Almost that Time...

It's almost Christmas!! Which means 2009 is almost over, yay!!! I've been promised a great year for 2010, so I'm very excited. We went shopping on Saturday for Christmas in Anderson, SC. Boy, was everyone out, as I should've expected. It definitely worked my patience...or the lack of, lol. But I did get all my shopping completed, except for two gifts that I can't get till later this week. But I concluded that when its time to Christmas shop, Christmas is really for Caitlyn, so Shawn and I can get each other things we need, but waiting till Christmas day to posess them is really not necessary. So he bought me a pretty ring, a nice red p-coat(sp?), and...something that he has hidden and won't give me until Christmas. That's okay, I have 3 things I've hidden from him. I'll be making that 4 things as of tomorrow. Hahahaha!!! Of course he's asked for more money; says he has something else in mind for me. Oh well...

I got some really pretty jewelry from Nikki for Christmas. I posted the pic on my facebook. She got me 3 really nice necklaces with matching earrings. They're so pretty!! I love me some jewelry. Then I got to work and one of my coworkers got me a gift...more jewelry. So I am totally stocked for a while; doesn't mean I won't go out for a spree anytime soon. Girls gotta sparkle, lol

Fun Venting Session

So why is that people say they like "real" people (vs. fake) who tell ya the way it is, but then when you say it the way it is, they get offended. I'm totally not talking about any recent experiences with anyone, I was just thinking about this for some retarded reason today, cause it happens, whether its in church or with friends or family, or whomever. And I like to think that I've become more real here in this last year; I will tell you straight up what I think about something, sometimes not realizing that feelings can get hurt. But I've also come to a better grasp of not caring what people think about me. I guess there's a fine line there; you need to care to some certain extent, but sometimes I could care less.

But I think its so retarded how we have to watch what we say or how we feel about stuff because someone might get offended. Like, get a life, grow up!! LOL, sorry, I'm just..."being real" lol

I guess I just don't understand why we can't just all be honest, real folk and live a fun life, lol, haha, dream thinkin, huh? I'm in a very sarcastic mood today, lol...and very bored right now. Ready to go home and see my babies. Time I'm wasting here, although making money, I could totally be spending with my family. What a waste of precious time...

Caitlyn's Room Done

Caitlyn's room is finished. I wish I'd of taken a BEFORE pic, cause it looks like a totally different room. We've still got
some modern shadow type boxes to put above her bed. The walls are a pretty lavender, but I don't think you can tell in the pic. This is also serving as a guest room since we converted the guest room into a playroom.

Painting Caitlyn's Room

I’ve got paint all over my hands. Doesn’t really go with my dressy work outfit, lol. I’m working on Caitlyn’s room. We bought lavender paint for her walls. We painted her headboard on her bed white, cause it was a really bold red color. Then we bought a purple comforter, 2-shaded, with zebra print sheets and curtains. So far, the room is looking super cute. I just can’t wait to put everything together. I’ve gotten halfway through the wall painting. Hope to finish up tonight or tomorrow night.

I know its totally not a little girls looking room, which I shall soon get criticized for I’m sure, lol, but I found this totally cute Dora comforter but they didn’t have it in full, only twin size, as most kid comforters are. But the ones I found that were available in full size were either ugly or God-awful expensive. I shopped on Friday and all day Saturday only to come out very frustrated, cause I had literally gone to every store that sells bedding and found nothing. So I had to go to Ross and put something together, and that’s what I came up with. So I can’t wait till its all put together. Will post pics soon.

Kitty Cat

So we're trying to find a home for Rain (our cat) and trying to get a replacement kitty for Caitlyn because she LOVES kitties but Rain just won't have anything to do with her. So we went to 3 different homes yesterday to visit some possible replacements, and we fell in love with one of them. She is so precious!! Shawn fell in love first. That cat is all we talked about the rest of the day yesterday, lol... We have 2 other appts in ATL this Friday, so if either of those don't just totally fit more perfect, we'll be going back to Greenville and getting this cat. Isn't she just precious?? And she took to Caitlyn very well...in the little bit they were around each other.

My Day...My Week...My Plans...

So Caitlyn was running a 100 temp last night AGAIN. After 3-4 weeks of constant doctor visits and 3 different medications, we're back to strep again. I'm getting a different opinion this week most definitely. My poor baby girl. So we're thinking about finding a new home for our cat. He doesn't like kids and was a great fit for us before we had Caitlyn, but its just gone down hill the older she gets. But she LOVES kitty cats, so we're looking for a sweet playful cat for her for Christmas. We're looking at pet store and shelters and doing some searching through friends and email. Hopefully we'll find her a new cute little fuzzy friend.

This weekend is Chris and Nikki's house warming. They just bought their new house in October, so we're throwing them a house warming on Saturday. Beautiful home; I love her huge jacuzzi tub. I think we're got all the Friday nights booked there for the next 3 months until I get my tub installed in my bathroom, LOL... No for real though, I'm gonna get my bathtub. Builders should know that woman cannot go without their big bubble bath tubs. It's just a disgrace to not include one of those when building a new home. What a shame, lol.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving dinner at work. Hope its good. It was pretty good last year. Hey, I can't complain about free lunch. We're doing a recipe swap on Friday. I'm making cheesecake bars. I tried them out last weekend to make sure I cooked them good. They were okay. I won't cook them as long this week, so they'll be real moist, yum!

Prayers

So my stepmom is in surgery today. She has constant migraine headaches. She says, "They are going to do a Chiari decompression. Remove some bone for the skull to make room for my big brain. I am just so smart. I am going to get me a shirt that says "To Much Brain to Contain""....and she did get that tshirt, lol. We've checked out risks, and its a pretty safe surgery so she should come out fine. She'll be in the ICU overnight tonight but then they'll put her in a regular room as she recovers.









Then, I found out this morning through a phone call that a guy that I do some freelance work with in Hartwell went in for a routine appointment on Friday and they found 2 blockages around his heart. They told him if he would've went back home, he probably would not have recovered from it. That's scary, and a divine intervention if you ask his wife. She called me to inform me of what was going on this morning. He's been admitted to the hospital in Hartwell, bless his heart, and they're doing emergency open heart surgery today. So we're praying all goes well there.

Sweets, Diets, and Long Suffering...

LOL, so me and Shawn are trying Weight Watchers. Doing pretty good. Except when people take you out to eat at bad, bad places, lol. But anyway, last night at church, one of the ladies made me a peanut butter roll. Why? Because a while back she was telling me about it, and I was like ooo, oooo, I want some. So, she brought it to me last night, unaware that we were trying to be "good." Basically if you've ever had the Reese's eggs at Easter time, it taste pretty close to that. The chocolate is a lot softer than a regular Reese's cup chocolate which makes it TO DIE FOR!! Yes, I ate a little piece. I'm trying to give some away and refrain from inhaling it, lol. And I'll probably end up giving it to the band guys this weekend.

So anyway, I hate when I have such sudden urges to go shopping and totally can't go, lol. That just really stinks! Or either I go anyway and end up in really bad predicaments when its time to pay bills. I find here lately that I have very bad self-control issues. It's harder for me to refrain from spending even when I know I'm not supposed to. What is up with that? It's not fair, lol. It probably won't be a good thing next year when we get our taxes back. I hope I can refrain and be wise with my money. There will definitely be some debts paid off FOR SURE!! But I may save some for some shopping sprees : )

"I Pee My Pants" by Caitlyn Cox

Caitlyn's newest hit!!

Vacation

I can't believe tomorrow is already Friday. This week is going way too fast. But I've gotten to spend some sweet time with my babies, got my hair done, and am now down spending some time with my family. I ordered Nikki's house warming invites and some business cards for myself. Can't wait to see those when they come in. I need to finish some more marketing packets. Anyone need any product?? Business cards, flyers, anything?? : )

It's almost Halloween. Caitlyn was going to be a ladybug, but she meow's everytime I turn around, so we went out and got her a cute little kitty outfit tonight. So she's going to be meowing in her cute little kitty outfit. She'll be so cute! Haven't decided where we're going yet. My neighborhood is pretty boring, plus RPM will be in Atlanta on the 31st. We'll be singing at a crusade down there. We'll figure something out though.

