So long 2010...

It's weird to think that there is only 4 more days of 2010 left..
2010 was a very exciting year for me and Josh. We both graduated from college, Josh got a great job, we bought our first house, we got married, went on a cruise to the Bahamas, we moved almost 4 hours away from everything we were use too, I went to Disney World, etc etc... I would have to 2010 was one of the best years of my life. A lot changed, but it was all for the good.

We had a great first Christmas. We got some awesome gifts! So thank you everyone! I can't believe Christmas is already over.. I don't want to put my decorations up.. I enjoy my Christmas trees. :] I did go shopping on Sunday and got all kinds of goodies for next Christmas. Now I can't wait to be able to use all my new stuff! Our Christmas was spent with family and we had a lot of fun. Here's a picture of us from our first Christmas together..

I do have to brag about one of my Christmas presents.. Josh got me a program for my cricut that allows me to use 100s of fonts. I tried it out this morning and it's great! I have to get the hang of the layout so I don't waste vinyl, but I can't wait to have a real reason to use it. I need birthdays or showers to come up! If you ever want something personalized let me know and I can try to help out with my cricut. I'd love to have a side business doing this kind of stuff.. It's just fun!
Here are some pictures of just some of my creations..

I made this Alabama theme wine glass and matching ornament (the ornament is sitting in the wine glass) for Ms. Bev's friend.

This is a picture of the gift I made for Josh's Dad.. it's to hang on the wall

This is a reusable cup I made for a friend to give to their friend. It's Alabama theme and has their name on it and then roll tide on the top of the cup.


Well I've just discovered that I've only taken pictures on my phone of the other stuff I've done (or I just can't find it on my computer), so I'll try to take some pictures to put on the computer to post on here. I've done the reusable cups, aluminum water bottles, cake carriers, cupcake carriers, reusable bags, decorative plates, and of course ornaments. I've had a lot of fun using my cricut!

Another exciting announcement is that Josh has decided to go to graduate school. He applied to Penn State for their online classes and will begin this Spring semester. I am very proud of him and I know he's excited/nervous to begin classes again! It's going to look great of his resume! Yay Josh!

Merry Christmas!

I apologize for neglecting my blog for over a month, but I have been busy! An update to my last blog is that Delta is doing just fine. You would never know anything was wrong with her. :]

The house is decorated for the holidays! We have two trees much to Josh's dislike.. (cough cough SCROOGE cough!) Our tree in the living room is red and silver. I made several ornaments for it and it looks beautiful! Our second tree is a Disney themed tree. I have been collecting ornaments for about 2 years now.. I don't have that many because Disney ornaments are so expensive, so I normally buy one per trip. I do have some beautiful Jim Shore ornaments given to me from my Aunt Ann, so that added a lot to my tree! One day it will be filled with different ornaments!

The week of Thanksgiving I subbed two days with the 3 year old class and on the third day I woke up very sick. It started with a stomach virus and ended with a cold haha Gotta love the sickly little babies.. So unfortunately my Thanksgiving was spent ill . "/ The sickness did not stop me from going out on Black Friday. I think I bought one thing, but nothing starts the season off better than getting out with all the crazies!

On a sad note.. December 7th I lost my best friend of 12 years, My doggy Sammy. A few months a go he had surgery to remove a hernia from his abdomen and recovered nicely from it. However, we discovered he had another hernia that was too risky to operate on at his age. :[ Sadly he's gone now, but he's in doggy heaven. The day after he went it snowed here in Dothan and I'm convinced Sammy brought it here. :] There will never be another dog like him and I'm glad I had the 12 years with him. We love you Sam!

(By the way I dont like talking about it, so please don't bring it up. Thanks.)

On a much happier note... I just got back from DISNEY WORLD!!!!!!!!!! I went with my best friend Ashlea and her daughter Madison (and the rest of her family). It was AWESOME! I've been to Disney at Christmas time a long time a go, so I had forgotten just how beautiful it really is down there! The weather was wonderful and the lines were so short! Sometimes it felt like we were the only ones in the park! It was great! Much better than the long hot lines in the summer. I do believe I will only go at Christmas time from now on... We had a lot of fun and I can't wait to go back. Of course next time I would like for Josh to join me.. haha he's a little harder to convince.. he doesn't want to go again until we have kids that are 44 inches tall so they can ride all the rides. I don't think I can live without Mickey for that long. haha Here is a picture of us at the Spectacle of Lights in Hollywood Studios..

Upon returning from Disney World I woke up the next morning at 6am with a stomach bug.. It was terrible.. I spent the whole day between the bed and the bathroom. It was pretty bad.. I did find out that Josh needs to work on his "for sickness and in health vow" haha I went to the guest bedroom so I wouldn't pass my germs to Josh and as I lie there feeling like I am dying he walks in the room (4 hours later) and asks if I want to go eat Moes or pizza. Not the most considerate thing to do I must say... lol He did manage to go get me some gatorade to keep me from dehydrating. I'm going to have to teach him how to take care of others. All day long he asked me what food I wanted no matter how much I said I didn't want food. Everytime he said something my stomach lurched... it was terrible. He stayed far away and luckily didn't catch it. I'm not sure what it was, but I know it was probably the worst stomach virus I've had. I'm pretty sure I had a fever too because I was freezing, but sweating. I think I finally broke the fever towards the end of the day. I was able to sleep through the night and woke up the next day feeling really weak, but I did manage to eat at the end of the day. Today I feel much better! I hope I stay well through Christmas and the New Year!

