Best Present EVER!!

A Long Time Ago... say a decade almost.

Sasha wanted a dog. But she didn't want just any dog. She wanted a Maltipoo to be exact!

She thought she would get one as a graduation present, maybe. But instead she got a husband.

Husband told her one day she'd get a puppy just like she had always wanted.

For almost three years they lived happily in an apartment with no puppy because the tidy landlords wouldn't have it.

Instead they had hermit crabs and fish as pets. As well as numerous stuffed animal pets.

After almost three years of marriage the husband bought Sasha a house! This was very exciting and wonderful to the happy couple. And though some might argue, getting a house was not Sasha's attempt to get a puppy.

A few months afterwards, some things made Sasha believe that she'd be happy to stay at home and work/keep house. This made her husband very happy, but he knew that she might need something more than hermit crabs and fish to keep her company.

Sasha reminded her husband frequently how happy she'd be with a little furry friend, but she didn't think she'd get one until....

Well see for yourself what she found out when she received some early birthday gifts from her parents in Oklahoma.

Sadie, Sasha's parents dog, is thinking "I thought she was done opening presents. What's so special about a basket that's behind a chair?"

Sadie jumps up... "Wow!! This is no ordinary basket!! It looks like dog stuff!! "

Sadie is peeking in to look at the goodies and find the dog that isn't in there.

Sadie wasn't that interested in poop pickup bags.

Sadie wants to know what else is in there!!

Finally Sasha had to put the crate down so Sadie could go in and examine for herself.

Sadie is confused. Sasha is ELATED!!

The husband told Sasha's parents that they could get her "puppy stuff" for her birthday.

Sasha thinks she has the greatest husband and mom and dad in the world!!

Sasha's mom and dad didn't want pictures posted of them this time... but they deserve to definitely be mentioned because...

Sasha went to the store to buy the last of the dog stuff today and it was pricey. She was good though and only bought necessities...

Tomorrow the husband will take her on an hour and a half journey to go look at some female Maltipoos. Hopefully if everything goes well, she will bring one home.....

FINALLY!

A day before her birthday. (Which is Friday)

Past Celebrations Because I'm an Awful Blogger

So... I get pretty lazy when it comes to uploading pictures off my camera. I'm not a snap and upload person... more of a snap, snap, snap - wait a while - oh yeah, I'm behind on my blog person. So I've missed several events to blog about. Two were so important that I decided that late is better than never.

Event Uno: The 3rd Anniversary (leather)

Jared and I didn't do anything extravagant for our anniversary this year, but it was eventful. Before I retell some of the interesting things that happened, let me preface by saying that this Anniversary really brought things into perspective for me. It isn't what you do on this day or what you get that makes it so special. I'm happy that God put Jared into my life and made us one. Our anniversary was a time for us to reflect on our marriage and be thankful for what God has blessed us with. We've been through a lot this year with job changes, weight changes, medicine issues, an MRI, biopsies and endoscopies, buying a house, etc. Through all of this we've leaned on each other and have grown closer. I look forward to more fun times and will endure the hardships as I know we have a long way to go as we, Lord willing, have the blessing of a long marriage together.

Now onto what happened...

Some note worthy things things that happened (to name a few): We went to Jackson to watch the Pixar movie "Up!". When we got there, our theater looked like it hadn't been swept all day!! It was filthy!!! But that wasn't even the worst. Our movie stopped in the middle and went to those advertisement previews that you see before the movie starts! Then after about 10-15 minutes the movie started back but didn't start where it left off. THEY SKIPPED PART OF IT!!! It was a great movie, but I was so ticked at the theater and managers!! I'm thankful now that Jared is so laid back. He didn't let this get to him and since he was there I didn't hunt down any managers to gripe to...

SOAPBOX WARNING: SKIP AHEAD IF IN A HURRY.

No one even came and apologized. I was so outraged (mainly because we NEVER get to go to the movies!) I really wish there was a better theater to give them some good competition. In Tulsa, this theater wouldn't even last a week!! There are TONS of theaters there and all you really have to do is pick your time of movie and what street you want to be on. They are pretty much all clean places with nice seats, big screens, and good customer service!!

OKAY OFF THE SOAPBOX.

After aforementioned movie, we went to Sakura. Yum Sushi!! We even got the warm towels this time. Things were looking up!

