January Happenings

It feels like there are several things to update about on the blog this week. I'll try to keep my thoughts straight and do it in an orderly fashion!

Extreme Makeover Update:
(If you missed the first post about this, you can find it HERE.)
Thanks for all of your great comments about this sweet family's home makeover! Chuck and I got up early on Thursday to go out to the spectator area and get a good spot for reveal day. Fortunately we don't live far away, and we were able to park at our church nearby and walk rather than taking the shuttles that were provided. We were the first ones out there at 7:45 AM. We had a great viewing place right at the front of the barricade. It was really fun to be out there all day and watch the final touches going on the house!



We even got several glimpses of the design team throughout the day.


(Michael)


(Paul, who actually came over to say hi to the crowd!)

Chuck and I literally stood in the same spot all day long, until about 5:00 PM. I'm telling you, we didn't even take a bathroom break! Fortunately we had thought to pack a lunch. It got a little rough, I have to say, because it was chilly outside that day AND it was raining off and on all day. But we were so glad to be able to be there. By the time the family came home, our view was obstructed by a few rows of volunteers and VIPs that were lined up in front of the barricade, but we could still see a little of what was going on. The family looked so excited, and of course that was the best part! The show is expected to air in March. I'll let you know when to watch! We have heard that it will be a 2-hour episode. We can't wait to see how it will all come together.


(This is the only shot I got of Ty. It was just before we yelled "Move that bus!")

Birthday Month:
Although my birthday is almost a week away, several members of my family came to stay with us this past weekend to celebrate with us a little early. Doesn't that make it more fun when you can stretch it out like that? We had a great time and were grateful for the long holiday weekend. Friday night we celebrated my birthday and my oldest nephew's birthday together. I love sharing a birthday month with my sweet little guy! He turned 9 last week, which is so hard for me to believe.


Saturday evening we went to Benihana for a wonderful dinner. We met Chuck's sister and her roommate there as well, and it was great fun. I love that place! (By the way, if you like Benihana, go to their website and register and you can get a coupon to use during your birthday month. It covers your meal up to $30! They will also sing you a little birthday song and take a photo of your group as a keepsake.) :o)
There are still a few fun birthday things planned for the month. This Friday I'm looking forward to spending the day with my best friend since kindergarten. She moved to Texas (about 30 minutes away from me) last year. We have plans to work on scrapbooks during the day and then go out to dinner. I can't wait!

Cycle News:
Today is CD 30, which means that I'll be testing in the next day or two and most likely starting a new cycle before the end of the week. I'm still holding onto a small sliver of hope that we may have a positive test this time, but I'm definitely ready to move ahead if not.

It has been a busy month for us so far, but definitely fun and memorable overall! Hope you're all doing well. I'm working on getting caught up with reading your blogs!

Extreme

This past weekend, after nearly 12 years of marriage, my husband stayed out all night for the first time ever. I was surprised when I woke up early Sunday morning to find that the sun was up and his side of the bed was still undisturbed. Okay, now if you're curious, I'll tell you that he was participating in something very, very cool.

But first let me back up a bit. There is a family in a neighboring town that we know has been in need. Although we don't personally know the young parents very well, two of the teenage kids go to our church. They are a very sweet family with four biological children and nine adopted children! The problem came when Hurricane Ike flooded and seriously damaged their home more than a year ago. The entire family (with the exception of one of the older sons who is serving in Afghanistan) has been living in temporary housing, most recently in a small travel trailer.

Last week we found out that this wonderful family had been chosen to receive a new home from Extreme Makeover Home Edition! We are thrilled for them! Our entire community has been buzzing with this news all week long. The family has been sent away on vacation to Disney World in Florida while construction began last week.

I'm sure you've figured out by now that my husband served as a volunteer at the construction site. It was such a neat experience for him. He took a late nap on Saturday and left home around midnight. After signing in and picking up his blue shirt and hard hat, he got there to discover that they were slightly behind schedule. He and some other guys that we know went to our church (which is only a block away from the construction site) to keep warm and get some sleep for a few hours before going out to work. I thought he might come home sometime during the night before I got up for church, but when I called at 7 AM, he was still busy working. It was a very cold night, especially for where we live, with temperatures in the low 20s. Chuck said it was much better after the sun came up! He worked straight through until noon and then rested for most of the afternoon and evening on Sunday. Oh yes, and he did get to see Ty Pennington just before leaving that day!

