God is in control

I can't tell you how many times this past week I have had to repeat the phrase, God is in control. I feel like the only things I have had to blog about lately have been negative. Unfortunately, this week has been nothing short of being full of negative news and I decided today that instead of writing yet another blog about everything that has gone wrong this week, I would turn it around and tell you 20 things I am thankful for. (I had to limit to 20 because I could go on all day!) Chad and I are very blessed to have each other as well as good people surrounding us. God is in control.

I am thankful for (in no particular order, just as they came to mind):

1. Marrying the best man that God put on this earth for me-Chad.

2. Wonderful family that love us and want to spend time with us.

3. Amazing friends that know us and love us anyway!

4. That my husband and I have jobs.

5. That my husband and I can pay the bills (mostly!) Haha

6. That we have a roof over our heads.

7. That we have clothes on our backs.

8. That we can afford to feed ourselves every day.

9. A mom that not only wouldn't let breast cancer tear her down, but won't let MS do it either.

10. That we live in America where we can believe freely.

11. That my husband and I could be on crutches the same time and know what each other is going through!

12. Our Angel and Biscuit that make us smile every day.

13. That I am educated and anything I don't know about I can just look up on the Internet!

14. Common Sense

15. Love

16. Forgiveness

17. Humor (because who couldn't use a laugh every now and then?!?!)

18. That I live in Texas and can see most of my family any time I want because my wonderful husband knows how important it is to me and lets me go every time.

19. The small things in life.

20. That God truly is in control.

What a week!

So I would have to venture to say that this past week had to be one of the worst weeks of my life and I have has some pretty bad weeks before. I was on call for work this week. You may be asking yourself, "Isn't she JUST and office manager and executive assistant for the president of a small company in Richardson?" Funny thing...I said the same thing! So then you might ask yourself, "What was she on call for?" I would then say something silly like TECH SUPPORT!!! Now you might ask yourself, as most educated human beings would, "Why would an office manager/executive assistant/do everything that everyone else doesn't want to do/dump on me your extra work/CFO-no really, I do the financials too/I work my butt off for this company- be doing something as important as tech support when she isn't exactly "techy"?" GOOD QUESTION!!!!! I am still trying to figure that one out. But apparently it is ok to make a "rule" in a company that every employee has to carry the support phone for the company for a week because for some INSANE reason our company thinks it is wise to offer car dealers 24/7 support, even if it means putting somoene like me on the phone for a week. I won't even get started on the brilliance of car dealers-not to mention the fact that we service the entire United States. In other words, we service every time zone. Sounds fun doesn't it?

So, for this week I have been woken up from a dead sleep at 1:30 am, 6:30 am, 7:00 am on Saturday, yes, I said Saturday, and have had calls into the night up to 9:30 pm. I have to fill out a form for EVERY phone call that comes in regardless of the issue. Even if a dealer calls me to shoot the crap for 10 minutes because it is raining cats and dogs in Virginia at their dealership and they have nothing better to do, I have to fill out a form. I then have to e-mail the form to our support department, which might I remind you I am not a part of, so that they can address the issues the next day. I also have to call a developer or a support person that is SUPPOSED to (and I stress the word SUPPOSED) have their phone on them and actually answer it so that people like me that get the calls and have no idea how to help these poor souls can actually call them back and give them a solution. Sounds easy right? Not so much.

Saturday alone, my day started at 7:00 am to the phone ringing with a dealer needing support. Ok great. I call the person that is supposed to help me and he is great. I have to give big props to Ray. Most of you don't know who Ray is, but he was my savior on Saturday. He answered my call EVERY time I called him on Saturday and he talked me off the ledge a couple of times too! I would have committed suicide on Saturday if Ray wasn't there to help me. However, there are some people in our company less dependable. And when those people choose not to answer their phone when they are the ONLY ones that handle those issues, it gets a bit frustrating. 15 calls I had on Saturday between the hours of 7:00am and 2:45pm. NON-STOP. I had people calling me while I was on the phone with other people. I had calls coming in when I had one on the line, and one on call waiting. Do people think that those of us that are not "techy" people can handle things like this? I literally wanted to sit there and just cry the rest of the day by about 11:00 am. I honest to God wanted to cry every time the phone rang, and in most cases every time the phone beeped because I was already on the phone with someone else. By 3:00 pm I had to plug my phone in to the wall beside me at the computer because my cell phone had run out of battery.

