Our house...

I took some pics of the house this morning while Wes was asleep. His regular schedule includes working overnight master control on Fridays. I got up and picked some figs this morning. Carl (coworker and lifelong friend of the family) came by and got some. I have to work today. Just the newscasts though.

The fish were hiding in the back I guess. The snail is on the left in the back near the wood. The wood set out of the water so long that it was dried out and floated when we put it in the water. We had to put the rocks on top of them to hold them down. They'll get waterlogged in a week or so.






When we were little we used to spend the summers here with Mamaw & Papaw. Laura, Becky & Josh would come over for several weeks as well and we would have a blast together! We would all ride the tricycle down the road and play ball in the yard. One day, Pete, Laura and I wrote "___ was here" on the side of the house. It's right below the kitchen window in the back. I don't know what we used, but after 20+ years, it's still there! I colored the one white brick and we all wrote out names on the bricks above it.... Just kids having fun. Brings back a lot of happy memories everytime I see it. The tricycle is in the laundry room. Uncle Ken is going to take it to their house, since they have grandkids now (Becky is due any day now!!)

Not much going on.....

I've been slow to blog lately. There's not much going on. Actually there is, just nothing interesting. But I'll write it anyway, since I'm here.... We've set up the fish tank. Surprisingly, we didn't loose any fish during the move. The fish sat in their temporary home for over a week. We replaced the rock substrate with sand. Phoebe knows exactly where her feather toys are. She sits in the hallway in front of the closet door and whines and tries to get to the doorknob until one of us gets it out. She's so spoiled.

I've been over to see Papaw a few times, and he's been over here some as well. He's super excited that we're in the house now. Mom brought him over the other day to pick some figs and look at the pear trees. The pears will be ready to pick in a few weeks. The tree's branches are so heavy right now, some are splitting. I remember when we were kids, Papaw would load up the truck with tons of pears and driving around to his friends houses' who wanted some. He used to get out there and beat the tree and we would help pick them up. The purple-leafed plum trees we used to climb are gone. They either died or fell in a storm. There used to be a few large trees in the front yard, but Katrina knocked down all but one. Papaw's garden area is still there, although it's a little smaller now and nothing's planted. Hopefully, we will be able to change that soon.

Work is going pretty well. I'm slowly getting the swing of things and so is Wes. This week we've been getting re-acquainted with the routine. I started directing my second day there.

This weekend we are going to look at freezers..... Exciting I know!

Now you can wake up....

PS: WES TURNS 30 NEXT FRIDAY!!!!

Pics from our move...

Role Reversal

Unfortunately, Wes is starting work tomorrow(Monday) on his new shift.....the morning show!! AARRGGHH!! The good thing is, he's only working part time, so he'll be home around the time I would wake up. We'll still have weekends off together, except he'll probably be working overnights on Fridays. It works well with his school schedule, which should be determined this week. He has been accepted to MSU, but has to take a few classes at MCC first. (Yeah, cheaper!!)
Went to church with Mom & Dad this morning. More than half of the faces have changed. Wes and I have been thinking about visiting Northcrest. They have more folks our age. We may go there this weekend.
After church, Dad & Wes installed our new sink. The pedestal sink turned out to be harder than you would think, so they took it back and got one with a wooden base. I thought it might be too big looking at it in the store, but it turns out to be just right. It looks great! The old sink was real low and shallow. Your knuckles would hit when you washed your hands. Our next task is replacing the locks and deadbolts. I should say Wes' and Dad's task. My task is still attempting to get rid of boxes. I did good this weekend I think. I cleaned out the laundry room and put all that stuff in there (and out of the living room floor and garage). The "office" is beginning to look like one. There's only about 5 or 6 boxes left to go through. Not as many as I thought, now that I'm looking at it. My dead computer is sitting here, looking pitiful and dusty. I don't know what we'll do with it. The living room closet still needs work. The bathrooms are basically done. I have three boxes of Avon stuff that I have accumulated over the years that still needs a home. The back bedroom now holds most of the boxes labeled "frames," which will probably be the last ones to go. We have an ever-growing pile of "donate" things to take somewhere. We took a trip to the dump today and unloaded about 50 empty boxes, and the trash from the laundry room and sink.
Tonight, we went to Quitman and ate dinner with Wes' parents. They have redone their yard and are installing a sprinkler system. It looks really nice.
Tomorrow, my goal is to wake up when Wes gets home and finish the office. We'll see what happens..... Haven't taken any pics yet.

