Arthur and I stayed up all night Friday night with 17 teenagers at the church lock-in. I had all these games prepared, but they ended up entertaining themselves pretty well the whole time without me having to bust too many out (which is a good thing, because by 3 am I couldn't think straight enough to explain rules to no stinking games).
I know we've been married a month now and we still haven't gotten wedding/honeymoon/reception photos up. But I've been working Arthur too hard every day as it is, and I hate to crack the whip on him about that stuff, too. Keep checking and one day we'll surprise you with all kinds of stuff. ;)
Monday, June 30, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
music from the 50s and 60s
So, I ended up doing Karaoke the other night with the youth since I couldn't get a band. Would you believe it wasn't the hit songs of today that needed screening? It was the songs of the 50s and 60s that got me in trouble. All of us know the chorus to RESPECT but have you ever read the lyrics to the rest of the song? (Sadly enough, I didn't even know how the tune went for anything but the chorus hahahah) I was in the musical "Grease" in Junior High and didn't think anything about the group singing Summer Nights until after they started and I paid attention to the words. How did we get away with that as freshmen in a public school?? So, a word of advice to those of you planning a Karaoke night with a church youth group, stick to Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, and High School Musical and you can't go wrong.
Monday, June 23, 2008
more drama
The air conditioning saga is not over! Thursday night I was lying on the couch working on VBS material and I knew I kept hearing this "noise" but I couldn't figure out what it was. Arthur walked by to join me on the couch and was like "There's a wet spot on the floor!" Look up, and there's water dripping from several places in the ceiling (conveniently from a spot where we know the air conditioner pan is located above). Sure enough, the air conditioner pan in the attic is overflowing water, which is not supposed to happen. So, Friday they put in a temporary fix to deflect the water and leave us a shop vac in case it happens again. I had church duties all day today (VBS, nursing home visit, Youth Week) so I don't know if they came by today to make any more adjustments. But if you come to visit, don't look up in the game room, because there's plenty of water spots to point out!!! Maybe getting a new air conditioner wasn't the right solution after all.
So, I get this brilliant idea to bring in a band Tuesday night for Youth week at church. Problem is, I haven't been able to find a Christian band to come play. So, I'm at a loss for what to do "music related" tomorrow night to entertain the youth. If you can help in any way, please let me know!! :)
So, I get this brilliant idea to bring in a band Tuesday night for Youth week at church. Problem is, I haven't been able to find a Christian band to come play. So, I'm at a loss for what to do "music related" tomorrow night to entertain the youth. If you can help in any way, please let me know!! :)
Monday, June 16, 2008
the craziness that is called life
Let me tell you about Saturday. Arthur and I had planned on leisurely finishing up the move from his old rental house. Most of what was left needed to go in a storage unit since it was all photography related and we really only had about a load left to go to Grove Hill. Well, when we returned from our first trip to the storage unit, there was a UHaul in the driveway with several people sitting on the front steps. Turns out, the landlord had told the new tenant that we would be out this weekend and so there she was waiting to move in. To make a long story short, needless to say we were then rushed in our move out. But at least it's done now.
So, we get up at 5:30 am on Friday to allow the air conditioning people the opportunity to put in our new unit. It was great finally having a cool house.....until Sunday afternoon when I came home to discover that it no longer worked. They had to come back this morning to get it working again.
I told Arthur I need to start finding positive things to write about. I feel like all you hear is the negative stuff. But it makes for a much more interesting blog! Oh, and Arthur promises to start writing blogs again soon for those of you who check out both our sites. :)
So, we get up at 5:30 am on Friday to allow the air conditioning people the opportunity to put in our new unit. It was great finally having a cool house.....until Sunday afternoon when I came home to discover that it no longer worked. They had to come back this morning to get it working again.
