One more Month Anniversray Post

I thought it would be fun to list some interesting things (10 to be exact) that I've learned about James in our first month of marriage:

1. He talks in his sleep - A LOT!

I was originally worried that his snoring would keep me awake, but apparently he only snores when he's sick (Thank Jesus!) BUT...the boys talks, randomly in his sleep. Weird stuff too!

One day he asked me what I was doing with those plants. "What plants?" I asked half-asleep. "Huh, what?" he responded "You asked me what I was doing with the plants - what are you talking about?" at this point I was awake and irritated as it was an ungodly hour "I don't know" he said then fell back to sleep.

Also randomly in the middle of the night he'll tell me he loves me -- though it wakes me up which annoys me, I love it!

2. He's happy when he wakes up.

I am usually like "Ugh" when I get up out of bed and he's like "Good Morning, I love you." At first this annoyed me because it's like 6:00 AM - it is NOT "good" morning at 6:00 am, but I've grown to enjoy his chipperness.

3. He folds his socks funny.

It's actually not a fold, but more like a knot. He ties his two socks together - strange!

4. Cereal does not qualify as a good breakfast for him.

For the girl who rarely even eats breakfast (though I LOVE breakfast food), I've learned to serve him by preparing an actual breakfast on Saturdays - not simply a bowl of cereal. Last week - chocolate chip (well, acutally Hershey Kisses) pancakes and bacon - yummy :)

5. He can make the bed, but has yet to master putting the seat down.

In my effort to civilize the boy, I believe I may have possibly trained him into making the bed each day - been a week so far :) The toilet seat - a whole 'nother battle.

6. He is meticulous!

I thought I already knew this about him, but now that we actually live together and see each other every day, I have realized that I didn't know the half of it! Putting our apartment together, organizing, cleaning, hanging stuff on the wall, etc...the boy is so detail-oriented when it comes to "fix-it" kinda stuff. I'm more of the "Oh this'll do OK" girl but he makes sure it's done perfectly right, even if it takes what I think is FOREVER. I am grateful for his attention to detail - it helps balance out my work fast, faster, fastest tendencey.

7. He doesn't know how to turn off the smoke detector

Confession - yes, I have set off the smoke detector with my cooking. But funny part is that James couldn't get it to go off. No matter how he pushed and prodded the thing -- BBBBEEEEEEPPPP it continued to go! I had to go get my step ladder and do it myself - hee hee! I think he's figured it out now, though.

8. He doesn't like fresh tomatoes, but will eat stewed tomatoes.

A tomatoe is a tomatoe right? What's the difference?

9. He appreciates good food.

When I do cook a good meal - which surprisingly happens quite frequently - he is sure to verbally express how much he likes it. From "hmmm" to "yumm" to "this is good" - I know when the food is good. On the flip side, silence while eating usually means it's not the best - oops!

10. He is a better husband that I had originally imaged he would be.

He is patient and kind towards me, particularly when I've had a stressful day at work. He is supportive, particularly in my search for a different job. He works hard, as evidenced when he comes home at 10pm sweaty from working that evening. He hugs me a lot, which makes me happy. He desires to serve others and is always willing to lend a hand. He prays with me at night and forgives me when I fall asleep as he prays - oops! He helps me study for my Sunday School lesson and brings out insights I hadn't thought of (BTW - he's starting to teach the Middle School boys so we'll get to minister together some more - yahoo!) He likes my dad which is an accomplishment on its own - he treats him with a great amount of respect and listens to him even when it's the same story we heard last time we visited. He's great!

Newlyweds - 1 Month!

Happy 1 Month Anniversary to us!

Here's some pics of things we done, places we've been, stuff we've seen in the past 30 days of matrimony:

Dinner out :)

Our church officially signed a covenant with the hispanic mission - woo hoo!

WARNING: James without a shirt!

James working diligently to put together a bookcase. Apparently working without a shirt on makes this easier?

He looks like he's naked, but trust me he's not.

Using one of the shelve supports as an oar as he's in the bookcase boat.

Silly boy!

Before we jetted off on our honeymoon,
we hit up NashVegas for my neice's high school graduation.

Angela getting her diploma.

Angela with her parents, my sis & bro-in-law

Angela & her boyfriend, Patrick - isn't he a cutie?

Angela & Andrew: My niece and nephew are BEAUTIFUL/HANDSOME and SMART.
Can you tell I'm the proud aunt?

