Oops...

Sorry about the nonexistent blogging as of late... This China move has got me a little preoccupied. We've been getting things in order for our trip... I'll try my best to keep up with the blog. I'll most likely have some free time over there and some interesting experiences! :~) Jamey and I are leaving the 21st of this month and for the last week and a half we have been staying with my family in Ohio. Jamey, Ira, Philip, Lydia and I played what we like to call "barn ball" or poor man's squash! :~) That was fun! Haven't played that in a while! On Friday we'll be traveling down to visit with my sister for a day before heading back to TN. I know this is a short post, but I want to spend all the time I can with my family! :~)

Ummm...

Yeah, I know that I haven't posted anything in a few days. It's because I have been spending the time on the computer working on my last assignment for the ESL certificate. I turned my last one in on Monday morning and got it back this morning... I PASSED!!!! :~D I got a 19.5 out of a possible 20 points!!! :~D My final score is 90.5 out of 100 possible points! :~) Yeah, I'm excited about it! Now all I have to do is wait for them to mail me my certificate. I'm going to feel a little weird not having anything to study for when I get off work. Oh well, I'll deal with it! ;~)

This Friday all of Jamey's family is going to a reunion in GA! I'm looking forward to it! It will be fun to go somewhere and meet new people... Not to mention that they will have all sorts of yummy food there. The only thing is that it's on the same day as my Grandpa's birthday and Kannel family reunion. I haven't seen some of my cousins for years now, but we knew and were planning for this GA trip way before we knew that they were going to do something for my Grandpa's birthday. Luckily, my sister will be able to go up and help celebrate. :~)

Tomorrow is one of my co-worker's birthday so I decided to make some peanut butter squares. :~) OK, so I had been thinking about them for a while now... But hey, a birthday is as good an excuse as any to make them! :~) Not that you really NEED an excuse to make something chocolate! :~)

Well, I'd better go see if they have to be cut up yet. That and I need to get going to bed cause I have to work tomorrow from 10-4. Then I have to pack. And get some sleep for Friday's long car trip to GA!! :~D

Happy Anniversary to my Parents!

My parents are celebrating their 31st anniversary today! :~) Happy anniversary Mommy and Daddy! :~) I love you guys! :~)

Today we had to take our pets to an adoption place for pets... I cried! I tried not to think about it before, but when we were there Munchkin looked so scared! She looked the same way she does when she goes to see the vet! :~( I tried to comfort her and pet her a little, but it did no good. When I gave her to the lady she meowed and looked confused... I don't ever want to have to do that again!

I went through my clothes today and hopefully I was very brutal in my throwing clothes in the "never have worn them" pile... I don't know about you, but I always have this thought in my head that I will wear clothes that I have that I have never worn before. I always like to give things second chances... Unfortunately, my dresser is full of clothes that I've given numerous chances to and still haven't worn! I guess I'm just a pack rat at heart! :~)

Here's the recipe... A day late, I know... But hey, I'm dealing with a move here! ;~) Now, I've tried numerous recipes for fried chicken and this is the best one that I've found! Jamey is a lover of fried chicken and he loves this recipe... And I do to! Which is good cause I'm not a fan of chicken!

Southern Fried Chicken Strips

3/4 Cup Borden or Meadow gold Buttermilk
1 Tablespoon Wyler's or Steero Chicken-Flavor Instant bouillon
1/2 Teaspoon Oregano Leaves
1 Pound skinned boneless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 1/4 Cups unsifted flour (Jamey likes it better with all-purpose... Although I have tried self-rising and it turned out fine)
1 to 2 Teaspoons paprika

In a large bowl, combine buttermilk, bouillon and oregano; let stand 10 minutes. Stir in chicken. Let stand 30 minutes to blend flavors. In plastic bag, combine flour and paprika. Add chicken, a few pieces at a time; shake to coat. Dip in buttermilk mixture again; coat with flour again. In large skillet, fry chicken strips in hot oil until golden on both sides. Drain on paper towels. Refrigerate leftovers. Makes 4 Servings

Anyway, hope you get a lot of use out of this recipe! :~) We've enjoyed it! Like I said it's the only fried chicken recipe that I've found that we both REALLY like! :~p

Well, I have to go get clothes off our bed so we can sleep sometime tonight! :~) Hopefully I'll get time to post tomorrow!