I told Arthur I need to start finding positive things to write about. I feel like all you hear is the negative stuff. But it makes for a much more interesting blog! Oh, and Arthur promises to start writing blogs again soon for those of you who check out both our sites. :)
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Domesticated house wife needs training
Arthur's going to get tired of my blogs being about him! hahah I've never had to check my pockets before doing laundry because I never put anything in them. However, Art's pockets stay full and I have got to establish the habit of double checking them before I throw them in the wash. Yesterday, there was a black felt tip pen in one of his pants pockets that got not only washed, but dried as well. Needless to say, I was left with an entire load of colored clothes that were ink stained. I have tried Shout, OxyClean, hairspray and rubbing alcohol and have gotten it down to 3 pieces that still remain obviously ruined. If anyone has any other suggestions of what might work, please let me know. I still might try finger nail polish remover. So, for anyone out there planning on becoming domesticated anytime soon, start practicing checking every pocket before you start a load of laundry. It will save you the hassle I had yesterday.
Monday, June 9, 2008
arthur's stuff
When Arthur's stuff was in his old house, it didn't seem like much. But now that most of it is in our house, it seems like I'll never find a place to put it all! :) I never realized how many clothes the boy has. He always seems to wear the same couple of shirts and pants but now that we've gotten it all organized in the closet I've realized he has weeks worth of clothing that I've never seen him wear (and many of which still had the price tags on them!!!).
We had a pantry shower yesterday that was hosted by the ladies at my parents' church. Wow, do we have a lot of non perishable food items now! It will really help with the grocery bill now that we're having to finance a new air conditioner. Arthur did all his research (which you know is a hobby of his!) and we couldn't get by with a window unit. So, Alabama Power is allowing us to finance the cost of a heat pump on our monthly bill at a low interest rate.
I can't wait to get the house finally decorated so that we can start letting people in the door again!
We had a pantry shower yesterday that was hosted by the ladies at my parents' church. Wow, do we have a lot of non perishable food items now! It will really help with the grocery bill now that we're having to finance a new air conditioner. Arthur did all his research (which you know is a hobby of his!) and we couldn't get by with a window unit. So, Alabama Power is allowing us to finance the cost of a heat pump on our monthly bill at a low interest rate.
I can't wait to get the house finally decorated so that we can start letting people in the door again!
Friday, June 6, 2008
Yesterday sucked
Yesterday, I tried to stay out of the way of the DirectTV man while he was here. Well, apparently I should have followed him around. After he left, I walked outside to see where he put the dish. I just assumed it would be on the side of the house. NO!!!! It is exactly 12 feet out in the MIDDLE of the back yard in the most awkward place it could be located!!!! If I had known he was going to ruin my yard like that, I'd have continued to live without television!!! Then, the air conditioning man comes to see if he can continue to provide a temporary fix to the upstairs unit. NOPE!!! The unit is gone now and needs to be replaced. So, he offers a $3,200 estimate to replace it. Arthur and I don't have that kind of money right now, so I don't know what we're going to do. It's already hot enough up there (even at night) as it is, I don't know what we'll do during the worst days of summer. Then, to end it all on a good note, Arthur breaks the toilet seat. I don't even want to know what he was doing in the bathroom to break a toilet seat!!! :) But needless to say, I did not have a good day yesterday!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Catching you up
I'm sure I have lots to share from the last two weeks. I wrote in a journal while honeymooning, so I'll start by sharing my entries with you. Arthur and I will eventually get to all the photos that we need to upload to share with you from the wedding/honeymoon/reception.
May 21, 2008 (Wedding Day)
The day started out well with me being the first customer at the grand opening of Sonic in Thomasville!! It's always good to begin your day with a cherry limeade. Things went smoothly getting to Atlanta and we arrived at Piedmont Park before 7 pm. Wesley and Margaret, however, did not arrive until after 7:30 pm. (They had lots of traffic coming from the other direction!) Those hanging out in the gazebo cleared out for us to perform the ceremony. Cleve stood in as Arthur's best man and Donna Furrow was my matron of honor. Arthur was so anxious to say the vows that he said "I DO!" before Wesley was ready for him to! Wesley didn't bring his camera so the whole event was captured on my point and shoot camera. (Good thing we brought it along!) After leaving the park, we all went to Fontaine's for dinner. I changed out of my wedding dress while Art was driving to the restaurant! hahaha
May 22, 2008
We got up super early to catch the plane at the Atlanta Airport. My personal tote bag was stopped at the security checkpoint and ran through the x ray machine twice. Several officials gathered around to determine if I had a pocket knife based on a mysterious item on the screen. I couldn't figure out at the time what it was causing concern. (Afterwards, I got home and found a tampon in the side pocket that had been there for who knows how long!!! So that must have been the mystery!) It ended up that our seats had to be assigned at the gate, so our names kept popping up on this screen for the cleared list. Arthur was asleep on the plane before we ever started taxi-ing down the runway. We had a "sandwich au jambon" at the airport deli, Cafe Metropole. We bought tickets for L'Aerobus and experienced a terrifying bus ride. After arriving at the Ritz Carlton, the guest services coordinator sent us chocolate covered strawberries for staying with them for our honeymoon. We ate at the Sir Winston Churchill Pub for dinner and turned in early for the evening. I know women now a days having problems taking their husband's name, but Arthur ended up having to take my name for the week. I had made the hotel reservation as Bridgett Shewmake, so he was constantly referred to as Mr. SHEWMAKE by the hotel staff.