I can't believe it's only 5 days till Christmas! Time is flying by!!!!!! I have all my Christmas shopping done! I have to wrap a few more things and I will be ready for the holidays. We will be heading down to Mobile at some point this week. The discussion is still in the air because I want to leave on Wednesday after Josh gets off of work and Josh wants to leave Thursday after work... so we will see what happens. I basically already have all my Christmas presents.. haha I got Ugg boots from my parents and the iPhone 4 from Josh. I already received these presents because I needed them for Disney! :]

Well I didn't blogged about this before because I was told to keep it a secret, but I am pretty sure a letter has been sent out by now. I am going to be doing another interim position at Houston Academy. This time I will be in the 3P class as the aide. I start on January 3rd and it will last until April 30th. I am very excited and so happy to have a job to go to everyday during this next year. It's been very boring the past couple months of just sitting here at the house. Although I am sure the dogs have enjoyed my company, I need to get out a little bit! So please pray that since I will be there till the end of the year that a position will open up for me there.


Well I don't think there is anything else to blog about... I will try to do better with updating! I'm sure I won't post before Christmas, so to all my readers: MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE PRITCHARDS!!! :]

Delta Update

Delta is doing much better than she was on Sunday.. She was a bit woozy on Monday when she came home and her urine was still pretty bloody. She went back on Tuesday for 2 liters of fluids and her urine changed to a slight red tint. Which was great news! She still had sediment in her urine, but no casts. Casts signal kidney failure so that was more good news. She went back to the vet this morning and had another urinalysis and blood work done and everything was much better. So she doesn't have to go back tomorrow! Yay! I hated having to take her somewhere that she didn't want to go. The 3 vets that worked with her were wonderful! We are so glad they had the knowledge to diagnose her problem as it is very rare. Sadly she is not allowed to be off a leash around unleashed dogs to prevent her from running around. She can't swim around the river anymore. She can only play fetch for small amounts of time and we have to be especially careful in the summer time. Josh is having a hard time accepting all this because she has always been the fastest most active dog. She could beat any dog swimming or running. However, we would much rather have her around than not. We are very thankful she is ok now! It wouldn't be the same without our Delta!

Delta

Just a quick update on Delta:

Josh called the vet and he has diagnosed Delta with rhabdomyolysis. Basically her muscle fibers were breaking down and going into her blood stream. This can cause kidney failure. The vet says her kidneys appear to be functioning as they should because we caught it early. She was extremely active this weekend running around at top speeds chasing balls, frisbees, and the four wheeler. We have always noticed that she will act a little weird after she has been playing hard, but we thought it was muscle cramps. So she will not be allowed to be as active as she was before. No more rough housing with Timber or chasing balls around a lot. It doesn't take much to set the disease off. She is still at the vet receiving pain medication and an IV to get her hydrated again. Thanks for the prayers!

It's been a while..

I haven't blogged in a while. My apologies! I have been busy and if I wasn't busy I just wasn't in the mood to blog. I think you have to want to blog in order for it to be interesting. I have decided to blog now because I am trying to keep my mind off of Delta being at the vet. We noticed yesterday that she was peeing nothing but blood, so I took her straight to the vet this morning. It's very scary because she has lost a lot of blood. The vet was pretty concerned, so I had to leave her for x-rays.

I guess I can go back to Halloween weekend... on Friday we went to the base for a haunted hay ride. Pretty much the scariest thing I've done in my life. They had all the scary characters from movies down a trail in the woods. I was screaming and crying for my life. If you have seen the movie, The Ring, you can understand how scary it is. They had the girl from The Ring in the woods beside her well crawling on the ground. That is where I started crying from pure terror. It was quite an experience. Josh enjoyed laughing at me. In Dothan, they trick or treated on Saturday and we had about 30 kids come to our house. Our first Halloween was successful. We also went to the National Peanut Festival on Sunday and it was a lot of fun. It's huge and they have a lot of good food to choose from, so we ate... a lot. :]

The next weekend my friend, Shannon, came up! We went and saw Steel Magnolia at the peanut festival. It was super cold that night so we froze for about an hour and a half and then decided to find cover and eat boiled peanuts. Steel Magnolia was really good, but it was just too cold to stay out in the open any longer! It was nice to have Shannon up here so I had a buddy to shop with! We shopped till we dropped and relaxed the rest of the weekend.

This weekend we went to the hunting camp. It was great to get a way and go there for a few days. I love being able to ride my four wheeler around. This was Jackson's first trip and he gave me heart failure every 5 minutes because he would run off and end up towards the road. I know he enjoyed himself though. He tried his hardest to keep up with the big dogs. He doesn't let his size stop him! We saw 5 deer on Friday, but Josh didn't get a shot because she was just out of range. I was whispering run to all the deer! There was a baby amongst them, so I am glad Josh didn't get a shot because that is just cruel. You don't know which one is the mommy. We heard something moving around us on Saturday, but they never showed. Maybe next trip! We need some venison for our freezer! We are all out!

I am ready to put my Christmas decorations up! I was going to start today, but I realized I don't have a tree stand. So I will have to wait until I can make it to the store! Boo! I was ready to get the house in holiday spirit as Christmas is my favorite time of year!

I can't think of anything else to blog about because my mind just isn't here. I will update about Delta once I hear about her... prayers please.

Quick!

A quick update:

After 2 and a half months, Josh has finally cracked. The dishwasher can now be used! You may wonder how I accomplished this feat... 2 and a half months of him doing the dishes after dinner is what did him in. Our deal is I cook and he cleans the dishes after! This week he kept waiting later and later to start washing and finally he says "Why don't we just use the dishwasher?" Well sir, that sounds great to me! haha

I attempted to make chicken and dumplings for supper. I think they turned out ok for my first time. Lesson number 1: add more salt to the water. Lesson number 2: Less is always more. You can add more water easier than taking it away. Lesson number 3: Make sure you have all needed supplies before beginning. I had to roll the dough out by hand... Yeah, not so fun. Besides lacking the flavor of salt and pepper, I think they were good because I just added as much as I wanted on my own plate. I try to be lenient with seasonings because Josh is extremely picky about something being over flavored. Plus, I like more salt than I should and he does not. At least now I know what to do for the next time.