Here are a few pics of Chuck in his work gear. He looks a little lumpy because of the multiple layers of clothing. :)



I took these pics from our church parking lot. You can see the large cranes in the background at the work site.

Tomorrow will be an incredibly exciting day. It's reveal day! We're planning to go out there early and get a spot in the crowd to wait for the family to come home. We are both absolutely giddy about seeing the family come home to their wonderful new house!

Yesterday Chuck and I went by the site and hung out for a few minutes at the spectator area across the street. The house is looking pretty amazing. I can't believe how quickly the work gets done. Here's a sneak peek at the new home, as it looked yesterday. Everything will be completed by tomorrow!


(The house is more than 6,000 square feet!)

The episode is supposed to air on ABC sometime in March. I will be sure and post a reminder with the date so you can tune in to see this sweet family get their dream home! I know it will be a great episode, and those of you with a special interest in adoption and/or foster care may especially be interested in watching this one.

Until then, here's a link to the builder's website if anyone wants to see more pics and read about the family:

http://blushieldsextreme.com/

So exciting!

What's Going On

Occasionally when it gets a little heavy in here, I like to do a post about some everyday things that don't have much (or anything) to do with infertility. My goal over the past few weeks has been to try to focus on some activities and hobbies that I've been neglecting lately. Unfortunately, that means less time spent blogging and reading blogs, but I've tried not to get too far behind.

Three main areas that have been keeping me busy for the past few weeks are reading, scrapbooking, and home improvements.

I'm still sticking to the reading list that I made at the beginning of the year. It has been fun yet challenging, but it has mostly kept me reading steadily each month. (I like to cross things off of a list!) The list has six books remaining that I want to read before the end of December. If you'd like to check out what I'm reading, there is a button right over there in the sidebar. Just last night I finished reading The Year of Living Biblically, which I found very entertaining. I'm currently in the middle of reading Crazy Love, and I think I'm about to start reading Little Women.

Scrapbooking has been my favorite hobby for almost a decade now. Each year I try to do a chronological album for that year, and I have several other themed albums apart from that (like for our wedding and special vacations). Truthfully, blogging has been detrimental to my scrapbooking! Since I started writing and reading blogs I've gotten very little done and am suddenly 2 years behind. Last week I eased back into it and was able to get 4 pages done. It was a slow start, but this week I picked up steam and completed 12 pages in 2 days! I'm still working on the 2007 album, but it feels great to make some progress.

Our current home improvement goal is to install crown molding in the 3 bedrooms. We've had the crown in our garage for at least 6 months now, waiting patiently for us to find the time to get to it. Last weekend we tackled one of the guest rooms. That room was once a nursery for our home's previous owners. Although I planned to use it as a nursery as well, I hated the way it was decorated. I remember when we moved in it was quite a chore removing the wallpaper border, repainting the room, and repainting the trim (the walls used to be a light aqua color and the trim was yellow). Of course, we owe the transition from carpet to laminate wood floors to the Great Dishwasher Leak of '08.

Anyway, back to the crown. Chuck and I worked together last weekend to get that room done. It always amazes me that he can learn to do just about any project around the house. My version of helping involved a lot of standing around and holding stuff, but we got it done and are really happy with how it looks. (The rug is a recent purchase that I absolutely love. Don't look too closely or you'll see my hubby's guitar case and amp peeking out from under the bed.)


Just a quick word about miscarriage here -- when we bought this house we were expecting our first baby. I miscarried in between the time that we closed on the house and actually moved in. For quite a while after that loss and a few others, this room remained mostly empty until we finally made the decision to put a bed in there and use it as a guest room. My nephews now call it their room. They sleep here when they stay with us, their toys are in the closet, and their pictures hang on the walls. It does make me happy that the room gets used by them and other guests. Hopefully we will get the crown molding up in the other guest room (which doubles as my scrapbooking space) and our master bedroom before the end of the year!

We are getting ready to leave town to visit my in-laws for Labor Day weekend. We have not been able to make that trip in way too long. It is a 6-hour drive, but Chuck will get off at noon on Friday and we will have the extra day on Monday. They've been having great weather there in North Louisiana and we have been so jealous! The cooler temperatures haven't quite made it all the way down to us yet. We have still been in the 90s every day and we can't wait for fall (neither can our electric bill!). Autumn is my favorite time of year.

There's a long and rambling recap of what's been going on here. How about you? What are you reading? Do you scrapbook? How do you use the room that you wish was a nursery? What's under the bed in your guest room?

