Valentine's Day and other Commercial Holidays!

Well this may not be relevent to the Topic but LeeAnn and I finaly moved all our stuff out of the apartment down the road and we cleaned it and threw stuff away that we did not want to hang on to. So its bye-bye to our old place and hello to our new. I think once we buy a couch and a chair for the living room we will be more at home at our new place. Our old living room furniture is at LeeAnn's parents because it would not fit through the doorway at our new apartment.
I am just trying to get by with mine and LeeAnn's life now at our new place. There are plenty of reasons that anyone can come up with to spend money, I think the government and other corporations had this in mind when they tried to conjure up ways to make profit outside of taxes and whatnot. Ah! There's an idea! Commercial Holidays!.....
People will spend money because its part of the culture. If a relative's neighbor gets a valentine and the relative does not then the relative makes their relative feel bad so they have to buy to avoid the guilt for not buying for occassions such as Valentine's day. I mean Come On! My wife and I already had our Valentine's day...It was our anniversary on January 2nd of this year. I spent money then, but I gotta do it again. Why? My wife already knows she is my " Valentine."
I feel like I do not make enough money to enjoy these Commercial Holidays....
LeeAnn and I even talked about it recently, I asked her,"so what would you like for Valentine's day?"
"Uh, I don't know.What do you want?"

"Hmmm. Uhhh. I don't know............"
So there you have it. I am not very political, but why spend money I aint got.
I love my wife and she knows it so Happy Valentine's day, everybody, I hope you spend your money Wisely!

The Snow, The Move, Getting used to Life without certain Luxuries

My words will not do justice for the recent snow storm we had about a week ago. I will say that I have not seen nor do I remember a winter storm such as the one that passed by in maybe 10 years or more. It was fun to see a white layer over all of Nashville or all that surrounded our new apartment. Yep thats right...I don't remember if I have mentioned this previously but LeeAnn and I moved about a week before the snow storm. And I am counting my blessings for that, because we would have ran into a lot of trouble trying to round up friends and other sources of help in this winter mess. The snow was so bad that I was fish tailing up to our apartment 2 Fridays ago.
LeeAnn hitched a ride to work with her co-worker from Canada. She knows how to drive in the snow. And she has 4 wheel drive. Kudos to whom ever came up with that idea.
I wish I could have taken pictures of the snow, because it was unbelievable. I had mixed emotions about it. The kid inside of me was excited but at the same time I was not looking forward to having to drive in the snow luckily I didn't have to work and school was called off because my professor was snowed in.
LeeAnn and I have discussed our recent move into our bigger yet cheaper apartment. I think we came up with a list of things that we were not pleased with about the new place but we have a roof over our heads, we are not in debt, and we both have our health.
Thinking about all those things makes me feel more grateful, and I start to forget about the little inconveniences we have encountered in our new place.
The snow is long gone now but it is still freezing out side. It may seem like a bummer to have more extended winter weather but hey if I can make it everyday in this weather, going to work and to school, and other places, I will be just fine in the spring and summer time.

2010 Brings a lot to the Table....

I got some stuff on the list for the new year. I have not been writing for a while so I will just put down what comes to mind. I really don't care what I write this time because I think it has been so long since I posted anything that by this time nobody will have been looking to see whats new so here it goes.................
What an exciting opportunity it is to start a whole new year in more ways than one, even.....
LeeAnn and I were married January 2nd of 2009 so we have celebrated our 1 year anniversary already. We spent it the best possible way a couple can....We spent time together. Just us two at home resting and we did go out to eat. I ate my brains out almost, I ate so much. Just coming to our first anniversary has made me think about all the memories for the year that we have shared. I don't mean in any way to be all sentimental and gooshey but I am a family man. Nothing means more to me than "the family." I have great memories of when I was a kid and growing up with my parents and brothers and sisters around.
I have heard that the first year of marriage is the hardest, and my marriage to LeeAnn this past year has not be a piece of cake, But oh man, it is so worth everything. I am still getting to know her, and that is what amazes me is that I still am learning more about her every day it seems. Because when I think I know something, I learn something new about her. She is such an incredible woman. I am lucky to have her. I would say that we have had some tough times in our marriage this first year but I don't want my marriage to sound like a cliche. It is definately not that. I have learned what to do and what not to do in most situations I find myself, there are some other things in the marriage that I still am learning what not to do, that could be the stubborness I have in me that I got from my dad. haha...
What I have seen from some situations this past year with LeeAnn and myself is that usually when she is being serious I am clowning around and being sarcastic, but when I am serious she is joking around with me and we have butted heads at times for that, but looking at it now is kind of funny to think about. I did learn a valuable lesson that hopefully I will carry with me for the rest of my life with LeeAnn and that is to never disappoint her. I did that once when I failed some classes in college and did not tell her about that. She was so upset with me, and I was upset with myself for making her feel so uneasy with me for not telling her about my school situation. When she found out about it it was too late for me to explain and she felt as if I had betrayed our trust. I felt horrible for causing her to be upset with me and I learned to always do everything I can to make her happy. I still get on her every last nerve sometimes but I do it out of love. And hey, I am still learning my boundaries with her. Things she likes that I do, things she does not like...etc.
I got the good news that I passed all my classes for the fall semester of 2009 and have already registered for spring 2010 at Volstate. 2 or 3 more semesters will get me through to MTSU and closer to a degree and then a job that will help me to provide better for LeeAnn and myself. My target is a Land Developing degree and a residential contracting license. Building homes and also some remodeling.
Happy New Year....

