A Day in Mann Land...

Snow Day!

2010-04-11T19:33:00.003-05:00

This is what we woke up to one day in February of this year. We actually had a snow day in Longview. The National Weather Service reported that we got 7 inches here in Longview. The school where I work was closed, but Jeremy had to get out in the snow to get to work. Thankfully, he made it safely. The only bad thing to come out of the beautiful day was the my school had to make up the day on Good Friday. It was awful working on that day!Notice below how Jeremy slid sideways down our driveway!
Our backyard.

Jeremy making a huge snowball.

Where Have We Been?

2010-04-11T19:18:00.006-05:00

Wow! It's been a while! Miranda, you're right. I do need to update my blog. It is just hard for me to stay motivated. I think you're the only one in the world who looks at it...

So what have we been up to since October?

Well, let's start with Christmas...we spent the holidays with our families in Oakdale. See the pictures below for a little taste!

More to come soon! I promise!

Us at Jeremy's parents on Christmas day.

Gizzie in her bed with her Christmas shirt on!

No, she is not spoiled at all!

Beautiful Beaver's Bend

2009-10-19T19:26:00.002-05:00

So...on the weeked after my birthday, Jeremy and I went to Beaver's Bend, Oklahoma with Jake and Julie, some of our friends. We stayed at an amazing cabin, Clearwater Creek (check it out at: http://www.beaversbendgetaways.com/). It was simply beautiful. We spent the weekend hanging out in the hot tub, exploring the nature surrounding the area, and making smores. It was very peaceful and gorgeous!

Below is an amazing picture of the pretty

creek that ran right behind the cabin.

You could hear it before you saw it.

Here you see the giant spider on the web that I

almost ran into. It was so fat!

Jeremy taught me how to skip rocks on
the water. He could make it go 8 times!

Pretty stream running down the mountain

and the dam. Such a pretty area.

Our fire! It lasted just long enough for Julie and

I to each make one smore. Hard to burn wet wood,

but we tried...

He worked so hard on this fire...

Pretty driving.

Our self portrait to commemorate the trip.

Billy!

2009-10-18T09:27:00.005-05:00

Me and Tracey at the concert.

Billy!
Us...in the drizzly rain waiting on Billy.

Best Friends!

Kyle and Tracey on the way.

On the way to the concert. Very excited!

Wow! It has been a while! I can't believe how time is flying once again now that school has started. I have decided not to let work be my ENTIRE life this year so we have been doing fun things on the weekends...things I should be blogging about, but I'm a lazy bum. So with Miranda's encouragement, I'm trying to get back on track.

On October 3, we went with some friends of ours to Shreveport-Bossier for the evening and a little pre-birthday celebration. We had dinner at Superior and then went to Boomtown for Billy Currington! Remember him, Miranda? I still consistently refer to him as the sexiest man alive and was pretty excited to get to see him live. We had a really great time. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

A Little Daycation

2009-08-10T09:37:00.004-05:00

So...every year, when the start of school rolls around, I always get the feeling that things are going to change so drastically that we can never have fun again. While not necessarily true, I can't seem to shake the feeling and knew that we had to do something "vacation-like" on the last weekend before I officially go back to work.

So we decided to go to Jefferson, Texas. It is only about 40 miles from Longview and is the 5th oldest city in the state. It's an old water town that connected on a trading route to New Orleans via the Red River and Mississippi River.

While we were there, we rode a boat on the bayou and learned some of the history of the town. We went to antique shops, the old general store (which was amazing, with old wooden toys, old timey candy, milkshakes, etc.), a fudge shop, an antique car museum, and rode a steam engine train. It was a great was to get out just for a day and see something that we didn't even know was so close...

Our Master Suite...

2009-07-27T18:46:00.005-05:00

Well, I promised to post pictures of the completed master bedroom as well. You may not be able to tell but the paint color on the tray ceiling is the same as the bathroom color (very well coordinated, if I do say so myself). I am so thankful that I had the energy to complete this project. There were more than a few moments where I wasn't so sure.

