RTT: Summertime, School, Mother's Day, etc.

It's Random Tuesday Thoughts, brought to you by Stacy at Stacy Uncorked! Be sure to check out her blog and link up if you want to participate! 

 

• It's finally summertime! We got to get in the pool yesterday and even though it was really, really cold at first, we stayed in for about 30 minutes or so. Today it's supposed to be upwards of 89°F, so I'm hoping we can go swim again when J gets off work! 
• We decided to keep Tobias around for now. I love him so much and it breaks my heart to think about finding him a new home, so we're looking into getting him de-clawed. He has been scratching up the furniture lately and we can't afford for him to do that. We really can't afford for him to scratch the baby when he/she arrives, so Toby needs those little daggers gone! 
  
• ^^Toby listening to the baby yesterday. :) 
• I'm 29 weeks as of yesterday! I am so excited! I can't wait to meet my little "acorn!"
• My first Mother's Day as a mother-to-be was wonderful! J got me this beautiful necklace (the little diamond represents our little "acorn!"):
  
• J and I went to church at Somerville Baptist and they gave all the mothers a little purse mirror:
  
•  After church, we ate at Cracker Barrel. Then we went home to let the girls go outside to potty. J gave me my second mother's day present. It's a calendar to record the baby's first year. (It's pink, but he said that since I'm the one filling it out, it doesn't matter if we have a boy or girl. ): 
  
• After resting a bit at home, we went to the Huntsville Botanical Gardens. It was such a beautiful day! J took this pic of me standing on the bridge:
  
• This past Saturday, J and I had maternity pics taken by my friend Audrey. It rained the entire time we were shooting and only stopped just after we were done for the day! But, even though it was raining, we had a great time and it was well worth it! Here's my favorite so far:
  
• I made A's in American Literature, Psychology, and Physical Science and I made a B in Calculus! New semester starts the 23rd. I'm only taking Art Appreciation and Physical Science II. I'm hoping it will be an easy semester.

That's all I've got for now. Please pray for the victims of the tornado outbreak in Oklahoma. 

RTT: Nesting and Breaking up our Family

So last week, I got a nesting itch and had to have Jeremy help me rearrange the bedroom. We moved the bed from one wall to the other and then moved everything else around the room to accommodate the bed's new position. I liked it pretty well except for the fact that our bedroom will soon become the baby's room since we aren't moving. 

We looked at houses for rent in our area, but our apartment complex requires two months prior notice before moving out. I think it's ridiculous...it's not as if they can show/rent the property while we're living here. They also require a fee of one month's rent to break the lease. We don't want to pay that and we don't have anywhere to move, thanks to the sequestration. *grumble grumble* So it looks like we're going to have to make our small two-bedroom apartment work for now. Which means we will have to get rid of Tobias. :( I love my Toby. I mean, look at this sweet pic of him when he was a baby:

 And this one:

He is the most loving cat that I've ever known. He calls me "mama" and begs to be picked up when I let him out of his room in the mornings. He has calmed down a lot now that he is almost two. It's just, we live in a two bedroom apartment! There is nowhere to put his litter boxes and I can't have him climbing into the crib with the baby. Since the baby will have his/her own room, Toby won't have his own room anymore and he really needs to be put up at night since he is a cat after all...mischievous and curious. 

I had the nesting itch again last night and I had Jeremy help (read: Jeremy did all the hard work) me move our bedroom to Toby's room (which is the apartment's master bedroom b/c it has a bathroom). We moved everything from that closet to the storage closet and then the baby clothes/gear went into our old closet. Our old bedroom is still a disaster, but the master bedroom is in working order and I cleaned the tub out today (Toby's litter boxes were in that bathroom). 

Now Toby's litter boxes are in the guest bath, which means the entire hallway stinks because J hasn't cleaned them out in awhile. We can't put Toby in that bathroom at night because it's just too small and he begs to be out. We can't leave him out in the "general population," as J calls the apartment as a whole, because he gets into stuff. 

It just breaks my heart...
I don't want to have to find my little furry buddy a new home...I loves him.

 Link up with Stacy Uncorked for more randomness. She's been crafty this week!

Wordless Wednesday

RTT: For the love of the couch!

