AHHH!! :- ) Tax day

No, I'm not crunching for time on my taxes, I just needed a title! :~)

Friday Jamey took me to the Columbia zoo. It took about a hour and a half to get there, and he had to wake me up! :~) I have to say this it is nicer than the other zoos around here. It also had a botanical garden which you had to walk quite a long way to get there, but the exercise is good. The one feature that I thought was the neatest thing ever, was that you could feed the giraffes and some of the birds! It cost a little extra and only if the animals are hungry. We didn't feed the animals and the people that were trying to weren't getting any bites, but it's a neat idea! :~) I thought it was supposed to be cloudy, and it was in Mauldin! :~) However, Columbia was nice and sunny! So to my embarrassment I have a nice bright burn. Well, it's gone away some now... I've been putting Aloe gel on it everyday, and man does that stuff work! :~)

Jamey and I went to a yard sale the other day and I got some nice tops that I had to wear something on top of them. So Sunday I made myself a little jacket to go with all the tiny strap shirts. I got that pattern cause I thought it was cute and you can always use a cover-up. Jamey's Mom gave me the fabric, so it was basically free... I think I only paid a dollar for that pattern! :~) I'm also working on stuff for my new nephew, but I won't put pictures of those up till I give them to Sarah... Don't want her to get a sneak peek! :~)

We have a fairly busy week ahead... Lot of seminars and gospel meetings to go to. They don't call them revivals in the south cause... They don't need reviving! :~)

I've been doing pretty well with keeping the house up and running. I washed clothes yesterday and have to fold them today. I also have other tiding chores to do, so I'd better go get started so I can finish and do something I REALLY like to do! :~)

An adventure...

Right now I have nothing pressing to do, my dishes are done and the house is tidied up enough that I have stopped obsessing about it! :~) I have a tendency to do that (although trying to do better): obsess about cleaning to the point of being unpleasant to be around... Ask Jamey! :~) However I have noticed that I keep on top of the cleaning a little better now that we're more settled.

Anyway, that isn't really the reason that I wanted to write. I wanted to blog about this place that Jamey took me on Wednesday right after I wrote my 50th blog. He took me to a place out in the middle of nowhere, but it was a fun afternoon. It's called Hollywild. It's a zoo that has a lot of different animals that have been in movies and commercials, also the requisite petting animals. Something that was unexpected was the peacocks that were roaming around. It would have been a forgettable zoo experience except for the safari ride! :~) We boarded this bus that looked like it was about to fall apart, were given an entire box of crackers each and rode into this giant enclosed area. At once there were little dear-like creatures that scrambled for our attention and our crackers. Then we all saw it, the giant cow. This cow (I'm sorry that I didn't take my camera with me) was head and shoulders higher than the buffalo that were right next to it. The cow also came and was delighted with our crackers. They had Scottish high land cows, buffalo and Texas long-horns. When we started to move away we were greeted with the sight of an entire herd of animals sprinting after us! :~) They had zebras and a horse there also... However, Jamey and I were on the wrong side of the bus to feed these animals! :~( While Jamey was trying to see the zebras, I was trying to feed an emu who was less than enthusiastic about my cracker. Apparently Jamey's cracker that he held in between his fingers looked better to him (Note: Jamey is still looking at the zebras) and he bit the cracker out of Jamey's hand! :~) He also managed to get a little of Jamey with that bite! :~) After Jamey's interesting encounter, we were taken back to where we got on and since Jamey and I had already seen the rest of the zoo, we went home. I would love to go back and take my camera! :~)

I made it to 50!

