Wednesday, October 3, 2012

A Wee Update


Hello, poor neglected blog readers!

Neglected readers of my poor blog.

Poor readers of my neglected blog.

However you slice it...hey, y'all! Other than the fact that I'm just hardly ever online anymore, my life these days, while incredibley enjoyable and interesting to me, surely can't interest everyone else so much, so I've not written anything lately. Basically, we get up, Jacob goes to work, I eat breakfast (a nutritious breakfast consisting of an egg in some fashion, either oatmeal, toast, or muffin, and a huge glass of really good milk...I'm trying to eat relatively healthy for both of us...) and then I make the bed and clean and do laundry and all sorts of wifey things all morning, while I listen to the trading shows on the radio, most of the time. There are three different ones, running from 9-12, if you wanted to know. Then I get lunch ready, and Jacob comes home around 12 or so. We eat and hang out for 30 minutes (which goes by pretty quick!) and then he's off for work again. I clean up from lunch, then have all afternoon to myself again. For the past couple of weeks, I've been dead tired. Part of that is because we stay up late every night and don't sleep in too much during the week, and the other part...well, I have a reason for being tired, is all. :) So, for the past week, I've found that it helps a lot to take a nap in the afternoon. I never sleep too much, but just an hour or so helps. I still have a lot of time left, so I have time to play my fiddle or guitar, or knit, or sew, or organize something, or read, or pretty much anything I want to do...sometimes I go to the family store and hang out and use the internet. Then I get supper together and started, and Jacob is home by 5 or so. We have all evening together then, and we end up staying up late, and then it starts all over in the morning!

Jacob tells me I'm the best wife he's ever had...I guess that's a good thing, huh? Well, he's the best husband I've ever had, too.

Soooo, if you're just dying to know why I'm so tired and how I'm eating healthy for the both of us...aw, come on...can't you guess???!!! Lord willing, come next June or so, there'll be three Ellis' in our little house. And we're not having company. :) We are SOOOOO EXCITED and couldn't possibly be happier!

And yes, join the crowd and comment on how that sure was soon, wasn't it? Yes, it was. :) You're so smart!

Jacob is taking such good care of me. Just a couple days after we found out we were going to have a baby (!!!!!) I bent down to help him lift something heavy and he said "DON'T!" Oops. Before we found out, we came home from his parents' house around 10:30 one night, and I was laying on the couch and he was in the kitchen making the coffee. All the sudden, I was DYING to have french toast. Now, I like french toast and all, but it's not something I just die to have on a regular basis. I hollered in there, "You know what I just want really bad all the sudden?" He said "what?" "French toast!" No sooner did I say it, than he had the skillet out and was looking through the fridge for the eggs. I told him he really didn't have to make me french toast at 10:30 at night, but he couldn't be stopped. So we had french toast. It was so good!

Then a few days ago, it was mid-morning and I really really wanted some lime sherbert. I text him while he was working, just for the heck of it, and said "I really really want some lime sherbert!" I was just being goofy, because I knew I couldn't have lime sherbert...I just thought I'd tell him. So anyway, it was late that night, and we were watching a movie and snacking. I wanted some popcorn so I asked him if he did and he said not really...but I made some for me anyway. He didn't say anything and ate some with me. Then he kept texting someone. He doesn't text much at all these days...he used to text me, but there's not much need for that these days! Anyway, we're watching this movie, and his phone keeps beeping, and he kind of holds it where I can't see it and smiles and texts...and it got to where it was aggravating someone just a bit. Finally, a while later, he tells me I might want to grab a robe (already in my PJs...it was about 11pm!) because the boys (two of his brothers) were going to drop something off. He said he'd had them get something in town. So I said ok, and a little while later, we heard a truck, so he went out on the porch and talked to his brother for a minute and then brought this Walmart bag in.

He's something else, you know. Here it was, 12 hours later than when I told him I wanted lime sherbert, and he'd remembered and gotten his brothers to get me some while they were in town. I'd forgotten all about lime sherbert by then! Like I said, he takes good care of me.

*yawn*

Now I'm sort of falling asleep so I'm going to go. I'm writing this at my house so I can post it later. But I *yawn* really need *yawn* a nap first. *yawn*

Life is soooooo *yawn* good. 

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Howdy...

Well, hi y'all!

