Life Together

Christmas 2011

2011-12-16T17:27:00.002-05:00

This is the debut of our new christmas tree. It is quite an upgrade over our old 4ft tree (pictures of that tree are on this blog from 2 0r 3 christmases ago). We now have reached the point in our lives where he have a grown up tree. Now, the only thing missing is some presents below the tree!

The final act of a grad school student

2011-10-30T02:36:00.002-04:00

Knowing that we would be living on one income last year, I decided to take out loans to pay for grad school. I never had intentions of paying interest on the loans, so the plan included saving up to pay off the loan before the grace period ended. I got a job earlier than I thought I would, but it was at that time that Keith started school, too. So, we were still on one income. Both of us worked this summer, and the bank account started moving in the positive direction again.

The grace period on my loan ends this coming week, so I called to pay off the loan a few days ago. I realized today that my final act as a graduate student was not writing a paper, receiving a degree in the mail, or getting a job. Paying off the loan is the last thing I had left to do to finally close the books on graduate school. With some planning, I am glad to say that we figured out how to do that without paying interest.

Congratulations are in order

2011-08-09T21:30:00.002-04:00

It's official! Jay earned an Associate degree in Physical Therapy Assisting.

Without a doubt, Jay's program was more rigorous than my master's degree. Several times, I called him to hear his stories so I could feel better about my own micro-crises.

Jay has always been smarter than me, and getting into this field is only proof that he still is smarter than me!

Jay, we are proud of you!

It's almost time for school again

2011-07-26T13:16:00.002-04:00

Jennifer just got home from teaching GHP for a month this summer. It's the best summer out of the four that she's had down there.

Keith is very close to wrapping up his summer semester with grad school, and he's figured out that school in the summer is just not right! His grades have been excellent, but he's looking forward to shorter class meetings and more time to get assignments done.

Jennifer finally got her paperwork saying she's a fully certified teacher (with all of the dollars that come with it!). Since the paperwork came through in early May, the last few days of last school year are paid at the higher rate. In eight years of teaching, this is the highest annual salary she's seen. That's what the master's degree was all about, right?!

Keith has been working in landscape a few days each week this summer, and he'll continue with it until his internship starts this fall. He likes staying busy when he can't get away from home to travel.

Once the semester starts, Keith will be taking three classes this fall. This is the hump semester--he'll be more than halfway through his program once this semester is done.

So, in short, we're busy but making progress toward our new life together. We're looking forward to some short getaways this fall, but there's nothing major on the calendar yet until we know what our school schedules look like.

Keith is done with his semester now, too!

2011-04-30T12:34:00.001-04:00

He just submitted his last assignment! I'm so proud of my husband for his good work this first semester of grad school. He brought his hard-working attitude with him, and it shows!

I'm done

2011-04-19T09:43:00.001-04:00

I submitted my last assignment for my masters degree last night.

Now I can get on with my spring break!

Keith's new dish

2011-04-08T19:58:00.000-04:00

We were at Panera Bread a couple of weeks ago, and Jennifer saw a picture of a cheesesteak sandwich that was new on the menu. A few days later, Keith was inspired to buy the ingredients for his own rendition of a philly cheesesteak sandwich. It was such a success that we did it again the next week. We had to show you our over-sized but delicious sandwiches!

Washington Park - Two Years Later

2011-04-05T19:54:00.003-04:00

We took our own pictures at Washington Park today. One of us set up the shot while the other served as a target. Then, we learned how to make our camera take pictures on time delay, and we got these. We had a great time remembering all of our guests at the park in 2009.

Happy Anniversary to us!

2011-04-04T22:10:00.003-04:00

We're happy to be celebrating two years of marriage today! We went to dinner tonight, but we've been talking about our anniversary for a few days now. We're hoping to visit Washington Park tomorrow if the weather cooperates.

Is it right that two years moves us from newlyweds to an "old married couple"?! We sure have enjoyed our first two years!

Landscape improvement project

2011-03-05T14:05:00.012-05:00

On Thursday Keith decided to tackle a wild section of our yard. This little trail is overgrown and muddy when it rains so he decided to make it look it a little more inviting. It took most of the day to get as far as the gate. When the weather improves he will finish the small section in the backyard side of the fence.

Before.

After.

Everglades National Park has alligators!

2011-01-11T11:34:00.003-05:00

On our way across Florida from cruising to camping, we made a stop at Everglades National Park to ride bikes out to the observation tower. The ride is 15 miles round trip, and we started counting alligators after mile three. We counted over 100 alligators in all, and this picture is the one we came closest to (although some of them were only a few feet further away from the path!).

Keith took Jennifer's picture as she rode first.

Thank goodness she didn't get a flat tire!

As Keith rode by the same alligator, he had the presence of mind to steer and snap a close-up of the gator!

Our last four weeks, in summary

2011-01-11T11:17:00.002-05:00

We were reminded yesterday that we haven't given an update here of everything we've been up to, so here's our attempt to give "the rest of the story."

Immediately after Jennifer got done teaching in December, we went on a short cruise that we found at a great price. We enjoyed wearing shorts in Miami, Key West, and Cozumel. In fact, we were downright HOT in Cozumel as we walked to the beach. Keith picked up a cold on the cruise that would stay with him for more than a week.

After the cruise, we camped near Naples for two nights. The lows got down to 51 degrees, but the daytime highs were nice. Keith was too sick to do much, but we were glad to have access to good cold medicines, which we didn't have on our ship.

On the night we got home, Jennifer started showing the symptoms of the cold. We left 36 hours later for Birmingham. We were glad to be with Keith's family on Christmas Eve and then Jennifer's family on Christmas Day.

A few days later, on our way home, we stopped by Lynne's new house to visit for a few hours. It was great to see her and her dog, Charmer.

Keith was mostly well by now, but Jennifer was miserable. We bought more medicine and tissues, and we tried to enjoy the rest of our break.

Jennifer was still sick, but not as bad, when she went back to school on Jan 4. Students came back the next day. Keith made a trip to Alexander City to help his dad with some work outside in excellent weather. After three school days, Jennifer was the lead chaperone for a group of 50 students and 10 adults to a robotics competition in Atlanta. Since it was an all-Saturday affair, Jennifer lost a chunk of her weekend.

On Sunday, Jennifer got a call that school was canceled the next day for weather. On Monday, Jennifer got another call that school was canceled for Tuesday.

Monday was the first day that neither of us took medicine since December 18. It was also the day that we set aside to watch Auburn play their last football game of the season, and we hoped they would be crowned national champions.

Our power went out in the first quarter of the game, and we "watched" the computer screen for play-by-play updates for the next three hours. When the computer battery died with two minutes left on the clock, we went to the car to listen to the radio announcers tell us that Auburn won the game at the buzzer!

Keith's first night of class in canceled, so we're enjoying our last night of tv watching together during the week for a while. Keith will have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Jennifer will have class on Wednesdays. It will be a busy semester with lots of changes and adjustments, but we're ready to see these days come.

We've done a lot since we last posted on our blog, eh?!

Twelve days before Christmas

2010-12-15T00:35:00.002-05:00

I've survived twelve days in my new job, and now we're on a break for three weeks. It sure would be nice if after Christmas was better than before Christmas in my classes. (I'll avoid the temptation to turn this into a blog about what's wrong with today's teenagers....)

We're looking forward to the days when the cold weather gets a little more mild. Leaving early in the morning for work means a bitter cold start to each day. I'm excited about sleeping in for several days, too. It was nice to do that when I was in class each evening.

Keith has been home when I've gotten done with work each day this week, and I look forward to hearing about his daily adventures. He's been supportive as I've navigated being "the new teacher," and I'm looking forward to spending time together over the next few weeks. The spring semester will be here soon, but not before we get to watch some movies, visit our families, and maybe even ride our bikes!

Merry Christmas to all!

Whew!

2010-12-07T19:41:00.002-05:00

I've been at my new job for seven working days now, and the pace is demanding. I have four courses to prepare for, and the daily schedule will change dramatically for the next five school days to allow for standardized testing. Just when I was finding a routine, it will change.

At home, the routine is still unclear to me. My mornings come really early, and I don't know when I'll be getting home on a regular basis.

Keith and I have been thinking about our plans for Christmas, and we're looking forward to seeing our families.

I'm still celebrating my birthday. On Saturday, my mom came to see us for the day. Keith made a great lunch and his special brownies. On Sunday, Keith did some paperwork tasks for me, which was a great gift! Yesterday, we went out to dinner, and lots of folks called and sang to me. On Friday, we're having dinner with PO and MO. It's a great week of special activities.

This break-neck pace is demanding but productive! The best news for me is that all my fall classes are done, and I'm just waiting on grades to be published.

Two classes complete--just in time!

2010-11-19T16:38:00.004-05:00

I start teaching in ten days, and I've got two of my five classes from this semester completely done. The list is short for completing the other three courses, but I can't accelerate the calendar any faster for those assignments. I've got two presentations and two tests.

I met my new department chair on Tuesday, and we talked about my classes. I got teacher's editions of books, decided where we'll start each class on Monday, the 29th, and set goals for what each class will learn before Christmas. It's going to be a crazy time!

Happy Thanksgiving to all! I'm thankful for all the people who have worked to make this semester more manageable for me, most of all Keith and my mom. They have offered to help me with a lot of things, and the offers have made so much difference in my sanity. My brother has also been awesome to talk to as he works through his classes, too. We've commiserated together and celebrated together, and it's been good to share the journey with him.

I'm also thankful for a paying job. I'm going to teach math, and Keith has decided to teach special education. With those choices, we hope to always have jobs when we want them. I get to get paid for my student teaching, and Keith gets to go to school this spring. We're quite happy with our upcoming arrangement!

Six months out of work

2010-11-10T04:09:00.003-05:00

By the end of this month, I will be employed full-time again. My job actually starts before my classes are over, so I'm accelerating my school work in the next few weeks to be able to finish my assignments by Thanksgiving. I'll be working during the day and going to class at night for a few days, which will be quite busy. But, being with my new students sooner is better for them and for me.

With my new employment in a public school system, I'll limit my comments on our personal blog about my work. The personal impact of full-time employment is great--steady salary, a full package of benefits, and no more job hunting. I've been visiting classes in various schools since August, but I've started looking more carefully at the curriculum for the classes I'll be teaching. It's a variety of levels of math, which will keep me on my toes.

Since I'm still finishing up the MAT program, I'll have class one night a week in the spring. I'll also satisfy my student teaching requirements with my new job. Add in a complete portfolio, and I'll be graduating in May. That will convert my temporary teaching certificate to a more common status.

Things are looking great!

But, who's counting?

2010-11-03T08:09:00.003-04:00

I have a few optional classes during the week before Thanksgiving, which leaves me with 14 more classes to attend this semester! The projects are still piled up, but there's only one way to take care of that: finish them! I'm going to work on some of them this week.

Also good news: I have an interview this Friday with a school that might have a math teacher opening coming up. It's not posted publicly yet, but there is a ton of turnover right now in our county. Even if the school I'm meeting with on Friday doesn't have an opening, maybe another school will. I have decided, though, that not having a job is not the end of the world because I'll teach far fewer weeks as "only" a student teacher. The advantage with a job, of course, is that I could make some money.