Updates and Prayer Request

Hi friends,

It has been a busy summer for us so far, and even this month it seems we've witnessed much of life's ebb and flow. I wanted to give a few quick updates tonight since I'll be away from my computer for the next week or so.

~For the Independence Day weekend, we traveled out of state to meet our newest nephew for the first time. Nephew T was born back in April to Chuck's brother and his wife. He is just adorable, and we had such a good time getting to know him. I'll have to ask his parents if I can share a photo with you here on the blog so you can see his big blue eyes!

~Last week my sister and her boys (Nephews A & N) came from Louisiana to stay with us. We had a great fun-filled week together. Now that the boys are both in school and my sis is teaching again, I'm sure we will really look forward to summertime with them each year. We mostly spent lots of time at home, playing video games and board games and reading books. I love climbing into their bed each night for story time while they are visiting. As a lover of books myself, it makes me very happy that they both love to read and listen to stories.
The coolest thing we did was watch this week's launch of the space shuttle Endeavour on the big screen at Johnson Space Center. At ages 8 and 6, the boys are finally old enough to really enjoy having an uncle who works at NASA. We were so glad to hear them say how "awesome" it was!

~This week I will be spending some time with my family in Louisiana. Early this morning, we got word that my uncle had passed away in a car accident during the night. If you wouldn't mind, please remember my family in your prayers. I know it will be a tough week for my mom as she buries her older brother.
Being with my mom this week means that I will have no Internet connection. I'll miss being in touch with my blog pals, but as always, you'll be in my thoughts and prayers. I'll be eager to catch up with all of you when I get home!

Stacey

Busyness

Sometimes my husband and I joke that we run a bed and breakfast. We do love to have house guests, so it is not meant as a complaint. April has turned out to be one of those months at our house, and honestly it has been nice for me to have a distraction from the daily gloom that had settled around here.

In the past two weeks we've had three sets of company. Although Texas observed spring break several weeks ago, most people in Louisiana had theirs last week or the week before. After a visit from my sister-in-law for Easter, my sister (who teaches 2nd grade) and nephews came during the next week for their break from school. This week my in-laws were here for a few days during their spring break (my mother-in-law is an elementary school librarian). It has been a nice few weeks of family visits, but I must admit that I was worn out! After seeing the last car off on Wednesday morning, I crawled back into bed and slept for an additional three hours despite the fact that some neighbors were getting a new roof. With the help of some earplugs I was able to catch up on some much-needed rest!

This week the weather here has been gorgeous after what I've been calling the Storm of the Century. Last Saturday we got more rain than I have ever seen here in the past 8 years, hurricanes and tropical storms included. In a matter of about 3 hours, my town was drenched with nearly 12 inches of rain! I've never seen our yard hold that much water, but fortunately we were never in fear of the house flooding.

Water in the backyard (the white shed is still tarped after damage from Hurricane Ike)

It became quite an eventful trip home from Tar.get, however, for my sister and me. We had to try several alternate routes home due to flooded roads, and we were both pretty nervous by the time it was over! I learned a few things about our coping mechanisms, though. My way of handling the situation was to call Chuck and tell him that I didn't know what to do. My sis repeated "Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh" each time we had to navigate through streets covered with swirling water of unknown depths! I know we both uttered some frantic "Lord, save me" prayers (a la Peter in Matthew 14), and thankfully we finally made it home without getting stranded!

Water in the front/side yard

Finally, it has taken a couple of days to get caught up with reading blogs again but I think I'm mostly updated. I was amazed at how much I had missed in a mere 7 days. I have been praying especially for those blog friends who have experienced heartbreaking losses over the last few days, and I continue to pray for those who still wait. You guys are never far from my thoughts! Thanks again for all of the awesome comments and support.

In Other News

It's time for a little break from writing about infertility. I've been in a funk for the past couple of weeks. It is a combination of things, really, the main one being the return of my old friend Insomnia. The time change this weekend only made my problem worse. I was so exhausted on Sunday that I came home from church and slept on the couch for over 2 hours! (I know what you're thinking and no, definitely not pregnant.) Naps are not usually my thing. Don't get me wrong, I think naps are great. It's just that indulging in a nap usually means it will be that much more impossible for me to fall asleep at night.

The only good thing about being unable to sleep is that it gives me lots more time to read books. I'm making great progress on my reading list, recently finishing Life of Pi and The Little Prince. Right now I am more than halfway through The Secret Garden and I'm enjoying that little escape.