I mean 50 posts. Yep, you're looking at the 50th post I've written since I started in May last year. I have to say I'm quite proud of myself for sticking with it. :~)

Now that March is over, I can breathe just a little sigh of relief. Not that it was a hard month it was just a little stressful. The whole Easter thing, then I planned a party for a couple at church who will be moving sometime this month. I didn't think that I would be able to plan a party, but it turned out really good! :~) I went to Party City with one of my new friends from church and we picked out the balloons, banner and the money tree. I got the balloons and everything else ready for Sunday cause we were having the party as part of the monthly pot luck. When I got to the church on Sunday morning the balloons almost all of them were halfway to the ground. Side note: don't go to Party City to get balloons for future parties. Even with that problem it turned out great! :~)

The Saturday before the pot luck was a young adults get together at one of the couples home. That was a blast! :~) We had finger food (I made ham puffs) and then played a couple of games. We had about 10 people there and we split into two groups so we all could play the games, Jamey's team won both times! :~) Anyway, that was fun. :~)

Yesterday I got to go to Charlotte NC. I drive a church member to see her doctor there. We spent all day in Charlotte and driving. That was fun! :~) Except the part with all the crazy drivers on the road. The drivers here are almost as bad as the drivers in Memphis! However, I enjoy it when I can drive for long periods of time. After we got back to SC we went to a seminar on Christ and Islam (great seminar by the way) where we met with Jamey. So I spent the entire day not at home.

Today it's a little cloudy but warm. It's been about a month since we moved and it seems that it took me that long to adjust to somewhere new. I have been getting better about doing house hold chores and keeping it tidy in the house. The other day I got my clothes changed around to my summer stuff and the temperature isn't quite cooperating! :~) It was a little cold yesterday and today it's only supposed to get up to 67. Well, I need to go and tidy the place up a bit... I was gone the whole day yesterday so there are a few things I need to address! :~)

Happy Easter! :- )

This Easter things were a little more complicated than most of my previous Easters. This Easter I had to cook dinner for Jamey, me and his parents! :~) I enjoyed it though. This was the first holiday dinner I've done all by myself! :~) Yes, I'm thankful nothing exploded either! :~)

Friday I cleaned the house and Jamey got the house finished! :~) I made a double layer chocolate pie and carrot&pineapple salad on Friday night cause Saturday we were gone to GA to visit with Jamey's family.

Saturday I met a lot of people that I can't remember the names of. Jamey's Grandma's sister was there along with his Grandpa's sister. There were a lot of children there as well. One cousin that lives in Greenville was there, and of course what Dickey family get together would be complete without Uncle Jimmy and Uncle Neil! (I've met them before and once you meet them you don't forget them! :~) Jamey had the camera so I'll post pics on my photobucket. Oh, but here's a picture of Grandma, she's with Neil's wife Elizabeth. Finally we have one! :~) We've been down there three times and this is the first picture that I have! After all the people were gone Jamey's parents came home with us. They wanted to see the house and I kinda wanted company for Easter.

Sunday morning I got up at 7. I don't usually get up that early cause Church doesn't start until 10, but I had to get things ready. While I was up preparing things for the day ahead I couldn't help but think about how this is what my Mommy used to do for holidays. :~) I peeled the potatoes (Jamey's Mom cut them) and put together the bean casserole. Then I got breakfast for everyone which included: eggs, bacon, grits and biscuits. When we were about ready to go to church I put the ham in the oven. When we got home it smelled like ham! :~) I glazed the ham and put it back in the oven. Then I cooked and mashed the potatoes, while Jamey's Mom made gravy. We ate at about 1:30. It all turned out really good! :~p His Dad did the lesson Sunday night and after eating a quick ham sandwich supper, they left to go back to GA.

Easter is just another excuse to make a new dress! Here's the pattern for the dress I made, I got it at GoodWill. I decided to make it have a sweetheart neckline instead of the slightly dated high neck. The hemline of the dress comes to just below my knee... You can kinda see it in that picture. I also curled my hair. Everyone at Church thought I looked adorable! :~)

Here's a picture of my two pink pairs of shoes. The pair with the sling back I got at Goodwill for practically nothing and they're Nine West shoes practically new! The other pair was a gift from the ladies at Church. They were filled with encouraging notes. :~)

Today is my Daddy's birthday! I just wanted to let him and the rest of my family know that I love them! :~) Happy Birthday Daddy! :~)

My Parents' Anniversary...

