Busy Days

The past 3 weeks have been a whirlwind, with a trip to Atlanta, a visit from Jeff's parents and an emergency trip to Alaska. This is the first weekend we've had with nothing big planned for months!

I'm sure you're all wondering about the emergency trip to Alaska, if you haven't already heard. Last Wednesday my grandmother in Alaska, AKA Granny, went to the ER after one of the spells she's been having for months. The Doctors weren't initially too concerned, but during her visit she experienced a near fatal bout of ventricular tachycardia, a fatal type of heart arrhythmia, and things just deteriorated from there. When we got word on Thursday that she might not make it out of the hospital, all 4 of the grandgirls decided to make the trip to AK to show our love and support. Lana, our Dad and I flew out of MS at 6:30am on Friday morning and arrived in AK at 3:30pm that afternoon (a 12 hour trip with the time difference). We made it just in time to sit with grandpa while Granny had her MRI, which showed that she had 100% blockages in almost all of her arteries. They were able to stabilize her over the weekend, and put her on some medication to manage her arrhythmia, but the doctor's are saying she is not a candidate for bypass or an angioplasty at this point. We're hoping they will seek a 2nd opinion here in MS. The good news is she was discharged home yesterday, and appears to be doing much better. She is slowly gaining back the weight she lost over the past several months, and is trying to build her strength to hopefully make the trip home to Mississippi in March. Granny and Poppa have a comfortable house here in MS, and we're hoping after this week will try to relocate as soon as Granny is strong enough. It's beyond difficult being so far away from them during this difficult time, and knowing that we are at minimum 12 hours away if something happens doesn't help. We just love them so much, and I hope they felt that in full force last weekend when we all made the trip North. Please continue to pray for strength for Granny, and for safe travels to MS when and if they do decide to come.

Unfortunately I accidentally deleted the pictures I took the first 2 days of the visit, but here are a few from Saturday and Sunday.

Me and my sweet Granny.

Sunday we were able to get her up and out of bed a little bit. She really perked up with her girls around her:)

I got to brush up on my ice skating skills - this is how every road looked under the snow.

My cousin Lindsey's baby Stone was the big hit of the weekend. Here he is with my dad.

Sweet Grandpa and Stone

Uncle Neil, who was a huge help before, during and after our visit.

The Grandgirls - (L-R) Lindsay, Lana, Shasta and me. The only other picture I have of all 4 grandgirls together we were so tired we looked like zombies. I'll have to wait for Shasta to send me our good group pictures to post.

We had some visitors at the hospital. You don't realize how big they are until you're standing right next to them, and I'd say this moose was on the smaller side. There were 3 total right outside the window.

Thought this was a cool pic. Only in AK.

Another cool picture, but would have been better if the moose had been in it.

Relaxing at the hospital. I'll have to say it was a very comfortable place to be stuck in for the weekend...for a hospital.

I got to visit with some old buddies over the weekend, which was a treat. Shawn camped out at the hospital with us for several hours Saturday, and also drove us to the airport Sunday. Shawn and I have been friends since 5th grade.

Jess and John stopped by my grandparents house Saturday evening. Jess and I have been friends since 7th grade, but she was in my dad's 4th grade class.

I really miss this view....

People in AK have planes like people in MS have boats.

My favorite moment of the weekend - Grandpa hiijacking the cart at the hospital. He just walked up to it and stuck each of his keys in till it cranked. Good thing it was Sunday and no one was around!!

Although the circumstances for the visit were terrible, we had a wonderful time seeing everyone. It's been 3 years since all of the grandgirls were together. It in many ways it was a healing visit for everyone on many different levels.

The previous weekend we enjoyed a visit from Jeff's parents, Lisa and Ellis. Here they after a delicious lunch at Cock of the Walk.

Jeff and Pop taunting the gulls.

The weekend before that we enjoyed a whirlwind visit to Atlanta for my good friend Stacie's baby shower. We were lucky and got to see most of our friends in the process.

Gina and Brian let us crash at their place Saturday night.

Our new favorite game - hide and seek with Madeline. Hmmm, I wonder where she is?

Still can't seem to find her...

I still get tickled looking at those pictures. She was sooo excited to play hide and seek with Jeff. The last time they played she started hiding under the table before he'd even closed his eyes. It was adorable! We had fun lunching with Madeline and her parents, our good friends Julie and Todd, below. I have a picture of Madeline further down.