I don't have all the pictures back from the wedding yet, but I have a few that I thought I'd share for now. Everything went well, and we're married, which was the point. :) Married life is great, by the way.

We honeymooned in Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg and had a wonderful time.We had to wait a couple of days to go to Gatlinburg because of the crowd..it was Sunday and the day before Labor Day so it was crazy. We attempted to drive to Gatlinburg that Sunday, but it took us over an hour to go the five miles. :( We waited and went Tuesday and it was much better. We also rode the tram and went ice skating for a little while...Jacob was great at it and I wasn't. Oh, well. We rode the sky lift, went to the Ripley's moving theater, and just walked around Gatlinburg. We went to the Titanic exhibit on day, too. On the way back we walked through Smoky Mountain Knifeworks and some really handsome hunk bought me a couple kitchen knives. Oh, wait...that was my husband. ;)

We rented a cabin in Pigeon Forge and it was so very nice...we LOVED it! We just had a great and amazing  time!

Here are a few pics from our honeymoon...I got stuck with this guy the whole time. Can you believe my luck??? I can't!
Holding on to the rail on the tram...and each other...
Us on the tram...
Us on the sky lift... (it's really hard taking pictures of yourself!!!)
Us in our cabin...it was just before we left and I had just gotten a shower, so my hair's wet! 

Now here are a few pictures from our big day! I decorated the church just a little, with some ribbon and thrift store tulle...I got quite the deal there!
I set the cake up...it turned out ok.
Then people were waiting...
And I was peeking...
Then we got married!!!
Then we took pictures...

I really like this one...sort of candid and adoring...
We opened tons of gifts...
And we left!
I skipped a LOT here, but there's just a brief overview of everything. I'll have a lot more pictures later and I'll post some of those as well, but there's just a sneak peak of it all! I think we make a cute couple, but that's just me. :)

Oh, if anyone wants my new address, just leave a comment with your email address or something and I'll get it to you. Don't panic if your comment isn't approved right away...I'm only here once or twice a week or so. I'll get to it eventually....I just have more important things to do right now. ;)

See y'all!

~Kayla Ellis :)

Friday, August 31, 2012

The End

Of my single life, anyway. I still really can't believe all this is happening, that it's happening to me. It's my wedding, people keep asking me everything...like I'm in charge or something!!! I mean, I'm getting married tomorrow, people!

So anywho...this is officially my last post as a single girl, as my married life with my Prince Charming begins at 2pm CST tomorrow. Only there's no white horse...but I'll take a gold Jeep. ;)

I've been going all day today...started out the day by taking some of my out-of-town family to see our house, then they took Jacob and me out to lunch, then we went to the church and spent a little while setting up and directing, then I came home and got my cake, took it to the church, set up and directed some more, then more of my family came in to my (well, Mom and Dad's) house so Jacob and I came back here to the house to meet all of them (Jacob's only ever met one of my sets of grandparents before today) and we visited for a little while. Then we went back to the church, met the sound tech and learned all about the sound system, then the preacher got there so we started going over vows. Then my parents got there and we had full rehearsal. And we are both going to be nervous, that's for sure. I've kept my cool so far...been so busy worrying about everything, I hadn't even gotten nervous about the actual process. Well, lemme tell you what. Walking down that aisle to the bridal march, Daddy giving me away, taking Jacob's hands and pledging my life, love, and devotion to him....it hit me. I'm nervous now. We went through the vows enough, I really think we're married already... We just didn't sign the marriage license yet is all.

After all of that..running through everything about three times (and praying Jacob doesn't marry "Sheala Kay Custer" like he said earlier...and that I quit laughing...) we finished up there and went out to eat. Seeing that the only restaurant in town is the Mexican, everyone in town for our wedding was there as well, so it was one big party. Sort of.

Then we parted ways, but then Jacob and I and a bunch of other family ended up at Walmart, where someone mentioned that we should page Jacob (we all went separate and I hadn't seen him there yet) and my uncle was nice enough to do it for me, since I was embarrassed. He said "Will the groom-to-be, Jacob Ellis, please come to customer service?" It was sooo fun! And wouldn't you know...a few minutes later, here comes Jacob. :) He might have been a little miffed that I was just messing with him and didn't really need anything. I could've text him if I needed something though. :)

I'm still not nervous about what we're doing. I'm not nervous at all about getting married. It's my dream come true. I am, however, nervous about being up there in front of everyone, being the center of attention, and having to talk coherently then. That's something to worry about. I'm really not nervous at all about everything going just perfect...it doesn't really matter is everything goes exactly the way we planned. What matters is at the end of the day, we'll be Mr. and Mrs. and that's what's important. Jacob feels the same way, but he's also nervous about being up there. He's liable to just sweat away, if the rehearsal was any indication of how tomorrow will go!

