Halie-Belle is here!

So we have had Halie (Halifax) for a week now, and I thought you might like to see some pics of what my friend calls "the cutest dog she's ever seen" (Halie's trying to not get a big head..lol).
This is her curled up in my lap Friday night. We're buddies already...

Visiting my mom and dad's Sabbath.

Playing in the yard this afternoon


We're so glad that spring is here...

We're going to be dog owners!!

Can words express the joy in my heart? Scarcely... I had given up the thought of getting a dog, since my grandparents/landlords are so against it. But when a friend of theirs decided to get a puppy she found in Texas, Po was the first one to say "do you think Manda would like one, too?" This was the shocking thing, because he's always been the one who is so anti-pets. (mainly for allergy reasons I think). So, you can imagine how quickly I said, "of course I want one!" Woohoo!

I'm so excited. One reason I think that this was meant to be by the Lord is that, a) I've been wanting a dog for over 3 years. b) It's the only one that Po has said I can get. c) I have read a lot about both of the breeds who parented my new puppy: The King Charles Cavalier Spaniel, and the Coton. Both are exceptional breeds, and ones I would have loved to have, but they cost way more than I could ethically and in good conscience ever pay for a dog. :) The mix of both of these has provided a beautiful and healthier dog than the Cavalier on it's own (that's the story at least). They're called Cavatons. Doesn't that sound snooty? Oh well.

So my next problem is finding a name. I will open it up to anyone who reads this: What should I name my adorable new pet? If you're nominated name is chosen, I will send you something cool in the mail (because most people who read this do not live in TN). I'll have to think about what that may be, but please send me your name ideas. I have less than 2 weeks to decide (that's when the plane comes). Thanks!

I put the FUN in Financial Education

Financial education is fun, I must admit. I had the privilege of visiting a group of K-4 kids at a school 45 minutes away from here on Monday to talk to them about saving money and the like. Kids are so interesting to me, because they’re so spontaneous in the things that they say. I asked them what types of things they were saving for, and I was very surprised when a few kids said they were saving for college, and another girl said she was saving for her first car. The most realistic, or I should say, short-term goal-setter, was a girl who said she was saving for a pony. Impressive! I mean, besides my car, the most expensive thing I have ever purchased was my wedding dress. I was never a good saver. All of my money went to Southern anyway, so why save for other stuff?

Later I asked them if they had any questions, and boy did they. They wanted to know all about robbery, and if we had had one before, and what we would do if someone took all of our money and then customers came the next day and they wanted to withdraw money from their account. One kid asked me: “You know that thing where you put in your card, and type something with the numbers, and you get money out?” “Yes,” I answered, wondered what was coming next. “Is there someone standing behind there putting the money through, or what?” I smiled and told him it was run by computers, but people have to fill it up with money from time to time. I think they enjoyed meeting me, and visiting them was way better than what I do on a daily basis.

Making Winter Worth-While

Last night we made the most wonderful hot chocolate ever. You must try Abuelita's hot chocolate mix sometime--it's in the Mexican food section of many grocery stores. I have had it several times before, but have never made it the way it's suppose to be made. Instead of being a powder, there are little chocolate triangles that you melt in hot milk. You're suppose to blend it all together in a blender, adding some sugar, but I always figured it wasn't worth the hassle to drag the blender out (I was sorely mistaken). When you try to make it without the blender, what results is small clumps of chocolate floating in warm milk--not so tasty. I usually make it with soy-milk too, much to Charles' disappointment, but last night we decided to use the real stuff. We took to blending up the hot milk with the chocolate and brown sugar until it had a layer of frothy foam on the top. Needless to say it was so tasty it made me sing (Charles too). Unfortunately, I drank so much of it that I almost lost it all while watching Grays Anatomy (this time it wasn't the blood and stuff that made me queasy). Needless to say, it was a nice evening, and fun was had by all.

An update on life.. with illustrations!

Hello all.. I wanted to take a moment and tell you that we have added our first pets to our little family..lol. We're bird-parents now! I want a dog really badly, but alas, can't have one until we live somewhere more permanent (that will hopefully allow us to have a dog). So, then.. the parakeets will have to suffice for the time being. Granted, I would get more love and affection from a goldfish, but nonetheless, we have pets now. I'm happy.

Also, we had snow last week, which, if you live in Tennessee, is quite a big deal. I am going to post some fun pictures I took before I went in late to work. It was a bummer to have to go to work on the only snow-day of the year (so far), but I guess that's life in the adult world for you.