Happy Birthday to my little sis...

That's right. My little sister isn't so little anymore... Not only is she almost as tall as I am (which isn't much!) she is no longer a kid, but now an adult. I can't think about that too hard cause I remember when I was her age and it doesn't seem like that long ago. In reality it wasn't, but it doesn't seem right that my siblings are getting older without me being there. I suppose time goes on... It was bad enough with me turning 24 last year... Anyway, Happy Birthday Lydia! :~)

Tonight while I was making bacon something interesting happened. My microwave just stopped! It was in the middle of a rotation and it just up and quit. I'm not sure what happened to it... It's not like we abused it, in fact I've been starting to NOT use it as much! This microwave was second hand from good friends of ours in Memphis but it wasn't that old... We've had it for a little over a year. So since our microwave decided to die on me I had to cook bacon on the stove top... I've never done this before, but it wasn't that bad. I remembered during the cooking of the bacon that I had kept the microwave that was here when we moved in! :~) I had put it in the closet in my sewing room where things that I don't know what to do with go to die! So after supper (which was yummy by the way) I went to unearth it... It's one of those old ones that don't rotate... It doesn't have a plate in it, I'm not sure if it didn't originally or if the previous owners took it. Either way, I'm going to have to adjust to this one for a while... Not to mention clean it! :~} Luckily I have Mr. Clean for that job!! :~) Well, I'm off to my task! :~}

Ohio trip... :~D

Alright, it seems that everyone I know is posting new blog posts and making me feel bad... Just kidding! :~) Though I have been thinking about posting more, I just don't seem to have the oomph to do it. Oh, and I apologize about not having names next to the pics in the last post! :~}

Ok, here's a recap of our trip to Ohio... We got there on Tuesday night and got to visit a little with my family before we were completely exhausted. Wednesday was fun, my Mommy didn't have to work so we went grocery shopping... No, really, it was fun! :~) That night Lydia, Philip, Jamey and I went to a concert in Maumee (about an hour away) that Lydia and Philip wanted to go to. It wasn't my first concert, but it was the first time I had ever seen a mosh pit! That was just a little unnerving for me! We had a good time and they even put on the ball drop in the middle of the concert!!! :~D I was afraid we would have to miss it! After the concert, we got home at about 2am, we found that my sister Sarah, Danny and my nephew Xander were there!! :~) We talked until about 4... That's when we were all getting so sleepy that our eyelids were screaming!

Thursday and Friday were both kinda relax/shopping days. Sarah, Lydia and I went and took Xander shopping with us on Thursday. We tried to school Xander in the finer points of shopping, but he just ended up pooping! :~) Ahhh, guys and shopping! :~) Then on Friday just Sarah and I went shopping... That was fun to have some shop time with my sister. After supper Jamey, Danny, Sarah, Lydia and I went to see a movie at the local theater... We saw Yes Man.

Saturday was bowling day! We hadn't been bowling for a while and we hadn't been bowling with Danny and Sarah since all of us met two years ago! We tried to get in at the bowling lanes in Bryan, but they had a league coming in so we couldn't bowl there... We ended up going to Defiance and finding a bowling place there. We bowled for a couple hours, by the way, I officially stink at bowling! The last game we played we had to do teams and Jamey joked about having to have me on his team! :~) Yeah, we didn't win! After our defeat we went out to Dairy Queen for some frozen refreshment! They don't have Dairy Queen down in SC... So I had to live it up while I was in Ohio! ;~)

Sunday was the last day with my sweet little nephew... I have to say, he loved me! Every time I would say something he would smile at me! :~) Either that or I gave him gas!! :~} Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed it!! We had to have church at home (just like the old days back in VT) because of ice. Jamey got to bring the lesson... And here he thought he was on vacation! ;~) After church came beef stew and the realization that they were leaving. So to cope there was lots of holding Xander... Then it turned into not wanting them to take Xander away! However, I didn't have a bag big enough and they took him back with them. Not before we all had a family picture! :~D It was just a little impromptu, but it came out nicely! The rest of Sunday was relaxing...