I got my vinyl in for my cricut. I named her Carrie. Carrie the Cricut. Carrie and I have been cricuting everything. I've even ordered more vinyl and hopefully I won't need any more for a while. I need a job to afford my habit.

I'm 23 now..

This past weekend we spent it in Mobile for my birthday. I had a miserable week of staying around the house and it was good to get out and go to Mobile. I am dying of boredom waiting around for subbing jobs.. I need a job! Anyways.. Friday, when Josh got home from work we loaded up the car and hit the road to Mobile. We didn't get there till late, so once I got home I opened up my gifts and went to bed. I got the best gift that I really really wanted, a CRICUT!!!! A cricut is a personal electric cutter. You use different cartridges that have different fonts and shapes to cut out on cardstock or vinyl paper. The vinyl paper is sticky and cuts out stickers that you can put on basically anything you want. Once I cricut a few things I will post pictures, so you can see what it does. I will use it to make personalized gifts and for my future classroom. I haven't been able to use it yet because I had to order paper and it still hasn't come in... It's driving me nuts to have a cricut sitting in my house and I still haven't been able to use it! I hope the paper comes soon...
I also received some Disney Christmas items, so I am ready for Christmas to be here!!! I love decorating for Christmas! Saturday was spent shopping, lunch with the family, and dinner with my best friends, Ashlea and Madison. It was a great day! Sunday was spent with the in-laws! Josh's Dad cooked us a delicious lunch of three different kinds of fish! It was great! We had fried ling, speckled trout, and grilled bass! Oh and you can't forget the fried pickles! It was delish! It was a great ending to my birthday weekend. I can't believe I am already 23.. 22 went by fast! I know on October 15, 2009, when I turned 22, I had NO idea that I would be sitting in Dothan Alabama. I was worried about school, the upcoming semester of student teaching, and wedding plans. It's crazy how much can change in a year.

We haven't completed any home improvement projects lately... We really just need to paint the bathrooms. I guess we will get around to that eventually.

I don't think there is anything else to blog about.. so until next time y'all!

Where did fall go?

Last time I blogged about cooler weather... well that cooler weather has disappeared and summer weather is back. Boo! It was 90* today!! The humidity was low, but still I want those cooler temperatures back!

Last weekend, my parents and Sam came to visit! My poor Sammy had surgery to remove a hernia and his manhood and he was super skinny.. he needs me because apparently my Mom is starving him! ;] (kidding) The guys spent the day watching football and the girls spent it shopping! It was great. Then we watched Alabama football roll alllll over those gators! It was wonderful! On Sunday, we tried a new church called Harvest Church and we really enjoyed it!! The atmosphere is really relaxed, the music is contemporary, and the pastor has a great sense of humor. We went there again today and I believe the next Sunday we are there we will fill out a card to join.

Friday was my last day working with the kindergarten class at HA. They had a pizza party for me and the teachers gave me a card with a gift certificate to Nip and Ernies. I really enjoyed my time in that classroom. I put myself on their subbing list so hopefully I will get a lot of calls. Mrs. Coleman said she would spread the word so I hope I will get a few jobs a week. One of the 3P teachers has already asked me to sub for her in November and I know all the preschool teachers and aides will call me, so that's good!

On Saturday, we had Josh's coworkers over.. Justin came for the the whole game and Callean, his wife, and their two girls came for a little while. Allie stayed and hung out with us and then Sarah came for a little while. Unfortunately it wasn't a happy ending and that's all I have to say about the game. Speaking of Josh's coworkers, Justin and Callean found out they are expecting another child! In honor of that I made cupcakes and sent them to work with Josh. They were strawberry flavored with blue and pink sprinkles! I was told everyone enjoyed them.

I have pulled something in my back and have been in a lot of pain since Friday. I don't know how I did it, but I woke up Friday and couldn't move my neck and now it's all the way down to my right shoulder blade. I sneezed this evening and it made the pain so bad I had to send Josh to the store for a muscle relaxer. I hope it gets better now...

As for home improvement, Josh added four shelves on the back wall of our closet so now I had room for all my shoes. It looks good and also adds hanging space! I think that's all we have done for now..

According to Dothan, the most exciting news is that two new Publix's have opened in our area. Apparently that's a huge deal and people even camped out for the grand opening. That seems a bit weird to me... I mean it's just a grocery store... not the premiere of a Twilight movie. Josh and I decided to see what the fuss was on Friday and learned that it's just a bunch of overpriced items. I do have to say they have a huge selection and great organic options, but it's just too expensive for us right now.

Well that's really all I have to blog about now.. this weekend we are coming to Mobile for my birthday! Can't believe I am going to be 23.. Ugh time is just flying by!

Fall is here!

