The Car

Ya'll are gonna love this one -
So we all know that my Dad has this thing with cars....it's a collectors type thing. That in and of itself doesn't sound too bad except that his collectors type thing usually leads to conversations such as this:
Me calling Dad, while driving away in one such car -
"Hey....ummm, you know there are 3 different dashboard lights on right now, right? Is that normal?"
Dad -
"Oh yea, that's normal. I like to keep lights on to make sure they work. (while uproariously laughing) And watch out for the windshield wipers, they spontaneously turn themselves on, that's normal too. And keep an eye out for the power brakes, sometimes they just don't work..really, you'll get a nice leg workout when that happens."
Me -
"What about the power steering? It feels like I'm wrestling an alligator to make a left turn..."
Dad -
"About that, it comes and goes...kinda like the windshield wipers."
Me -
"perfect."

Feast your eyes on said car:

Looks nice right? Riiiight.

All the issues listed above I inheireted.
The following I grew all by myself:
A few months ago I was at the grocery store, I shut the truck and the license plate fell off. On the ground. It's currently propped up in the back glass.


On my way to work on Monday – The driver’s side window fell off track and is currently being held up with wedges stuck in the door.


And guess what happened on my way to work Thursday, when it was raining like hell – my windshield wiper flew off….Like the entire blade thing (not just the rubber part) was dangling from the arm.
Thankfully I was only a few blocks from the house so I circled back around and creeped home without wipers then cursed my way into figuring out how to reattach it while holding the umbrella over my head with my chin…I looked like a damn circus act. It's still attached but I don't trust it.

I mean really, you just have to laugh, it's so ridiculous.

It's Stopped Pouring

So my last post was kind of a downer. I have to admit I was overwhelmed and pretty pissed at the world yesterday until.....
10:15 PM.
At 10:15PM, both Doobie and Mary Jane start howling like crazy. WTF? I go to see if someone is on the porch and I hear the glorious sound of running water.

"We got water, We got water!!"

After 5 hours of a canon style heater being pointed directly at the main water pipe headed into the house, we finally got some water moving.
The funny thing about water is that is drips and runs down walls and falls from ceilings and ruins hard wood floors. The water I heard running was actually running and dripping from our upstairs bath to the doorway in the downstairs bath and then to the hardwoods below. Lovely.

Now what do we do? We can't turn the water off b/c it'll freeze again. We can't leave it on, it'll ruin our hardwoods. ARGH.

So I called my dad for some plumbing/frozen pipe expertise....his advice: "find the leak." Really? I could've figured that one out on my own.

Meanwhile, Matt has crawled into the wall behind the upstairs bathroom to try and find the leak and I've lost him. So of course, I yell for him, find him, and we discover that it's not a busted pipe but the cast iron drain pipe had been leaking (probably since we bought the house, we never use the upstairs bath.) Since the water is turned off in the sink, there is no more leak.

Hallelujah. Angels sing. And we sit on the couch and drink wine, quite pleased with ourselves.

A side bar to that story is this:
When Matt was younger, his Mom, Ronnie and he would do a lot of hiking and camping. Once in Florida, during a drought, they almost set their campground on fire...so seriously, like a whole bunch of bushes caught fire and they were really close to calling the Fire Dept. and Smokey the Bear. So while Matt and Ronnie were frantically beating the 5 foot flames with towels soaked in water trying to kill it, his Mom was running around and opening and pouring cans of root beer on it.

After we hit the couch, wine in hand, Matt proceeded to tell me that I was about as helpful as pouring out root beer, running around screaming his name.

Thanks Honey.

When It Rains It Pours

What a beautiful faucet. It's all polished and bronze and pretty. Do you notice something not quite right though??
Take a 2nd look.
That's right. It's on. There's no water.
Odd.
Now that we're working on our 9th day below freezing our old plumbling just couldn't take it anymore....even with the radiant heater in the basement. The pipes froze.
Great.

But wait there's more...here's the rundown of our last week.

