Top 10 Things I Miss About Middle Tennessee

Well, it's been a month since our family relocated to Knoxville! We're slowly getting acclimated to the area and beginning meeting neighbors. I'm even going to play in our neighborhood Bunko group starting in October, so I'm very excited about this! However, there are some things I miss desperately about Middle Tennessee:

1) Family: Goes without saying!
2) Friends: Ditto
3) Our Church and Lifegroup: We are so sad Sunday afternoons thinking about Lifegroup!!
4) Publix: Yes, this is 4th on my list! I miss Publix SO much! Food City here in Knoxville is nasty!
5) Sunset Grill: Many late nights after a movie or a night out, Josh and I would stop in for their Habanero Bread Pudding. There's nothing like a spicy/sweet dessert and this bread pudding is amazing!
6) Mama Mia's: Josh and I are on the hunt for an Italian restaurant that comes close to how much we loved Mama Mia's! A $5 cork fee is unbeatable!
7) Nashville Predators: The TN Titans didn't make this list because we drive back for every home game, but it's unlikely we'll be able to make it back to any Pred's games because so many are during the week.
8) Bunko/Bunco/Girls Supper Club/Couples Supper Club: I grouped these together because truly, it's about the social aspect of getting together with friends and enjoying each others company! I miss all of you!
9) Our family physicians/vet: This is a strange one, but have you ever had to start from scratch finding your primary care doctor, your pediatrician, your obstetrician, etc? It's tough, especially when we loved our doctors in Nashville!
10) Shane, my hairstylist: My hair is so impossible to cut, that this weekend's trip to Nashville included a trip to see Shane. It's SO hard to find a stylist that can actually cut my hair properly without making me look like Gilda Radner. :) I'm not sure how long I'll continue to go to Shane, since there's a chance he's moving out of Franklin, so I've got to get on the ball and find another salon quickly!

What a Crazy Two Weeks!

Well, Josh, Addison and I are slowly getting settled into our new home. We have approximately 15 boxes left to unpack, which is a breeze considering we have already opened 50 + boxes! Slowly but surely we'll get it all done! During these two weeks, Addison has cut two teeth AND Josh and I took our annual trip to Chicago. We ate like kings and as a result, I feel like I need to go on a veggie strict diet! A good cleansing after 2 trips to Giordano's would do me good!

Maggie finally made it back with us to Knoxville. She's a bit confused but loves her back yard and we've gone on several walks to help her get acclimated to the area! We'll be back in Nashville this weekend for the Titans game and will visit the condo to make sure it's still in good shape!

Pregnant for 46 Years....

Let me preface this post: If you are pregnant or have a weak stomach, stop reading this post immediately. It's would not be wise for you to read this.



Somehow, I always find myself watching the craziest shows on TLC and The Discovery Channel. It seems they all end up about miraculous pregnancies or strange illnesses...most involving some "viewer discretion" because of the possibility of viewing something that would make the normal viewer squeamish. I LOVE these shows...you can't get me to watch a gory horror movie (i.e. "Saw"), but I'll watch a surgery on T.V. any day.

I watched a program last night on TLC entitled "Pregnant for 46 Years." It caught my attention immediately. A 75 year old woman from Morocco talked about how she was pregnant 46 years ago, went into labor and was unable to have the baby naturally. She was terrified at the thought of having a C-Section after viewing another woman die in the hospital, so she went back home!!! She labored for 3 more days and then the labor pains stopped and the baby stopped moving. Her culture believed in a "sleeping baby," so that's just what she thought it had done...gone to sleep inside of her.

Fast forward 46 years. She begins to have the same pains again and her adopted son insisted she go to the hospital. Long story short, her pregnancy had been an ectopic one, but the unique thing about it was that the baby had implanted OUTSIDE her womb and the placenta was attached to several vital organs. Apparently this is rare. They did surgery and removed a "stone" baby....a baby that dies inside the mother and then the body begins to build a calcified wall around it. This woman had carried her baby for 46 years! I couldn't help but cry...you could see everything about this baby...it's arms, fingers, etc. SO sad.