Chuck spent the weekend trying to identify a problem with our washing machine. We have had the worst luck with appliances lately! I'd been noticing a musty smell in the laundry room (I've learned to trust my nose!), and then a little puddle appeared one day after I washed some clothes. Fortunately, my husband is very handy around the house and he thinks he has it figured out, but of course we have to wait on a part to be delivered hopefully this week. I'm still using the washer (after he put it back together) and we'll tackle it again next weekend. Isn't it true that when it rains, it pours? We've been on quite an adventure as homeowners lately.

We spent the rest of the weekend with some great entertainment at home. We finished watching the John Adams miniseries on DVD, which was very good. If you haven't seen it yet, I hope you'll check it out. Ever since our trip to Washington, D.C. the summer before last, we've been very interested in learning more about American history. In 2007 Chuck and I went to D.C. because he had a work conference to attend. The trip was extra special because we were able to invite my mom and my brother to go along with us. It was the very first visit there for the three of us (Chuck had been in junior high on a school trip) and we had an amazing time visiting our nation's capital. My mom has always been incredibly patriotic, so experiencing D.C. with her was unique and special. Also, she and my brother have done very little traveling over the years. Some months after we returned home she caught the John Adams series on TV, and later I bought her the book and my sis bought her the DVDs, which Chuck and I just finished watching this weekend. (And now we've come full-circle!) It's exciting to see my mom's continued passion for learning about history after that trip we took. She just soaks it up like a sponge!


One of our Net.flix movies from the weekend was The Kite Runner. I have to tell you that we both absolutely loved this movie. I'm a little mad at myself for not reading the book first, but the movie did not disappoint. Chuck and I watched it last night and by the end we were both in tears. (Sorry honey, but you know I'd rather be married to someone who would be moved by this film than someone who wouldn't!) If you haven't seen the movie, I'd recommend it. Like I said, I haven't read the book but now I want to! I have no doubt that it would be a great read.


I am more than ready for Spring to arrive. Here in Texas we've had some summery days already, with a little taste of Spring here and there. We're getting a "cold front" (I'm sure that's a relative term) later this week, which I'm guessing might be the last one of the season for us. I'm ready to get the yard and flower beds looking pretty again!


That's life for us here in our corner of the world. How did you spend your weekend?

In Other News

The last two posts have been particularly emotional for me to write. I thought today we could have a break from the heavy stuff and only talk about some lighter things, shall we? I need to update you on a couple of random things anyway, so this will be a catch-all kind of a post.


First, if you've been reading for a while then you know that my kitchen is being remodeled. I am so happy to report that this week we had the tile backsplash installed and grouted. The grout just got done today, so it isn't even dry yet. We still need the cabinet guys to come out one more time to install the one unit that was the wrong size and complete all of the trim. We are finally getting closer and I couldn't be more ready. I'm hoping that we will be moving in appliances as early as next week! We actually can't wait to get in there and cook some meals again. I promise to post some before and after pics once the whole thing is done.


I've been slowly working on my reading list for the year. I wish I already had a few crossed off of the list, but having Brisingr as my first book has slowed me down. My brother loves the Eragon series. I borrow his when he is done with them and he has been dying for me to finish this one. Normally it wouldn't take me a very long time to read a book (even one that has 748 pages like this one does). I'm about half way through it right now and not moving very quickly. I think that's mostly due to the amount of time I've spent blogging lately. As with any hobbies, spending a lot of time on one takes time away from the others! I'm very sad that I haven't worked on my scrapbooks for months. Unfortunately, my workspace is currently crammed with all of the stuff that belongs in our kitchen cabinets. I'm telling you, I can't wait to get that project finished!


Lately I'm excited about having my DVR filled with the return of some of my favorite TV shows. I haven't yet watched the premiere of 24 but I'm eager to get to it. (Emily, I've been avoiding your blog after I saw the title of your last post! Hope I can get caught up soon.) I did start watching American Idol auditions last night, with a mixture of curiosity and embarrassment as always. Pretty soon it will be time for a new season of Lost as well. Oh boy!


Finally, remember the post about my January Girl figurine? I'd found December and August on the internet and they were delivered this week. Aren't they cute all together?

I'm not a huge collector of nicknacks, in fact the only other collections I have besides DVDs and books are postcards, which I keep filed away in albums. I don't like having a lot of miscellaneous stuff around to dust, and besides, my shelves are already full of photographs. Searching for the other figurines in this set, though, has become a fun little challenge for me. I hope I'll be able to find the other nine someday.

