My husband is a dare devil

My dear sweet husband, Hank, definitely knows how to run some heavy equipment. I've seen him run machinery of all types several times and he has always operated the machines with great ease... without any brush with deaths that I have witnessed. I've never really been worried about him running any tractors or such, but last night I got a little apprehensive while watching him dig our water line to our new house. After 2 evenings of him digging the 4 foot deep, 2 foot wide and about 150 foot long trench he finished. But at one little area there was a spot that wasn't as deep as the rest. So of course Hank felt like he needed to finish getting the dirt out even though I told him that we could finish up the small area with "shuffles" [yes I said shuffles.. while meaning to say shovels. and I think from now on my brain will automatically send me the word shuffles to say instead of the right word, and people will think I'm crazy.] Anyways. He wouldn't hear of it. He was going to get the last bit of dirt out.. "Why use shovels when I have a big shovel right here?" Okay fine. Go for it. Little did I know that he was going to be putting on a dare devil stunt and scaring the crap out of me. I wish I had a video of him crossing the trench he dug with his excavator machine. Almost tipping into the hole, which he wouldn't have fallen completely in with the machine, but still could have hurt him by throwing him off. After not one, but two attempts of crossing the trench and the excavator jerking about as if its a mechanical bull... he was unable to get the last bit of dirt out. I'm just thankful we were able to finish up the project without any trips to the emergency room. This definitely shows me that Hank is even more competent running this kind of machinery than I thought. But that doesn't make it any less scary. I will gladly "shuffle" out the remaining dirt with a smile on my face as long as I don't have to watch him take any more chancy risks of being thrown down, off, under or wherever he would have landed!

Ohhh and did you see the sun setting in those pictures behind Hank? I told you September was amazingly beautiful!

TTT - Thursday Style

Triple Tangent Tuesday's are usually done on Tuesday.. but this week is an exception. Just for this week only.. I've decided to change it to Triple Tangent Thursday! Sounds good, huh? I believe so! So lets see what we have in store for today. 

Three random facts about me and my life this week:

1. I remember, as a kid, going with my mother and older sister to a muscadine farm and picking muscadines. Of course we would eat them as we went... and I remember how much I enjoyed them. I haven't eaten a muscadine in at least 7 or 8 years.. until this week. I found a small container of them at Wal-mart and swiped them off the shelf as fast as I could! They are absolutely wonderful! I'm so glad I was able to find them.. they definitely brought back old memories. And I am definitely planning on buying a few more containers before its over with. If you haven't ever tried them.. then you should! You don't know what you are missing!

2. Of course when building a house.. you run a risk of getting a nail in your tire. I do believe I have done JUST that. On my way to work yesterday.. my car felt like I was going to wobble off of the road. I have had my fair share of flat tires.. so I knew immediately what the problem was. When I parked at work.. I got out to check my tires. And yep, I was right. My back right rim was nearly sitting on the ground. So I had a fun little time on my lunch break airing up my tire so that I was able to actually HAVE a lunch break. Thank goodness Hank bought me a (car) battery operated tire inflator. It pretty much saved me yesterday. It takes a little bit of time to air up a tire that is COMPLETELY flat.. so I had a few minutes to kill... in which I decided to document with my camera.

 

3. As I have said before... Fall is my most FAVORITE time of the year. This morning.. I was reminded of something else that makes fall even more special. The stores begin selling candy for Halloween. Which means I am able to find TWO... not one... but TWO of my favorite candies! Candy Corn and what I call "Milk Maids"... oh joy! I went into Walgreens this morning and let out a little squeal when I saw all the different bags & mixes of candy corn. Yummm, yummm.

the baby perception

My previous blog "Thirty before the BIG Thirty" was a list of thirty things that I would like to do before reaching the age of thirty. When writing the list.. about 25 things immediately popped up in my head that HAD to go on the list. Four or five of the rest.. I kinda had to think about. 

One of the things that ORIGINALLY made my list was "to have a child".. when I wrote [typed] this as my number 8... I didn't like the way that it looked... or how I had written it. After staring at those 4 words a while.. I deleted the line.. and went on with my list... planning to come back to that "activity" in a later number. If you read the original list.. you may have noticed it didn't make the cut. I went about with activity after activity never naming *child bearing* as one of my to-do's. A few people mentioned this... [I wont say any names] and I immediately remembered the line that I HAD actually written but deleted from my list. Forgetting to add it back later on.

Yes.. I do want a child. 

I wouldn't say that baby fever has kicked in by NO means. But I do know in my heart, Lord willing, that I would like to ONE day be a mother. [even though that phrase does sound quite weird coming from me] I'm not sure when that day will be.. but I think it would be such a joy. Several of my close friends have children.. and they are nothing short of a blessing. I've often wondered if I'd be a good mother or not.. but I guess there is only one way to find out. 

Until then. We wait. hahha! :)

Thirty before the BIG Thirty!

I've seen several bloggers make this list of thirty things they want to do before they are thirty. So I'm going to go ahead and jump on that band wagon. Not because I think its a good thing to blog about,.. but I'm actually quite interested to see what will show up on my list and what all I will actually get done before the big 3-0!

