Let the insanity begin...

Long, long ago (well, a week ago)...
In a Georgia town far far away (but still not as far as Larne)...

We bought this pretty house, and finally closed on it (hurray!). And in the mean time, the movers have collected our shtuff from Mom and Dad's and OTHER movers have been arranging for our Ireland things to be delivered, and my poor hubby has been sleeping on an air mattress in a very very empty house. So, here's is a list of our progress...

1. Bought and had delivered a Refrigerator and a washer and dryer from Best Buy. They're pretty. They're new. I like that.

2. Ordered a bed for Brett and I and a sectional couch for the family room from Ikea (my love for Ikea is forever...) and the lovely Ikea strong men will be bringing it to our house in a little over a week.

3. I've been pinning on Pinterest every day trying to get mentally prepared for the week that we have with Mom to paint and organize. I think I have a game plan. We'll see how it goes. I'm signing on for the 31 days to Cheaply organize your home. See the little tag ----------->
but that won't start until we get there. so give me 10 days for that :)

Here are some of the ideas I have for our home. Tell me what you think...
A) I LOVE this bath color for the 1/2 bath... image from: Federal Home Improvement, Inc

I think I want to frame our mirror and replace our faucet and fixtures. The toilet may have to get replaced, too...one of these days...but this bathroom is so pretty, and with a few extra touches to our 1/2 bath...it could be mine! Thoughts?

Hi from Indiana!

Well, folks, as per usual, I have slacked on my blogging. Not really surprising, I know. Things you should know about us in the past x months...

• We tearfully left Northern Ireland, our beloved home of the past 4 years and moved to our equally loved United States the week before Christmas.
• We are moving (at least that's the rumor) to Fayetteville, GA.
  
• We found and have purchased (closed today on it, in fact!) a gorgeous home that needs a lot of TLC. But it's ours and I don't have to ask permission from anyone (other than the pocketbook) to give out the TLC to it. Thank you very much.
• We are back to being a 2 car family. This, also, is pretty profound.
  
• We tried to move to Georgia last week, but I'm pretty sure that our storage unit provider of the past 4 years and the fabulous bank that previously owned our home were in cahoots to prevent our moving as we found our entire storage unit covered in mold (it was icky) and the bank (not ours, thankfully) kept asking us to move back our closing date. So the kiddos and I are still taking over Mom and Dad's house. Hopefully, that will get remedied quickly.
• Due to the mold, I am now faced with the stressful task of repurchasing EVERYTHING we need to live in this pretty house we just bought. Furniture, appliances, pots/pans, dishes, cleaning stuff, linens, and the list goes on. That would be fun, if I didn't have a budget or so much to get. So I think I'm gonna use this as a place to keep my brain straight.
  

First must haves?

A Washer and Dryer. A Refrigerator.

Praise God that there are President's Day Sales on at Best Buy this weekend ;)

Howdy!

I know. It's been a while. But I apologize over and over, and, ya know, nothing changes, so what do ya do?

Anyway.

12 weeks tomorrow is M day (M for Moving, not Murder like the movie would lead you to believe).

Marina has been a blessing and helping me sort 4 years of stuff into go and stay piles. Right now the piles are fairly even, but the goal is to whittle it down more...

I've been sewing things with our old unwanted clothes and I wanted to show you what I made yesterday morning while Little Miss was at school....
This was an old shirt of Brett's. She's worn it since school was out yesterday, so the pictures are a little rough, but in person, it is by far the cutest thing. Now back to the sewing machine...

Me

I'm on a quest. For me.

I love how Emma Stone's character in Easy A puts it at the very beginning of the movie, Youtube it if you can't remember her monologue at the opening of the movie. RUN and see it if you haven't. It really really is a good movie. So I'm not going to try and reword it.

Basically she says the search for one-self isn't profound. Because, well, it isn't.

But I've decided that, at 32 years young, living in a different country, residing in a house that is hideously horribly decorated and (VERY THANKFULLY) not ours, with my entire wardrobe either handknitted or a super clearance special, I need to think about who I am.

What are my preferences?
What is my style?

So I am on a quest to figure that out. Hopefully I'll be able to come to some conclusion over the next couple weeks...

Science vs Faith

In my travels, last week, between Dublin and Indianapolis, very few things made it through the fog of stress I was carrying with me. I grabbed a bus, I walked what felt like 10 miles to my terminal, I decided food would be a good idea. I called home while in line at the tiny coffee shop next to my gate, talked with my sweethearts, then hung up the phone when it became my turn to purchase my meager breakfast.

Nearby, at a table, sat 2 gentleman. What they looked like didn't make it through the fog, though I think they both had dark hair, but that doesn't effect my story. What I did notice through my fog of sleeplessness and stress, was that one was leaning on a very thick and heavily used Bible. The other was slouched back in his chair the way a teenage boy might do when he's trying to seem disinterested. The briefest part of their conversation that I caught went like this...

Sloucher Man: "But I simply cannot grasp the concept of anything that I cannot touch or feel. And I know that's cliche, but it's how I feel."

Bible Man: "Do you believe in Gravity?"

SM: "Yes."

BM: "But you can't see or touch gravity."

SM: "But I can see and feel the effects of gravity."

Croissant and water bottle balanced in one hand, and dragging my carry-on suitcase with the other, I maneuvered my way to a seat in my gate and missed the rest of their conversation. It had me thinking, though.

Many of us Christians try to use the, "but you've never seen a million dollars and you know that exists." or the same gravity argument when discussing the existence of God with non-believers. We're grasping at whatever we can come up with to prove that just because you can't see or touch God, doesn't mean He isn't out there.