In order to make my file more appealing to principals, I moved my availability date up from Jan 1 to Dec 6. That sounds like a month earlier, but it's really seven school days difference because of Christmas break.

So, pardon my absence as I try to finish up projects and get a job. When I can, I'll keep this site updated with my status.

21 classes left for the semester

2010-10-24T23:16:00.003-04:00

All of the work left to do is written on a single piece of paper, and I'm marking it off as I finish it. Some assignments are small, but lots are large since they're final projects.

I start my last field placement tomorrow in a high school teacher's class. She teaches three different levels of math, so I'll get a lot of variety in the day.

a quick trip across the state

2010-10-17T19:57:00.002-04:00

After more than 18 months, we finally got back to Jekyll Island this weekend, and we had a great time! We rode our bikes all over the island, and we've even developed a list of places we will regularly visit when we go back. We saw Driftwood Beach again, we went to dinner at Blackbeard's and Latitude 31, and we played mini-golf. We spent more time on the beach than we did on our honeymoon, and we also got up early enough one morning to see the sunrise! (It's the first time in all the time we've known each other that we've managed to see the sunrise together, but we have our loud neighbors to thank for waking us up in time this morning!)

Our legs are tired from the biking that we did--we think it was about 25 miles from Friday to Sunday. We had a lot of wind yesterday, but all three days were beautiful.

Before we came home today, we went north a little ways to St Simon's Island. Jennifer took Keith to Epworth by the Sea, where her family visited several times when Jennifer and Jay were children. While we were there, the prayer tower played a couple of songs while we were sitting only a few feet away from the tower. Later, we went into the "village" on St Simon's and ate at a local cafe. We rode our bikes to the beach, walked out to our own private island (some people call them sandbars), and rode back to the car. We decided to save a visit to the lighthouse for our next trip to St Simon's because we're pretty sure we'll get back there again.

The days are flying by!

2010-10-06T09:55:00.002-04:00

I like to stay ahead in my classes just a little bit. With each class meeting once a week, that's usually manageable. I like doing it that way in case something comes up and I can't get to the next assignment immediately.

With Keith's birthday two weeks ago, we got to do some low-key but fun things. My mom came to visit, we had dinner with MO and PO, and Keith talked with his parents by phone. It was a good weekend, but not a lot of fanfare (just the way he likes it!).

It rained and rained and rained and rained overnight, so Keith didn't work the next day. My schedule pressed on, though. Normally, I visit schools two days a week, but there were some things going on that caused me to visit three days that week. I also had some part-time work on another day, so I was quite busy with classes, school visits, and work last week! Keith worked on Friday (since Monday was rained out), and I did some research for a paper. I told Keith that I needed to do something fun over the weekend and not think about education.

PO asked me to help him build bookshelves in his office, and that consumed all day Saturday (but it was definitely different from thinking about education!). Keith joined us to help all day Sunday, and we finished about a third of the project. It's required some geometry calculations, and they're turning out great so far! But, that consumed the weekend, and I was glad I'd already done my assignments for Monday and Tuesday night classes.

I visited schools and taught classes on Monday and Tuesday, and today is the first chance I've had to study since last Thursday. But, I'm blogging instead of reading for classes! :)

At the end of this week, I'll be halfway through this semester, and it's wearing me out. I've come home from class with a headache every day this week, but I'm hoping a little slower schedule over the next two weeks will help me get some energy to finish the semester.

There will be more bookshelf work this weekend, which I'm looking forward to.

Two more months for this semester!

check out my video

2010-09-19T17:53:00.005-04:00

I decided to try uploading the video again, and I got better results. We'll see if this works. It might be too small to see all the details in each frame, but you can still get the idea. Turn on your speakers, or it won't make any sense at all!

If you're a calculus teacher and want the file, I'd be glad to send it to you. The normal size is full screen.

weekend visit with a friend

2010-09-19T14:23:00.000-04:00

Melissa called to find out what our weekend schedule was because she was planning to come to Macon. Turns out, she got to stay with us, and all three of us had a great time together. We stayed up late, watched football, laughed a lot, and agreed that we need to do more together.

All three of us got practical things done over the weekend, too.

We were really glad that we planned to be home all weekend already because we enjoyed Melissa's visit a lot!

my experiment failed

2010-09-18T18:03:00.002-04:00

I've got a video that I made for my technology class, and I really wanted to post it here for you all to see. If there are experts out there, I'd be glad for you to leave help in the comments.

I made the video in PhotoStory 3 and created a Windows Media file as the final product. It's about 5 minutes long, and the file size is about 20 MB. Blogspot says it will take videos as large as 100MB. When I click the "Add video" button at the top of my text editor, the window opens and says "service unavailable" where it wants me to choose the file. Ideas?

Four weeks down

2010-09-09T12:09:00.000-04:00

By tonight, I'll be four weeks into the semester, which means I've completed one field placement. I spent two days a week for three weeks in a middle school in our area, and I loved it! (For all of the nay-sayers who thought middle school wasn't for me, I think you might be wrong.) In my next placement, which starts in two weeks, the freshmen are separated from the rest of the high school, and I'll be visiting with the freshman crowd for four weeks.

Because of Labor Day this week, our Monday class was canceled. Then, the teacher of our Tuesday class doesn't want us to get ahead of the Monday class, so Tuesday class was canceled. When our Wednesday teacher was making our syllabus, she was originally scheduled for Monday nights, but she forgot to add back in this week when her night was changed to Wednesdays. So, our Wednesday class was canceled as well. This week, our only class meeting will be Thursday. There's no field placement next week, so I'll have all day every day to get some work done. Here's hoping for a chance to get ahead, work on some projects, and reduce the stress going into the next placement experience.

Recently, I've been working on some job applications, hoping to get a paying job starting in January. I sent an email to check on the status of my application and make sure they've received all of the documents that I sent (they haven't, so I'm glad I asked), and the HR person who wrote me back said she would forward my file on to some principals for their review. I didn't even ask for that, so I was pretty happy to find out that she thinks my application is worth considering.

Keith and I were both sick last weekend, but yesterday was a good day for both of us. We don't have major weekend plans, so maybe we'll both start next week feeling much better than we did this week.

With four weeks of this semester completed, I have less than three months before my current courses are complete. I think I can manage that.

We've been discovering new adventures

2010-08-29T18:47:00.002-04:00

Last weekend, we went to Lake Tobesofkee to check out the beach there. When we came in, we decided to go to the beach that was right next to the pavilion where our pre-wedding dinner was held last year. It was a nice, quiet time with a little bit of sun and shade under the trees. Jennifer wasn't too crazy about the muddy bottom in the water, but it sure was close to home.

This weekend, we decided to investigate the pool at High Falls State Park, which is about 30 miles north of Macon. The pool was big, and we didn't feel too crowded even with lots of people there. It was mostly cloudy, but there was a brief period of bright sun coming through. Keith wished we had some shade around the pool so we weren't always out in the sun, but he did enjoy seeing the waterfalls at the park after we were done in the pool.

While we were in Jackson, GA, we saw a water park on the way to High Falls. On our way home, we drove up to check it out. There's a pool and a couple of water slides, and the price is not bad at all.

Today, we got to see the Braves with free Home Depot tickets. The Marlins scored three runs before the first out. The Braves scored a run in the bottom of the first inning. With a losing score of 6-1 at the end of seven innings, we were convinced that the game was a loss. Then, the Braves found a way to score three runs in the eighth. Matt Diaz hit a 2-run homer in the ninth to tie it up. Then, Brian McCann got a long hit that the umpires had to review to decide if it was a homerun. When they saw the replay, they sent him around the bases with a walk-off homerun, and the Braves had come back from a 6-1 score to win the game 7-6. We talked about that drama most of the way home.

We're enjoying our water adventures and baseball, and we're looking forward to some more water next weekend at the river.

One week down

2010-08-21T11:18:00.003-04:00

I've spent the past week learning what my life will be like until December.

First, the good news is that I'll be done with the semester before my birthday, and that's never happened before. Maybe I'll have a countdown on here to the last class of the semester. I'm already looking forward to it.

On Monday nights, I go to my Reading class at 5pm. The class is based on the assumption that students will be reading in every discipline and that they need to be taught how to read the texts that are specific to each course. Already, I know that when students struggle in math, it is usually with the directions on tests and quizzes or with word problems. If someone sets up the problems for them, then they can do the math. So, I'm hoping to learn how to teach them reading skills so they don't get in the way of doing the math.

On Tuesday nights, I go to my Technology class at 5pm. The class starts with the assumption that educating students is changing with the technological advances we are seeing in the 21st century, and teachers need to use what's available and already understood by students to make the learning environment more accessible and student-friendly. Some of our classes will be online (we won't have to go to campus). There's no book for this class, so it will all come from our teacher and the articles that she gives us to read.

On Wednesday nights, I have a class about special education, which also starts at 5pm. I like this teacher best so far. She started the class with a list of acronyms and asked us to write what they mean. I bet there were 30 items on the list, and I know that wasn't all of them. The class is the most traditional format with tests and two papers. So far, she hasn't even set up an online page for the class. We'll learn what the law is about students with special educational needs, and we'll see how those laws actually work in the classroom. Our teacher is part time at our school because she's a special ed teacher for kids during the day. I think her experience will keep the course very practical.

On Thursday nights, my class in about culture and diversity, and it starts at 5pm, too. We started by looking at pictures of several students and writing our predictions about their race and personality. Then we heard their self-descriptions and got to see how close we were to the real thing. I suppose we were supposed to learn not to judge a student by appearance.

All of my classes are done by 7:45, so I'm usually home by 8:00. Keith and I watch some baseball, I eat dinner, we talk about our day, and then it's time to get some sleep.

The last class I'm taking doesn't have much of a consistent meeting time, but it is already causing the most drama for all of the students. Since we're going to be teaching, we will be seeing "a day in the life" of several teachers this semester. We're going to local middle schools and high schools to see how they work. We'll be doing some lesson planning and teaching short lessons when our host teachers allow it, and we'll also see what students are like in the schools. I will be in schools on Mondays and Tuesdays each week from 7:45 to 3:45. The county I chose to do my Field Experience in is Monroe County, which is just north of us. When I rode my bike long distances last summer, I rode to the high school in Monroe County before I turned around and came home. The county is relatively small, so there aren't many schools there. My first placement is at a middle school (so I can see that first and decide if I like the age group in comparison to the high school kids I've worked with for the last seven years), and I'll be there for three weeks.

During the week, I stumbled upon information about a Ph.D. program for teachers at Mercer, and Keith and I are talking about whether that's a good next step for me.

So, let's all count down together....my last class appears to be on December 2. I know I'll learn a lot before then, but I hope I don't go crazy in the process!

Puzzle update

2010-08-14T11:16:00.003-04:00

Two years ago today, we got engaged. We've come a long way since then, including lots of projects in our house. Keith has always wanted some kind of artwork on the wall, and now we have it--assembled by our own hands.

It's hard to get a good picture up close, but you can still see the puzzle pieces around the reflection of the flash.

Thanks to Ginger for her expertise and advice on how to glue the puzzle together and ideas about where to look for frames. Since it's hard to tell in the pictures, the frame is 27" x 40". Those 2000 pieces took us nearly two weeks to get together, and that's with Jennifer on summer break!

We love our new artwork, and we're already thinking about what will be next!