Overwhelmed....

I've managed to chill out a bit and take a break from my pointless attempts at making a dent in the number of boxes that are piled up in my house. Every where I turn, I seem to find more that I hadn't realized existed. How did we accumulate so much stuff? Wes's question is, "How did we fit all this stuff into a two bedroom apartment?"

Our move went smoothly. We packed everything on Friday. Jonathan, Pete & Kelly along with two guys from work, Dave and Jason, came out to help us. As soon as we were through and sitting down, the bottom fell out of the sky. On Saturday, we left around 6am, got here around 4:30pm and slept at mom's house. Sunday, Wes' Dad and Jonathan came to help along with my parents and a couple and their son from the church. Everything worked out pretty well, I think. (Thanks to everyone who helped!!! You guys are awesome!)

This week, we have managed to unpack the kitchen, although there are still a few boxes of christmas stuff that will need to be moved into the laundry room, which we haven't cleaned out yet. The office is the worst room in the house for my anxiety issues. The door to the kitchen is blocked by boxes and junk, so we have to walk through the living room to get to the kitchen. The extra bedroom is a mess. Our bedroom is liveable, but only if I sleep facing the wall. Part of the problem is we have moved into a partially furnished house, so we have to rethink our furniture placement. It's also the fact that we are working now, and time is valuable. I have come home from work for dinner and cleared a box or two. Today, I put the DVD's in the entertainment center.

Tomorrow, we are going to Lowe's to purchase a few improvement things (a new garbage disposal, new locks/doorknobs, possibly a freezer, a new pedestal sink for one of the bathrooms, baskets for the closet shelves, etc). This house is old and in great shape. A few things need to be cosmettically upgraded. It's a project for Wes & I. We also have a decent sized yard to take care of. Luckily, our neighbors have been here for 30+ years (I used to sell them girl scout cookies) and are more than welcome to come over and pick from the fig and pear trees. That helps. I learned today that one of our neighbors is a Meridian cop, so that's comforting.

Work is well, work. As I probably predicted before, it is a pretty hefty culture shock, going from big city fast, hard news with 5 live trucks with 9 shows a day to the slow paced life that is Mississippi. I will enjoy it one day, but right now I'm still adjusting my eyes to the smaller amount of monitors in the control room. In Charleston, NOT going live was an odd thing. Here, going live is stressful on all parties. Everyone was pulling their hair out while I'm wondering what all the fuss is about. I'm used to it, but everyone else isn't. It will take me a while to get used to that, as well as only having one channel of Deko, running the deko myself, along with timing the show myself as well. Wade says that when he came back, it took him a while to feel comfortable again. Not much has changed, except everyone in production are new. Carl is still there, offering fatherly advice about life and careers, as he did for me four years ago. We talk about books a lot. (He taught my mother algebra in high school. He remembers when I was born). The main news anchors are still there...John, Tom, Wade, Andrea, Lindsey. I got many hugs on Tuesday. It was more of a reunion than a first day of work. I also ran into an old college classmate today. (Haven't ran into anyone at Walmart yet, although I've only been once.)

Phoebe is settling nicely. Since we don't have a second floor anymore, we don't leave our blinds open all the time. She doesn't like that. Her world is still changing because we are slowly eliminating her hiding places by getting rid of boxes and organizing and such. She did hide under the bed in the back bedroom for about 2 days.

That's about it for now. I haven't taken any pics in a while. I'll post some of the house soon....

cheers!
e

Yipee!!!

