at our back door where the gate would fit really well, and it would be better than putting her in a crate. She had plenty of room to move around, and her bed, food, water, and toys would all fit there nicely. In fact, that's where we used to keep our dogs in the summer when I was growing up (they were outside dogs but sometimes it was just tooooo hot).

I could hear Maggie inside as I started to open the door. She was excitedly whining. I turned the handle and pushed.

The door didn't budge.

My initial thought was that Jack set up the gate on the back door, since he leaves out of the front sometimes.

Great, I thought. He locked me out. And I don't even have a key to the house.

Fortunately, my neighbors have a copy of the key, and I was able to get in the front. When I opened the front door, Maggie greeted me excitedly.

"Maggie, what are you doing here? You're not supposed to be out!" I said to her, as I walked to the back door to inspect the damage.

She had knocked down the gate to get out. It was wedged between the opposite wall and the door, and therefore preventing the door from opening from the outside.

My dog locked me out of my own house.

She's an evil genius.

August 4

Today was the last day for Jack's old pair of flip-flops that he got a few years ago. They finally gave out today, so he was very excited to get to buy a new (really comfortable) pair of flip flops to replace them today, and he took great joy in showing them off. In this picture, he has his old, broken flip flop on his right foot, and his new, super-snazzy flip flop on his left.

Sometimes it's the little things.

August 3

Jack had the day off from work today, which meant that when I arrived home, he was there!! It was really nice to see how normal people live!

Since I usually cook, I had "him" cook tonight - we went to Sonic and got buy-one-get-one-free coney dogs and shakes! Yum! Then, we watched "Bedtime Stories," (and it was over before midnight! Imagine!)

Not a bad evening with my friend!

August 2

So 4 days ago, our power went out. Since then, the outlets in our bathrooms haven't been working (which makes straightening my hair a lot harder, because, you know, the straightener doesn't work so well when it's cold). As it turns out, that's supposed to be an indication that the power outlet in the garage needs to be reset.

Unfortunately, the outlet that needed to be reset was supposed to be supplying power to the refrigerator that lives in our garage. And of course, the freezer in said refrigerator was full of the meat I had stocked up on during my many couponing ventures.

It took us a while to clean up the smelly, disgusting, bloody mess that was our freezer, but fortunately we had a LOT of ice in there with the meat, so we didn't lose much of it.

Food poisoning, here we come!

August 1

Today Jack had to judge all day for the Texas Twister, and so I had the day to myself at home, which was good, because I really had to work on my blog designs and recover from my cold.

When he came home, he brought these super-cool medals with him from his winnings yesterday!