I'm in the 'writing songs' mood but have no keyboard down here. Kinda wanna write some regular songs versus worship songs. Just have this feeling, plus Shawn and I have talked about possibilities for RPM. Anyway, such random thoughts I know. Really tired, I should just go to bed. Okay, goodnight : )

Quote

"To get something you never had, you have to do something you've never done. When God takes something from your grasp, He's not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better. The Will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you."

A friend of mine posted this on their facebook status. I've always heard, "to get something you never had, you have to do something you've never done." Shawn used that religiously in worship at a previous church. But to hear, "when God takes something from your grasp, he's not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better," that really makes sense. I've never thought of it that way, but that's exactly what God does. So many times, we blame God for pulling us away from a comfortable place or removing certian people from our lives, when he has to do that in some cases to take us forward.

"The will of God will never take you where the grace of God will not protect you." I believe his grace is sufficient for all of us, deserving or not. And I cannot be thankful enough that His grace protects me in every situation. It may seem at times that He's not there or He doesn't have his blanket of grace over me, but as invisible as it may seem, it's very visible in His presence.

Random Thoughts

So mom sent me pictures of her area and I've seen some of the damage from the flooding. That is crazy stuff!! I can't imagine. I'd be freakin out if it were ankle deep outside my house. I'd be evacuating quick! Haulin butt outta there, lol. I's worried about mom cause she was at home alone last night and Atlanta was expecting more rain and the picture of her yard looked awful. But I spoke to her today and she's still alive, so I guess everything is fine.

This Saturday, RPM has an event in Atlanta down by the stadium in downtown. Pretty excited about that. We get the stage for almost an hour. Gonna be fun! Anyone who loves to worship and will be around at 4pm, you should drop by Adamsville Recreation Center, 3201 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. Doors open at 3:30pm.

My hubby is cooking pot roast tonight with potatoes, fried green beans, and cornbread. Mmmm....my tastebuds are so ready. 45 more minutes before I can leave work.

Chris and Nikki got their house. They are closing on October 12th. Its a really nice house, even though its further away from us. But we can take a certian highway straight to their house instead of going through all these backroads like we have to now. I told them we'd be over there every weekend to stay so I can use her jacuzzi tub...ahhh, I can't wait to get one of those. We're thinking about doing a major remodel of our master bath and walk-in closet come tax return time. The remodel includes adding a jacuzzi tub, YAY!!! I think I'll be in heaven then, LOL

Have I mentioned that I'm ready to go home?? Well.....I'M READY TO GO HOME!!!!!!!

New Items

So we've really been wanting to finish our basement really bad. We like using it for band practices and stuff because of all the room, and we'll probably incorporate a large den/play area down that could still be used for a practice area, but we would really like it to be living space as well. So! Yesterday, a lady offered on freecycle some carpet, 11x11 ivory colored plush carpet. It's 6 years old and they bought it at Home Depot. She said it was hardly used. That is was in their dining room area but they never used their dining room for eating. They recently decided they wanted to start using their dining room for eating, so she wanted to put down hardwood. So they pulled the carpet up and the cushion part, and I got it!! We brought it in the basement last night, and it looks like its going to cover at least 1/3 of the basement. I think its larger than 11x11. Its huge! And really nice. I can't believe she was giving it away. But of course we went and picked it up at her house and she lives in a very prestigious neighborhood, so she was starving to sell it to make money.

So after picking that up, we met up with a guy and got two bathroom vanity light sets. We're gonna paint them a silver or black color. They're really nice, once they get painted. But I'm gonna keep my eye out. Hopefully, I'll rack up on some other things to finish the basement. It'd be awesome to get it all done for free, lol

Marketing Packets

So I finished my marketing packets today. I've made little packets that include my business card, a Print Quality Sample (a postcard that I had printed from the print company I use to show the quality of paper/print), a sheet introducing myself along with some reviews from several customers, and the last sheet gives pricing for the most popular business printing needs.























I'm hoping to pass these out to several companies, and hopefully they'll see how much they could save on printing, while getting custom design for not much more than what they're paying just for print. It's amazing what some people will pay for sucky print service, while at the same time not being interested in looking at other options. A lot of times, it falls on convenience, its just convenient to take their needs down to the local print shop. But I'm hoping to open some eyes with these packets.

If you know anyone who you think may be interested or who may benefit from better quality printing/design, tell them to check out www.coxdesign.webs.com.

Vacation

I think I need a vacation. I am very exhausted. I'd love to get away for a week to somewhere like the beach or even the mountains to a nice cabin. I need some get-away time right now. Anyway, really random thoughts here, every time we come to Greenville, when Shawn drops me off at work, Caitlyn cries, no mama no, no mama no!!...as we approach my company's street. Breaks my heart to pieces. I'm going to eventually go back to being a stay-at-home mom, maybe starting my own business, I mean just continuing more heavily what I've already started. I enjoy working in the work field, but I miss my baby too much. And she will eventually be going to pre-school and I want to be able to pick her up from school and go to her little class things and events, games. Yes, I think I want to be a soccer mom for a living, lol. Anyway, I know that's a ways away, but as I'm told, it sneaks up on you before you know it.

Thank God we have a 3-day weekend this weekend. I'm gonna rest, maybe do some resting, and probably rest some more, lol. Maybe we'll actually get to hang out with our friends for the first time in like, forever! We used to hang out every weekend, but lately one or the other has had something else to do. Anyway, its almost time to go home and I'm about to fall asleep. I gotta go walk around or something.

My Landscaping

We dug up tons of monkey grass from my moms house this past weekend. After putting all of it in our car, the entire back of the durango was full of monkey grass. We had TONS of it. But we ended up having just enough. I lined both sides of the driveway thicker, cause before, we had a little patch every foot or so, but that just wasn't doing it for me. I wanted it to be completely lined. So I think it looks so much better, not to mention, fuller. And then we continued to line it up the sidewalk to the porch. Of course we gotta clean the driveway now, lol...and lay some grass seed. Living on that hill, the drainage system sucks. All our grass washes down the hill over the driveway. We're working on digging a little trench to reroute the water. But anyway...

Then we lined the little flower bed next to the porch and laid ivy down so I'm hoping it'll reroot itself and grow up that whole area. I've just not known what to do with that little patch since we moved in. So now, if I can get it full of ivy, it'll look nice. That was a lot of hard work; we didn't finish till 10pm last night, but I believe it was well worth it.

Potty

So Caitlyn is doing really good potty training. We went to a friends house last night and she went outside with all the kids and played like a big girl. They even walked down the road of the cul-de-sac and didn't even potty in her pants. She was so big. She's really good at telling me when she's got to go now. We've not mastered the whole "#2" in the potty. Its kinda like she's on one day and off the next. But we got "#1" down pretty good.

My next step is to buy a step stool to put in front of the potty so she can hop up there herself. Then, I'll almost be hands-free, lol. I guess I should get some pull-ups for when we go places like church and anytime we're traveling for longer than an hour. But its such a relief to not have to buy diapers every week or two, especially now that Wal-mart has decreased the number of diapers per box, but kept the price the same. Whatever...

Virginia

We had a blast this past weekend in Virginia with the band. Although I only got maybe 7 hours of sleep the entire weekend, I'm doing pretty good right now staying awake, lol. I don't think I've laughed that hard in several years. It was almost constant humor. Wish we could travel all the time. But we had a lot of fun and enjoyed the "bonding" time with everyone.