Well, it has been a couple weeks since I posted last because we have been busy! Josh's parents and grandparents came up here two weekends a go and then that Monday Josh had his tonsils removed. It's almost been 2 weeks and he is just now able to go through the day without pain medicine. It was a rough surgery and he did not enjoy having to eat only soft foods. But, he's better now and will have a check up on October 4th. One huge life lesson we learned was insurance pays for nothing. We thought his surgery was one price, but it turns out it is more. My philosophy is that there is nothing we can do now so we move on. Life lesson number 738947298: Check into prices no matter what the hospital says because insurance pays nothing! Josh's grandparents stayed with us till last Wednesday and helped out a lot. I also learned how to make chicken and dumplings, but I am a little scared to try the recipe out by myself... I know they will never be as good as Da's so it is a little intimidating! ;]

After Da and Grandpa left I had a day to get the house ready again for more company! Ashlea and Madison stayed with us Friday - Sunday and it was great to have them! That was the first time for a friend to come up and it was wonderful! It was nice to have a girl friend around to go shopping with at the stores Josh will not go into! ha!

This weekend we were suppose to go to Mobile, however plans changed and now my parents are coming up here. So we will have another busy weekend, but we enjoy it! Hopefully we will be coming into town for my birthday weekend.

House improvements: We added a ceiling fan to our back patio thanks to Josh's parents! Mrs. Bev provided the funds for the fan and Mr. Mike helped Josh install it. We really enjoyed having it, but of course a week later the weather has changed and it's cooler outside. haha Go figure! I still prefer the ceiling fan over the hanging lights that were originally out there.

As I said the weather has changed and Fall is here!!! I love fall.. it's my favorite time of the year. Football, my birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, huntin camp trips, and then Christmas follows quickly. The weather is just wonderful and last night we turned the air way up and opened the windows. We slept that way and it was great. It actually got pretty cold in there and I remember snuggling up under the covers and beside Delta quite a few times. This weather inspires me to get outside and walk, so when I got home from zumba today, I took Jackson and Delta on a walk. Next week, it shows even cooler temps, which really excites me! I am tired of the hot weather and I hope this cool weather is here to stay!

A sad story.. last post I blogged about my beautiful mums... Well those dumb mums decided they didn't want to live anymore. I watered them everyday and they still died one by one. Apparently they couldn't survive the heat, but if they would have just sucked it up a week longer the temperature went down! It makes me mad because I loved the color in my yard and now there's nothing again! And if I try to get new flowers, Josh will just say they will die. Ugh >:[ Stupid mums!!!

I only have one more week left at my job. :[ It went by really fast and I am really going to miss working with the teachers. At first, I didn't think I would enjoy it, but I really do like it there and I will miss it. I'll miss those kids too. I pray I can get some kind of job there.. and I really need substitute jobs because I can't just sit around the house all day. I would go crazy! So please pray that either I can get another job at HA or that I find lots of subbing jobs!

Ok I need to get supper started! We are having tacos tonight! :]

A little update..

We have been busy busy in our daily lives! I believe the last time I blogged was labor day weekend. Since then Josh framed out our bathroom mirrors and they look amazing!!! It made the bathrooms look so much better! Now we just have to change the paint and I will be happy! Yesterday, we painted our entire kitchen in one day. We are pretty proud of ourselves.. we started around noon prepping the kitchen by removing everything and taping off our baseboards, crown molding, and windows. I painted the entire kitchen with two coats of paint and it looks SOOOO good! We just did a tan color to match with the living room and it looks fabulous. Josh finished caulking, while I painted, so the floor is completely done I believe and it looks great.

Last weekend I planted yellow mums in my front garden. I can't remember if I told y'all that, but they are blooming and look great! The color really looks good and more homey! The only problem is it seems to have brought a lot of wasps into our yard.. Josh went out there yesterday and sprayed them, but it didn't really help because they're so many of them. On the bright side, the flowers have also brought in butterflies. I am having a problem with one of the mums though. All of them are doing really well, growing and blooming, except one. It seems to be having some problems and I am hoping it will not die because that will throw off my symmetrical groove. When the sun starts going down I will go out there and try to help it because hopefully the wasps will be gone.

Saturday we watched the Alabama game at Justin and Callean's house in Ozark. (Justin and Josh work together.) They have two little girls named Renae and Allie and they're really cute! Alabama played an awesome game and it was a great win! Our Saturday was dedicated to college football. ;]

Friday, we received our roomba. What is a roomba you may ask? A roomba is a robotic vacuum. You press a button and it goes around your house and vacuums. It's awesome!! We named her Rhonda the roomba. Rhonda was totally worth it because she does a great job. We can schedule her to run at any time and she will start herself. Last night we went to eat at Moe's and turned her on and left. We came back to a vacuumed kitchen, living room, and she was finishing up our bedroom. Rhonda was a wonderful investment and I would definitely recommend the product. They have more expensive ones that will do an entire house, but we didn't feel that was necessary. She vacuums our main rooms so Rhonda is perfect for us.

Also on Friday I noticed some hummingbirds flying around the feeder the previous owners left behind. I have been asking Josh for months to get the feeder down so I could change the nectar. Well he still hadn't by Friday, so I took it upon myself and got the job done. Who needs men? ha ;] I got the ladder out and got the feeder down. I filled it up with fresh nectar and we enjoyed hummingbirds all weekend. We have two pretty consistent feeders. They fight with each other constantly, so you see the birds flying back and worth by our window.

We tried a new place called Nip and Ernies. It is about 2 minutes from our house and it was delicious!!! They're really reasonably priced and we can't wait to go again. We have planned to go on Wednesday because their special is chicken and dumplings! If you come visit us, we will probably take you there. It's really good.

Next Monday, Josh will have surgery to have his tonsils removed. Keep him in your prayers because it will be a tough recovery for him. Pray for the surgery itself, a fast recovery, and no side effects!! Thank you!

This weekend we will be hosting Josh's parents and grandparents and next weekend my best friend, Ashlea, and her daughter, Madison, will be coming to visit. We are excited to have visitors and show off our house. Next thing you know September will be over... time sure does fly!

