I am the luckiest

Happy First Anniversary, J!














Title: The Luckiest, Ben Folds

Nausea, Heartburn, Indigestion...

I had every plan to write a post today about our adventures yesterday (Shaker Village, a boat tour of the Kentucky River Palisades and a UK Football Game), but it would seem that I'm too old to wolf down multiple hotdogs (with cheesewiz), nachos, cotton candy, and an ice cream on the way home without facing the consequences. I had a miserable night, and woke up with most of the symptoms listed in everyone's favorite commercial. My sweet husband, eager to help me feel better (and probably to knock me out so he could watch football all afternoon) ran out to pick up some Pepto for me. I managed to stay away a whole six and a half hours, and am now too exhausted to write a real post. Here's hoping for a better day tomorrow!

Title: Pepto Bismol jingle

Shake, Rattle & Roll!

So back to our adventures on Saturday--

J and I headed out to Mercer County to visit Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill. Home to the restored Shaker community, on Saturday there was also an apple festival, an alpaca festival, and...wait for it...a Hobbit Convention. After much observation of those in attendance, we decided that it was really just a Lord of the Rings convention--we saw some elves and other odd creatures, but no actual hobbits. I'll post Shaker Village pictures later, though you'll see no pictures of the LOTR folks--my husband told me it would be rude to ask if I could take their picture. I can't imagine...

We finished our day at Shaker Village with a ride on the Dixie Bell through the Kentucky River Palisades. J was thrilled to learn that I've built an imaginary house on the banks overlooking the river.

Then, in an attempt to make it up to J for dragging him off for an educational field trip on his day off, we hit the UK-WKU blowout, um...I mean, football game. (Thanks again to Tara and A.J. for an excellent time!) Four years of learning to be a football fan is finally paying off, and I knew the right times to clap even with A.J. (a WKU alum) clapping at all of the wrong plays!

Title: Shake, Rattle and Roll by Elvis Presley

We've got to move these color tv's...

You've seen them, the semi's with the soft sides and a picture of a BMW with the words "We're delivering someone's baby" on the side. Well today, my car may as well have been the same thing, albeit a smaller, less commercial version. My car, you see, was bringing home our new TV, a 50" plasma screen TV. Note to those interested in purchasing a large plasma--make use of the store delivery plan.

My plan to put the top down and flip the whole box sideways was nixxed by store staff (it seems the plasma gas pools at one end and never goes back to normal). So we took the TV out of the box and wedged it into the back seat of my car, and J proceeded to drive it home--a ten mile drive that typically takes 20 minutes. Today, I followed at a brisk 40 mph and winced every time we approached a stop light and had to brake. J, meanwhile, put of a brave face at each stop and gave me a confident thumbs up; I later learned that he was holding tight to the TV with his other hand.

For the time being, we have set our new 'baby' on a card table in the family room while we look for an appropriate piece on furniture on which to set it (I'm thinking this is a great time to check out the new Ikea in Cincy!).

As I’m sure you’ve figured out, J’s big screen could not be saved (TV’s, it seems, are now considered ‘disposable’ after a couple of years.). We’ll miss it terribly (well, J will), but I’m thrilled to finally see this whole “you can see every blade of grass” thing that everyone (read: J) says about HD. He had football on this evening, and finally, I saw every blade of grass!


Title: Money for Nothing by Dire Straits

When Autumn comes to town...

No news to report today, except that today is the first day of Autumn (or Fall, if you prefer)!!! My favorite season, Autumn is home to cooler temps and my favorite holidays (including our First Anniversary a week from today!), so I just had to remind you all to celebrate!

Wishing you all beautiful leaves, warm sweaters, and cozy nests this Autumn!

Also, I'm sure you've picked up on the theme with the post titles, but some are pretty obscure, so I'll try to remember to tell you where they come from. This title is from a line in the Van Morrison song "Autumn Song". Google it for the rest of the lyrics and free ringtones!

This is the way we wash our clothes...