My pretty car in the snow...

Self-portrait, after just waking up... (scary I know)
I was so excited about the snowfall that I woke up at 5:00 in the morning to see what it looked like (it's been too long for us Tennesseans). I looked out my back patio, and guess what I saw? A raccoon eating some oatmeal we threw out the night before (composting project). He was so cute! Too bad I couldn't get a picture.. by the time it was light outside, all that remained was this...

Finally, me and Samantha. Is there anything cuter than a new-born baby? Well, a 70+ year old grandfather taking care of his great-grandaughter ranks pretty close. Po is going to be keeping Samatha on Tuesdays and Thursdays (guess where I'll be during my lunchbreak.. hee hee). She's so sweet...

That's all for now, but check back soon because I will post more pictures as fun things happen in our lives. :)

Waiting on the World to Change

This morning I cried over a bowl of cereal. Not really over the bowl of cereal, but as I was eating breakfast I saw something on TV that pained my heart. ABC is going to be broadcasting tonight a piece on 20/20 that Diane Sawyer has been working on for the last year, called Waiting on the World to Change. In this piece she follows three children who are growing up in the poorest and most violent city in America: Camden, NJ. I was moved by the one child they showed this morning–4 year old Ivan who has lived on and off the street with his mom and his little brother. His dream was to live in a home with his family and to go to school to learn to read. They showed that their Pastor had rented them a room to live in for only $50 a week. The room was dimly lit by one lightbulb, and it seemed cramped and dirty by most American standards. The boy’s response, however, blew me away. He said, “I’m so proud, and I thank the Lord for giving us this home to live in.” This, from a 4-year old? How ungrateful am I?

The next scene shows little Ivan on the first day of school. He’s walking to school with his mom, and he’s scared. She tells him that it’s ok to be afraid, and that she won’t leave him in a place he is not welcome. They showed little Ivan working on numbers with a school administrator. He knew the number three, but was stumped when the man asked him how many meals we eat in the day. His family usually only ate once, at best. That broke my heart. I can’t handle seeing children in poverty without doing something about it, can you? How can we sit by and let something like this happen, not only in N.J. but in places closer to us?

Maybe that’s why there are TV programs like this, because there are people in the media who care about others, and hope to make a difference in what they do. I want so much to have a career like that, and maybe that’s why I’m so drawn to teaching. So this is my challenge to you: Do what you love in life, and make a difference to someone in need. Could there be any greater joy in life?

In Search of Something

At the behest of a dear friend, I have decided to make another blog entry. I have taken a holiday hiatus, but I am now back. I hope that everyone had a very happy Christmas, and great new year. I can't believe it's 2007 already!

Is it just me, or does it seem like people are always looking or searching for something? Poor Charles has lost a valuable set of keys for nearly a week. After tearing apart the entire house, and two vehicles, we are at our wits ends to know where they might be. We have prayed lots about this, but still they haven't turned up yet. Our only hope is that they may've fallen out in my grandmothers car when we rode with them last Friday. It must happen quite often (the key losing) because I saw a friend in the post office this week who had also lost her keys. Unfortunately, she knew that she had lost them in the post office and was still unable to locate them. I don't know why these things happen, but regardless, they do.

I choose to say that people are looking for stuff, because it sounds more upbeat and positive. It sounds pessimistic to say "I lost something", because it seems like lost things aren't found as often as things that are being looked for. Just an observation.

People are looking for lots of other things as well, from the simple to the complex: The perfect dress for an important event, new shoes that have to be just right, the perfect pet, a great college or grad program to attend, a new house, a great job, or the man/woman of their dreams. Right now I am officially looking (once again) for a teaching position. I sent my resume and letter of interest to an Adventist school in an undisclosed location this week. The posting said they were accepting resumes until January 27. When I sent mine on the 9th, I got a reply back that they were interviewing someone that evening that they would most likely hire. I really wish that if they already had people in mind for this that they wouldn't even bother posting the position. Or, better yet, don't say that they're accepting applications when they really aren't. It's really hard looking for positions after all this time of not finding any. I find myself being sucked in to really negative feelings and self-talk, which casabotagely sabatoge me if I'm not careful. Please pray for me as I go through this process, and also please pray that Charles can get his greencard soon so that we can enjoy this process together. :)

Samantha Kate is here!