Some fun and two projects

2010-08-07T01:12:00.004-04:00

Last weekend, I was "not in Kansas anymore." We went to see our first American League baseball game, and it was insane. We watched the Tampa Bay Rays play the New York Yankees (Alex Rodriguez was eligible for his 600th homerun that night, but it came later). The game was literally sold out, the fans were behaving like northern folks not like the polite southerners that we're used to, the teams were excellent, and the parking was outrageous but cheap for us. As we walked up to the stadium, we passed several outdoor bars where people were already celebrating (or something). Once we got to the stadium, we walked inside and saw what looked more like a basketball arena. I decided that the air conditioned dome would work for me any time. Since we didn't care so much who won the game, we could watch the great teams of the American League East battle for first place in their division. And, battle they did! So did the fans around us--with each other. We managed to stay out of most of the drama, but we sure did get our money's worth for our tickets since a sideshow came with the price! Before we left town on Sunday, we went to Clearwater Beach, which was excellent! That alone makes me want to go back. Since it's close, I think we might get to do it next year. Also before we left, we stopped at Target to look for a puzzle that we've been trying to find. It was there.

Our puzzle was inspired (okay, copied) from our friend, Ginger. She has a framed copy of DaVinci's "The Last Supper" on her wall, and we were really impressed with it each time we've been to her house. The 2000 pieces take up a ton of space, so we've allocated our dining room table plus a card table to the project. We've made a lot of progress, and we'll figure out how to hang it up in our house after we're done assembling it. The disintegration of the art is shown in the puzzle, so most of the features are speckled. That's making it tough for us so far, but we're having fun with it even if we do have to find other places in our house to eat!

Keith went to do some yard work for friends today, so I decided to tackle a drip in my bathtub. It's not too bad, but it's been there a while, and I had some time and energy to work on it today. I've replaced washers in bathtub faucets before, so I had an idea of what I was getting into. We didn't have replacement washers at our house (but we did have all the necessary tools), so I made a quick run to Lowe's. I always say that a successful repair project is one that takes only one trip to Lowe's. After I installed the new washer, I put all of the pieces back together, but the handle wasn't working. Turns out, prying it loose broke the ever so slight connection that allowed the handle to open the water flow. The connection should be better, but the parts are old and just finally wore out. So, back to Lowe's I go for a new handle. None of the modern handles fit right, so I got a universal fit model. The handle fit fine, but it would sink down into the flange like the old one had to. Now, I need new flanges, but nothing is short enough to work with our current parts. I'm ready to concede that we can replace all of the parts to get things that work together, and the salesman explains that it will be almost impossible to get something that will fit the plumbing in the wall of the house. We invented a solution that would work "until we get ready to remodel the entire bathroom," he said, but that solution turned out to be unsatisfactory for Keith and me. In the end, I visited three different stores for a total of five visits, and Keith got involved later in the day. Together, we fixed the situation to the point that we can live with it for a long while. I still don't know if I actually fixed the drip that started this whole thing, but I'll discover the answer to that question in due time.

Certainly our trip last weekend was much more fun than our ever-increasing plumbing issues this weekend!

Moving on to other things

2010-07-29T08:29:00.002-04:00

Today is the last day of summer school. It was probably better than sitting around the house every morning, but I miss my bike rides. (Maybe I would have skipped out on lots of days, though, with the steam coming off the asphault.)

Next week, I get my summer back, or what's left of it anyway. I'm already working on job applications. The file is active for a year, so doing the paperwork and legwork now will make me eligible to apply for jobs for next fall when I'm busy in the spring. However, I'd really like to be teaching somewhere this January since I'll have to be student-teaching anyway. As a math teacher, I have a shot at getting a job if someone quits in the middle of the year. With experience, I think I'd be picked before other candidates who are student-teaching like me. So, getting my applications done now will put my name in the system in case something opens up.

Also in the next two weeks, I hope to do some website design for the Christianity Department. I created the site that is there now, and it is in serious need of some updates. It'll be a little bit of extra cash, too.

Maybe I can ride my bike in the next two weeks, too?!

Finally, I'm going to work on my grad school portfolio. It looks daunting, and I know some people who waited too late to start and ended up stressed out at the end of last year because they couldn't get it done. While I've got time, I'm going to tackle some pieces that I can do already. Keith thinks I'm crazy when I say I'm going to work ahead on a project, but I guess it makes me feel like I control my schedule instead of "them." "They" already control plenty about my life for the next 10 months.

So much for getting my summer back, eh? Classes start two weeks from now, so I guess it'll be fall then. If nothing else, my summer has been productive. :)

the wind chill factor for July

2010-07-28T09:37:00.003-04:00

If you live in the south, you've had some heat lately. The weather reporters have all sorts of words to describe the degree of heat: "scorching" or "sweltering," for example. The heat index has been well over 100 degrees, and the Weather Center has issued heat advisories every day for the last several days.

My poor husband has to work out in this stuff--I don't even like to walk through a parking lot to my car in it! He does like the heat much better than the cold of winter, though.

When I was a child, my mom called the "feels like" temperature during the summer the "wind chill factor." Somehow, just naming it something different made it feel a little cooler. I don't know if we used "heat index" for winter, too, but I think about the wind chill factor every summer when the temperatures are sweltering hot....and somehow, it helps for just a second.

Our weekend was busy

2010-07-26T08:49:00.002-04:00

PO and MO are moving in town, and they asked us to help.

On Thursday, I went to the old house to help with more packing. Friday, Keith and I got rolling early so we could move some of their plants to the new house in Keith's truck. Friday was also "moving day" with a moving truck, so there was lots of excitement and activity. Saturday, we went back to get the last load of plants, and we got some more stuff from the house as well. Keith cut the grass at the old house on Sunday. With three mornings of work outside, we were shocked at how hot it got later in the morning!

Later on Sunday, we went to visit our friend, Ginger, and her dog, Pepper. We played games, worked on puzzles, and went to dinner. We were also unsuccessful at puzzle shopping, but Ginger found the puzzle we want online and told us where to get it.

Whew! It's a good thing Monday got here!

Teaching after learning

2010-07-19T11:41:00.002-04:00

Teaching again has been good so far. Summer school is a different experience, which I've seen parts of before, but this is a new course for me to teach. Today, my students learned again about imaginary numbers. Oh, the jokes that are born from the name "imaginary"!

Honestly, I feel for them, my students. In my graduate courses in June, I was in class from 5-9 most nights, and we almost never stayed until nine o'clock. In summer school, we started out with six weeks of 9am to 1pm every day. I was in my own graduate classes at the time, so I empathized with the students I would teach later (a colleague of mine taught the class while I was still taking my own classes). Then, my colleague told me that the students wanted to have Fridays off, so he agreed to have five hour days starting at 8am. Ouch! Five hours of math every day for people who don't like it makes for a painful day for the students and a challenge for the teachers.

During the first two weeks of my graduate classes, I had to create lesson plans for a unit that I might teach. Since my colleague and I had already decided who was teaching which sections, I chose to plan a unit for the last week of summer school. That will happen next week, so I'll get to see how the concepts that we learned in graduate school actually work out in the classroom. I figure, if it works here, it has a good chance of working somewhere else. We'll see how this all turns out....

Summer school ends at the end of next week, and I have two weeks "off" before grad school starts again. I'll be doing some website design and learning about the application process for several counties around us. I'm also hoping to work on my portfolio that will be due in April as my final project for my degree.

We're proud Braves fans

2010-07-15T10:58:00.004-04:00

Our boy, Brian McCann was the hero of the All-Star Game on Tuesday night. We turned off the TV after the 6th inning because it was already late, and he batted in the winning runs in the next inning. For the first time in over a decade, the National League won the All-Star game. Just in case we get there, the win on Tuesday will give the Braves home-field advantage if they play in the World Series.

We've gone to lots of Braves games this season already, and there are more on our calendar. We rarely pay full price for tickets, though. Keith's mom sent us some buy-one-get-one-free coupons. Later, a friend told us that college ID gets us half off the tickets we buy most often, and I certainly have one of those now. We still have difficulty avoiding "convenience" fees because we buy tickets on the same day of the game. (who thinks THAT'S a good idea?! if you buy your ticket at the gate on the day of the game, they add $3 on top of whatever the fee is supposed to be, so even half-price gets $3 added! I just think that's ridiculous!) Lately, though, we've invented a scheme that gets us the chance to see lots of baseball for the best price. We plan two days in the same weekend that we want to see games, and we buy all of our tickets on the day of the first game. That means we pay the convenience fee only once. After all of that, our game tickets together are almost as low as our parking fees.

In June, we saw an ad for free Braves tickets if we spend $100 at Home Depot. We needed to spend the money anyway, so we just sent in our receipt with the appropriate form. We found out this week that our free tickets are in the mail, so we should be getting them soon. By the time we pack our sandwiches, snacks, and drinks then have free tickets, we'll only have to pay for parking and gas to see good baseball.

Who knows, we might be witnessing the development of a post-season run all the way to the World Series!

We'll do better, we hope!

2010-07-13T08:23:00.003-04:00

Recently, I've learned that more people read our blog than I realized. The joke was, "Keith has been swimming in the ocean for a LONG time!" Well, I hope we'll do better with writing updates and telling our stories.

Jennifer finished her first semester of education classes two weeks ago, and she is teaching summer school algebra two for three weeks in July. Keith has recently had his work schedule compressed so that he doesn't work on Fridays except in unusual weeks. We went camping a few weekends ago for the first time, and we really had a great time! We stayed at Red Top Mountain State Park just north of Atlanta, and that put us close to three different Braves baseball teams, which all had home games. Jennifer has also been riding her bike regularly, and she's put nearly 1100 miles on the bike since she got it last year.

So, that's our quick update, and we hope we'll do better in the coming months. Thanks for continuing to read about us and be interested in our lives.

Before and After

2010-06-27T09:29:00.003-04:00

The old storage building.

The new storage building.

Do you see the tree on the front corner of the new building? The building sits behind the tree, but the old one was in front of it. So, we doubled the size of the building, but it takes up less space in the yard because Keith cleared out the bamboo that used to be behind the old building.

Antigua

2010-04-10T20:53:00.002-04:00

Keith swimming in the sea.

Antigua has 365 beautiful beaches.

St. Kitts

2010-04-09T20:47:00.000-04:00

We made it to the top of the volcano in St. Kitts!

A scenic view of the Caribbean from the base of the volcano in St. Kitts.

More vacation photos

2010-04-08T20:41:00.000-04:00

Dressed up for formal dinner on the ship.

A pedestrian only street in Old San Juan.

Photos from St. Thomas

2010-04-07T08:33:00.000-04:00

A picture of us in front of bougainvillea in full bloom.

The harbor at St. Thomas from the top of Paradise Point. Our ship is at the bottom left corner.

It's been a long time since we posted because...

2010-04-06T10:44:00.002-04:00

We've been busy making plans to be out of town for ten days, and it's not something that we put out in public before it happens.

In honor of our first anniversary and as a last hoorah before I go back to school, we went on a southern Caribbean cruise and tacked on three days in Puerto Rico. My Spring Break from school was an entire week plus the Monday after Easter.