Then it was off to the mall to find something leather-like to give to each other. FYI, Jared and I are trying to stick with the traditional anniversary gifts. The first year was paper, second cotton, and this was leather. Funny thing though, we thought that the third year was the wooden anniversary and had planned to get a porch swing. About two days before I found out that it was the leather anniversary. So that and some miscellaneous finances put a halt on the porch swing for now.

At the mall was this purse store that was having a HUGE sale because it was closing. We went in to browse and I saw a purse that I liked. I didn't do my usual hide the item and go look around to see if there was something better routine. It was getting close to closing time and I just BOUGHT IT!! When in the car, I got it out to put stuff in and one of the snaps fell off!! :o( That was not a happy time. I was upset. Jared was upset. It just wasn't good. We were sitting in Books-a-Million's parking lot when Jared decided he didn't want to look for himself a gift from me. We'd had a tough night.

All was eventually okay of course. Everything looks better after some sleep. We waited until the weekend and were able to exchange my purse for a flawless one :o) Jared found what he wanted online. He's getting a VERY nice leather journal. Sounds boring, but it's super nice and Jared LOVES notebooks! We also found Grumbles a girlfriend while we were at the mall!!

After squealing with joy from finding this new and brighter pig that looked like Grumbles, Jared reminded me of how we needed to be on a budget.... "BUT IT'S 70% OFF I WHINED..." I let it go though because he was right. Later I discovered that he had bought me the pig I wanted behind my back and hid it in the sack that had my purse in it!! I was so thrilled :D

We named Grumble's girlfriend, Truffles. They are dating, will become engaged, and I'm sure will have a wedding... hee hee... I KNOW, I'M WEIRD. There's just something about these stuffed pigs that brings out the child in me.

Event Dos: Jared's Birthday!

Jared is not normal. He does not care for a normal birthday celebration. OR A NORMAL BIRTHDAY CAKE!! His lack of excitement is rather disappointing. The one really exciting thing that happened was that his family came the day before to eat a birthday lunch with him. I was happy that Mom Gott brought an apple pie for Jared. But I was happier that I had not planned to fix one. Instead I made a cheesecake (not pictured). Jared had a really rare Beatles picture back in AL and his family framed this for his present. He bought more stuff online (what a surprise) from me. He got a few checks, and he wanted his present from my parents in March!! (An ESV study bible)

He is weird. But I love him. We don't agree on how we like to celebrate birthdays. I like presents - not gift cards as much. He likes money. I like my presents the day of and will save my cards and try not to ask for things months in advance. (A few days early because family couldn't be with me is okay... I have internal rules) He doesn't care and will get things way early or open things when he receives them. He's also so selfless as to spend his money on me at times!! He doesn't like birthday cake that much and I LOVE IT!! He wanted those store bought cookies instead of cake!!! I made something anyway for him. This was the first year that I only had a card and cheesecake for him because I kept asking what he wanted and he kept stalling because he didn't know. We did go out to eat the weekend before his birthday, because he had class from 5-10p.m. on his birthday. I had girls' nite but was going to skip because I didn't think it fair that I go out to eat and have fun while he had class. He didn't want me to miss this and so I had fun at Rafferty's while he sat in a boring class. I truly have an amazing husband. Very unmaterialistic at times and not caring if things are a certain way. Maybe I can learn to be more like him, but I still like celebrating birthdays and holidays in general.

The Process of Moving Into Our New Home!!

Well, we are finally in Lil' Yellow and I couldn't be happier.  I absolutely love it here!!  I'm so happy to be in and unpacked.  Below is a slide show that I put together for anyone interested.  You should be able to play it at your own pace by using the buttons to pause and go fwd or back.  Also, if you are interested in a slide, click it to make it bigger.  Or you can click the slideshow and view the pictures in my Picasa Web Album.  

We had a lot of help from a ton of family and friends to get in and get situated.  Jared and I are very blessed and fortunate to be able to have this place and all of the furnishings in it.  It will be a little surprising to see everything in the new house if you've seen our apartment before.

That said, we owe almost everything to our family and friends.  Without their generosity, we would not have a house so well filled.  I also appreciate the financial lessons that I picked up from my family.  My papa always told me, "Spend some, Save some, and You'll Always Have some".

But we all must remember that all of our material blessings come from God Almighty and that they are only temporary.  We have a home in heaven that is much better than any home we could ever make here on earth. 