Well I need to do some chores and fire Rhonda up.. I love not having to swifter. :]

Home Projects

We finished the floor in our bedroom! It looks great! And now it's easier to clean because I can just swifter instead of getting the big vacuum out. I think Delta's hair is falling out in clumps.. It's just not normal to shed so much.. lol Her hair is already ruined my comforter.. It's suppose to be a beige color, but it's turned black from all her hair!

Here is a picture of Josh working on the floor:


Here is a picture of it finished:



We went to Lowe's today and got paint for the kitchen and cabinets. That's our next project. We will start it tomorrow and I know we can get the kitchen repainted in one day, but the cabinets will probably take a little longer. I can't wait to get the kitchen repainted! I am not a fan of the yellow! Next will be our master bathroom. Yay for home projects! They keep us busy! However, they can also be dangerous.. at least if your name is Josh Pritchard. He was carrying around the stuff that goes around you base boards.. I forgot the name.... anyways.. he had it in his mouth (Why? I'm not sure..) He says he forgot it was in his mouth and bent down to measure something. So the wood cut his throat and it was bleeding.. and if you know me, you know I have a weak stomach. So he has stuffed toilet paper down his throat to get the blood and I'm laying on the bed asking if we need to go to the ER... luckily he finally looked at his throat in the mirror and realized that it was actually a small scratch and nothing serious. Thank God! I'm not sure how he does some of the stuff he does.... but leave it to Josh! ;]

I also bought yellow mums to plant out front. They look so good! I wanted some color out there and the blooms should last through November if I am lucky! Although, I don't know if it gets colder up here sooner than Mobile.. guess I will find out. I'll add a picture of those one day.

We had a lot of fun at the Alabama game!! The new stadium is magnificent and we were happy to be apart of the first crowd to watch a game with the new edition! We played San Jose State and beat them 48-3. Roll Tide Roll! ;] It was great to be at the game, but we did not enjoy arriving home at 3am. But I guess it's worth it to see the Tide roll!

I have a job interview at a really nice public school on Tuesday. They have positions open for 1st or 2nd grade. Pray I get one of the jobs if it is God's will. If not, I guess I am just meant to be at Houston Academy for right now.

Well I've got to get supper ready.. we are having a 4 course meal tonight. ;] Gotta get the oven preheated for pizza rolls... ;] haaa

Nothing Much...

I really don't have much to blog about.. however I will share our nightmare dinner story from tonight. I planned to make chicken and yellow rice. (One of Josh's favorites) I started the rice to let it simmer and started preparing everything else. Everything seemed to be going great, the kitchen timer went off and I went to stir the rice. And what do you know.. it's burned on the sides. Ughhh! I was so busy trying to get everything done I didn't notice that it was being overcooked. I even added extra water and it still was overdone. It says to let it simmer 20 minutes, but they are wrong! That rice was soooo nasty. We tried to eat it, but it was crunchy and gross. Lesson learned: Add even more water and check the rice around the 15 minute mark!

This past weekend we went home to Mobile. It was good to be back even though it rained the entire time we were there. (And not a drop in Dothan) It was nice to spend some time with family and friends. I also got my hair chopped off and I love it. It was time for that long mane to go. Everyone at work likes it too. They say I look older.. I guess instead of looking 12, I now look 16. ;]

We are in the process of putting down flooring in our bedroom. (Thank you Da and Grandpa!) So it's a disaster zone in there. Hopefully after tonight Josh will be halfway done. It's hard for him because he's having to move furniture basically by himself because I have no arm strength to help him! I can't wait for it to be done so hopefully my allergies will be better! I know that carpet has to be disgusting after the previous owners had cats and now with Delta shedding so bad. We moved one piece of furniture and her hair was just stacked under it. :-P Sick. I know I've already said once I would upload pictures, but maybe after we get the house back to order and the flooring down I will add some!

This weekend we will be headed to Tuscaloosa for the first football game of the 2010 season! Roll Tide Roll!! We can't wait! Football season is our favorite time of year! We love our Alabama football!

Ok, I think I am going to make a trip to Arbys because we need something for dinner! ha And Josh is wanting my help with the floor! I'll post later when I have more to blog about! Peace, love, and roll tide!

Oh Life...

I finished up my boring week on Friday and headed to the airport to get Josh at 1pm. I walked into the airport and about 200 army men were scattered around the airport... it was a bit overwhelming.. I felt like an outsider because these boys were everywhere! I hate going places by myself and I hate standing around by myself.. and that is exactly what I was having to do.. finally they were called to formation outside and I was left to stand by myself alone. Josh came off the plane looking like a long haired hippie.. He hasn't had a haircut in a month.. it's not pretty. I met all of his bosses and we were outta there! I found out later all those army guys had just come back from Iraq. Pretty cool.

Our weekend was pretty boring... We bought a few things for the house and went to the base to check out the lake. We will definitely be hitting that up soon! It's extremely nice and the closes thing we have to water here. It's just so hot you don't even want to go outside. One negative thing about this weekend... Josh "ruined" my brand new expensive comforter. I decided on Saturday I finally wanted to put it on the bed.. so I ironed the bed-skirt and we changed it all up. Josh decided the bedspread was "too itchy" for him... (he's just being high maintenance) So after church, I go change and come out and Josh has stripped the comforter and put it in the wash. The comforter is dry clean only......... needless to say. It got caught up in the machine and ripped up on one corner. It has holes cut up on one side and the cording is ripped up. I was not happy. Literally ONE day and it was messed up. Luckily it's not completely ruined... but still. One positive thing about this weekend was Josh did all the laundry!!!!!!! It was soooooo nice to not have to deal with it. He did it all..wash, dry, and fold. Bless him. It's the small things that mean so much.

