Miranda Writes

As any of you have read in my previous blogs, October was to be a very exciting month.  Joe & I celebrated our 1st Wedding Anniversary and we were to make a trip to Minnesota to go to Lutsen over MEA.  I haven’t been able to make the trip for about 5 years and it is always a special one.

We got news on the morning of October 5 that Grandpa Nelson had passed away.  So, we’re in Minnesota early.  You always assume that you’ll outlive your parents and grandparents but I don’t think that anything can really ever prepare you for it.

Today is Grandpa’s funeral service and burial.  I am sure that the church will be full as he was a man that many loved and respected.  As my dad said to me on Monday, “It is a very sad day on earth, but a very happy one in Heaven.” I don’t think that anything can sum it up more.  I am happy for Grandpa that he can be at Home with Grandma and the few granddogs that have already passed.  I am sure that they will all be anxiously awaiting him at Heaven’s gate.  And I’m sure that Grandpa found a way to sneak a few dog treats up there with him:)

I love you Grandpa and you’ll be missed in Lutsen this year, but I know you’ll be there in spirit with us.  If you can, I’d like a little snow while we’re there.

We were looking forward to Labor Day weekend as it was our first weekend home in a couple weeks and we had lots of work to do!  On Friday, I came home with a “To Do” list that was going to be close to impossible to complete, but we were up to the task.

Friday night we went into town, as Lowes and Sears were both having an Energy Star sale on appliances.  I learned that there are no appliances that have heating elements (dryers, ovens, ranges) that are Energy Star Compliant.  But, that didn’t stop us from purchasing our new washer & dryer!  We got the Samsung base model front loaders.  I didn’t want anything with the bells and whistles because I knew I wouldn’t use them.  Our only problem was this:  we still had the other washer and dryer and had a ways to before the laundry room was done and ready for them!

Friday night also took us to First Friday in Historic Downtown Brunswick and then dinner at Bubba Garcias on St. Simons where I tried the shrimp & pineapple tacos.  Sounds strange, but was really yummy.

Saturday morning we woke early and prepared for a long day.  I took pictures of the old washer/dryer and posted them on craigslist.  Within a couple hours, I had 3 emails with people interested.  Before the end of the day they were sold and picked up :)  We also finished grouting the living room and hallway, repurposed a chest of drawers into a media chest, put the first coat of paint on it, put together a new piece of furniture for the living room, purchased and painted the rest of the baseboard of the house, installed the baseboard that we could, and purchased and painted the closet trim for the hallway.  Joe also managed to find time to work on his Jeep some.  Whew!  Made for a long, but very productive day.

Sunday morning found us away early again.  We hung the drapes in the living room, moved all the furniture, tv, and components over to the living room, painted the dining room wall, sprayed the ceiling in the laundry room, did touch up on the laundry room walls, cleaned out the closets (finding plenty that can be donated to goodwill!), finished painting the media chest for our bedroom, put it back together and then went out to dinner to celebrate a family birthday.

Monday morning arrived entirely too soon and we were both incredibly stiff.  I had intended to get up and run, but my legs could barely carry me to the door to wake up the dogs, so I decided against it until later in the morning.  Right now, Joe and his dad are tiling our laundry room so that we can have it grouted and ready for our new washer and dryer to be delivered on Saturday.  I still have to paint the ceiling and do some other touch up.  After the tile goes down, we’re headed out for a leisurely afternoon on the boat.  I can’t wait to just sit down and relax!

Below are some pictures of the completed living room, and one of Joe painting our accent wall in the living room.  We painted it a flat base and then chose a design and used a projector to get the image on the wall.  The image is painted in the same color as the base, but we used a high-gloss version instead.  You can only see it from certain angles…it turned out perfect!

I know…it’s been far to long since I’ve blogged last.  But, with good reason!

We’ve been busy working on the house…again (or should I say still?) :)  The living room was ripped down to the studs and we scraped the old popcorn off the ceiling.    

Then we put up drywall.  

After that, we painted the walls and put up light fixtures.   

We took a break for a while to do some fun things, like travel to see friends in Chapel Hill. 

Last weekend we started on the tile. I helped to mix the thinset while Boney supervisored. We put a small transition between the kitchen and the living/dining room.        

This week our projects include:  painting and installing window and door trim, grouting the tile, moving the furniture so we can finish tiling the dining area, and various other things. 

We’re also going to be traveling to Rome, GA soon and we’re very excited for that.  It’s a trip we “won” at the local Chamber Experience. 

Hopefully the home projects will move along at a steady pace.  I’ll try to be better about posting pictures of our progress from now on!

