Tim is unquestionably and without doubt the best spider squisher in the whole wide world!
We were already in bed the other night at the motel when out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement of some sort. I instinctively turned to see what it was and saw the BIGGEST, SCARIEST SPIDER I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE! It was a big fat brown huge spider scurrying across the floor. It was also probably the fastest spider I have ever seen. I shuddered all over and screamed for Tim to get up and kill it. He just laid there and said, "Well, Debbie, just step on it." I totally freaked out...I mean...this thing was huge. And now it was stopped right beside the bed, staring at me! Yes, I totally freaked! I begged him to get up and squish this spider, that I was afraid if I stepped on it that it would throw me across the room it was so big!
Being the good husband that he is, he got up to survey the situation. Upon seeing the spider, he loudly and with great surprise exclaimed, "HOLY COW!!!! That thing is HUGE!" He approached the spider to expedite its demise and it started running. Tim chased it across the room, around the jacuzzi and behind the fridge and then couldn't see it. He was going to leave it there...you know how guys are - 'out of sight, out of mind.' H-O-W-E-V-E-R, I can tell you that was NOT an acceptable end to this situation. I insisted that he pull the fridge out, find the creepy, crawly evil one and complete the task of obliterating it. When he pulled the fridge out, the spider darted out again. This time, he darted in the wrong direction. He came in direct contact with the bottom of Tim's shoe. He actually made a noise when he was squished. Ewwwww
Tim assured me over and over that the spider was dead. The spider that Tim described as looking like a "grand-daddy longlegs on steroids" was now thoroughly squished and in pieces. He went back to bed and shortly thereafter fell asleep. He had been the knight in shining armor, the rescue to this damsel in distress. He had taken out the enemy. He had saved the day...or rather, the night! Now, if he could only have controlled my dreams. The hateful thing invaded my dreams all night. Boy was I glad to see the morning sun!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
408 Boxes
408 boxes of stuff. Just stuff. All kinds of stuff. Good stuff, dumb stuff, old stuff, new stuff, stuff we've never seen. Just stuff. 408 of 'em. That's how many boxes Servepro brought back to our house when we were ready to move back in. Everything was looking so good and then they brought in all the boxes. Every room was full ceiling to floor and wall to wall. I've never seen so many boxes crammed in a house. I didn't know we had so much stuff. However, the boxes were not full - not even close to being full. Most boxes only had a few small items in them. I could have crammed all the stuff in a fraction of the boxes. But then, Servepro wouldn't have made as much money, now, would they? Yeah...they charged $3.50 per box, plus charged so much per square foot for storing them for 5 months, then charged to deliver them back to our house. Uh huh...somebody made a bunch of money off of us.
But as somebody told me, it's been kinda like Christmas. We're opening all these boxes, not knowing what's in any of them and finding all kinds of surprises. ALL KINDS OF SURPRISES!!! We found Mayfield Dairy Employee shirts. None of us has ever worked at Mayfield Dairy. We found teeny, tiny little baby dresses. No babies in our house in about 26 years. How about the size 42 black sheer, lacy negligee??? You read right...size 42! It would have fit Tim!!! LOL And how about the H-U-G-E black lace thong that probably went with the size 42 negligee? Not stretched out, it was 18" wide. Let me just say...Ewwwwwww. In spite of all the time-consuming weariness of unpacking all the boxes, we've had quite a few laughs from it. We're just tired of it now. We took 300+ hanging items to Goodwill (clothes, bedspreads, curtains, etc etc - each item hung separately on individual hangers). We've got about 50 boxes so far to go to the church's thrift store, quite a bit of odds and ends furniture to go there, and we've had mountains of trash. If our trashman got paid on commission, he would love us this week!
But we're almost there. Almost done! Furniture is being delivered this week and I can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel. And I can see carpet where boxes used to be!! Fewer than 100 boxes to go, then we can furnish and decorate. Oh the joy! When we get everything in place, I'll give a big ole "Yall come now, ya hear!" shout out to everybody in town!
Until then, time's a-wastin'...I've got more boxes to unpack. Talk to you later!