Also, notice the kitties in random places in the pictures....they're everywhere!

All of the items on my summer to-do list are officially done!

Beautiful!

2009-07-27T18:40:00.003-05:00

Jeremy went on a fishing trip over the weekend with some guys from work. They drove down to Sam Rayburn on Friday until Sunday. They all pooled their fish together and are planning to have one big fish fry for all the guys and their families. Sounds like fun! Anyway, on Saturday, they got up at 5:30 a.m. and Jeremy was able to capture this amazing sunrise on film. Beautiful!

It's Done!

2009-07-27T14:04:00.003-05:00

Well, after a long week of ripping down wallpaper,
texturing the walls, and about 15 hours of priming/painting, our bathroom is finally complete! See earlier posts to see what we came from...it's been an interesting and back-breaking journey. Jeremy went on a fishing trip over the weekend and took my camera with him so that's why I'm just posting. Over the weekend, I also painted our master bedroom. I'll post more pictures soon...

We're getting there...

2009-07-24T10:42:00.001-05:00

Here are a couple of "in progress" pictures after painting. There is still quite a bit of touch-up to do. It took me about 7 hours to do the painting. Last night, my awesome husband and one of his awesome friends (Thanks, Tim!) put the toilet, new faucet, and mirror in. I was so grateful not to have to help with that. I could just sit and rest. They did a great job. Also, Tim's wife Joni and their baby Derek (4 mos. exactly) came over for dinner. So while the boys worked, I got to snuggle Derek. He's a sweetie. So plans for today: 1. touch up paint 2. put in towel bars, hook, etc. 3. clean 4. admire my work...

What a Week!

2009-07-24T10:35:00.000-05:00

For the past two days, I have been working on getting that bathroom in shape. It has now been textured, primed, and painted. It was a much bigger job than I anticipated! During one of my breaks, I walk out and find these lazy bum kitties just laying around. I wanted to cry! I slept great the past two nights but am having extreme difficulty walking (severe back pain, sore feet, all over pain). I primed everything on Wednesday...it took about 5 hours. And when they say "well ventilated area," they really mean it. I almost passed out at one point. It was truly an adventure. So...under my lazy bum kitties, there are a couple of pictures of everything after priming.

A Work in Progress...

2009-07-20T13:13:00.001-05:00

Well, the renovations are underway. They did this in under 3 hours! And to think we waited SO long to do this...so wall repair first thing in the morning and texturing tomorrow afternoon...then priming and painting on Wednesday! Yay! I can't wait until it's done!

And the Renovation Begins!

2009-07-20T10:15:00.000-05:00

So...we have lived in our house since January of 2007...time flies. I cannot believe that we made it with this awful wallpaper in our bathroom for this long. (Well, the wallpaper isn't so bad, but check out that border!) Today, the wallpaper removal process begins! After going through the wallpaper removal/texturing walls experience before, we opted to hire this one out. So Fopay Paperhanging of Longview is here today tearing down the wallpaper. Depending on how things go, they will be done on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. Since the wallpaper was put directly on the sheetrock when the house was built 11 years ago, there is a good chance that there will be some damage to the drywall from the removal process. If so, they will make any repairs necessary and then do blown texture on all of the walls. After all that is done, I will paint...I can't wait for it to be done!!! See the "before" pictures below.

Saturdays at our House

2009-07-20T10:01:00.000-05:00

So this is what we do on Saturdays at our house...it was unseasonably cool on this particular Saturday so I took the opportunity to take the kitties outside to sit on the swing while we watched Jeremy work in the garden. Pictured below is me holding tight to Mama Kitty...

Baby Gizzie just looking around...
Jeremy after digging up our tomatoes. We had a bountiful harvest, but just couldn't water them enough to keep them alive. We planted two more cherry tomato plants in their place.