Soooo, that's all folks. No more Kayla Custer. See y'all.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Braggin' Rights

Yep. They're mine. Braggin' rights, that is.

Wouldn't you brag if you were 36 hours away from marrying a man who turned this
..into this?!

Come on!!! Ain't he something???!!!
Pardon the boxes...I have stuff EVERYWHERE in the house! He moved over all his stuff...all like 6 small boxes. And I moved over 6 small CAR LOADS. Seriously! 

I am just so excited right now! Everyone keeps asking if I'm nervous! Honestly, I'm nervous about getting the cake there and set up, but I'm not nervous at all about anything else! I am just insanely EXCITED!!! 

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Plans and More Plans!

I'm moving all my stuff into our house. Wow. I have too much stuff! I've already taken a couple car-loads out and I'll be taking another one or two this week. Most all of my stuff is all packed up...packed all my books this week and they're ready to be taken. I'm going to go through my clothes probably tomorrow, set aside outfits for the honeymoon, a few to wear over the next week, and then pack and move the rest. Only, I can just picture myself having to call Jacob this weekend and saying "honey, I'd really like to wear that yellow skirt with the blue flowers and it's in our closet...you think you can stop on your way over and bring it for me?" Yep. I can totally see that happening.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon in town. We went and got our marriage license, bought our wedding rings (!!!!!) and bought a bunch of stuff for our house...curtain rods, a shower curtain, a kitchen curtain...bunch of stuff along those lines. I had to go back to town today and I went and ordered my bouquet along with a few flowers for my cake (my bouquet will be close to this, just coral roses) and bought a couple more things for the house.

Jacob bought me the prettiest wedding ring...they had a plan silver band, a plain white gold band, and then this pretty little thing with diamonds in it, one that looks a whole lot like it matches my engagement ring. It was also the most expensive of the three we looked at. Guess which one he bought me. :) He's so saaahhhweeeet to me. I tried the cheaper ones on, but I kept looking over at that sparkly diamond one. He said "you want to try that other one...you do, don't you?" and I kinda made a funny face and said "naaaahhh it's a lot more money" so he said "Excuse me, ma'am...she'd like to try that one there on." So I did, and I loved it, but it was...oh, twice the money. I tried them all, and he said he liked the diamond one too, and he could tell I loved it, so that's what he got me. We both wanted to wear them now. :D His is a titanium band...it looks nice....just not as sparkly and shiny as mine. But I guess you could probably guess that that doesn't bother him too much. :) Last night we both kept putting them on and looking at them, then at each other and smiling a little gushy and ridiculous, I'd say...if you could have seen us!

We are soooo excited. Yesterday he was lamenting the fact that this weekend, our original wedding day, didn't work out. But it's just one more week now...10 days, actually.

By the way, I really don't think it's a good sign when I listen to my wedding music playlist and my throat feels funny and I tear up... Yikes. This could be scary.

I went on Amazon and found music I liked and made a playlist with that, as well as music from a few CDs we have already. I found a bridal march I ADORE, from Amazon, and built everything around that. I'm going to burn a CD with my playlist and then play it over the church sound system. That should work pretty well, I think. I've spent a few weeks working on it now...the other day I listened to half a dozen classical CDs trying to pinpoint songs I liked best. By the way, did you know that if you look up "wedding march" on Amazon's MP3 section, there are thousands of choices? And you have to pick the right one for you. It's HARD! Nope, this one's too Spanish-sounding, this one's too orchestral and high-highfalutin, this one's too casual and country...etc, etc. That part got old. One day I was sitting on my bed with my computer, listening to song after song (I think this was when I was picking the bridal march) and Dad came by for the 17th time or so, and he said "Oh! I have an idea!!!" Mom and I looked at him like "oookkkaaay...what?" He said "Let's listen to more wedding songs!!!" Very funny.

But, I finally have my playlist done. Now to burn it...