We got to play at an outdoor "End of Summer" bash on Saturday. That was pretty fun. We were under a shelter so it wasn't too hot, even though I think the humidity is worse up there than it is here in Georgia. I thought it got better the more north you went. But anyway, we decided to start performing our original stuff instead of mixing it in with cover songs. And this was the first time we actually did this. And it went very well. People loved it. Especially Sunday morning. We went to a church and did their two morning services. They were crazy. They love to worship; that's for sure. I loved it myself. I miss being in that kind of corporate atmosphere. It's different than being in your personal quiet time. I don't know what it is about a bunch of people getting together and worshiping the Lord. Its very powerful. I was crying the whole time; as if that's not usual here lately. God was definitely in the house. But the first service was just overwhelming worship. The second service turned more into a praise fest, lol. I guess the second crowd was awake and ready to go. First crowd was still asleep : )

Anyway, we talked to a guy up there. He came to hear us. He heard us last time we were up and enjoyed it. And he talked to us this time and informed us that he has just been placed in a new spot over KTV video production dept, which is on Dish, Direct TV, etc. as a christian television station. Anyway, he will also be in the recording label division of the organization. And he asked if we were signed. We told him no; that we had looked into it before, but the timing was never right, plus we've just recently narrowed down which direction we want to take as a band. And he said he definitely wanted to contact us when he gets settled in his new position, because he loves our new stuff. So I thought that was pretty cool.

Well, its time to go home.

Swimming

So this is the pool that my sister-n-law got for me for free. She didn't want it because its more a real pool rather than a kiddy pool. I originally wanted the 16' pool for myself, but then she came across this one on the web, someone giving it away for free. And she thought it was smaller, but when she went to pick it up and saw it had chemicals and a filter, she didn't want it. So she gave it to us. I was totally excited. We set it up and I was just happy we had something to get wet in on a hot day. When looking for pools, I was real leary about these easy set pools. They just looked like they'd be hard to work and probably a piece of junk. But I tell ya, this is the best thing, probably better than what we originally wanted in the 16' pool.

It's 10x30, so it's only about 2 feet deep. But its completely perfect for the three of us. I mean, absolutely perfect. Caitlyn can stand up in there and we can sit down and play with her or we can float. I started thinking, I would've had the roughest time with a deeper pool, especially having to hold Caitlyn the whole time, because floaties are good, but they won't keep a child's face out of the water. And Caitlyn's definitly a curious swimmer. So we filled the pool up on Friday night and swam all day on Saturday, I've got a nice lobster burn to prove it, lol, most of it's gone away by now, except my back and my right thigh, lol. But I'd have to say, if this were a purchased product, it would've been the most absolute best purchase we would've made. And I'm glad it worked out this way where it was given to us, because I never even thought to get this small of a pool, or this type of pool. But it is great!! And believe it or not, the water is warm. I guess because its a small pool, the water can warm up faster, plus we have a cover we keep on it. But we can lay in there at night and its so warm. Its great!!

Shawn's Birthday Weekend

Shawn's birthday was on Saturday. We actually did a little thing at the house for him on Thursday; it was just me and his parents. I got him a really cool cookbook; he's Mr. Chef now. He totally loves to experiment in the kitchen; no complaints here. This is why its very important that mothers don't do everything for their sons while they're growing up. Let them do their own laundry, let them learn how to cook...so they can survive when they leave the house, instead of having to figure out how to do everything or being taught right before going to college. Shawn said the other day, if I'd of learned how to cook growing up, I'd of probably gone to culinary school. Oh well... We'll make sure our babies know how to do everything before leaving home : )

So Friday night we went out to the lake. Chris and Nikki had a campsite for the weekend and we sat by the fire and played Texas Hold'em, whatever its called. We goofed off and had some fun. Right when we got there, they called us from the marina and said they'd ran out of gas in the boat and the marina was closed. (I think they're the only ones around that area that sell gas on the lake). But I was like, the marina is closed at 7pm on a Friday night? They're missin out on some money, for SURE. So anyway, we had to go back toward the house and get them, get gas in the boat, and go back to the campsite. We had a lot of fun though.

And Saturday, we got some recording done for Destiny. It sounded pretty good. But then Dustin came down on Sunday and killed it. Oh my gosh, I couldn't believe it. I was actually about to drop one of my songs, just because I couldn't get it sounding right. But after he put his handy dandy touch on it with the electric guitar, that thing sounds awesome!! Shawn says with the guitar on it, it sounds kinda like Katy Perry's new song, Vegas, lol... It rocks, though. We're submitting the album tomorrow to be mixed and mastered, and should get it back end of August. Very excited to hear the final sound. It definitely blows Freedom out of the water, well I guess anything blows Freedom out of the water, lol...

Become my Fan on Facebook

I've finally created a facebook page for my design business. You can access it by going to: www.tinyurl.com/designsbylaurencox. I only need 6 more friends before I can make my address www.facebook.com/designsbylaurencox. I just made the site yesterday, so I guess 94 friends in one day is pretty good. Anyway, check it out and if you have facebook, befriend me please?? And of course, if you need any graphic design, printing, or web design (very minimal; still learning), please do let me know : )

Great Sunday

So we visited this church that is needing a worship leader; their ad pretty much advertised me and Shawn to a "T"...upbeat contemporary praise and intimate worship, 30-45 minutes every Sunday morning, dress casual and relevant, 1.5 hr services, no Sunday night services (hallelujah), etc. So we were like, we're just gonna pop in on Sunday morning and check it out before we inquire about the position. Cause usually if you call and let them know your interested and that your coming, they pull out all the bells and whistles on ya, and we just wanted to see the real deal. So we got there 30 minutes early, not planned, so we sat in the parking lot and pretty much created our own pictures of what we thought service might be like, and what queus we'd walk out on, lol. You know first impressions, they're always bad, lol. So we were a little nervous as people were pulling up, not to mention the church is not exactly on the main highway. You know those boondock churches; they can be a little scary at first thought. So anyway, at 10:30am, we got out and headed in.

To our surprise, everyone was sooo nice. They were right; everyone dresses down. I didn't go in my pajamas like I told Shawn I was going to do originially. I actually dressed up a little. But anyway, as soon as we walked in, it felt like home again. We haven't felt at home in a church for a long time. And I think everyone knows by now that if the church passed my expectations, it must be a pretty dern good church, lol. But we had people walk up to us as soon as we sat down. It was good, almost too in our space, but it was good : ) ...then praise and worship started. The current worship leader is really good; he can SANG. He led by guitar, and the praise team can SANG...they're "Brad/Kendall" good, lol. And the band was off the chain, to me anyway. And it was LOUD in there. And you know we like it loud, but I was like oh my gosh, it's loud. But nobody seemed to care; I didn't know that world existed anymore, where nobody cared. They just worshipped. I kinda almost think it was a dream, lol. Oh, and the current worship leader is leaving to pursue his calling in youth ministry.

After worship, they did a little prayer at the altar which was cool. A couple people came up for prayer. Then the speaker came up. And he did an illustrated sermon...I LOVE ILLUSTRATED SERMONS. Otherwise, I get A.D.D. real quick and I end up thinking about lunch, or Shawn, or take out my novel and start reading. I can actually tell you what he talked about. The title of the sermon was "Change is Growth...or is it?" He had an electrolux vacuum talking about taking it to the store cause the cord was messed up. Anyway...he went on and on. But the point that really jumped out at me was he gave reasons why people don't do what they say they'll do (cause the vacuum man said he could fix the vacuum but knew he really couldn't and tried to make something work that really didn't work after all). The two reasons he gave for people basically not keeping their word...that stuck out to me was, they have integrity issues, or they're just pure liars. That's such a great point. And then they didn't do an altar call; they have different people speak each week off this elder board thing (that's how the church is set up) so its not so monotonous and the same person speaking all the time. And the guy that spoke yesterday pretty much taught instead of yelling. I really liked that; I feel like I could follow him better. Oh, and their media was totally cool too. As soon as the first song started, they had a video playing on the screen, you know like some churches play constant random videos that go along with the song. It was through the whole set; it was totally cool.

So anyway, after all my blabbing, we talked to the guy in charge of inquiries for the position after service, and they seemed very interested and really liked the fact that Shawn and I are a husband/wife team that work together with the praise and worship, that we both lead, etc. We were involved with a conference call with their board last night, and we have a meeting in two weeks with them. So we'll see.

My Sweet Hubby

So usually Shawn cooks a great dinner for me when I come home from work; I've always told him he missed his calling. He should have been a chef. He cooks so good and he can create beautiful, delicious dinners out of nothing. I would walk in the kitchen and be like, there's nothing to eat in this house. And he'll just throw something out and its always the BOMB!!