Taking pictures was so fun, that I decided to take you on a virtual tour and make a video.  Warning - I used my trusty digital camera AGAIN and so you might be in for a bumpy view...

Reminiscing Pictures

Bittersweet:  I sold my very first digital camera in Sandy's yard sale.  It was an ancient little thing.  Pretty powerful in its hay-day (when i was in high school!!)  I saved a few pics and put some of them in a slideshow of when I was at Freed.  My how times flies!!  Most of the pictures I have from college were not digital because my digital batteries would always run down and I just got tired of that and bought a regular camera.  These are a FEW of the many pictures I took while at FHU.

Please know that the "d" on "Saved" in my slideshow header didn't show up.  I guess it was too wordy...

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Momma Visits during a Snow Blizzard!!

Well things are getting back to normal now and I wanted to post some pictures of the fun times Mom and I had together.  I was lucky that she came to stay with me while Jared was traveling for work.  It was so nice to have mother/daughter time for a week!!  Jared came back just in time to enjoy the most snow that we've seen while being together!  Enjoy the pics!

Below:  We went to "Asia Garden" to eat lunch.  Ashley D. told us about this place and it was really posh, cheap, and had great food!!  Plus, they have massaging chairs!!  Way cool!!

Below:  Project of the week.  Mom helped me make a french memo board.  On this I will display important cards/notes and pictures!!

Below:  Of course we had to make cards while we were together.  We also made some cards at Ashley D's. but I forgot to take pictures of that... oops. 

Below:  I recall waking up and seeing tweets on twitter saying it was supposed to snow.  I told mom, but we weren't really sure how bad it would be.  Hee hee... it was bad enough to snow her in an extra day!!

  

Below:  The winter wonderland that we woke up to!  At least a foot of snow!!

Below:  We were snowed in big time.  Mom decides to juice some grapes that we had and she also made unleavened bread so we could worship at the house.  We weren't able to go to worship because of the snow.  It was very memorable having our own service in my apartment.

Below:  Yay!! Jared made it back in time to enjoy the snow!  He was so good to me when he got home.  He was exhausted, but after I told him I had waited on him to play in the snow he went out right away with me so we could make a snowman!!  I truly have the best hubby ever!!

Below is a video of our discussion as we try to think of a name for our snowman.  FYI:  The video quality stinks after I uploaded it to youtube, but I still like it.

My Valentine and Girly Fun!!

A blurb about Valentine's Day:

Jared was great and took me around Jackson shopping and just doing anything I wanted to do.  We went to Target, Hobby Lobby, Best Buy, and Books a Million.  We splurged and bought Guitar Hero 3 for both of us as a Valentine's Day gift to each other.  We weren't really that romantic this year.  With everything that has gone on we didn't secretly shop for each other.  So we just decided to get something we both liked on the day of.  Jared was sweet though.  He made me a card and put it by Grumbles when I was getting ready.  I could have taken a picture, but it was made out of a used red office folder :o) Hee hee.. the outside WAS a heart shape though!!  It didn't look like much but he put a lot of thought into what he wrote and that mattered more to me.

We decided to eat at Olive Garden which was PACKED!!  We were lucky we only had a 30 minute wait because we got there at 4 p.m.  Afterwards we wandered around some more and ended up at Maggie Moo's!!  What a date!! :o)  Won't do one like that for a LONG time, but it was Valentine's day after all!!  I think I gained 5 lbs!! HA!!

 

Ohh and the balloons...  Jared didn't know that I had never received a foil balloon before.  The day after Valentine's Day, Jared was in Wal-mart and picked these up.  I was napping after worship and he tied them to the end of the bed.  I saw them a few minutes later when I woke up and I was so surprised and happy!!!

We used Grumbles in our pictures again.  We were in our PJ's when I wanted to take a picture of our present.  Grumbles decided to be our stand-in!! :o)

Girly Fun at the Movies!!

 

The picture above is of Becky, Me, and Sandy at the FHU movie theatre.  We went there Monday to watch Twilight!  We had a lot of fun and everyone really enjoyed the movie.  It was fun hanging out with these ladies!  They are some of my best friends!  I wish more people could have joined us, but we had fun together.

A Special Lunch and a Fun Night

I'm still alive!!  I know it's been over a week since my last post and I'm sorry.  I've read everyone else's blog, but I've been too lazy to update mine.  Recently, however, some neat things happened that I couldn't let go "unblogged".  

