Wishin'... and Hopin'... and Thinkin'...

Jeez - again with those random songs, eh?


MY B!



Tonight, McStudly and I are going house-shopping again. Sometimes I think it would just be easier if you could walk through a store with little mini-models of all of the houses sitting on the shelves like dollhouses - built to scale and made to look exactly like the real thing.

But since it's not, our gas tank is suffering, and we are growing weary.



We had finally found two places that we love love love!!! But since we couldn't decide on one of them, between the two of us, we agreed to keep looking, convinced that we'd find a place we would both be happy with and able to call home.


So here we go again - wish us luck, and pray for patience for our tour guide/Realtor, Sheena.



PS. I'm convinced that Realtors are much more then house-salesmen. They are also tour guides (hence the above statement), marriage counselors, optimists, and very good at pointing out the potential in a home to first-time home buyers (AND we're lucky because our realtor has a built in smell-o-meter that's able to detect the slightest hint of anything, not matter how many glade plug-ins they put in a house). No wonder not just anyone can do it! When McStudly and I start back and forth about a place, she just starts laughing... and it totally takes the tension out of the mix - and I can see why she laughs... we sound ridiculous!



Asta Pasta!

;-)

Sataaaaan is Under my Feeet...

Sorry 'bout the title there - old school church song flashback. WHOA!!



Okay - but really, don't ever live on bare concrete floors. You may think you're "going green (as McStudly phrases it), butI can tell you from experience - it's SO not fun!!


Here's the story:


Last Thursday, we had an appointment for some people to FINALLY come fix the whole mess in the living room of our house (we are renters, for those of you that are newer). It's been jsut months and months of pulling hair and breaking legs to get things squared away - okay so we haven't broken anyone's legs but we've REALLY felt like doing it at times!!



So FINALLY we get a call saying that someone is coming out to take care of everything - blah blah blah - end of story is FINALLY in sight!! Or so we thought...



The day fell on one of McStudly's few days off, so I was at work while the whole thing was happening. A guy arrives and in broken English tells McStudly that he's "here to replace dee carpet, man" (okay - that was very mean of me... but I won't apoligize yet, becuase it probably won't be the last time I make a comment of that nature in this blog - not to mention it was just a HUGE exaggeration from what actually happened).



So McStudly's liek "Ok great. Come on in!" They start moving stuff around, and he informs my wonderful hubby that they are actually replacing the carpet in the WHOLE house, not just in the living room (which our landlord was pushing for - hence the lack of red flags popping up). SO That's when I get the call to come and take our pup over to Mom's house for the day, to play with look and be out of the way, since there was no where else to keep him while they worked.



Fast forward about an hour.... and I pull up to the house.



McStudly's on the phone sounding not-too-happy. And I step inside to see the progress... JUST in time to see them sliding our couch (YES sliding) along the wooden deck out back!!! They are putting it BACK In the house on top of BARE CEMENT FLOORS!!!


Not ONLY was I like SUPER angry becuase they were actively RUINING my not-so-cheap couch, but they are putting our furniture back in... they aren't even finished!! What, is it lunchtime or something?? Come on people!! Did I SAY you could take a lunch?! (just kidding on that last part... I really was wondering what was going on and WY they were sliding my couch accross a rough wooden deck).



So I step back outside as Kyle gets off the phone. "They're at the wrong house."



Umm... What?!



"They said they're at the wrong house. They've pulled out all of the carpet, and now they have to leave because this isn't the right house for their job today. I've already called the company and tried to figure things out, but I don't really know what's going on, so I need you to call."



How in the WORLD?! No worries... calm down Sarah - they'll jsut be sending the right people over soon and it'll be fine.


*deep breaths*



So I call like EVERYONE and apparently, Seńor read the paper wrong and was taking the carpet out of the WRONG flipping house!!! AND the company didn't even have us on their list for work today. Oh boy the questions just keep PILING up!!


So the landlord is calling the management company, and I'm calling the carpet company...




COME TO FIND OUT - the management company had decided NOT to replace our carpet AFTER finding out it was an expensive carpet, though they had already told us they would replace it. BULL SNOT!!!