I sat at my computer from 7:00 am to 4:30 pm not getting up for water, to change out of my night gown, to get food, or to speak to my husband who was literally a room away. Between phone calls it was all I could do to get 1/2 way through a form before the phone would ring again. Just when I thought I couldn't take any more, at about 4:30 pm I got up from the computer for the first time since 7:00 am and I walk around the corner of my house and this is the face I see looking back at me.

As bad as my week and especially my Saturday had been, this made it all worth it. How do you not smile when you see that? Let's just hope she can do it again in January when I have the support phone again!

I have no time...

I know this may be along post, but I thought this was worth sharing considering that one of my biggest peeves and excuses for everything is that I am too busy or I don't have time. I received this e-mail from a friend and it really made me think about my priorities and focus. Maybe I just read too much in to things or fall for all of the corny e-mails, but this one really made me think about my day and how I need to re-focus some of my "priorities." I thought it was worth sharing.

This is quite an e-mail and so very true as to what's happening to all of us at this very moment!!SATAN'S MEETING:

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons. In his opening address he said,'We can't keep Christians from going to church.''We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth.''We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their savior.''Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken.''So let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish dinners, BUT steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ..''This is what I want you to do,' said the devil:'Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection through out their day!''How shall we do this?' his demons shouted.'Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds,' he answered.'Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow.''Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles.''Keep them from spending time with their children.''As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work!''Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice.''Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive.'To keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their home and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical music constantly.''This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ.''Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers.''Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day.''Invade their driving moments with billboards.''Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs,sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes..'Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so their husbands will believe that outward beauty is what's important, and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives. 'Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night.'Give them headaches too! 'If they don't give their husbands the love they need, they will begin to look elsewhere that will fragment their families quickly!'Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children the real meaning of Christmas.'Give them an Easter bunny so they won't talk about his resurrection and power over sin and death.'Even in their recreation, let them be excessive.'Have them return from their recreation exhausted.'Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God's creation.Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead.'Keep them busy, busy, busy!'And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences.'Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Jesus.''Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause.'!'It will work!''It will work!'It was quite a plan!The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and there.Having little time for their God or their families.Having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus to change lives.I guess the question is, has the devil been successful! in his schemes?You be the judge!!!!!Does 'BUSY' mean: B-eing U-nder S-atan's Y-oke?

John Mayer Concert

Tank of gas in Jame's Accord: $50. 00

2 Tickets to the concert: $70. 00

Parking $15.00

Getting stuck in traffic for over 2 hours on the way to the concert with James & Lisa Burgess: Priceless

Magic Legs

This is my new motto! I went to Dr. K today and he has released me to walk. This is a little more exciting for me today for the simple fact that I figured I would be walking with crutches for a little while as I am getting used to putting weight on my right leg again. Apparently, Dr. K had other ideas and thinks I am Wonder Woman or Sheerah or something because he let me walk right out of his office-no crutches!!!

Yesterday was 6 weeks since my surgery and I have literally counted down the days to this moment. It just so happens that I woke up yesterday with horrific pain in the back of my leg around the knee area. I could have died when I realized that I had so much pain and in the back of my knee. I had no idea how I could have done something from the moment I went to bed the night before to getting out of bed that morning. I went to physical therapy and as I was fighting through tears, the physical therapist was examining the back of my leg. It turns out that I had pulled my hamstring in the process of trying to build my leg up to walk again. We have been adding weight lately to my exercises since things were getting a bit easy as well as the plain and simple fact of holding my leg up while on crutches to walk for 6 weeks straight. Apparently I "stressed" my hamstring which doesn't surprise me since the rest of my body was stressed along with it! So, I cried the whole way back to work thinking that I have waited 6 LONG weeks to finally get to start walking on my own two feet again rather than one foot and my magic legs. Alison assured me that if it was hurting my leg more to hold it to keep from walking on it, then there was no way he would continue with that process. And luckily for the rest of you, only Alison and Chad had to witness the complete meltdown yesterday. But sure enough, she was right. Dr. K said that at this point it was ok for me to start walking on it and actually told me that if I wanted to walk out of his office with no crutches, then I could. So, being the stubborn, hardheaded person I am, I was determined to do so. I think I held my breath all the way to my car!