Special Lunch for Me from friends in I.T.

This past Thursday my I.T. friends got together to throw me an "appreciation lunch" to say "thank you" for filling in while one of my good friends, Arika, was on maternity leave.  I filled her shoes as Administrative Assistant in the I.T. offices at Freed-Hardeman University and loved every minute of the job!  I learned so much about technology and I think I made a lot of friends while I was there.  I think I've become a wannabe "techy geek"!  Love the stuff, but so much to learn!!  Anyway, back to the topic.  Thursday most of my I.T. friends came to Los Portales to eat with me!  They also gave me a card with a very nice gift card to Target!  Sweet :o)

 

I have fond memories of everyone in the office - whether on a good or bad day.  I was happy to work with them all.  

Pictured above:

The guy with the beard at the top loved to play practical jokes and he always gave me things from his garden!  The two ladies talking to each other, next to Arika, in the bottom left were often my lunch buddies.  We usually got our lunch from the local grocery store and ate in the car as we people watched.  I have a lot of stories I could tell about these two!!  I'm gonna miss them!  The man with the zombie face in the bottom right corner is purposely making that face!!  Sadly, I realized I didn't get a picture of Jonathan because he was helping me take pictures!!  I feel like shooting myself in the foot for this one.  Sorry Jonathan if you're reading this!!

 

Comments on pictures above: (left to right)

Top left - They thought there might be rumors of this pic.

Top middle - My lunch buddies!!  And since Arika wasn't there when I was - the only other women in the office.

Top right - Always Mr. Cool.

Bottom left - I worked with Greg, but also go to worship with his family.

Bottom middle - My boss (who set all this up for me); and my good friend Arika (she has her own blog too).

Bottom right - The one who tried to sneak outta all the pics.  His best friend was smart and he did get out of them by helping me snap some of these!  UGH!!

A Fun Friday Night

Today I learned that McDonald's had Hello Kitty watches in their Happy Meals so that's where I wanted to go eat tonight!!  I'm not a huge HK fan or anything, but they looked so cute on the internet when I saw them on my pursebuzz website that I visit.  I have my new watch pictured below on my pig, Grumbles.  (You know the stuffed pig I always lugg around?)

Jared also had tickets to see Twilight tonight!  I've been reading the books and since the FHU theatre was showing it tonight, he wanted to suffer through it for me.  I think he thought it was okay though and he will probably have a blog post about it soon.  I liked the movie.  The special effects could have been a little better, but it wasn't bad.  If you liked the story, you'll probably like the movie!!  I'm thinking maybe girls' nite if they show it Monday!!  It'd only be $2!! :o) Let me know what you think.

 

p.s. I named my fish.  I asked for help on the name in my last post and 3 people responded.  I actually named him "Gil"!  Thank you for all who helped me!!  It was fun reading your comments! 

Happy Valentine's Day in like 20 minutes!! <3>

A Night of Fishy!!

Jared and I went on a date last night!!  I was so excited because I had wanted to get out Saturday, but was too exhausted.  Jared told me he'd make time to go out Tuesday (last night) so we could eat and get some new fish for my aquarium.  I thought we'd probably eat fast food somewhere, but he surprised me by taking me to Sakura's!!!  What a wonderful hubby!!  :o)  He had the futomaki roll and miso soup while I had the crunchy roll and suki yaki don.  It's a noodle dish with beef, cabbage, mushroom, rice, etc on a bed of rice.  I was chowin' down once it came and forgot to take a picture.

 

After that we swung by Old Navy to do a return and then off to pick up my fish!!  We bought 3 new fish for the tank.  Another Cory Cat (I need help with a name!!), a tequila sunrise male guppy, and another rainbow type male guppy.  When we were in Petsmart, I told the guy what kind of rainbow type guppy I wanted.  He tried and tried to catch it, but couldn't.  I felt so bad for him I finally told him that it didn't matter - the one he had in the net would do.  I didn't realize until he plopped it in my fish bag that it was missing part of his tail.  I told Jared to look at it and he briefly looked up while playing with his iPhone and said it was fine and that he'd probably grow it back.  Once we got home I looked at it again and exclaimed - "Jared, he's missing 1/4 of his tail!!"  Jared looked at it and said that he didn't realize it was that bad.  I told him he never really looked at it in the first place.  I was sorta bummed that I got a defective fish, but Jared tried to cheer me up by telling me how "noble" I was for buying a fish that no one else would have bought.  He said that I had my own "Nemo" fish.  I told him that I wasn't noble (if I'm buying something; I want the best.)  He said he knew and I sighed.  So the fishy's name is "Nemo" and I think he'll do.

