Today

Dear Auntie,

Today would be your birthday, wouldn't it?
Today, I choose to remember you in your health.
As the lady who loved her obnoxious dogs.
Who used to tell me as a child when we were eating potato chips together that the folded-over ones were especially made for her, so not to eat them when I found them.
Who gave me my first car.
Who was perpetually "sending me a package."
Who took notice of my love for Beanie Babies as a kid and proceeded to inundate me with them on into my teens.
Who made sure that we got the loudest, most complicated toys for Christmas... just to irritate my dad.
Who taught me to love Black Friday shopping and how to check out at the jewelry counter in order to eliminate waiting in line.

Because really, aren't all these things (and many more) what being a good aunt is all about?

So yes, today would be your birthday. And I choose to remember you in your health.

Alone

Dusty is still up in Meade Co, which means I have a lot of time to myself right now.

I'm partly OK with this because life is about to get insane come Monday. But I also find myself just wandering around the apartment, randomly rearranging things, opening the fridge but not getting anything, checking emails, checking Facebook, looking out the window, then starting the whole cycle over again.

I'm fully aware of how corny this sounds but I feel a little lost without him around here to talk to.

When I'm alone like this I get really impulsive. Right now I'm simultaneously wanting to:

1.) Make this grilled veggie pizza I saw on PW this morning
2.) Go see my grandparents
3.) Get some ice cream
4.) Drive out to the lake
5.) Go swimming
and
6.) Buy some nails so I can hang some shelves in the bathroom

Pretty sure that ice cream one is going to win out in the end.

Young Blood

There's some songs that remind me of a certain season in my life. Like Andy Davis' Please Turn Red reminds me of my favorite years from college (so what if it's a break up song?)

Desert Song by Hillsong accurately sums up the past two and a half years of my life in Meade County. Actually, there was a lot of Hillsong/Jesus Culture happening at that time.

The Mumford and Son album Sigh No More (specifically the song The Cave) reminds me of dredging through life at Bluegrass Cellular, when I hated my job and lived for the weekends.

As I start this new season in life at Lindsey Wilson, I wonder what songs will take center stage? Right now, I'm really digging this song by The Naked and Famous:

Empty Room

This little song is a gem.

Garden of Love

In the midst of moving, changing addresses, requesting records, packing, cleaning the old house, cleaning the new apartment, unpacking, driving, dropping things off, picking things up, and general mayhem, today I received a little pick me up at one of my least favorite places on earth: the post office.

Aren't these stamps adorable?

Farewell Feline Friend

Now comes the time in our move where we are desperately trying to find a home for our feral barn cat not so feral, inside/outside house cat.

Before all you haters gonna hate, it was either a cat or a mice-infested home. Clearly we chose wisely.

We've literally asked anyone we could think of if they'd be interested in a cat with extra toes and a slight eating disorder. So far, no takers.

We even asked my parents, and they live 600 miles away.

Rudy came from Dusty's parent's stock of (at the time) 4 cats with the condition of "no givesy backsy" which, in all actuality is exactly what we're going to have to do while we try to find someone to take him.

He is hilarious! How can this not make you laugh:

 I've never seen an animal that literally looked like it would kill you, if only it could.

And really, his favorite past time?

As much as we hate (hate) admitting this, Dusty and I have grown rather attached to this little guy over the years we've been in Meade County. We always joke that one of our favorite past times is making fun of our cat, but deep down we know it's not a joke. He's infamous around our circle of friends for his curmudgeonly old man cat-itude!

So! Who wants him? No seriously, he's got to go. Santa hat not included.

Boxes, Thanksgiving Feast, and Standardized Testing

Well, we're getting into that part of the move where things start getting real.

Up until now, it's just been this big plan that we've had in our heads. We have a course of action but it just seemed so far away!

This was taken last week. Things are looking much, much worse.

But, of course, life can't be as simple as just packing a U-Haul then unloading it again.

While cleaning out the chest freezer in our garage we found, buried at the bottom, a 14 lb turkey.

Naturally, Dusty thought this would be an ideal time to cook up the bird. So while I'm (still) packing stuff up today, he's preparing a Thanksgiving feast, which involved re-opening boxes that were already taped up and ready to go. ("Where's my carving knife?" "Where's the olive oil?") Do you think I'm joking?

On top of that mountain of poultry, today I found out that in order to get my scores in time to apply for grad school, I will have to take the GRE next Tuesday. This was not negligence on my part; the GRE is being revised and test scores starting in August will be delayed by three months.

Jesus take the wheel!

What am I doing to combat the grumpies? Playing Tiny Tower on my iPad in between boxes, listening to a little Flo+The Machine, and enjoying the turkey aroma that will soon be permeating my home. Possibly some light cardio, and definitely a glass of wine tonight.

BIG News

I can finally write a post about what's been going on around these parts lately! Freedom, sweet freedom.

For a short, short exposition:

Last year I decided I wanted to start my Master's degree. There were two problems with this:

1. The program I wanted to attend is at WKU in Bowling Green (which trusty Google Maps says is about 2 hours from where I live)
2. We're broke. 

So I kind of put it on the back burner. It was one of those, "Maybe I'll do that some day," kind of things. That is, until the Lord brought it to the front. 

As of August 1st I will be an employee at Lindsey Wilson College, in Columbia, KY! I will be joining the Residence Life and Student Activities departments as an Apartment Manager and Assistant Student Activities Director. Dusty and I are so incredibly excited about joining the LWC community! We've been looking for jobs since about January, and this was the first one that we both felt we really, really wanted. 

So- what does getting my Master's degree and getting a new job have in common? As it turns out: everything!

Usually when someone gets hired at a college or university, they also receive as a benefit free tuition at that establishment. 

Listen to how good the Lord is right now: as an employee at Lindsey Wilson I can choose to go wherever I want! And guess what program is a mere hour away from where we'll be living? None other than the one at WKU, where I've been wanting to go all along.

Did you catch that? God took my two biggest obstacles and demolished them, like completely. 

Currently, our house is in shambles, I don't know where anything is, and Rudy is starting to have crazy eyes all the time. (Incidentally if anyone would like a cat with 7 toes on each paw and a slight health condition that is completely taken care of with a certain kind of food quite easily located at your local Wal-Mart, you're in luck!)

In my first draft of this post I had written out a very detailed bulleted list of our Relocation Timeline, but who cares right? Just know that we will be between Columbia and Meade County a lot, a lot, a lot this month and our last day at Buck Grove (and, consequently, Dusty's job) is July 31. 

Dusty is still looking for employment down there. Are we worried? Hello! Have you read the rest of this super long post? Of course not! The Lord is good and he will not leave us destitute. 

Phew! It feels so good to get all this out. The best part about waiting so long to tell everyone is I've largely avoided Tweeting/Facebooking in a very whiny fashion every step we've taken in packing the house so far. 

More to come! (Fun news, not whiny news. Promise.)