The IRONIC thing about this is that this woman LIVED because of her fear of surgeries. In 1955, if they had attempted to remove the baby and placenta, she would have bled to death because while the vital organs were able to establish an ample blood supply to the baby, those new blood vessels would never have been able to shrink back.

It's amazing what the body will do to protect itself from harm.

Opening Ceremonies

I listen to Way-FM on a daily basis, specifically their new on-air morning personality Brant. I like his program because it's entertaining, yet leans towards the intellectual side. Brant talked this morning a bit about the Olympic Opening Ceremonies that will air tonight, and about how he always gets the goose-bumps when all the countries begin their processional into the Olympic arena. I found myself nodding my head in agreement. It truly is a wonderful sight to behold...all these countries coming together in the spirit of friendly competition and peace. Brant then went on to quote a few verses from the bible: Revelations 21

24 The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory. 25 Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there. 26 And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city.

He said it's no wonder that we all get goose-bumps and feel a bit of excitement when we witness the pomp and circumstance of the games....it's a small glimpse of what will come when we all meet our Maker.

I got goose-bumps.

The To-Do List is Getting Shorter

We met with our real estate agent Saturday and have decided to list our home beginning August 7. The windows are in and are scheduled to be installed this week and we are setting up someone to come out and stretch/steam the carpeting. Josh is also 3/4 of the way finished pressure washing our deck. I am AMAZED at how effective a pressure washer is. The deck really does look much better! Other than these things, the only thing left we have planned is to paint the master bath. Originally, we were going to leave it as-is, but after a closer inspection have decided that it needs a fresh coat of paint. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish this at night when Addison goes down at 7.

This Wednesday is my last supper club with the girls for awhile. I'm hosting and since I have ZERO food in the house, nor do I wish to go grocery shopping, we are ordering pizza! I hope they can all see past the clutter and especially the pressure washer sitting in the kitchen!

We are officially 18 days away from closing on our new house! On top of all this, I think I'm coming down with the sniffles!

Successful Weekend

Josh and I had a successful weekend house hunting! We made an offer on a house and had 2 more we were willing to make offers on! The first home accepted our offer and we will be closing August 22. That's right around the corner! I officially have heartburn and think I may have a stroke in this whole process! Josh has purchased a home before, I haven't. This is all new to me! We are excited but the next few weeks are gonna be crazy!!! Keep us in your thoughts and prayers! Here's a couple pics of the house!

Headed East

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Hopefully, we will find a house this weekend! Have a good one and I'll update everyone in a few days with the results of our house hunting!

"My Paper Heart" and our Broken Windows....

The window guy came out this morning and gave us an estimate on replacing 3 window panes in our front room that have lost their seal. It wasn't nearly as expensive as I thought is was going to be! We're going to order the windows and it will take 2-3 weeks before they arrive. Wayne, the guy who came out to give the estimate, was really nice and has been with the company for 20+ years.

I need to sidetrack for a bit. I became a fan of Christian Radio and Christian Music Artists about 3 years ago. The Christian Music scene has come a long way from Sandi Patti (no offense, she has her own market, it's just not me). My generation and younger have been searching for Christian music that is relevant and contemporary and the record labels have definitely been making strides in the past few years.

This past Monday I won the new Francesca Battistelli CD, "My Paper Heart," on 89.1 NAZ. I happen to love her new song, "I'm Letting Go" that is currently playing on the radio, so I thought "what the hay!" I'll just call in to see if I win. I did! I received the CD yesterday and listened to 3/4 of it on the way into work today. It's really great! She has a fantastic voice, a definite country twang that is reminiscent of Leann Rimes and Carrie Underwood. Yet, she has her own sound. Vocally her tone is deeper and has a richness to it unlike any artist currently on the Contemporary Christian scene. Many of her songs have undertones of steel guitar, piano, organ and strings, but the songs stay true to a bluesy/pop sound. You can listen to the album on her website (link above) and decide for yourself!

