IF update

Since there is a variety of folks who read this blog, I sometimes struggle whether to talk about this really personal stuff or not, but I figure I'll just quit worrying about it and spill it all. I mean, that is sort of just like my personality (I like all kinds of things, I have some crazy conflicting interests, I'm a girly girl but am a hardcore sports fan, etc.) and so my blog might as well reflect my personality, right? One day I talk about food on a stick, the next day it's infertility treatments. There you go.

After all that, I really don't have much to update other than, I am officially out of menopause! woo hoo!!! If you have NO idea what I am talking about, read here. The medication and it's ugly effects have worn off and I am so happy. (I wish the extra pounds it gave me would come off as quickly though... ugh, that's gonna take awhile) My doctor in WV wanted us to pursue fertility drugs again right away, but I just can't do it. So whoever is reading this, could you pray for us that the Lupron did it's trick and the endometriosis is gone? We have been told that we only have a small window of opportunity before it (the endo) starts growing back. I am trying to remain hopeful and inspired by my dear friend Abby who had a similar situation and is now 22ish weeks pregnant!

That's all for now - thanks for caring. :)

This post is on a stick

I took a lot pictures at the oklahoma state fair last week, but most of them involve one theme: Food on a Stick.

Let's begin our tour.


Most of you have likely heard of CHICKEN on a stick.




















And I know you've heard of, seen, or probably eaten, a HOT DOG on a stick.




















But have you seen on a JALAPENO on a stick?




















Or what about CHEESE on a stick?




















I'm sure maybe you have seen STEAK on a stick...




















But what about PIZZA on a stick?




















Surely you have not seen MANICOTTI on a stick!



















I mean, seriously, how do you get manicotti on a stick?!?!


But the craziest one of all is...





















Yep, you saw that right, DEEP FRIED GARLIC MASHED POTATOES on a stick!!


Did I miss anything? Have any of you heard of any other crazy foods on a stick?

The fair was O-K!

(Eventually I will stop using the Oklahoma abbreviation as an adjective in my status titles.)




















Today we went to the State Fair and it was an overall good time. Since we went in the afternoon to avoid crowds and possible thunderstorms, we did miss out on the more "entertaining" people. Because you know that a fair in a state like Oklahoma has all the same people as in the lyrics of Toby Keith's song, "I love this bar." Regardless of the time of day, we still saw lots of short skirts, high techs, blue-collar boys, and rednecks. Just missed out on the dancing girls and hookers.



















The other highlight was certainly the food and it did not disappoint.

Bobby had a corn dog.



















And I treated myself to a yummy, butter-lathered soft pretzel, an elephant ear covered in powder sugar, and a jug of ice cold root beer.




























































This was over a span of several hours and I shared it all with Bobby, so do not think I am a total pig.

Oh, and speaking of pigs... we even watched the pig races. Those little black piggies really moved quickly!



















Just before leaving, we rode up in the space needle thingy that you can see in the first picture I posted. I was nervous going up that high with the wind blowing as much as it was, but once we got up there, I was so glad we did. I got these awesome pictures of downtown OKC and the fairgrounds.

Stay tuned...

we're going to the state fair today, so I am sure I will have a lot of fun stories and pictures to share tonight.

Life is/in OK

We have been here for a month. Almost. Sometimes it feels like just yesterday that we pulled in with our moving truck and angry animals in the car, and sometimes it feels like we have lived here forever. Yet, I only know a few people and don't really know my way around. So I guess it would be like we've lived here forever but never leave the house. And actually that is sort of how I feel most days. The first week was so nice because Bobby was here with me everyday and we did projects together and drove to stores together, but now he's busy as a bee with church stuff and I'm here alone doing the projects and shopping. But really, it's not all that bad. I do enjoy the downtime and he is able to come home for lunch most days which is wonderful.