We visited Ridgecrest Baptist on Sunday. It was a nice church.. I am not sure if it's for us though. We are going to visit Harvest Church the next Sunday we are home. I do believe we are coming to Mobile this weekend. And I am super excited about that!

This morning I woke up earlier than I had to so that I could put a pork roast in the crock pot. I followed a new recipe that sounded really good. I came home after work and everything smelled good.. I went about my daily business and around 4pm I decided to check the roast. It was BURNT. Ohhhhhh I was not happy. The sauce was burned to the pot and the roast was basically black. The recipe said for it to cook 8-10 hours on low and that's what I did. I tried to salvage it... there was no saving it. It was tasteless. So that was my first disaster meal. We went to Arby's instead. Better luck next time.. except I won't be trying that recipe again. Oh and Josh was kind enough to wash the crock pot.. he had to chisel the burnt sauce out of it.. literally. It was hard like charcoal.

I bought Delta a new food bowl yesterday. I found it at TJ Maxx (love that place) and it supposedly helps slow down fast eaters. Well it definitely does that. It has a spiral in the middle of it that keeps her from being able to inhale the food. It really makes her frustrated. So I am not sure if she got all worked up from not being able to inhale her food or if it's because we put her on a new food, but about 10 minutes after eating, she threw it all up. And I mean ALL of it. I think she was going to burp and it just come all up because she wasn't acting sickly. Thankfully she puked at 4:57 and Josh came through the door at 5:00. So he got to clean up the huge pile. I just can't handle that. We gave her another scoop later since she lost her meal.. and she's been fine. I am not sure what caused it, but we are gonna keep using that bowl because I'd rather her be frustrated about not eating fast than causing some stomach problem in the future.

That's pretty much the extent of our weekend... It's back to another work week for us!

Another day...

Well I started my new job on Monday! I am enjoying it so far. It's definitely not what I want to do for the rest of my life, but at least I am in a classroom! This school is a whole different breed from what I am use too. These kids are extremely privileged... the tuition is around $9,000 if that gives you an idea of their lifestyles. I am enjoying getting to know people and the kids. You can tell this is a small school and a small town though because EVERYONE knows I am the new girl that is Mrs. Coleman's aide. But I am enjoying the job! Right now I don't believe anyone really knows my last name.. I was introduced at first as Amber Pritchard, but at the parent's meeting I was introduced as Amber Calvert. So it kinda threw me for a loop and of course I didn't say anything because it was awkward in front of a large group. Yesterday I was introduced as Mrs. Calvert to the kids and other teachers. It got to the point when people introduced themselves to me I just said "I'm Amber" lol Today I was being introduced to another lady and she goes "Amber Calvert? I thought it was Amber Pritchard?" Finally!! Someone saved me! I explained that my married name is Pritchard, but I haven't made all the changes to legally be Pritchard YET. So Mrs. Coleman reintroduced me to the kids as Mrs. Pritchard. It didn't matter to them because they didn't even remember I was Mrs. Calvert yet. haha I had explained to my teacher previously that my married name was Pritchard, but she just kept calling me Calvert. Now she has switched to Amber. So this is my name drama.. haha Who knows what I'll end up being called...

The past 3 days have been horribly boring without Josh! I am so glad I have that job to get me out of the house for a little while... Friday can't come soon enough. Of course the days are dragging on though... I can't believe it's only Tuesday. It's just too much sitting here all afternoon and night by myself! I am glad I at least have Jackson and Delta. Today I got to go to zumba with some of the teachers. I am so glad I have a place to zumba again! I have missed it!! Now I can get back in shape.. I have been eating so much junk because I have been so bored. And I am not exaggerating.. I've been eating lots of chips, candy, and pickles. :-P Needless to say my insides have been hurting again.. I know I shouldn't eat pickles, but I really can't help myself. I never should have bought that bag of sour candy.. It just encourages me to eat it all since Josh doesn't even like candy, let alone sour candy!

Since I have been eating so unhealthy I made a salad for lunch today and thawed out some fish to grill. I grilled the fish for dinner and sat down to eat.. the fish was disgusting!! I guess it was bad or I'm not sure. I have grilled the fish many times and it's always been delicious.. but tonight it was nasty. So I threw it out in case it was bad and my supper ended up being french fries.... So much for a healthy dinner. I guess I'll try to heat up something or eat cereal later. I am so ready for Josh to be back so I can cook meals again! I have all kinds of meats in the freezer waiting to be cooked!

Today I have encountered two different bugs. One being a small roach, two being a scary looking spider. I walked out of my back door unto the porch and out of the corner of my eye spied an object. The object being a roach. Needless to say I did my little freak out scream and ran to get the fly swatter. Well.. our fly swatter sucks for a lack of a better word. I hit that bug and it did nothing!!! So I kept hitting it and finally it fell off the screen... and I don't know where it went. I wasn't too happy. Next, I am cooking that nasty fish and I look up and on the back door is a spider. Now it was not a huge spider but it wasn't small either and it was really scary looking! It looked poisonous.. So I ran to get a shoe (one of Josh's of course ha) and then I opened up the door and I just couldn't do it.. It was so scary I just knew it was gonna jump off the door and eat me. So I ran back in the house to get the bug spray... I figured I could spray it and start it's slow torturous death and then smash it with the shoe... In the time it took to run to the cabinet Delta managed to scare it away. I was not happy. I finally found it near the corner of the door and window and opened the door and it disappeared AGAIN!!!!!! I never could find it.. so I am scared to go near the back door! I sprayed the outside with bug spray and I hope it kills that dang spider and roach. Ugh SOOO nasty!!! I hate bugs!!!