Honey Do list...(I'm the Honey)

Well, Josh is off to Knoxville again this morning! Another lonely week for all of us...I am planning to drive over Friday night after work and we'll view homes on Saturday and Sunday. Keep you fingers crossed we find something we like AND are successful in making an offer! To be honest, the properties are all starting to run together and it's hard to keep a fresh perspective on each house we view.

No real plans this week but to keep cleaning the house (it can't be TOO clean) and call several glass contractors to come out and bid us on replacement of some of the window panes in our front room. Josh and I had noticed that they were foggy and the home inspector recommended we go ahead and get them replaced. He said the seal was broken. I have NO idea how much this is going to cost us, but hopefully with 3 bids, we should be able to go with the cheapest of the most expensive! :)

As far as other home repairs go, we had some drain tube replaced on the A/C per recommendation AND we need to paint the upstairs bathroom (it's in desperate need). I will not want for anything to do for the next few weeks, my plate is full!

Moo Moo is on Vacation!

I'm sad. Josh and I made the decision last night to let Leslie and Nate keep Maggie until we move. We decided this for a few reasons: 1) It's an uphill battle staying on top of the dog hair and frankly, I don't have the time right now to keep redoing tasks (sweeping, vacuuming) every day; 2) We feel it would be traumatizing to Moo Moo to keep shuffling her back and forth between our houses while we make trips to Knoxville; and 3) The house will likely begin to show next week and we would have to keep her in her crate all day long. That's just not fair to her. So, she's on vacation. Nate and Leslie love her to pieces and are happy to have her around (Nate asked if they could keep her forever) and I know she's having fun running like crazy in their big back yard. I'm still sad about it! We hope she will love the new home we buy and the fence we plan to build for her so she can live out her last years in doggie bliss! :)

May I Offer You a Piece of Gum?

Day two of physical therapy. For those who are unaware, my neck/upper back locked up early last week. Whenever I am under stress or sleep funny or just turn the wrong way, it gets irritated and flares up. The last time it locked this bad was a year and 2 months ago. The earliest I can remember it occuring was in college after water aerobics class. Go figure. I thought water aerobics was supposed to be easy on your joints! I don't really know why I have this problem, but my PT guy says my right shoulder blade is weak and that contributes to it.

Anyway, my PT guy is great. There's only one problem. I didn't want to jump to any conclusions, because we all have bad days in this department, but it was evident again today. He has chronic halitosis. It's so bad, I have to breathe through my mouth. :( I feel really bad for the guy.

Moving on, he did some neck massage and chiropractic stuff today that went a LONG way in relieving my pain and stiffness. I am very grateful and am happy to report no real pain at the moment! Being at home alone right now with Addison is very challenging when your upper back is stiff, so I'll take the relief!

Don't Let the Door Hit Ya....

OK, so I told work yesterday we are moving. Right now it doesn't look like they can transfer me to the Knoxville branch~hiring freeze. Completely understandable, however I hope the second something comes open, I'll be notified.

I'm set to work until the end of August...

We are here this weekend to meet with appraisers, real estate agents and the moving company.

I'll be back in Kville the following weekend to look at more houses. Josh and I are seriously considering making an offer on a house that needs quite a bit of work. It's in a great area, the yard is fantastic and the exterior of the house is lovely. The interior is another story. The owners thought it would be a great idea to wallpaper the kitchen and all the bathrooms. They went so far as to wallpaper the light and electrical switches. It needs all new appliances and new carpeting/hardwoods. If we do make an offer, it will be quite low because of all the work needed. We'll definitely more than make back our dues at Direct Buy. The home has been on the market for 4 months and is empty, so we know the sellers are motivated. We'll know better after our second round of home viewing.

The Scenic Route, squared.

We viewed 6 houses yesterday. All were a disappointment and one was frightening it was in such bad shape (ripped carpeting, shoddy patch jobs, possible foundation issues). We actually viewed a house yesterday where the owners claimed that the bonus room was a bedroom and vice-versa. The agent said that the selling agent could actually be fined for misrepresenting bedrooms like that. We were frustrated because it wasted our time.