May 23, 2008
The day began with breakfast at Eggspectations. We learned our way around the metro system as we ventured to Vieux (Old) Montreal. We used Frommer's walking tour guide and hit all their points of interest. My fearful moment was in the Notre Dame de Bon Secours (known as the Sailor's Church). There were 69 steps up to the tower in a small winding staircase with no rails. It was rather scary and I'm not usually afraid of heights. I was dizzy by the time I reached the top, but the view was spectacular. After that, we ate a light lunch at Le Jardin Nelson. The maple sauce on the spinach salad was to die for! We made it to the Pointe-A-Calliere in time for the last multimedia show and a quick tour. The exciting part was coming out of the museum in a totally different building blocks away without ever realizing you had been underground. We returned to the hotel and went to Alexandre et fils a few blocks over for dinner.
May 24, 2008
We got smart and went to the convenience store the night before, so we had a cheap breakfast in the room this morning. We took the metro to the Olympic Park and toured the BioDome, Insectarium, and the Botanical Gardens. We also went to the Defresne Home/Museum. After resting for a little while at the hotel (and mapping out future adventures for my sake) we went to check out The 3 Brasseurs for dinner. There we feasted on the 3 Brasseurs terrine (pate of duck, mango, and red peppers) and poutine (french fries covered in gravy and cheese curd) as appetizers. Arthur had the beef carbonnade while I was served a plate FULL of pork shank, sauerkraut, and a baked potato. For dessert, we split a banana flamm with vanilla ice cream. We checked out the hustle and bustle of activity on Rue St Catherine before heading back to the hotel.
May 25, 2008
This day was Museum Day so there was free admittance into all the museums. We chose to go to the Museum of Contemporary Art. They liked video clips there! We ate a smoked meat sandwich at Dunn's with strawberry cheesecake (recommendation of Nancy's and an excellent choice!). We took the Metro over to Ile St Helene and saw the BioSphere (the line was too long to take advantage of its free pass). They were having a bike festival on the island, so there were lots of people. We crossed the bridge over to Ile Notre Dame as well. We came back to the Berri-Uqam metro station and saw some of the Underground City. We walked around the Latin Quarter and China Town as well. We ate dinner on Rue Crescent again, this time at Dundee's. Arthur took photos downtown of the city lights at night.
May 26, 2008
This morning we took the Plateau Mont-Royal walking tour suggested in our Frommer's guide. Nothing exciting there. We ate lunch at McKibbin's Irish Pub before heading up the hill (mountain????) to Parc Mont-Royal. That was a steep climb and reminded us how out of shape we are! For dinner, we made reservations at Renoir (located inside the Sofitel Hotel). They served green pea soup and a petit sandwich before the appetizer. I had grilled octopus and mushroom risotto for my meal. We received 6 desserts to sample. The atmosphere was nice and the meal was fabulous. The wow moment of the day was when we saw a woman walking through the park without a shirt on!
May 27, 2008
Arthur got up at 4 am this morning to take some sunrise photos, but was a little too late. We ate breakfast at Nicolosi before beginning our museum tours downtown. It was cold that day, so we started with the McCord Museum instead of using our walking tour guideline. We also made it to the Museum of Fine Arts. We had high tea at the hotel. We sat in the garden and watched the ducks while sipping tea and eating sandwiches and pastries. That evening, we headed back to Old Montreal to the Notre Dame Basilica for the light and sound show. The historical drama was cheesy, but the church was amazing. Afterwards, we headed to Stash for some pierogis at the Polish restaurant. We ran into a group from Huntington College out of Montgomery (who of course knew people from Clarke County!).