We are connected!!! I didn't realize how addicted to technology I was... I have a problem.... Now it will take months to finish unpacking! More later!!!! I have to go to work ......

"One Last Time" Week

Had a good day at work for my last day. Nearly everything is packed and ready to go. Wes & Jonathan are supposed to be packing the kitchen and taking down the shelves today. (I bet they are at Qdoba or Jason's Deli right now!! Slackers!) When I get off work, we are supposedly going to Wild Wings (one last time---It's been "One last time" week). We are packing the truck on Friday, driving on Saturday and then unpacking everything on Sunday.

Phoebe is recovering... She is apparently scared to death of Jonathan. I don't know why. She's hid upstairs for days. One morning I couldn't find her. I was worried because she hadn't eaten. I found her in a corner behind stacks of boxes. I moved her food & water upstairs in our room and now she's more active now. She got her shots that day too, so I think it's the combination of that, Jonathan being there and all the chaos from moving and packing.

Wish us luck and good weather this weekend! (It's supposed to rain a lot unfortunately) I'm not sure when I'll update again, probably within a week or so...

:)

Jonathan & Pete

Jonathan is here this week. He's going to help us move this weekend. He's been kind of bored most of the time. Today, Pete was off and he took him on the boat for a little while today. Pete also Camo'd his boat. It looks good. He did it so he could go duck hunting this season...

I HAVE TWO DAYS LEFT!!!

WES'S LAST DAY IS TOMORROW!!!

Lately....

Yesterday, Wes & I went to Patriots Point to see what we missed the last time. I didn't take very many pics. I've been so anxious and stressed this week. I guess all the moving and packing has taken a toll on me. I haven't been sleeping good this week and I am feeling it. Every room in our apartment is packed with boxes and stuff everywhere. All day yesterday, I was all jittery and impatient. I feel it today too. I'm going to take the day off from packing and have a nice long soak.

The other day I took some pictures of Phoebe while I was packing. She was enjoying her new "obstacle course" in our living room.

On Sunday, we attempted to finish our softball game that was previously rained out. We played an inning and a half and then....the bottom fell out. It came a flood. (I managed to take a few pics.) So it got rained out again. We're still losing. (13-9 I think) We are supposed to (hopefully) finish the game and continue the tournament July 13. Unfortunately, I won't be there because that's our moving weekend.

When we move, we're not going to have cable or internet (darn) for a while, so I won't be updating this as often... But I'll do my best...

Things I'll miss about Charleston:

--Running the Bridge
--Watching the boats from the bridge on a cool breezy day
--Living next to Pete & Kelly
--Me and my camera downtown on an unseasonably warm winter day with no tourists
--Waterfront Park
--Secretly enjoying being asked to take a picture for a vacationing couple
--Harve Jacobs and Bill Burr
--Fresh, locally caught seafood at local restaurants, like Gilligan's
--Qdoba & Mama Fu's

Things I WON'T miss about Charleston:

--Traffic
--Confusing interstates
--County lines that were drawn by 3 year olds.
--Hurricane Craziness
--BREAKING NEWS: The Mayor has the hiccups!!
--Alarm clocks at 2am
--Going to sleep at 6pm
--Chipper, overexcited rookie reporters at 5am
--Alligators
--Living in the 7th most dangerous city in the US
--Ridiculous franchise packages
--the 10 hour drive home

Tidbits & Chaos!

Like the new look??? I've been wanting to change this for a while. I got creative this morning at work. Tell me what you think!!!