This post is gonna mostly be about a couch... More specifically, our first couch. This couch:

Here it is in Elijah's Barrel, next to the ottomon that I later bought.

Still in the Thrift Shop, Elijah's Barrel-March 2009.

We lived in our first apartment in Pell City, AL for 5 months without a couch. 

I loved the little thrift shop in downtown Pell City and visited it often,

especially after work. I found our couch for a steal- $250.

Mom came over with the truck and helped us move it the short mile to our apartment.

Here's Jeremy and our precious nephew, Boog (at 9 months old :).

Bit-Bit...that flash is bright!

Here's the couch on moving day in August 2009.

  

From there, the couch and the rest of our stuff, went into storage 

for almost two years while J was deployed and after while he was looking

for a job. Then we moved to Anniston. Here's Bina snoozing on the couch. :)

Then Tobias joined our family and he loves to lounge on the couch too! Here is with

his Daddy and Bina.

 Later, Boo-Boo joined the family and got to enjoy the couch too!

 And then Boopsie came along and snuggled up to the couch

Then we moved to Madison and our living room is huge,

but our couch was the only thing to sit on.

Reba joined our family and she got to enjoy the

couch for a couple of days before we decided she was too 

hyper to be on it...but I captured her enjoyment. :) 

 And Boopsie came to stay with us for 5 days and she enjoyed

the couch some more.

Now it's time to say goodbye to our lovely couch. :( 

We've bought new furniture and even though we want to hold

onto the first piece of furniture we bought together, we don't

have enough room for it. 

Our couch has seen many family moments, held many a babe

and puppy and been the perfect place to hang out or take a nap.

I'm really going to miss it. :(

For more random stuff that doesn't involve my couch, visit Stacy at Stacy Uncorked and link up to Random Tuesday Thoughts! :) Have a great Tuesday! 

RTT: Cat crap, Homework, Justin Moore and Freaky Friday

• Saturday, Jeremy and I went to the Lincoln County Fair in Fayetteville, TN. It was pretty cool except for the sun being in my face the whole afternoon. I rode the Sea Dragon

•  and Jeremy rode the Free Fall thingy that takes you to the top of a pole and then drops you

Jeremy is second from the right.

• After Jeremy rode that thing, we got a lemonade, but it wasn't that great. The guy squeezed one lemon into some sugar water. I couldn't even drink it. Jeremy had to. Then I stood in the line for the spinning thingy that Jeremy wanted to ride. It was ridiculously scary-looking. I took a video. Try not to get too dizzy watching it! Jeremy is in the second or third seat from the left. I can't be sure now. Well...psych! I couldn't get the video to load.

• Afterwards we walked through the fun house...it was really lame. Then we just walked around until it was almost time for the concert. Then we had some corndogs and J had some onion rings. The corndog was great.

• My phone decided to die just a few minutes into the concert, so I only got a few crappy pics. 

You can't see his face in any of the pics I took, but the one pic I took of his equipment truck turned out great. 

• We were freezing and since we had waited over an hour after the concert was supposed to start, we decided to leave only 45 minutes after the concert started. It was sooo cold and we were both wearing shorts and t-shirts. We walked back to the car and went to get something to eat in the town nearby. After we ate, we stopped at the Alabama/Tennessee state line to get lotto tickets. We actually won $100 on one ticket! It was great. It paid for our trip to the fair. How ridiculous are fair prices??

• So Sunday, I had a really horrible morning. Tobias crapped in the tub even though his litterbox wasn't that dirty. (Good thing I didn't take a picture of that!) And Reba ate an entire bowl of Sabrina's food. So ridiculous since afterwards, I had to walk her like 200 times, all while trying to write an English paper that was due today. 
• Speaking of the paper--I got a B. WTH? My teacher is way too strict with her grading. Apparently I'm too wordy or something. Hmm... 
• Just finished watching one of my favorite movies(Uh-oh, I used a prepositional phrase...that's too wordy!)--Freaky Friday. Not the newer version with Lindsay Lohan, but the older version with Jodie Foster.

That's all the randomness I can muster this week. I have about a bajillion notes to do in math. Head on over to Stacy Uncorked to keep up with the randomness. Keely is never coming back...ever! is still on hiatus and Stacy is still holding down the fort, so to speak. Hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday!