I was looking at the paper this morning and just happened to notice that it is D-Day, otherwise known at our home as Dixie Day!  That’s right, today is Dixie’s birthday.  And it’s not just any birthday…it’s her Golden Birthday…she turns 6 today.  For those of you not familiar with a Golden Birthday, it is the day that you turn the age that you birthday is….6 on the 6th, 7 on the 7th, etc.

Because it just totally snuck up on me, I was not prepared!  So, this morning she got a strip and a half of beggin strips (courtesy of Grandma Nelson).  We’re headed to Jacksonville today, so I’m sure we’ll make a stop to PetSmart to find something suitable for a birthday present.  Then later tonight I’ll make her some home made cookies.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!  We love you!

In just two weeks we’re leaving to go to Virginia (my first time there).  We’re going to be driving up the Shenandoah Valley to the DC area then down through Fredericksburg, Petersburg and Williamsburg before heading home.  We’re mostly camping but are also staying with a couple of friends while traveling near their homes.

I’m really excited as we have it all mapped out and will get to see a lot!  There are wineries, caverns and of course plenty of historic sites to see!

We’ve planned it so that we leave on a Friday and come back on a Friday, giving us a whole weekend to recover before heading back to work.  The weekend after that, we’re going to Little St. Simons.  Joe worked out a trade for services deal.  Neither of us have been over there, but we’ve both wanted to, so we’re very excited about that!

July will be a little more laid back, with Joe’s brother and family coming for the 4th and then relaxing the rest of the month.

In August we’re taking a weekend trip up to Rome, GA.  We “won” a package at the Chamber of Commerce Chamber Experience function last week.  The trip includes two nights at a hotel, a round of golf at Coosa Country Club, dinner at La Scala italian restaurant, and two tickets to a Rome Braves game.  That should be a blast!

September will be another quite month, with the exception of Labor Weekend when I’m sure that Joe’s brother and his family will come up again.

October is the annual Nelson trip to Lutsen and we’re going this year!  It will be the first time Joe will get to see that part of Minnesota, including “the shack” that Grandpa built in 1941 (someone correct me if I am wrong on that date).  We will also celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary, so it will be a special month!

November bring two very special days…our birthdays!  I’m sure that we’ll try and do something fun to celebrate.

December we’re headed back to Virginia to celebrate New Years Eve with the MWC clan in Fredericksburg.  I’m looking forward to that one!

As part of my weight loss regime, I decided that I needed to start exercising.  Joe and I started walking every morning when we woke up (1 mile around the block).  In the past month, I’ve upped it some, adding workouts at lunch with my friend Sam (she’s a great motivator!) and increasing the walks to morning and evening.  A couple of weeks ago, when I hit the 20 lbs lost mark, I decided that I wanted to try running.  For those of you that know me, I’ve NEVER been the athletic type, so I figured it wouldn’t happen.

The first time I tried running, I was only able to go a 1/4 mile before walking again.  But I found that I actually enjoyed it, so I set a goal for myself that next year I’d be able to run at least a 5K.  Not a big feat for some of you athletes out there, but a big feat for me!  This morning I ran my first mile and I was so proud of myself.  I did 3 miles this morning, running the first, walking the second and then splitting up the last mile with 1/2 run and 1/2 walk.  I ended up doing it in 36 minutes…another feat I was very proud of.

I try to beat my time every day and push myself a little further.  I feel so good after I do it!  I still have 17 lbs to lose to get to my goal, but I’ll get there eventually and this will certainly help.

Okay, so technically, I haven’t given birth to a human (or anything else for that matter).  But, I stlll get to celebrate, since I have 3 furry and 1 finned children.

Our day started off early, getting up at 6 to get ready for a morning on the golf course.  The pooches all gave me smooches and then enjoyed their breakfasts while Joe and I got ready.

We made a tee time yesterday for this morning to play on Jekyll Island- the Indian Mound course.  On the way there, it was apparent it was going to be a beautiful day and no on was going to miss out on it.  We saw two baby bunnies (and lots of adults!), a family of geese with two furry little goslings, a few mallards out and about gathing the presents for their mothers, several squirrels and various other birds.

We arrived about 20 minutes early for our tee time, but that was okay as we found out about some really good golf specials over on Jekyll for weekday play.  After last Sunday’s preformance, I have to admit I was a little hesitant to play (I stopped keeping score after the first 9), but was willing to give it a shot.  The course was filled with life and was in great shape.  By the 4th hole we had already seen 2 baby deer!  Both stopped just long enough for us to admire them, but not long enough for a photo op.  We’d continue on to see two more teen-adult deer, two alligators, a whole mess of squirrels, woodstorks, snowy egrets, various other birds and some beautiful flowers. I ended the round with a legit 88, losing 2 balls on the way…so I was pleased with my overall score.  My irons and putter seemed to be right on today which was a good thing.