Needless to say, it is still quite a process from here, but I literally got to make a step in the right direction today. I am crutchless and I can't say that I have felt anything better than the peace of mind that goes with that in a very long time. I still have to wear a new brace that they gave me while walking and I have to continue physical therapy 3 times a week, but from here on out, it is on my own two feet. Woo-hoo!!!!!!

I have had enough!

Ok, so I think I have had all I can take with this injury thing that my husband and I have going on. So, I am just going to let it all out here for a minute. This might offend some people and it might make others laugh. I decided before I started this blog that I am not going to apologize for anything that I am about to say.

I am pretty sure I am going through a bit of depression. There are a lot of factors contributing to this so I am not even going to try to blame this on any one thing. I do, however, have to say this: I have had enough! To be honest, there are several things about this that have contributed to me being in the place I am right now. We will start with the obvious: I CAN'T DO ANYTHING ON CRUTCHES. I can't cook, clean, get dressed standing up, carry groceries in, carry anything in for that matter, feed my animals, walk my dog, upkeep our lawn, upkeep our house, take out the trash, make the bed, wear normal clothes (and by that I mean anything other than freaking sweat pants that I have LIVED in for the past 2 3/4 months), go ANYWHERE without being stared at the whole time I am there, and most of all I can't go shopping. What's the one thing a girl needs when she is depressed? I will go ahead and answer that for you-Ben and Jerry's and shopping. Neither of which I can accomplish without help.

Which brings me to my next point-I have had enough of asking for help. There is only so long that a person can go without being able to do anything on their own before it starts to eat away at their ego. Supposedly on this Tuesday, I will be able to start bearing some weight on my right leg for the first time since surgery 6 weeks ago. Even then, I will have to work my way off of crutches. I will be able to walk with both crutches for a few days, eventually converting to walking with one crutch, and finally walking on my own. Two weeks ago I got my hopes up that I would already be through this process because the dr. tells me that I would be able to walk in 4-6 weeks. Apparently he didn't really mean the 4- part of the 4-6 weeks and really all along meant the 6 week mark. It gets old after a while having to say every other sentence, " Hey, would you mind..." or, "Hey when you get a minute, could you...." People have got to be sick of helping us as much as we are sick of asking. Our poor friends have taken the brunt of our injury and I feel so bad for anyone that knows us and we are comfortable with right now because they have truly been punching overtime on their friend cards.

To go along with the asking every 5 seconds for help, I think I have had about all I can take of the pet names that people so graciously have come up with for Chad and myself. I think if I have to hear the words, clutz, clumsy, gimp, or gimpy ever again, I will scream. I don't know why people after 11 weeks since my injury still feel the need to call me Gimp or Gimpy, but I think I am going to punch the next person that I hear say those words. Ha, ha, ha, laugh, laugh, laugh, chuckle, chuckle, chuckle...WE GET IT. Along with that, let me clear something up for the world-NO, MY HUSBAND AND I DID NOT GET IN AN ACCIDENT TOGETHER, NO, WE DID NOT GET MAD AT EACH OTHER AND BEAT EACH OTHER UP, AND NO, WE DO NOT SIT AROUND AND GET ANGRY WITH EACH OTHER AND FIGHT WITH OUR CRUTCHES WHEN WE GET MAD. I hope I have eased everyone's curiosity with those three grueling questions that seem to weigh on every person's mind and come out of their mouth with a half smile and a chuckle when we cross someone's path.

The last thing that is really getting to me is that everyone and their mom (including my own) seems to feel the need to be sure that Chad and I are finished playing sports for the rest of our lives. Never again will we play sports for the fear of getting hurt ever again...yeah right. How ridiculous can people be? I get that we aren't getting any younger-thanks for that reminder-but that doesn't mean that our lives have to stop. We are still in our 20's. There are professional athletes that are older than us that if they got hurt, they would get better and go right out there and play again. There are college athletes that we personally know that have had the same surgeries multiple times because they go out and keep playing. If I were in college and tore my ACL and meniscus, would my mom have asked me to stop playing and forfeit my scholarship money? No, she would not have. But since I am not young anymore (thanks for the reminder world) we are supposed to give up everything we love. My boss even asked me to quit playing sports in my free time. So, does that mean that everyone else that I work with has to cut out their recreational activities (and we won't go into what some of those are!)? Why just me? Because I got hurt for the first time in 28 years of playing sports?