May 28, 2008
This was a long day, considering we had a 2 hour flight delay and sat forever at the airport. The plane that should have arrived had maintenance issues and had to be replaced in Atlanta. A passenger near us said DELTA stood for "Doesn't Ever Leave The Airport!" Surprisingly enough, we were on the same plane with the group from Huntington that we met the night before.
I didn't journal about the reception, but just so you know, everything went well. Donna did an impeccable job of decorating, and my mom and aunts did a fantastic job with the food. The cake was unusual and got the response we expected. We didn't have a clue of how many to expect, but I think Arthur and I would agree that it was not as many as we had hoped for. But it was a great day and a wonderful way to celebrate with everyone that didn't get to experience the joy of the wedding day. Arthur had lots of family and friends to travel from out of town and we were grateful for them coming.
As for an update of this week, we are slowly trying to move Arthur's stuff into the house. I've been at the house a lot, waiting on telephone people, and DirectTV installers, and air conditioning repairmen, etc. I'll be glad to get the house back in order again. Oh, and did I mention baseball??? We spent Monday and Tuesday evenings on the ball fields trying to pass out the last of the photos. Arthur always talked about how long baseball season seemed to last and I never agreed with him until I did baseball photography. I feel like baseball will never end........But this long blog must now come to an end, and I'll have more for you later!
May 21, 2008 (Wedding Day)
The day started out well with me being the first customer at the grand opening of Sonic in Thomasville!! It's always good to begin your day with a cherry limeade. Things went smoothly getting to Atlanta and we arrived at Piedmont Park before 7 pm. Wesley and Margaret, however, did not arrive until after 7:30 pm. (They had lots of traffic coming from the other direction!) Those hanging out in the gazebo cleared out for us to perform the ceremony. Cleve stood in as Arthur's best man and Donna Furrow was my matron of honor. Arthur was so anxious to say the vows that he said "I DO!" before Wesley was ready for him to! Wesley didn't bring his camera so the whole event was captured on my point and shoot camera. (Good thing we brought it along!) After leaving the park, we all went to Fontaine's for dinner. I changed out of my wedding dress while Art was driving to the restaurant! hahaha
May 22, 2008
We got up super early to catch the plane at the Atlanta Airport. My personal tote bag was stopped at the security checkpoint and ran through the x ray machine twice. Several officials gathered around to determine if I had a pocket knife based on a mysterious item on the screen. I couldn't figure out at the time what it was causing concern. (Afterwards, I got home and found a tampon in the side pocket that had been there for who knows how long!!! So that must have been the mystery!) It ended up that our seats had to be assigned at the gate, so our names kept popping up on this screen for the cleared list. Arthur was asleep on the plane before we ever started taxi-ing down the runway. We had a "sandwich au jambon" at the airport deli, Cafe Metropole. We bought tickets for L'Aerobus and experienced a terrifying bus ride. After arriving at the Ritz Carlton, the guest services coordinator sent us chocolate covered strawberries for staying with them for our honeymoon. We ate at the Sir Winston Churchill Pub for dinner and turned in early for the evening. I know women now a days having problems taking their husband's name, but Arthur ended up having to take my name for the week. I had made the hotel reservation as Bridgett Shewmake, so he was constantly referred to as Mr. SHEWMAKE by the hotel staff.
May 23, 2008
The day began with breakfast at Eggspectations. We learned our way around the metro system as we ventured to Vieux (Old) Montreal. We used Frommer's walking tour guide and hit all their points of interest. My fearful moment was in the Notre Dame de Bon Secours (known as the Sailor's Church). There were 69 steps up to the tower in a small winding staircase with no rails. It was rather scary and I'm not usually afraid of heights. I was dizzy by the time I reached the top, but the view was spectacular. After that, we ate a light lunch at Le Jardin Nelson. The maple sauce on the spinach salad was to die for! We made it to the Pointe-A-Calliere in time for the last multimedia show and a quick tour. The exciting part was coming out of the museum in a totally different building blocks away without ever realizing you had been underground. We returned to the hotel and went to Alexandre et fils a few blocks over for dinner.