The house is far from complete but I think we're still making progress. Last week was very unproductive because we spent two days in Dallas and the rest of the week preparing to make an even bigger mess - we decided to do a complete makeover on our little third bedroom, otherwise known as BR 3. This room is located in the front of the house when you first walk through the front door. Its short-term use is an office/library/guitar room. And the closet contains all of Bobby's clothes, of which I plan on adding some extra shelves at the top and some shoe racks at the bottom, eventually. And when my parents visit, we are going to possibly change out the main door because right now it is one of those cheap accordion doors. I am hoping to put in a sliding pocket door, but we'll see.

The room looked like this when we first looked the house:
























And this is what it looked like just before demolition:















































Light green, stained carpet, beat-up ugly oak colored baseboard, and white walls with markings all over them.

So we decided to rip up the carpet and install wood (laminate) floors. Ourselves! We have never done anything like this. Ever. The closest I ever came to installing flooring was when I watched the carpet guy install my beautiful ruby red carpet in my bedroom when I was 8. And Bobby? Nope, never laid flooring either. But hey, this is the age of HGTV and DIY. We can do it! And so the search began... we went to about a dozen places looking for a floor we liked, as cheaply as possible, and we found our floor at Sam's Club! Crazy, I know, but I typed in "cheap laminate flooring" on the google and Sam's came up. So we went to the store, put 6 boxes in our cart and checked out. It was weird, but affordable.

But the story's not done yet... Bobby suggested that after we rip up the carpeting and before we put down the new floor, we paint the walls and trim. Good idea, but we didn't have any paint. In about 7 minutes we decided to go with green walls, white trim, and he ran to Lowe's and bought the paint. We thought we could do all the painting in about 2 hours, wrong. These textured walls suck it up and we were still painting way after dark. That meant the flooring didn't get started until the next day, which happened to be Saturday, aka Game Day. So... we watched the game and started installing the floor at 7 pm. Needless to say that we didn't get it done and are about halfway finished, but it is looking good!

We have not been able to resume work on it because Bobby started getting sick and I feared that he was getting swine flu since we actually know a lot of people who have it. He is feeling better which is good because now our pastor is sick and Bobby will be filling in for him on Sunday. Good thing he was just installed this past Sunday! Oh, did I forget to mention that? He is now officially the Assistant Pastor (and church planting apprentice) at Christ the King PCA. His ordination was successfully transferred from Pittsburgh to North Texas (our presbytery) two days after we moved here and now he is installed at our church. Just in time. So it looks like our floor (and total house in general) is taking a back seat to the duties of flock leader.

Since you've been so nice to read through this entire post, I'll leave you with a sneak peek of the room.

In Norman We Are

Well this post is only 13 days late. Sorry for the delay in posting, but we've been a little busy with the unpacking and the meeting of lots of people. We did arrive in Norman on the day we expected, Wednesday, August 26th, but it was a wee bit later - midnight to be exact. We had a few delays because you just can't get around as fast in a moving truck (our shortest pit stop was 20 minutes), we hit a really bad storm in Tulsa, and we spent several wonderful hours with our friends in St Louis. We certainly don't regret that part at all! So we arrived at midnight, in the rain, with some very unhappy animals. The (water) turtles had been in a box (separate boxes) for two days, the cats were in a carrier together and cried for 80% of the trip, but the Bunny was fine, chillin' in her cage in the back of the car. So we unloaded them from the car and slept on our bedroom floor on the first night in our first very own home. How very romantic, isn't it?

Since that day we have been unpacking and organizing stuff - like trying to figure out where we are going to put Bobby's clothes since mine take up our master bedroom closet. Just kidding, he gets the third bedroom closet. Well, some of his clothes are there. Some are in the second bedroom. And some of his shoes are in my closet. The rest of his shoes are still missing. So it's like a scavenger hunt for him every time he gets dressed. I try to keep things fun for him around here.

He began working in the church office yesterday, so I'm trying to use my time home wisely, and I am doing a great job of that right now, huh? We have been to two worship services at our new church and they were great. And we've been really blessed by some great meals and fellowship with folks from the church. I think our life and calendar are going to be pretty full here in Norman and we are going to love it.

