Me Again

I'm just posting tons of miscellaneous updates here, but I can't name all of my posts "miscellaneous update" now, can I?

Remember the coffee mug that my aunt got me for my birthday?

And for scale...pictured with my current coffee mug.

(That's our 36-cup coffee maker behind it.)

I went to Walmart today and printed out some pictures that were Jacob's favorites, pictures of us. A couple weeks ago, we were scrolling through pictures on my iPod and he told me he needed some pictures of us. So, his wish is my command. ;)

The Saturday I ran into Jacob at Walmart, many many weeks ago now, Mom and I had been yard-saling that morning. That was just a week or so after he's emailed me out of the blue (all this is in our story, of course!) and it was the first time I'd seen in around town in a year or so. That morning, I'd bought a picture frame at a yard sale. I'd told Mom she needed it, because I didn't really have a use for it at the time, but she didn't like it. So I went ahead and bought it, deciding just to put it up until it was time for me to be able to use it.

It's time. :)

 Dave hasn't been feeling well for the past day or so, and he laid down this afternoon. Rylie had wanted to take her nap on his bed this afternoon, so...

This morning, Dad needed some sawdust from the sawmill, so Dave was going to run get it for him. We get our sawdust from the sawmill Jacob works at, so I decided to tag along, just for Dave's company, you know. ;) Just like any normal girl would, I spent a little while this morning getting ready...put on a cute, cap-sleeve, white button-up shirt, with a very springy light skirt, one that hits me a few inches below my knee. It's been a little cooler lately, but still in the 60s in the afternoons. Well, I stepped outside to get in the truck this morning, and it was a little cooler than I'd expected! Got in the truck, and the thermometer said 44*. Wow. A little chilly, especially since I looked like I was going to the beach in July!!!

So, we got to the sawmill, and I walked over to where Jacob was working. Under a big pole-barn type set-up, and it was breezy. And it was COLD. Like, really chilly. Jacob walked over to where I was standing for a couple minutes and looked down at what I wearing....he had a crazy glint in his eye and said "kinda cold out today, ain't it?!" as he was bundled up in his t-shirt, button-up, AND sweatshirt with a hood! He had to go back to working, and I just stood around watching for a while, since we were waiting for the guys to load up our sawdust. A few minutes later, Jacob ran out to his car and brought me his big jacket to wear. :) Let's hear it....aaawwwwww. ;)

I've got to run, just thought I'd post a few things while I was thinking about it! Time for me to head out to Pellyton. :) I hope I'll get to stop in at the house today and maybe get some pictures, if I remember my camera!

Miscellaneous Updates

Last year I cut Regal's hair really short, for the summer. He's prone to have skin issues and he gets really hot pretty easy (he lays in the driveway when it snows, instead of being in his house!) so I thought he'd be better off if I cut his hair. So, last year, I bought clippers and gave him a haircut.

It's about that time again now, so I tackled it today, which is also his birthday. I actually didn't remember...AKC sent him an email wishing him happy birthday. Some Mama I am...

Everything went fine with the clipping, until the clippers quit working. Pics of the process...

Regal LOVES getting a hair cut! I worked on him for well over an hour this afternoon and he laid there just like that the entire time. Every time I would turn off the clippers he's raise his head and look up at me, like "Um...what do you think you're doing?!"

Well, I clipped his whole right side and then got him to roll over so I could do the left. And the clippers quit cutting. Like, seriously, they wouldn't cut ANYTHING. I was keeping them cleaned and oiled and they just quit cutting. Sooo...you should see him now. It's quite pitiful...and also a little funny. One side is short and the other is long. Hm. I don't know what I'm going to do now...I guess I'll have to send the blades off to be sharpened or something like that. Inconvenient and aggravating!

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been working in our existing strawberry patch. I got most of it done, but now I'm going back over some of it to get all the tiny weeds out, and I'll be clearing out in between the rows so I can put down the black plastic sheets and sawdust, to keep that clean. I'm also replanting some strawberries that I dug up last week. Rylie was helping me yesterday...

We also had a lesson on why we can't pick the pretty flowers off the strawberry plants! The pretty flowers make baby strawberries!

My new favorite lunch...wraps!