• Matt's car - his "ecgc" sensor (no idea if that's the right name at all??) went out on his car, while at the shop was told it's time to replace his timing belt.
• Heater unit in the basement - drain pipe froze and the pump was continuosly running.
• While down there checking out the heater, found that our downstairs bath pedastal sink had been leaking into the basement.
• One of our 2 outdoor spigots, the one in the shed, froze and burst.
• Main pipe bringing water to the house is frozen and we're currently without water.

And just to add insult to it all, today, during mile 1 of Matt's 5 mile run, his Ipod flipped out. After he has spent the last 2 weeks cleaning up his music folders and adding CD art to all the albums in the library (over 5600 songs). To him, this is the worst of all.

Less than 5 Months

So what do we have done:

• Venue? Check.
• Dress? Check.
• My shoes? Of course, that's a check...I actually have 2 pair already.
• .

Sadly - those checks are the only ones..

• Save the Dates?
• Invites?
• Guest List?
• Decor?
• Flowers?
• Rentals?
• DJ?
• Band?
• Matt's clothes?
• Gifts for our "helpers"?
• Registry?
• "Rehearsal" dinner?
• Hotel blocks for out of towners?

Oh. My. God.

Didn't I hire a wedding planner for a reason?

Quick Update

So here's what we've been up to lately:

Thanksgiving:

Ridiculous Hat Party:

Ridiculous hat required for entry.

Christmas:

All family photos taken at our New Madrid home away from home, Rosie's Bar and Grill.

Wild Life in East Nash

No, seriously...it was wild life. And not just wild cats, East Nashville is notorious for wild cats.
Today Matt was taking out the recycling, he came walking back up to the house and he hears something.
Looks to his right and sees this:

This is a Cooper's hawk tearing into the pigeon he just caught in our backyard.
WHAT?!
So of course, the only thing he could do is run out and try to get closer pics, while trying not to be attacked.


Once Matt got too close the hawk took the pigeon and flew off. He left us some feathers and that's it.

So ends another beautiful afternoon in the city.

Random Stuff about Me

Well, I thought since I hadn't posted in a while I might as well give you a long one to tide you over....
Here are 50 fun things to know about me. Written in February 2009 for a facebook thing...yes, I know I'm not on facebook. We kinda got into it at work so I did it via email with a few peeps.
This was written before the engagement, before we moved to Nashville...a lot has happened this year.
Enjoy.