Getting Ready for the Holidays!

I have not been writting lately because LeeAnn and I have stayed busy, since our trip to Orlando, FL. So that trip was very much needed and appreciated. Not much to talk about really... not much has happened. We did get a book shelf from my manager at work. I bought it for $30. It makes our apartment look very different. We used to have books on the floor along the wall under the window, but now they are on the shelf and organized. My work schedule is allowing less free time for me as Chrismas approaches. People are going to be shipping boxes and gifts like crazy at the UPS Store. I don't mind working more hours. I just wish I was let out of school a week or two earlier. My last day of class is December 17th. So I gotta hang in there until then. But it starts up again around January 10th. LeeAnn is going to be busy at the hospital. We are thankful she gets thanksgiving off. We have plasn to get family pictures for the holidays. That will be fun. What a holiday without a family photo.

A Much Needed Vacation! Universal Studios Orlando

LeeAnn and I decided we needed to take a vacation during my fall break from school, and originally we had other plans but they fell through so we ultimately chose to head south towards Orlando, Florida in 70 Degree weather and stay at the Wyndham Hotel Resort, which is about 6 minutes away from Universal Studios on International Drive. We had bought our tickets to the park in advance online and also we made reservations at the Wyndham Hotel. Wow the trip was amazing. The drive was bad at all. It only took about 10 hours to get their and 9 hours to drive back. We were lucky enough to beat the traffic in Atlanta, GA on our way back. But LeeAnn and I had a blast. This trip gave us some time to spend together before heading back to our busy working schedules. The Weather was great and the timing was perfect because there was hardly a crowd at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure theme parks. We didn't have to wait so long in line for all the attraction and we got to do everything that we wanted while we were there for 2 days. If we ever decide to go back we would have to go around this same time of the year.

We Care For Kids Day!

So a little over a week ago LeeAnn and I got to participate in an activity in Nashville carried out by Vanderbilt Children's hospital where she works. I am a little behind yep. So sue me. No not really. Please don't. I have just been busy living my life, with school and work and then this past weekend I finally got to watch all sessions of General Conference unlike the last 2 times because I had been busy with things and even because I was yarkin' my brains out last time. I really enjoyed the talks I got to listen to. They were really motivating and inspiring. Well anyways back to the subject that is relevant to the title of this blog. So several months ago LeeAnn told me she had to participate in some event for her hospital in Nashville where she works. Then she asked me if I could help her with certain things she would be incharge of for her ECMO team booth. Then as time got closer and closer to this date the Activity was gonna be held she suddenly started to remind me of the We Care for Kids Day activity by the hospital. Only this time the closer we got the more demanding her reminders were. Not was I being asked, but she would tell me that I was gonna help her on that weekend. Then of course a day or two before she said I was gonna "Man the Piñata Station". I didn't mind helping out and doing this for her. After all I was just gonna be there holding a paper mache bucket full of candy up while making sure the blind-folded kids hit the piñata and nothing or nobody else. So we get to the hospital and unload to set up the boxes full of items we would use for the station he had to do. So I went and parked the car afterwards but when I got back LeeAnn had already taken care of it all. She put up the signs she had made with mom and she got the face-paint out ready to dooble on the kids' faces. I was lookin and thing of something to do to help and then it came to me....I finished my TacoBell lunch....Well there is truth to that but I did help out more after I finished eating. As soon as the event started kids just crowded around to get their faces painted and I was getting excited cuz I was going to see these kids pound away for a little bit of candy here and there. I jsut had one problem. None of the kids were interested in breaking the paper mache for candy at the time they just wanted face painting, and I couldn't really find the blind folds so I made myself useful in another way. I took pictures of the kids having fun. Unfortunately later on I had to leave early to attend some other errands I had previously committed to. But it was fun, and LeeAnn got to show her Artistic Skillz, so she had fun.
So check out the pictures.

He was having a blast in the play-doh.

This girl wanted something on both sides of her face. So she put her to work.

Rainbow faces....

my gues is a panda-kitten.....

LeeAnn couldn't get her to hold still.

There was a crowd.

two lines for face painting.......

The face paint quickly became style for the arm

LeeAnn and mom worked on these signs...

She may not have wanted her picture taken...

DIY Bookshelf!

LeeAnn and I have books on our carpet, that are stacked against each other. We have been talking for some time about getting a bookshelf for them. Now I have looked at Target and Walmart. So I decided to measure the space LeeAnn and I would use to occupy the area for the Bookshelf we needed. If I can't find one I was thinking of making it with scrap pieces of 2x4's and some plywood.
So I made some plans for it if I can't obtain one from Target or anywhere else for a decent price. LeeAnn and I can't stand to look at these books every day sitting on the floor.