So last night I walked in and he had cleaned the house, which is normal, and had candles lit everywhere and a beautiful gourmet looking meal sitting on the table. It was great!! I have a picture below to show some of "his work," lol. It was as delicious as it looked. Mmm...I could go for some more right about now.

Green Peanuts, Water Aerobics, Pics & Crusades

So we went searching for green boiled peanuts yesterday after me and mom went to water aerobics. That was fun; never done that before. But anyway, Wal-mart was out. We ended up finding some at Publix. I freaked out when we found them cause I been craving some real boiled fresh green peanuts. So that's what I've been eating for the last 2 days : )

We're headed off to the concert in the park in downtown Woodstock tonight. A band called Shanendoah is going to be there. I hear they're pretty big, but I've never heard of them. Sam says their a girl band. That should be interesting. But we're all taking the girls, and mom and dad will be there. So it should be fun.

This morning we had a breakfast meeting with a pastor out of Atlanta that's from Nigeria. He wants RPM to be his house band for monthly crusades he's hosting starting in September. He has already booked a 2000 seat auditorium in Atlanta until Dec. 2010, and has already signed a contract with several radio stations. I may be doing some advertising for him as well. So we're pretty excited about that. But before we left this morning, mom did a photo shoot with me, Shawn and Caitlyn. The pictures are so cute!! Below is one that she's already edited. She's still working on them right now, but they'll soon be on my facebook for everyone to see, yay! We really needed some new family pics, so she did a really great job, as always!!

Gas

I'm totally glad gas prices are starting to come back down, or at least around here. I went to NC this past weekend and the prices were still around $2.50. The cheapest we saw it was in Gaffney at $2.13, and it's $2.21 in Greenville (at Exit 44). But we weren't dare stopping in Gaffney even for 8¢ cheaper gas. If you've not heard, there's a serial killer lose in Gaffney just randomly shooting people; 5 people are already down. I heard something on the radio this morning mentioning the serial killer, but I couldn't understand if they caught him or if they found him and he shot himself; it really didn't make sense. So anyway, be careful in Gaffney. But I'm excited I can start taking my Durango back to work, as long as gas continues to go down. It's not fun having no air condition in the middle of summer trying to look pretty going to work and going to work out on your lunch break. Getting back in the car from working out and sweat running everywhere. No one's said anything at work about me smelling unless they're just really nice, lol, so I guess I'm okay.

Charlotte

What a difference in temperature from GA to NC. We woke up this morning and Shawn wanted to walk down to the lake and fish a little. It was around 7:30 and I was like, no, it'll be hot. Well, we ended up going down there anyway and it was freezing. We went uptown a little while ago and it was still cool. I can walk outside for 2 seconds in GA and I start sweating. So it's been pretty nice. We're about to go out on the pontoon and swim a little bit. Then tonight, we gonna drive up to Mooresville. They're having something for the 4th, some fireworks and kids stuff going on. There's gonna be a band in downtown Davidson, might go to that too. Anyway, I'm hoping we get to go to the pool tomorrow. Believe it or not, I've been swimming in oceans and lakes this summer, but no pools. Oh, I'm having pool withdrawels. We were thinking about getting a pool a couple weeks ago, but some things have changed in our life and I think we're going to wait on the pool, atleast for now anyway.

Well, everyone's ready to go to the lake. I gotta go get my swimsuit on. See ya!!

Great Deal on Business Cards

Trying to get a business off the ground. Got a great deal going on for two weeks- can't beat it for the quality!! Spread the word if you know anyone interested. What I do is custom design business cards to the business or individual. I can make it as crazy modern or traditional and professional as desired. Then I send them to print where the cards are printed on high UV gloss stock paper which is the highest professional gloss you can receive. I don't print them myself; I use a non-local company that prints mass production all over the world so they're able to give extremely low prices when it comes to printing. Then they ship them directly to me; everything including complete custom design, print, and shipping can be done in less than 2 weeks. Offer ends July 15th. www.coxdesign.webs.com

This Weekend

So we went out on the boat yesterday with Chris and Nikki; was concerned whether Caitlyn was going to like it or not. She did fine though. She loves her some water, so she was dying to get out and swim. She'd jump in if I'd let her. We're thinking about going ahead and doing some swimming lessons as soon as this month if they're still enrolling. She's definitely a fish. But anyhow, Chris was so upset cause they had just bought the boat Friday night and everything looked great, but after getting it on the lake Saturday morning, it wouldn't go into gear; it'd just shut off. His dad looked at it and they concluded that because it sat in the dude's yard this summer, the gas that was in it is dirty or something, so they're having to run all that bad junk out. But man, will that thing fly. We had a blast. Me, Nikki and Caitlyn got out on the water and did some swimming while Shawn and Chris propped the umbrella up on the boat and gave me scares every 5 minutes as they were watching the fish finder thats on the boat. They were like, "Wow there's a big fish!" I know its just a lake, but I'm scared somethings going to eat me. But I have no problem getting in the ocean where all the sharks, sting rays and jelly fish are...go figure.

So I did end up being able to come down to Atlanta this weekend. I drove down here this morning and went to church with my mama. Preacher talked about F3 airplanes or something. Force, Fuel, and Flow were his points. Caitlyn wouldn't go to the nursery, so she stayed in the service with me and went through my purse, drew some, and hopped from my lap, to nana's, to pawpaw's. We went and ate some yummy mexican and now everyone is knocked out...but me, and Miss "I never want to take any naps" (AKA: Caitlyn). We're going over to my brother's house tonight to make homemade pizzas and let the girls play. I'm gonna run by Barnes and Noble first. Think I'm gonna get me a workbook on how to learn to make websites. I sware, anything to do with Graphic Design doesn't mean anything if you don't know web design. If I ever want to pursue my career any further in Graphic Design, I have got to learn the web stuff. Plus there's good money in that. And my brother's working on getting me the programs I need to pursue this mission : ) Good luck to me.

Bunch of Stuff

Chris and Nikki are buying them a boat. Might go out on it this weekend. I really wanted to go to Atlanta to see my family, but the pile of crap that's been adding up to my plate this week seems to be preventing that. Weekends need to be longer as well; especially for those who have Sunday duties. I found out a couple weeks ago that Jordan, my step-brother had to start going to school on Saturdays as make-up snow days. Like who invented that rule?? That's the craziest thing I had ever heard in my life. School on Saturday?? That's called "the weekend," the "resting time." That's just stupid. Anyway...

I'm really tired today. I'm glad today is Friday. Got some more business this week, so that's good. I did a logo and a business card for a construction and grading company in Greenville. And I'm working with an elementary school in Greenville on some different print projects. And came up with a logo for a new ministry Shawn is wanting to start. Don't know what I think about the ministry, kinda emotional about it, but I'm along for the ride I assume. So those were the highlights of my crazy week. If you haven't seen my website I made, check it out at www.coxdesign.webs.com. It shows a lot of my work, templates I make and sell, and a blog. It's not a spectacular website, but atleast it shows my work and gets me business.

Well...maybe the weekend will bring better days than this week...

Father's Day

Caitlyn drew daddy a card and went and grabbed her smiley face balloon to give to him as if that was her personal gift to him : ) It was cute. Father's Day was such a draggy day for us. Came home from church and went straight to bed...for pretty much the rest of the evening. Gosh we were tired. I even forgot to call my parents, what a bad daughter I am. I thought my forgetfulness was getting better...apparently not. NO I'm not pregnant again.

New Website

So I'm trying to get a website started for my graphic design work. It's not the best thing in the world, but at least it displays my work and offers it to the public. Let me know what you guys think...and sign my guestbook.

Click here to visit my website.

Chiropractor - Part 2

So I can't believe it worked. No wonder they get paid so much money. I woke up this morning and jumped right out of bed. I couldn't believe it. I thought surely it'd still hurt for a couple days while it was getting better, but no, it totally fixed it. That's so cool!! Guess I'll just have to start watching what I do now that I'm apparently getting old...er, so I don't hurt myself.