1. Run a sub 24 minute 5k

2. Travel outside of the country [Greece, Italy, France] - done

3. Go on a cruise (which would also help cross out #2) - done 

4. Build a house (working on that)- done

5. Take a spin class

6. Run a half marathon - done

7. Finish a marathon

8. Volunteer.. doesn't matter for what. Just something that needs me

9. Finish the scrapbook that I started about 8 years ago

10. Visit the Grand Canyon

11. Step foot onto California soil

12. Walk/drive through a Redwood Tree

13. Reach my goal weight

14. Visit Yellowstone National Park

15. Add another schnauzer to our family

16. Win big at the Casino

17. Become an aunt

18. Ride a train

19. Help a stranger

20. Bring a little Shaw into the world

21. Take a road trip out West (could also include #10, 11, & 12)

22. Learn to sew

23. Buy an expensive camera 

24. Buy ONE really expensive pair of jeans

25. Be a part of a flash mob

 26. Have a signature "dish" that I'm known for

27. Learn to be more patient

28. Learn to "can"

29. Sing Karaoke,.. solo

30. Learn to not let the idea of turning 30 bother me

Also, I guess you should know that I will be 30 on February 26th, 2015. So I have 3 years and 6 months to get this all done! Wish me luck! :)

[revised 9.5.11]

September makes me smile

According to Sheryl Crow, "a change will do you good." And for the most part, I agree with her. Not ALL change is good, but I think in the grand scheme of things that change is definitely necessary. One thing that I get excited about every year {for as many years as I can remember} is when the air starts to become cooler. First just in the mornings and then cooler days all together. I absolutely love it. It's my most favorite time of year. Oh Fall... I confess my love.

Now I realize that it isn't really fall, yet. But its coming. In fact we only have about 3 weeks until its official start. This year it falls {no pun intended} on Friday, September 23rd. The countdown has begun. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that with the official arrival of this new season brings with it beautiful sunsets and 70 degree weather.

 

Hands down September has the best sunsets, by far. I think God chose September to display these beautiful reflections of the sun, because he knew the weather would be more tolerable for us to sit outside and actually enjoy them. I can't speak for everyone, but each time I see beautiful sights such as above, I can't help but smile. It's like God is reminding us that there is still beauty in this world. We just have to take the time to stop and notice it.

TUESDAY trumpery

1. We had to go ahead and pick out our faucets for our bath tubs so that the plumber would know what to prep for. We had previously decided to go with all oil rubbed bronze.. fixtures, faucets, door knobs, etc. But little did we know how big of a pain it would be to find exactly what we wanted in a shower head in oil rubbed bronze. I mean.. I thought O.R.B. was the popular thing these days? Maybe I'm wrong.. because Home Depot & Lowe's choices for shower heads say differently. The ratio of nickel to bronze is about 98 to 2. No really. Bronze shower heads are apparently a rarity.. maybe thats why they cost so much. Not because they ARE in fact oil rubbed bronze.. but because they are in short supply. WHO KNOWS! So after much searching, repeated trips to the same stores, and a few hundred dollars later... we now have the shower head we wanted... and in the correct finish. :)

2. If you haven't heard the new song "Hell on Heels" by the Pistol Annies. Then you definitely need to check it out. This band is made up of 3 women country singers... and one of those singers is Miranda Lambert.. whom I absolutely love. So definitely check it out and let me know what ya think!

3. I found this picture today on Amber's facebook of us, Chris, and their new son Dylan at our house site. I had completely forgotten that she had taken this picture. How funny though. Little Dylan is checking things out with daddy. Whats also funny is I remember that day feeling a little on the fat side.. but now that I see this picture.. I think I looked rather slim. Ironic how we see/feel about ourselves versus how we actually look.

living in the fast lane

Boy does time fly.

It's funny how when you are 10 you can't wait to be 13 {ohhhh I can't wait to be a teenager} When you are 13, you can't wait to be 16 {ohhh, if only I could drive}... and so on.  But once you hit 21... its like okay.. this is good... no more wishing away the years. It's hard to believe I am already 26. Yep. 26. Turning 24 didn't bother me.. nor did 25.. being a "quarter century old" was actually kinda cool. Twenty six,.. not so much fun. Its over the 25 hill.. and barreling fast towards 30.

 Where has all of this time gone? Just yesterday (seems like) I was going to Jones and getting ready to apply to x-ray school. Working at Ellisville State School & the movies in Laurel at the same time.. and just wishing to be all done with school and out in the real world. Don't get me wrong. I love the real world. It has been good to me. These past few years have just came & gone.

I graduated high school... 8 years ago. - WOW!!! Its quite hard to believe.

• Hank and I have been together for 9 years. - doesn't seem like that long ago.. that he was picking me up for our first date.

• Married for 5 1/2 years - best day of my life.. seems like it was only yesterday

• I graduated x-ray school 5 years ago! - okay.... school isn't something I miss.. just doesn't seem like I've been FULL time for that long!

• Worked for SCRMC for 5 years!

• My sweet puppy Cash will be 4 years old this Nov.. and it seems like it was only last year that he joined our little family.

•  My little sister Karly will be 15 in October. FIFTEEN! She will be driving before we know it.. quite awkward. It's hard to believe she will be that old. :(

• We sold our house in February... which was 6 months ago. It was a big life change for us.. and it really does seem like it was only last week we were moving all of our belongings out of our first home.

• April.. 3 years ago I became a lifetime member at weight watchers. And have kept my weight off since. It's hard to believe that for the past 3 years I have lived a healthy lifestyle.. compared to my habits prior to that.

I could write about this forever. But it really is amazing how time flies. We have less than 4 months until Christmas... and not too long ago we were "ringing in" the new year. I realize every day is a blessing.. and I am thankful for every single one of them. But I wouldn't mind it a bit.. if things did slow down just a little. Hank will be 30 this December. Yep, 30. Hard to believe. In the meantime.. I will continue to enjoy each and everyday with my husband, family and friends. And be thankful for each of those days given to me. Life is fast... but good.