We left home on Friday, caught a shuttle to the airport, and flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico. We spend Saturday walking around Old San Juan, visiting El Morro, and eating local food. We boarded our cruise ship in the late afternoon, and we started trying to learn our way around. Our first stop was the next day in Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas where we took a tram ride to Paradise Point and saw an overview of the port and town. We were still pretty worn out from travel and our day in Old San Juan, so we relaxed the rest of the day on the ship. On our second day, the ship landed in St Croix, also part of the US Virgin Islands. We went to Buck Island for a snorkeling tour, and the many fish were brilliantly colored and easy to get close to. Our next port was Basseterre, St Kitts, where we took on the task of hiking to the top of a volcano. Four hours, lots of tree roots and boulders, and exhausted muscles later, we completed our mission, which is better than what some folks could manage. We have great pictures from the top of the volcano. Since we planned on an exhausting day with the volcano, the next day in Antigua, we planned to chill out at a beach. We're pretty good at doing that, too! Our last port was Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, which is primarily French-speaking. Keith took a tour of some beautiful botanical gardens and a short beach stop while I stuck around the ship still trying to recover from my grueling volcano hike. The last day of our cruise was at sea, which we enjoyed very much.

When we arrived back at the port in San Juan, there was a rental car waiting for us. We picked up the car, and headed toward the Arecibo Observatory in the middle of nowhere. It's gigantic, and the visitors' center was quite informative. We were grateful for a good map that Keith bought before we left home, but we learned that the roads aren't all that accurate up in the mountains where they snake from side to side. The motion sickness was a lot for me to handle (I've only been carsick two other times in my entire life!), and we finally found our way to better roads. I was only delighted to pay the tolls for major highways on the island. We stayed on the southeastern side of the island at a hotel that we've dubbed a "Puerto Rican Motel 6," which is not what we were aiming for. The next morning, we got up early and headed to El Yunque Rainforest, which was lovely. I was a little intimidated by the snaking roads up to the forest, but it wasn't too bad. We hiked a 40-minute trail there that I appreciated so much compared to the volcano! Since it was the actual date of our anniversary, we headed back to our hotel, got cleaned up, and drove over to a major city called Ponce for dinner. Keith found his way to the square in the center of town, and we were overrun by the traffic that was taking people to Easter mass at the church in the middle of the square. We ate a fantastic dinner, sat in the square talking and watching people, then found some great ice cream. We headed back to our Puerto Rican Motel 6 and packed up to leave the next day. We delivered our car to the airport and waited for our plane to take us home. We got home last night about 7pm and started filtering through the mail, DVR recordings, and dirty clothes.

School is back in session today, and I'm going to miss my afternoon nap that has kept me going the last few days.

For the next year while I'm in school, we're looking forward to discount mini-vacations like camping at Jekyll Island, White Water and baseball in Atlanta, a visit with friends in Washington, D.C., some time at the Blackwell river cabin, and hopefully some more camping. We might even manage to find a cheap, last-second cruise for 3 days, but we'll settle for landlocked life if nothing shows up.

So, happy anniversary to us! We made it one to remember. Our parents also sent cards honoring the day, which we really appreciated.

All in a day's work

2010-02-27T18:24:00.002-05:00

This is our new backyard!

I've never seen it without leaves before today, and I've lived here for over two years! Keith counted thirty bags (I couldn't get them all in the picture) that each hold 39 gallons, and that was after he mulched the leaves. He raked and raked and raked for about six hours, and it looks great!

Did I mention how glad I am to be married to a man who likes to work in the yard?!

Looking backward and forward

2010-02-19T08:05:00.002-05:00

Two years ago tomorrow, Keith and I went on our first date to Chili's. A wedding gift from a friend of ours is getting us back there again tomorrow. We're looking forward to it!

We're also hoping to ride our bikes this weekend, which we haven't done in months. Someone told us that we had the coldest January since 1985 this year, and now we understand why we've felt like it was too cold to ride. Our last bike ride was when we risked our lives riding on Grand Cayman Island, and we've already agreed to ride far away from traffic this weekend. We're looking forward to it!

At Christmas time, we bumped up our cable service to include DVR, and we LOVE it! We record shows during the day, and we watch them in the evenings. We have always enjoyed Jeopardy, but our work schedules have kept us from watching each episode. Now, we record it, watch it on our schedule, and it takes 21 minutes instead of 30! In the last week, I've been able to watch more Olympics than previous years, and I'm enjoying it a lot! With the middle weekend of this year's Olympics coming up, we're looking forward to it!

A year ago, I was constantly watching the weather predictions for April 4. I still watch weather (I'm married to a man who works outside everyday!), but I'm not hung up on a particular day. This morning, I realized how nice that feels. The weather is supposed to warm up here shortly, and we're looking forward to it!

Problem solved!

2010-01-29T13:26:00.003-05:00

For well over a year, there's been a slight leak around the base of the faucet at the kitchen sink. Recently, a drip from the same faucet has become more pronounced. Both problems could be ignored and put off for a while, and they were. But, I (Jennifer) knew they were waiting for my attention.

We were both very productive last weekend with some tasks, so I decided to take on the faucet. I called my father-in-law, who is great at giving advice over the phone about home repair projects. Mike asked if I knew the brand of the faucet. Like most things in our house, there is no brand name on the product, which tells me that the maker wasn't confident enough in the product to say who made it.

I tried to unscrew the top of the faucet, but I needed help because it was stuck on tight. Keith got involved for that. We got the parts off, but we didn't see anything obviously wrong. We opted to replace the entire faucet, so I got ready to head out to Lowe's. Keith's only instructions and input were that I not buy the cheapest faucet available and that the layout stay basically the same as our old faucet.

I found a Moen faucet for a clearance price, which was twice the price of the cheapest faucet. I even checked to see that the brand was on the faucet, which of course it was. We put the faucet back together, sealed the leaks that magically appeared, and turned the water back on.
Inspired by the new chrome finish, I scrubbed out the sinks, and they look really nice, too.

Once again, we have another home repair done with only one trip to Lowe's! That's the best it could be, and we love our new faucet!

Here I am, too, thanking myself for checking the shut-off valves under the sink a couple of years ago. All of the plumbing in our house was left without maintenance, and every one of the valves in the house were broken (including the washing machine water lines!). I've turned off water at the street LOTS of times, but this time, I got to use the valves that I had replaced before. It sure does make for a lot less drama when the handle is right there at the sink!

Jennifer's news

2010-01-15T16:33:00.000-05:00

I started a master's program four years ago, but I withdrew from the program when I was given a chance to teach GHP in the summers. Since the master's program required me to start in a summer, I never went back. Now that Keith and I are married, I'm not going away in the summers anytime soon. So, I started investigating the master's program again.

Recently, I was accepted into the Masters of Arts in Teaching program at Georgia College & State University. There's a Macon campus, and I can finish the program in one year if I go full time. Keith and I decided that was the best option, so I've resigned from my job as of the end of this school year.

In preparation for being back in school without working, we've been putting pieces in place. Of course, I had an application process to work through, which was tedious. Along with that, I prepared for a writing test, requested letters of recommendation and transcripts, and checked on the courses I took years ago to make sure they would still count. We're planning our vacations around my school schedule, and we've refinanced our house. I know some people have wondered where we've been lately, but I couldn't put this news out in cyberspace until I made my resignation official.

The Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program is demanding. I'll take two courses in June. Then, I'll take four courses at night in the fall while I observe classrooms during the day. With 2-3 days a week in a classroom and 4 nights a week in class, it'll be quite busy. Next spring, I'll do a ten-week student teaching assignment while I go to class one night a week. But, then it'll be over.

When I get done with my program in May 2011, I'll be certified to teach. Then, my options for work open up quite a bit. I like my current school, so I'd be fine with going back there. But, I'll also be able to teach in public schools for the first time.

I'm looking forward to being a student again, and I'm excited that I get to do it while Jay is a student, too. We'll graduate on the same weekend and probably even the same day. (I'll accept my diploma in the mail since I'll be in Birmingham watching him walk!)

Wow!

2010-01-08T16:12:00.003-05:00

Today is a COLD day at our house. The forecast for last night was snow showers, so my school was canceled today! When I left our house at 1:30 this afternoon, this building looked about the same as it did when this picture was taken. But, I said my good bye and good riddance, and off I went to run errands.

The front, outside of the building doesn't look too bad. The secret, though, is the inside and the backside of the building. It's falling apart! It's a disaster. Here's the inside corner after Keith got to work today. It really was sunken in. The roof had two holes that were at least a foot in diameter.

I'm inside writing this post while Keith is out in 30 degree weather finishing the demolition project.

We're going to put in another building that's two or three times as big as the old one, and we're excited to get the ground cleared so we can think about what we want to do next.

The old building was 12 x 8 feet, but we didn't use it for much because it was so nasty inside. When we add 12 x 20 or larger, we'll get several hundred square feet of storage space. Oh, we are excited to see that day!

What we've been up to lately

2009-12-03T00:00:00.002-05:00

During the week of Thanksgiving, we soaked up some sun rays and good time together on a cruise in the western Caribbean. We took off the Saturday before Thanksgiving to Miami where we visited Paul and Jenny. Then, they took us to the port on Sunday.

Nine days is the longest time we've spent together without interruption, and we enjoyed our time very much. Our first full day on the cruise was at sea. Then we spent a day each in the Cayman Islands, Honduras, Belize, and Mexico. The last full day was also at sea, and we returned to Miami on Sunday morning. It took us only eleven hours to get home in post-Thanksgiving traffic on Sunday, and we both went to work on Monday morning.

We're hoping to post some pictures soon, but getting back into the real world has been a little crazy. Keith has had some allergy congestion since Sunday, and the holiday season is in full swing for us. (I'm really glad I did the bike ride before the cruise instead of after!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T10:25:00.000-05:00

We hope you're all having a great week of time with family and friends!

No help needed up the hills

2009-11-09T08:36:00.003-05:00

Jennifer started in Byron yesterday and felt good on the first leg of the ride yesterday. Keith drove 15 miles down the road, and Jennifer met him there about 40 minutes later. The cooler starting weather had warmed up, so Jennifer changed clothes out of lined wind pants. The next 15 miles was about the same, and she was roughly halfway to her goal.

At the end of the next twelve mile segment, Jennifer felt good. The game plan called for a ride in the car for the next six miles, but she passed Keith while he talked on the phone. She rode another five miles up and down some hills, and Keith caught up to her. We made a plan to meet at the next scheduled stop, see how Jennifer was feeling, and let her pass if she felt good. She did.

The last leg of her trip had the most traffic, but all was well (except the dog that chased her for several yards!). That last leg ended in Columbus.

The entire trip yesterday was 72 miles with no car rides between Byron and Columbus! Jennifer's mom took a picture of Jennifer and Keith at the end of the trip. All the way home last night, Jennifer said in her head, "72 miles" and couldn't believe it.

As with any endurance exercise like this one, there are unexpected things along the way. There were no flat tires or crashes. There was no need for a stop in the middle of a leg of the journey. There was no hydration or energy problem. Of course, those were all expected, and we were prepared for them. What we didn't expect was the beautiful weather we got and the sunburn that Jennifer got because of it. That really is the worst that happened yesterday, so we'll count the day a success!

Our latest major accomplishment

2009-11-04T09:56:00.001-05:00

Ever since Jennifer bought the house two years ago, there's been a trampoline in the backyard. Several friends have jumped on it, so there's been some use in the two years, but not enough to warrant keeping it in our backyard.