AND


It would take several days to even get the carpet IN from Friggin GEORGIA!! My landlord's husband was LIVID!! "They need to drive their[butts] down there RIGHT now and pick it up, then!" Whoa dude... just... whoa.



It all turns out to be a "blessing in disguise" (if I could sound ANY more cliche) becuase if Seńor hadn't read the paper wrong (which by the way the address was COMPLETELY different than ours, no clue HOW that happened...) then we wouldn't be getting new carpet, and the nastiness from the leakage would just be growing and growing and growing. (Lovely thought, isn't it).




SOOOO... that leads me to the hopeful END of the long and drawn-out/painful-as-crud story!!



Today we are getting NEW CARPET!! WOOHOOOOO!!!!! Kyle and I have lived in a house that is COMPELTELY in disaray for 5 days, and it's finally coming to an END!! WOOT WOOT!!


I will get home today and my house will smell of new carpet and love.


Okay - so maybe the love part will be added later, but still - new carpet is a good smell! and a MUCH better smell then musty-grossness, that is a FACT!!







Peace, love, and clean-carpet to all!


:-*

Redneck Tank Top

Please... Please God... Please tell me this was a joke.





Words cannot even begin to describe what I'm thinking right now...



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On the prowl

So we're going to look at some houses tomorrow night. I'm super excited!

Our realtor sent us lots of listings today,and Kyle and I went through them being SUPER picky, AND open-minded at the same time.


We know what we want, but we also know that it will take a bit of elbow grease to get any house looking like "us".



So - here we go. Off into the land of house-shopping, and hopefully we'll come back with some great stuff!!




Wish us luck, and MUCH sanity as we learn to navigate through the tunnelling maze of real estate (thank GOODNESS for Sheena - our "tour guide", if you will!!).




~Love y'all!

Zzzzzzz...

I WISH!! I SO want to sleep... I REALLY DO!!! But I just can't!

What's going ON?!?!

This is miserable. For 4 nights straight now, I jsut can't sleep! Even to the point where I was sick yesterday and yet NOTHING! I'd go back to bed and STILL just toss and turn. You KNOW it's bad when you sit at work, just daydreaming about sleeping...

Anybody got some "home remedies" for sleep? I am SO not wanting to take anything like Tylenol PM to make me drowsy, but maybe some sort of tea, or something... any ideas?

'Cause something's gotta give.... and so far it looks like it will be my Sanity that gives way, rather then my lack of sleep!

Cardboard Testimonies

What would your cardboard say?

.

Oh give me a home...

But let's leave the Buffalo in New York, shall we?


McStudly and I are going to buy a house (we're probably at 85% sure, right now - is that normal?). So...



HELP!!!


Whew... we have NO clue what we're doing. I mean - where do you start? What do you do first, and what do you have to know? How much money do you need IN pocket? What about VA Loans - how do they work, and how do you get them? How do you know what types of places to look at? What's important to make note of in the houses when you see them? What should I avoid? Who's the best mortgage company? What if something goes wrong right after we buy it? What if the housing market gets even worse, and we're stuck? What if we get hit by a horrible storm and the house is levelled? How much does home owners' insurance typically cost each month? What about taxes - how does that work? How do you do the whole escrow thing, adn how much do you have to put away each month? Does it work liek a bill - where they send you something every month and you send it back with a check? After buying the house - how do you afford to FURNISH the house? What about painting... should you do it before you move in? Are we too young to buy right now? What if someone loses a job - how do you keep paying for it? What if the oven, fridge, and dryer break the week after you move in - do you have to pay to fix it? How do you convince sellers to pay closing costs? How much money is typical for a good EMD? What is acceptable and unacceptable to ask for form the sellers when making an offer - I mean... can I ask them to leave their bedroom set, or is that tacky - but it's really nice!!


SO MANY QUESTIONS!!!



Okay - so I'm NOT really freaking out nearly as much as it seems, but I am a woman, and every possibility and every question IS running through my mind right now. PLUS - you've got Hotpants McStudly, over here, who's worse than I am, and want's to weigh the pros and cons, all the while really focussing more on the cons. ha ha... boy are we funny!!



So - I've said all of that really just to say this: Got any advice?