Me with Baby Giz...she could stay outside all day every day. She is spoiled rotten!

Sassy New Hair

2009-07-17T20:13:00.000-05:00

New Hair! I seem to cut my hair to collarbone length every 18 months or so...it was time. I'm loving it! Oh...and by the way...jaws are still just a little swollen from my wisdom teeth extraction last Friday (all 4 removed!) Yay for recovery!

Welcome to our Home...

2009-07-15T10:20:00.000-05:00

Wow! It has been a long time! So much has changed, but so much is the same. We are still living in our same house and continually working to make it our own. It's really come a long way in 2+ years. Almost every room has been painted (or will be before the middle of August) along with every doorknob being changed and almost every light fixture being updated. We're almost there.

Our master bedroom...next on the list to be painted.

Kitchen after getting rid of awful wallpaper, texturing

the walls, and painting. A job I never want to do again!

Our dining room after removing a wallpaper

border, texturing walls, and two coats of paint.

So that's a pretty good update on our home....now for work. I just completed my first year as a Special Education Counselor for Henderson Independent School District, a small town about 30 miles from Longview. It is the hardest job in the world, but also very rewarding. I am enjoying having summer off, but also wondering how some of my little babies are doings. I guess I'll find our in about 6 weeks! Jeremy is still working as a Mechanical Engineer for Westlake Chemical here in Longview. He has been instrumental in developing a new maintenance department for the plant and works too hard!

We still have our three kitties, Mama Kitty, Gizzie, and Princess. They are more spoiled than ever!

More to come! Hope you enjoyed the update!

A Much Needed Update

2008-01-03T10:35:00.000-06:00

Well, following Miranda's lead, I decided that it would be nice to keep far-away family updated without feeling bad about not calling everyone often enough. It would take a very long post to update everyone that I haven't talked to in a while. I'll try to keep it sweet and simple.

Jeremy and I are living in Longview, Texas. It's about 45 minutes west of Shreveport. So it's Texas, but not too much Texas. We bought a home here on January 8 of 2007 (in 5 days, it will be one year ago!). We have been extremely busy since then. The company that Jeremy works for was sold a little over a year ago so we were faced with uncertainty as we went through that transition. Fortunately, everything worked out and we were able to stay here in Longview for a while longer. Shortly after the company sold, and 3 days before we closed on our house, Jeremy was involved in a serious car accident on his way to work. Amazingly, he wasn't hurt seriously, but we faced so much turmoil in repairing his truck and dealing with the insurance companies. The accident wasn't his fault, but we suffered a great deal for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. I can't believe in two days, that will have been a year ago as well. It seems like yesterday.

I am currently in grad school and can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am getting my master's degree in Clinical Psychology with a specialization in School Psychology. I travel back and forth to Tyler, TX, which is about 50 minutes from out house to go to school 3-4 days a week. I have a full courseload in the spring (which begins in a little over a week) and one more class in the summer. After that, I start my year-long internship and should have my degree in my hands by summer of 2009. It's been a really long process, and we are so ready to really get our lives started. I plan to work for a little while before we have a baby. I'd really like to have a child before age 30....and I'm thinking my family would agree.

So I plan to post pictures soon of the accident, the house, etc. But I also have to tell you about the 3 children that we do have. We have 3 (inside) cats. We took in a stray in February who gave us 5 kittens several weeks later. By that time, we were hooked. We gave away 4 of the kittens and decided to keep one. One of the new owners decided that she no longer wanted the responsibility of a pet so we took one of the kittens back. Unable to find the kitten a new home before we got attached to her, she stayed with us. I'll be posting pictures of them as well.

Well, I hope this has answered some questions for those of you that I don't talk to often enough and that this will help some of us stay in touch a little better. I miss you all!

This is our Mama Kitty.

This is one of our baby kitties, Gizzie.

And this is our other baby kitty, Princess.

Saying baby kitty is very misleading though since they both now weigh more than their mother! Aren't they precious?!