On a whim last weekend, Jennifer suggested that we try to take down the net around the top of the trampoline so it would not be so obtrusive. We got to work, and the net came down. Then, we detached the padding over the springs, which is weathered and not worth anything. The next thing we knew, we were finding the buttons to detach the metal parts. Within an hour, we had the entire trampoline taken apart and stored out of sight.

Our yard really is huge! Thanks to Keith's work over the last year of clearing out lots of weed trees and overgrown bushes, we can tell what we have to work with.

Right now, there is a brown spot where the sun was blocked by the trampoline, but that will grow green next season. Keith will also have an easier time cutting the grass since he doesn't have to work around the trampoline.

We've accomplished a major milestone for our house, and we're excited. On Monday morning, we even took a moment before we left for work to marvel at the empty space in the backyard!

A Metric Century in honor of Jennifer's 30th Birthday

2009-10-30T10:07:00.003-04:00

As you've read in the last year, we have been riding bikes a lot. Jennifer gets more time to ride after work than Keith does, and she's been training for a big ride coming up.

Before she turns 30, Jennifer will ride a metric century. That's one hundred kilometers (about 62.2 miles) in one day.

As predicted, the last six weeks of this year will be busy. There's Thanksgiving, Jennifer's birthday, and Christmas. We also hope to go camping sooner or later! So, before the hectic time comes, we've decided to schedule the metric century for next weekend.

Training has been good. Jennifer has been on the bike for 20-40 miles every other day for the last two weeks, and she was riding quite a bit before that time. Today is her last significant ride before the metric century. Her weekly mileage has been 75-90 miles with the longest ride being 41 miles. We did ride 50 miles in May, but the conditions were better than Jennifer will have next weekend. Next week, Jennifer will ride twice for 10-15 miles each. Then, the game plan for the big ride is 63.5 miles from Byron to Columbus.

Keith will follow along in the car with snacks, repair tools, and patience. The planned route is 75 miles on four-lane highways (sometimes including a bike lane), but we'll load the bike on the car for the giant hills. Google Maps has a pedometer feature that lets you map out a route and see the changes in elevations. We used the map and our familiarity with the route to make decisions about where to ride and where to drive up the hills.

If, by chance, you are interested in joining Jennifer for part of the trip (3 miles or 20 miles or anywhere in between), let us know. We'll report back after the ride to let you know that we finished.

Until next year....

2009-10-01T17:58:00.002-04:00

The Braves gave us hope last week when they swept the Mets and the Nationals. This week, they had to win two more than the Rockies, and the Marlins dashed their/our hopes of grabbing the wild card.

Keith and I watched the Braves win and win and win some more for over a decade, and we both love baseball. So, now, we'll wait until next year to see the Braves play again.

The last three weeks have taught us, though, that "it ain't over 'till it's over!"

War eagle!

2009-09-29T11:01:00.002-04:00

Last weekend, we watched Auburn beat Ball State at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Before football, we got to campus early, and Keith showed Jennifer where he had horticulture classes. He was surprised by all of the changes on campus since he graduated. We tried to see the Tiger Walk before the game, but Keith felt rain drops and saw rain clouds in the sky. We took off to find shelter, and we got into a building before the downpour.

It was Jennifer's first SEC football game, and Keith hadn't been to an Auburn game in seven years. We sat on the 25 yard line on the eighth row. It rained for the entire first half, but we were prepared for it.

We'll certainly be going back for some more football in the future.

Rain cancelled our camping plans, so we found another adventure

2009-09-19T18:05:00.005-04:00

We are working with Patrick to throw a party in two weeks, and I agreed to bring our ice cream maker and ingredients for ice cream. We got our ice cream maker as a wedding gift, and we had barely opened the box until yesterday.

When we got a whim to make ice cream a couple of months ago, we read the instructions and knew it wasn't a "whim" kind of project. So, with some advance notice, we decided to do a practice run this weekend.

We cleaned the parts, soaked the bucket so the wood would seal, and bought ingredients last night. The user's manual got us concerned about raw eggs, so we chose a recipe that required cooking.

This morning I got up and checked to see how much milk was needed and realized that we didn't have enough at all. So, Keith went to the store for milk and a bag of ice while I started the process.

I combined sugar, corn starch, and salt. Then, I beat four eggs and melted six squares of chocolate. Keith got home, and I poured six cups of milk into the dry ingredients. I was supposed to "stir constantly until the mixture started to simmer," but I didn't think it would ever do that! So, once the steam was coming off the top, I decided it was close enough. I added the beaten eggs, and Keith started the stirring job. He was supposed to "stir until the mixture thickens slightly," whatever THAT means. Then, the melted chocolate went in next. I added vanilla, half and half, and heavy cream.

We were doing all of this in a stock pot, and we were supposed to pour the mixture into a glass container to go into the refrigerator. I found two glass containers that barely held it all, and we let it sit in the refrigerator four a little more than four hours.

Later in the day, we poured the mixture into the frozen canister, put the canister in the bucket, and turned on the motor. We poured ice and rock salt and ice and rock salt and more ice and more rock salt around the spinning canister. Then, we poured water in on top. The motor stopped spinning in about 35 minutes, and I opened the canister to find a milkshake-like mixture. Keith attached the hand crank and turned that for several minutes to try to fluff the mixture.

We poured our ice cream into plastic containers of 4 cups, another 4 cups, 6 cups, 1 cup, and another 1 cup. We ate the 1 cup containers and put the rest in the freezer.

This is definitely a labor of love for ourselves, and we'll do it again in two weeks for a dozen of our friends. We think there must be a simpler way to do it all, so we want your help. If you have an easy recipe that calls for no eggs or cooked eggs, we want to hear about it. Also, if you have tricks for thickening the mixture, let us know that, too. Maybe what we need to be told is that making ice cream is, in fact, an all day process! :)

Thanks to our friends who gave us the ice cream maker! We had an adventurous day after a week of rain made us cancel our plans to go camping for the weekend. And, now we've got some good tasting ice cream for the next week. We've also got some confidence for our endeavor in two weeks!

Just call her "Jennifer the Plumber"

2009-09-09T09:49:00.004-04:00

The shower in the hall bathroom was dripping for a few weeks and getting worse along the way. Last fall, we learned how to fix a drip in the master bathroom shower, and we had to buy a new tool to do the work. This time, the grand total of the money spent was $1.44 on new washers since we already had the right tools. The job took just under two hours, and Keith contributed his strength to loosen snug pieces on two separate occasions.

If you need some basic plumbing advice or help, save yourself the plumber fee, and call Jennifer!

The cook of the weekend

2009-08-24T12:52:00.002-04:00

Saturday morning: fried eggs over toast with bacon
Saturday afternoon: brownies
Sunday evening: bacon cheeseburgers from the grill

Keith did all of that and cleaned up the kitchen after himself each time. All of it was good, too!

Did I marry well, or what?! :)

Island Time

2009-08-14T08:16:00.003-04:00

Around April 7, the battery in my watch died. We'd been married for three days, and we were headed to Jekyll Island for our honeymoon in two days. I decided to go without a watch at least through the end of our honeymoon. Then, we enjoyed our vacation so much, especially living on "island time," that I didn't want to let it go after we got back. After a few weeks without a watch, I decided that I was close enough to the end of the school year that I'd just go without a watch as long as I could.

Now, I'm back at school again. They're not ringing bells between classes, and my office does not get enough traffic to figure out when classes are changing. So, I got my battery replaced yesterday afternoon.

Island Time is done for now, but we're looking forward to some getaways in the next few months.

Congrats, Jay!

2009-08-05T18:58:00.002-04:00

If you know my brother, then you know that he's smart! Well, he started using his brains in college last August, and he has completed three semesters of classes. Every semester, his GPA improved to the point that he earned straight A's this summer! I'm so excited with him!

So, how easy were the classes that he took? Not at all easy. Jay is applying to the program for physical therapy assisting, so he had to have two classes in anatomy and physiology. Those were certainly the most demanding, and he earned A's in both. He also took English, math, computer science, humanities, medical terminology, speech, and two classes in psychology.

As you can tell, we're proud of Jay's accomplishments in the last twelve months!

Road trip with mom!

2009-07-29T13:08:00.003-04:00

I left Keith at home for a week and went on a road trip with my mom in Iowa where she grew up.

First, we spent three days at Nordic Fest. I'm a quarter Norwegian, and the festival celebrates our heritage. We got to see a lot of cousins and other more distant relatives, and they even got us all together for a family reunion on Saturday afternoon.

Then, my mom and I set off on our own for some statewide genealogy research. In the last three days we went to small towns and large cities. We hit some cemeteries that were five miles out on dirt roads. We saw schools where my mom attended and family homes where we visited when I was young. By the numbers, we've stopped at the following:

6 courthouses
6 cemeteries
3 schools
7 houses
1 church

We're in the airport now ready to go home. We've stayed in 5 motels in the last week, so we're ready for our own beds, bathrooms, and cooking.

Our day at the river

2009-07-05T19:01:00.004-04:00

Keith's family has a rustic river cabin that is the location of an annual gathering on July 4th weekend. There's a boat with all the water sport options, a jetski, a TV, lots of great food, and family. Jennifer missed the trip last year because she was teaching GHP, but nothing could keep us away this year. We also invited Jay to come along.

Here are some of our favorite pictures from the day. Our camera batteries ran out of juice before we were done, and Jay's camera has some other pictures on there that we hope to get our hands on one day.

Keith kicked it off with the wakeboard.

Jennifer hadn't done water sports in more than 10 years, but she picked up kneeboarding again pretty quickly.

Jay liked the kneeboard, too.

Keith worked on his wakeboard jumps throughout the day.

Jay decided to ski.

Daniel got bounced around on the tube, but he was willing to let go of the handle a few times.

Jay had never been on a wakeboard until this weekend. He liked it a lot!

Keith couldn't pass up the kneeboard.

Jennifer managed to get up on her first skiing attempt.

This is the one crash we got on camera during the day. We never tried to capture a crash on film, but somebody gave us one anyway.

David vowed to ride the wakeboard, even if he blew out a knee!

Jennifer had her first ride on a jetski.

Keith turned his first 360 on the kneeboard.

Jennifer and Jay were captured during a brief still moment on the boat.

Jennifer got her first tube ride and dared to let go before it was over.

Have car (and GPS). Will travel.

2009-06-28T18:17:00.003-04:00

That's our motto this weekend.

Keith had a four-day week last week, which is his first of the year. So, we made some plans for our weekend.

On Friday, we went to White Water Amusement Park in Atlanta, and we spent seven hours sliding down slides. Sometimes we used a tube, and sometimes we even got to ride in a double tube together. Neither of us are roller coaster people, but we love water parks! We packed some food in the car so we didn't go broke at the park, and we took a break around 3:30 to eat some sandwiches. We think we rode everything we would dare ride (we skipped the Cliffhanger - a nine-story vertical drop), and we talked about upgrading our tickets to season passes. We decided against it since we're far enough into the summer now, but we're going to think about it for next year.

Saturday, we woke up slowly because we were tired from Friday's adventure. We watched some Wimbledon tennis then made some plans. At one of the bridal showers in the spring, we received a gift card to AMC theaters. We've learned that the closest one to us is in south Atlanta. So, we went to see The Proposal then continued north to watch the Gwinnett Braves, which are a AAA team. The seats were sold out at the game except for the Berm in the outfield. We got home late, and went to bed.