For thousands of years, countless numbers have followed God, trusted in God, and given their lives to doing what God and Jesus would want us to. Thousands of years, nothing has changed. The laws stay the same. They don't waver with the times and society's rules. They ask the exact same thing generation after generation. When God says He will be faithful and steadfast, He means it and has proven it century after century. I give my utmost faith in the existence of my Creator, Father, and Lord God Almighty, because I KNOW with all my soul He's up there.

That doesn't mean I don't question the basic concepts that are God. I do all the time, but that's what He wants, as it keeps Him forefront in our minds.

I do struggle with science, though. I dare you to find a scientific "fact" that hasn't changed or adapted itself to our "evolved" thinking over the past 2000 years. The world was flat. Oops. I mean round. You can't sleep laying down, you'll upset the humors and die. Oops. Tylenol is amazing. Oops, it can ruin your liver. Shall I go on? Have a headache? It's demons so let's drill. Pluto is a planet? Or maybe it's a dormant star. Nothing is ever faithful and steadfast in science. Scientists don't agree on much, but when it comes to praising God, regardless of your denomination, the premise is pretty much the same.

I've heard, "I'm a scientist, I need hard evidence that proves the existence of a deity."

My problem with that statement is that science tends to disprove itself constantly, so blaming your atheism or agnostic beliefs on science is just building your house on sand at the water's edge. Give it time and that science will pull your foundation right out from under your feet.

The Murtaugh List (FB Survey #2)

Just a little How I Met Your Mother inspired survey for your reading pleasure...

The question was, tell me what you're too old for once you've hit 30.
(thanks to Julie Newcamp, Patrick Johnson, and Theresa Crowell for your additions!)

1. To dress like we're 19, unless we make a living hooking.
2. Any hard core sporting that was tough at 17 years of age.
3. To Stay out all night drinking
4. For random piercings that aren't in the ears
5. To play that comparison game that all of us women do.
6. Everything on Ted Mosby's list (Thanks Eric!)
7. To wear anything hot pink (well, anything neon at all)
8. to ogle any star that wasn't old enough to have been in high school when we were in college, EVEN if they're "of age" now. (Zach Efron, Taylor Lautner, you get my point)
9. To determine your life or self worth by sponging off of the "glory days" from high school
   

It was a short turn out for this weeks survey, but it was really kind of a tough one!

You might be a parent if...

(the results of my facebook survey, thank you to Theresa Crowell, Jessica Bowden, Katy Horning, Judi Pingle, Zara McKie-Hastings, Julie Campbell, Kathy Duncan, Susan McGeown, and Kristen Orosz!)

1. You are unable to walk out of the house without some sort of snot, pee, poop, spit up, or whatever else comes out of the little buggers all over you; even when you think you are clean. You aren't.
2. You can't go the day without singing Dora, Phineas & Ferb, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, or Handy Manny.
3. You can't walk across your floor without picking up at least one Cheerio on your foot.
4. You consider chicken nuggets, Mac & Cheese, Fish crackers, graham crackers, and peanut butter (if kiddo isn't allergic) the 5 basic food groups.
5. You are wondering just how many of these you can come up with.
6. You can't remember the last time you went to the bathroom alone.
7. You can smell a dirty diaper from across the room, even when no one else smells anything.
8. You absolutely understand now what YOUR parents meant when they said, "You'll understand one day."
9. You've ever said some form of, "I'm not being mean, I'm keeping you SAFE."
10. You say things you swore you would never say, I.E. "Stop crying before I give you something to cry about." "You get what you get and don't throw a fit." "I can't hear you when you're whining."
11. You randomly hum the theme song to Sponge Bob Squarepants.
12. The last 5 movies you have seen have been cartoons.
13. 9pm is past your bedtime
14. You can function on 2 hours of sleep.
15. Your family pet doubles as a vacuum cleaner
16. You own stock in Spray & Wash and hand sanitizer
17. You carry baby wipes, crackers, & matchbox cars in your purse.
18. You can't remember your life before kids.
19. No matter how badly your kids misbehave, you thank God for blessing you with them.
20. You can actually make a valid argument for nose picking because sometimes you've just gotta get those boogies out of their tiny noses!
21. You reach over to wipe food, dirt, gunk, etc. off of the face of someone who is not your child, and not even necessarily related to you.
22. You've developed chronic shoulder/back pain from lugging around a 15lb. diaper bag, a purse large enough to hold the overflow, and the child for whom you are toting all this stuff!
23. Even if your child is ugly, you think he/she is the most beautiful child on Earth.
24. Everything they do is better and cuter than anyone else's child.
25. You would stay up all night making a blouse for a school presentation the next day because you only learned about it just before your child went to bed.
    
26. Warm tea/coffee is a luxury to you.
27. Every time you open your bag for your wallet, you have to remove a diaper (nappy), baby wipes, tylenol (calpol), and a zhu zhu pet just to see the bottom of the bag.
28. Your car smells permanently of sour milk and is knee deep in lollypop wrappers (papers).
29. You sky plus (TIVO) list consists entirely of children's shows.
30. Pampering yourself means you got a shower this week.
31. The very loud screaming and crying fit in the store doesn't bother you. Even after you realize it's your own child doing it.
32. It's normal to microwave a cup of tea/coffee about 5 times and still drink it cold!
33. You begin to like the smell of baby vomit.
34. You are having a conversation with your significant other or even another adult and you use words such as, "boo boo" or "yuckies."
35. Most of your adult conversations are about your kids.
36. Even though you potty trained your last child 8 years ago, you still refer to the bathroom as the potty and ask everyone (even your spouse) if they have to go before you leave the house.
37. You refer to your husband as "Daddy" so often that you begin to forget what his real name is...