We miss all of our friends in southwest PA, especially our family and the kids from our youth group. It was really hard to leave them all. We are so thankful for free long distance calls on our cell phones and facebook so we can keep an eye on them, er, I mean, keep in touch with them.

We don't have a ton of pictures since we've been here because our camera battery died and we're waiting for the new one to arrive in the mail, but I since I never actually showed you all a picture of the front our house, here it is:



















This was taken when we came to Norman on our house hunt. We will definately be doing something with those boring square hedges!

FYI, if you're friends with me on facebook, I have a couple photo albums of the house on there. But more will be posted here as we make our updates and makeovers to the rooms.

Favorite Vacation Spot(s)

This week on Kelly's Show Us Your Life tour, we are visiting favorite vacation spots.

I sound like Guy Fieri at the beginning of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. This week on Triple D, we're visiting western pennsylvania for some killer pierogis. haha.


Normally I would say that my favorite vacation was my honeymoon to Jamaica, but since you all just heard about that last week, I'll pick another one (or three) to highlight today.

I apologize for not including any pictures but blogger won't let me. I did include a couple links to earlier blog posts, so hopefully you'll check them out.


Bethany Beach, Delaware

This has been my family's favorite vacation spot for many many years. My earliest memories involve renting a huge condo on the beach for me & my parents, my aunt & uncle, and my grandma. Sometimes I got to bring a friend along. I love Bethany Beach. It is known as "the quiet resort" - it is located between Ocean City, Maryland and Rehoboth, Delaware. It has a boardwalk, quaint little shops, lots of ice cream, safe streets for bike-riding, and of course, the beach. Now the beach isn't huge and the ocean isn't pretty like the caribbean, but it's sand & water, and I like it.

I was so delighted when I was able to take Bobby there for the first time two years ago. He loved it like I knew he would, and we made arrangements to go back there last summer and this year as well. I am very sad that we are moving so far away from my favorite little beach community, but I can't wait for the day when we can return and hopefully have a little kid or two to take to the beach there. It has been my greatest desire since I was in high school. Lord, please grant me this wish!



Laguna Beach/Hollywood/Beverly Hills/Santa Monica

Bobby and I got to travel to southern California 4 years ago to attend his (extended) family reunion. After the festivities, the two of us decided to extend the trip a few days and see where the celebrities hang out.

I can't get Weezer's Beverly Hills lyrics out of my head now...

Beverly Hills... That's where I want to be!
Living in Beverly Hills...
Beverly Hills... Rolling like a celebrity!
Living in Beverly Hills...

Anyway... we loved everything about SoCal and you can read all about here.



Southern Africa

My trip of a lifetime! Words really can't describe what it is like to be in Africa. Seriously. But I'll try anyway. The full version of my trip is here, complete with MANY pictures, but I'll try and give you a short version. I worked for a deluxe travel & tour operator company as one of my many jobs while living in St Louis, supporting my darling seminarian husband, and on thursday, september 9th, 2005, I was offered a free spot on a trip to southern Africa that left in two days. There were 7 of us total on the trip and we left on September 11th to fly from Atlanta to Johannesburg. I kid you not.

We spent the first five days "in the bush" going on game drives and touring some amazing camps. Did I mention that these were 5 and 6 star camps? Again, no words to describe this experience. Then we flew to Cape Town and enjoyed all the civilization and sights there... we drove to Cape Point, went to the top of Table Mountain, visited wineries, chilled with some penguins, went shopping, and toured a bunch of hotels. (we were there to work after all. ha!)

Our last big place to visit was Victoria Falls! (That's in Zimbabwe. Seriously, who goes to Zimbabwe?!) It was so awesome, and I hate to say it, but prettier than Niagara Falls. Definitely less commercialized anyway. We went on a sundowner cruise on the Zambezi River that night, and the next day drove over to Zambia. We were so fortunate that we had next to zero major incidents worth mentioning. The worst thing was probably my terrible sinus infection & head cold that left me deaf, sleepless, and just plain miserable for the first couple of days.