PS - the agent we're going to use is awesome, so I'm sure she'll answer questions when we finally get to sit down with her, but I'm inpatient, and this girl needs answers, people!! I want to feel liek a real estate genius, and I don't want ANY surprises when stuff starts rolling. Help a sister/first-time-home-buyer out!

Saturday - our young adults group went to play Laser Tag at Shadowlands in Columbia. It was definitely a good time!!

Even though I didn't get to play very much, due to a bag pack in ALL 3 GAMES!! It was still a blast!!

Unfortunately, I am TOTALLY feeling it today! I mean Seriously - is all of the pain REALLY necessary?! So I don't exercise regularly... so I'm not in military-like shape... and so I sucked... Do I really need to be punished by this leg buckling pain every time i try to stand up? And do I REALLY need to look like I'm a yo-boy when I just want to walk?!

No - I don't think it's necessary... but tell that to my aching BODY!!

And so - after a fun-filled Taggin' Saturday, I have a few messages I feel that I must pass along to my fellow "taggers" out there:

#1 - this is for all of you 12-year-old-laster-tag-enthusiasts out there: STOP FOLLOWING ME AROUND!!! You are SUCH a FUN STEALER when you follow the helpless girl with the "can't shoot, but can be shot" laser pack on. You SUCK little mean 12 year old! You TOTALLY suck!

2 - this is for the older group out there: ACT YOUR AGE!! Or at LEAST half of it!! I mean if you SERIOUSLY insist on covering your pack so that you can't be shot, then don't get all HUFFY PUFFY on me when I walk up to you and jam my GUN right in your front pack so I can flippin' SHOOT YOU!! COME ON!!

and finally...

#3 - if you are under the age of 15, and you are cussing me out... be afraid... be very afraid. Actually - if you are cussing me out PERIOD, then be afraid, becuase that's when angry Sarah comes out. And you won't like the Hulk when she's angry! So to you, little 9 year old, that cussed me out when I asked you to stop following me... when I told you to "I'm going to pop you in the mouth if you talk to me like that one more time", I thoroughly meant that. Would I have done it? There's no real way to know. But when you told your Mommy that I was mean to you, I couldn't help but notice that you left out the somewhat "small and insignifant" details of why I was mean to you. Could it be that if she had known why, she herself would've popped you in the mouth for it? Again - there's no way to know. But know this... if Mother had been there, and found out I had used the same words as you to speak to even a 45 year old man, I guarantee you I wouldn't be able to talk for a month or more.

div>

Okay. I feel SIGNIFICANTLY better now. And I'm thoroughly aware that I totally and completely sounded like a geek in this blog, but let's be real - we all think it. I'm just gutsy enough to put it out there.

And for you, Echo4... you know who you are. You just remember that if my pack had been working, there's no WAY you would've won all three games of laser tag by at least 2,000 points or more per game. There's no way.

You keep that in mind...

ATTENTION!! ATTENTION!!

APRIL TOOK THE ASVAB TEST!!!



Ha ha ha - my sister is a hoot. Last night, my little sister was telling us about her SAT scores (1350, BTW... and no, it's NO LONGER out of 1400, so she's still just a bit shy of being a genius - HA!) and so McStudly chimes in, saying "I took the ACTs". My older sister, feeling a big left out, I suppose, decided to quickly throw out "I took the ASVAB!!"

Oh boy was THAT a good laugh. Talk about apples and oranges! We all about wet ourselves...

I'm sure that RIGHT HERE is where she'd want me to point out what she then repeated over and over "But they said I did AWESOME on the Coding section! Really! Out of like 20 questions, i got like 18 or 19 right! They said I was really good!"




Good times... good times...




On the flip side, we had Mom's Day-O-Birth dinner last night, but since her birthday isn't until Monday, I'll jsut wait until then to post anything on it. :-)






"Ps. Manna!! Getcha Manna, Here! Fresh Manna from Heaven! Still Warm!!"

Poor lil' Sammy

Please pray for little Samuel - a friend of mine's little boy. Last night while he was being fed, they noticed he started making some strange grunting noises, and they seemed to be coming from his chest area. So, His momma called the On call nurse on base and was told to call 911 immediately.