Which brings us to Monday. Monday was a day for me to visit with some friends that I haven't seen in a while... There was a little hesitation when I went to see people at the nursing home where I used to work. Mostly because I was afraid that one of the sweetest people in there would be gone forever! Luckily, she was still there and sweet as ever! I used to really enjoy spending time with her when I worked there and it hasn't changed. I got some useful information from her before I got married about married life... She and her husband were married for 74 years before he passed away! :~o I had a really good time with her and then I was off to go visit with another of my friends...

Tamra is one of the people that I call my conscience. She was the friend that gave me that valuable advice when I needed it the most and kept me from going crazy when I was still working... I haven't been out with her for a long time, but thanks to the Internet we've kept in touch! :~) We went out to Pizza Hut (where else, really?) and then to Dairy Queen because I needed something else to compete for space on my thighs! I just had such a good time with her... I could seriously unwind and just relax.

Tuesday was the last day we were in Ohio and Jamey, Lydia and I went to Defiance to shop. Lydia wanted to go to the "mall" they have there... It really is a sad little mall, but hey, it's good enough. We spent all day out shopping and having fun. I really enjoyed going places with Lydia... I get the feeling that she misses not having sisters around anymore! :~} Then when we got home we had to pack to get ready for leaving.

We left about 7am on Wednesday morning. We finally saw some snow when we left... It snowed from where we were in Ohio all the way down to TN! :~O Oh, and I couldn't help myself with the water tower that says "y'all" on it! :~) We got back home about 9pm and were completely exhausted from travel! We were also shocked by the fact that there was a tree in our front yard. It fell over earlier in the day because the wind was just that bad! :~O

Anyway, that's our trip to Ohio... I still have to get back in the groove of doing things again! :~p Which includes but is not limited to cleaning and doing dishes! :~}

Happy New Year!!!

I know that it's been a while since I wrote on here... I've been having a blast with family and getting all the packing and unpacking done! :~) I have pics, so hopefully you will forgive me for being so tardy about writing lately! ;~) The first one is when Lydia, Philip, Jamey and me went to a concert on New Years Eve. The rest are of my visit with family and getting to know my new nephew!! He loves his Aunt Priscilla... He smiled every time I would say something to him!! :~D Anyway, I'll post more about my visit over the next couple of days, but for now... Here are the pics!!! :~D

I'm Back... And I wrote a Lot!

I got to drive all the way up to Greensboro NC yesterday... A three hour trip that is tedious in and of itself. This trip however, was made even more difficult with inclement weather. About an hour into the trip I had to slow down to 50 in order to see things ahead of me... It really didn't worry me as this was the kind of weather that I drove going from Memphis to Nashville when we were moving... That and I had the constant spray from the moving truck that Jamey was driving in front of me. Anyway, I focused on the car in front of me... We made it in the time we figured and the trip back was uneventful.

I love to drive but I don't like to drive in nasty weather when not everyone has their headlights on! Not only is it kind of silly not to put them on but it's dangerous. I could barely see the road let alone the cars that actually had their lights on. I'm glad I was able to do it though cause it gave me some experience... Now the only weather I have to conquer is snow! I'm a little wary of that though as the last time I tried to drive in new snow I almost hit a stop sign! :~O

Alright enough about me... I'm not going to write a lot about my nephew as my sister has put more pics of the little guy up on her blog and I don't want to take away from her blog. That being said I can now dispense with the gushing! :~) Of course I'm not biased in any way ;~) but I have to say that he is one of the cutest babies that I've seen! I can't wait to see him in December! He looks like he is getting bigger every day... And he might have a little bit of blond hair.

Munchkin is out and about today. I've been keeping her in the bathroom at night so that nothing will get broken at night! :~) She meows for me a lot. She is very personable for a cat, course we never had indoor cats in Ohio. She seems to have taken to a frog I got at Claire's recently. She plays with it and drags it places she goes. I'll try to get pics of that but it might be hard, the only evidence that I know she has been playing with it is it's conspicuous presence in other parts of the house! :~) Right now she is dragging it like it's her kitten.