So this weekend I'm singing at a funeral for a friend we used to go to church with. I'm singing Part the Waters/I Need Thee by Selah. Very pretty song. Hopefully Shawn will be finished making my soundtrack by the time I get home from work. We found this program where you can insert songs and take the lead vocals out to make your own soundtrack, and you can also insert a song and change the key to whatever key you want. Totally awesome FREE program. But he's actually recording a custom soundtrack for me, then going to go in and lower the key for me : ) After the funeral, we're going to go to some part of Lake Russell with Chris and Nikki and go swimming, FINALLY! I've been dying to go swimming here lately. Maybe its cause I've driven the Honda to work lately which has no air condition, so by the time I get home in this 90 degree weather, I'm sweating to death. It's a shame Lake Hartwell is so nasty, or I'd just walk down the hill and jump in. Why we chose to live on Lake Hartwell, I don't know. Without having a boat, its pretty useless. Working on the boat thing...

Chiropractor

So I went to the chiropractor today at the gym. Lately, I can't lay on my back or my stomach for longer than 30 minutes including when I go to bed at night, or I will not be able to move. My lower back feels like its turned into concrete. I feel like an old woman trying to get out of bed, moving inch by inch. So the doctor dude lays me on that little table thing and looks at me, feels around on my back, plays with my feet, and pops my back in several places (gosh I forgot how tense that is). Then he's like, have you ever gotten this done before, and I'm like yeah yeah, but its been a long time. All of a sudden, he raises the table under my pelvis. And I'm like, okay, whatever. Bam!! That table jumped!! Scared me half to death! Now I ain't ever had that done. It was something to do with popping or straightening my lower lower back, like my butt. Anyhow, he said I was pretty out of wack. But he said it should fix it; just to take it easy the rest of the day. Maybe I'll sleep good tonight.

Last Night

Here's a video of one of the songs we did in downtown Athens last night. We had a lot of fun! It's always a blessing to be able to feed homeless people and minister to them.

Playing in Athens tonight

So RPM will be playing in Athens tonight, Tent City, for a big homeless shelter thing. It's called Walk on Water Ministries I think, and they feed over 150 homeless people twice a week. They bring in bands or praise teams and people to speak before feeding them. Sounds pretty cool. We've got a cool line up; its gonna be awesome. So if your anywhere around Athens tonight, come see us. It's somewhere downtown Athens, back past the Classic Center going away from the UGA campus. We'll be on the street playing so you won't miss us I'm sure : ) Starts at 6:30 p.m. I'm taking my camera/video so I'm sure I'll be posting something soon.

Rain Rain Rain

I think we must be catching up for the lack of rain the last couple of years. I don't know if your near me, but its not quit raining here. Well, it'll be beautiful for a little bit, but then its back to thunderstorms and lots of rain.

Last night, we were in Greenville and headed home around 9:30pm. It was ugly outside, I tell ya. Well once we were 1 mile on the road, I swear we were seeing a tornado. It was right over the trees and it was huge. You could see when the lightening hit it, the clouds were dipped down like a funnel would be. It may not have really been one, but it sure looked like it and the wind had crazily picked up. So Shawn floored it after passing a cop, go figure, and we got outta there. No, we didn't get stopped. The cop was in front of us and had pulled over to turn around. So we floored it after that. But we passed an awful wreck. There's a part on the interstate that is obviously floodable, and there was a small section that was flooded, and anyone passing through at normal interstate speeds would go flying. There were like 3-4 cars over in the ditch because they had hit that water. It was bad. I'm glad we slowed down. That was really dangerous.

I tell ya, I love watching storms from my window at home or front porch or garage, but not in the car. Its kinda scary. But anyway, I'm not complaining about all this rain, cause Lake Hartwell is almost filled back up after being so low for so long. I know alot of homeowners are very happy right now, especially those whose docks have been burried in mud for the last two years. And we can actually walk down to the lake and fish without having to wrestle with weeds and stuff. I can't wait to walk down there to see how high the water has come : )

I'm tired...

OMG, I did not want to get out of bed this morning for work. I think I hit the alarm a total of 8 times, and managed to only be about 10 minutes late. I'm starting to regret changing my holiday to the Friday before my week long vacation. Since I work on the BILO account but am actually employed by another company, our holidays are different. We receive Memorial Day off but BILO doesn't, so between the 6 of us, we have to split up and some have to work on the holiday. So I took my holiday Friday before last so we could leave early for vacation. Whooo, I'm tired.

Looks like I might be starting back up leading worship. I did it for a little while last year, but kinda quit, cause its so easy to just let Shawn do it, lol. But he's going to be helping the youth start up a jam up youth band on Wednesday nights now, while I possibly take the adult congregation. I did it Wednesday before last cause Shawn couldn't be there, and I wasn't expecting to lead, I was just asked at the last moment. After freaking a little, I did it. And weirdly enough, it was nice, kinda refreshing. I think there's a calling for me to do that cause everytime I do it, its like very fulfilling in a way, but its just getting over the fear of being in front of people. And I guess for those that saw me at Restoration, you probably thinking, she gets nervous? But YEAH, in all reality, I enjoy being behind the scenes more than on stage, but I love to sing and can never get away from it, so I'm still struggling in what this voice is supposed to be doing. I laugh when people are like, you should try out for American Idol. That's how you know they don't know much about singing, lol. I ain't that good and don't even desire such a spotlight. So I don't know. I know what I would love to do, but it would have to be a complete God thing for it to come to pass. I still believe dreams can come true. And maybe one day it will.

Vacation to the Bahamas

Our vacation was great! We went on a cruise to the Bahamas. We first spent the weekend in Daytona beach where we stayed with Chris/Nikki's Aunt. We got to lay on the beach and do some fun stuff there. Then we headed to Port Canaveral to board our ship. The first day we were supposed to go to Cococay which is a private island exclusive to Royal Carribean cruise lines, but they had to push it off to Thursday because they said weather was going to be bad. So we went on to Nassau. Nassau is nice, but its very commercialized. Kinda reminded me of when I went to Israel. But there are lots of parts that are beautiful, such as in the image above. This was a beach exclusive to the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, a small island that connects to Nassau. We toured the hotel; they have a casino, shopping, and a nice aquarium inside the hotel. Very nice.

We attempted Cococay on the last day of our cruise, and they said weather was still bad, so we didn't get to go there at all. But it was beautiful on the ship, so we're guessing they were running out of fuel and didn't wanna stop at another island, lol.

I sware I almost died in the taxi cab. Dude don't know how to drive. Well...none of them know how to drive there. It was crazy! Oh, and I couldn't find one last american on that boat, employee that is, that could tell me how I could watch the finale of american idol on the ship. I couldn't believe no one knew what I was talking about. Where are all those 80 million people that vote on that show?? Not on my cruise boat. So needless to say, I missed the finale. But I figured Chris would win, even though Adam sings rings around him. Christian/gay issue or not, its a singing competition. Oh well.

I missed Caitlyn so much. I believe next years trip will include some kiddy activities so Caitlyn can go. I thought I may have been sea sick on the boat to begin with, but I was just Caitlyn-sick. I did not want to leave her. So I was glad to get back and see her again. Or maybe it was that my mom made me sign a death release in case we died. I was so nervous for the first day on that cruise...thought I was gonna die, lol... The last day, we went through some storms that evening and the boat was so rocky. I wish you all could see the video Nikki took of the pictures on the wall going back and forth. It was hilarious, but not to Chris, he was running back and forth to the bathroom. Poor thing : )

Mother's Day

I hope all the mother's had a HAPPY Mother's Day! I had a pretty good one myself. I didn't have all the special treatment and stuff, but I wasn't really home. I went down to see my mom and go to church with her on Sunday. I haven't done that since I lived at home. So it was kinda nice to get to spend that special day with her. We went to go get pedicures after church, before meeting at my brother's for lunch, but they were packed (if you can believe that) : ) So we just shopped around and left to go eat.