Anyone who knows us well knows that J and I do not do (and have not done, for some time) our own laundry. This was a decision we came to individually long before we met each other, but I like to say that it's part of the reason I fell in love with J! The decision has lead to much confusion and disbelief among our friends and family, but has worked for us. Well, a little over a year ago, my brother and sister-in-law, not having a need for their old washer and dryer, gave them to us. I think they expected some wifely instinct would kick in after the wedding, and that I would feel inspired to do our laundry myself. The washer and dryer sat, untouched, in the middle of our laundry room for a year.

Until my sweet husband's big screen tv (see previous posts to get an idea of just how big) died and needed to be removed from the family room for rescucitation. After some discussion, we agreed that the easiest way out would be through the laundry room, which, unfortunately, was not as easy as we thought it should be. Our laundry room, it so happens, was a room for everything but laundry. Tools, shoes, still-packed boxes from my apartment, holiday decorations, paint cans from a pre-purchase remodel and more filled the every square inch of the room and there was no way we were getting the tv through. (Oh how I wish I took 'before' pictures!!)

On Labor Day weekend, we took on the mess in the laundry room, and are very proud of our accomplishments! Two trips to the dumpster, one trip to Goodwill, two trips to Lowe's, one throbbing toe (J's; I dropped a hammer on it), and only one arguement (on the first night, which almost railroaded the whole thing, except that the tv had to come out!) later, we had a clean, organized, much larger laundry room, with an actual working washer and dryer. And so, in an effort to use what resources we already have, J and I have begun to do some of our own laundry. Maybe that wifely instinct is going to kick in, after all!

Oh, and for those of you worried about the TV, it is still at the repair shop, but we are optimistic that we'll get it back next week. Well, I'm optimistic we'll get it back. J's been watching ads for flatscreen lcd's pretty closely...

The Sound of Silence

. . . Crickets . . .

-----

J started this post yesterday, but was distracted by Magic (his favorite card game that I'm learning to tolerate) or football or something else more fun than my silly blog, so I thought I'd finish the sentiment.

We get a little wrapped up in ourselves in our own little nest sometimes, and just learned yesterday that most of our family were affected by the huricane force winds that swept up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers on Sunday. These winds caused some damage to trees, but more importantly, left our target audience in the dark for several days.

So first, to those of you affected, we are so glad that you are okay, and that you're back on-line.

Second, we know that our blog, though still new to us, may look like too much to wade through. Please do! It will make the most sense if you scroll the bottom and work your way back up. If you'd like to comment on individual posts, feel free--we'll find them! If you'd rather make one comment to this post, that's fine, too.

Welcome back on-line! JE

More of the Story, Morning Glory

First, to understand this post, you have to read the earlier JE post, "What's the Story, Morning Glory" (Yeah, JE is doing something with the post titles; I'm sure you'll figure it out, Oasis references notwithstanding). Go ahead, read it . . . I'll wait. Pay particular attention to the "animal sanctuary" section. I'll watch the Browns-Steelers game for a few seconds . . .

Back? Okay, JE left out what I consider the best part of the story, or as the older among you might think "the rest of the story." Now, I am sure that these people were nice enough, but (a) I didn't know them from Adam . . . they might not be mass murdering psychopaths, but then again they might; and (b) if I'm going to see a wolf up close, I want Steve Irwin (notice, I'm not talking about an encounter with a stingray) or the young guy from Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom involved--at least as a consultant. These people . . . may have watched"Dances with Wolves" . . . when it came out originally . . . but they didn't watch the whole thing . . . really just the "totonka" part.

So, I am NOT going to go on a tour. My ever-polite wife, however, was having trouble saying, "We'd prefer not to be led to our deaths, intentional or negligent, thanks." Sensing her hesitance, I say, "Thanks, but we were just stopping to look for antiques. Maybe another time."

After we sped away in the car, and cleared what I estimated rifle range was, JE and I, discussed the episode and decided "THAT WAS WEIRD." As our conversation winds down, my wonderful bride asks, "You know why I thought it'd be okay to go on the tour?" Shocked that she even momentarily considered playing nice with wolves and "Merle," I must know why.

"I thought, 'they have matching shirts. That's official.'"

What's the story, Morning Glory?

Owning a home, and decorating that home, is a learning experience for anyone. In our case, we've learned that what you are looking for dictates where you shop. For example, new furniture stores are great for mattresses, linens, and anything disposable. We've found a couple useful pieces of furniture that serve a great purpose now, but that do not play a role in our long term decorating plans. Nice, solid pieces take more work to find, but when you do find a great old piece of furniture at an antique store or auction, it usually has a great story to go along with it.