And I wonder why I am depressed.

I do want to take a second, however, to say thank you to all of our friends and some family that have been punching that card overtime lately. We have some wonderful people in our lives that have been so kind as to go grocery shopping for us, cook us meals, go with us out to eat and get stared at along with us, tend to our lawn, help feed and give water to our animals, and clean our house. I have to say that I can't imagine what my state of mind would be without our wonderful friends and family. You guys have truly been a blessing to us and you still help us every time we ask for help and you do it with a smile on your face. I am sure we still have months and months of the, " Hey, would you mind..." or, "Hey when you get a minute, could you....".

My favorite nephew ever!!!

Ok, so he is my only nephew, but he is still my favorite. My sister-in-law, Andrea, came to spend some time with us and brought the most precious boy with her. He has grown so much in the past few months since we have seen him. He is trying so hard to crawl like a big boy and he has this move where he is gearing up to try to start crawling. He gets up on his hands and knees and sways back and forth. He is literally days away from crawling. Of course, by now, he is probably crawling but we won't see it until next time. I have posted under every picture so you know who my awesome family is.

We met my Aunt Heather, Uncle David, and Aunt Dorothy (my great aunt) at Uncle Julio's in Addison so that they could spend a little time with Kaden before he left. 3 generations of aunts to spoil him. Those are some good looking women if I do say so myself! Lucky kid...

Kaden posing with his two favorite aunts! Isn't he the most precious thing ever with his John Deere shirt on? His daddy would be so proud!

Kaden with is great great aunt Dorothy. She is 88 years old and still loves to spoil her family including the "big" kids. Thank you for a great lunch, Aunt Dorothy.

Kaden with his coolest Uncle David. Kaden was proud of this picture. He loves his Uncle David!

I think Kaden's mommy has gone CRAZY!!!! Do you think that mommyhood has gone to her head already???

Kaden "Smash" McDonald

Kaden loves him some Biscuit. They are best friends every time Kaden comes, and Biscuit always thinks that Kaden is here to see her. They have so much fun together.

We Are Still Alive!!

I am so sorry that it has been so long since I have posted. Needless to say, there has been DRAMA in the Turner household. For anyone that may have been in the dark with us, I tore my ACL almost 2 months ago. Apparently, my husband was jealous that I was getting all of the attention and he decided that we didn't have enough struggles in our house with trying to re-arrange schedules and paying the bills that he decided he needed to be hurt too. So, almost a month ago, he (also while playing volleyball) broke his foot in 3 places and dislocated his foot. So, not only am I on crutches, but he is too. Our house literally came to a SCREECHING halt!!! So,, Chad and I have literally been laid up for the past several weeks. I had surgery last Tuesday and Chad has been off of work since he hurt himself. I took 6 days off and I am now back at work.

Since I have heard from several friends that I haven't updated my bog lately, I thought I should at least put something up. There isn't too much going on with us, needless to say, but we are doing well considering. My surgery was on the 17th. We thought I was just going in for repair of my ACL but it turns out that once they got in my knee, they saw that I also tore my meniscus on both sides of my knee. So, instead of me being off of walking for 2 weeks, it is now 4 weeks of no weight bearing on my right leg as well as not being able to bend my knee past 90 degrees for 4 weeks. I have physical therapy 3 times a week and I have a motion machine that I put my leg in to and have to do for 8 hours a day. It is a machine that constantly moves my leg and bends my knee to the degree that we set it at. Since I am already back at work, I typically have to go to sleep with my knee in the machine.

Our computer is not in the living room, so needless to say, when I get home, I am exhausted and crash where I fall. I am sorry we have been so out of touch, but there isn't really much going on with us at the moment anyway. We have WONDERFUL friends and family that have brought us meals, cleaned our house, watched our dog, driven us places, and come to visit us just to keep us sane. We truly appreciate all of you that have supported us and prayed for us through this unbelievable situation. I keep telling myself that we will laugh about this some day. I hope all of you will be there to laugh with us. We couldn't imagine our lives without all of you.