Ok a new television show is coming on in a minute so I am going to go watch that.. gotta pass the time somehow!

I. Hate. Ironing.

Well I have found a new household chore that I do not enjoy; Ironing. I just ironed all my dress pants and by the time I finished, I had decided I was never going to wear them just so I wouldn't have to iron them again. Trying to fold them the right way and then you turn it over and there are ironed in wrinkles.. not fun. And on top of the wrinkles that just don't want to go away... you have to stand there (hunched over for me bc I am tall) and get all hot! I remember when I was younger I actually liked ironing and would iron all of my Dad's shirts. Why does the love for chores leave you as you get older??? I am so glad all of Josh's dress shirts are wrinkle free... I would not be a happy wife if I had to iron every week.

Well good news, I got that job I blogged about last post! I met the teacher I'll be working with and she is really nice! I think I will really enjoy working with her. All the teachers in the preschool building are really nice as well as the aides. I think it will be a great experience. I also interviewed at a public elementary school, so I should know by Tuesday if I got that job or not. It's a third grade position. It would be nice to have my own classroom, but I wish I could've had the chance to prepare my own classroom.. so I'll be ok if I don't get the job since I have the Houston Academy job. Whatever God wants will happen, so I am just waiting for Tuesday to go by so I can know what's going on. Tomorrow is my first day at HA. I am excited to meet the kids. They'll be so little. Totally different from my fifth graders.

This weekend my parents came up for a visit and to pick up Sam. They brought up a lot of my stuff and I filled up my huge closet and the spare bedroom closet with clothes. Kinda ridiculous I know, but I love clothes! They also brought the rest of my curtains for my living room. It look so much better now! And my Mom ironed my curtains.. Thank God I didn't have to do that plus the pants! ugh! No thanks. My Dad fixed my internet or rather the router. I could not even use my macbook because the internet was so slow or would not even connect. I am so glad I can use my mac again! Jackson and I were sad to see Sammy leave, but three dogs is a lot to care for and share a bed with. I'll miss having my Sammy around, but I know my parents and Jake will enjoy having him at home. I can't imagine being in a house without a dog! It would be so boring. After they left, Sarah and Will stopped by for a little bit. Sarah is Josh's coworker and her husband is here for R&R from Iraq. It was nice to have some visitors in our house Saturday! Today, I took Josh to the airport to leave for Chicago. Something new I found out about Dothan.. we have an airport! lol Josh left around 9 and will be in Chicago for work till Friday. It's going to be so boring and lonely without him here. Thank God I have Jackson and Delta.

I guess I'll post later about how my job is going.. I need to get stuff ready for in the morning. I have to start getting up early again. Yippee.

Cold Medicine

I am not sure if it just me, but I HATE taking cold medicine. If it's in a pill, it doesn't bother me... But if it's in liquid form.. ugh it makes me quiver to even think of the taste. :-P The reason I am talking about cold medicine is because we've been sick for about 2 weeks. It's no fun! We both have horrible coughs that wake us up at night and sore throats. I thought my throat was getting better, but the past two days it's been really bad. Maybe one day we will get better.. It's no fun being sick. Especially when you have to swallow that nasty nasty cold medicine. Ick.

Well I have good news to share! Today I received a call from Houston Academy, an extremely nice private school here in Dothan. They have an interim position open for an aide in kindergarten. I would be taking the place of the teacher's aide for 8 weeks while she is on maternity leave. It's not my own classroom, but it gives me the opportunity to get into a classroom and that's what I want. I think it will basically be like what I did during candidacy at South Alabama. Except I won't have to worry with homework and assignments. :] I will just be there to help the teacher with whatever she needs. The kindergarten program at this school is only from 8-12 so that's really nice as well. I interview with the headmaster Thursday at 2pm. Prayers are appreciated. :]

This weekend was kind of boring. Josh was really sick on Friday and went to bed at 6:30pm. Saturday we went to Target, TJ Maxx, Walmart and Bed Bath and Beyond and got a lot of things for our house. I think we basically have everything we need besides paint and pictures on the wall. It's slowly getting there. Sunday we drove around town to check out churches. You may think that's weird, but we wanted to get the vibe.. check out what people were wearing and if it was a small or large church. We found two churches we want to try next Sunday, Ridgecrest Baptist Church and Harvest Church. They are both larger churches and that is what we are comfortable with so we will try one next week.

I am about to have a black lab for sale, but shhh don't tell Josh. ;] I am kidding! I could never give up my Delta. But I could shave her bald... I swear I have no idea how her hair gets in the places it does... But yesterday I had to dry mop my house twice with my larger mop and then again with my swifter. And it was STILL picking up hair! That is just ridiculous!! That amount of hair was just from the two day weekend... I have vowed to swifter everyday now.

I guess nothing else has really happened in our life for right now. I will post later and let everyone know about the job!

Finally Friday

Yesterday, I was able to meet Josh and his co-worker, Sarah, for lunch. We went to Goldfingers, which is a really good restaurent that has the most random menu. You can get anything from pizza to chicken to hamburgers to corn nuggets to a grilled cheese. It was nice to get out of the house and socialize. I spent the morning writing thank you notes. Which by the way, I already have a blister. Every time I think I am close to being done, I find another list.