Shorty is finally figuring out that he has to bark to go outside and that outside is the only place to go to the bathroom. It won't be long before he can be out all day! :~) He's growing a lot. He's now up to around 12 pounds... He won't get too much bigger.

Birthday season is upon us. What I mean is this... My brother Ira started it by having his birthday this past Sunday. I'm the next in line with a birthday in October, then comes Philip in November and to close out the year is Sarah in December. Lydia's is in March so by next spring we will all be another year older. I'm not looking forward to mine this year for some reason. I'll be turning 24 and for some reason that sounds old to me. I'm no longer in my early 20s I'm in my mid 20s. Oh well, time marches on! :~)

One last thing before I give your eyes a rest... I didn't mean to make this so long, but I'm glad I got back to actually writing something longer than a post-it note! :~) The gospel meeting here went very well. Jamey preached on the different things we do in worship. Sunday morning was Communion and Jesus' death on the cross. Sunday night was prayer. Monday night was singing and Tuesday night was giving. Quite a few people from the neighboring congregations came and Tuesday night we had 80 people. :~) Everyone thought that Jamey did an exceptional job!

I still have that sewing to do... I plan on working on it this month and having it done by the time my birthday rolls around. Kinda like a birthday present to myself! :~) I picked out 2 shirts and 2 dresses for the colder weather. Tomorrow I have to clean... Jamey doesn't care whether or not it's really clean but I always feel really good when the house is spotless! :~)

Pictures!!!! :~D

Yep, they're home from the hospital and my sister sent these...



Isn't he cute? I know I'm just a little biased but come on, that face is adorable! :~) The first family picture! :~)

Don't you love how peaceful he looks... And how about that yellow hat? :~)

Introducing... My nephew Xander Scott!

I got the call this morning that my sister was in the hospital enjoying the calming effect of an epidural! :~) She started early labor Tuesday night and made it till early this morning with little to no medication. However, they started her on pitocin which drastically increased her labor pains so the epidural was a necessity.

I'm not sure on the time he arrived, but it was sometime in the early afternoon. He weighed 7lb. 2oz., and is 21 in.! A long little guy! :~) My sister thought that he'd weigh more than that, but I'm glad that he didn't... It might have been harder to have him. Anyway, he has dark blue eyes, and from what I'm told he's got some big eyes! :~) He has some light brown hair... Although, Danny's family has some blondes that started off with darker hair and we have some toe heads in our family. I have to say, if he has straight hair that will look just a little odd with his parents both having very curly hair! :~) My sister said that he wasn't very interested in crying, just wanted to look around. :~) I'm soooooo excited!!! :~)

Waiting for the pictures of the little guy will be almost as hard as waiting for him to arrive! :~) As you can guess I'm going to be a very gushing Aunt. I'll be just a little sorry for Xander when I get to be around him, cause his Aunt Priscilla will spoil him! :~)

Happy Birthday... No not to me!

Ok, I was a little tired Monday so I decided to just skip it. But now I'm back!

Today is my younger brother Ira's 21st birthday. This isn't the first time I haven't been there to rightfully claim my piece of cake, however this is the longest I've gone without seeing my family. I'll call him tonight, but it won't be the same. Anyway, Happy Birthday Ira!! :~)

Saturday and Sunday Jamey and I were out of town, going up to Iowa. Knoxville to be exact. For those of you that don't know... Knoxville is the Sprint car capitol. Ok, that information is only really interesting to me but I thought I would put it in anyway! :~) It took about 10 hours to get to Knoxville which means that I had to pretend to be awake at an insane hour... 5am. Now I have to say I admire the people that this comes easy to... I am NOT one of those people! :~) Yes, we got up that early so we wouldn't get in to Knoxville too late. It's beautiful country up there... If you're not going through pouring rain. At least our car got washed! :~) We got there at 4pm. We didn't get to bed until about 11:30pm cause we kept talking!

Sunday they had a pot luck after service. They know how to cook! After the meal we left. The weather back was much better than the weather that we went through to get there. I was amazed at how pretty the landscape is there. It reminded me of Vermont only without the mountains in the background. We got back from Knoxville about 11pm.

Monday I was moody. I have to say though that Jamey is one of the most patient men I've ever met! :~) The one redeeming thing Monday was we got a dryer! Someone was getting rid of an old dryer so they practically gave it to us.