Monday, August 13, 2012

Wedding Showers, etc...

Whew. Things are coming along wonderfully and everything's happening fast now. :)

Jacob's mom had a wedding shower for us yesterday (Sunday afternoon) and it was embarrassing. :) It's been really something getting used to how big Jacob's family is...get-togethers just aren't small, that's for sure! Couple that with the fact that I am NOT comfortable at all being the center (or even half the center) of attention...and yikes! Thankfully, all we had to do was eat and open gifts...no games or anything like that. Whew. :) There were probably over 100 people there yesterday...

Dave got a few pictures for me. Poor Jacob got stung by a wasp Friday (he jinxed himself...when he was over Thursday he said something about his luck, he'd get stung the day before the wedding) and his eye was still a little swollen. He'd been wearing sunglasses all day Saturday (I spent Saturday evening at our and their house) and he had them on when I got there early on Sunday. I whined a bit (oops) and he took them off for me, while we opened presents. He's so sweet.

Here are a few pictures...
Our own family Bible...
I hate that this picture turned out fuzzy, so you can't really tell what this is, but it's a cutting board made by Jacob's uncle Robert. I've wanted one of these forever!
Reading cards together...
Oh, for those of you who haven't seen, these are our invitations...I love them!

The house is ready to start moving stuff now. The linoleum is in (and so pretty!) and the cabinets will be put in this week, I believe.

There's only two weeks and five days left now, so I'm going to start packing up my stuff and moving it out. I may be able to take a load out tomorrow when I go...we're going to spend tomorrow afternoon/evening moving all the gifts over to the house. I've got to pack up my stuff and start getting all of it over there now as well. Jacob said that he was going to be moving his stuff over soon too...he may end up moving there for good a few days prior to the wedding. We're going to be using his bed, so it needs to be over there before we move in, obviously! We're going to shoot for having everything moved beforehand so when we get back from the honeymoon everything's in order. Sounds like a good plan.

I've had a lot of people ask me what we need, and my answer has been "everything!" I suggested gift cards to some, but I know that's a little impersonal and all, to some people. So, this morning (I wanted to wait until after our shower) I went online to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and made a registry if anyone was interested in that. I never liked that idea, simply because it sounds like "here's what I want...buy me something!" BUT if people were planning on getting something anyway, I suppose it would be helpful to know what we want/need. You can find our registry by searching my name (Kayla Custer.) I believe we're also going to have another shower in a couple weeks, put on by a church we've been attending. People have been so sweet!

I've become slightly more overwhelmed thinking about furnishing everything for a house. Right now I am so used to having every kitchen tool I need at my fingertips...Mom's kitchen is well stocked with anything we need. It's become that way over 24 years (as of today...Happy Anniversary to Mom and Dad!) of marriage, but it's what I've become accustomed to. So, it's a bit daunting to think about outfitting a kitchen from scratch! Same way with food...just common spices! I just know I'll be cooking something one day and freak out because I don't have cinnamon or worse yet, vanilla! This is where I insert a deep breath...

Now, Mom and Dad took of for Nashville for a couple days to celebrate their anniversary, so I'm homemaker and babysitter here for a few days. All the laundry needs to be done, the house needs a thorough cleaning, the green beans need picking and canning, the jalapenos need pickling, I need to finish a sewing project, and I'm starting to pack...all in 3 days' time. Translated, that means I really need to get off here and get busy!!!

See y'all!

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Why Me?

You ever have something bad happen to you and all you can think is "why me? What did I do to deserve this?"

Well, I've been having thoughts like this a lot lately, but coming from a completely different direction. I am so happy...so insanely happy...what did I do to deserve this?

Nothing. Nada. I didn't do the first thing to deserve anything I have today. A man who loves me with all his  heart and who cares for me and takes care of me with all that he is. A man who will do anything to surprise me and make me happy, yet who will tell me when I need to change something...because he loves me. A family who loves the man I will be marrying in 3 weeks. A family who loves me and has seen me through soooo much. A future family who knows more about me than most people do, and still joyfully welcome me into their family and love me. A soon to be mother in law who is so great to me, someone I can talk to about anything. Four great new sisters that I'm getting out of this...(oh, and four new brothers too)

See, a lot of people...I'd say most people, in fact, might think I've always been the perfect, model daughter. Well, big ol' news flash...I haven't. On the outside maybe it looks like I've always been great, but my immediate family and a very few close praying friends know things that I've done and been through that would surprise anyone. I've done some stuff that I am certainly not proud of and stuff I wish with all of my heart that I could take back...but I can't. Oh, I'm pure alright, physically...and for that I can't tell you how thankful I am. My mistakes were all built up with my imagination, a couple flings online or on the phone...talking to people I knew I shouldn't talk to...becoming close to people I knew I shouldn't be close to...

