"I am too excited to sleep!"

Remember the commercial, where the kids are going to Disney World, and they won't quit giggling because they are so excited? That is how I feel right now! Last week, amidst all the end of school/cousins' graduations (congrats Tori and James), our nursery furniture came in and it was very exciting! Also, I have several friends coming to town this weekend to go to the SATC movie with me and I can't wait to see them! I haven't seen any of them since I got pregnant, and I have missed them terribly. This may be my last childless girls' night with them all together, and I can't wait!!!

Also last night I made some tiebacks for my curtains, and they really helped make the nursery a cuter! It is still a work in progress, but here are some pics.

I absolutely LOVE this curtain rod!

Here are my homemade curtain tiebacks! They turned out much cuter than I expected, and much cheaper than buying them!Last but NOT least, this is the infamous ceiling fan that Hays installed. It REALLY helped change the look of the room!

I could not be more pleased with how everything is turning out in there. The crib and dresser are from Pottery Barn, and the glider is from a little store in Rainbow City. It may be the most comfortable chair in the history of the world. We obviously are slowly getting everything together, just don't have things on the walls yet or the bedding, but Margaret Anne is going to end up with the best room in the house!

The doll sitting in the glider is a little ballerina doll that I recently found while going through some of my old things. My late grandmother Rosalee McCool knitted it for me many years ago. It looks perfect in the nursery and I was so excited to have found it. I definitely teared up when I saw the tag that said "Made with tender loving care by Rosalee McCool."

I have missed you, internets!

Well, I was a little down about not being able to upload OR download anything on the computer, but I fixed it! That's right, I am the tech savvy person in this family and I FIXED IT! Just had to switch the mouse and then restart the computer. It's amazing what you can find instructions for on the internet!

Unfortunately we did not take the camera to the beach because we didn't know we would be able to upload pics, but I did take a few pictures on my Blackberry.

Here are a couple of them:

This is one of the many beautiful sunsets that we saw from the deck! I know, it looks fake!

Size 3 True Religion Jeans! I did NOT buy them, but wanted to very badly! Margaret Anne would be so cute in them, but I don't want her to get expensive taste too early!

Here are some pictures from Hays' chipmunk blog that just was not as exciting without pics!

The little guy in his trap

"Let me out!" He was scared :(

Still wishing for freedom

The directions on the trap box suggested that we cover it with a towel so we wouldn't give it a heart attack. This was on the way to the park.

You can see him at the bottom right of the tire swing. Running for freedom! Hooray!

Another post coming with nursery pics!

If I had known

That the bullet points showed up as flowers...I would have never used them!!! But I'm not retyping

Too Much News...

It has been a while since we last blogged, because one of my favorite things to do is post pictures up, but our stupid USB port doesn't work, therefore de-motivating us from blogging. I will anyway! Meredith's last day of school was on Friday, so we jammed out a little early en route to Panama City Beach (no, we didn't go to La Vela). Amazingly, traffic was light, so I assume we beat it by about an hour. We got down there in time to grill out hamburgers and sit on the back porch. Saturday consisted of hanging out on the beach and dinner ar Firefly. If any of you go to PCB, Firefly is a must! Here is a link: http://www.fireflypcb.com/. On Sunday, my dad and I went speckled trout fishing on the flats in West Bay, and caught some fish before a BAD storm blew in. Needless to say, we got soaked! The fish quit biting after that, so we headed home. Monday was golf at Hombre, where I got whipped by Dad. How do you never play and shoot 76 on a tough course?! Later that night we had ribs that were definitely top 3 ever made in the world...quite good. After that, we couldn't move, so we hit the couch and watched Family Guy. My dad LOVED it!!! Tuesday was Meredith and Hays date-day, so we went to the Destin outlets and ate at Goatfeathers and The Red Bar. Fun! Of course, Wednesday was return to the real-world day, so we began the pilgrimage back to B'ham. Now to the news:

• Natalie and Scott got engaged on Friday. Congrats!!
• Fran and Phillip are moving to Pensacola for Phillip's promotion. Congrats!!
• Kenley is having a boy. Congrats!!
• Grammy is in the hospital :(
• Uncle Tim is in the hospital :(
• There was more, but I can't think of it right now

See ya

Computer Troubles!

I have intended to post for a while, but the USB port on our computer is not working, and I had some chipmunk pictures (I'll explain) that I wanted to put up, but I guess I'll have to wait. We have stayed busy as usual. Given the extensive labyrinth of tunnels that the chipmunks have dug in our backyard, I decided to hit up my Grandad for his "humane" rodent trap, which is simply a wire cage with a trap door. I had originally baited it with cashews and placed it in a random spot in the backyard, but Meredith proceeded to tell me that she "used to do this all the time" and that I was doing it wrong. She suggested that we bait it with peanut butter rolled in oats (which I think I would have eaten), and place the trap in the shade under a tree. Sure enough, we had one caught the next day! And it can all be attributed to Meredith's skill in trapping. I think her ancestors were Inuit trappers known for trading their fine pelts in the Yukon Territory! Anyhow, we decided that Overton Park would be a good place to free the poor guy, and he was quite happy with our decision. We even caught another one the next day, so they can continue to be friends in the park. If any of you live near Overton Park, sorry, but you now have a chipmunk problem. Other than that, I drove to Montgomery on Sat morning to pick up our dogneice Chloe. She is staying with us while her parents have fun at the beach. The rest of the weekend was filled with golf and Mother's Day Extravaganza on Sunday! We had lunch with Meredith's family, and had dinner with my family. We love all the moms! Mereith got an "early" Mother's Day present last week, a Blackberry Pearl (which is pink and she loves). For those of you who don't use Verizon, you are seriously short-changing yourself (even though AT&T hogs the iPhone). This week is just work, then an engagement party in Gadsden on Saturday. Hopefully Sunday will be golf (hint hint Meredith)!!!