**Random note: The women on "Say YES to the dress" are really snotty and needy! Good grief..

Wordless Wednesday

RTT: Cat-Interruptus, Online Splurging, Ivy then and now...etc.

• The most annoying sound on earth is a the sound of a cat grooming itself or a dog licking itself. Disgusting!
• Does your cat need to be held or "loved on" often? Mine does...especially if I am sitting at my desk doing schoolwork. 

• What special allowances do you make for your pets? I put a blanket on my desk for Toby to lay on so he doesn't try to lay on my books or laptop.

• If you have a cat, what does it most like to get into? Mine loves to get into the trash and knock it over. He's always looking for Q-tips.
• I finally got my plant to look like it isn't dying! My Mama helped, but I have kept it alive...so that counts! 

2011                  2012

•  Do you like to buy things online? I do. I recently purchased a book for my History 201 class online {but accidentally sent it to my Mom's address...} and a necklace from The {Posh} Daisy! Yesterday I ordered 4 books from the Bargain bin on BAM's website and they arrived this afternoon {Wednesday}! Awesome Sauce!

 

• Can anyone please tell me why the pictures I add to a blog post always show up under the last picture posted, or they start at the top if they're the first photo? I always have to copy and paste my text above the photo, because it won't let me rearrange the photo by clicking and dragging. It's quite annoying! 
• I had to meet J on the base this morning at 11 so that he could pick me up at the Visitor's Center to get me through the gate. I didn't realize it, but my Military ID expired on the 11th and I was afraid they wouldn't let me on base. Anyway, they wouldn't let me fill out the information or renew my ID without J present. So ridiculous! Anywho, I got it all done and hopefully I won't have so much trouble next time! 

Sorry this is late, I've been trying to catch up in my History and English classes and the teachers keep adding more work to do! Ugh! Hope everyone had a great Tuesday!
Head on over to visit Stacy who is still keeping the Randomness alive while Keely has abandoned us for all eternity! is still on sabatical... :) 

 

Meet the newest addition to the Oaks family!

No, it's not a baby...well, not a human baby anyway. lol.

Meet 'Reba'!

{Formerly known as Regina}

She is supposedly a Red Heeler mix, but I think she looks

very German Shepherd. I looked up pics of Red Heelers though, and

she does look a lot like them.

She is about 7 months old and we adopted her from the Madison

Animal Rescue Foundation, MARF, Saturday, 11 August 2012. 

She is super-playful and sweet, loves to chase a ball, play with her squeaky toy

and eats like it's going out of style! LOL.

Here are a few pics I got of her with Sabrina and playing ball with Daddy!

Sabrina's first photo with her new baby sister!

Waiting [patiently] for Daddy to throw the ball.

Not so patiently.

Jumping for it...

Taking a quick break!

And not to leave out my first baby girl...

My precious Bina got a haircut Saturday and she looks so

pretty! I love our fur-babies!

Here's a pic of Toby pretending to be a lion:

 Rawr!

 ♥

That Darn Cat

I'm annoyed.
 Last night while we were sitting in bed, Jeremy was watching TV, while I read. I had already put Tobias to bed. (He sleeps in the bathroom since I don't fully trust him to not destroy stuff while we're sleeping.) He would NOT shut up, so Jeremy told me to just let him out. Surprisingly, he did really well. I read until almost 2 and he laid by my shoulder sleeping until I finished the book. I turned off the light and rolled over to go to sleep and he didn't bother me all night. Unfortunately, he did come crying to me a few times this morning, wanting me to open the blinds in the living room. {He sits there most of the day, staring out the window.} I told him no and went back to sleep. LOL.

 When I finally got up, because he woke me up again, I went to let Sabrina outside and as I was walking by the bathroom in the hall, I got a strong whiff that smelled suspiciously like urine. I thought maybe Jeremy hadn't flushed or something. Although, he almost always remembers. I went into the bathroom and looked around, but didn't see any puddles. So, I went outside with Bina and after she pottied, we came back inside. I went back in the bathroom and stepped on the towel in front of the tub. It was wet. I knew that Jeremy hadn't showered this morning, since he showered last night. So, it shouldn't still be wet. I picked up the towel and smelled it. Sure enough, someone had peed on it. I know it couldn't have been Bina, since it would have made a lot bigger wet spot if she had peed. I popped Toby on the butt and put him in his bathroom. He's still in there. I will leave him in there an hour, before he can come out. This is not the first time he has done this. 