Oh, and there was that one time when I couldn't get in my hotel room/cabin because an elephant was blocking the door. You know, just a usual day at the office...

hothead

I think the heat has gone to our heads and we've lost it. Up to date, this summer has been so cool and mild (not to mention cloudy, rainy, and just plain dreary) but all of a sudden we got a heatwave yesterday (sunday). I'm sure most of you all reading it had a similar situation. Meanwhile, Bobby has been in need of a haircut. This is a very common occurrence because his hair grows really quickly and we hate spending money. well, on haircuts that is, not furniture, because I love spending money on furniture. And so because of these two factors, bobby has had many hair styles over the years. In fact, let's take a look at his many hairstyles.

First, the long haired hippie style he had when we first met.
























Then after we got engaged he sported a really short style.
























It got a little longer when/after we got married, but then he worked at UPS for 4 years so he had to keep it pretty short with no facial hair. And while we're at it, he's had a lot of different facial hairstyles too, but that's a post for another day.


















Once he graduated from seminary/UPS, he had the freedom to do whatever he wanted with his face & hair, so he went with this.



















I'm kidding. He did that as a joke.

This is his normal look with a beard (my favorite.)



















But other times, it looks like this.


Sorry for the link instead of the actual photo, but I have been trying to post it for 4 hours now and I give up.



And then yesterday (sunday) we just plain lost our minds and we did this:

























































Are we crazy? Yes. But it was fun. And hey, he only has two more weeks to get away with doing stupid things using the excuse that he's in youth ministry and he's doing it for the children... (and by the way, they think it's hilarious.)

ugh, what's up blogger?

I have been working on a really fun post but I can NOT get blogger to work with me. I have been trying to post pictures since noon today. now it let me add pictures to the post, but it won't let me save or publish it. UGH. will try again tomorrow.

some stuff about the house

We have two big house updates. #1 - the appraisal has gone through and it was appraised at a higher amount than we are paying for it! yippee. that's "instant equity" bobby tells me. I'm still not 100% what that means, but I know it's good. and #2 - we bought a couch! a red one. my st louis friends know that we have an antique green one already, but they also know that it's not really comfortable or practical. It's really best for a parlor or a big sophisticated office, but since we have neither, it will most likely be sold in the near future. here is a picture of it when it was in our apartment in 2006. I don't blame you if you're distracted by the lovely ladies that are sitting on it, but try and look past us.

















It's a pretty couch, but I need a plush comfy couch with big pillows to lay on when I watch tv. And I decided when we were house hunting that if it matched the house, I wanted a red couch. Since our house has hardwood floors and I'll be painting the walls a light neutral tan and all the trim white, I think a red couch will be lovely.

So here it is, America. the Griffith's new red couch.

(I tried to get the picture to post on here for 45 minutes and it just wouldn't go. sorry for the lame link.)

It is a bit more on the contemporary style than I prefer, but there were several factors that made this couch a must-buy. (I guess I'm all about the numbered lists today...) #1 it's red. it's not pink at all, which the picture sort of looks. (I hope.) no, in person it's definately a strong red. not orangy or pinky. just red. probably not quite OU crimson, but close. #2 it's made of that micro-fiber material that is very easy to clean. if you've met bobby, you know that is a must have. #3 it was cheap. $299 to be exact. for a new couch in perfect condition. you can't beat it, so we bought it.

We couldn't decide whether to get the matching loveseat or chair & ottomon, so we didn't get either. we can always order them later. (they do have furniture stores in oklahoma I'm told.) but what we're thinking is that since we now have a red couch and a toupe-colored la-z-boy, we might get a large printed chair to tie it all in together. so be on the lookout for me. I'm really excited about buying grown-up things. at age 31, I figured it's about time.

Well, it figures that I would spend more time talking about a $300 couch than the much more expensive and important appraisal, but like zach (a kid in our youth group) would say, that's how I roll.