We had a delicious dinner at Jenny's Saturday night with Rob, Danielle and the girls.

We spent Friday night with Caroline, Mike and Suzanna. She was really excited to see us:)

Saturday morning visit to IHOP in our PJ's (kind of). What a doll!

We spent Thursday night with Mimi and Pawpaw and enjoyed breakfast with them Friday morning.

Here's Madeline, the hide and seek queen. Too cute!



We got a visit in with our good friends and mentors, Doug and Martha. They have been such a blessing to us, and we miss them so much!!

Their kids, Mitchell, Teddy and Caroline. It's hard to believe Teddy and Caroline were barely 3 when we first met them.

We enjoyed breakfast with our fellow friends (and bloggers) Georgia Peach, Big Apple and Papple.

Gina kicking Jeff's butt at Wii bowling.

Friday I stopped by work to hang out with some of my friends and coworkers at Shepherd. Here is my friend Josh. Unfortunately I didn't get pictures with everyone...

I got to meet up with his wife and friend Lisa, and beautiful girls Natalie and Lindsey, at Stacie's shower. I was so excited Natalie remember who I was - that's what stinks the most about leaving ATL. Now all of our friend's kids are going to forget us...

Me and my buddy Lynz, who just got accepted to Med School. Way to go Lynz!!

The whole reason for our trip - the lovely and adorably pregnant Stacie, practicing with little Lindsay.

Fun times at Mike and Suzanna's. This picture was not staged, but looks like it was. That wine bottle must have been very interesting.....

Amy and Michael, Brian and Gina and Mike and Suzanna - some of our favorite couples all together! You better believe we laughed all evening!

Little Bryce - look at those beautiful eyes!

I miss my girls - Nancy and Lynz!

My old volunteer services coworkers - Pete and Midge.

We had a wonderful time visiting with everyone, and thanks to my grandparents, Mike and Suzanna and Gina and Brian for letting us crash at their places.

That's all for now!!

Update Part #1 (Long Post)

So it's finally here, the update you've been waiting 3 months for! For those of you we weren't able to visit with over the holidays, here are some long awaited pictures of the new house.

This is the view driving up to the neighborhood. Gotta hate that right:)

Mi Casa

The kitchen

Great room - You can't see it in this picture, but there is a built in entertainment center with a 6 foot opening for the TV that we will be modifying very soon. The people we bought the house from actually had a rear projector screen tv stuffed in that opening. Weird...

The dining room before and after pictures. It is now blue, after painting it 4 times (it's a long story). This is also the DR table Jeff is building. I told him if he built the table I didn't wait to wait 6 months for it to be finished. I think we're going on month 3 ~ BTW - the people before us had very 90's taste. Maroon and hunter green.

The Man Cave aka Office

If you ever come and visit, this is where we'll put you up. Our main guest bedroom complete with its own private bath.

Backyard and patio

Master Bath - and yes the wallpaper is coming down.

So those are the highlights. The best part of the house is that directly under our obnoxiously high roof is 1500 of prime real estate waiting to be built out. We won't need the space for some time, but it's nice to know it's available nonetheless.

We had a wonderful but busy christmas split between MS and LA. We had christmas eve dinner at our house, dessert at Lana's house and Christmas morning brunch at mom's house. It was kind of odd not staying the night at my parent's house christmas eve like we have every other year, but we're just so glad to be here it didn't really matter.

Jeff and I exchanged gifts christmas eve. I gave him some tools he wanted, and he gave me the best and possibly my favorite christmas gift EVER. Drumroll please.......the complete collectors edition of the XFiles. All 9 seasons (170+ episodes) plus the first (and only one worth watching) movie. So guess what we've been doing every night since christmas:) For those of you who don't already know, I was a HUGE XFiles fan in high school...and am discovering my passion for the series really hasn't waned much (unlike some people's ahem Michael). Thank you wonderful husband for a wonderful christmas gift I will be enjoying for months to come.

Early Saturday morning we made our way over to DeRidder for Christmas with the Smiths. Some highlights of the visit were:

1. Visiting with our 5 nieces and nephews and learning another is on the way.
2. Earning myself the "Favorite Niece" title from my Uncle-in-Law Matt. To celebrate I cooked him a Chess pie - now known as Cuss Pie after a slight miscommunication.
3. Watched in shock and awe as my husband charged a charging mother cow. Ladies - there is not much sexier than seeing your husband in carharts charging a cow - especially when the cow turns around and hightails away. Little did I know that if a cow charges you (unless it's a bull), you're not supposed to run away. Good thing I was on the other side of the fence.

