July 2015 - Life

This post brought to you from here :)

It has been a *beautiful* day to sit in the sun. . .read. . .enjoy watching some of the people who have come by. . .a little nap. . .now no one is here except me and someone else a couple of chairs down on my right on his laptop.  Tom came down for a little bit after work but then headed back up to the apartment to watch M*A*S*H with Margaret.  It has been "their" thing these weeks that the others have been out of town.

Frederick is here:

I am sure he is having a great time.  Both of his older siblings are there with him this week. . .Thomas is helping out with grounds work and such since they were low on workers (14-15 yr olds, also known as CIT's -- Counselors-in-Training), and, of course, Marie has been there all summer as a CIT.  This is her last week, to her dismay (there is one more week left this summer). . .she has soccer conditioning for the high school next week in preparation of camp the following week.  I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M TYPING THESE WORDS. . ."in preparation of HS". . .let's look back a bit:

This is one of my oldest digital pictures. . .and one of my *favorites* of Miss Marie.  This picture just captures so much of her little personality -- and she's still this confident in who she is!!!

















And the beginning of her soccer career. . .

Kickoff!

Who would have ever thought, in our brand-new move to Tennessee, that the sport we enrolled the kids in to help them make friends would begin to define who she would become as a teenager?

Here she was a few years later, still keeping up with the boys:

 And, while I was looking through my Facebook photos, here is one from 2014:

(I have wonderful friends with good cameras and great photographic skills who take these pictures and post them for me.)
 

And here she is, this past spring, as runners-up in their last tournament.  She is standing between two of her very best friends on her Cookeville team -- how she will miss playing with them in high school!









What a fun trip through the years. . .

Other things from this past week (courtesy of my phone):
Pre-pool today, Margaret and I went to lunch together. . .her choice was Mellow Mushroom:

The lighting wasn't the best (so bright!) but time with my daughter is priceless and worth remembering in any exposure :)

Sunday night the girls and I stayed in Cookeville for this! The Upper Cumberland United Soccer Club opens the doors of our Performing Arts Center and plays the game on the big screen.  We went for the men's games last year too -- it is sad to me that the turnout for women is a little less then for the men, but a good excuse, regardless, to get together with our community and watch some SOCCER!

What an incredible game -- what an incredible WIN!!!  I think Marie was very happy to have gotten to see this World Cup final game and Carli Lloyd score that hattrick -- a fellow mid-fielder!!











And for some more Marie news. . . she had her wisdom teeth taken out last week -- ALL FOUR!  She is such a trouper.  This has been scheduled since January so no surprise or emergency. . .just something that needed to be done.

Minutes after "coming to"

We like this sign!

I felt weird ordering a sundae at 9 a.m. on a Monday morning!

Relaxing poolside before Daddy got home

She did really well with her recovery. . .and felt well enough on Tuesday to make a trip to Ohio.  We had talked about "maybe" going but wanted to see how the first 24 hours went before making a final decision.  Tuesday morning Marie said, "Mom, I can sit in the car or I can sit here on the couch -- it's no different.  And Nana will feed me lots of jello and ice cream too!"  SOLD!  I had some work I wanted to do for my mom anyway so she, Margaret, Frederick and I loaded up and headed out.  We made it to this corner in Richmond, KY:

I'm standing in the car lot -- the corner I'm referring to is the one across the street.  My van (2014 Sienna) just stopped.  Quit.  Wouldn't budge.  It was beginning to rain. . .the kids and I crossed the street to the Toyota dealership that we had *almost* made it to and a very nice serviceman came over to try to help us.  He couldn't get it started either so he helped me to get it off the road (it was in the right turn lane) and I had to call a tow truck to get it across the street.  That was a week ago and the van is still there.  CRAZY. 

Margaret snapped this for Tom about an hour into our wait. . .who knew we would leave without our vehicle?

 The cruise went out when I was on the highway and I happened to be talking to Tom on the phone.  I mentioned that I thought the van was "acting funny" and he asked where I was.  I was just south of Richmond and he said there was a dealership there and that I should take it in.  We made it to the exit and then the two miles down the road before it completely stopped.  Over three hours later the service department *still* couldn't figure out what was wrong (bad gas was their first (incorrect) thought and through the credit card I had used earlier we were able to pin down where I got the gas and how much).  At 5:45 the totally awesome service department at Toyota South was able to secure a rental car for me so I could continue on to Ohio.  When I left they thought maybe it had something to do with the oil filter or something but needed more time with it. . .we eventually, a day or two later, found out it was a valve spring.  Whew.  With only 28,020 miles on the vehicle it was still under warranty and, as of this writing, is still up there in Richmond.  I cannot say enough about how happy we have been with Toyota the last two years that we have purchased and driven their vehicles -- the service is absolutely outstanding across the board!

Ohio was a quick trip -- I didn't get any pictures of the work I did (my friend Jill came over one day to help) nor pictures of the kids with their grandparents -- boo!  I did, however, get some pics of the model that my mom's new home is based on:

 She is going with darker cabinets and a lighter granite but this is the layout -- I really like how open it is to the dining and living areas!

I wonder how she will like having the sink in the island?  We have looked at several houses like that. . .when the kids were younger and there were *always* sippy cups around the sink I don't think I would have liked it but that shouldn't be a problem for her ;)

The door on the right next to the fridge is the pantry (believe it or not, down here in TN -- or at least the area we are looking -- many kitchens do not have one!!!) and the door next to where my mom is standing is her master (I think).  The ledge hides the stairs going to the basement.  Her fireplace will not be stone, but will be on the corner like that with the television mounted above it.  I really like the openness of it all!!

 I really like the shower layout and all the tile features my sister, brother-in-law and mother picked out.  This is just the model, of course, but gave me an idea of how everything would work together.  The picture on the right shows the WC straight ahead (the shower is at my left elbow), the double vanity to the right (again, dark cabinets -- ebony or something like that) and the open door leads to a walk-in/walk-THROUGH closet -- walks through to the laundry room!!!  I love that feature the MOST. 

I think she'll paint the master bedroom/bathroom a sage green, the main living area a grey hue, and the other rooms more the color on these walls.  She will have another bedroom, bathroom, and office in addition to a sunroom off the greatroom and dining area that this model did not have.  I'm so excited for her and her future in this new home and new city (she is moving to the back of my sister's neighborhood)!

Lastly (for now),

I got this book out of the library then decided it was worth owning.  My copy came today.  I'm very excited to learn more about how food/diet affects our health and energy and mood.  I *know* it does, of course, but how to change what we eat to help us feel better about our bodies.  We need this right now, in this season of life!  The forwards are written by these women's husbands so I consider this a "we" book since those men have so fully embraced their wives research and lifestyle. 

Much love,
Jenni