See that's the real stinger with stuff you do. You just can't take it back. If there's anyone out there reading this right now doing something you know deep down that isn't right, you better stop now. You really have no idea how much pain it could cause. No idea. I know I sure didn't know how much it would hurt me later on. I'm not saying all this to bring up junk I did before...I'm saying all this as a warning...maybe my mistakes will help someone else avoid the same or similar mistakes. That's all I could hope for. I'm purposefully not giving a lot of detail here...there's no reason for that...I've finally been able to put it all behind me and I never want to think about the past again. But for the sake of this post, I'll say as much as needs to be said.

Between the ages of 19 and 21 I put myself through a couple very hard things...I put my family through a lot of unnecessary heartache, but by the grace of God and lots of praying friends (most of whom never really knew what was going on...just that I was having issues) I stayed straight and stayed home. I know I'd never be here at home writing this, three weeks before my glorious wedding, had it not been for everyone praying for me and trying to talk sense into my stubborn head. I finally got right and straightened out, my relationship with my family healed, and I was truly happy here. Even though I didn't see any guys hanging around (which a lot of my problems stemmed from....a strong desire to be a wife and mother, at any cost) I was content and happy with my family. I mean, I'd been happy before, but this was different. I poured myself into leather and sewing and cooking...into the things I loved to do. I won't say I forgot about my desires to get married, but I tried to keep busy with other stuff.

Several months into my journey, I met (or re-met, I guess) Jacob. As time went on, and we got more serious, I was scared to tell him everything about me. I was scared to death that what I'd done before would make me undesirable to him...that he'd leave and find someone who hadn't done the things I'd done...a truly "good" girl. I knew I needed to talk to him...it ate at me. Somehow I'd always make excuses...we were having the perfect evening together...I wasn't going to ruin it by bringing up all that! But really, it was because I loved him so much and I was terrified of losing him...of driving him away.

One night, in late May or early June (can't remember exactly when) Jacob's mom called my mom. They talked for a looong time and I didn't think too much of it. When Mom got off the phone, she told me his mom wanted to know everything about anything I'd ever done...she said Jacob was very serious about this and wanted to know if Jacob knew everything there was to know about me. I had told him before that I'd done some bad stuff before, but never what exactly. She just wanted to make sure Jacob wasn't tricked into something..she was trying to protect him.

That was the hardest night of my life. I called Jacob that night and told him I needed to talk to him and tell him everything. He listened quietly while I sobbed on the phone with him and told him everything he needed to know about me. He didn't say much, and his family was calling him in, so I no sooner got everything out and said than he had to go. He was really quiet that night...didn't say much of anything on the phone at all, and just said "good night" when he went to bed. I was terrified. The next two or three days were pure misery. He just wasn't saying much at all. My parents met with his parents to talk (Mom said Dad wanted to get together with them and tell them how wonderful I was...I still don't know what all went on there) and Jacob just wasn't talking hardly at all.

After a couple days of all that, lots of talking between everyone, lots of crying, not much eating, and just plain heartbreak...Jacob told me that he freely forgave me of everything I'd done...that we all make mistakes. It was then that I started grasping how truly blessed I have been. I still can't comprehend it. What I had done before could have very well cost me (and understandably so) the one thing I valued most in this world...Jacob's love for me...and yet he forgave me and was willing to put everything behind us and move on from there.

It was a few weeks later, June 27th, when Jacob proposed to me...he told me that he bought the ring the very day I called him and told him everything. His mom knew about the ring, and that's why she was wanting to make sure everyone knew everything there was to know.

The one thing you never think about when you're in the middle of whatever it is you'll later regret, is how you'll feel the night you have to tell the man you love more than anything, how you didn't always save every last piece of your heart for him. It was excruciating in the most extreme way.