1. I’m 28 and I’m afraid of the dark. There is a seriously scary cowboy that lives in the corner of my bedroom when the lights go off.
2. I sleep with the TV on and the remote under my pillow. Matt just had to adapt to that.
3. I’m the spooner in this relationship, he’s the spoonee….his arm is just too heavy and I can’t breathe when he’s the spooner.
4. I can’t sleep right without him in the bed with me.
5. I had imaginary friends when I was a child. 2 of them. Peacock and Pagan. Don’t ask where the names came from, I have NO idea.
6. Peacock used to beat me up.
7. My younger brother had an imaginary friend too, BIG imagination runs in the family.
8. My grandmother turned 90 this year and after her party she went out to the local bar with everyone until about 1a. She’s my hero.
9. She said the next day that for her 95th, she wanted to skip the fancy party and just go to bar with everyone.
10. I want a big family but pregnancy scares the shit out of me. I think Rent-A-Uterus is the way I’m gonna go to make this happen.
11. I want a marriage not a wedding. The more I think about weddings the more I want to elope and just throw a party to celebrate with everyone. I only need Matt there for the ceremony.
12. I would love to start a non-profit for the right organization.
13. I give away 5% of my income to various causes b/c even though I’m saving money for a Nashville house, it makes me feel better about the world.
14. I want to be a dog trainer. Victoria Stillwell (“It’s Me or the Dog”) is awesome.
15. My kindergarten classes only lasted ½ day, we went home right before lunch time.
16. I’ve had bad ankles my whole life. I jumped out of a tree, more like a little sapling, when I was 5 and sprained my ankle, Mom had to carry me to school on her back.
17. My knees ache when it rains or I sit still too long. Movies at the theater kill me.
18. I love, love, love taking a shower then getting into a clean, just been made bed with wet hair.
19. Cooking as well as my mom is something I’m still striving to achieve.
20. Matt and I extended our patio, tiled it, and built a pergola with only the help of Mike and Sam. We’re extremely proud, if you’d like to see pictures.
21. We also built a killer dog house, with windows, carpet, and siding.
22. I never want to live in a brand new house, I want something with character that I can turn into my own, East Nashville is very appealing to me for that reason.
23. I’m from Parsons, TN, on the TN river. I’ve been on and around boats my entire life and would be considered a “River Rat.”
24. I’ve lived in Omaha, Nebraska and Minot, North Dakota.
25. I want to learn to speak Portuguese and visit Rio to see Corcovado.
26. I was a cheerleader in high school.
27. The cheerleaders sponsored the dances after the football games, one time I showed up stoned and hid in the corner b/c I was so paranoid. Yea, I was that kind of cheerleader. Rah, rah, rah.
28. Early in our relationship, Matt wrote me a poem that ended with the line, “I even like her dumb thumbs.” I’ve been made fun of for these fat, mis-formed appendages my entire life. **Thumbs Up!**
29. I have a thing for turtles. Just love them.
30. I’d like to own a Rottweiler….or any big dog (as long as there isn’t a drool issue.) I also wouldn’t mind having something small too for portability reasons.
31. I love the grey cats with blue eyes….Russian Blues I think they’re called.
32. I’m a country girl at heart. While I do like the city and all the opportunities to go out, I need a certain amount of grass in my life, whether it’s alive or not, it’s still nice to have around.
33. To that end, I hate suburbia. Goes against everything I’ve ever known and really, how can your house have character if every house in a ½ mile radius has the exact same character.
34. I am really happy when I’m planning an event or a party….things like the time and date may slip through the cracks but the food and guests are a top priority.
35. I had a dog named Gretchen when I was little, she was a black lab and TERRIFIED of thunder. Pokey is my dog that is really my parents’ dog now, she’s the same way. I think it must be a curse on the family, we will forever have dogs terrified of thunder.
36. Back when I used to go to the babysitter, my mom would pick us up and I would wish with every fiber of my being that she’d surprise me with a horse when we got home. It never happened.
37. I still want a horse but I know that’s a bit impractical now just as it was back then.
38. I believe in aliens. I think it’s awfully lofty of us to assume that we’re the only ones floating around out there.
39. I rarely drink soda and when I do it burns my tongue.
40. I have a thing for good strong coffee. Like really good coffee, Café Du Monde style good coffee. It makes me happy and if I could afford it I’d buy a “good coffee” every day.
41. Sushi is one of my favorite foods and Sakura in M’boro is one of the best. Once I move, I’ll still drive out there to eat at Sakura. Totally worth it.
42. Tattoos. Love them. Want more. But not in very visible places, like my arms, more like my sides or my back. I’m thinking Moravian star next….or maybe the lilies….
43. If I’m not challenged, I’m not happy. Boredom and monotony do not serve me well in my work life.
44. I truly believe that Champagne will rain from the sky when Matt and I move to Nashville.
45. Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals are the only artists that I pay to see every time they’re in Nashville.
46. I like cars and knowing how they work. I’d like to know how to do engine work but the grime that is permanently under mechanics’ fingernails has always deterred me from trying to learn.
47. I like flowers too. Too bad I have the brownest thumb in all the land. Who can kill evergreen trees and holly bushes in a single season…..I CAN.
48. Once I had killed the evergreen trees, we left them for a whole year and talked about them as if they were “veeerry expensive golden spruces from Japan….Veerry expensive.”
49. I name almost everything I plant. 2 trees in the back yard = Brad and Yoshi. 2 hibiscus on the front porch = Edward and Edwin. 2 hydrangea plants on the side of the house = Hazel and Jewel. I named the 2 potato vines growing on the pergola too, they were redneck names = Peggy and Pete.
50. In 2008, Matt and I both forgot our anniversary. We moved it back a month so we could celebrate. It’s a made-up day anyway.