I got to shop at my favorite place again, the America's Thrift Store. They need to make more of those stores. You get so used to shopping at places like that where a shirt cost $2 to where you can't even shop off the Wal-mart clearance rack anymore cause its too expensive, lol, guess I'm spoiled. But I got me lots of jewelry and some cute pants. I also went to this place in my town that takes clothes (any season) and gives you store credit. There, I got a formal cruise dress. It is sooo cute. It's spaghetti strap and v-neck black with a hot pink strip thing underneath the tata's, and from there down it's silk zebra striped. OMG, it's too cute. And if I could just figure out how to get an image from my phone to the computer, I'd upload one so you could see, but I'm not that technically advanced : P

But we have 4 more days till cruise time, well, Daytona Beach time, then the cruise on Monday. I so can't wait. I'm gonna start packing tonight so I'm sure to not forget anything.

Grandparents

It's occasionally been said that grandkids don't really know their grandparents if they live far away from each other, and they never develop that close relationship that they would if they were together all the time. This is kinda true, but Caitlyn did something the other night that I just about cried when she did it. She doesn't get to see her Nana (my mom) as much as I'd like, but I had her up on her changing table putting her pajamas on, getting her ready for bed. And right above her head is some photo albums, books, lotion, etc. on a shelf. Well, she grabbed a really old photobook, those you get from Wal-mart when you get pictures developed. The picture showing through the top is a picture of me and mom when I's probably 12. She started getting really excited saying, "Nana, Nana, Nana..." She's been gradually recognizing family through pictures and such that we try to keep before her. And now it's paying off.

She's growing up so fast, and its just hard to watch her get bigger. She's officially not my baby anymore. She won't let me hold her in my arms like she used to. I have to fake a cry to get her to feel sorry for me and come hug/kiss me. Yeah...I do that quite often. But I think this is where moms start to get baby fever again cause they want that baby close in their arms. Don't worry, no baby fever here. But I mean, she's potty training; she'll soon be in cute little Dora underwear, walking around like a big girl, going to the potty by herself (well, almost). We gonna teach that "wiping" thing REAL quick...LOL...cause that's just gross : )

Potty Training and Jobs

So we keep attempting to start the whole potty training thing. We have come to the conclusion that it takes more dedication from the parent than it does the child. But Caitlyn is so smart; I think if we could just dedicate one week to it, she'd be trained. Because she already knows the concept of the potty, let's us know when she's already gone potty in her pants, go figure, and she doesn't like to be in a dirty or wet diaper. So maybe sometime soon, we'll be trained : )

I've gotten several calls in the last few weeks acquiring about some design work, one of which is a photography studio who needed a logo, in which I just completed. I met with the owner last night to find out she does all the photography for the county high school including boosters, sports, seniors, etc, amongst other schools as well, I believe. I'm also about to do several business cards for her as well as brochures and business forms. I also just got a call from a design studio in Hartwell wanting me to come on part-time doing some work there, that I can do from home. This is all very nice considering I want some extra money to go cruise shopping. Speaking of which, two and a half more weeks till we cruise off. Yay!!

This morning, a radio show I was listening to was talking about the swine flu, and this woman called in talking about how she was about to visit Disney World and the Bahamas and she was freaking out because of the swine flu thing. I was very confused as to how Mexico and the Bahamas was related...until she spoke up and said, "I'm not sure where the Bahamas is down there but I'm gonna get on google and figure out where it is in proximity to Mexico." That just gave me a little laugh; I figured she didn't know what she was talking about. Another woman called, guess she's a nurse or works in some kind of medical field; she agreed with the talk show host that people are making too much of a big deal about the swine flu. She said there's several confirmed cases, but if you look at "some m word" (some condition she mentioned), she said over 90,000 people have died from it, and no one made a big deal about that. So she said, the media is just making too big a deal out of this. I hope she's right. I got my hand sanitizer in my purse : P

Crazy Crazy Deal FOR YOU!!!

If you are reading this, I've got something for you that no one else knows about, and you have first dibs on this crazy deal : )

As long as weather is as currently forecast, Clear Creek Images which is based out of Atlanta, will be in Lavonia this Saturday only (April 18), doing 30-minute photo shoots for families, couples, pets, children, prom, ministry or senior portraits, etc. at a crazy ridiculous price that you can't find anywhere!! So if you've been needing some updated photos done, here's your chance that you don't want to miss!!!

Take a look at the advertisement below (click on it to view it larger and make it readable) and check out the packages that will be offered. If you know anyone who may be interested, forward this email to them. This is a 1-time deal only and space is limited, so if you'd like to reserve an appointment or have any questions, you can call me at 706-498-1059 or CCI directly at 678-494-5575 and mention code: Lavonia. Also feel free to check out CCI's website at www.clearcreekimages.com.

Don't Miss Out!!

Getting ready for the Recording

So we're getting ready for our live recording April 24th. And Shawn and I spent last Saturday making practice cd's for the band in our basement studio, of the songs we're gonna do for the recording. There was one song that I wrote on the way to work about 2 weeks ago, that we're going to end the album with. It's gonna be rockin that whole night, but then we gonna bring it down to this last song; it's gonna be acoustic with a vocal duet with me and Emily.

Shawn doctored the practice version from the weekend that we did so we could put it up as a preview on our RPM myspace. The song is called, Faded Down. Feel free to visit our myspace to listen to it. It's just a real slow and worshipful song.

www.myspace.com/rpmworship

There is a God

Click on the picture to enlarge

So I think I was gonna cry last night if Megan Joy didn't get voted off last night on American Idol. To think that show is such a big deal in the music world and some of our best singers come off that show, I was just so upset that she was even in the top 9. So I'm glad she's gone : ) I got to enjoy my new DVR last night. We got home around 10:30 and watched American Idol with no commercials, then LOST right after that, just zoomed through them. It was nice!

So everyone's liking the new RPM look. I really like the picture above. I just did some playing around with the pretty red background. We were originally outside in downtown Lavonia while it was raining when this pic was took, but ya wouldn't know it I don't guess. We're scheduled to get more pics done April 18th with the whole band. We're missing our guitarist in this photo. He's new to the group, and he is phenomenal. We are so siked!! I'm training to run sound, yeah...can you believe that one??...and I ran sound last night while Shawn led from the bass guitar, our new guitarist played lead, and then we had a drummer. It sounded crunk in the house...if I can say so myself...lol. I've always wanted to run sound, but Shawn would never let me. Finally, the drummer said something last night to Shawn about me running sound, and Shawn was like, okay, jump up there. So that was a really fun adventure!!

So I don't get it...

So really, what's the deal with Megan on American Idol? Like, I thought this was a singing competition. I don't understand why she's on there. I tried cleaning out my ears in the case that maybe I'm not hearing something right. She awful!! Why is she still on the show? How'd she even GET on the show?? I'm really confused. I could understand if she had some kind of challenge like the blind dude where everyone feels sorry for you so they continue to vote for you. But I mean, COME ON!! What's the deal?? Does anyone have any kind of explanation? Can anyone help me out here?

DISH Network

So as long as Shawn and I have been married, we've never had real TV. Was just never a priority I guess. We didn't have anything; telephone, internet, TV, etc. Well, after 3 years of marriage, we decided we were gonna get internet, so we did. And we loved it, I mean, who can live without the internet? Ya know?...lol... Now, its been 5 years of marriage, OMG, can't believe that, and we have finally gotten TV. DISH was out at our house yesterday hooking up everything, gettin it workin. Once everything was complete, Shawn turned it on Barney, and Caitlyn went absolutely nutts. Of course he was too amused to go grab the video camera. Then Barney started singing his signature song, "I Love You, You Love Me..." and Caitlyn started swaying back and forth singing along. Too precious. I could only hear her cause I's on the phone with Shawn. It was cute! I think she must get her Barney infatuation from me; I was in love with him until I's like 12 years old...lol

And now, when we're gone through the week every week, I don't have to miss my favorite shows anymore and get ruined when my brother sends me an email telling me what happens on LOST after each episode. I'm totally excited!! For those of you who are like, "get a grip, its just TV," try not having yours for 5 years and having to work with those crazy rabbit ears, and you'll understand where I'm at : )

My Beautiful Birthday Ballerina

Let's Play Catch Up...