So that's why I say "why me" every time I address another invitation, or get another "I love you" text for no reason. Why I want to cry happy tears every time I see how my man is fixing up our house just for me. When I see the adoration in his eyes when he surprises me with something new he's done for me. When he teases me about eating so "dadgone" slow! When I'm leaning on the counter in the kitchen and he's just staring at me, so I say "what is it?" and he smiles and says "I'm just looking at you." :)

See, I'm planning my dream future right now. I'm marrying the man that far exceeds my greatest dreams in three weeks. Three weeks. And I don't deserve a single second of this happiness I'm immersed in.

Why me?

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Our House!

So, if you've been reading for long, you know that Jacob bought a house in February. I will never forget the day that he bought it...it was a Saturday and he was due to come for a visit. You can read the story here. That night after he left, he texted me and said "Lord willing, it will be our house." I'll never forget that either...would you?!

Our house needed a lot of work. Like, seriously, a lot. I've held off with the pictures so far, honestly because it looked rough, and while Jacob and I (as well as our immediate family, who are all thrilled for this opportunity for us) could see what it would become, we knew it might be hard for some people to see what we saw. :) We're both very fixer-minded and have grown up with that mentality....buy something that needs work for a lot less than normal, fix it up, and end up with something better than you could afford. This is just another thing that I am so very thankful for in Jacob. He can do anything and will do anything. (Just get used to the bragging, k? It's my privilege and joy and will be abundant!)

Jacob has been working on the house ever since February but in the last couple months you can really see the results. I mean, we could see the results before, but it was stuff like floor joists that would be covered up. :) I don't have pictures from as soon as he bought the house, but I do have some after he'd done a little work. The folks that lived there before...well, it was rough. The first little bit of sheetrock had been wet and was rotten in parts of the house, the floors joists had to be cut out and replaced..all that sort of stuff. Here are some starter pictures...

This is our house from the road...
This is our living room...looking in from the front door. The master bedroom is the door you can see on the right... This is after the rotten joists have been cut out and replaced, before the sheetrock was put in.
This is looking from the front door into the kitchen. The bathroom is the door you can see on the right. You can see part of the subflooring he'd put in at this point. The kitchen sink had leaked hence the yucky sheetrock in the kitchen. We saved the top cabinets but had to tear out the bottom ones.
This is looking towards the living room from the kitchen area. The rooms on the far wall are the master bedroom, on the left, and the spare bedroom on the right. That's the front door that's open...
Another view of the kitchen...this one's better...
This is looking into the bathroom, but you can't see much...the toilet is on the left and the shower is on the right..
And this is looking the opposite direction, out towards the kitchen. The washer and dryer goes on the right...and the sink is on the left.
Alrighty, now fast forward a few weeks! In this next set of pictures, all the subflooring is in and the new sheetrock is in.

Looking into the living room...
Looking into the kitchen from the living room...
This is wall the bathroom is on...the other room is a small room that used to be a bedroom. (that story to come in a minute!)
Looking towards the front door...
Now....fast forward a few more weeks! A couple weeks ago now, it was a Monday and I was on the phone with Jacob. I asked him what he'd done that day and he said "oh, just piddled around with stuff here and there..." and I just said ok. Well, Tuesday when I went out to their house, he took me over to our house so we could do some cleaning, and I think I hollered when he opened the door! His "piddling" was spending about 11 hours painting the whole kitchen and living room! He LOVES to surprise me like that and it is incredible! It looked AMAZING and I was SO excited! Over the next week or so, we had picked all the colors and he'd painted the whole house.

That day when I was over there cleaning, a couple cousins stopped in at different times. Once, one of them asked what the little room was going to be (the one on the same wall as the bathroom, in the kitchen area)  and I hollered in there and said I was wanting a craft room! They laughed and kept on talking. That cousin left and a little while later another one stopped in. He also asked Jacob about that room, and I heard Jacob say "oh, that's her sewing room!"

Awwww. :)

He put down flooring sheets as a relatively temporary floor, until we put hardwood down later on. Then he stained the floor in the living room...we'll be putting linoleum in the kitchen this week. All of the other rooms have a good floor that didn't need replacing.

So, here's looking into the living room from the front door...(there were spots on my camera lens!)
From the back of the living room looking at the front door...
The kitchen area...

(We do have a washer, dryer, and stove now...as of last week!!!)