As it turned out - they medivac'd him into Dallas, where they discovered his little heartbeat was up to 240 bpm and rising. At this point, they aren't sure if it's a heart problem, or possibly something else.

Due to his military service, Sammy's daddy can't be with him, right now, but is forced to stay on post and complete whatever mission/task he's assigned with at the moment. Some people don't know how much the military takes of a person's life, and most of you will never understand - even those not deployed have a LOT of responsibility, and are asked a lot of.


Please pray for Sammy and his family - pray for peace among his parents, and his young older sister. And please pray for the doctors and nurses trying to find and resolve his health problems.

Also - this could be a good chance to ask you to pray for military families in general. As I said before, it's not JUST the deployed servicemen and women that are burdened, but every enlisted person, officer, AND every familiy member of these people that are daily effected in some way or another by their self-sacrificing service to this country. Keep all of them in your prayers.

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Just cause...

...I'm bored and Monica has me addicted.

Love Language

I feel loved when...

The Five Love Languages

My Primary Love Languages are probably Quality Time and Words of Affirmation

My Detailed Results:
Quality Time:	9
Words of Affirmation:	9
Acts of Service:	7
Physical Touch:	4
Receiving Gifts:	1

About this quiz

Unhappiness in relationships is often due to the fact that we speak different love languages. It can be helpful to know what language you speak and what language those around you speak.

Tag 3 people so they can find out what their love language is.

What's your love language?

Tag: Ashley, Monica, April (since she already did it!) :-P

Disease of the mind

BOREDOME!!



I can't stand it. Ok - when you were little, you got bored when you had to sit still for 15 minutes (yes that can happen to me at times, but I've gotten better!), but there HAS to be a limit.

Sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING other than answering phones?! You've GOT to be kidding me!! I've never had a more boring, effortless, meaningless, directionless job in my LIFE!!


This is dumb. Thank GOODNESS I have a wonderful husband. He's pushing me to look into the kind of things I've always dreamed of doing. So that gives me something to look forward to and even something to do during the day (research, and what not).



Am I the only one suffering in this way? It's ridiculous. I was created for WAY more than answering dadgum phones once every 2 hours!!

*sigh*


Sorry - apparently one vacation wasn't enough. ha ha ha

Living Room Decor

SO we're finally at the point where I can start buying decor type stuff for our house - and I'm starting with the room that drives me the MOST nuts!!


And the winner is..... THE LIVING ROOM!!!


Of course! I think this is where most people start.... or in the kitchen, but the kitchen is fine, so here we are in the Living Room - the room that everyone sees (Next will probably be the bathroom!).


This is what I'm thinking for the color scheme:

(please ignore the scary girl in the last picture)


But really, though - these are the colors I want. My couch is a light sage-ish green, and I have wood accents... I need some splashes of a nice red color, and then some more color accents: so I was thinking of going with the light grey/blue color int he first picture, or some oranges which would be PERFECT!!


What do you think?!


AND I need help finding stuff so GO!!! Help a sister out, will ya?! FYI - the living room/entryway are all kind've the same room, so the entryway is included in this color scheme. Also - some of my outdoor wedding pictures go with the color scheme as well (check out my profile picture), so I plan to blow a few up to bigger sizes to hang).




Feedback is MUCH appreciated!!!


And I also have a question for you ladies out there: how involved, if at all, was your hubby/man/boy toy (ha ha) in the decorating of your home? Kyle puts in opinions here and there, and I'm pretty convinced that he really won't care of I hang a little 5" by 10" accent picture on a wall, but he was like "Nope - I don't like it", to which I replied (of course) : "But I do - and I bet you will once I put everything together!" Am I the only one with this problem?

Afternoon Delight

Today - I get to have an awesome snack after lunch. Check it out:





So a lady from work recently went to, and came back from, England for about a week and a half.



Well, she's a pretty cool lady, and she brought us all back little surprises: Kinder Eggs!!



If you don't know what these are, they are like the Cracker Jacks of the 21st century!! Okay maybe not, but they're awesome! See the picture on the right? Yeah - that's what they look like when you get them. And little foil-wrapped egg shape.






So you open it, and there unfolds the 1st surprise - it's CHOCOLATE!! And not just like "whatever" chocolate, I mean like YUMM-O chocolate!! And it's like two layers - milk chocolate, followed by white-chocolatey goodness. Hmm Hmm Good!