Some of you know about my little cousin, Bryden, who is the joy of our lives--and now he has a little sister (with whom he is already totally in love). Samatha Kate was born Sabbath morning at 3:18am or something close to that. She's so tiny and beautiful, as you can see from her picture here. Send congratulations to proud parents Bekah and Jon, and little Bryden of course. I'm really happy for the little family. It's fun having babies around, no? Hopefully I'll get to babysit some. :) :) :)

Happy Holiday, of the Christmas Variety

Sometimes it’s hard to believe that the holidays have come upon us once again–more specifically the Christmas holiday. I read an article recently where, when greeted by someone with "Happy Holidays"! The writer responded, "Happy 4th of July!" When the original greeter looked puzzled, the writer explained his logic, "If you say ‘Happy Holidays", how do I know which one you are referring to?" In our efforts to be politically correct, we’ve gone beyond that and have made it almost so bad that people are afraid of wishing someone "Merry Christmas" because they might offend them.

I also found it funny that at the stroke of midnight, October 31st (I wasn’t actually there, but they were already putting stuff out the next morning–November 1st) the shelves in the stores were all cleared so that newly arriving Christmas items could be displayed. Poor Thanksgiving. It must feel so upstaged by Christmas. Just because people give gifts and turn into maniac-consumers during this time of the year, the retail stores pay more attention to Christmas–and it happens earlier and earlier every year.

I, for once, don’t have a lot to worry about in terms of Christmas presents. Most of my people are receiving either Mary Kay items, and/or wedding photos. There, I blew my cover. Oh well. I think people will still be surprised, because as the Kodak Gallery has proven, just because a gift involves a photo, doesn’t mean that it is predictable.

I’m at work right now, and my brain feels quite fried, so I don’t have a lot more to write about. I’m sorry if my blogs aren’t really interesting, or full of my philosophical ponderings. Perhaps that doesn’t make them worthy of a read, but maybe it does. Who knows.

PS--since this is my blog, and I did mention Mary Kay, and Christmas Presents in the same paragraph, I might as well do a mini-advert. If you need Christmas gift ideas I can help you!! There are some really great ideas for Christmas--please call. Would love to hear from you. Both of you who read my blog. Merry Christmas.

Reoccurring Dreams

It happened again last night–my reoccurring dream. Unlike most reoccurring dreams, it was one that I enjoy having from time to time. The people in the dream often differ, but they are usually my close family. In my dream, I was traveling around London with people in my family–Charles, Mo & Po, Bekah, Jon & Bryden, Ben & Ashley, and Ashley’s mom. A random mix of people, I know, but it was still a lot of fun. In this dream, unlike real life, we traveled about the city at a fast pace. One moment we’re in Covent Garden shopping, and the next we’re gazing up at the London Eye, and the other we are in tour boat floating up the Thames. The funny part was when Bryden got tired of riding on the boat, and so he jumped out when we got close to the shore (there often is a "beach" along the sides of the river). It was a comforting & pleasant dream, but it was still just a dream. I suppose it’s cheaper than reality, at least.

Perhaps it’s this time of year, that causes me to really long for England. Maybe it’s the changing of the seasons, or just simply being away from there for so long (nearly 6 years!) that makes me feel this way. I remember the most incredible sunsets and sunrises that we saw from our brilliant view in our room in Moor Close. I loved our group outings to the town of Windsor–with the Crooked Tea House, Castle and stumbling onto a Guy Fawkes' Fireworks display at the castle while visiting for Deborah's birthday. I missed being able to visit London without prior notice. I long to see the Christmas displays in the store windows there, such as those at Harrods.

Someday I hope to return, with Charles, so that he can more fully understand this part of me. What a fun trip that will be. Until then, I will continue to visit regularly--in my dreams, of course.

A few more pics...

Hi! I keep finding these. :) Enjoy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

So Sunday evening I ask Charles, "Do you know what tomorrow is?"
Charles: "uh.... ann-i-ver-sary...??"
Me: "noo.... guess again."
Charles: "Um... garbage day?"
Me: "no.. more exciting than that.."
Charles: "I give up..."
Me: "It’s Canadian Thanksgiving!"

Since he was so obviously excited about this holiday, I made him a Thanksgiving feast on Monday night, complete with fake-turkey and dressing, and pumpkin pie. (This is the only real holiday I’ve found to celebrate that we don’t already celebrate in America–someone feel free to correct me, but I don’t understand the purpose of Boxing Day. Thanksgiving, yes, I can relate to that). Much fun was had by all.

