Train station surprise

This is awesome!!

Mischief

Now that Daniel and Emily are finally back from their honeymoon, I can officially post the destruction present that we left for them in their apartment. At the wedding, they made it known that they really didn't want the car decorated. Apparently we were all caught up in the moment and had a rare moment of compassion.

After the wedding though, I just felt like something was wrong. Something was missing. So.. I suggested we leave them a "welcome home" gift. Hey, what do you expect when you go out of town for a week and leave your apartment key with family and friends...

This actually worked out better than decorating a car because had we done the car, WE would've had to clean it. Since it was their apartment, THEY had to clean it! Perfect! The following are photos of the decorating. They really don't do it justice.

Here is a shot into the living room, from the dining room. Streamers, paint, toilet paper red stringy thingies all over the floor.

Looking at the kitchen area. It's closed off by TP.

We stuffed the fridge with the red stringy stuff and TP. There are also two empty milk cartons in there

Army men frozen in the ice cube tray

Silverware is all frozen.

This was actually ALL Emily's dad's idea. He took all the labels off their canned food. He wanted to mix in some dog and cat food, but didn't. He said this was his opportunity to do all those things to his daughter that he has always wanted to do!

The bathroom, fully rolled. Notice the pregnancy test on the counter

Leading into the bedroom

And the bedroom. There are 8x10 photos of our Grandmothers taped above the bed, the bed is short sheeted, and there are army men in there.

Cian is proud of the work we did

And of course, a group shot. Hey, we were already guilty, might as well take full credit!

Me, Carrie, Cian, Alicia, Daniel, Bobby Duke. Josh took the picture because he wanted no evidence of him being there.

No monkey business here

We had a lot of fun decorating the place! They said that they loved it when they came home to it, so it was a success!

The following are just a few pics of the day after the wedding. This is how I found Dad out back. Completely zonkered out in the hammock.

I got right up in his face taking pictures and he never budged. He was OUT.

And this is how we woke him up. Me on the banjo, Carrie on the strumstick, Cian on the guitar, and Bobby Duke on the fiddle. Nice!

King Tutankhamun

Josh and I went to see the King Tut exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art this past Saturday. I've been dying to go since before the exhibit opened! I just have this fascination with ancient Egypt for some reason.

We got the VIP Gold ticket things, which are by far, the way to go. It was almost $30 LESS than just buying regular tickets, it included the audio tour (worth it), they were undated/un timed so we could go whenever wanted, plus we got to bypass the really long line completely. I'm not gonna lie, I felt a little bit like a rock star when we walked past all those people waiting in the "normal people" line. . . I kinda wanted to start signing autographs, but I refrained. Anyway, you can get the VIP tickets here. BUT they expire May 1, so you'd have to use them by umm... Thursday. If you can swing it, DO it. So worth it!

Even if you have to get "normal people tickets" and wait in the ridiculous line, I highly recommend going to the exhibit. It's insanely cool. And if you can swing the $7 for the audio tour, do it too.

It just amazes me to see all the old artifacts and think "Wow.. King Tut wore that jewelry! Like, on his chest! And he sat in that chair! He probably held that shield when we became king!" The colors, the intricacies, the crazy weirdo beliefs, they mysterious death... it's all just captivating. I love looking at old stuff and to see stuff that is over 3000 years old, is just incredible. I kept trying to hurry because I know I was holding up Josh, but even when I was moving fast, he was still left waiting patiently at the entrance of the next room. I can't help it! I wanted to check it all out then check it out again. Then again. And one more time.

One of the things that really struck me is that all this likely happened a mere 100-300 years after Moses' time (Depending on which guesstimated timeline you're using!) I just find that way cool. The exhibit had a lot of information about about King Tut's lineage (or assumed lineage, they're not exactly sure), and Wow... his great great great grandpa or somewhere around there, could've been THE Pharaoh of the Bible and perhaps one of those Queens listed was the Egyptian who pulled Moses out of the water. Who knows. Pretty thought provoking.