Mom was sick last weekend with that flu/stomach thing that's going around, so pics got canceled for the 2nd time in a row. But we're scheduled to do them this Saturady after Caitlyn's birthday party. We're doing pics for RPM and personal family pics. I'll post some next week sometime.

So Caitlyn will be 2 years old this Sunday. I can't believe it!! Time goes by so dern fast. She's started talking and communicating quite well with her words, and I'm assuming it doesn't slow down any from here...lol...or from what I've been told. Someone told me once, "Once they start talking, they never shut up." I'm finding this to be a true statement. But Caitlyn's so precious when she sings. I'll sneek a peak around my shoulder in the car while we're riding, the music loud, she's back there swaying her head, moving her hands, and really emphasizing the words she singing...the most beautiful thing a mother can experience. I'm loving these new precious moments I've been experiencing with her. I saw myself in her for the first time last night. Just a glimpse of a look she gave me (not a bad one, just in passing), I was like, that's me...she does look like me afterall...lol

Things are so good for our family right now...of course I'm hesitant to say such, as something always goes wrong it seems, but I finally feel like we have a grip on everything now, our direction, our finances, it all. Its a nice easy-going feeling, and a relief to finally be able to breath after living on the edge for over a year now. I never thought we would pay off our debt so quick, and we haven't paid it all, but a lot of it is GONE! Yay!!

So we finally found a good hair stylist. We always enjoy going to HairWaves in Royston cause they do such a good job, but they're so expensive compared to our easier visit to Wal-mart's hair shop. But its been crazy the last few times we've gone to Wal-mart...they just can't get our hair right (we don't have the easiest 'hair-do's) and they don't seem to have been updated to the skill of texturizing. So anyway, we found out Sunday that the drummer's wife is a hair stylist. She so hooked us up after church. Shawn needed a cut so bad, and I mean REALLY bad. So she made us look good. She works at Great Clips as the assistant manager, and she's really awesome, plus its not expensive at all...from here on out - she graciously cut ours for free on Sunday : )

So I'm excited, Saturday is Caitlyn's birthday party. All her grandma's and papa's are coming and several close friends. It'll be fun and her cake is so precious. It's Barney-themed without Barney actually being on the cake. So its purple and green and just really cute. It's $4 more to put a little plastic Barney on the cake....whatever! I's like, just make it look like the cake, no plastic Barney thats gonna get chunked in the toybox as soon as we get home : )

Pics This Weekend

So our pictures are actually this weekend. Since we got rained out last weekend, we're gonna go down to ATL this weekend and hopefully get them done. With my newly lost 7 lbs from being sick, my outfits fit even more nicely. I have two outfits I'm so excited about and I wish I had a camera that would allow me to put pics I've taken on the computer, like sending them instead of using a cord and all that extra stuff. 

But you know those new vested tees are coming out for girls. They're like little vests that you put over a button up or a graphic t-shirt. Yeah, I finally found one, been looking. Its gray pin-striped with light pink, black and white grungy type stuff on one corner. Cute, cute, cute! And my other outfit is a red jacket that comes to my mid-thigh. It buttons all the way up and ties at the waist. Very adorable. I wish I had pics to post. All worn with black pants of course. Not small enough to look good in jeans yet : )  

Oh, and Shawn's gonna look good as always. But hopefully, I'll be able to post a few pics Saturday night, or maybe Monday. Can't wait!!!

Sick of being Sick

So I woke up Saturday morning with what I thought was just an overgrown feeling of hunger. My body is so used to getting up at God-awful hours to go to work, and I usually eat a little something, but I was able to sleep in for the first in quite some time. So we had to make a Wal-mart run in the nasty rain, grabbed Zaxby's on the way, and I couldn't even eat my whole meal. Now that's not normal, Zaxby's is like almost my favorite. I decided to go ahead and grab some medicine at Wal-mart after checking my temp of 100.0. Did you know that they do not make chewable tablets for adults with cold/flu? What a crock! Not everyone has accrued the wonderful talent of swallowing pills ya know. So Shawn found me some Zicam liquid that says its virtually tasteless when mixed with your choice of drink.

So as excited as I was about my new medicine, we get home, I pour my sprite, mix in my glorious Zicam in which I figure we're going to be best friends for the next couple days, take my first swig, and up and out it came. I don't know who did their test taste, but it definitely was not someone with taste buds. They need to re-evaluate that again; and I'd love to be their test-taster. So needless to say, I just went through a terrible flu/stomach virus/whatever you wanna call it without any medication.

Besides about passing out twice on Sunday morning, I got me some good rest, and had to regretfully use a sick day from work on Monday. I need my sick days for doctors appts, that's another story in itself. But I'm feeling a little better. Still a little nauseated, but other than that, my trips to the bathroom are narrowing.

"Save The Date"

I made this "Save The Date" for a coworker of mine. I think it's cute!! The date is incorrect as much as Tarsha probably wish it were correct. Matthew can't seem to figure out the "getting on one knee" thing.

Time for New Pics

I'd say its about time for some new pics. We were going to get some done by my mama this weekend, but ya know its supposed to rain : ( so that got canceled.

My mom is starting up her own photography business, Clear Creek Images by Linda Scott. It's about time! She's so dern good at taking pictures. I've never taken Caitlyn to get pictures done. Mom's always done them. And in fact, I've never really gotten my pictures taken cause she's always done better than an actual photographer could do. So if anyone needs a photographer, I can totally hook you up. She's like the best!! Oh, she didn't take the picture above, obviously, cause its not that good. I posed that and had someone else snap it real quick. We kinda washed out...lol

Debt going down, going down, going down...

So I'd say its about time we got a breakthrough to be able to pay off some big debt. And that is what we just did this weekend. We were able to pay off 3 really large debts that have been hovering over us for the last year. That huge weight was hard to carry, as any debt is, but when the load gets too large to carry and its almost choking you, its very nice to be able to breath again. I think its so airing that I'm going to be able to set up a budget to pay off our new little Honda and our last credit card in a matter of just a few months. Then, besides our education loans, we'll be pretty much free of unnecessary debt...besides our house and Durango of course. Whooo...

We also reserved our cruise this last weekend. Heck yeah!! Going to the Bahamas in May!! I'm so very excited, can't wait to see that crystal clear water. Always wanted to go, and the rate we got is just, OMG crazy!!! In a matter of us checking last minute rates on Saturday before we booked, the price on one of the cruises we were looking at dropped $50 within a matter of 15 minutes; we couldn't believe it, so you better believe we got on the phone and booked that thing.

See the Snow??

She didn't know what to think about the snow at first. I tried to get her to pick up some and throw it at daddy, but she wouldn't. I did though : )

I tried to sled down the hill with Caitlyn like you see at the top, but she just wouldn't have it. Wish you could see the video. I tried to upload several videos on here, but they wouldn't play when I published them.

Pics from the Circus

These are the pictures from when the Barnum and Bailey circus clowns and actors came to my work. Sorry its taken so long to post pics : )

She's eating the red pop-on nose that the clowns were giving out. Yum...the taste of new plastic...lol

What a Weekend

Wow, we had a crazy weekend!! And boy did the snow come down!!! It was beautiful. I'm gonna post some pics of us later this week. Shawn's parents took Caitlyn Sunday morning at church cause she had been sick all weekend. I think its just her sinuses, but I'm not sure. But she chunked up everywhere right before we got to church. I spent the whole service cleaning out her carseat, and the car...in the rain...lol... It was lovely. But anyway, so Shawn and I couldn't head home until about 5:00 Sunday evening which the snow following the rain began heavily at 4:15 where we were at. We got on the road, and let me say, there sure are some idiots out there. Either they think they can drive in snow that they've obviously never seen, or they're trying to take advantage of their car insurance.

We were driving really slow on the interstate where only one lane was clear from traffic continuously traveling on it, while other idiots were trying to create their own lanes around us. Those were the ones we were afraid of. Slippin and slidin everywhere. I don't know where DOT was, but I think they slept through their afternoon nap alarm, cause the single lane that was created on the interstate consisted of the white line going down the center of our car...lol... Whoever created that lane was just driving wherever, but we were following. Anyhow, so we made it as far as Anderson by 6:30 and couldn't go any further. Those of you who know where we live, it was obvious going any further was useless. Our subdivision is so hilly, there's no way we'd of gotten past the first hill before our road, much less our own road and driveway.