This is the bathroom...pretty light blue!
Laundry...
Cleaning supplies on the bathroom counter :)
This is my sewing room! It's turquoise!
The master bedroom....a gorgeous light green! Jacob and I separately said we though light green would nice. :) That happens a lot!
Looking into the kitchen...the linoleum will go where the floor isn't stained.
Alright, that's it so far! We'll get the linoleum this week, new doorjambs in, baseboards in, new switchplate covers, all that sort of stuff! It's so exciting!

I LOVE when Jacob provides for me. The feeling coming from this is so amazing...the excitement in his voice when he shows me something he's done in our house...it's wonderful! :D





Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Change of Plans

So, after I go blabbing about our plans, everything gets all shook up.

Are you singing?

We'd been having a hard time finding a church and a couple other things just didn't fall into place like they were supposed to...or at least like I thought they were supposed to, so we've had a little change of plans.

We're calling the whole deal off and just saying forget it.

Hahahaha. Gotcha.

Ok, for real. We just bumped the wedding up a week, so now we're getting married September 1st. That's set in stone, like I'm about to order invitations...that kind of set in stone. Finally. Resolution is nice at this point.

Anyway, that's it. My dress is being altered, invitations will be on their way soon, the tux will be rented, we'll start moving my stuff out to our house soon, life will change drastically, and we're going to love every minute of it.

Life is good. Even when plans get thrown awry by unforeseen obstacles. :)

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Lots of Planning...

Well, I know I haven't been the greatest at blogging...ok, ok, so it's been like this since last October. Understandably so, if you ask me. I've been being wooed and do you know how distracting that is?

Quite.

So anyway, you wanna know my excuse now?

I sure hope you said yes, cause I'm about to tell you even if you said no.

I'm planning a wedding. Yeah, y'all knew we were engaged, so this is natural, right?

How about 5 weeks from today?

Here's the skinny. As soon as Jacob asked me to marry him, I started thinking about dates. We had a couple family things that we were planning on doing in September and October and I didn't want to try to have a wedding around those things. So, that put it either in August or we'd have to wait until November. Our philosophy is that there's no need for a long, drawn out engagement, so November didn't sound too good. After a couple weeks of discussing it and weighing the options, we made our decision. The options were soon or not soon. And we decided soon.

Jacob and I will be getting married August 25th, 2012. When we decided, we had about 40 days. Now it's down to 35...five weeks. In those five days we've already gotten several things decided on and I'm working on the wedding pretty much every day. We've had a glitch as far as location goes, so I'm trying to get that ironed out, because I can't see about invitations until after the location is final. And I really have to see about invitations since it's pretty close. I know I have some family coming in from out of state and I've already let everyone there know, so they can start planning a trip if they want.

We're trying to keep this as small and simple as possible. I know that, as far as weddings go, it will be small and simple, but there are still an awful lot of details to think about. People keep asking me stuff, and I have no answer...I haven't thought about that yet! We possibly got a location today, I had a trial run done on my hair...things are getting done...but there's still a lot to do!

I do have a lot of help, and for that I am soooo grateful! Jacob's mom (I have a wonderful future mother-in-law!) is helping me soooo much and it is wonderful. Next on my agenda is seeing about invitations. Then I have to decide what to do about flowers. I think my colors will be coral and turquoise. We aren't having any attendants, so that cuts down a lot of worry about detail, but I did need colors for the cake so I decided on some colors. I'm going to try for coordinating flowers...maybe coral flowers wrapped in turquoise ribbon. By the way, I'm making the cake.

I did order a dress a couple days after he proposed, and I've had it for a couple weeks now. I ordered the necessary accessories to wear with it and will be taking it to get it altered this week sometime, hopefully. And in the middle of everything, mom and I are meeting my granny and aunt in Chattanooga next weekend for a Friday and Saturday and she's (granny) going to take me shopping. It will be a LOT of fun, and a nice break in the middle of all my crazy planning.

I've also been shopping around for a cabin in a nifty town somewhere in east TN, for the few days after the wedding. I spent all day on the phone one day this week getting prices for different cabins...stuff over there is pretty expensive!

While I've been doing all this, Jacob has been working like crazy on our house. He brought me paint samples over one evening this week and I picked a couple colors. ("Whatever you like, Honey" YIKES!) He's going to be ready to paint at the beginning of next week. He's already gotten some temporary (i.e. until we can afford hardwood...but I don't care) flooring and will put that in and stain it after he paints. We still need all our appliances (stove, fridge, washer, dryer...yep, that's it,) as well as lower cabinets in the kitchen. We do have cabinets on top!!! Yay!