For supper last night we had tacos. I made beef and chicken tacos... I only made chicken tacos because we have SO much chicken that needs to be used before it goes bad. Tonight we are going to have chicken quesadillas because of that fact. We are also going to use our new ice cream maker.. I am pretty excited about that! In fact, I was going to cheat and go ahead and make it while Josh is at work..... However, We didn't have any sugar. So that was a fail. lol I need to figure out a menu for next week because it's time to go back to the store. The week kinda flew by.. it was boring at times, but it still seemed to go by fast. Back to last night, after dinner we decided to go to the mall and look around. Good news! The mall is super nice!! Now, for all you Mobilians... we know it's not hard for a mall to be better than mobile's mall.. but the Wiregrass Commons is sooooo much better! We walked around the whole mall, but really only looked at Kirklands. It's funny how I am now only concerned about things for the house.. instead of clothes for me. I found a beautiful table, mirror, and sconce set I want SO SO bad for the foyer. It would look amazing and it was on sale. I hope we get it.. It's beautiful. After the mall, we went to Target to return some things. We also bought a few things. Once we get the house in order I will take some pictures to post on here. Anywho... back at home the kitchen still needed to be cleaned up. I asked Josh to take care of the oil from making the taco shells. Well.. he ended up splashing it all over the floor and his pants. We both just stood there... and then the questioning began.. what cuts oil!? We didn't know. Josh just sprayed the kitchen cleaner on the floor and walked off to take care of his shorts. What I didn't know was that he didn't wipe the cleaner up....... so as I finish washing dishes I turn to walk and slip on the oil/kitchen cleaner.. luckily my hands caught the counter before my face did.................... So there is our first little mishap. lol

Well it is finally Friday and I am not too sure about our plans for this weekend. We talked about going to Panama City or the water park here in Dothan. It depends on the weather. We have been having a lot of showers the past few days. And one is approaching now... I also want to see Charlie St. Cloud, but when I looked at the theater here it didn't show it being played... "/ So we will see. We also need to do some stuff around the house. I am so ready to start painting! My kitchen and bathrooms will be first on the list. Ok, I really need to do some stuff around the house. Peace out :]

Tuesday the Third of August

What's new in our lives? Well we are both sick. I have a horrible cough that wakes me (and Josh) up in the middle of the night. Josh has a cold.. it's kinda of a weird cold. He has a cough, sore throat, and his eye is sick. Now, you may say "his eye is sick?? What!?" This is a term I use when the eye is swollen, red, itchy, closes shut in the morning, and constantly has junk in the corner. And Josh has all of the above and I really hope he doesn't share it with me. Tomorrow I will be going to the store for some cough syrup and eye drops. We don't really have any congestion.. it's weird. Hopefully it will pass soon. It's no fun being sick. I'd like to sleep through the night without coughing my lungs out and I am sure Josh would like to sleep through the night without having to ask if I am okay every night! ;]

Yesterday I made fish tacos. I thought they were really good. Josh, not so much. I just love fish so that may be why. Today I cooked a pork roast all day in my crock pot. It was good, but we had a lot of leftovers. Note to self: buy a smaller roast next time. Tomorrow we are going to have grilled chicken. I am enjoying cooking. I don't enjoy the clean up process, but it's fun cooking it all.

Today I grilled a piece of tilapia for lunch. It was sooooo good. However, I burned the fire out of my hand. I used my new George Foreman grill and I didn't realize there was a hot plate on the front of the grill, so I went to move it and burned myself. I have a scar about 2 inches long on my thumb. "/ Note to self: Just don't touch hot objects.

Nothing too interesting has happened. I finally got the living room and kitchen cleaned up. I put all my clothes, shoes, and purses away. Tomorrow I have to take our marriage license downtown. I need to clean our room and the bathrooms. Lots to do and it's late, so I will say goodnight! :]

I. Hate. Laundry.

Hello There!
I have decided to start a blog in order to keep everyone up to date on mine and Josh's new life together. Since we moved away from our friends and family, I believe the easiest way for everyone to stay up to date is through this blog. I think it will turn into a funny "book" about our lives.

Now, to address the title.. I hate laundry. Let me explain.. we just returned from a week long vacation.. and I (of course) over packed.. therefore resulting in many loads of laundry. The reason I believe laundry is annoying is because of the time it takes!! You have to wait for the clothes to wash and then for them to dry.. if you don't get to the dryer while the clothes are still hot than they wrinkle.. resulting in waiting again for them to get hot enough to fold. My patience just does not enjoy spending my day waiting for clothes.. and on top of everything I am now responsible for washing Josh's clothes. Yay for the married life! ;] Now, please let me warn you.. I am very very sarcastic. Therefore, most of the time the things I write about will be in a sarcastic tone. Do I really "hate" laundry? No, of course not. This whole section of my blog is written in sarcasm. Do I enjoy laundry? No way! I really would rather do something else during the day, but I realize it is something that has to be done.

I moved the majority of my belongings to our house today. Which means our house is a disaster zone. There is stuff everywhere.. and the clutter is eating at my nerves! I am ready to wake up tomorrow and get it all organized! I just can't even think about where everything needs to go and all the new stuff that needs to be washed and put away.

I do believe we may already be the "old married couple". Josh went to bed at 7pm. It's been quite boring.. but kind of nice to have some quiet time. I am use to having my own personal space.. after a week I was dying for some alone time. I realize I have a lot to get use to with this marriage. I love him to death, but sometimes you just need "me time". I am cuddled up in bed with Jackson, Delta, and Sammy. Josh fell asleep on the couch and I am about to go wake him up to get in bed, but I just don't know where he will fit! haha I wish I had a picture. Jackson is right by my side, Delta is stretched across Josh's side, and Sam is stretched across the foot of the bed. It's cute. :]

Tomorrow I am going to attempt to cook fish tacos... new recipe courtesy of Sarah Conners. I'll let you know how that goes.. for now I am going to say goodnight. :]