They had a plaque thingy on the wall with info about the year/dates and stuff. It is estimated that the Great Pyramids at Giza had already been standing for over 1000 years when King Tut reigned. How insane is that?! We saw a church from 1000 something AD when we were in Ireland and I thought that was super old.. to think, that's the equivalent to us that the pyramids were to Tut... And that was 3000 years ago!!

Another interesting tidbit was the meaning of King Tutankhamun's name.
Tut means image
ankh means living
amun was the deity they worshiped.
So King Tut's name essentially means "Image of the living god". Too bad they were worshiping the wrong God!

The mysticism and magic that surrounded the ancient Egyptians just just crazy. To see the hundreds upon hundreds of gods and shrines they put in their tombs is unreal. It's like they wanted to be sure and cover all their bases, just in case.

Based on CT scans and stuff, this is what they think Tut may have looked like. I love that they had to include the eyeliner, but left off any and all clothing/jewelry.

All in all, it was a fantastic exhibit and I think everyone should go see it! Some of it's almost spooky, but it's a great learning experience. It totally makes me appreciate what a simple faith we have too. I can't imagine jumping through all those hoops just to hope you have a nice "afterlife". Yikes. I'm so thankful for a God who loves me and saw fit to save me and all I have to do is trust Him!

So, go see it. It's here until May 17. Check out the crazy Egyptians and their super old stuff. Plus, you get to learn about how they pulled the brains of the dead out through their nostrils using a hook. Talk about a sinus headache.

Silly kitty

This totally just made my day! I'm sorry, but there is hardly anything funnier than a scared cat!

Random tidbit of information

Did you know that if you're allergic to bananas, you are very likely allergic to latex (and possibly kiwi, avocado and chestnuts)? Something about the allergens being very similar. I had no idea. I learned that yesterday at the dentist's office.

Help a sister out!

This is my sister, Carrie:

Isn't she cute? Look at that precious smile. Those happy eyes. Now, imagine how much CUTER and PRECIOUS-ER and HAPPIER everything would be if she was here:

(That's Europe, by the way.)


Close your eyes and imagine for a minute. (Ok, now open them so you can finish reading) Can you see it? For almost a whole month, pretty, happy Carrie and her dear friend Emily, traipsing through Italy, England, Ireland, Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Lubbock. Well, maybe not Lubbock. I hear it's kind of a let-down.

Anyway, Lubbock aside, doesn't that sound awesome?!?! Now, you're probably asking "How can I help make this happen?? What can I do to help pretty, happy, precious Carrie enjoy Europe to the fullest? How can I make her dreams come true? How can I live vicariously through a fit, young, single, girl with nothing better to do than backpack around Europe?"

I'm so glad you asked! You see, to help raise money, Carrie and Emily are selling magazines! Totally takes you back to elementary school, doesn't it?? Remember the annual magazines sales? Remember the door-to-door sales calls? Remember winning yards of bubble gum and other fantastic prizes? Remember the WEEBLES??? No? Oh... must have been a PCA thing..

Where was I... Oh yes, they're selling magazines! They have some really great deals on them too so you're getting a great deal anyway. But the best part is that 40% of the sale goes towards their European Adventure fund! YOU can be a part of sending Carrie and Emily to Europe! If that doesn't help you sleep better at night, I don't know what will! Who knows, maybe your subscription will pay for that rinky dink hostel in Belgium where they share a bathroom with a 11 other girls, including one named named Griselda who doesn't shave and smells like Limburger cheese and old tuna. Yum.

Thanks to Al Gore, Carrie and Emily no longer have to go door-to-door, hoping that the neighbor doesn't open the door in only his skivvies! We have the Internet! That miraculous, mystical creation that lets them reach out into the interwebs to sell their magazines. And it's all so easy! Everything is done online, through this website: http://www.magfundraising.com/carrieandemilyseuropeanadventure You can order your new magazines or renewals from the comfort of your office. Or couch. Or commode, if you must. No more getting up to answer the door in the middle of dinner. No more praying that the kid doesn't lose your order form. Carrie doesn't have to worry about running from mean chihuahuas that chase you when you ring the doorbell. Wait, that never happened to anyone else? Oh. Yeah. Me either. Yeah, never happened to me. Nope. No more guilt and obligation!!! Oh wait. Yes, lots of guilt. Lots of obligation. Look at those big, puppy dog eyes:



How can you say no?!?