This time I had stir-fried chicken, but most of the time I use lunch meat (the good stuff...no nitrates and all) inside. I pack it with as many veggies as I can find in the fridge. Most of the time, I use feta cheese (SOOO yummy!) but this time all we had was cheddar...I was out of feta. Let me see if I can remember everything..spinach, radishes, tomatoes, sweet peppers, cheese, chicken, basil, oregano, salt, pepper, olive oil, balsamic vinegar...I'm sure I'm forgetting something! I LOVE fresh basil in these, but all I had yesterday was dried. Significantly less yummy than fresh! I usually use the bigger wheat shells, but Mom got these smaller ones when she shopped last...hence the two of them on my plate! These would be good with regular salad dressing on them, too, but I love the oil and vinegar and it's healthier than standard dressings! Wraps are so versatile...you can put just about anything you want in them. It's a great way for me to pack in a bunch of veggies without a lot of bread at lunchtime! 

By the way, if anyone was wondering...I eat really really slow. Just a fun random fact about me. So slow, that Jacob (now you didn't think I was about to write another post without mentioning him, did you?!) can eat twice as much as me and be done eating well before I am. Last Wednesday, we ate at the Mustard Seed (their store) and he was making fun of me SO BAD because I was eating so slow! We were at our own booth and one of his sisters was laughing because every time Jacob turned away from me, I'd chew really really fast and then we were both laughing and the poor man couldn't figure out why. 

He even wrote me a $20 ticket for eating too slow. I told him that just covered supper Saturday night. ;)

Looks like I'll be headed out to Pellyton again tomorrow sometime. Jacob's work schedule has been busy at the sawmill and he's been working on the house a lot too. He tore out all the flooring in the living room and kitchen already, and bought the wood to replace the floor joists. I'm anxious to get over there and help him work on it, but I think I'll be more helpful on the stuff that comes after ripping the floor out. :) Jacob's such a hard worker...he continually amazes me with everything he's doing.

See..had to brag. :) It's my job.

My Birthday

My birthday was last Thursday. Since Mom's is just a few days after mine, we usually (like, for the past 23 years) have parties together. However, since things are a bit different this year, I really wanted to go ahead and have my party Wednesday evening, when Jacob was here. So that's what we did! I made both my meal (pizza) and my cake...we were both really busy getting everything ready to go for our birthday trip (making food for the guys, making sure their clothes were clean, etc) so it just worked out better for me to make my stuff while Mom was doing other stuff. I had fun with my cake...it's not every day you make your own cake, so I made it memorable. It's just a chocolate cake and I used some icing I had leftover from a while back when I made a cake. So, it's like a thrifty cake, too...haha!

Dave took the pictures of my party. Here are a few...

Opening my new ear wrap...

What is this???

Ooohhh. This. I really really wanted this set, but it was a bit embarrassing to open and explain, considering the company. ;) See? His face is red. :)

My grandparents gave me this...

I think Jacob wants to watch it. What do you think? ;)

That's about all from my birthday. I got a ton of stuff...3 ear wraps, a set of earrings, 2 knitting magazines, a knitting book, the Making Babies set, Pioneer Woman's new cookbook, the Farm Chicks cookbook, and a dessert cookbook. That was all just from my immediate family.

We left for Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg Thursday morning, but I'm going to put that in a separate post. It'll be long!

Sunday I went to Jacob's right after church and ate lunch with them. After lunch, they surprised me with another party! Jacob bought me a cheesecake I'd told him I loved, they put a candle in it, and sang to me. Super embarrassing! Mr. and Mrs. Ellis bought me a rose bush and the little girls made me homemade birthday cards. It was so sweet! They're making me feel very welcome in their family. Jacob got me all kinds of stuff...chocolates, a Cato gift card, a bottle of perfume, and a set with lotion and body spray in it. The perfume is special, because I've never really worn any and I'd wanted Jacob to pick out what he liked. I love it too, and I hardly ever love perfumes. Of course, everything he gave me is special because he picked it all out, and that's not something he has much practice at doing! :) He was talking about picking out the perfume, and he said "Do you know how many kinds there are?! I'd spray one, 'yuck!' then spray another 'yuck! I don't think so!" I'm glad he found one he likes. :) 

Sunday afternoon we all just sat around for a little while, and then Jacob took me down to see the river that's close to the house. We stopped in at our house so I could see what he's gotten done so far, and wow!!! He's taken the whole living room floor out already! Poor guy, he's so worried I'll be disappointed or discouraged with how it's looking right now. When I asked to stop and look at the house, he said "you don't really want to, do you?" Um..yeah! So he stopped and we got out and on the way to the door, he kept saying, "there's no floor you know...it's just dirt...it looks rough right now..." I'm so excited about the house and what he's doing with it, and I'm trying to convince him of that! Worry wort! I'm trying to figure out a time I can go out there and help him work on it...I think that sounds like so much fun! In my family, we've always done everything ourselves, and we've remodeled quite a bit, so it's something I'm used to being around! It's exciting!