Unbelievable

I think my title says it all...UNBELIEVABLE!!! So I have to go to our other office this morning to drop off invoices so that we can have checks cut for people by the end of the week. First of all, might I mind you that this is a 14.5 mile round trip now that everyone keeps moving offices. It now costs me 8.00 a week just to take invoices to our other office and go get the checks once they have been processed. I don't turn in mileage for various reasons that would make this a very long post, so I won't go there. However, I have decided that I am probably going to have to start turning in mileage. However, the mileage issue isn't even what I am writing this about, but something along the way on this invoice trip triggered this "UNBELIEVABLE" moment for me as I am referring to it now.

So, on the way to take invoices to the other office, I notice that there is a brand new Dunkin' Donuts at the corner of one of the intersections I go through. Let me tell you a little something about me and Dunkin' Donuts...I have one word...INCREDIBLE!!!! I grew up with a Dunkin' Donuts in Tyler which was 30 minutes away from where I lived. On the rare occasion that we were in Tyler on Saturday night and my parents were getting along and we had money, they would stop and get donuts for us to eat before church the next morning. Dunkin' Donuts was a special treat for my family, at least to me. I know, I know...nothing special to most people, but it was special to us. Dunkin' Donuts became the tasty little treat that began to rule my life. I will take a Dunkin' Donut treat over Krispy Kream any day. Sorry, but it's true. Ok, back to my "UNBELIEVABLE" moment. So, on my way back to my office, I decide that I am going to treat myself this morning to some donut hole treats. One of my personal faves from DD. So, I stop and get myself some donut hole treats and an iced coffee (which is slowly moving into my new favorite treat). I will have to say, though, that no one has McDonald's on their iced coffee. Trust me...I have taste tested. As I am one of those people that don't like to eat while I am driving and I am only about 5 miles from my office at this point, I resist temptation to rip open the box of tasty donut hole treats and wait until I get to my desk to make a total pig of myself.

SOOOO...I get in the office, get to my desk, and carefully unlatch the hooked ends of the box of my tasty goodness that is going to start my day off right. "How could my day be bad when it starts off with Dunkin' Donuts' Munchkins Donut Hole Treats?" I ask myself. Well, let me tell you how my moment of angels singing as I open the box comes to the record screeching end. Like a flock of starving vultures, everyone in their mom decides that they need to walk by my desk at the moment I unleash my tasty goodness in front of me. Being interrupted...whatever, stopping to swallow and not choke myself...whatever. Those are minimal compared to what I am about to tell you. I WORK WITH THE RUDEST PEOPLE EVER!!!!! Apparently the people I work with were raised in a home that you don't have to ask to take other people's food. Apparently the people I work with assume that my casa is their casa. Apparently the people I work with were born and raised in a barn. APPARENTLY the people I work with are RUDE. Not one, not two, but 5 people walked by my desk and without asking, stuck their dirty, nasty little fingers in my box of tasty goodness and proceeded to help themselves to a donut hole...without permission, I might add. Yes, let me say it again...not one, not two, but 5 people walked by my desk and without asking, stuck their dirty, nasty little fingers in my box of tasty goodness and proceeded to help themselves to a donut hole. No, Sherry, may I have one, or Sherry, those look good, may I partake, or Sherry, I realize this is your breakfast and your incredible moment with your tasty goodness that rules your life. No, just grabbing. All I can say is UNBELIEVABLE!!! I have to say that I have NEVER in my life walked up to anyone's desk at lunch and assumed that I could just take a bite of someone sandwich because I thought it looked good and it was acceptable to take something that wasn't mine. Did anyone chip in on my tasty goodness this morning...NO!!! But for some reason, everyone thought that it was ok to partake in my awesomeness that is the Dunkin' Donuts Munchkins. I get that they are hard to resist, but is it that hard to ask permission to stick your hands in someone else's treat box?

Maybe I was raised differently. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind sharing, but you should at lesat ask me first. Am I crazy??? Please, someone help me understand what goes through some people's mind. UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!

Arkansas Pictures

This is a taste of the fun we had on vacation. Sherry has been working real real hard and has been meaning to work on this blog. I took the liberty of posting some pictures. Stay Tuned for Sherry's next post.

I'm Baaaack

Ok, I know, I know. I suck at keeping a blog up. However, you all can't say that I didn't warn you because I did. And yet again, I am posting a blog with NO PICTURES. Why do I do this, you ask. Because the only moment I get to post anything is between bites of my lunch at work and even then I shouldn't be doing it.

