Ten Things Tuesday

Hiya Franz!  So today is Ten Things Tuesday.  This will be the day that I tell you about 10 things that I've learned or a new favorite or a new thought or just whatever I've come to realize over the past week.  So here are my 10 things for the week.

1. The Lord has blessed us sooo much lately.  Thank you Jesus!
2. I don't like to be pushed into something.  If I tell you "no" or "not right now" then that's what I mean.
3. Strawberry Fruitista Freezes from Taco Bell are my new weakness.
4. I hate unpacking.  Especially when I don't have enough space for everything.
5. I drink a lot of milk. 
6. I keep unnecessary things... For a LONG time.
7. Sitting in silence makes me sleepy. And bored. Not a good combo.
8. I have a lot of ideas, but I don't know where to start.
9. Melton Lake Park in Oak Ridge is not that cool. 
10. I can't wait until we get to register for the baby.  And I really can't wait to find out if we're having a boy or a girl!

Since I missed Memory Monday, I'll go ahead and share a memory with you now.  I was reminded of this memory earlier this week when I was looking for something for lunch.  This is a memory of my Nan and I think it's appropriate to share since she has been gone for one year on the 10th of this month.  It's a memory of Campbell's Cream of Chicken soup.  I can remember the very first time I ate it.  It's just one of those things I'll never forget.  I was 5 years old and my brother and I were spending the night with my nan.  It was storming very bad outside and I was scared.  So to calm me down, nan cooked us some Cream of Chicken soup and she told us that it was pourage.  She had us sit in the floor with our blankets and pillows while we ate, and she told us the story of Goldie Locks and the Three Bears (she always told us stories).  Of course, this is where the pourage came from.  And I believed her that it was pourage.  I didn't know that it was Cream of Chicken soup at the time.  It was such a fun night.  I'll never forget it.  She was a fun person and I miss her terribly.  And now I'm craving soup. 

XoXo,
Kelli

Funday Sunday

Okay, so I totally missed Shareday Saturday... I knew I was gonna be bad at this!  (Wink, wink)  Funday Sunday is going to be when I blog about what ever comes to my mind for the moment.  Today I suppose I will just write what was going to be for Shareday Saturday.  Shareday Saturdays I will tell you about what I did in the past week.  So here it is...

Basically, my week consisted of a lot of unpacking (can you believe I'm still not done?!) and a lot of napping.  This pregnancy stuff really wears a lady out!  I don't like being so tired all the time.  It's no fun at all.  They say that you get more energy when you're in your  second trimester... well, I'm still waiting on my energy to kick in people.

 I got to visit with my best friend Lydia (also sister-in-law) and my adorable niece and nephews, TWICE this week.  It's always a joy to see their sweet faces.  My hubs worked late almost every night so I've been pretty lonely lately.  But he and I got to spend a lot of time together over the weekend, so my heart is happy.  He is becoming obsessed with my belly.  It's getting huge by the way.  It seems like it grew a ton over night.  I'm 18 weeks today, can you believe it?!  We will find out what the baby is SOON!  Soooo excited! 

Brad and I took a long drive back to Johnson City today because silly me forgot our silverware at our old house when we were moving.  I left it right in the drawer.  I realized that I don't miss that drive one single bit!  That was my week in a nutshell.

Now, I'd like to do a little ranting if you don't mind. 
For the past 18 weeks, I've been pregnant.  I've not had one single day of morning sickness.  Not one.  If I haven't yet, then the chances are that I'm not going to.  BUT there are a few people who ask me EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. we talk "How are you feeling?"  "You been sick?" (in that deeply concerned voice) and it's really starting to get to me.  They treat me as if I have a disease and I'm dying.  They know that I've not been sick at all, but yet that question still comes rolling right off their tongue every time. EVERY TIME.  I don't have a serious illness people... I'm just pregnant.  So please stop talking to me like I'm going to die.  That's the only thing that has driven me crazy with this pregnancy so far... I've even been able to handle the belly patting, but the question "How are you feeling" crawls right under my skin.  I can hear the words being spoken right now in my head and it makes me shiver.  Sorry for the rant, but I had to.  Funday Sunday! ; )

Okay, good night bloggers!!  Have a wonderful week! 

A Little Something New + Photo Friday

I've been thinking and I've decided to try a little something new on my blog just to make it a little more fun for myself (and hopefully it will motivate me to write more often.)  I've decided to designate a category to write about for each day of the week.  For example:  Memory Monday, Thankful Thursday, Photo Friday, etc. I don't know how long this will last, but I thought I'd give it a try.  And hopefully I can keep up with it. 