Arrived back in Nashville this morning around 9 am, 12 hours later than planned. The overturned tractor-trailer put a kink in my trip back. Apparently, when Titanium Tetrachloride mixes with water, it forms hydrochloric acid. I-40 both directions was closed and so I thought last night I'd take the scenic route back (couldn't take 70, it was closed as well). Took I-75 to Sweetwater and went 68 back to Crossville. Somewhere along the way, I missed the 68 turn off and ended up on Hwy 27 back to Roane County!! I wasted an hour and a half, so I drove back to Knoxville, stayed one more night in the hotel with Josh and woke up this morning at 4:30 am to try it again.

I-40 was closed AGAIN this morning, so I tried taking Hwy 68. This time, I made sure I knew where I'd missed the turn off and successfully made it to Crossville. Some things I didn't know about East TN: 1) I didn't know we had a nuclear power plant at Watts Bar Dam; 2) I didn't know that we had a Watts Bar Dam; 3) Hwy 68 is the evacuation route for the nuclear power plant in the event of a meltdown; and 4) if you work as a doctor or nurse, apparently there is an outlet store for scrubs in Sweetwater, although I'm not sure it would be worth your time to drive out to the middle of nowhere to purchase them??

Anyway, I am completely exhausted this morning and it's not even lunchtime.

Petro's, A Little Bit of Heaven in a Cup

We viewed 5 houses yesterday! At the advice of our agent, we limited it to 5 since she said they would start to run together, but Josh and I both feel like we could've handled a couple more. Most of the houses we saw yesterday were nice but had flaws we couldn't ignore. We DID view a house of a former Olympian. I won't disclose the name, obviously, but this person won an ESPY as well! Josh was enamored!

The house that we loved the most was a 5 Br 4 1/2 bath and entirely too big for us. We are gathering info about it to prepare to possibly make an offer, but the house has a pending offer on it right now, so we're going to wait and see what happens with that before we move forward. It really is pretty and is WAY more square feet than we actually need. We have several houses to look at today and then I'll be headed back to Nashville to pick up Addison. She's had a fantastic weekend hanging out with her Grandma and Grandpa and I'm sure they've had a blast as well!

Josh and I saw WALL-E last night. Funny, because on the weekend where we have no baby to look after, we choose to eat dinner at Petro's and see a cartoon! If you have never experienced a Petro, I highly recommend them. If you don't have one in your area, they are quite easy to make from scratch (see website). I enjoyed the movie immensely and if there's one thing I learned from the movie is that we are all mostly fat slobs and I need to lose 30 pounds. See it and you'll understand. I was grossed out. Oh, one more thing: RECYCLE people. I already try to recycle as much as I can, but after seeing this movie, my efforts are going to ramp up a bit in that department. Very eye-opening.

First Visit, First Blog!

Well, this is our first blog entry! I really don't know where to start, but if you know me and my family, you know our situation, so I'll just start from this point in our lives. Josh and I are being relocated to Knoxville for his job. It's a great opportunity for us and even though we are nervous about it, we are trying to tackle this with the best possible attitude! This blog will be our outlet to discuss successes and frustrations and to keep our friends and family aware of what's going on in our lives!

I arrived in Ktown last night after dropping Addison off to spend the weekend with my parents. It's the first time I've been away from her at night and I have to say, the full nights sleep last night was fabulous. I think by the time I get back to Nashville Sunday, I'll feel like a new woman!

Anyway, Josh is working a 1/2 day today. After that, we will hit the ground running looking at potential homes and trying to decide what neighborhood we like the best. We know for sure we want to live on the West side, since it's closer to Nashville. Our realtor is lining up houses for us to view tomorrow, so Josh and I will spend the rest of the day today driving around and becoming acclimated to the area. For the time being, I am going to shower up, hop in the car and find a place to get a pedi! My feet are desperate!!