CONGRATULATIONS ANGELA!

UTK Class of 2012

The Earth Keepers

My step-mom has a blog.

She's big into the environmental movement and taking seriously the cultural commandment of God to be a good steward of our planet. The blog is pretty informative - with tips on how to reduce energy, waste, care for our planet and save money while doing it!

Urgent Prayer Request

Please pray for my dear sweet friend and former roomie, Sarah. Her father passed away this weekend unexpectantly. This follows just one day after the loss of her aunt - so needless to say this will be a trying time for their family.

Specifically pray for:
-comfort & peace
-safety as they travel to Oklahoma for the funeral and back
-favor with the Greek teacher as Sarah will most likely miss the next two weeks of class
-favor with various life insurance people, social security department, banks, etc...as Sarah and her mom begin the task of informing everyone and getting the finances in order.

Newlyweds - 27 days

Just a few random updates/prayer requests:

1. James begins his job at the fair tonight - pray that he does well and holds up in this crazy heat!
2. Interview on Monday - good job, great pay, ok hours.
3. Driving to Nash-Vegas Sunday to see my dad for Father's Day - hope that goes well.
4. Cicada in my car is dead, at least I think so - I haven't seen or heard him...now the recovery mission begins.
5. We had a meeting last night for James' trip to Peru - I'm totally jealous that I'm not going to get to go....anyone got 2K and wanna send me??
6. Apartment is a disaster zone - that's what I'm be doing after ESL tonight, while James is at work.

Yeah, I think that's about it ... ta ta for now.

Driving with Open Window + Cicada Season = Scary drive home

If you were in L'ville right now you'd hear the cicada song - kind of a chirping, buzzing thing. Plus, you'd see the trees alive with them crawling all over the branches and see them flying clumsily throughout the sky. Normally, I don't mind them. Actually, I think they're kinda cool - it's neat to see something God created that only appears every 17 years or so. However, yesterday I had a close encounter with a cicada.

Let me set the scene:

In an effort to conserve on gas ($4.00/gallon) I often drive home from work with my windows down so I don't have to cut on the AC. When I do this, I take the scenic way home straight down Shelbyville Rd as to avoid my hair coming a rats nest if I were driving with windows down on the interstate. Normally, it's an enjoyable time - me, the radio blasting, wind in my face, etc...

As I was sitting at a red light, a cicada decided to fly straight into my car. It hit me on my left arm. Startling me, I screamed then looked down to see an upside-down cicada on my lap. Not thinking, I swatted the thing and it landed between my seat and the car door. Opening the door, I was hoping to gently (well, maybe not so gently) scoot it out the car. But as you would know, the light changed and I had to drive on. "Not a problem," I thought "I'll swat him out at the next light (less than 50 yards away)". Well by the time I got to the next, which literally couldn't have been more than 2 minutes, that little booger had moved. Now I had a live cicada loose in my car. I wanted to keep the windows down in case he flew out but now everytime my hair move and swiped across my neck or shoulder, I was cringing thinking it was that awful bug.

Then, I began hearing his song. "Where is he?" I kept thinking - checking my rear view to see if I could see him coming up to attack. I did eventually find him - in the back dash.

Apparently they don't teach anything about the properties of glass or cars in cicada school. The poor thing was now screaming his song and futily fluttering against the back window trying to escape - he could see the outdoors, but just couldn't get there. Exhausted, he would momentarily stop and sit on the back speakers and pitifully chirp before trying again.

I drove all the way home - a good thirty minute drive - with my stow-a-way staring at me as I stared at him in the rear view mirror. When I got home, I tried to get him out, but scared, he kept flying - not out the windows mind you, but under the seats, to the front dash. Eventually, I gave up and went in. Hopefully in the night he found freedom through the crack in the window I left for him.

So, in the future know that driving with your windows down in cicada season is not the best idea unless one wants a close encounter with the little things!

Newlyweds - 25 days

I came home yesterday from work to a sweet surprise.

My dear husband was cooking dinner ... not only that, but he had also picked some flowers for me and had picked up around the apartment.

We had baked tilapia - yummy! Then afterwards, he rushed me out the door for another "surprise". We went to see Nim's Island at the dollar theatre. I had wanted to see it for a while and though it wasn't as good as I had expected, it was the dollar theatre and it was a sweet surprise nonetheless.