We’re now home and waiting for Allie’s parents to come pick her up (she’s stayed with us this week).  Later today, we’re grilling out for Joe’s parents and sister (with family).  After that, we’ll probably go for a little walk and then relax on the couch.  After all, another work week starts tomorrow!

I hope everyone else has had a great day too!

I finally decided that my mourning period for Herman had passed and it was time to get a new fish.  I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but made the plunge (no pun intended) today.  I have a new male betta.  I had planned on naming the new fish Celeste, but since it is a male, now have to come up with a new name.  Any suggestions are more than welcome!  The pictures below are taken with Mr. Fish still in his cup from PetSmart.  When he gets settled in his new home this afternoon I’ll take more pictures.

As I said, Sunday came way to early at 8:00!  But we had to get up as we had a full day ahead of us.

Normally we go for a mile walk every morning before breakfast, but not today.  I made Joe an egg sandwich and enjoyed some Cherrios myself before we showered and walked up to church.  It wasn’t too bad of a walk, about 2 miles from the house.  We had to be there at 10:00 to help set up for the Parish Picnic.

I’ve gradutated from dessert cutter to sometimes kitchen helper, but today I was the designated dish washer.  I actually didn’t mind it.  I can’t stand a kitchen with dirty dishes in it, so the job really suited me well.  After all the prep work was finished and the dishes were done, we started setting up.  There were 4 grills going, 1 smoking pork for BBQ, 2 with hamburgers and 1 with hot dogs.  We also had potato salad, pasta salad, cole slaw, chips and a wide variety of desserts.  Outside, I helped with the hot dogs (Joe on the grill) and the BBQ (David on the smoker).  We always have a lot of fun at these events, as we get to hang out with family and friends…and when the friends know a lot about cooking and drinking, it makes it even more fun!

After the successful picnic, Joe had to help deliver the grills back to their homes, but I walked home.  So, I got some good exercise in.  It was a gorgeous day, so it didn’t feel like exercise either!  I had planned on coming home and relaxing but I decided instead to head into town to do a little shopping.  Joe decided to join me.  We didn’t find any shoes for him and had no luck at TJ Maxx looking for anything either.  We walked out of Ross’ with an arm full though!  Shoes, and a couple shirts for Joe; shoes (new 4″ heels!), shorts and shirt for me and a new bed for Brutus (although Boney likes it more!), and some spice jars.   One more stop at Target and then finally we head home.

Joe relaxed on the couch while I played in the spice drawer with our new jars.  It is much more organized and clean looking (something I love!).  Then off to bed, as Monday morning would come to soon!  We have a fun dinner planned in Savannah for Monday evening with an old friend of Joe’s….Wild Wings Cafe!

Saturday was a full day with not just the installation of the new door, but also a trip to Jacksonville to see Wicked! We left the Golden Isles shortly after 2:00, figuring we’d have plenty of time to do some shopping before dinner and the show.

Our first stop was Total Wine.  We had to stock up on our house wine, Double Dog Dare Cabernet Sauvignon, as we only had a couple of bottles left.  Joe also likes that you can make your own 6 packs of hard to find beers and I wanted to pick up some Ace Perry Cider (a must try if you are a cider fan!).  YUM!

After Total Wine, we stopped at PetSmart, as Brutus reminded us that we were almost out of food.  We got lucky and our 44 lb bag of Purina Dog Chow was on sale for $17.49!  They were having an adoption drive, so Joe hurried me past all the cages….but there were plenty of puppies in the store for me to pet and kiss!

Our next stop was Jo-Ann’s.  We bought a sewing machine a few weeks back as I really want to learn to sew.  Joe (and his dad) are very knowledgable, so I figured I’d have two good teachers.  We spent a couple hours looking around and left with a dress pattern that I’m hoping is as easy as it looks.  By then, it was 5:30, time to get something to eat.  We ended up with some Japanese (teriyaki chicken), so I was happy.

We had heard a lot of good things about Wicked from friends, so were very excited.  I was a little worried that our expectations may be a bit high, but we were not disappointed.  I won’t give the story line away to anyone that wishes to see it, but will say that the cast was incredibly talented, the costumery was kooky in a fun way and the set was fantastic!  It was probably our second favorite muscial that we’ve seen at the Times Union Center (our favorite being Mamma Mia).

The 8:00 show made a late night and we didn’t get home until about 12:30.  The pups were happy to see us and even happier that they got to sneak into bed with mom while dad stayed up a little while longer.

Sunday morning came all to early at 8:00!