Then we drove down to the river and walked around for a little bit. It's so pretty down there this time of year, with everything greening up. They were skipping rocks and laughed at my feeble attempts. I think I need some practice! Jacob said he was going to throw me in, but he didn't. ;)

On the way back to the house, he asked if I wanted to go mountain climbing. Mountain climbing? I said sure, so he stopped and said we'd climb Buzzard's Roost. It was really something...pretty tough to climb up, since it was so steep, but I had a lot of fun and the view from the top was incredible. I'll have to get him to take me again sometime, since I didn't take my camera! Jacob ended up getting really nervous on the climb though, because he thought I might fall. And if I did fall, I'd pretty much roll off the bluff...it was that steep. I guess it was pretty dangerous, and he kept asking if I was scared, but stuff like that doesn't scare me. I'm not afraid of heights and I enjoy climbing like we did. Seriously, I can't describe how steep it was...a lot of the time you had to crawl up on your hands and knees and grab roots in the ground or trees to pull yourself up. On the way back down, you pretty much slid from tree to tree. I had a blast though, and we got back without Jacob having a heart attack, which was a plus. It's amazing to me to be able to see clearly, in instances like this especially, how protective of me he's grown. I'm in no way complaining...I think it's a beautiful thing!!! In this modern, feministic world, I love seeing old time chivalry, where men and women's roles are allowed to grow into what they're naturally meant to be! Seeing Jacob take care of me, whether it's physically while climbing mountains, making sure I'm taken care of when he isn't able to be around, and fixing our house nice for us, or emotionally when he won't let me not tell him what's wrong if I'm upset about something, or whatever it's called when I mention something someone did or said to me, and he gets aggravated with them for not treating me nice...these things thrill me! On my end, I love the feeling of wanting to help him in any way I can! I love when he takes care of me, and there's certainly no better way to feel like a treasured, cherished woman, than to have your guy trying his best (which is pretty darn good!) to take good care of you!

Ok, I got mushy. Sorry. ;) It happens.

When we got done climbing and got back to the car, he did tell me I looked like a wooly-bully. Is that how you'd spell that, I wonder? My hair was falling down something terrible (I didn't bother fixing it any other way than the fancy bun thing I'd done for church, since I didn't know we'd be mountain climbing!) and I did look pretty rough. He was just teasing me...he's awful with the teasing! I read somewhere a long time ago that if a guy teased you, it meant he liked you, so I guess I'll be ok with all the teasing. ;) There's a lot of playful banter that goes on when we're together, I'll tell you that much!

That'll wrap up my birthday post, I believe. Life today is back to normal...I worked in the strawberries again today. Dad asked me Thursday morning if I felt more achey when I woke up, seeing as how I'm getting to be old now. I said, yeah, my back hurt...but that was from sleeping on my stomach on my swayed mattress and working in the strawberries!

Gatlinburg, roller coasters, and more coming soon!

Fish, Strawberries, and Rainbows

No, not eaten together!

Last year, we got quite a strawberry yield. We just have 3 good-size rows, but we ended up picking well over 30 gallons. Or maybe I froze over 30 gallons. I can't remember! Anyway, I made a ton of preserves, in addition to freezing a lot of berries, so we were happy with our strawberry patch. This year, Dad was going to start another patch, and we weren't sure if we would be able to salvage the existing patch. See, we put hay over the rows last year, and I think there were a lot of seeds and stuff in the hay. So, this is how our poor strawberry patch looked, even after a little work. Hint: I worked on the beginning of the row on the far left, so the whole thing looked like the two rows on the right before!