Tuesday was like Monday only more moody. Marco wouldn't stop barking and the dryer wasn't cooperating. Anyway, I think it was just a little of me being home sick and tired from the trip. After Jamey got home we went out to the mall and Target. Yeah, that helped! :~)

Wednesday was sooooo much better! I opened the windows and got some fresh air in the house and it was just such a beautiful day out. If we hadn't had to go to church I would have liked to go to the park. Anyway, I had a really good day. I found a book that my Grandma had given me for Christmas a couple years ago and I started reading that. One of the things I miss... My girly books.

Thursday I was tired so I decided to not go to class. Bad idea. I should have gone just because that is the only day when I really get to get out. Not that Jamey doesn't take me everywhere I need to go, but I have that sense of independence. However, it wasn't the nicest day out. It started raining about the time I would have started shopping. When Jamey got home, after supper, we went out to Aldi to go grocery shopping. Also the knitter in me had to go to Hobby Lobby to get those double ended needles! When I got home I started knitting and finished the neck of my sweater. I started that sweater about 2 years ago! :~)

So far today I'm just chillin' till I have to pack so we can leave tomorrow for TX. Also I want to tidy my house so I won't have to do it Monday. Hopefully I won't be too tired from traveling to write Monday. :~)

They came, they saw, they left... Part ll

Ok, so I had to put this in two parts cause I was somewhat out of it when they left. However, I am better now and am ready to do this...

Friday they got here late. We stayed up late talking to them... I think we went to bed about 3am.

They slept in on Sat., and when they got up I made them waffles! :~) After that Jamey and Danny watched some old cartoons that took them back to their childhood. There was a ball game at 6pm that night, so we decided to go to that. Before the game Jamey took them sight seeing a little and went to a game store. Danny and Jamey liked that and Sarah and I just talked. This was Sarah's first live ball game. The Redbirds did not disappoint... They lost like they usually do when I go to see them. But we all had fun. After the game, to avoid a lot of the people going back to their cars, we ducked into the Peabody Hotel and went to the roof. Not only is that a magnificent view, but they have ducks up there. Sometimes they let the ducks out to wander the Hotel. When we got home it was late so we went to bed cause we had to get up early to go to church.

Sunday after church we went out to eat with this other couple who also met on the Church of Christ Singles. We ate at an Italian restaurant with great food and got stuffed! :~) We went home and took a nap before going to see Transformers. That movie is the best if you like a lot of action and great special effects. We got out of the movie too late to go to night church, so we did like anybody else does when they skip church... we went to the putt-putt range! ;~) First we broke our arms swinging at balls in the batting cages, then we did the mini-golf. I'm not the worst at that sport, but I'm not going to make anyone look bad at it either. Because I didn't have anything planned for supper (I'm not that good at this yet) we went out for pizza.

Monday Jamey took it off. That was nice... After we all got up and showered we went to see what we could find in the way of clothing at the GoodWill. I found a couple of dresses, but the biggest shocker came in the form of Sarah's wedding dress. She went to see if they had any and low and behold they had one just her style and size!! It needs a bit of cleaning and fixing at the top, but it's perfect! You can't beat the price either. It was marked at $70.00, but the cashier thought that was too much so she gave it to them for $20! :~O We decided to go celebrate at Arby's. After that we went for frozen yogurt at TCBY. As we were getting in our car, some guy comes up to us and waves something that he wants to give to Jamey. Turns out they are tickets to go see a special screening of Harry Potter. How often does that happen, huh? Jamey and Danny wanted to go see that movie anyway and this way we all could see it for free!

Tuesday Jamey took half a day and we all went to the zoo. It was fine for the first half, then it started to sprinkle. It down poured not long after it started sprinkling, so we got wet. Since Jamey used to work at the zoo, he took us around and we didn't have to look at a map. After getting soaked we went home, changed clothes and watched Die Hard.

Wednesday, we didn't do much except hang out, went to church and watched another movie.