 When I was packing up his bathroom {because we're moving, remember?}, I left the shower curtain laying in the floor. I put him to bed the first night and he didn't bother it. Then, the next night, he peed all over it, the extra bags I keep in there for cleaning out his litter box and then the shower stall. I was livid! It took forever for me to clean it up and get rid of the awful smell.  I ended up just throwing away the shower curtain and bleaching the entire bathroom.

 Anyone have any idea why he is doing this? He has his own litter box and I clean it out every other day, which is usually not a problem. I assumed he was just mad at me when he peed on the shower curtain, or upset because Jeremy had been gone almost two weeks, at the time. But, he has no reason to be upset and pee on the towel in the bathroom. It really upsets me when he acts crazy like this. For some reason, it stresses me out to the point that I want to get rid of him. And I really don't want to do that; I do love him. I'm hoping to get him fixed soon and maybe that will end all of his acting out. 

Anyone have any suggestions until then?

Wordless Wednesday

RTT: "Here are your buh-ooks"...

Haven't posted an RTT in awhile. I always come up with the best posts in my head right before bed or while I'm busy doing something else and then by the time Tuesday rolls around, my brain is fried and all I can remember is if when my crops are ready on Farmville.

Watched one of mine and my bestie, Amy's favorite movies the other day. She's the Man. We practically know every line. :P "I gotta lifetime-a knowledge."

The bug man came today to put some peanut-butter-looking-gunk in the cabinets. I haven't seen any bugs in our kitchen other than the ants at the beginning of summer and this is the first time this guy has been around since he sprayed in June. Hmm... Must be because we're fairly clean people. He said he services 1300 apartments every month and he sees some really nasty places. And all I'm thinking is I hope none are hitching a ride on your clothes. 

My new niece will be here on Monday! I can't wait! I'm so excited! My sister accuses me of not caring because I never visit with her. But seriously, it's an HOUR away. I HATE driving period and an hour is so tedious. I really do love my nieces and nephews though. 

Speaking of my sister; she LOVES Christmas and since she's going to be taking care of a newborn and two toddlers between Thanksgiving and Christmas, she's already put up her Christmas decorations and wrapped the presents she's already bought... Have I gotten any shopping done? No. And I probably won't be able to do much, since no one is hiring and J will be out of work for two weeks during Christmas. He really wants to go see his brothers in Florida over the break and right now, that isn't possible. If we sell my old car, then we will be able to go on Vacay...maybe. I just hope everyone understands that we won't be able to buy much this Christmas. That's not what it's all about anyway. Maybe I'll make 'em something. Anyone want to donate some toilet paper rolls and glue? I'm serious about this...

J is using my car this week since his is out of gas. I took him back to work today after lunch and then went to the library. They called me yesterday to let me know a book I had reserved a month or more ago, was finally in. The Help by Kathryn Stockett! I'm so excited. Right now, though, I'm reading Wanna Get Lucky? by Deborah Coonts. I was contacted via email by a publicity manager for Deborah Coonts. She wanted to recommend the book because I love Janet Evanovich. 

 So far, I've read 180 something pages and I LOVE it! She's right about it being similar to Janet Evanovich's characters but not too similar. I love how they flow quickly and make you want to keep reading until dawn. Also, I noticed some similarities between characters in this book and Jessica Speart's Rachel Porter series. Where Lucky has an apartment neighbor/best friend who dresses in drag and is straight, Rachel has {in one of the books} a best friend/neighbor who dresses in drag and is gay. Really similar there and in a few other areas Wanna Get Lucky? reminds me of Stephanie Plum {in Janet Evanovich's books} where she has more than one hottie vying for her attention. Can't wait to see what happens next!

I'm tired of fighting for the keyboard with Tobias, so I'm going to go work on a puzzle. Hope everyone has a great Tuesday! :) This time next week, I'll have a new baby niece! :):):)

Not enough random for you? Check out Stacy's blog, Stacy Uncorked; she's still hosting this shindig!