Let me back up, though. Dad had worked in the strawberry patch a few days before. Well, I wasn't doing anything else so I decided to go out and help. So, I started walking down the path in between the rows. Dad had pulled weeds and threw them into the middle, where one would walk. Well, I started looking, and there strawberry babies (small plants) growing in the walkway! I talked to Dad about it, and decided to dig the plants out of the walkway, instead of throwing weeds on the poor dears and walking on them (aHEM) so I started doing just that. I dug and planted over 70 plants in pots, and that was only about half the first row. So, then we started clearing the row itself. Whenever there was a spot that didn't have as many plants, I would transplant the strawberries I'd dug up from the walkway. I still have 50 or so pots that I need to find a place for.

So that's one of the things I've been working on for the past couple days. We've (Dad's been out there with me some) gotten this much done:

It's looking better, but it's still going to be a while before it's all done. My back hurts from bending over, but I really don't mind doing it. It's nice to be able to clean up the rows, and it's good daydreaming time. ;)

I still have a lot of plants that I need to find room for. We may try to sell some of them if there are too many, because there are plants in the other walkways as well. They travel like CRAZY!

There was a rainbow Saturday:

Along with a pretty sunset...

And a handsome guy hanging around, who was apparently feeling peaceful. ;)

That, or he was trying to tell me he's two cute, which I am, of course, already very well aware.

Ok, Sunday, I headed out to Jacob's. The drive is a very pretty one, and one I'm getting used to driving pretty often. :)

I was able to tour our house Sunday, which was a major highlight! It's SOOO exciting!!! I didn't get any pictures...I know, shame on me! I do need to be pictures for our before and after comparisons.

I made this bracelet this past week...

And finally, we went fishing today. The guys went a few days ago, but I was at this one guy's house, so I didn't fish. ;) I went out today but I'm not keen on fishing without planning on eating what you catch. I love catfish fishing, and eating the catfish, but I don't see much point in fishing just for the heck of it.

So, here goes...

I cast. Or is it casted? Cast. Yeah. I cast.

Supposed to watch my bobber. Never have liked that too much.

Oh, look...Dave got one!

Then the dogs ran around the pond and I took pictures of them.

Dangit. Something ate my bait.

So I had to trek over to the bait bucket with empty hook...

Attach said bait...

I cast again...

Boys...

There comes Mom...

Mom and Dad...

Looks like Dave caught another...

Which reminds me...

No bobber?

Darn. I wanted a catfish!!!

This little guy swallowed the hook pretty good and I couldn't figure out how to get a picture of me removing the hook with the pliers. My hands were kinda full. Unfortunately, I'm not so sure this one will be ok. Dad said the turtles eat the ones that die, though. Guess turtles gotta eat too, huh? Facts of life, folks.

Yuck.

I tried a few more times after this, but never did get a catfish and those darn bluegill kept stealing my bait.

That'll wrap up this post. See y'all later!

Cumberland Falls

Shortly after we got out of church this morning, Jacob called me and wanted to know if I wanted to go on a hike with them (his family) at Cumberland Falls. I said sure, so as soon as we got home, I changed clothes, threw my church clothes in a bag, grabbed the can of cashews, and tore off like a mad woman on my way to their house. We left their house around 3pm (eastern) and didn't get to the falls until 4:15 or so. We walked around for just about an hour, and then a few of us (me, Jacob, 2 of his brothers, and a sister) headed back to the house so that I could get back to church on time. Well, it didn't quite work out so well...we stopped and got pizzas and ate in the car (and I spilled garlic butter sauce on my skirt,) and there still was no way I was going to be able to go back to Jacob's, clean up and change, and still get to church on time. So we all went to church in our hiking clothes tonight. :) It wasn't a big deal, and Jacob did what he had to do to get me where I needed to be when I needed to be there. He's like that. He takes care of me.

Anyway, I was an idiot and left my camera in my car (which I left at Jacob's house...went back to his house after church to get it) so all I had with me was my iPod to go to Cumberland Falls. That's fine and dandy sometimes, but I really needed my camera today. These iPod pictures just didn't turn out all that great! Jacob's sister took all these pictures of Jacob and me.

I took this one of the Falls...very full and very muddy.

Some cute couple...

I took this one, and I think it turned out pretty cute for one I took myself. That's hard to do!

We had a blast today, even though the schedule got out of whack a bit. Jacob's mom said it well tonight, when we all got back to their house. "You're making memories!"