BUT WAIT - there's more!!



Upon biting into the egg (don't take a big bite - you may get hurt), you discover the 2nd surprise: There's a THING inside!!! See next picture below:

Yep - it's pretty awesome! So you continue eating the chocolatey goodness while you inspect your "thing", and come to find out - it OPENS! And I don't just mean it opens and closes - I mean it opens your eyes to a whole new WORLD of endless possibilities!!

Here is a safe way of "disecting" your Kinder Egg...

Okay - now there could be any NUMBER of thinds inside of your Kinder Egg - figurines, puzzles, etc - but be sure to check them out, when you get the chance.

The only hurdle: they come from Germany. And IF you find them for sale here in the US, they are usually kind've expensive. But I PROMISE they will provide at LEAST 15 good SOLID minutes of entertainment!!

HOLD, Please

Okay - so I was on vacation for a week and a half, and then there was the 4th, and a nice long weekend... so sue me!

I PROMISE I have LOTS of pictures and loads of stories for you, but until we get our charging cord in the mail for our laptop at home, you ain't getting nothing!!


Becuase I can't load pictures without a computer, and I can't use a computer without power - and right now... I can't sing "I've got the power" without being a liar. And rather than beginning the spiralling descent into a raunchy case of lairrhea, I'll just tell you the truth - you get nothing... nada... zip... zilch... zero until the problem is remedied.



So there you have it. After weeks of nothing - you get even MORE nothing.


But if I can wake up enough at some point this afternoon, I may post a rivetting list of "Tynan-isms: Hilarious sayings of 7 year old boy", compliments of McStudly's little brother, Tynan... and yes - they're good times.




Later, skaters!




Oh - and PS: I got some awesome pictures of the DC fireworks from the 4th, so keep an eye out for those as well!!

"And HOPE does not disappoint us..."

Last Saturday, 7-yr-old Hope Upton passed away.


She was a firecracker! That little girl was FULL of energy and was nicknamed Pickle because she loved pickles; and then there's the fact that when she was sweet, she was REALLY sweet, but when she was sour, BOY was she sour!

Such a fun girl, though, I had the privilege of teacher her in Sunday School for about a year. Her and her older sister, Andrea (or Faith, as some people called her) were always so genuine and eager to be at church.


But last Saturday, it was Hope's bounding energy that got in the way. Her parents and older sister were inside, cleaning up from the yard sale they had just finished, in order to raise money for their move to Oklahoma originally scheduled for a few week away, and Hope dashed outside to go see a friend. She jumped on her bike, and took off down the driveway, leaving her cares and a helmet behind.

Unfortunately, she didn't see a van coming down the street, and she pulled out of her driveway right as it passed. The driver had no time to react, and so... that's how it happened.


Andrea saw her through the window and yelled for her parents to call an ambulance - always a good big sister. But unfortunately, Hope didn't make it.


The driver stood seemingly paralyzed by what had happened, and through it all - Hope's father, Drew, comforted him, telling him he wasn't at fault and he'd pray for him to have peace. That's not something many parents could do.


This all happened on Saturday - and the hardest part? Hope and Andrea had been looking forward to their baptisms for weeks, and she died the day before it was scheduled to happen. So the next morning - her big sister Andrea was baptised, as planned, but carried with her something of Hope's. Today at her funeral, there sat a certificate of baptism with Hope's name on it.



Well, the funeral was today, and I missed it. Due to being out of town, and not getting word of the time until after it had started. But I did read somewhere that the parents requested the the guests not wear black - only bright colors. That's so awesome, to me.


She was only 7 years old. Too young for black. Instead - she deserved the brightest colors you can imagine. I didn't make it to the funeral, but I am dressed in bright red, today. And I would've gladly shown up as the only one in bright red, had I had the chance.




Be sure to tell the ones you love, and hug them every chance you get. Leave nothing unsettled, because you may never have the chance to settle it. And remember this verse:


"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God, through out Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the HOPE of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance character; and character, HOPE. And HOPE does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given." Romans 5:1-5 (NIV)

We love you, Hope, and we'll see you soon!






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