what was that!!??

Short story:
So I knew that in buying a house there would be moments that would push me out of my comfort zone. For example, I have tried to come to terms that there are going to be times when the toilet breaks and I have no landlord to call. Or there might be a time when the AC goes out and there is no Work Order form to fill out while I wait for the job to be completed. I also mentally prepared myself for the vast world of Yard Work and the even vaster world of Yard Work Expenses. BUT what I did not prepare myself for was the semi-wooded area that we would live in and all things ‘wooded’ that would come with it.
For example:
Since we have been living in our house I have twice been followed in by a little gecko. Now I don’t want to be a total complainer here, because while I don’t like any creature that is small and moves faster than me, I must say I prefer a little gecko over all other multi-legged creatures. But Still! I am not about to touch one! So both times I calmly screamed for Jerry while the gecko and I lock eyes in wait.
So:
I come home from work one day minding my own business and head toward the front door. As I near the door I hear loud scurrying behind me and look down to see a miniature alligator running full speed toward my feet. I am not kidding. This overgrown, gecko/crocodile/monster was charging me and I reacted with more failing and screaming than I new I had in me. I am sure that our neighbors raised an eyebrow in wonder at my wild-ethnic-rain-dance or maybe they just nodded in sympathy having also encountered this beast. Who knows? All I was concerned with was getting the heck inside. If I would have felt even one scale of that thing on my toe I am convinced I would have died on the spot. Anyways, it missed my feet and nailed it’s head on the door frame with a loud “THUNK” and then ran off in the other direction as I plunged through the door into safety.
Or so I thought:
Another day I was mindlessly making a mental list of a few odds and ends that I needed to run to the store to pick up. I grabbed my purse and headed up the road to our local Kroger. Normally Jerry and I prefer to do our grocery shopping at Nieman’s (otherwise know as the new Walmart) but I was in a hurry and just needed one or two things. Ready to checkout I headed to the self-checkout area and scan my goods. I snapped open my little coin purse to pull out a $20 and low and behold a Maniac Gecko comes flying out like Superman of his kind and lands smack on the scanner! Of course by this point the checkout line has grown so I have quite the crowd going to watch the new and improved rain-dance. This one had more hard stomps and less flailing arms, all the while sending a message via intense eye’s and head jerks to the 16 year old Kroger worker who was staring at me with a blank expression. The kid just looked at me and said, ‘Where’d that come from?’ Too embarrassed to admit that I was one of those people that carried crawly things around with them I just said, ‘I don’t know!’ and grabbed my receipt and left.
All that it say:
Please don’t judge me. I promise we are not bug people. Jerry has promised to ‘handle’ the situation on account of knowing his wife’s sanity is on the line. I hope you still feel safe to come over… but understand if you don’t. Sheesh.

frivolous updates

1. my back

it's doing a lot better! i took off about 2 full months from working out and finally eased my back into life with all the moving and house work (plus i got a stomach bug while painting and that was quite the workout... up and down the ladder... updownupdown...  i know. TMI.  see what living with a boy has done to me?!). i am still not doing anything hardcore but have loved walking around our neighborhood. there are just enough hills and beautiful scenery to get a mini workout without really noticing. 

 

2. the home

well it looks like the "after" pics are going to be a long time coming. in fact i may never posted them even when we are "done" (in 6 years) cause something feels weird about posting them! i don't know why! ha! so if you want to see where we are at in the process, by all means, invite yourself over! we don't have a microwave yet so my usual dinner of popcorn is out of the question but i can always do a frozen pizza in the oven.  Suzy Homemaker must be proud.

3. the microwave

one good thing that came from not having a microwave is that i was forced to learn how to use my steamer. (not the little microwaveable bags... you know the real one... the big metal one.) so that was a moment of proudness and accomplishment in the Williams household. now i just have to figure out how to get Jerry to actually eat some veggies. practice for kids i guess.

4. still?!

i have been painting our kitchen cabinets for 10 days now and am not even 1/4th the way done. those cabinets are such liars. i promise they told me, "Hey Lauren! Look how cute we are! We are just cute little kitchen cabinets! Forget about the fact that you have to fill in the old hardware holes, sand, re-drill new ones and not to mention all the crevasses and the possibility that it will all peel off! We are just cute and fun! Come paint us!" LIARS.

5. Stanley

Stanley is dead.  for good.  i don't want to talk about it.

Meet Ava

Jill and Shane Steinbach are the parents of a little girl named Ava who is one and a half years old. Ava was recently diagnosed with Moyamoya which is an incredibly rare, life threatening, disease.
There are only a few doctors in the U.S. that specialize in treating Moyamoya and the doctor Ava has been seeing in Dallas was trained under the specialist they are going to see in Boston for surgery. Since February the Steinbach’s have been waiting for Ava to become stable enough for flight and the operation. They recently lined up her surgery and airline tickets and headed out to Boston on the 9th. They are going through preparatory testing now and are set to have neuro-surgery on Monday the 14th.

I have seen pictures of Ava before but got to meet her in person on July 8th. She was so beautiful it almost knocked me over!

As people prayed over her she watched excitedly, offering baby-talk and occasionally squinting her eyes with her hands together in response. At the end of each prayer she would offer an emphatic ‘AMEN!’

Please remember this family on the 14th – Shane, Jill and Ava. What a precious family. They have lived this versus,

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." Psalms 91:1-2

If you want to keep up with them go here (name- avavictoria)