Basically I wanted to update everyone on us. Chad and I are good. We went on vacation last week to Arkansas with our family. That went well. It is always nice to return home with your own bed, a variety of clothes choices, your own bathroom and shower, and things like that. It was nice to spend the time with family as well. I will try this week to post some pics of our vacation because my camera-happy husband took 134 pictures, so there should be plenty to share.

Before we went on vacation, I tore my ACL in the volleyball tournament. We were well on our way to winning first in that tournament, too and we had to forfeit as Chad and I both had to head to the emergency room. It stinks to have to forfeit when you KNOW you are going to win. However, we did place first in the overall season, so I guess there isn't much to complain about. As far as my knee goes, I am doing physical therapy this week and I have an appointment this Friday to schedule surgery. I will have to have surgery on my ACL if I ever want to play sports again and do the things that I do. That was a no brainer to me. However, the surgery options are a bit scary and it freaks me out a bit, but I guess no matter what, I have to figure out what I am going to do by Friday.

I just want to take the time to thank our friends. We have had an awesome support group with everything that has happened with my knee and Chad and I are continually blessed every day when we take time to reflect on what we have. We have had a lot of e-mails and phone calls offering help and assistance when I have surgery. You guys are awesome! Chad and I do want you all to know that we do know what wonderful people we are surrounded with and we know that we never want to take that for granted. You know you are loved when you have people sitting in ER's, dr.'s offices, sending constant check-up e-mails, and phone calls constantly. And you all give up your own personal time to help us. Thank you all and we really appreciate each and every one of you. We have the best friends in the world!!!!

Stay tuned for pictures later this week...

AVP - Chad Posting for Sherry

Sherry is very busy at work and at home so I will post something for you guys to read. It is the same post as I posted on mine but I wanted to make sure she had something new on hers.

For those of you who do not know it yet, Sherry and I went to the AVP beach volleyball tournament this weekend in Dallas. We saw the pre-lims, most of the quarters, the semi-finals, and the finals on Saturday and Sunday.Let's just say 6'9'' and mobile on sand is a good combination. There were some guys that could flat out hurt you with their spikes. It was also a BLOCK party most matches. Oh yeah, most of the players, mens and womens, were all-americans in college. It is un-imaginable to think how they play with 2 players and 1 person always goes for the block. That leaves the entire court for 1 person to cover, yet it seems to work. There were some players that look short because of who they stand next to. After looking up there stats, I don't think there was a mens player under 6'2'', but standing next to a guy that is 6'7'' he looked shorter than me. This has to be the most fan friendly sport. The players walk about the complex with the fans. They don't have their own walk way, security or tunnels. They have to walk from court to court just like the fans. Which brings me to the title of my post. The very first day we went about 11:30, we walk in and Misty and Kerri are sitting in chairs outside of the player's area. Sherry, Jason, Allison, and me went up and got autographs on the back of our tickets. I will digress for a second. Misty May-Treanor is not that short. Standing next to Kerri who is 6'3'', she looks short, but I would say she is probably very close to 6'.We bought a mini volleyball and intended to get as many autographs as we could on Sunday. We didn't do so well mostly because we were watching the games. Although, after Misty and Kerri finished their semi-final match with a 3 game victory, we got their autographs on the ball. That's right, we got their autograph twice. They were only signing for about 10 minutes after the match because the mens was about to begin and they wanted the crowd back in because it was being televised. They each had separate lines. We didn't know that when we got in line for Kerri and after we got her signature we turned around and saw a gigantic line for Misty. That's ok, we got in line and made it.Dig after dig after dig. These players pick up the nastiest shots. There were many one arm pokes that pop the ball up, or two fist face protector hits, or one arm straight up in the air to knock it up so it doesn't keep going to the back court. Amazing! Pretty much every term you ever knew about volleyball has now been changed in the AVP to have a Y on the end of it. For example, a one arm stab is now called a stabby, a cut shot is now a cutty, a poke, that's right you guesed it, a pokey. I guess if we lived on a beach we would know the lingo. Hilarious. We had a blast. This will probably be an annual thing for us now.

Let me just take a moment...

Ok, so I could have posted about 10 blogs by now just today on some things that I just have to get out there. So, this may be a bit lengthy, but I will make it as short as possible.

