backaches and bruises

My flower garden is complete! I am so excited and i took lots of pictures, but now I'm so tired that i'll have to post them tomorrow. It took about 4 hours this afternoon to rip out the shrubs and plant the entire bed. Did I ever mention how bad the ground is here in Tennessee? Basically 6 inches down is straight ROCK with a lot of clay mixed in. It's a nightmare to plant in...and I was filling every hole with garden soil from Home Depot and I'm praying that that'll be enough soil to keep them alive. It looks great, for now....
My back is killing me. I do not endorse bending over for four hours straight, or hauling large boulders across the street to the empty lot repeatedly. I love that the lot across the street is a ravine, because it gets all of our reject plants and weeds and rocks. Chris felt bad dumping them, so he actually planted our unwanted bushes across the street (hehe.) So now it's an empty lot with six strategically placed shrubs. I also, in the process of planting the flowers and digging, managed to smack the back of my head on the water spout...so I have a huge lump. Ouch!
Backaches and brusies are no fun, but flowers are pretty, so it was all worth it!
I think I'm going to take the day off tomorrow....i don't know if I can handle kids...i need one more day to recoup.

money.....boo

i hate money. everything about it. that we have to have it, that it controls everything. that it's so hard to live in this country with everything we already have and still think we "need" things. i am guilty of it, just as much as anyone. it's so distorted, this view of money. why is it so hard to budget, finance, and live peacefully with what we have?

cleaning day is upon me. i have had enough of my war zone of a house. i can't handle it anymore, so i'm doing something about it. i love the smell of a clean house....mmmmm....refreshing. unfortuantely, the rain is still here, so i can't plant today :( maybe tomorrow though. it's a dreary day, and i need to see the sun. God, please let it be sunny tomorrow....amen.

don't kill the flowers

Have I mentioned how in awe I am of women who work outside the home? I can barely manage to put in 40 hours a week substitute teaching, and I don't have any kids. How DO they do it? My house feels like a complete disaster zone. I have been so tired all week, that all I could manage this evening was to sleep for 3 hours after I got home. Seriously, will I ever make it as a mom? I am having doubts.

So, i can't even begin to describe how happy I am that it is Friday. I have big plans in store for my garden tomorrow...I bought a bunch of petunias, pansies, and violas to plant in front of our house (in place of the hideously ugly bushes that the builders put there.) I sure hope the rain holds off tomorrow, 'cause I want to get this done! I'm hoping I know enough about flowers not to kill them all! And I'll take plenty of pictures too!

So, I finally caught up with an old friend last night...isn't it funny how when you have a close friend, no matter how many miles between you, and no matter how much time passes between phone calls, you still have SO much to talk about? I LOVE that. We got to talking about adoption. I don't know exactly how, but we were both saying how much we want adoption to be a part of our lives. I LOVE adoption, and I've been researching it quite a bit. I know that I want an adopted child to be a part of our family...and I'm just praying about when and where to adopt from. I have really been drawn to Asia (not China, however, due to their EXTREMELY long process, and the fact that you have to be 30 to even apply) but Taiwan, Vietnam, Korea, Thailand, Cambodia.....I can't wait to be a mom, and I think that's one of the reasons adoption feels so right for me. I'm not ready to go through a pregnancy...but I would LOVE to be a mom. I know that there are challenges I can't even begin to understand, but seeing my close friends who have babies, makes me realize that God will give me that guidance.

Alas, it's back to work....

What a great spring break. Over the past 2 months, i have been substitute teaching for Metro Nashville Public Schools. It's been a serious challenge for me, moving from school to school, class to class, grade to grade....but it's so nice to have a flexible job....one in which I can take any day off I want. I like not having a set schedule. The past week, schools were on Spring Break...and I got so much done. I helped my friend Catherine organize her home (which, by the way, makes me want to start my own organization business) and painted our master bathroom (among other odds and ends.) I need to get my before and after pictures posted. So I have something to look back on.
I can't believe it's been almost a year since we moved to Tennessee from Nebraska. Crazy how time flies. On Friday I had my first opportunity here to sing with a talented artist named Josh Carroll. It was so fun adding harmony to his original music...and it was CRAZY that Jimmy Fallon walked into the bar toward the end of the set! There were only like 10 people there...so it wasn't hard to spot him. He was in town for a stand-up comedy show at Zanies Comedy Club in Nashville.
I so wanted to sleep in this morning after more than a week off, but it also feels nice to have accomplished something today. Guess that's it for now.

easter greetings

it's Easter Sunday evening. i'm new to this whole thing, but I'm excited about having my own webpage on which to post pictures and recipes. i typically write about random things and a lot of my thoughts don't necessarily piece together properly...but i guess you'll get to know the real me, add, ocd, and all ;)