Today is my parents' 30th anniversary. I sent them a card with a little hippo in it, but I want to do one other thing... Kinda dedicate a song to them. I heard this song going back to TN after the try out in SC and I immediately thought of my parents. I couldn't get just the song, I had to get the video with it in order to put it on my blog. So Mommy and Daddy I hope you like it... :~)

I thought this little tid-bit of information about Easter was interesting, enjoy...

Easter this year is: Sunday March 23, 2008 As you may know, Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 20). This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar. Found out a couple of things you might be interested in! Based on the above, Easter can actually be one day earlier (March 22) but that is pretty rare. This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of our lives! And only the most elderly of our population have ever seen it this early (95 years old or above!). And none of us have ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier! Here's the facts: The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!). The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year!

I'm starting to play the guitar... Yes it's pink! :~) And yeah, it hurts my fingers a lot but I've wanted to play guitar for a while now so I can't complain. I have two of the C scales down and the C, D, E, G, and A chords down. I'm still working on the F and B chords. I'll get there eventually, just cause I'm stubborn! :~) I really enjoy playing it and I can't wait till I can do it without having to pause! I also can't wait till my fingers don't hurt!

Me, Hair creme and a Diffuser!

It all started innocently enough... I was watching What Not to Wear and saw how Nick did this lady's hair. I thought "I can do that" so after the show was over I took my shower. Afterwards I got some hair curl creme that I've had forever but haven't used and my diffuser part to my blow dryer and went to work. It didn't take as long as I thought that it would, which was nice. It ended up taking only about half an hour to dry my hair. I think it turned out pretty good! :~) I never thought that my hair would ever want to curl on me... But I'm glad it did, now I have options when it comes to whether I want curl or straight.

On another note, I'm going to start sewing again! :~) I've decided to make myself an Easter dress. I have this pretty, sheer purple flower material that I'll put on top of white fabric and make what I think will be a very pretty short sleeved Easter dress. Also I'll do a few alterations on my short sleeved shirt collection. All of them are like a big box on me so I'll take them in some time this week.

Saturday we hung out with Jamey's friend from high school and his wife. We spent a lot of the day out and about at the mall and at toys r us. They are both big kids what can I say! :~) His wife was nice and I think we had a good time... Anyway that's been what's up with me lately, now I need to go clean up this house from the weekend!

A Dryer, a cat and other random things...

Monday was a real major day for me cause I finally got that dryer fixed. Apparently there was something wrong with the wiring somewhere. According to Jamey our house must have been wired by drunk monkeys... A mind picture that I find incredibly funny every time I think about it! One of the church members has magic hands when it comes to fixing wiring so he came over and did his thing. Tuesday I was a laundry washing mad-woman.

Sunday one of the neighborhood cats decided to pay me a visit. It wasn't as photogenic as I wanted, but it was one of the sweeter cats that I've come across. She was probably not even a year old. If she decides to come back I will give her all the attention that she can handle and of course some milk as well.

Something else I was meaning to put up here but never got around to it is my ring set. We got this wedding band in January but I haven't taken a picture of it till now. It's a little blurry but you get the idea. :~)

Yesterday I had the pleasure of driving a church member to her doctors appointment in Charlotte NC. It's about a 2 hour drive but I love to drive and it was a beautiful day out. I love to be out and about in the nice weather. Too bad it still isn't that warm out yet (at least what I call warm).

It was singing night at church yesterday and I tried out my alto skills... :~} I'm a natural soprano but I like to mix it up a little if I can. I can sometimes pick it up and other times I hope the people in front of me can't hear that well! :~) On some of the songs it's a little easier cause I can remember my Mom singing it. Other times I have to rely on my ability to read music! :~O

Saturday one of Jamey's friends from high school is coming over to visit so I'll be busy cleaning this house! I'll be worn out by the end of it but this place will look halfway decent! :~)