First of all, what's up with towns not having tornado sirens? ARE WE NOT IN THE 2000'S PEOPLE??? I get that Anna is not exactly a booming metropolis, however, it is almost 5 1/2 times the size of the podunk town that I grew up in that is in East Texas...5 1/2 times the size! We had a tornado siren in FRANKSTON, TX!!! That's right...no one even knows where that is, but they seem to be able to put tornado sirens in that town! But no...Anna, TX seems to think that a phone call in the middle of the night is technology enough to warn people that there might be a tornado blowing through your living room any minute. I didn't even realize that the phone call was our "siren." Silly me, for the past 4 years I have assumed that we actually had real sirens to tell us that a tornado was about to rip our lives apart! What was I thinking?!?!

Second, what is it with people making such a big deal out of the fact that I make my own pimiento cheese? Ok, so I enjoy making my own stuff. Are we seriously in such a time that it is so unbelievable that people still make their own food instead of buying everything processed and stuffed full of preservatives and all of that junk? Chad and I are really working on being better about our spending and one of the ways of doing that is for me to take my lunch to work. We save tons of money that way. I know a lot of people don't join me in this, but I like pimiento cheese. So, I make my own pimiento cheese. I just like the "real", fresh stuff better. And I have to say that I make a mean pimiento cheese!! For the past 3 days everyone at my work has not only been flabbergasted that I make my own pimiento cheese, but they then proceed to make fun of me asking if I actually go out and milk the cow and make my own cheese. What's up with that? Get out of the drive thru people!!!!!

And last, but certainly not least...what is up with Biscuit and her 10 million times of peeing a night? Chad and I through mumbled conversation this morning both determined that we are DONE with the dog waking up every couple of hours to pee. I just need to know one thing...how does she stay at home ALL day for a good 8-10 hours while we are at work in the house and not have to pee, but once we go to bed, her clock starts the count down for T minus 2 hours? It is not like we get a ton of sleep a night, and you throw a dog into the mix that apparently doesn't get that lights out means SLEEP and it makes for one irritable person in the morning. She starts at about 11:30, then gets up again around 1:00 to 1:30 and then again at 4:00 to 4:30 and from then on, she is up and runs around the house with every toy she can possibly find that has a bell, squeaker, or rattle to it. Does anyone need a really cute Basset Hound? Ok, I won't go that far, but does anyone know if this is just a phase that hopefully she grows out of, or is this permanent? Are we doomed to every 2 hours of peeing forever?

Thanks for letting me rant and rave about nothing and thanks to everyone that actually read this far! I feel better now. Feel free to comment on anything you feel necessary above.

Samsung 500

Ok, so have I said lately how much I HATE Nascar? So, being the best wife any man could ever have, I went to Nascar with Chad on Sunday. A co-worker had infield tickets that he let us use and we were able to go to the race on Sunday. They had an RV there and we parked and my co-worker drove out and picked us up and took us inside and we hung out in the infield all day. I have to say, if there is a such thing for Nascar, we had the royal treatment on Sunday. We had clean restrooms to use, food that we didn't have to pay an arm and a leg for, passes that allowed us to sit with friends at a comfortable distance from each other (as opposed to feeling like you are sitting in the stranger's lap next to you), drinks, and shade if you got too hot or didn't want to sit outside any more. How much better does it get than that?

So, we make it out there about 8:45, we call my co-worker and he comes and gets us, and we hang out until the races at 1:00. We throw footballs, run remote control cars, get free stuff that the sponsors are handing out everywhere, all that fun stuff. I have to say it started out a little chilly, but it turned out to be an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day. I couldn't have asked for a prettier day to do something that I thought was going to be the most miserable experience of my life. I have to admit, though, that I might enjoy Nascar. Wait...did I say that out loud??? Ok, ok, maybe I felt just a tiny bit at home among all of the Rednecks on Sunday being that I came from a town of 1,200 people that all knew my business, my family's business, the dog's business and the cow's business. Yes, it is the place that everyone knows everyone and as much as you try, you can't get away with something without it being all over the police scanner (which EVERYONE in a small town owns) by the end of the night! However, I have to say that we shower, brush our hair and teeth, and wear clean clothes where I come from. I cannot honestly say that for everyone that I saw Sunday. However, I think we were in the "nice" part of the track on Sunday, if that is possible!