Here's the website again: http://www.magfundraising.com/carrieandemilyseuropeanadventure

Did you get that? It's http://www.magfundraising.com/carrieandemilyseuropeanadventure

One more time: http://www.magfundraising.com/carrieandemilyseuropeanadventure



I can only imagine kind of adventures this girl: can get into overseas!

So, c'mon people, help my seester out! You KNOW you need 42 subscriptions to Reader's Digest anyway! (At only $19.00 for 24 issues, by the way!!)

http://www.magfundraising.com/carrieandemilyseuropeanadventure

http://www.magfundraising.com/carrieandemilyseuropeanadventure

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http://www.magfundraising.com/carrieandemilyseuropeanadventure

Party like it's 1773!

Tonight Josh and I rode the bike down to LaGrave field for the Fort Worth Tea Party. It was super cool! These are just a few pictures from the night, but I put more on Facebook. I wish I had brought my good camera but it was too much trouble since we rode the bike.

Lots of signage!

Governor Rick Perry

Congressman Joe Barton

Home update and some ponderings

Nothing much has changed, but we did get some good feedback on a showing we had Saturday morning! The realtor said that her clients thought it was a beautiful house and that it was one of their favorites. Good news! Hopefully, it'll continue to be their favorite and they'll end up offering on it. Only time will tell. And frankly, I'm not in a big hurry, so it's cool.

I've actually been pretty stressed with the whole house thing lately and it's unfortunately been consuming me... Gotta keep the house clean. Gotta scoop the litter box again. Gotta get those weeds pulled. What if it doesn't sell? What if it DOES sell? What can we afford? Where should we look? What do the next few years look like? Am I too picky? (ok, I KNOW the answer to that one is a big, fat YES) Oh my gosh, it's been overwhelming me. I'm trying to just let it go, but it's difficult because I'm kind of an "in charge" kinda gal and I don't like letting go of control. At all. Ask anyone who knows me well and they'll unanimously agree I'm sure.

Don't misunderstand, I am very excited about the prospect of moving and being close to people again! It's just overwhelming. There are so many "what-ifs". I love our little town. I really do. Everything about it. In fact, if I could, I would just take the square mile or two that our house sits on and transplant it to the other side of town. Alas, I haven't figured out how to do that yet. Still working on that faith that moves mountains (or acreage in Saginaw) thing...

Regardless of the eventual outcome, I know we're doing the right thing. I miss being close to friends and family. Like, REALLY miss it. I hate feeling like the outsider in everything because of where we live. Moving will hopefully help fix that! I also really hate the lack in social life. I love to have people over, and go do stuff, and be around people, but since we live halfway to North Dakota, it's difficult. I always feel guilty asking people to come out to our house because of the distance. I shouldn't, but I do.

I am also just having a really difficult time with the thought of someone else living in MY house. Relaxing in MY living room, cooking in MY kitchen, eating in MY dining room, peeing on MY toilet... Probably somewhat normal, but I've never had to say "goodbye" to a house before. My parents still live in the only house I ever lived in as a kid. My grandma still owns her only house I've ever known (she moved to MO, but my uncle lives there, so it's still in the family). My Nana still live in the house my dad grew up in. See?? All my homey memories are still accessible!

While I really do want our house to sell, I get very emotional when thinking about it for too long. This was our first home together! We built it and chose everything in it. What if the next people don't take as good care of it?! (Don't think for a second that I wouldn't anonymously report them to the HOA if I got wind of it, because I totally would...)

I know the time will eventually come, and I will be fine. I'll be excited about moving into a new house and starting new memories there. So for now, I'm hoping that our house will stay at the top of those lookers' list and that we'll get an offer before long!