Our apartment is in total chaos!!! It's driving me crazy! I can't stand the mess. Wes cleaned up a little last night. (THANX SWEETIE!!) You can actually walk around now. I just finished taking down the curtains. Wes also broke down the fish tanks too. We took the Oscar back to the fish store yesterday. He won't survive the move. All the other fish are now in the 29 gallon tank with the Biowheels floating. We'll put them in the cooler the day we pack the truck. Wes has also wrapped several pieces of furniture with plastic wrap. We've packed up pretty much all we can do for now. We still have to live here for two more weeks. (TWO WEEKS!) I only have 9 days left of work. There are several morning show folks who have birthdays in June. Today, we went to Senior Tequila's (Mexican Restaurant) for a little lunch. I took a few pics:

Kristy(producer), Sheldon(reporter), Brandon(producer), Ryan(producer)

Bill (AM anchor), Kristy & Sheldon

Ryan & Jenny(producer)

The softball tournament started last weekend. (Double Elimination) I am told that we won the first game, lost the second, won the third and were in the middle of a fourth when the rain came. On Sunday, we'll finish the fourth game and continue, that is, if we win.

Wes and I have also discovered Steve & Barry's. It's a great store. Everything is under $10. EVERYTHING. There's one in Meridian now! :)

It's about that time!!

Yeah! Vacation is here! We are leaving on Wednesday morning! Ricky is working this morning. He's "refreshing" today so he can work for me while I'm gone. This means that I am doing NOTHING! It's nice. I'm a bit bored though. (It's 6:06 am) We have to shoot the Fire anniversary show at 9am. (the anniversary is Wednesday)

I'll be spending my birthday at home with Wes. :) At least we won't be in the airport all day. I'm taking the day without pay. Wes and I will probably re-visit Patriots Point. We also want to buy a sweet grass basket before we move.

We've already begun packing for our move (I'm physically & mentally unable to procrastinate. I'll have an anxiety attack.) The office is almost packed up. About 80% of the kitchen is done. All that's left is the old plates, plastic cups and pots/pans. We have realized that we are unable to pull out the drawers in our new bedroom furniture, so now we have to unload every drawer in order to move them. I've already started doing that.
We haven't decided what we are going to do about the cars yet. Dad wants us to bring his boat back with us. We will either pull the car with the moving truck and I'll drive Wes's truck pulling the boat, or Wes will fly back and drive the truck & boat home. Either way, it'll be expensive and I'll be in a vehicle with Phoebe and the fish. Moving with fish is difficult. Last time, I drove my car with the big cooler in the back seat. The fish need oxygenated water, so we put an air stone in there. I had to leave my car running on the battery each time we stopped to keep the water oxygenated. We aren't going to keep our Oscar because it will be very difficult to move him. He can't be in the same tank with the other fish because he'll eat them. We are probably going to give him back to the fish store. When we move in, we are going to use the bigger tank and store the other one. We may get another one later.

Phoebe will also be in the car with me, along with her portable litterbox and a bowl of food and water. She wasn't too happy about being in the car for seven hours on our last move, but she survived. She rotated between the back window and my lap and for a few hours, then she slept on my shoulders between my neck and the seat. I couldn't move my back or she would fall. This means that I couldn't change the CD or reach the air. It was sweet though because her head was on my shoulder.

Pete has been taking a cake decorating class for the past two weeks for work. Here is a picture of his first cake. (They just celebrated their first anniversary.) He said while he was cleaning up, he dropped the lid of a box on it.

Vacation Update....

Wes and I have decided to delay our Germany trip for another time to save money. Instead, we are going to Spokane, Washington to visit Adam & Becca. Our main purpose, (besides being away from work) is to spend time with them. We are delaying our trip until a time when we can enjoy itmore, not feel rushed and not on a tight budget. We'll be leaving on Wednesday (18th) and returning on the 22nd or 23rd. I'm taking the day off for my Birthday simply because I want to. So I'll return to work on Wednesday, the 25th.

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wes & I are moving home!!!!!!!

For the past few weeks, we have been praying about a job offer I received from WTOK and we have decided to take it. We are returning to Meridian after about 4 years of being away. We will be there in about a month. Wes will finally be returning to school to finish his business degree. Papaw & Virginia, Mom & Dad, and Uncle Ken have graciously given the go ahead for us to move into Papaw's house. This is truly a blessing for both of us and our parents and grandparents are ecstatic.

More to come......

:)