After dinner, we went to visit our friends Lisa and Steve, and their new family addition–Mitzi the yorkie/pomeranian mix. I love her so much! It just made me want a dog even more than I already did. She is so much fun, and so well behaved. Of course, they also have the sweetest yellow lab in the world–Maggie, who is my buddy too. Overall, it was a nice evening.

The wedding pics are still trickling in...

Happily Ever After... starts every new day.

Our Video is Done!!

Yay! For all of you faithful blog-readers of mine (the both of you), I have pleasant news. Nay, exciting news. At long last our wedding video is done! If you'd like to watch it online, you can check it out on Brian's Myspace. WooHoo! Now if we can just get the finished photo album from our photographer...

A little louder please, I can't hear you...

I haven't posted in forever, so sorry. Not much has been going on, except that I have been battling some sort of sickness for the last week. I usually don't get knocked down by stuff so easily, but this time seems different. I'll spare you the details, but just say that my head is so stuffed up I can only hear out of one ear. This has proved to be a challenge, since my boss usually requests me to do things by using single-syllable commands, while walking away from me. Needless to say I have had to ask him to repeat what he wants me to do, just about every time.

The weekend was nice and mellow, basically because my energy and enthusiasm to do anything was just about nil. I did go shopping with Heather yesterday, so that was fun, even though part of our time was spent at the W-Mart, my store-nemesis. It wasn't too bad, thankfully, for a Sunday afternoon. I mightn't have had patience for shopping there if things had been more crowded and scarier.

I have been watching HGTV for an inordinate amount of time, among other channels like TBS (because it shows Seinfeld, Raymond & Friends). I have been inspired to clean up and reorganize/rearrange stuff in our apartment. We will be moving to someplace else in the future (that vague time-frame, though it is), so I don't want to go crazy with the re-doing of stuff, but sometimes it's a fun distraction.

I'll end here for now.. Talk to me sometime, but be sure to talk loudly!

Oh the insanity...

I'm researching luxury transportation for a work-related project. Evidentially Chattanooga isn't upscale enough to have a dealer that rents anything other than Durango's, but still, that didn't keep me from having to call each one. How do you like this too: There was a listing under "car rentals" in the yellow-pages for Prebul Infiniti. I got excited because I envisioned renting a new QX, which definitely looks like luxury to me. Apparently though, they don't rent these at the dealer. I told them that they are listed under "car rentals" in the yellowpages. They had no idea that they were listed here. After I hung up, I wondered what advertising genius came up with that. Someone wants to rent a standard vehicle for about $300 a week, and stumbles across the Infiniti ad. They must think, A-ha! I'll rent an Infiniti! only to learn that they don't rent them here. Sadly disappointed, they decide to just go ahead and purchase one outright for $49,800.00. Marketing sheer-genius.

On a lighter note, last night I went to Cafe Mi Aroma for a girls night out. It was much fun. So much fun that I wasn't able to go to sleep until after midnight because of the chai latte I had there. It was ok though, because Charles and I just laughed and talked until we both drifted off to sleep. It was a pretty good evening, overall.

PS--thank you to Deborah, again, for the great icon pictures. :) She's a creative genius, she is.

Yet another fun-filled website...

I ran across this site, thanks to Kristen. It's called Let's Say Thanks, and it's a site dedicated to sending uplifting mail to our service people. Kids submit their artwork, and that is what you can choose as the back of your postcard to send to the troops. Once you submit your postcard the peple at Xerox, I believe, print it out for you and mail it to the service people. It's cool because they get a piece of actual mail, and you don't have to pay for postage. :) Another neat thing--they have a set selection of messages you can send that are surprisingly not cheesy, or you can write your own. This is good for people who don't like to sit there wondering what the heck to write, but want something that is actually laden with heart-felt thought. It's a neat site. Go check it out. Go on now.

Weekend events

This weekend was much needed, as this past week was very stressful and emotionally draining. Fortunately, it was a great weekend, full with lots of rest and fun, as all weekends should be. I was a little nervous on Sabbath morning, because I was to do the children’s story at church. I don’t know why I always get so nervous about being up front. Once I’m up there, I do ok, and don’t appear nervous (I am told). Fortunately, this week was not an exception. There were lots of kids, and my harrowing story about the Dare to Care Camporee back in ‘94 made them smile.