Here are some pictures...

My sexy cowboy

One of the 2 calves that was born while we were in. Both of them had to be "taught" how to suckle. Guess that doesn't happen very often, but it was neat watching my father-in-law working with the calves - until mama cow freaked out because she didn't like the way we smelled.

Cowgirl wannabe Courtney trying to coax the calf to return to her mama just around the corner. And no I did not intend to be playing with the cows when I dressed that morning, hence the fru fru vest (Jeff's description).

We spent a lot of time this visit playing games. Our new favorite is Quiddler - a mix between rummy and scrabble. Very fun for any gamers out there.

My beautiful nephew - look at those eyes

Jeff and his older (and taller) brother Eric, and me, my sister-in law, Ben and one of the twins.

Waiting for us when we drove back from LA on Wednesday were our good friends Brian and Gina in to ring in the New Year with us. What a treat having them in town was, and they were officially our first overnight guests in our new house.

New Year's night we went down to Vicksburg for an amazing meal at Rusty's on the river. We strolled around town while waiting for a table, and nearly froze our tails off.

Gina really liked these nightgowns. It took quite some effort on my part to convince her it wasn't worth driving back before they left (when the store was open) to purchase one when I was sure one of my grandmothers could hook her up:)

We hit the casinos for a little while before heading home for the evening, and were sorely disappointed with the lack of festivities for the new year. Jeff did win $18 in a slot machine, then promptly lost it all.

New Year's Day we took the McVicker's to one of my families farms to play on the heavy equipment. Dad was nice enough to crank up the backhoe and our little red tractor. I think Brian really enjoyed himself...

Me and dad. He eventually wants to build a house at the farm in the spot directly behind us in the picture. What a view!

My parents and adorable niece Paige.

Me and my cowboy.

Before Gina and Brian headed back to town, we stopped for lunch at the Cock-of the Walk for the best fried catfish in town. Here were are freezing (again) and taking pictures on the dock. We'd been hiking earlier that morning - thus the casual attire.

Happy 2009 to all of our friends and family! I'll post more pictures later of our recent visit to Atlanta.

Merry Christmas!

And a Happy New Year. I promise I will update with PICTURES (Lisa and Suzanna:) after the holidays. We cannot find our camera battery, so we haven't taken any since Thanksgiving because our camera is DEAD.

We have a busy month ahead of us. We're spending Christmas Day with my family here in MS, then heading to LA the 27th for Christmas with the Smiths. Our good friends Brian and Gina are scheduled to come over for New Year's, so we're hoping that works out! January 10th we're headed to Atlanta (if I haven't talked to you about this yet, I will...we just solidified our plans a few days ago) and then the following weekend Jeff's parent's are coming to visit.

A very Merry Christmas to everyone!

Update

In the past three months...
- We packed up 5 years of marriage in Atlanta in one weekend (thanks to our amazing ATL friends) and moved to Mississippi
- Closed on our house in Atlanta (after listing for just over a month)
- Jeff was offered (and accepted) a transfer position with Wachovia
- I started my new job with UMMC
- We survived 2.5 months living in the bonus room over my parent's garage (I say this jokingly, but in all honestly can't imagine how it could have gone better than it did)
- I helped partially clean my first wild turkey
- Bailey licked even more of his fur off
- Allie has become an escape artist, along with her partner's in crime Maggie and McKinley (my mom's dogs)
- We looked at almost 60 houses in Rankin County
- Jeff now enjoys hunting (most of the time)

In the past three weeks....
- We closed on our new house in Mississippi
- Painted the 2 story dining room in the house 2x, along with most of the other rooms in the house
- Jeff decided to build our dining room table
- Have been lucky to get 6 hours of sleep each night

In the past three days....
- Painted the dining room for the 3rd (and final) time
- Moved 15 full truckloads of stuff out of storage and into the new house (thanks to the help our awesome new Sunday school class)
- Moved 2 full truckloads from my parent's house to the new house (don't ask me where we had everything stored - I have no idea)
- Have gotten much less than 6 hours of sleep each night

In the next three days
- We'll be on our way to LA to spend most of the Thanksgiving holiday with Jeff's family, and will be staying at his parent's 3BR/2BA house with a total of 20 other people. Yep, you heard me right, 20 people, 10 of which are under the age of 5. I don't think I can even imagine having that many people in my house for more than a few hours, and we'll be there for 3 days.
- Probably won't be getting much sleep again

Sorry it's been so long since my last post, but we still don't have a computer of our own. Plus we've been so busy the past three weeks I'm not sure I'd have had time to write anyway - although I try to get on and check everyone else's blogs at least once a week.