Every Friday, I'll share a photo I've taken recently with my new camera.  I'm trying to learn everything about it, so bare with me as I'm still new to all of this photography stuff.  I'm kinda glad I get to start with "Photo Friday". 

Here is a picture that I took on my camera's first outing...  

(Click the image to see it larger)

This picture was taken from Norris Dam of the Norris Dam Marina.  It is one of my first shots taken from my new camera and it is my very first night shot.  You can even see the stars!!!  This picture makes me so ready for summer... I love Norris lake!

See you tomorrow for "Share Day Saturday!"

"Indescribable. Uncontainable. You placed the stars in the sky and you know them by name.  You are amazing God." -Chris Tomlin

Surrounded by Boxes

So here I am... Sitting in Clinton, bored out of my mind, on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.  My sweet hubs had to work this morning so I'm just waiting on him to get off so we can enjoy this lovely day together.  I need out of this apartment in a baaaad way!  I'm surrounded by boxes.  Everywhere I look there is a box.  And I've already unpacked like a million of them but they just don't seem to disappear. EVER!  I've considered picking up a few unpacked boxes and just tossing them in the dumpster.  Probably wouldn't miss the stuff anyway.  I've also thought about just dumping everything out into the floor just so I can get rid of the mountain of boxes that sit in front of my face.  I found myself just starring at them yesterday for a good 30 mins.  It's like I was frozen and couldn't move.  All I could do was stare and wonder where was I going to put it all?!  I'm definitely going to be having a yard sale in the near future, that for sure.  Heck, maybe I can just have a "yard" sale now and let people come in a buy a whole box. Wanna buy a box??

On a good note though, I live in walking distance to Hamack's Perkadeli (best chicken salad ever!)  I've already bought a pound of Darlene's Chicken Salad.  Yes, a pound. 

On another good note, I also live in walking distance to the Git-N-Go market, which sells really good Fried Pickles.  I had those for dinner last night and I wish I had them for breakfast and lunch today too.  They are THAT good.  (I don't know why I say that things are in walking distance to our apartment... I have a car and I plan on always driving to both of those places.)  

Speaking of apartments... It's been a bit of an adjustment moving from a house with tons of privacy, to an apartment with no privacy.  It hasn't been that bad though.  I keep telling myself, "It's only for a year."  I don't like the rules they have here either.  They have some really dump rules... 'No grills allowed', 'Don't shake your rugs out of your windows', 'Walk your pets at least 20 feet from the buildings', etc.  I don't like rules.

Well, I hope you folks have a wonderful weekend!  Let me know if you wanna buy a box.  ; )  Kidding. Kinda. 

xoxo
Kelli

Bittersweet

This is the post that I've been wanting to write for about a year now, but now that I'm finally writing it I feel a bit of sadness in my heart.  We are finally moving... THIS WEEKEND!  Finally getting to move is a bittersweet feeling.  I'm really excited, but at the same time I'm sad to leave this place I've called home for nearly 8 years.  Brad got a job at the Anderson County EMS a few weeks ago and he's been traveling back and forth to work.  But after weeks of searching for a place to live we finally found something... so no more traveling for him!  He actually got a job in CC too but he's only doing part time for them.  He's apparently the "Man Candy" of EMS because he's been offered a job for 4 different counties.  If only his job hiring skills would rub off on me now. 

Today was sadly the last day of my job at ETSU.  I loved that job so I hate to go, but I know that God has something amazing planned for me.  Like maybe a future career in photography?!  Brad bought me a new camera for Valentine's Day and I super excited about it.  Hands down the best gift ever!  I'm one lucky lady, that's for sure. 

my new camera



We were not supposed to get to move into our new apartment until March 1st, but we got a call yesterday telling us that we could move in this weekend.  So I went from having 2 weeks to prepare to move to 3 days.  It's a bit overwhelming trying to get our entire house packed up in just a few days.  I'm just glad that I took a couple of days last week to pack some. And I'm sad that we won't get to say our goodbyes to Johnson City the proper way.  We had plans to go to all our favorite places before we left, but we obviously don't have time to do it now.  And worst of all, we won't get to say goodbye to our church friends on Sunday.  But I know we'll make plenty of visits to JC. 