Today, we got up early and headed down to Baxley, Georgia. Sandy and Alan, who played the guitar in our wedding, live there. We went to Alan's church and watched them both play for morning worship. Alan also preached. Then, we went to lunch at a seafood restaurant, and they had to leave town on business. We got home this afternoon.

Keith said it best when he announced our theme for this weekend, "Have car. Will travel." But, the GPS has been quite important along the way, too. :)

My mom's magic touch

2009-06-27T08:52:00.003-04:00

When I ordered flowers two weeks before our wedding, the florist told me I could save some money if we got the flower girl petals ourselves. The florist told me how far in advance we could pick off the petals, and he told me how to store them well. So, my mom and I bought two dozen roses two days before the wedding. Somehow, the basket was filled (lots of things happened in those last two days that I had no idea about at the time!), and my mom saved the stems. After the wedding, she planted the stems, and most of them have died in the last three months.

This morning, however, I was checking my email, and this picture was there from my mom's yard! One of the stems bloomed this week. I thought it was really cool!

how's the summer going?

2009-06-22T23:27:00.003-04:00

Jennifer has been riding her bike quite a bit. She's got 365 miles logged on the new bike. She thought she'd ride most days of the week, but it hasn't worked out that way. She's averaging about ten miles a day by riding 25-40 miles at a time about three times a week.

Keith is working a lot, so weekends are really important for him. He likes to relax some, but he's enjoyed our fun days, too.

For the last two weekends, we've been on the road. Most recently, we went to the World of Coca-Cola on Saturday and then up to Birmingham to celebrate Father's Day with a baseball game. The Barons won their tenth game in a row that night!

Today, Jennifer started a summer job. She's teaching an online math class for four weeks. She's not sure if it's worth it yet, but it doesn't hurt to make a little bit of money during the summer, especially after a Trek purchase!

We're hoping to keep on having fun when we're not working.

2 months

2009-06-05T09:56:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was two months after our wedding day. We got two wedding gifts that we're using this weekend, so it's turning into a celebration of our wedding!

Last night, we ate dinner at Carrabba's because MO's office staff got us a gift card for dinner there. We both got entrees that we've never had before, and we've even got some money left over to help us pay for another visit. We got home in time for Jeopardy, too!

Today, we've got tickets to see the Braves play the Brewers. We got the tickets at a shower before the wedding, and they're great seats! We've never been to a Braves game together before, so we're excited.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

50 miles!

2009-05-29T10:50:00.002-04:00

We have a winner! The person who wrote the anonymous comment guessing 35 miles wins! Congratulations, Winner!

Yep, that's right. We rode our bikes 50 miles on Sunday, which marked our 50th day of marriage. We didn't mean to make it work that way, but this number-crunching mind of mine enjoyed it anyway. It was a LONG ride, and Keith rode a bike he'd only been on two times before. His longest ride on his mountain bike is 20 miles, so this was a giant leap for him. He worked hard, and I am proud of him.

We're still talking about riding a century. The Silver Comet Trail with no car traffic, very few people most of the way, and mostly flat terrain is a promising location for our 100 mile endurance ride, but we'll see.

Have a great weekend, readers!

Okay, more hints, as requested

2009-05-27T19:13:00.002-04:00

We rode for a total of four hours, but our breaks made it a five-hour adventure. The last hour was in a light rain!

It was our first ride on the Silver Comet Trail, which we've been talking about, even on this blog, for a few months. That's important because the Trail is quite flat since it used to be the path of a railroad.

So far, we have a clear winner for our game--there's only one guess!

Careful, that's three hints. :)

Guess how many miles we rode yesterday

2009-05-25T11:47:00.002-04:00

Here are some hints:

We went out of town to ride.

We are still tired today.

You win if you can guess the closest without going over! :)

Keith owns a road bike

2009-05-21T08:07:00.004-04:00

After riding the Schwinn a total of 125 miles in two and a half weeks, Jennifer knew she liked the riding style and wanted a bike made for her size.

Three days ago, she went back to the Trek store to see about the bike again. The store had what she wanted in a smaller size, so Jennifer went back on Tuesday because they brought the right size from their other location. Jennifer took a test ride and bought the bike. The manager threw in two water bottles with cages, a valve nozzle adapter, and a bottle of lubricant. That was $29 of free stuff that we'll use.

So, you want to see a picture of the new bike? Well, the camera will never do it justice, but the Trek website has a pretty picture. If you know anything about bikes, you can see the specs and geometry there, too.

Jennifer rode 3 miles with Keith on Tuesday (they both rode road bikes), and she road 31.4 miles yesterday, which is a new longest distance for her! Jennifer is also considering training for a century ride in September in Savannah. (Yes, "century" as in 100 miles in a day! Think "marathon of biking.")

If you took pictures at our wedding

2009-05-17T19:05:00.000-04:00

we'd love to see them!

Already, we know that our guests caught things on camera that we didn't know were happening, and we love the surprises. We enjoy getting to see the facial expressions that we had that day, too.

So, if you took pictures at our wedding, please share them with us. We'll be happy to send you our email address or mailing address if you want to put them on a CD. We'll even take the pictures with blinking eyes or strange faces--they're all part of the story of the day.

Thanks!

News for the week

2009-05-14T12:41:00.003-04:00

Jennifer rode the new road bike a record distance yesterday: 22.7 miles! She was eager to agree to Keith's suggestion that we eat Panera Bread for dinner so she didn't need to cook. :) We also went to Barnes & Noble last night where Keith impressed Jennifer once again with his knowledge of Spanish vocabulary!

This weekend, we're going to be two of four chaperone's for a group of graduating seniors going to Six Flags in Atlanta. Neither of us like roller coasters, but there are other things we can do there, and it's free for us. We're looking forward to a little bit of adventure for the day, especially with a 40% chance of rain in the forecast right now.

We're off again!

2009-05-06T13:46:00.002-04:00

This is a big weekend for people we love!

Jay is finishing his second semester of college this week, and his birthday is on Friday. We're going to ride mountain bikes with him on trails near his apartment. We're really going to celebrate his birthday, but we also are excited for his accomplishments in school! Way to go, Jay! We're proud of you.

Since we'll already be in the area, we're celebrating Mother's Day with Keith's mom on Friday night and Saturday. Keith's dad's birthday is around the corner, too, as well as their anniversary. (It's busy in our families, as I said!)

We're going to spend the day with Jennifer's mom on Sunday. We've got yard work planned as a gift for her, and we might get some other things packed into the day, too.

So....

Congratulations, Jay, on another successful semester!

Happy Birthday, Jay!

Happy Mother's Day, Jane/Mom!

Happy Birthday, Mike/Dad!

Happy Anniversary, Mike and Jane/Dad and Mom!

Happy Mother's Day, Pat/Mama!

The story of the next bike

2009-05-02T22:42:00.002-04:00

Jennifer's bike is getting a lot of use--about 27 miles on the weekdays this week plus 19 from last weekend--and she's hoping to ride a lot during the summer. Two problems have come up, well, maybe three problems. The bike is heavy, the tires get a lot of friction on the road, and the newest problem is that the bike squeaks in rhythm with Jennifer's pedaling.

Last weekend, we went to two bike stores looking at road bikes. The "entry level" bikes are running $900+ for Trek, Cannondale, and Specialized. We've thought about used options, and Jennifer looked at LOTS of bikes on eBay this week. They now make bikes that are specifically designed for women, so the dimensions of the bike fit a woman's body better than the typical road bike, which is designed for a man's body. After last weekend's visits, we came to a few conclusions. Keith really wants Jennifer to get a women's bike, and he's very supportive of her spending that much money because he knows she loves to ride. Jennifer knows it's a lot of money to spend, and she's not totally convinced that she'll love riding stretched out like she would on a road bike.

All week, Jennifer has wavered between "I'll try something less expensive first" and "I'll just take the plunge and order a Trek." Since neither extreme has settled well, she's still talking about this drama.

This morning, Keith made a suggestion. What if we buy the $225 bike from Wal-Mart so you can ride it to make sure you like it. Then, Keith will ride the bike later if Jennifer gets the Trek. Jennifer LOVED the idea, but she wanted to shop around a little bit more.

We went to Dick's Sporting Goods first where Keith got his bike. There are absolutely NO road bikes with drop handlebars, and Jennifer insists on drop bars if she's getting a new bike. At the Wal-Mart on the other side of town, we thought we could get a better deal than the Wal-Mart in "Richville." We saw the bike, and it was $229. (The numbers are important later.) There were a few things we weren't crazy about in the way this bike was put together, so we thought we'd check out the other Wal-Mart. In "Richville," the same bike was priced at $199. Keith pointed out some rust in several places, and we noticed that the owner's manual had been wet at some point. It was put together well, so we were satisfied with the bike, but Jennifer wanted to see about a reduced price for the rust. It was surface rust, so Keith was pretty sure he could get it off. They offered 10% off, and we paid $179 before tax. The bike is a little big for Jennifer, but a good size for Keith. It's LIGHT, too!

We put our bike rack in the car this morning, so we knew we could load the bike up in the parking lot. But, then we started thinking about riding it home. We decided to do it. We inflated the tires with Jennifer's air pump from the car, and we removed all of the labels for the store. Jennifer put her cell phone in her pocket, tested the gears in the parking lot, and told Keith she'd meet him halfway home. When she got there, they traded car and bike, and Keith rode the bike home.

At home, we agreed that we both really enjoy our new bike! We planned to ride this afternoon already, so we loaded up the bike rack, and put our new Schwinn on along with Keith's mountain bike. We went out to Barrington Hall, where Jennifer lived in her first apartment, and we parked the car in their lot. We rode through the neighborhood and decided to see what was at the end of the road. We found another road that seemed really quiet, so we wanted to check it out. Jennifer had a relaxed ride while Keith worked hard at some moments, but Jennifer enjoyed having the roles reversed for a change since she is usually the one working hard. By the time we got back to the car, we had gone over 14 miles!

We're both happy with our purchase, and we like that Keith will be able to ride the bike when Jennifer decides on an upgrade.

We declared a "Keith and Jennifer Weekend"

2009-04-27T11:07:00.003-04:00

Our priorities for the weekend included bike riding, eating good food, and spending time together.

On Friday, we both got off work early just because we got lucky. We ate dinner at Logan's, and we managed to get the $13.99 for two entrees deal because we got there early. After dinner, we watched Jeopardy and then went grocery shopping for the week to avoid the Saturday crowd.

Saturday morning was slow, but we knew we wanted to beat the heat for a bike ride. We headed out before 11am toward a part of town that our bikes had never seen. In the first 2.3 miles of our ride, we had to walk up two hills that are outrageous! We weren't even out of our neighborhood yet! At the top of that climb, we got to Forsyth Road, a main road in town with a sidewalk. We turned from there onto Zebulon Road, which also has a sidewalk, and we headed for Wendy's. We knew we needed light food because of the heat of our ride and because of our plans for the rest of the day. After Wendy's, we rode across the street to Wal-Mart and checked out bird baths, water hoses, grill brushes, step ladders, and digital frames. We bought a grill brush, and we decided on a step ladder, but we'll have to take a car to go pick that up later. Our ride home was warmer than we really liked, but we were fine. Total miles for Saturday: 11.7.