I have to give props to Denny Hamlin, the FedEx #11 driver. He came in 5th, which we were slightly disappointed in...ok Chad was slightly disappointed in. He is staying in the top 5, though, so that is apparently a good place to be. I don't know anything about Nascar, and I don't pretend to, so if I jack up the terminology or stats or something, please forgive me. For the sake of the atmosphere, I did find myself rooting for him, but mostly because Chad roots for him.

All in all, it was pretty fun. I never thought those words would come out of my mouth about Nascar, but we did have a pretty fun day. I would love to have you check out our pictures under my explanation of our day, but like dorks, we forgot our camera!!! I guess you can only expect so much at 7:00am from us! We would have loved to share with you the company we kept on Sunday as well as maybe a few pictures of the race, but the only thing we could share with you are a couple of sunburns! It was worth the burn, though. We had a great time. Thank God for beautiful weather and RV's!!!

Kaden is coming to town!

So clearly this will be the most boring blog anyone has ever seen. We have the most boring lives of anyone I know. My evenings consist of cheese and crackers for dinner and watching The Biggest Loser, or Dancing with the Stars or something like that. And for some reason, I still have no time to do the things that I want and need to do. I was so excited to get a phone call from my sister-in-law last night telling me that they were coming back to Texas in a week and a half and I will get to see them this time. She was just here last weekend with the sweetest nephew of mine and I never got to see them. She came in for a wedding and had a million things to take care of while they were here and the stay was very short, so I missed them. Well, they are coming back!!!! I will at least get to see them for a day or two this time. So, I will be able to break up the monotony of TV shows and house cleaning for a couple of days to spoil my nephew. Every little boy needs a cool Aunt Sherry to spoil them! I promise to take lots of pictures and put the cutest little boy ever on my page while they are here! So, the good news is that my page will actually have pictures of people on it by Thursday the 17th if not sooner!! Stay tuned...

Date Night!!!!

I am taking a break from homework for a minute so I thought I would post a blog. Chad and I have date night tonight! We are so excited! We use our Discover card for 2 charges a month and we pay it off every month to keep our credit good. Since we use it, we are set up on their rewards program. This year, we cashed in our rewards and instead of just getting cash, we decided to cash the rewards in for movie tickets. Well, it happens that we had enough to get two sets of the movie packages, which gets us two movie passes, a small popcorn and a small drink. 2 sets!!! So, not only do we get one date night, we get two!!!! The only bad thing about movie passes is that we can only go see certain movies on it because they restrict you if you aren't technically "paying" for the movie. However, it has been SO LONG since we have gone to the movies that there are always 3-4 movies we can still see on the passes that aren't considered new releases any more. We are going to go see Vantage Point tonight and save the other two tickets for another night we we need a night out together again. Yay for date night!!!

Biscuit in the Snow

I think that you should all see this. This was the day after we received 5 inches of snow. That's right, Texas got snow. By the way, 3 days later we received 9 more inches and then was 70 degrees 2 days later.

Our 1st Blog

Sherry has been diligently working on this in between working (start driving at 7 a.m.) 8 - 5 (she doesn't get home until 7), taking care of the house, going to Volleyball Thursdays, Softball Fridays, Homework on Saturday, Sunday School, Church, Class, Small Group and this all starts over again. I decided to help her because I have a little more convenience with my off time. I guess I am fortunate to have a job 20-30 min closer with no traffic either way.

Volleyball and Softball are going very well for us. We are undefeated in Softball. Sherry has a gun from right field. I on the other hand throw hard but not accurate. I guess it is good I run fast. It helps when I miss read fly balls. On the other hand I already have 2 home runs and I am currently batting 5-6 in the 6 innings while scoring a run every time I get on. We are 3 - 1 in Volleyball. Our Team works well together because we are bunch of people that try on every ball. This helps when we lose. I find that if everyone tries hard and plays well losing doesn't hurt as bad.

We don't have kids yet, but we do have a dog and a cat. Biscuit and Angel are doing great. Oh, wait there they go. Biscuit chasing Angel has become a regular sight, but don't kid yourself if you don't think Angel doesn't walk in front of Biscuit intentionally to taunt her.

If you would like to see some specific topics from us, please email Sherry at slvolley11@yahoo.com or me at foot83ac@yahoo.com. We will get them posted. The same goes for pictures.