Money is a little tight right now...on my end with all the wedding planning going on, and on his end, with the house. Jacob's been out of a job for several weeks now and has worked odd jobs. He'd like to wait until after we're married to get a regular job, so he doesn't have to try to get vacation time right away for our honeymoon.

Honeymoon. After we're married. Marriage. I am talking about me here, right??? I still have to pinch myself every now and then, or twist my beautiful ring, to make sure this is all real and happening! It's incredible!

So, we're both being stretched a little thin (hey, that doesn't sound so bad!!!) and are working like crazy to pull this off, but we'll get there. God has been so good to us already, and we have a lot of help. People are so nice, when you make known that you need certain things or could use help in certain areas. A friend of mine is a photographer and is cutting me a great deal of photography (thanks Elisabeth!) Jacob's cousin will be doing my hair, someone (you know who you are!) sent me stamps for the invitations, Jacob's mom is helping me out tremendously with the reception details, my granny is taking me shopping....it's just incredible!!!

I really don't know what'll happen to my blog in the near future. I'm sure we won't have internet at the house for quite a while, and access will be unpredictable at best. I will be much easier to get in touch with if you send letters (snail mail...old-fashioned) or call, instead of emailing, after I get moved out to our house. (End of August)

Well, that's the update. :)

Sunday, July 15, 2012

The Best County Fair Ever

Well, it's that time again...county fair time! We actually didn't go last year, so it's been two years since our last fair visit. I think I always say this, but....the fair is a lot of fun...once a year.

No more than once a year. :)

Although, I think this was the best fair yet. And it wasn't because the rides were great, the food was any better, or really anything that actually had to do with the fair itself. We (my family and I) were standing there by the mule pull, and I turn around and see this drop dead handsome thing walking towards me.

Yeah. He's mine. Be jealous.
I don't sound scary or possessive or anything, do I? Oops.

Let's back up a bit. Mom took a few pictures of all of us looking like we were having a grand time at the mule pull. See?

Dave... (who got on a Greyhound again last week, bound for MS and then ND and then MT)
Dad and the other boys...
And me, being ever-so-photogenic...
Ok, so now we're up to speed.

After the mule pull we went to ride some rides on the way to the food concessions.

This happens to be the first picture taken of us since being engaged. :) Is that redneck? The first picture after the sealed deal being taken at the county fair...right after watching the mule pull? Right before watching the monster truck crush cars? Naaaah. He doesn't look so happy here (he didn't know Mom was taking the picture) but I still like it. I like my look of adoration. It's rather stuck there. :)

The boys rode this flying thing first...


Then me and the little boys (one of which is taller than me...) rode this thing...it spins and Dave can't handle spinning things, and neither can my fiance. ;) He was very mature and no fun at the fair. ;) I'm kidding...he's always fun...he just doesn't ride the scary stuff.
The boys and my honey slid...


The boys and I rode the Freak Out, which is pretty much the only big scary ride at our fair. And it's not that scary. Jacob thought it looked very unsafe. I think he was worried about my well-being. That, or really concerned about the mental stability of his girl and what he's gotten himself into. ;)


Then we all rode the ferris wheel. Mom handled it slightly better than the Dollywood ferris wheel. She didn't scream this time. Jacob handled it too...it wasn't too bad. 

Titus got some cute pictures of this cute couple. I think I laugh too much.
Awwwww


They made me ride bumper cars. I didn't want to.

Dave and I rode this swing thingy that took you up really high and swung you around. Very thrilling. Also considered to be very unsafe by my significant other. "What if those chains break???" 

Then we ate supper and watched this monster truck drive over these cars. That was something else. While very entertaining, I'm glad my man doesn't have hobbies such as this. ;) Very redneckish. And unsafe. Much moreso than a swing. :)


After that, we walked around and rode more rides (actually just the same ones over again...cheesy fair!) and Jacob bought the two of us some cotton candy. I took advantage of the chance to practice an upcoming event. ;) He did it too...Dave just didn't capture the moment. :)
It was a great evening...doing stuff and spending time together is just wonderful. And that's that.