The Gist of July

I know that I have not blogged very much this month, but I have been super busy! I decided to take six hours of graduate courses, and they completely consumed my days. I was constantly working on reading chapters, writing article reviews, making projects, and studying. I worked from morning until night on school work...so much for sleeping in. I would occasionally wonder, "why am I doing this?" OH! That’s right...I want a master's degree. Live and learn. I will never take six hours of summer courses in the same month again. I like to have a life in the summer, especially since I do not feel like I have much of one during the school year. But, I did survive it and now I am waiting on my grades. Fall semester start on August 17th, and I will be taking classroom management.

On July 18th, I got to go the a baby shower for Sherry Kershner, Aex Kershner's wife. Michael and Alex have been friends since high school. Now he is about to be a daddy to Kalli Kershner.

Sherry the "mommy-to-be" The shower had great food and some fun games. We had to cut off a ribbon that we thought would go around Sherry's belly. I did not win, but it was still fun. That was just one of the games though. Good times. We can't wait for Kalli to be here. It won't be long!

Dad and Nina came for a short visit. It was good to catch up. He and Nina had been going through boxes and passed on about five or six of them to me. They were filled with really old stuff....I mean really really old stuff. Momma and Benny came to visit too. They were making the Mississippi rounds. Momma helped me go through the boxes. It was mainly baby clothes and such. It was good getting to see Momma. I hadn't seen her since she tied the knot. She and Benny got to be our first guest to sleep in the extra room. I made waffles for them in the morning. It was a very quick trip. They got here about 10pm and left by 9am. They had a 12 hour drive home!

I had a new teacher orientation for Byram Middle School and Hinds County Central Office. They were separate orientations. I am super excited and nervous about the upcoming year. Everyone has been really nice. I have started to make some new friends at work. I found out that all the 7th grade math teachers are new to BMS, and I have the most teaching experience. That is a scary thought, because I only have 1 1/2 years experience in third grade. I am sure I am going to learn a lot this year. Everyone I am working with now seems really great. We bonded during all the orientations. On August 5th we will get to meet all the veteran teachers. BMS has 105 employees! I better come up with a good trick to learn names quickly.

Well, I guess our big news of the month is Michael and I bought a car! Michael has been car hunting for a while. He desperately needed a new vehicle. I am so glad that we were able to get him one. It is a Saturn L300. It is silver with four doors and black leather interior. It has about 72,000 miles on it. Yes, I know it is our third Saturn car. What can I say? We like them. We have history in the Saturn cars. Our senior year while we were dating we would go and sit in our cars for hours after school and just talk with drinks from Sonic. Okay, enough of memory lane. The car was at a dealership in Louisiana, so he had to go on a road trip to get it. Michael and his best friend, Will Everett, loaded in Will's truck about at 5:30 a.m. and headed out. They got to the dealership and Michael purchased the car. On their way back and after eating some benyeahs
(Ican't spell), Michael noticed smoke coming out of Will truck. They pull over to find out something is wrong with the transmission and have to get a tow truck. The tow truck took 3 hours to get there! Needless to say they had and adventure...and I don't know if I would call it a good one. But, they both got home safe and sound. Thank goodness!

Us in the "new to us" car for the first time!

Us and the car at Will and Ginger's

We are very proud of it. It is our first car to buy together. A definite milestone! We went to Will and Ginger Everett's to celebrate. Ginger cooked spaghetti, made salad, and baked pumpkin bread. YUM, YUM, YUM!

Well, I guess that is the gist of July!

Our Little Hole in the World

After living in Byram for about 2 months, I have finally got the apartment set-up and settled in. There are a few more items that we need....but we will get them in time. So, this blog is to get a tour through our little home.

Welcome! and come on in!

This is the living room. I was super excited we have a fireplace and mantle. Michael says that we aren't going to use the fireplace, but we might change his mind when winter gets here. I still need candles to put in the candle holders in front of the fireplace. I decorated the mantle with the wonderful pottery my Saltillo Elementary friends gave me, the Willow Tree figurine Courtney gave me, and our wedding picture. I was really proud with how it turned out. I have never gotten to decorate a mantle before.

This is the other half of our living room. We are in search for a much needed coffe table.
This is the dining/kitchen area. As you can see, we need a dinning room set of a table and chairs. We are looking for those too.

The sink side of the kitchen.

The cooking side of the kitchen. And yes, I do cook :) The aparment came with a brand new stove. I was thrilled!

The master bathroom. Michael has a bin, and I have my own bin.

The shower.

The guest bathroom. You can't really tell from the picture, but the rectangular white thing leaning against the mirror is a cartoon picture of me and Michael from our graduation night. I can't believe I found it when I was unpacking.

My laundry area. Notice that that I say MY laundry area. Michael doesn't do any laundry, and it is not because he refuses to. He would gladly do it if I needed him to....but I have a particular way I like the laundry to be done. It is just better that he stays out of the way. I am sure some of you wives out there understand where I am coming from.

Our guest bedroom.

with the office area and my treadmill..but I didn't want to post a picture of the treadmill.

We finally got to hang up Michael's fish that's mounted.

The master bedroom

I hope you enjoyed the tour!