On Saturday afternoon, we went to two bike shops looking at road bikes for Jennifer. We're still shopping so far. We came home and cleaned up around the house, and Keith washed his cars. Then, we started working on dinner. We grilled steaks (our first ones on our new grill!), and we had twice-baked potatoes, brussel sprouts, and rolls. It was quite easy and delicious!

After church on Sunday morning, we continued with our digital frame shopping. We love the frame we got for Christmas, and we want to put our wedding pictures on a larger one. So, we hit several stores in the same shopping area, and we got lucky at HH Gregg. The right size for the right price! It's the same brand as our first one, so the learning curve won't be too hard.

We also continued our bird bath shopping, but we weren't very successful with that. So, we headed to lunch at McAllister's where we ate light again because our steak dinner was still with us, and we were hoping to get another bike ride in later.

On our way home, we drove around looking at other bike riding options to get away from the two steep hills in our neighborhood. No luck, though! On our ride that afternoon, we rode those hills again on our way to Virginia's house. We took our laptop with us to show her the digital pictures we've received from our wedding. We got home just in time to shower and go to a special event at church. Total miles for Sunday: 7.7.

At church on Sunday, they showed a documentary about Liberia called "Pray the Devil Back to Hell." It was quite intense as it told the story of the Civil War in the country and how women led the way to peace. Since we have some ties to Liberia already, it was an important movie.

So, on this Keith and Jennifer Weekend, we accomplished our goals!

We're doing great

2009-04-23T07:53:00.002-04:00

There's very little going on that's newsworthy, and we like it that way for a change. Keith is very busy at work this week, and Jennifer has something out of the ordinary planned for most days of the week. We're learning each other's routines and adjusting well together. Thanks for continuing to read and care for us.

It's official!

2009-04-18T10:39:00.003-04:00

Jennifer's name is legally changed with the Social Security Administration and the Driver's License office.

She is now "Jennifer Michelle Blackwell."

Life is moving slower for us

2009-04-17T07:56:00.003-04:00

We can't say we have a routine yet, but our life is moving much slower now than it has for the last six months. This weekend will be the first that we haven't had something on the agenda in months, and we're looking forward to it.

So, don't take our quiet here on the blog as a bad thing. It's just that we're catching our breath after the busyness of our wedding.

Some reflections

2009-04-14T12:37:00.002-04:00

So many details of our wedding experience amazed us.

First, our families and friends have left us humbled by their (your) support and help. Truly, we couldn't have done it without you all. You recognized important moments along the way, and you kept us from getting too stressed out sometimes with your help and sometimes with your listening ear and compassionate responses. It took an army to pull off our wedding, and you were there ready to decorate, move things, and take our minds off of the craziness. We are grateful for you, and there are not enough words to communicate the depth of our gratitude. We were also humbled by your gifts to us. There will be notes in the mail eventually, but we sure do want you to know that we appreciate your generosity and thoughtfulness!

Second, with an outside wedding and a honeymoon trip that depends on good weather, we have been stunned by what we have seen. In the ten days before our wedding, Macon got over eight inches of rain! Lots of folks were afraid for us, and we stuck by our plan. In fact, on April 4, the sun was so bright that our programs were used to cover heads and keep sunburn at bay. Then, a few days after our wedding, the air was very cool, even getting down to freezing one night! It didn't rain really, but we were watching the weather on Jekyll Island carefully. The wind came during the weekend, so our bike-riding was more demanding. But, the rain storm that came through Georgia yesterday did not affect our vacation nor our unpacking after we got home. We literally drove through the rain for eighty miles! People have said they prayed for the weather during the weekend of our wedding. I don't know if God has anything to do with the weather, but it all turned out amazing for us!

We know life won't always be this sweet, but it's been a great way to start our marriage! We even talked over the last weekend about trying to extend our happiness during our honeymoon into at least the first year of our marriage. Things will happen, stuff will come up, but we'll negotiate it all as best we can. If the year of our dating relationship and engagement is any indication, we'll resolve things things well together.

What stories do you remember from our wedding? Who did you see that you hadn't seen in a while? What surprised you? What still makes you smile ten days later? Especially, we know we couldn't be there for everything, so we want to know what we missed. Let us know in the comments here.

Behind the camera

2009-04-13T11:54:00.001-04:00

MO is not in most pictures because she's behind the camera most of the time. Ginger snagged a picture of MO walking in to the reception with Jennifer's flowers.

Ginger did a good job of making sure MO got into at least a few pictures. We even had our own picture of just the two of us!

Us in the Park

2009-04-12T11:50:00.001-04:00

Some quick pictures from our honeymoon

2009-04-11T23:00:00.000-04:00

We're having a blast! Here's the view from our balcony.

Does this man look relaxed, or what?!

We've gone more than 31 miles on our bikes in three days, and this is one of the views we saw on the first day. We had to come back for a picture! Live oaks are the state tree of Georgia. Look how beautiful they are!

We rode about two miles of our trip today on the beach, with about half of that at Driftwood Beach. Here's Keith with some wood in the water and on the beach behind him. It's a very surreal landscape.

Jennifer crawled on a tree out over the water. Happy girl! (It was quite an adventure getting back to the dry land....)

Happy Birthday, Mama!

2009-04-10T11:41:00.000-04:00

Jennifer's mom's birthday is today! We hope it's a great one.

You certainly worked hard last week making sure everyone knew what their jobs were for the wedding. Your phone rang off the hook! Thanks for keeping Jennifer sane as long as possible and for welcoming Keith into the family as a son. We can't say enough how much we appreciate you.

Feel free to leave a comment for her here, if you like.

Some group pictures

2009-04-09T11:34:00.000-04:00

Our families

All of Keith's family

Jennifer's family

The unofficially adopted family - three generations!

The wedding party

The Sign Language Crew

The Ladies of Honor

Mike's daughters-in-law

The ministers

One side of the crowd

Pictures from our ceremony

2009-04-08T10:16:00.004-04:00

Jay is escorting me down the stairs.

Keith is watching as I make my way through the crowd hugging lots of folks who love us.

In the Hands Ceremony, Nikki tells me that Keith's hands are a gift to me. His hands will celebrate with me, wipe the tears from my eyes, provide for our future, and care for children and elders in our families. Similarly, my hands are a gift to Keith.

Our Sand Ceremony starts with separate colors of sand that mix inside the frame to make a piece of art that will be displayed in our home. There is no way to separate the grains of sand into their individual colors again just like there is no way to separate our lives.

This picture was taken just after Nikki said, "Keith, you may kiss your bride" and just before she said, "And, Jennifer, you may kiss your groom."

From Jay's camera

2009-04-07T12:24:00.004-04:00

Jay and Megan, his girlfriend, arrived on Friday. They came to our house first, and they met up with my mom and Ed at the hotel. Someone (probably Aunt Shirley) got drafted to take a picture. This sure does look like a happy crowd!

Melissa worked hard all weekend along with Lynne. This is a picture before the ceremony.

From his seat, Jay snapped a picture of us during the sign language. It's another angle of the first picture we posted two days ago. You can see both Rick and Nikki behind us in this one.

Jay and Aunt Shirley hadn't seen each other in ages (she lives in Iowa and wins the "longest distance traveled" award for the weekend), but they worked hard together during the weekend.

Jay and Megan at the reception. You can see blue flowers in the background.

Check this out!

2009-04-07T08:03:00.002-04:00

Pictures in the park after our wedding!

From another camera

2009-04-06T20:06:00.000-04:00

Nikki and I walked to the Park together for the ceremony. This gate is decorated for the Cherry Blossom Festival, which is an annual event in Macon. My mom showed me the spot early in the week as a really good picture. There's one somewhere of Keith and me walking back after the ceremony.

Just before she went down to her seat, my mom asked Ed to take a few pictures of her and Jay with me. Haha!

After the ceremony...!

Just one picture

2009-04-05T19:37:00.008-04:00

It was a perfect day!

2009-04-05T08:36:00.001-04:00

Happy wedding day to us!

Happy wedding day, Keith and Jennifer!

Happy wedding day to us!

452 minutes!

2009-04-04T06:27:00.003-04:00

Good morning, family and friends!

It's our wedding day!

We had a great supper last night, and we got to chat with some of our guests at the hotel before we tried to get some sleep. I was more successful with sleep last night than the previous night, but I'm still up at 6:30 am!

We are no longer in control of this event, but the people who are in control are quite good at it.

Oh, the memories are so grand for this week! We'll try to tell some stories over the next few weeks.

Let us know you're favorite part of the ceremony, if you like.

Keith's apartment is empty and clean!

2009-03-29T16:28:00.003-04:00

Keith found a break in the rain on Friday, and he got help moving his furniture into our house. We spent the day yesterday finding order in the chaos, and we're very proud of our work! We're putting more things in order today, and we're checking things off the list before our wedding in six days. Today after church, Keith cleaned his apartment.

Jennifer took Nikki and Natalie to see Washington Park this afternoon. Natalie seemed to enjoy herself, so we think she'll be comfortable next weekend.

Tomorrow, Jennifer is headed to Columbus for a funeral. She's coming back to Macon with her mom, who will stay in town through our wedding. We've got a lot of plans lined up for the week, so we'll stay busy while Keith is at work every day. Don't be surprised if we don't post very often this week, but we'll be ready to see our guests on Friday and Saturday!

Our bikes have a new home!

2009-03-27T08:54:00.003-04:00

Last night, we used some of our Lowe's gift cards to buy a stud-finder and hooks for our bikes. We think we got a cheap stud-finder because it wasn't very reliable on the ceiling. In the end, we narrowed down a relatively reliable location for one hook, and Keith drilled a small hole to find out if there really was wood on the other side. Strike one! We found another somewhat convincing spot, and...strike two! On his third attempt, he found wood! So, we drilled a larger pilot hole, and he twisted the hook in by hand. It looked like hard work to me! Then, we hung his bike, and it did not fall.

One down. (Or, up, in this case.)

My bike is much heavier than Keith's, so we saved it for last. Keith held it in the air next to his, and we decided that it was a reasonable fit. So, the stud-finder helped us get an idea of where to drill. He used the small bit to find wood, and we made another pilot hole. When he was done twisting in the hook, we lined them up nicely, and hung the last bike. Success!

Now, we have two bikes hanging instead of taking up floor space. They are out of the way but convenient for us to get to when we want them. I've been doing enough heavy lifting lately that I opted not to test my strength yesterday or today. Eventually, we'll learn whether I can take down or hang my own heavy bike. If not, I guess that's what I'll have a husband for! :) (Actually, it was his suggestion to let him do the lifting when I need my bike up or down.)

So, we have reclaimed some floor space for other items at a time when our house is getting more full by the day!

The Sand Ceremony works!

2009-03-25T10:11:00.004-04:00

We practiced our sand ceremony yesterday so we could see how pouring two gallons of sand would work for us together. No problems at all. In fact, it's beautiful! We did make some mental notes that we will use on April 4. We're leaving the sand in the container for a few days to make sure we won't have surprises after our wedding.

So, I need your help now. When we pour out the practice sand, we'll have a mix of blue and white. What should we do with twenty pounds of sand?! Leave your ideas in the "hoorays" below. :)

Ten days left! Our house is ready for Keith's furniture.

