2008 Tennessee Preseason Teaser

We can't wait!!!!

Criminy...

It's been a while. Me and the girls are finally back in North Carolina. We've been here about a week. I've been working my butt off every day trying to make this house presentable. It's a beautiful house, it really is, it's just that it looked like my grandmother lived here. It was built in 1995 and has had NO updating since then. The previous owners took really good care of it though, I will say that.



Anyway, the kitchen was the biggest issue. The wallpaper, oh my gosh, the wallpaper was so freakin ugly! It was gray and white vertical stripes with a beauty of a border. Teal and burgandy vegetables. Not good. The cabinets weren't bad, I just didn't like the color of them so much. And the appliances were butt ugly.
I tore down all the wallpaper and painted the walls a light tan color (totally not like me, I like really bold colors, but......) I painted the cabinets black. I LOVE them now. I went and bought some antique iron hardware and just that made a huge difference. We bought a new stainless steel fridge and dishwasher. The kitchen totally needs a stainless steel range and granite countertops, but we can't afford that yet.

This picture was taken before I finished painting the bottom cabinets....and it was taken with my cell phone, so it really doesn't do it any justice.

Anyways, that's what I've been doing. Donnie bought him a car yesterday. The Commander was killing us on gas with him driving it to work every day, so he found a little Ford Focus that gets double the gas mileage the Jeep does.

Mar starts school on Monday. We went and met her teacher Thursday night and Marlys all of a sudden forgot how to speak. I'm sure she'll talk their ears off soon enough though.


So in a nutshell, that's our life the past month.

5 Years (tagged by ashlee)

5 years ago Today....

hmm, that would have been August 5 2003. Oh hell, I remember it well. I was 8 months pregnant with Marlys and we lived in a 2 bedroom apartment in Killeen, TX. It was SO SO SO unbearably hot, and we lived on the 2nd floor. I remember standing at the bottom looking up at our door and thinking to myself that it woudn't be that bad to just get a tent and live on the lawn until I was no longer pregnant. I had been out of the Army for 5 months, and trying to adjust to a life without PT and a chain of command. I had a 2001 Chevy Blazer that I pretty much liked, but for some reason Donnie hated. That aggravated me because he came in to the marriage with NO vehicle, and I had traded my Eclipse because he said it was too small. Any way, I guess we knew at this point that Donnie was going to deploy in January.

5 years from Now...
I will be 34 years old, so basically really old. Donnie will be 33, Marlys will be just about to turn 10 and Rylee will be 7. That's crazy. I have absoloutely NO idea where we will be, but I'm almost positive it won't be North Carolina. Donnie will still be in the Army with probably 2 more deployments under his belt. We should have our house in Texas paid off...or at least DANG close. We will only have 7 more years until retirement!

I tag: Kassie, Lynnzie, Erin, Aubrie, Leslie, Annamarie, and Janice...and whoever else.....

SIX years ago today....

Today is me and Donnie's 6th anniversary. As with most of our married life...we are apart. Totally sucks.

Civil War Letter

I watched a little of the Ken Burns' series The Civil War and came across this letter sent from soldier Sullivan Ballou to his wife a week before the battle of Bull Run. He was killed a week after the letter was written. May we endeavor to rear godly men who are so dedicated to their families and country.

July 14, 1861Washington, DC

My very dear Sarah,

The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days-perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I am no more.

I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans on the triumph of the Government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing-perfectly willing-to lay down all the joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt.
Sarah, my love for you is deathless. It seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield.

The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most grateful to God and to you that I have enjoyed them for so long. How hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when, God willing, we might still have lived and loved together, and seen our sons grown up to honorable manhood around us. I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me-perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar, that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and that when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name. Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have often times been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness.

But, oh Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the gladdest days and in the darkest nights...always, always. And if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath, and as the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for me, for we shall meet again.

Yea! We just bought another house! :)

Me and Donnie decided about a month ago that apartment living just isn't for us. Had we never owned our own home, perhaps it wouldn't have bothered us so much, but after tasting the good life, we just couldn't deal with the ghetto. We had looked at this house before, and went back in it yesterday and decided to put in an offer....and today we got word that they accepted it! I'm pretty excited! You can't tell a lot from the picture. The house is 2100 sqft. It has 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, a breakfast area, and a dining room. The landscaping is all done and it has a deck on the back. The only thing that isn't great about this house is the wallpaper....but that's not a big deal. Donnie will sign the papers and move in while me and the girls are in Utah (weird!).

Aloha

Jon and Teresa went to Hawaii for a week and they brought the girls back the cutest dresses! When I took the pic, Mar's was still packed somewhere, but I had Ry's to stick on her. They brought me back the flower that's in the girls hair. I love it, but don't dare wear it out for fear that people would point and laugh :)