Last weekend, I decided that we need a mantel in our living room. No, we don’t have a fire place. Yes, I know this. But I cannot tell you how many times in the last year I have thought to myself that if we did have a mantel, I could do some cool things to decorate it. So after a year of thinking, I decided that we had to do something about it, and lucky for me, J agreed to play along.

So we set off last Saturday in search of a mantel. After a year and a half working in Jessamine County, I was sure we'd have no problem finding any number of junk stores and antique shops with old wooden mantels just lying around. Sure enough, we found a junk store, but they were fresh out of old mantels. Traveling deeper into Jessamine County, we found an antique shop run by an antique old woman who recommended checking out the antique show in Lexington this weekend. I took her card and assured her we'd check it out, but I hadn't gotten my fill of searching for the day, so we headed back to 27 South.

This is where our story gets...well…interesting. Just after passing into Garrard County is an old sign for "Rocky Top Antiques" with an arrow that points up a gravel drive. Now, I've passed the sign probably 50 times since starting my job and every time wondered what might be at the top of the hill. It seemed like a great time to find out, so we pulled up to the large metal building and parked out front. J questioned whether or not the place was open, but I found the front door unlocked and walked into a dark warehouse that J describes as “Deliverance meets junk shop”. He was ready to walk back out, while I was willing to tempt the inevitable shot gun for a few minutes to check around for a mantel. The sound of gravel crunching outside convinced me to join J on the run back to the car, and we pulled around the corner of the building to discover the owner and several other men unloading furniture into the back side of the building that apparently serves as an auction house on Saturday nights. We pretended to have just arrived and went inside to see what they had to offer. The back side of the building was more disorganized than the front had been, and I spotted what I thought was a mantel against a back wall. While I went in search of someone to move six feet of ‘stuff’ to check it out, J wandered off to check out the rest of the collection. My ‘mantel’ turned out to be a bar mirror, but J did find a pretty cool chair that he deemed “excellent for playing video games”. Having had enough excitement for the day, we left a bid on the chair and headed back to Lexington.

Again, unfortunately for J, curiosity got the best of me, and I followed another sign that I’ve passed many times on the drive through Jessamine County. This sign took us to a locked gate outside a barn labeled with a couple of signs for antiques. A group of people relaxing outside the barn noticed us pull up, and, though they had just closed, offered to unlock the gate and let us in. We did, and as we got out of the car, learned that the “antique shop” was closed and was instead the ‘welcome center’ for an animal refuge. It was then that I noticed the chickens pecking at our feet and the pungent smell of the animal droppings scattered around the parking lot. We were greeted by a woman who declined to shake our hands by telling us we “wouldn’t want to know” what she’d been doing with them. Wow. She offered to give us a tour for $5, then for nothing if we’d just send a donation later. J, again showing more wisdom than me on this one, turned back to the car. I felt bad for them and tried to politely decline. When that didn’t work, I ran for the car, too. So much for finding a mantel there, but boy did we find a couple of great stories!

We learned this week that we won the chair, so we’re now the proud owners of a pretty great chair for playing video games. We plan to re-cover both this chair (the blue chair with the swan head arms) and an old chair of J’s (Nonnie—you might recognize that one!) to go with the family room.

Still in search of a mantel, I dragged J to the big antique show here in town on Saturday, where we found several mantels and more great stories (Remember, good antiques always have a story.). We finally decided on one that came from an old estate in Lexington and is about 200 years old. I need to spend a bit of time researching how to conserve it, but I love the style and am thrilled that I now have a mantel to decorate!

Our house is a very, very, very fine house...

So we've been working on the house a little at a time. If you've seen it lately, this will be a bit repetitive. Stay tuned for more updates! Here is the family room, courtesy USAA and a burst pipe in the basement--

Welcome!

J and I have decided (well, I decided and he's a great sport!) to join the masses and start a blog to keep you all up to date on our life and home in Lexington. I'll do my best to update with some regularity, so please bookmark us and check back every week or so.

To get started, here is a picture of the front of the house, taken a couple of weeks ago--

JE