Ok, one last thing. Shoot, I wasn't going to mention infertility this time but it always seems to come up these days. Oh well. After Christmas, Chuck and I were talking about saving up our money to buy the camera he's been talking about for years. We had a pretty nice start with some Christmas money we'd received and we were ready to start putting some more into savings for the camera. I swear this never happens to us, but last week he decided to check in our hiding place where we keep important documents and such things and occasionally some extra cash. Much to his surprise, he discovered that we had more cash in there than we realized! Holy cow, it was just enough to cover the new camera! What's that got to do with IF? Well, some of that money I remember us putting away two Christmases ago (when we were pregnant) for a baby bed. You know, I'm not giving up hope on a pregnancy ever happening, but we both just felt good about taking that money out and using it on something we can enjoy today! The UPS guy just delivered the new camera a few hours ago and I know Chuck can't wait to get home from work and play with it. He loves taking pics and I love to scrapbook them, so we are both thrilled with the new purchase. We'll be trying it out this weekend when we go to Louisiana for our nephew's birthday party.

So, how about you? What are your hobbies? Are you reading a good book right now? Do you have any unique collections? What are you watching on TV these days? Let's chat.

In Other News

Tomorrow we are leaving to spend time with our families for Thanksgiving. We will go see my in-laws first and then head to my sister's house. We love that we get to see both sides of the family for the holidays! Yes, it will be a good chunk of time in the car but we've got our favorite Christmas music ready to go. I have decided to stay all next week at my mom's house to spend time with her. It has been a long time since I've been able to do that and I'm looking forward to it. I joked with her that it will be like returning to the Stone Age - she doesn't own a computer, and I can't get a cell phone signal at her house!

As much as I will miss reading all of your blogs for the next week and a half, it will be kind of nice to spend some quiet time in the country. I have packed several books that have been on the nightstand waiting to be read. I plan on at least starting Brisingr by Christopher Paolini (book 3 in the Eragon or Inheritance series) and/or The Host by Twilight author Stephenie Meyer. Speaking of Twilight, I'm finally going to see the movie this weekend! I haven't gone yet because my mom, sister, brother and I had agreed to wait and see it together. After hearing a few mixed reviews from friends, I can't wait to go check it out for myself.

I will be eager to catch up with all of you when I get home. Please know you will all be in my prayers next week. I plan on keeping a prayer journal just for you while I'm away. I'm thankful for you guys!

One final note: please pray for my husband's grandmother and the whole family. She is not doing well at all and we fear it may be a very hard time this weekend. Your prayers would mean so much to us!

In Other News

It's amazing how much has happened since the last In Other News post. Hurricane season is in full swing as I've talked about quite a lot lately and it is really keeping us on our toes. Whether we need to evacuate for Hurricane Ike or not, I'm pretty sure we have decided to leave town this weekend and go visit my in-laws. That way we will be safe no matter where the storm goes. We may be boarding up the windows before we go.

So, let's jump right in. Here's what's happening with us In Other News:

• Of course, Hurricane Ike will be making landfall in Texas this weekend. The farther south it goes, the safer things will be at our house. Even if we don't get a direct hit we will still be on the "dirty" side of the storm with much wind and rain. We are hoping people will be safe and evacuate if necessary. People around here are stubborn after all the heavy traffic with the poorly planned evac for Hurricane Rita a few years ago.
• Note: I've decided that my husband's nickname on this blog will be "Chuck." Early in our engagement my dad mistakenly called him by that name and it has been a joke between us ever since. Our friends get a kick out of it because apparently he doesn't "look like a Chuck," however one should look! So, in the spirit of anonymity (and inside jokes) I will be calling him Chuck.
• September is the month for doctor appointments at my house. Chuck and I have the always fun, shared dermatology appointment tomorrow unless we evacuate sooner, and we will both be taking care of our 6-month dental checkups and cleanings this month. That's not at all interesting, I know, but hey, it feels great to get that stuff crossed off of my list.
• It only took me two weeks to read the entire Twilight series. I loved it! Here's my breakdown of the books. Don't worry, I'm not into spoilers so it's safe to read on. I thought the very best book in the series was book 3, Eclipse, followed very closely by book 1, Twilight. I liked book 2, New Moon, but it definitely had a darker quality to it and was a little harder to read. Book 4, Breaking Dawn, in my opinion was a little too graphic and gory, and frankly too long. Don't get me wrong, I don't think there could ever be too much Edward Cullen so I was still interested in the plot. I just thought it could have been wrapped up more succinctly. I have to give credit to the author Stephenie Meyer. Although I occasionally read some SciFi-type books, I never thought I could be interested in a book (much less a series) about vampires. She did a great job writing it and she had me hook, line, and sinker. I passed them along to my sister, and now my brother and my mom are enjoying them as well. It has been a lot of fun to talk about the books with several friends who happened to be reading them at the same time. I can't wait for the Twilight movie November 21!
• I actually took a short break between Twilight and New Moon to read a book entirely unrelated, The Shack by William P. Young. I don't normally interrupt a series like that but I was trying to get it finished before I got together with some friends who had already read it and wanted to discuss it. Some consider it controversial, but I found it very interesting. The more I try to briefly write about it here, the more I think it needs its own post. I actually have NOTES from the book, so that should tell you something! If you'd like to read more about it or discuss The Shack with me, look for a new post soon.