So we stopped in Anderson at a hotel and walked next door and ate at Fatz Cafe. Never been there. That was really good...yum. Watching the heavy snow fall out the window, it was romantic : ) We would've played in it, but my heels from church weren't a match for that activity. I barely made it back to the room without busting my rear. But the next morning, we had to check out at 11, so we attempted our drive home. The roads weren't too bad, but they weren't very nice. We hit that first hill before our road and Shawn's breaks locked up. That was fun. And when we approached our driveway, we realized it was completely frozen over, so we had to park at the bottom of the hill and walk up the steep yard. At least we had power though...yay! So we played in the snow. Used Caitlyn's dollhouse roof to do some sledding. I'll try to post a video also this week so ya'll can see. It'll definitely be on facebook. It was hilarious, although Caitlyn didn't enjoy it too much...lol

Motley Crue Concert Experience

How do you know that you're behind and stale? You go to something that's comparable to what you do and you watch. Yesterday, Lauren got free tickets through her work for the Motley Crue concert at the BI-LO Center last night. Motley Crue makes no bones about it - they're a satanic worship group. And those of you reading this know we are worship leaders also; we're just on the other side. So I quickly jumped at the chance of going. Once there, I was really uncomfortable. Especially during their hit song, Shout at the Devil. Let me say, Motley Crue didn't come on till 9pm so for the 3 hours prior, the bands were decent. But what started out to be a heavy metal concert turned into a satanic worship environment in less than 3 seconds. From the pentagrams to the cross of Jesus turned upside down to the red and fire everywhere to the chants of the band and audience, this was a full fledge worship service. Sound was probably 140db and they probably spent between 3-5 million on their light show alone. They started the show out with a very vulgar and difiant slam on heaven. And the lead singer even showed off his latest sex toy as he had incorporated it into his attire for the night.

With all of this going on, I couldn't help but to think about the state of the church. In churches all across the nation, worship leaders are refused the chance to tap into their creativity because the light can't strobe for more than 15 seconds or the sound can't be over 80db or "you just can't wear that." I witnessed probably 15,000 people participate in this satanic worship service and no one cared that the lead singer had a sex toy tied around his waist. The sad part is you could feel the demonic activity increase with the start of every song because of the unity. The church of America is hung on that issue right there - unity. If we could ever get unity in the house of God, satanic worship would come to a standstill. Instead, we as a church forfeit our power for the temperature - or the loudness of - or even what the pastor wears, leaving the church useless and irrelevant.

You want to see true revival? I'm not talking about the ones churches do to pad their accounts so they can pay the bills. I'm talking about those encounters with God that leave us empowered to change the world around us. If this is you, I challenge you to focus your life and line it up with God. Don't be worried about this or that. Focus on the people that need your help, and one by one, we can change this world.

HECK YEAH!!! Free Concert...for me anyway!!!

So there's perks to my job : ) I got free tickets to a Motley Crue concert for tomorrow night. Heck yeah!! Never been a fan, but hey, they're free tickets. So we gonna go jam!! Well, Shawn will be a little late, but hopefully Chris and Nikki are gonna make it. I did say though, that if they start doing Satanic crap, I'm out the door...lol...

But I've really been wanting to go to a concert here lately, just to go do something different and act like a retard...yellin and screamin!! Pressure release I guess : ) I really wanna go see Rihanna in concert but I don't know if she does the whole half naked thing...just not into that...and I don't want my husband into that either...lol, but I love her music for some reason. That stinks about her and Chris Brown. I hope she sues the fool outta him...I wouldn't let no crazy person lay a hand on me.

All grown up

My baby's growing up : ( ...Her Nana got her a toddler bed at Christmas time and we set it up. That was an easy transition. However, the hardest transition of all was getting mommy to take down the baby bed. So its been sitting right there next to the toddler bed all this time. Yeah...well, Saturday I finally took it down...boohoo... BUT, its in the basement...it will be used again...one day. So now Caitlyn has her a big girl room : (

On the brighter side of things...lol...I joined the gym...yay!! I go during my lunch breaks everyday. The cool thing is, when I signed up, they coerced me into joining by giving me 3 months tanning for free (okay, so they didn't have to work too hard at convincing me). The rate is already really good, so adding free tanning was like, heck yeah, I'll join! So maybe I'll be all sexy and tan this summer...hahahaha... But for real, I better be some kinda hott for our cruise in May. I can't wait for that!! Always wanted to swim in that clear Bahamas water. I also can't believe this will be 5 years of marraige for us...wow, time flies when your having fun : )

Yay for weekends

I'm really glad its Friday. It's been a crazy busy week at work. But now its the weekend, a busy one at that...haha... RPM practice at our house tomorrow and game night with food, drinks and a bonfire...looking forward to that. I love bonfires! However I can't have my famous smores...I'm off sugar at this time. Hey!...but its paying off, I'm averaging 2.5 lbs lost every week for the last almost 3 weeks. Haven't really changed my diet except quit eating sugar, and only drinking diet drinks. I ain't complaining. Anyhow, hopefully we won't catch anything important on fire...like CHRIS. Bout did that the other night...oops...well it was his fault.

So its tax season again...woohoo... I wasn't really expecting anything grand from our return cause I've been told you pretty much get gipped when in the ministry when it comes to taxes. But I'm pretty sure that we got hooked up somehow, and we got 3x what we got on last years return, and not much has changed from 2007 to 2008. So I'm ready to pay off some bills, and reserve our anniversary cruise. Yay!

Roller Coaster Up

Well the roller coaster is on its way back up. Things are going back up hill, really good actually. I hate to say that in the case that the next steep mountain ride is right around the corner. And for those of you who haven't been following this blog or have no idea whats going on in our life, this is totally confusing you, I'm sure...but I'm gonna keep talking cause that's just what I'm so good at : )

To be totally honest, I've personally been in a very rocky position in the last couple of months. Re-evaluating where I stand when it comes to everything, and I mean everything. The situations and problems I've faced in the last several months don't compare to anything I've ever experienced my whole entire life. And some would say its because we made a wrong move somewhere along the way, but its so far beyond that. I honestly believe if we would not have made certain critical steps in these last few months, we'd not be in a good place right now. I've always said you just never know whats really going on inside of someone. As good as they put on a show and a smile for everyone, you just don't even know what's going on on the inside. For most people, it'd shock the crackers out of your mouth, especially when looking at people in leadership over you : )

For me personally, I think it's easy for some people to stand back up when their heart has been destroyed, but for some, its just not as easy to get back up and keep walking forward. I would have liked to have claimed myself as one who was strong and able to withstand whatever was thrown at me, but I am just not that person. I have had to truly learn how to rely and really trust God these last few months of my life. I don't know if I could've taken another step without Him. And a lot of people say that phrase so freely, but I honestly really don't know if I could've taken another step. And although God felt quite distant, I know He was there, and still is. I think its time to start letting go of some things that have really grabbed onto me. A lot of my hurt seems to be getting worse, its hard to really trust people these days, you kinda feel like somethings been ripped out of you. I think a lot of people don't realize exactly the extent of hurt that Shawn and I have experienced just because a lot of people don't look at both sides. That's half of what hurts so much. Pouring your life out to people for so long, and then to turn around and it feel like it was for nothing...its hurts. But you reap what you sow. We were in those shoes for so long, and now we've chose not to be. And now I know what it feels like to be that person on the other side that no one believed. But everyone will be in that situation one day before long. Shawn's so much better at this than me. He's one of those that can stand back up and keep walking. And I'm just hanging on for dear life by his coat jacket, until I can put my feet to the ground and get back up.

At this point, I think I'm just jabbering and probably not making any sense to anyone, but this blog is just a way for me to really get some things out. We've also been put in a place at this time where I think God is going to begin the healing process. He's placed us in a group of people who I pray are going to surround us and just be Jesus, just LOVE us. I'm beginning to think that LOVE is the healing. Who would've thought?