Picture post

Obituary

Just wanted to link to my grandmother's obituary. My dad wrote a nice extra part to it. The funeral was today, and although it was sad to say goodbye, it was wonderful to hear SO many people say so many wonderful things about her. She truly lived her life in a way that should be honored and emulated. I am going to miss her.

http://stanleyfuneralhomes.com/pages/obituaries.php?obitid=208

Remembering a wonderful lady

So, this post is going to be a tribute to my amazing grandmother, Mildred Ellen Doggett, who passed away this past Monday morning. She was 83 years old, and until a year ago, in absolutely perfect health...this woman didn't even get colds.

My grandmother was on her own by the time she was 16 years old. She went to beauty school and opened her own salon out of her house, that she ran until quite recently. She met and married my grandfather when he was about to ship off to Germany during WWII, and soon after became the mother of two boys: David (my uncle) and Dennis (my dad), in the house that she was still living in up to the time of her hospitalization, in Verona, Ky.

I have many memories of my grandmother. I know I had a special place in her heart because I was the only granddaughter she had, and that made ME feel special. She and my grandpa had an above-ground pool at their house, and I remember always being SOOO excited when we would visit them in the summer because they had a pool...we didn't know anyone else who had a pool, and we just LOVED having it all to ourselves!! I also remember spending a week with them when my parents went to Hawaii one year...I remember going shopping with her at the Florence Yall mall and seeing "Fievel Goes West" at the movie theatre...and my grandpa falling asleep and snoring during it!!! I remember them coming down for my dance recitals and graduations. I remember her driving Bryan and I to the Cincinnati airport for our weddingmoon...and I remember how she never uttered a judgmental word about my divorce. I remember every Christmas of my entire life being spent at her house...the smells, the sounds, the food...I remember being 10 or 11 and being too embarassed to ask my mom for my first bra, so I wrote my grandma and asked HER for one, because I knew I didn't have to worry about being embarassed with her. I remember how she always looked her best, no matter what the occassion. I remember her coming to the hospital to visit Caleb when I had him. I remember how I loved that she shared my Christian faith and love for reading.

She meant a lot to me. Saturday is the funeral, and I think it will really hit me then. I am rejoicing with her that I know she is reunited with my grandpa and united with God finally. But we sure are going to miss her down here.

Household duties...I need help with a plan!!

Ok...so now that we have our new house, I am really motivated to keep it running smoothly, and keep it looking good. I was really unmotivated towards the end of our time at the old place, because it wasn't truly "ours." When Bryan and I redid our vows, I promised to take good care of our home, and I've felt convicted lately, because I know I haven't done as good of a job as I could. I was wondering if anybody out there has a certain schedule they follow when it comes to cleaning...like, Monday: laundry, Tuesday: bathrooms etc. When I was in elementary school, I begged my mom for chores and even made my own "chore charts"...I was a super dork! ;) But I like having something to check off once I've done it, and thought, if someone out there already has a plan that works, that would help me get started!! I also need to get better about meal planning...I usually can come up with something if I look at the ingredients we have and go through my cookbooks or whatever, but I think I'd feel more organized (and I know we'd most likely save money!) if I had a set meal plan.

So, any help--even if it's just to point me in the direction of a good blog or whatever--would be appreciated!!! :)

Family Fun Night at the pumpkin farm!

Picking out a pumpkin is muddy business...he was covered from head to toe...literally!!

He thought feeding the goats was so much fun!!!

Family shot on the hayride

Mommy and Caleb with the pumpkins!!

He really wanted to pick these up...when he couldn't, he got mad!!

This weekend we had a lot of fun at a local pumpkin farm with our playgroup! We picked out pumpkins, went on a hayride, roasted hotdogs and S'mores, and had a blast! We went to this same farm last year, and wow, how things have changed in one year's time! A great time was had by all. :)

New house pics

Stairs leading to 2nd floor--now a tan color is on the walls

Bay window from the inside, after we painted the green on the walls.

Main bathroom

The kitchen! My favorite room in the house. :)

The very pretty front door.

These were all taken right when we closed...so obviously there are some differences now, but you get the general idea anyway! We are still unpacking boxes, but are also trying to finish up at the old place...once we're totally done with the old place, we can focus more on our new place!! More pics will come later!!

It's been craaaazy!!!

So sorry I haven't posted in a little bit--it has been so crazy with moving and everything!! We are officially in our new home, although we are still cleaning and fixing up the old house before we turn in the keys. The big move was Saturday, and WHEW, was it tiring!! Luckily we had friends and family help us, we couldn't have done it without any of them! We painted all last week and are pretty happy with how it all turned out. There is still some touch up work that needs to be done, but overall, we love it! It hasn't sunk in yet that this place is really OURS! We have a list a mile long of things we want to do, buy, etc...Mr. Obama's tax credit money is going to go to good use, hahaha!! :)

Friday was our 3 year anniversary...we didn't really get to celebrate since we were packing like crazy people, but we plan on celebrating possibly this weekend with a nice dinner and movie. Can't wait! It's so hard to believe it has been 3 years. It seems like yesterday sometimes, other times it seems like a lifetime (in a good way of course!!). I can't hardly remember my life before Bryan. It made us very nostalgic as we were moving, to remember life 3 years ago. That little duplex held so many wonderful memories for us...I lived there before we got married, so Bryan would tuck me in each night and then leave to go back to his apartment--so sad at the time!!...then coming home from the honeymoon to "our" place...romantic dinners and evenings together...just vegging on the couch (usually watching hours of "Lost" on DVD)...me running into the guest bathroom one November morning with a positive pregnancy test to show Bryan ("Do you see what I see???" "Is that from this morning??" "It's a dollar store test, do you think we should trust it???")...Christmases...silly arguments...making up...painting Caleb's nursery...bringing him home from the hospital...first holidays for Caleb, etc. etc. etc. Yes, we are happy to be moving on with our lives--becoming "grown ups" with a mortgage and everything--but there is a part of us that will hold our first place in our hearts forever. We hope another young couple will live there and make the kind of memories we made there.

Pictures will be coming soon of the new house. I just don't have a clue where the camera or cord thingie is at the moment--in some box we have yet to unpack I'm sure! :)