Introducing Priscilla Shelby (or Eleanor) Boyd

We went to Chattanooga, TN for Thanksgiving this year to spend the holiday with DangerElf's side of the family. As we were pulling out of town, we saw the CUTEST puppy playing in the grass at the side of the gas station and couldn't resist going over to scrunch her. The owners had driven down from Cleveland just to pick her up and told us all about her 10 brothers and sisters.



Priscilla Shelby (or Eleanor) is that puppy's sister... and the newest addition to our family! We couldn't resist...ESPECIALLY when we found out that the puppies were purebred, but since they weren't REGISTERED they were less than HALF the cost of a purebred!

Here's some more shots of "our girl" as we met her and prepared to bring her home. She is currently sacked out on the couch next to me, heaving enormous puppy sighs of satisfaction. We, however, are exhausted. We didn't get home until almost 2, weren't to bed until around 3, and with puppy and baby Jaime and 2 cats and a 3-year-old? NONE of us got enough sleep. Ahhh, life with babies!





Oh, and her name? We couldn't decide between Shelby and Eleanor for her middle name. See, we LIVE in Shelby county, so you know, the whole LOCALE thing and that's kind of cool... but then there's also the fact that she's speedy and brown and the "best" so maybe Eleanor after the car in Gone in 60 Seconds... What do you think?

THANKS!

Have to give a big shout out to Krissa, who came to our work bee yesterday at 10 am and was here involved with working, choir concerts (didn't I mention that? Hubband sang in a long concert last night and the music moved me to tears. It was beautiful), and even clean up! THANKS KRISSA!

Also a big thanks to our church friends Daleena (sp?) and Roni who came over at 8 o'clock at night to help us finish getting insulation into the walls so Hubband and I can drywall this week before the wee ones arrive. (NOT our wee ones, the DangerElf's wee ones!)

Our World

Wow, I think this is the longest I've ever gone without a post since I started the blog! It just goes to show you how crazy things have been over here in Tennesseeland.

Queenie began the painstaking process of updating my blog (see!)... we'll do some tweaking one of these days. :-)

We got the new back door installed:




Hubband finished installing the new recessed header in the attic, we tore down the old one and the old sink wall could finally be removed, he ran the new wiring, did some repairs to the current plumbing and began the process of moving the sink, and we got the windows removed, boarded up, sealed, and the insulation put in.






POUF! All that's left before we can finish the drywall is to replace our current electrical box and run the new wiring for the stove. I think Hubband plans to do that today, but since he has an Algebra test tomorrow, the studying MUST come first!

We have had a couple other newsworthy happenings... yesterday when my high school buddy Krissa was here helping us out, she and I took on the noteworthy job of framing in the second window hole. As hammering upside down and above my head is not my forte its not TOO surprising that as some point I had the hammer rebound and the handle caught me high up on the right cheekbone. Im hoping it doesn't bruise, if it does? Thanksgiving photos this year will have me with a doozy of a shiner! So far, its just swollen. I have high hopes.

We finally got our notification from the Navy regarding our move refund. HALLELUJAH! Not only that, but the amount was such that we will be able to potentially get ourselves a stove and fridge that actually work for our Christmas present to ourselves. w00t!

Now I am off to work... with a gorgeous fall scene out of my window. Hopefully.... I'll be able to put in my daffodil bulbs at lunch time. We had a frost last night!

Hating of the black

There was overwhelming negative response to the black, so Im back to the pink .... BUT! Queenie is going to fudge with it for me, so perhaps we'll leave the pink behind. THANK YOU QUEENIE!!!!

New look

this is my temporary look. I haven't been able to get the time to actually create a new template so Im sort of cobbling together this one for the time being. Can't figure out why my sidebar is CENTERED but when it was LEFT it overwrote my text so at least that is fixed. No time to do more right now. Anyone out there wanna design and write me a kickin' new template? 'Cause you know, all my friends and family have so much free time on their hands...

Autumn thoughts

This is my favorite time of the year. I woke a little late today so I haven't had time to shower and dress. Instead, Im sitting here at my temporary computer station by the front windows, with the sheers pulled back and the window cracked to let in the crisp fresh air. The clean fresh scent of the earth after rain, the bright blue sky without a single visible cloud, and the tree just turning to gold across the way all have conspired to make me a very content person. I wrote a poem about the fall the other day, the first poem Ive written in months. I wasn't sure I wanted to share it, since its just a "draft" so to speak, and as a writer Im terrified of "bad reviews". However, what is life without a little risk? :-)

Golden spiral through
the misty grey
vibrant red pulse
penetrates fog and
drizzle
heartbeat of Autumn fighting
conversion until the
the last and the
brightest leaf
falls, gently succumbing
to the roaring, spinning
wheels of Winter. She
steals Autumn's kiss
raping her colors
with her winds and
Autumn falls with
only a whisper
a sigh
and silence under
snow.

Oh the trials of Renovation and "Gag orders"....