May 24, 2008
We got smart and went to the convenience store the night before, so we had a cheap breakfast in the room this morning. We took the metro to the Olympic Park and toured the BioDome, Insectarium, and the Botanical Gardens. We also went to the Defresne Home/Museum. After resting for a little while at the hotel (and mapping out future adventures for my sake) we went to check out The 3 Brasseurs for dinner. There we feasted on the 3 Brasseurs terrine (pate of duck, mango, and red peppers) and poutine (french fries covered in gravy and cheese curd) as appetizers. Arthur had the beef carbonnade while I was served a plate FULL of pork shank, sauerkraut, and a baked potato. For dessert, we split a banana flamm with vanilla ice cream. We checked out the hustle and bustle of activity on Rue St Catherine before heading back to the hotel.
May 25, 2008
This day was Museum Day so there was free admittance into all the museums. We chose to go to the Museum of Contemporary Art. They liked video clips there! We ate a smoked meat sandwich at Dunn's with strawberry cheesecake (recommendation of Nancy's and an excellent choice!). We took the Metro over to Ile St Helene and saw the BioSphere (the line was too long to take advantage of its free pass). They were having a bike festival on the island, so there were lots of people. We crossed the bridge over to Ile Notre Dame as well. We came back to the Berri-Uqam metro station and saw some of the Underground City. We walked around the Latin Quarter and China Town as well. We ate dinner on Rue Crescent again, this time at Dundee's. Arthur took photos downtown of the city lights at night.
May 26, 2008
This morning we took the Plateau Mont-Royal walking tour suggested in our Frommer's guide. Nothing exciting there. We ate lunch at McKibbin's Irish Pub before heading up the hill (mountain????) to Parc Mont-Royal. That was a steep climb and reminded us how out of shape we are! For dinner, we made reservations at Renoir (located inside the Sofitel Hotel). They served green pea soup and a petit sandwich before the appetizer. I had grilled octopus and mushroom risotto for my meal. We received 6 desserts to sample. The atmosphere was nice and the meal was fabulous. The wow moment of the day was when we saw a woman walking through the park without a shirt on!
May 27, 2008
Arthur got up at 4 am this morning to take some sunrise photos, but was a little too late. We ate breakfast at Nicolosi before beginning our museum tours downtown. It was cold that day, so we started with the McCord Museum instead of using our walking tour guideline. We also made it to the Museum of Fine Arts. We had high tea at the hotel. We sat in the garden and watched the ducks while sipping tea and eating sandwiches and pastries. That evening, we headed back to Old Montreal to the Notre Dame Basilica for the light and sound show. The historical drama was cheesy, but the church was amazing. Afterwards, we headed to Stash for some pierogis at the Polish restaurant. We ran into a group from Huntington College out of Montgomery (who of course knew people from Clarke County!).
May 28, 2008
This was a long day, considering we had a 2 hour flight delay and sat forever at the airport. The plane that should have arrived had maintenance issues and had to be replaced in Atlanta. A passenger near us said DELTA stood for "Doesn't Ever Leave The Airport!" Surprisingly enough, we were on the same plane with the group from Huntington that we met the night before.
I didn't journal about the reception, but just so you know, everything went well. Donna did an impeccable job of decorating, and my mom and aunts did a fantastic job with the food. The cake was unusual and got the response we expected. We didn't have a clue of how many to expect, but I think Arthur and I would agree that it was not as many as we had hoped for. But it was a great day and a wonderful way to celebrate with everyone that didn't get to experience the joy of the wedding day. Arthur had lots of family and friends to travel from out of town and we were grateful for them coming.
As for an update of this week, we are slowly trying to move Arthur's stuff into the house. I've been at the house a lot, waiting on telephone people, and DirectTV installers, and air conditioning repairmen, etc. I'll be glad to get the house back in order again. Oh, and did I mention baseball??? We spent Monday and Tuesday evenings on the ball fields trying to pass out the last of the photos. Arthur always talked about how long baseball season seemed to last and I never agreed with him until I did baseball photography. I feel like baseball will never end........But this long blog must now come to an end, and I'll have more for you later!
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