 

I still need help coming up with a name for my new Cory Cat.  My other one that I have is named "Whiskers".  If you can help me think of a name, leave me a comment and when I pick a name I'll let you know.  The Cory Cat is pictured in the middle of the fish collage.  He is on a bed of blue rocks.  

My Husband Has His Own Blog!!!

Yay!!  My husband updated his blog and I think will probably keep up with it! :o)  He has been blogging before me but only had two posts (which he deleted).  In fact, the title of his blog is similar to mine because I got my idea from his.  Please visit his blog, Gott It, for some interesting insights about his ponders.  If you dare you may even link to his blog...  IF YOU DARE! Ha!!

That being said, there will be no more Jared's Jibberish on my blog.

Wicked wreck / Trouble with Keys

First off, Jared is lucky to be alive today.  He almost died.  Second off, I should not have keys of any kind.  Both parts of my blog today will be dealing with those topics.  Also, there will be no pictures because my camera cord was left at work and I don't have my magic keys...

Jared's wicked wreck (pics to come)

This year Jared was asked to drive the XBX soapbox car for "Rev it Up" in FHU's homecoming.  We joked and joked about how nervous he was and the possibility of a wreck.  I told him that if he wrecked I could take him to the hospital and maybe get the rest of the day off... "taking care" of him. 

Well my life seems to be like that Alanis Morissette (misspelled) song "Ironic".  

Ironically, Jared did wreck.  I stared in horror from the top of the hill as his car spun out, his tires flew off, and the car collapsed.  I held my breath and when I saw him smiling and getting up out of the wreckage, I knew he was okay.  

Luckily, he's just a little sore and everyone was very entertained.  I felt bad for XBX because they had such a neat looking car, but this is definately a "Rev it Up" that I will not soon forget.  Thank you Jared for always making my life entertaining.  Look for pictures to come, but not this weekend....

The trouble with Sasha and Keys...

First off, I should NEVER be in charge of keys.  Nevertheless for some reason I am.  I'm in charge of lots of keys and they all are important.  I think I realized I shouldn't have keys when I locked myself out of my car on one of mine and Jared's first dates.  We missed our movie because we had to wait for the locksmith to unlock my car.  Then there was the time that I locked my keys in the car in N. Jackson during an inservice.  And that time when I locked my keys in the car at Madison High School (one of the roughest parts in J-Town and my boss stayed with me until Jared came to rescue me).  Oh and that time - wait no that was Jared- we locked ourselves out of the house and Jared had to call our landlords to let us in.  And very recently, that time when I thought I lost the master key to the I.T. offices.  That was interesting - the Desk Monster in my new office ate it for about three weeks!  Due to my OCD of being organized I cleaned that out and the desk monster went to one of my co-worker's offices.  All that to say, today I have not one but TWO stories of missing keys.

First there was the missing Enterprise car key of one of my co-workers.  After searching our offices up and down (even our trash cans), sending out a faculty/staff e-mail to the ENTIRE campus, much stressing of me and many calls to Enterprise, we were finally notified that the mail person took the key that was in the sealed envelope labeled "Enterprise" off my door and somehow Student Services ended up with it.  How crazy was that??  No worries now that it's found, but good grief!

The second key episode:  I have a nervous tick sometimes.  Evidently in the hub-bub of trying to find the lost car keys I was fiddling with my key ring clasp that held my key fob...  I remember doing this... (oddly enough)  Anyway after coming home and realizing that I left my camera sync cord at the office, imagine my horror when I looked at my key chain and my precious fob was missing!!  And yes, I say precious because I've lorded the power of my special I.T. status several times over Jared.  So no pictures because only the special fobs swipe through the electronic dungeon after hours.... 

Luckily I know the fob is probably in my office or one of my co-workers' offices.  The floor locks down and so it is hopefully safe for now.  If I don't find it Monday, I'll have to cancel my little key fob and hopefully get my hands on a new one soon.  But no pics this weekend (sadness).

Look for pictures soon though.  I need to document Molly's birthday Sushi Party, "Rev It Up" and the rest of homecoming this weekend!  Please, Love, and Crabs! :o)  Have a good one!