But as somebody told me, it's been kinda like Christmas. We're opening all these boxes, not knowing what's in any of them and finding all kinds of surprises. ALL KINDS OF SURPRISES!!! We found Mayfield Dairy Employee shirts. None of us has ever worked at Mayfield Dairy. We found teeny, tiny little baby dresses. No babies in our house in about 26 years. How about the size 42 black sheer, lacy negligee??? You read right...size 42! It would have fit Tim!!! LOL And how about the H-U-G-E black lace thong that probably went with the size 42 negligee? Not stretched out, it was 18" wide. Let me just say...Ewwwwwww. In spite of all the time-consuming weariness of unpacking all the boxes, we've had quite a few laughs from it. We're just tired of it now. We took 300+ hanging items to Goodwill (clothes, bedspreads, curtains, etc etc - each item hung separately on individual hangers). We've got about 50 boxes so far to go to the church's thrift store, quite a bit of odds and ends furniture to go there, and we've had mountains of trash. If our trashman got paid on commission, he would love us this week!
But we're almost there. Almost done! Furniture is being delivered this week and I can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel. And I can see carpet where boxes used to be!! Fewer than 100 boxes to go, then we can furnish and decorate. Oh the joy! When we get everything in place, I'll give a big ole "Yall come now, ya hear!" shout out to everybody in town!
Until then, time's a-wastin'...I've got more boxes to unpack. Talk to you later!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
The house fire was more extensive than we realized at first. But here we are, almost 6 months later, ready to move into the new house in a week or two. Well, not totally new house...the foundation and the four outside brick walls remained. Everything else is totally new! When the house caught on fire, I had H1N1 and pneumonia...apparently I got sick while in Gatlinburg. Definitely not a good way to start the new year.
We had the fire. I was sick. Becky delayed her trip back to California for a few days. John-Paul had just gotten to Florida to visit with his in-laws for the holidays and he came back home to help us. Thanks, Allie, for letting us use your washer and dryer! The dogs were put in a boarding kennel. We were living in a motel trying to make sense of everything and trying to figure out what to do next. It was an unbelievably crazy, chaotic time. But oddly enough, Tim and I had a real sense of peace about us. We never cried or grieved over the loss of our house or the things in the house. Things come. Things go. Things can be replaced. We are so very thankful for God's protection and provision in times of need. He protected us...none of us were hurt - even though Becky did run back in the burning house to rescue Belle, our aged boxer! (and yes, she has been thoroughly scolded for this!!). He protected us, and we have seen His hand of provision and His favor throughout this entire process. Many things came to light through this that we never would have known about otherwise. A lot of good changes have come through this. We've met some wonderful people as a result as well.
Two weeks after the fire, just as I was returning to work, the earthquake hit Haiti and it became instantly overwhelmingly crazy at work! In case you don't know, Tim and I both work for Operation Compassion, an international disaster relief organization. So when there's a disaster somewhere, we respond. This was a huge disaster and our response was huge.
So, here we were...muddling through the process of a house fire; working with insurance people, building contractors, cleaning companies, etc etc etc, trying to get better physically, and working long days at the office to help others going through much more devastating losses than what we had experienced. And in the middle of all the craziness, our building contractor had a quadruple by-pass operation and was off the job for several weeks. Could anything else happen?! But again, at night when we got home we had such a sense of peace. We slept good. We knew God was in control.
The re-building of our house has been a real learning experience. I've learned a lot. It's been a fun, albeit tiring, experience. We moved into a townhouse in February, the house was coming along beautifully and we were looking to move in around the first of May. Tim and I had had a vacation scheduled for a week in April for quite some time and even though we really didn't want to go at that time, we figured we needed the break. So, off we went to Myrtle Beach. We had a great time. Until the end of the week, that is. Tim got sick the last couple of days there. Very sick. We came home, he went to the doctor and was put immediately in the hospital. He had a nasty gall bladder complete with a full set of stones that had to be removed and a rowdy, rambunctious, rebellious gallstone that wouldn't cooperate. It insisted on leaving the gall bladder and getting lodged in the bile duct, causing Tim excruciating pain, toxic build-up, jaundice and a bunch of other problems. He was in the hospital for a week. So, a week in Myrtle Beach, a week in the hospital and a week at home recuperating means Tim missed 3 weeks from work and 3 weeks from staying on top of things at the house.