950,000 seconds!

2009-03-24T14:00:00.002-04:00

I just happened to be on our blog when the clock said we have 950 thousand seconds left before our wedding. That's just shy of eleven days. I'm excited!

We usually don't see each other on Mondays. Last night, we were getting more things done for moving. Keith packed some books and other household supplies. I rearranged four bookshelves and moved the dining room table into the utility room. I guess that's how we commemorated our last Monday apart! :)

Things to do in Macon April 3-5

2009-03-23T13:00:00.005-04:00

If you're planning to be in Macon before or after our wedding, we've compiled a list of ideas of things to do while you're here.

You can see our house on Friday. If you've seen it before, there's a lot that is changed. If you've never been to our house, we invite you to see where we'll be living. We'll have some snacks to munch on, and we'll have directions to lots of places to eat that are within five minutes of our house. For directions, send us an email so we can give you the address. It's pretty easy to find.

We've also put together a list of places to go in Macon during the weekend. We'll have more details for you at supper on April 3 or by email before you arrive. We've got prices and contact information in case you want to make plans in advance.

Ice Skating at the Macon Centreplex
The Lee Boys with Oteil Burbridge at Cox Capitol Theater
Museum of Arts and Sciences
Georgia Music Hall of Fame
City Market on the Green
Ocmulgee Heritage Trail
Amphora Pottery Studio

we've had a great weekend so far!

2009-03-22T10:34:00.003-04:00

A friend of Jennifer's came into town on Friday just to hang out with Keith and Jennifer. Michele lives in Portland, Oregon now, and she was visiting her mom in Birmingham. She drove over to Macon to see us before our wedding because she can't make it in two weeks. We all went to dinner and came back to our house for a game of "Settlers of Catan." We played on the set that Jennifer ordered last fall, but this is the first time we've used it. Keith and Jennifer play so often on the computer together that they know each other's strategies and common mistakes. Jennifer was leading the game with only one point left to win. Keith "conned" Michele into a trade that earned him two more points. Then, he played his secret victory points that put him over the top! Jennifer was floored! Keith reports that he even woke up Saturday morning with a smug look on his face because he made his last move so well! Jennifer says, "Boooooo!!"

On Saturday, there was a a lovely shower. Jennifer's mom came to town, and we exchanged some stuff with her. She brought stuff for our wedding, and we gave her stuff from our house that belongs to her. The shower was very nice, and it was great to see all those people together! Jennifer's mom got to see a friend from many years ago, and it was a nice time for all. The hostesses thought of everything! They even gave us a framed copy of our wedding invitation, which we will have for many years. Jennifer wanted Keith to write another invitation to display at the Friday night supper in two weeks, but we've been so busy that she hasn't been willing to ask him to write it. Now, she doesn't have to ask, and he doesn't have to write another one!

Jennifer's mom wanted to see Washington Park while she was here and make hotel reservations for two more guests. We went to the hotel where the wedding party is staying to try to make reservations, and we learned that Jennifer's conversations with the manager have resulted in mistakes or misunderstandings. It took a while, but we got it all straightened out with the help of the front desk assistant. Jennifer was glad her mom was here to work with her on that! While we were gone for two hours taking care of hotels, Keith was putting together our new grill.

Earlier today, we made final decisions about our honeymoon, and we've got some reservations. Jekyll Island is our destination, and we're taking our bikes with us. We're going to stay at one place for two nights. During those days, we'll check out some other places that we've seen on the internet but aren't sure about yet. If we like them, we'll switch to a new place for our last two nights. If not, we'll extend our current reservations for the last two nights.

Later today, we are hauling the treadmill and a twin bed over to Jennifer's mom's house. That will free up lots of floor space for us. Then, we're taking some Target gift cards and buying a bookshelf. We're thinking about how to use our Lowe's gift cards next.

It's been a great weekend, and we're getting more excited about being married! Over the next week, we'll be shifting furniture around in phases. That will save us from a lot of work in one day, and it will help us make the mental shift to living together. We can't wait to be in the same house!

two weeks before our wedding

2009-03-20T08:15:00.002-04:00

Our weekend plans are primarily moving and wedding focused.

Three ladies from our church are throwing Jennifer a shower on Saturday afternoon. Jennifer's mom is coming, and they'll also get to see a family friend who's known Jennifer for more than twenty years. The theme of the shower is landscaping and home improvement.

We're going to try to get our house a little more organized before we try to combine furniture in a week. We plan to get a new bookshelf, and we want to get a stud-finder that will help us install hooks to hang our bikes from the ceiling in the utility room. We're hoping the bookshelf and hooks in the ceiling will free up some floor space. We also hope to take some stuff to Jennifer's mom's house on Sunday--a twin bed, the treadmill, and the trampoline. If we're really seeing success, we might even empty the storage building and reorganize the items in there to create more usable space. (We already know what we'll use it for if we can do it!)

Can you believe we're down to 15 days before our wedding?! There are so many amazing people who love us coming into Macon in two weeks to share our first day of marriage together. Wow!

Today, Jennifer is finalizing plans with the caterer and hotels. She's also very close to a finished program for the ceremony. We've talked about honeymoon plans just about every day this week, but we're closer to a decision than ever.

Even though all of this feels pretty crazy to us, we realize that it is typical of life for an engaged couple two weeks before a wedding.

We hope you have a good weekend. We're looking forward to bringing some order to our lives just a little bit.

Sand Ceremony logistics

2009-03-17T20:37:00.003-04:00

Ah, Keith's dad made us a GREAT sand ceremony container! He's even got nice feet on it to keep it upright during our wedding. It's heavy, though, so the wire he used to allow us to hang it on the wall is rated at 40 lbs. When I weighed the container, it was nine pounds empty.

Tonight, I ran the numbers. I measured the interior of the container, and I tried to overestimate when I couldn't get exact measurements. Then, I measured the containers of sand, and I underestimated those. I calculated that we'd need a total of 11 cans of sand.

Long ago, Keith and I looked on YouTube for a sand ceremony, and we got some ideas for containers. We thought we could use old wine bottles that we found somewhere to pour the sand. I bought pourers to put in the top a lot like they had in the video.

Several weeks ago, we decided on the dimensions that we'd like for our larger container. Since we're planning to hang it on a wall in our home as a piece of art, we went with 18" by 14".

Earlier this week, I estimated that we'd need at least four wine bottles of sand each. I've been using the bottles to pour sand in the bottom of the flower vases, and they work great. But, then I thought about emptying four of them into the large container, and I realized that it would take forever! Today, my calculations told me that four bottles is about right, and the time we have wouldn't work. I've been thinking for the last two days about other options, and I went to KMart today to look at pouring containers.

Tonight, I've solved the problem and tested the solution. We're going to use one-gallon pitchers. All of the sand for each of us will be one container, so we're not switching glass wine bottles all the time. The pouring takes me about two and a half minutes for an entire gallon of sand (we'll use slightly less each). The gap we have to pour into is narrow, but the lid on the pitcher is just the right size to get nearly all of the sand in there. If we spill a little, it's no big deal. And, one-gallon pitchers are all over town, so we're not having to find eight empty wine bottles!

One more thing: the weight of the container with sand. After I had seven cans of sand in the container, it was more than half full. The new weight was nineteen pounds, so that means seven cans weigh ten pounds. With 12-13 cans of sand in the container in the end (I must have had some estimates that were off earlier), it'll be nine pounds of container and twenty pounds of sand, which is comfortably under our forty pound limit on the hanger. We're still thinking about mounting a shelf on the wall to let it stand up so we don't put the weight on the wire, but we'll decide that later.

Now, I just have to order more sand so we have enough to practice and enough for the wedding. As our explanation about the sand ceremony says in an earlier post, once the sand is joined together, it cannot be separated. At $2 per can, it's worth the money to get a practice run!

If you've gotten this far in this post, then I just want to say that I appreciate you reading along. It is logistics, and I'm pretty good at that. I'm also quite excited to have this one all worked out!

A little planning and a little luck

2009-03-16T10:03:00.002-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, we did the research for the requirements for a marriage license. We can go anytime to get the license, and we know where to go. We thought we'd try to go on a Friday when Keith isn't working, but the weather has not cooperated lately. Keith is working every Friday this month, and we've been a little concerned.

We had the details, but we didn't know how to make it work.

Then, the rain today canceled any outside work. So, today is marriage license day! We checked the requirements one more time, and we'll be prepared when we arrive at the Probate Court this afternoon.

Before April 4, we might not get everything done that we'd like, but this detail is non-negotiable. As of today, it's resolved!

Nineteen days, everybody!

good weekend

2009-03-16T00:11:00.006-04:00

While Keith was out of town this weekend, Jennifer's friends threw her a shower. We met at Amphora Pottery Studio, left for dinner at Cheddar's, and came back to the pottery studio to check out the gifts that everyone brought. We didn't stay up too late, but we sure did have a good time!

Today, after Keith got home, we started talking about honeymoon plans. We're leaving on April 9, so we're 24 days away from taking off out of town. We have a pretty good idea of where we're going, but we'll announce our plans only after we've made reservations. Wedding planning is pretty stressful for us right now for different reasons, so we enjoyed taking time to work on "life after April 4."

One thing that has been really great this weekend is our parents! Jennifer's mom sent a gift for the shower, and it was perfect! Keith's parents got Keith talking more about our wedding than usual, and they told us about their plans for that weekend. The support of our parents was really great this weekend when we're hitting a stressful time. Thanks, y'all! We love you and we appreciate your support more than we can explain.

A few reminders for our guests

2009-03-13T23:41:00.001-04:00

We're three weeks away from our wedding, so it's a good time to handle details.

- If you're coming to the supper on Friday night, the dress will be casual. Jeans are fine, and dressing up will be okay, too. We're pretty sure there will be folks dressed all along the spectrum.

- When you're packing your things to spend some time in Macon, don't forget your umbrella. If it's good weather, we'll be glad. If it's not, we're getting married anyway! :)

- Please send in your response cards and make your hotel reservations if you haven't yet. Those hotel rooms will be released for other people soon.

- Let us know if you plan to take pictures at our wedding. We just want to make sure that someone is planning to do that.

- Check to be sure you have the directions to dinner on Friday and the wedding and reception on Saturday. If you need another copy, we can arrange that, perhaps by email.

What other things should be said here? Use the comments section below to remind each other, or post a question that we can answer. Feel free to use email if that's a better method for you.

The countdown is almost to hours now!

2009-03-12T21:30:00.000-04:00

Jennifer finished the entire project of wedding favors this week, and she's relieved.

Several other projects are wrapping up, too, but there's always more to be done. There's no more putting off tasks.

A woman in a bridal store reminded Jennifer a few weeks ago that most of the wedding details can't be finalized until the few weeks before the wedding. Well, here we are, and she was right.

This weekend, Keith will be out of town, and Jennifer has a shower to enjoy. The Ladies of Honor are both in town this weekend, so Jennifer, Melissa, and Lynne will be having a good time together. While Lynne is here, she's planning for the musicians to rehearse again, and Jennifer will get to see the fruit of their labor.

If we look a little tired, it's because we are. :) It's also related to the time change. Neither of us is ready to sleep when the clock says we should, but we're tired when we get up in the morning. We'll be glad when there's no more driving between two residences.