Although we're physically exhausted right now, we love our new house and neighborhood and feel tremendously blessed to have had the love and support of many old and new friends and our families during this crazy transition. We couldn't have done it without you guys!

I'll post pictures as soon as I can.

Do Facts Matter??

I copied this post from a fellow blogger because it sums up many of my current frustrations with the current political trend. My husband works for a bank, and we've been stewing over these same issues for months now. Why isn't anyone reporting about this??

For those of you who don't know, Thomas Sowell is black. "Thomas Sowell was born in North Carolina and grew up in Harlem . As with many others in his neighborhood, he left home early and did not finish high school. The next few years were difficult ones, but eventually he joined the Marine Corps and became a photographer in the Korean War. After leaving the service, Sowell entered Harvard University , worked a part-time job as a photographer and studied the science that would become his passion and profession: economics. After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard University (1958), he went on to receive his master's in economics from Columbia University (1959) and a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago (1968)."

Do Facts Matter?
Thomas Sowell
Friday, October 03, 2008

Abraham Lincoln said, "You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time."
Unfortunately, the future of this country, as well as the fate of the Western world, depends on how many people can be fooled on election day, just a few weeks from now.
Right now, the polls indicate that a whole lot of the people are being fooled a whole lot of the time.

The current financial bailout crisis has propelled Barack Obama back into a substantial lead over John McCain-- which is astonishing in view of which man and which party has had the most to do with bringing on this crisis.

It raises the question: Do facts matter? Or is Obama's rhetoric and the media's spin enough to make facts irrelevant?

Fact Number One: It was liberal Democrats, led by Senator Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, who for years-- including the present year-- denied that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taking big risks that could lead to a financial crisis.

It was Senator Dodd, Congressman Frank and other liberal Democrats who for years refused requests from the Bush administration to set up an agency to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

It was liberal Democrats, again led by Dodd and Frank, who for years pushed for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to go even further in promoting subprime mortgage loans, which are at the heart of today's financial crisis.

Alan Greenspan warned them four years ago. So did the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers to the President. So did Bush's Secretary of the Treasury, five years ago.

Yet, today, what are we hearing? That it was the Bush administration "right-wing ideology" of "de-regulation" that set the stage for the financial crisis. Do facts matter?

We also hear that it is the free market that is to blame. But the facts show that it was the government that pressured financial institutions in general to lend to subprime borrowers, with such things as the Community Reinvestment Act and, later, threats of legal action by then Attorney General Janet Reno if the feds did not like the statistics on who was getting loans and who wasn't.

Is that the free market? Or do facts not matter?

Then there is the question of being against the "greed" of CEOs and for "the people." Franklin Raines made $90 million while he was head of Fannie Mae and mismanaging that institution into crisis.Who in Congress defended Franklin Raines? Liberal Democrats, including Maxine Waters and the Congressional Black Caucus, at least one of whom referred to the "lynching" of Raines, as if it was racist to hold him to the same standard as white CEOs.Even after he was deposed as head of Fannie Mae, Franklin Raines was consulted this year by the Obama campaign for his advice on housing!

The Washington Post criticized the McCain campaign for calling Raines an adviser to Obama, even though that fact was reported in the Washington Post itself on July 16th. The technicality and the spin here is that Raines is not officially listed as an adviser. But someone who advises is an adviser, whether or not his name appears on a letterhead.The tie between Barack Obama and Franklin Raines is not all one-way. Obama has been the second-largest recipient of Fannie Mae's financial contributions, right after Senator Christopher Dodd.

But ties between Obama and Raines? Not if you read the mainstream media.

Facts don't matter much politically if they are not reported.

The media alone are not alone in keeping the facts from the public. Republicans, for reasons unknown, don't seem to know what it is to counter-attack. They deserve to lose. But the country does not deserve to be put in the hands of a glib and cocky know-it-all, who has accomplished absolutely nothing beyond the advancement of his own career with rhetoric, and who has for years allied himself with a succession of people who have openly expressed their hatred of America.
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