Still, the peace remains. Life happens a day at a time, hour by hour, and that's how we take it. Tim is back at work, back to keeping up with the house, back to putting out fires and solving problems - which he does amazingly well :o) and almost back to normal. Life won't be back to normal - as we know it - until we're back in the house. Hopefully, that will happen within the week. The house looks great, by the way! The only big thing to be done now is installing appliances and they should be delivered this week! Yay!!!
So, here we are. It is May 18th and looking back, 2010 has not been at all like I thought it would be. But that's ok. God knows the end from the beginining and I trust Him to take me there.
Becky leaves in less than a week for India. I am so amazed at that girl, and so stinkin proud of her! She is following God's call on her life and that makes me proud. I am very thankful that God chose me to be her mother. What a blessing I have been given and entrusted with. How do I feel about her going? This blog would be waaaaay to long to even go there. Just know this...I have a very real peace about it. A God-given peace. No other way to describe it.
Peace, peace, wonderful peace...coming down from the Father above. All is in His hands and I can sleep knowing that He is going with her. I can't go, but I know He is and that makes it good.
Thank God for His peace. The peace that passes understanding. A trite phrase? No indeed...not at all. I do not pretend to understand how we can have peace throughout all we've been through and in seeing Becky go to India. It passes my feeble understanding, but it is very real. His peace. Thank God for His peace!
We had the fire. I was sick. Becky delayed her trip back to California for a few days. John-Paul had just gotten to Florida to visit with his in-laws for the holidays and he came back home to help us. Thanks, Allie, for letting us use your washer and dryer! The dogs were put in a boarding kennel. We were living in a motel trying to make sense of everything and trying to figure out what to do next. It was an unbelievably crazy, chaotic time. But oddly enough, Tim and I had a real sense of peace about us. We never cried or grieved over the loss of our house or the things in the house. Things come. Things go. Things can be replaced. We are so very thankful for God's protection and provision in times of need. He protected us...none of us were hurt - even though Becky did run back in the burning house to rescue Belle, our aged boxer! (and yes, she has been thoroughly scolded for this!!). He protected us, and we have seen His hand of provision and His favor throughout this entire process. Many things came to light through this that we never would have known about otherwise. A lot of good changes have come through this. We've met some wonderful people as a result as well.
Two weeks after the fire, just as I was returning to work, the earthquake hit Haiti and it became instantly overwhelmingly crazy at work! In case you don't know, Tim and I both work for Operation Compassion, an international disaster relief organization. So when there's a disaster somewhere, we respond. This was a huge disaster and our response was huge.
So, here we were...muddling through the process of a house fire; working with insurance people, building contractors, cleaning companies, etc etc etc, trying to get better physically, and working long days at the office to help others going through much more devastating losses than what we had experienced. And in the middle of all the craziness, our building contractor had a quadruple by-pass operation and was off the job for several weeks. Could anything else happen?! But again, at night when we got home we had such a sense of peace. We slept good. We knew God was in control.
The re-building of our house has been a real learning experience. I've learned a lot. It's been a fun, albeit tiring, experience. We moved into a townhouse in February, the house was coming along beautifully and we were looking to move in around the first of May. Tim and I had had a vacation scheduled for a week in April for quite some time and even though we really didn't want to go at that time, we figured we needed the break. So, off we went to Myrtle Beach. We had a great time. Until the end of the week, that is. Tim got sick the last couple of days there. Very sick. We came home, he went to the doctor and was put immediately in the hospital. He had a nasty gall bladder complete with a full set of stones that had to be removed and a rowdy, rambunctious, rebellious gallstone that wouldn't cooperate. It insisted on leaving the gall bladder and getting lodged in the bile duct, causing Tim excruciating pain, toxic build-up, jaundice and a bunch of other problems. He was in the hospital for a week. So, a week in Myrtle Beach, a week in the hospital and a week at home recuperating means Tim missed 3 weeks from work and 3 weeks from staying on top of things at the house.