I guess I should give you a pregnancy update... Baby is doing fine and growing like a little weed!  I'm 15 weeks.  My belly has really popped out and I don't like it one bit.  Everyone says how cute it is, but lets be honest- It's not cute.  I feel so blah.  And I've had my belly patted uncountable times in the past week.  Baby is the size of a navel orange.

It's been fun, but I gotta go pack some more.  I'll keep you updated on the big move!  The next time I blog, I'll probably be sitting in Clinton.  Woo-hoo!  Nite-nite blog bugs!

Snow Days

See, I do keep my promises sometimes.  It's been less than 24 hours since I last posted... that's gotta be a record or something for me.

I'm snowed in... AGAIN!  But at least my cute hubby is snowed in with me.  He tried talking me into going to Knoxville today (He's crazy!)  I had to talk some sense into him like always.  In case I haven't told you this 100 times already, I'll tell you again.  I hate winter.  Hate is a strong word, but its the only word that describes my feelings for it.  It's terrible.  I just want to see some sunshine!!  The snow is only good for getting me out of work, but then I don't get paid so that's not good.  It's a win-lose situation.  I'm trying to make myself be productive and get in the mood to clean today, so I'm watching HGTV for a little inspiration. 

I was thinking about my post yesterday and I want to clear a few things up.  I sounded bitter about being pregnant and I'm not.  I'm happy about it... I'm just trying to get adjusted to the idea of a baby.  We were not trying to get pregnant right now.  We had plans to wait until we had our own home and were settled into careers and were married a little longer, but the Lord has other plans for us.  And I know that his way is ALWAYS the right way.  No questions.  I will say that it was amazing hearing (and seeing) baby's little heart beat for the first time.  Baby is sooo tiny right now and it's crazy how fast it's developing and growing.  These next 30 weeks are going to be interesting to say the least.  This will be an exciting journey! 

~*~Introducing Baby Holt~*~

I will leave you with my favorite bible verse and I think it fits perfectly:
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." -Philippians 4:19    

I'm inspired now, so time to clean!!
Have a wonderful day in the dreary weather! 

XOXO
Kelli

This One's for Ash

I didn't realize how long it had been since I've posted on here until my friend Ashlee said I needed to give an update.  So here it is.  Just for you Ashlee.  : ) 

Ever since I started working all day on a computer, I stopped even opening my computer at home.  That's my reason for lack of blogging lately.  Plus I've been avoiding telling the world my news.  But I need to face it, this can't be avoided.  Not at this rate anyway.  So here it is.  My BIG news.  BIG. NEWS..... Brad and I are expecting our first baby.  Yep, I'm pregnant.  Our little (BIG) surprise!  I'm still trying to figure out how this happened (laughs)!  I'm due on August 7, 2011 and the time is already flying by.  I tend to freak out a little when I think about it.  I don't even like to hold babies, they scare me (haha.)  I'm only 10 weeks and I have already gained so much weight and and I can't fit into most of my jeans.  And I can't even describe how tired I've been the past 10 weeks.  All I want to do is sleep.  The upside to this is that I have not had one single day of morning sickness (I'm one of the few luckies.)  So I guess I'll take the weight gain and tiredness over the sickness.  But on a serious note, I am excited.  Shocked and scared, but excited. 

Another new addition to our family is Oscar.  Oscar is our new puppy that Brad brought home on New Year's Day.  He's another surprise.  He was a lost puppy that had been sleeping in a wood pile for 2 days and Brad rescued him.  He's a full blooded Shih-tzu.  He's sooo cute, but my goodness he's so much work.  And Macie hates him.  She's not adjusting well.  So he may not get to stay with us too long. He's so tiny and I love him.  But I don't love him that much when he wakes me up at 5am. 

Happy New Year by the way...  (I did NOTHING exciting for New Year's Eve so I have nothing to say about that.)  We did have a good New Year's Day though.  Brad and I went to visit my family in CC and we played Apples to Apples all night.  It was a blast.  And my favorite part was that my Dad played (he NEVER plays games.)  He was hilarious.  Every card he put down he would say "I know this is the best card and it's going to get picked."

Brad finished his EMT school and applied for a job in Anderson County, so please pray that he gets that job.  It would be nice if I could move closer to my mom now that I'm pregnant.  I know nothing about babies and I'm gonna need help.  We have been wanting to move for a long time anyway (as you know) so this would be a perfect time.  We just can't move without jobs.

Well, I better go for now but I promise to blog again soon.

I will leave you with something I learned in our community group at church on Sunday...
 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?  And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish."  -Matthew 18:12-14.