After church we went up with some of the fam and friends to Tellico Plains. This joy of this experience was increased because my seat buddy for the nearly 2 hour drive was Bryden, my crazy 1st cousin, once removed. (He even admits that he is crazy). He is such a hilarious little 3-year-old. He likes to make people laugh, but hasn’t quite grasped that you can “do a joke in” by telling it over and over. He kept turning around and asking Charles, “Everything alright back there, Charles?” Too cute...

We had a nice time up by the river. There weren’t too many bugs, and it wasn’t hot at all. It was so peaceful and beautiful. The food was great too. It was a lot of fun wading in the water, even though some in our group saw a water snake. (I didn’t see this, all I saw from the picnic area was Ben throwing a rock the size of Bryden into the water, apparently at the snake). Later, as we were coming home we had the air conditioner on pretty much full-throttle. Finally, Bryden must’ve been near freezing for he said, “Jay, the air conditioner is making my eyes dry.” How’s that for logic? There is a place on the way home that has miniature ponies and donkeys for sale. We HAD to stop to see the little cuties. That was a lot of fun too.

Later that evening Bryden stayed overnight at our house. We had fun, despite the challenge of having a messed-up DVD player, and a computer that wouldn’t play DVDs properly (so, no Clifford movies). As he was drifting off to sleep he said, “Manda, going on the picnic was fun.” Ahh... I agree. It’s fun giving my maternal instincts a work-out every now and then, since we aren’t planning on having kids for a long time. I either need to babysit more, or get a dog. I don’t see any of the above happening, so I’ll just have to move on...

Smell the Snobbish-aire

Well, after much contemplation, we at last have an address to call our own. This may not seem like a big deal, but if you read my recent
feelings on this matter, you would know that it is a big deal to me. :) If you are a friend, I will be emailing you our new post office box number soon. It was really fortunate, too, that I rented the box when I did, for this week and last, thousands of Southern students have descended on the town like a flock of locusts, and they may have rented every available box at the post office.

This past weekend was nice, although it was so busy, it feels like I need another break! Does anyone else ever feel like that? Charles & I drove down to Adairsville, GA for the annual Herod Family Reunion. It was a lot of fun, even though I don't know 80% of the people who go, because they are my grandfather's cousin's family. It's still fun to get together with our side, since we don't see eachother that much. It's fun to see my grandpa and three brothers get together. Cute old me. ha.

After that we drove out to Barnsley Resort, which was formerly known to me as Barnsley Gardens. I'm sure that Godfrey Barnsley would be pleased to know that his estate is now a golf resort for the new Southern gentry. We could almost feel the snobbish air(e) as we drove through. Oh well.

Wow, I got kind of hyperlink-happy in this post. I hope you enjoyed it. I did. I wish you all a great week. --AHM

It's always getting better

I haven't made a post in so long, I feel bad. I do have a good excuse though. Let's see.. well, first my laptop has been crashed out for a month, and probably indefinitely, since it needs a XP disk with a serial number which no one, including myself, seems to have (it came installed on my computer--anyone have a dissimilar experience, I'd love to hear.) So then my grandparents computer upstairs has been crashed out too, so that's pretty much why I haven't been "around" lately. I even had to start keeping a regular check-book again, which is akin to torture, but may in fact have a positive impact on my fiscal health. When I stop and think about a purchase, because I'll have to physically write it in my checkbook, it makes me think twice about buying something. Nice.

Since I've had more free time at home, I have been doing things I don't normally do, like read, and watch too much TV. The first new passtime is good, I will admit, since I haven't read much in forever. It's nice to actually have freetime for once, now that the wedding is behind us. I read a really great book that everyone should look into: The Travelers Gift. It's an inspirational story that chronicles seven decisions for a successful life, as given to the hero of the book by 7 famous people. It's all a hypothetical-dream-type book, but the information it contains is life-altering. So if you need something that will pick you up and get you out of a rut, I highly recommend it.

I guess that's about it for now--hope you're having a nice week. Gotta run--2 hours of old Friends re-runs begins now. :) BTW--I wanted to say Yay! Because yesterday we went down to Atlanta to visit Deborah before she went back to school in Florida. We took a nice trip to a really great store , and after that ate at one of my favorite restaraunts which needs to open francise in Chatt-town. Good friend, good shopping, good food--can it get any better than this?