Still, the peace remains. Life happens a day at a time, hour by hour, and that's how we take it. Tim is back at work, back to keeping up with the house, back to putting out fires and solving problems - which he does amazingly well :o) and almost back to normal. Life won't be back to normal - as we know it - until we're back in the house. Hopefully, that will happen within the week. The house looks great, by the way! The only big thing to be done now is installing appliances and they should be delivered this week! Yay!!!
So, here we are. It is May 18th and looking back, 2010 has not been at all like I thought it would be. But that's ok. God knows the end from the beginining and I trust Him to take me there.
Becky leaves in less than a week for India. I am so amazed at that girl, and so stinkin proud of her! She is following God's call on her life and that makes me proud. I am very thankful that God chose me to be her mother. What a blessing I have been given and entrusted with. How do I feel about her going? This blog would be waaaaay to long to even go there. Just know this...I have a very real peace about it. A God-given peace. No other way to describe it.
Peace, peace, wonderful peace...coming down from the Father above. All is in His hands and I can sleep knowing that He is going with her. I can't go, but I know He is and that makes it good.
Thank God for His peace. The peace that passes understanding. A trite phrase? No indeed...not at all. I do not pretend to understand how we can have peace throughout all we've been through and in seeing Becky go to India. It passes my feeble understanding, but it is very real. His peace. Thank God for His peace!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Here I am, again.
Well it has become obvious that I am not good at this blogging thing. It seems I am good for a couple of blogs a year. I need to make a definite effort to do better than that. So much has happened since my last blog, I don't even know where to begin. I suppose I could start where my last blog left off. That was fall of last year.
I was preparing for Christmas. I, rather we, were all so excited about Christmas. It would be the first time in several years that our entire family would be together for Christmas. There are some new in-laws in the family since we were all together at Christmas. And there was a new baby on the way since then! Becky finally got home - we were worried because of the nasty blizzard that had the whole eastern half of the country paralyzed. Tim got stranded in Maryland because of the same blizzard. But they finally got home safe and sound. Becky made oodles and oodles of the best cookies ever. Gifts were wrapped and we were ready for Christmas! We had a cabin secured in Gatlinburg and we were all counting the days. Almost everyone in the family was able to be there. We had a great time! Unca Tim makes a WONDERFUL Santa Claus! Even the neighbors thought so!
Christmas was great, but as it does every year...it comes and it goes. A week later, a new year begins. We always say that next year is going to be better than the last. I've said that myself many times. This year, I had no idea how my year was going to end and how my new year would begin. The year went up in flames. Literally.
We got home from the cabin on December 29. On December 30 we had a house fire. Everything changed in just a matter of minutes...
I'll finish this later. I've got to go to Dalton to pick up carpet! Another chore in the re-building of the house.
I was preparing for Christmas. I, rather we, were all so excited about Christmas. It would be the first time in several years that our entire family would be together for Christmas. There are some new in-laws in the family since we were all together at Christmas. And there was a new baby on the way since then! Becky finally got home - we were worried because of the nasty blizzard that had the whole eastern half of the country paralyzed. Tim got stranded in Maryland because of the same blizzard. But they finally got home safe and sound. Becky made oodles and oodles of the best cookies ever. Gifts were wrapped and we were ready for Christmas! We had a cabin secured in Gatlinburg and we were all counting the days. Almost everyone in the family was able to be there. We had a great time! Unca Tim makes a WONDERFUL Santa Claus! Even the neighbors thought so!
Christmas was great, but as it does every year...it comes and it goes. A week later, a new year begins. We always say that next year is going to be better than the last. I've said that myself many times. This year, I had no idea how my year was going to end and how my new year would begin. The year went up in flames. Literally.
We got home from the cabin on December 29. On December 30 we had a house fire. Everything changed in just a matter of minutes...
I'll finish this later. I've got to go to Dalton to pick up carpet! Another chore in the re-building of the house.
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