Dr's Appointment and More...

On Monday we had our 25 week appointment. We saw a new doc who knew Hays from Dothan because his son and Hays went to school together and he knows a lot of doctors that we know down there. So they had about a 15 minute conversation before he even realized that I was in the room! That was okay, because when he did pay attention to me he was REALLY nice. Margaret Anne is still measuring the "perfect size" and my weight was good, which was the most exciting part for me! Her heart rate was 141, and was so loud and strong. I will be going back in 4 weeks for my next appointment and glucose screen, and then I will have to start going more often. It seems like everything is moving really fast now!

In other news, the nursery will hopefully be finished within the next 6 weeks (that is my goal). I have been collecting ideas from people on curtains, etc., and I am excited about getting the furniture and bedding in there and then adding a few handmade touches!

They are giving me a baby shower this afternoon at work and I am pretty excited about it, it is my first one. We will take some pics and post them.

We are also getting Chloe (my dogneice) back this weekend and she is going to stay with us for almost 2 weeks! I can't wait to have her in the house again because she is usually much more interested in hanging out with us than Daisy is. Daisy just goes to bed and does her own thing, but Chloe wants to be right under you!

We will be celebrating Mother's Day on Sunday by taking my grandmother out to lunch. She is almost 92, so it could get pretty interesting! Does anyone have ideas for creative Mother's day presents?

Gone Fishin'

My alarm was set this morning for 6:15 so I could get up and play golf, but when I woke up there was a major storm going on, so no golf :(. Why does it rain every Saturday? And it is beautiful every Monday? So Meredith wanted to go to Belk early this morning for a charity sale, which was cool because everything in the store was 20-40% off. I got some new shirts and a pair of shorts (much needed since I NEVER buy clothes), and Meredith went to Motherhood Maternity and got some new stuff too! We also went to Academy Sports so I could look at golf shoes, and we left with a fishing rod for Meredith and a new tackle box and lures! She was excited because it was pink and had a breast cancer ribbon on it. What can I say; we're suckers for a good cause. So we decided to go fishing this afternoon, and didn't last long because it got hot, but I caught a bass and Meredith caught the bluegill you see above! We will definitely be fishing again soon, but won't go in the middle of the day when it's hot. Hot + pregnant= not comfortable!

I am not OSHA approved!

I haven't had much going on this week with the exception of battling a terrible migraine for two days and installing a new ceiling fan, and I felt the latter was much more blogworthy. After our glorious yard sale at Chace and Kenley's house, Meredith and I had some extra cash, and I had promised her that we would get a new "pretty" ceiling fan for Margaret Anne's room, which would be the replacement for the monstrosity of a ceiling fan that was in there. I was somewhat excited about the purchase because it would be an opportunity to try something new in the realm of home remodeling! The removal of the old fan was extemely easy, almost too easy considering the act of Congress it took to remove the old garbage disposal a few months ago. But the installation of the new one was a royal pain in the rear end. It always amazes me that when you buy a product that you self-assemble, they don't mention the "extra part" that you need until you open the instruction booklet and are 20 minutes away from the Lowe's you just came from. This then prompts a return trip to Lowe's, wasting precious time. I didn't get very far on Saurday, so I told myself I'd finish the job on Sunday between church and our planned afternoon activities (FYI, a window of about 2 hours). What I didn't take into account was the fact that I had turned the breaker back on the day before, as this breaker controlled the upstairs bathroom lights as well. So, feeling confident in my task, I proceeded to grab the "black" wire, which was not happy that I came to play. From atop the stepladder, I let out a shrill cry that Meredith compared to "the scream of a 12-year old girl", and she said that she immediately knew what had happened. There is no sensation in the world quite like 110 volts of electricity coarsing through your body, even if it is for a brief moment. I hopped down off the stepladder, and I wasn't in pain, but my arms and legs were buzzing like an adrenaline rush. Not one of my more intelligent moves, but one of those lessons God teaches us and says "Don't be an idiot!". I eventually got the mounting bracket for the fan screwed into the ceiling, but when I tried to attach the fan motor, it pulled the screws out of the ceiling, so I went with Plan B. I got my neighbor Jason, who is the handiest of men, to come and help me, and we had the job done in 30 minutes flat. I guess I learned alot about what not to do when working with electrical currents, but the new fan really ties the room together!

Moral of the Story: Don't play around power lines or other exposed electrical wire unless you are looking to catch a buzz!