With the possible evacuation/trip to see family I will probably be out of touch for several days, which means I won't likely be able to read my regular blogs. I hope you all have a great weekend and we'll hopefully catch up next week!

In Other News

Today I'm going to try something new. Since I started this blog a few months back, I've mostly written about some pretty broad topics like feelings associated with infertility and pregnancy loss, friendship, and the head-spinning speed at which time passes. All of these subjects are discussed here under the umbrella of infertility. Whether I like it or not (and I don't), infertility is a part of my life. It's the reason I started blogging in the first place. I don't, however, want to be associated with just this one thing.

Do you know anyone who talks about just one thing every time you see them? If so, does it bug you? I know there are certain friends of mine who also follow the NBA, so when I see them we talk about it some. It's something we have in common, so that's understandable. Certainly we can also have conversations with friends about things we don't have in common. That's what makes life interesting. But let's just say, for example, that I love pizza (which is true!). Let's say I love it so much that it's all I can talk about. I don't care if you hate it and the very idea of it makes you want to run for the hills. I'm going to talk about its cheesy goodness every time I see you. Sometimes I like thick crust, sometimes thin. I like pepperoni. But oh, the mushrooms. I love mushrooms! I know we talked about pizza for 5 hours the last time I saw you, but let's spend some more time talking about how yummy it is. That would get kinda old, right?

I don't want to be this person, about infertility or pizza or anything else! So I've decided to add a new feature to this blog called In Other News. I still write this blog because of infertility, and it is helping me sort out my feelings in a major way. Your comments encourage me beyond words! But of course there's much more to me (and you) besides the problems we face. Every so often, let's chat about something that's not infertility. I love movies, TV, books, and music, so I'm sure those topics will be popping up here and there. Life isn't always exciting here in my bubble, but I'll try to find some interesting things to talk about that are just a part of everyday life.

So, here's what's going on in my life In Other News at the end of August:

• I just got shipping confirmation on my copy of Prison Break, Season 3. That means soon I can clear off about 11 hours from my DVR and get ready to start watching the new season. On September 1, I'll be on the couch catching up with Michael Scofield and company. I can't wait! I'm also excited about the new season of The Office, starting September 25.
• My husband and I just joined Netflix earlier this month and are enjoying having a steady stream of DVDs to watch. I'm sure I'll log way too many hours of couch potato time but I'm not too concerned about it. As long as my house is clean and I have some semblance of a social life, I'm ok with that.
• I haven't had a haircut in over 5 months. I don't know why the only times I remember to call and schedule one it's always on a Monday when they're closed. My hair has grown quite long, which doesn't go well with summertime in Texas. Hopefully soon I'll lose about 3-4 inches.
• I am currently addicted to the Veggie Sammies from Quizno's. Lettuce, tomato, mushrooms (yeah!), cheese, black olives, guacamole, and red wine vinaigrette on toasted flatbread. I like to hold the onions and add pickles. Make it a combo with two of these, chips, and a Dr Pepper and now you've got something. Yum.
• Last night I started reading the book Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I'm not usually all about vampire books but I do like a good young adult series now and again. After reading some good reviews lately about this series and hearing a few friends recommend it, I've decided to give it a try. Thanks, Emily for your own thoughts on this!

One more thing in other news: if you wouldn't mind, please pray for my friend John. He's going through a hard time right now as a newly-single father with two young daughters. They need lots of prayer and support. Thanks!