Thursday I hung with Danny and Sarah and after Jamey came home we went to the Red Sun Buffet. My favorite Chinese restaurant. That place is conveniently located close to the mall. :~) Danny, Sarah, Jamey and I all went to the mall with the intent of finding shoes to go with Sarah's wedding dress. We didn't find any shoes, but we had a good time browsing the shops. Danny got cookies and Jamey got a Transformers steering wheel cover. We watched yet another movie when we got back from shopping.

Friday Sarah and Danny left.

Sat. was our VBS. It only lasted one day, but it was fun. Jamey and Kayla (a really sweet girl) did puppets and I helped with crafts. I think that is where I have always been when I have helped with VBS in the past. Hmm... maybe I look like a crafty person. :~) Jamey and I just relaxed after that.

Sunday after church we went out for lunch with a group from church, went home and took a nap and went back for evening church. The church was having a going away party after service for a couple that are moving to Nashville. So of course we stayed for that.

Today I've been a slug. I haven't done that much with the house, but I plan to as soon as I get done with this. I have to say I love sugar! I made myself some brownies with the sugar Sarah left. Yummy! :~p I think I'll keep some real sugar on hand so I can make myself some comfort food every now and then. The only problem is that I have to eat all the brownies. I can't give any to Jamey! Hmmm... maybe that isn't a problem! :~) Oh well, time to actually go do something...

They came, they saw, they left...

This is just a short post, cause I have to go do some things like clean up the house and cook dinner. Having Sarah over was fun! We get along much better now that we don't live under the same roof. We probably won't see each other again until Sarah's wedding... Wow, my sister is getting married in 3 months and I've been married now for almost 5 months. Hmm... just a little reverie of how things were less than a year ago... Neither one of us had anyone and if someone would have told us where we would be now, we would have laughed them out the door! :~)

Tomorrow is VBS at our church, so that should be fun. For some reason it's only one day. Go figure. I still have to shower, how lazy is that? :~)

Look for a post on Monday. I still have to recover from the visit, but should be posting like normal next week... :~)

Fun and Family : - )

Well, I finally got the travel lag under control and it's time to get those pics out so you can see them. Ok, the first ones are of my family. Any wacky behavior I have I got from these guys... :~) First, of course is my Daddy. It's a fact, if I hadn't been so hard to raise my Dad might still have some hair... Up next is my Mommy. I couldn't get a very good shot of her, cause she was busy putting the finishing touches on the reception. I'm surprised that she still has her mind, all that planning for that party was hard on her. Then comes the ones that at times were my best friends and at times were the evil siblings...
<--Sarah, my oldest sister, was the one that I looked up to and at the same time drove me crazy when she expected me to be just like her. Under Sarah is Danny, her fiance.











--> Lydia, the youngest, is probably the coolest one of us. She was so cool, she wouldn't let me get a good shot. The camera didn't meet the cool standards.


And then there are the odd ones that I helped shape into the well-adjusted adults they are now... :~)

<--First is the oldest of the brothers, Ira. He is next in line after me. Sometimes I hate to admit, the conscience that I didn't have at times and the one that kept me sane. Thanks Ira!

--> And of course my baby brother, Philip. He has grown into a very mature young man, which to me is very shocking. I remember him as the little kid with a lisp and cardboard guns with tape everywhere. You know what I'm talking about Philip! :~)

And I had to put my sweetheart in here. Isn't he cute? :~) He has everything I had been looking for in a man. Did I mention he's cute?

When we were up there I had to go wish these folks a happy anniversary. They live in the nursing home I worked at before I got married. They are more like great-grandparents than just friends. They have been married 74 years! That concludes the family and friends shots, now for the reception pics... The two cakes!










Guests... :~)








Here's the happy couple and the cutting of the cake!










Ok, I couldn't help myself. I only get to do this once and I couldn't resist putting cake up his nose! :~) Don't worry he got me back!-->








That's it for the pictures on my blog... if somehow you haven't gotten bored with all these pics and want to see a few more go to www.photobucket.com key word jdpriscilla.

I had a really good time with my family, and I'm saddened a little by the fact I won't get to see all of them until Thanksgiving. Well, that will give them time to recover after this visit! :~)

Hopefully, if the weather holds, tonight Jamey and I will be going to see a baseball game that will have fireworks after! I love Memphis!!