The police have called us to have us elaborate on our statement regarding the afore-obliquely-mentioned incident. I was advised by several parties to not post a full description of the incident until either more time has passed or the police have resolved the incident. Sorry guys! It HAS been written, as I said, so just holler if you want to read about it.

We got our new back door (mostly) installed yesterday! Its amazing how much more light is let into the kitchen area. I really think if we paint a nice bright cheerful color in there it won't even be noticeable that the 2 windows are gone. And the windows? Are our next project. When Hubband gets home from work this afternoon, we're going to tackle the enormous project of knocking out and removing the steel frame of a window, then reframing, putting the exterior board on, insulating, etc. Our goal is to finish 1 window today and then do the header, final demo, and wiring by Sunday morning so we can use Sunday to replace the electric box outside and the 2nd window. After that? Its just drywall, paint, lights, scrape the ceiling, hang the cabinets, and lay the tile. GRAVY!

Do you see how nicely positive I am? Of course, you're not seeing me last night after we finally got the door (mostly) done and the house looked like a tornado had ripped through and stuck its fingers into every corner of the house and just twirled them all up and let them fall. I had to get out of the house so we went to Patricks for dinner. Again, not really in my diet, but ohhh, the turnip greens are sooo good...and they panfry the cornbread.... and the fried chicken stays crispy even with the bechamel on it... and... well, I was going to say something about their insanely delicious cobblers but we had enough willpower to resist them last night. And when we got home, I didn't even start gnashing my teeth or tearing at my hair again. In fact, I dont even think my eyes were wild for more than an hour or two.

Happenin's

So this Monday we had a scary/surreal experience that even the police are saying is odd. In fact, a detective told us that the whole incident was "unheard of" in Memphis as a whole, let alone our quiet and poky neighborhood. I dont want to post about the incident as it is still under investigation. If you're really curious, email me and I'll send ya the whole big post I wrote up but can't use.

I did get something out of the fear and adrenaline though, I used them as an excuse to eat a giant cinnamon roll and drink real, caffeinated coffee with CREAM. Other than that, though, we haven't let it get us down.... Last night? On the way home from Costco we entertained ourselves for 20 minutes by whistling the theme to the Andy Griffith Show and testing out different harmony lines.

We're such dorks.

Oh, and in other news? Some CD that was released about a year ago apparently is making it big on the Memphis scene right now and one of the songs on the album contains my cell phone number. Yes, MY NUMBER. Ive been getting calls all day from preteens. Thank goodness we got a call from a DJ last night, so we were forewarned.

The back door is being put in as I type! Photos are hard to come by as our digi battery is on its last legs (wont even recharge). We have video though, does that count?

Cabinet Heaven!

Well, they aren't anywhere near being INSTALLED yet, but, hey! Look! Cabinets!




In fact.... cabinets, cabinets, EVERYWHERE!




We're thrilled.

I can't believe I missed the ubiquitous Halloween post!

It was an interesting one...Hubband got home from work around the same time I finished and we ended up crashing out and taking a luxurious TWO HOUR NAP. Yes, people, we NAPPED... on a WEEKDAY... for TWO HOURS. Didn't get us very far on the kitchen or studying or anything like that, but boy did we come out of it feeling better able to attack our projects! We also woke up QUITE suddenly with the remembrance that it was DARK outside and KIDS were coming and we didn't have our lights on! The candy was properly placed in a bowl for easy dispensation! After rushing around getting everything ready we promptly waited another 1.5 hours before anyone arrived. hehe.

Oh well. It gave us time to run to KFC and pick up dinner and then settle down in front of the tv to watch Hellraiser: Bloodlines while the trick or treaters came by (we knew we wouldn't get anything done on the house since Hubband had to study after the kids came, so we just took the evening... kind of like we took the afternoon. Daggum it.). Well, let me rephrase. Hubband watched the movie... I watched snippets of it with my face covered by either a book, my hands, or Hubband... whichever was closest at the time! The story was full of needless gore (hello early 90s horror movie!) but did have a somewhat interesting plot line. You see, there is this puzzle box... and it... but then... and then the kid... but it was actually in the past... and now... but REALLY the whole space station is.... and .... see? Interesting, eh? That's about as much of it as I watched. >grins< Still, fun to push the "envelope" on Halloween.

In other news... our cabinets are being delivered today! I rushed around this morning trying to clear spaces for them in this disaster of a house. We have furniture, kitchen items, miscellaneous stuff, and renovation materials scattered hither and yon and piled high on each available surface. This is going to get interesting. Hubband is trying to get Sunday off work so we at least have ONE WEEKEND without sickness, me gone, him working, etc. The goal is to have the wiring done and the door in by the end of the day Sunday. Saturday night, he's hoping to replace the header with an "up" header (instead of hanging UNDER the beams and on top of the supports, it will have the beams hanging from IT while its on top of the support...) and we'll also knock down the entire "arch" that is in the way right now. Then, next week, we pop out the windows and frame them in. He's already cut a lot of the lumber for that so it really just takes a dry day with him home early enough to take advantage of the sunlight.

Hubband has TWO tests today AND one tomorrow, so please pray for him! Tests are always a bit difficult for him...