Our house, in the middle of our street

I just illegally downloaded that song! Yay! Anyway... so I almost wrecked on my way taking Contessa back to her house about an hour ago (that's where I am now). I took the turn into her neighborhood waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too fast. I was in the opposite lane and jumped the curb and was driving in the grass. I did a total no-no and jerked it back onto the street. You don't jerk Jeepie around. Gosh, I was so scared when I jumped the curb on the other side of the street. We made it safely back to the house. It takes something like that to keep you from being careless. So... if you ride with me in the next month (my six are up) be prepared for the safest ride of your life.

On to the house. It's absolutly glorious. Mom is in love with it, which is all any of us need. The stinky thing about it is that I have to walk to the middle of the cul-de-sac to talk on my cell phone, which I use for almost all my calls and right now, it's necessary because we won't have a home phone until this Thursday, nor will we have DSL until then. Don't know when we will get cable, or shall I say dish. That feels like a dirty word to me, but cable doesn't run out where we are. Y'all, we have rural delivery. Someone in a car delievers our mail. Forget a mail truck. Now we aren't Mayberry Rural Free Delivery, but we are rural. I love having my own bathroom. Right now, it's missing it's fixtures like a t.p. holder and towel rods, but mom is going to go ahead and get the piant for it and such and I can knock it out all by myself in an hour or two. All I've been taking is baths since I don't have a shower curtain yet either. Most all of the boxes are in the garage right now because we had a bad roach problem at the other house and roaches love cardboard and mom doesn't want all those boxes in the house, so unpacking is taking a little longer. The kitchen is basically done. I did that for all of Sunday. I never realized how big the house was until we got all of our stuff in it, and our stuff doesn't fill it up. It's a great house though. I want everyone to come visit.

That's all I have time for right now.

Moving on up...

To a bigger house. Mom keeps complaining that we have too much stuff. Well, we're going to have to buy stuff to fill this house. We gave away a lot of furniture that dad wishes we still had. Mom doesn't. She wants to buy new stuff. I've been packing, racking, and stacking (oh... no one gets that here...) since 9 AM. I told Brother Piano Teacher not to come this week. It's an absolute mad house here. There are packing peanuts and boxes, full and empty, everywhere. I've got a stack five boxes high in my room. I was desprately trying to compress my shoes into one box. I've bought 4 pairs since we moved here and they didn't even fit in one box the first time, so I don't know what I was thinking. It seems a bit over kill to have just moved 8 months ago and now we're doing it again. After this time (my fourth house), we won't be going anywhere for a long time. (YAY!!!!) This house is great y'all. Everyone has to come out, spend the night, and come out in service as well. A sister that comes out on Tuesdays has the totally awesome Farmington territory. Yesssssss! I can't wait. It's so boonies out there. Dirt roads and all. It touches Greene county. But so, a few notes to myself as far as things to remember when I move out, and some pointers for others:

• Keep books dusted weekly and you won't have an asthma attack when taking them off the shelves.
• Don't try and put 24 pairs of shoes in one box. Just don't.
• Never give up the boxes that have your name on them. Stupid sheets and towels. We have a lot of SHEETS.
• Don't start dancing around to "Zac and Sara." You're bound to fall over some boxes.
• Don't put all your yearbooks in one box. And if you do, don't try and pick it up.
• Make sure nothing odd is written on your boxes. No funky little drawings or once cool sayings. They don't look right 8 months later.
• Don't let your sister write on your boxes either, or people will think you smell like poo.
• Sharipes must keep their caps on when not in use. Those fumes are strong enough to make you fall over boxes, especaily if you start dancing to "Zac and Sara." And they make marks... everywhere...

So! Tomorrow is the big day! I'm doing out in service and someone has to take care of my stuffs. ALL my stuffs. Well, I have to go finish packing now... gack. My room is almost done. The laundry pantry is done and so is Mehsha's and my bathroom. I can't wait!

THE Concert!

It's my 50th post! WOOT WOOT! Mehsha got a digital camera today, so she has constantly been taking pictures since she and mom arrived home shortly after I got home as well. We went out to the house again today. They have finished repairing all of the holes in the walls, some big and some little. I don't know if I've updated the housing situation since we got the door handles and closet systems, but those were installed late last week I believe. Today, a lot of progress had been made as far as getting the HV/AC working correctly, etc. and the kitchen cabinets have door knobs and drawer pulls. It looks great. So does the golf course. We're getting VERY excited. We start moving Friday and will be occupied with that ALL WEEKEND LONG. We have a moving company doing the big stuff and the majority of the boxes, so we're good there. I've picked out colors for my new room. No tan. Same navy blue (love it), a kinda limey green, and a very Strong Sad grey. Again, it will be the perfect little boy's room. (No joke, when we were selling our last house, I had navy blue and tan. Every family that came in there said, "Oh! This will make a great room for my son!" It could be a good girl's room too!! Beats me why I never went for the really girly stuff.) The closing date is this Friday. YAY! I'll be in service half the day. YAY! I may not have to baby sit either. YAY! YAY! YAY! And Contessa's dad pays ahead of time, so he doesn't dock pay or anything for the next month. It's glorious.

Now, on to the concert that I have that post-show funk washed off me. I'm skipping all the way to when we entered the Tabernacle (wish I could have found a better link). Sure it was an odd day, but I'm not going there here. Mom and dad did let me drive all by myself in the Jeep, to my Greenparents and then back again today. It was my first trip all on my own that far. 130 miles in two days. No big, but it was my first time. Very exciting. Papa didn't expect me to show up by myself. So fast forward to the concert again. That was also my first time at the former gospel church turned concert venue. It was so cool. The acoustics were great. After all, it was a former black church. Like speaking in tounges black church. You could tell that it had been a church, not just because of the name or the left over pews scattered about but the HUGE organ pipes! All I could see was the tops of them when I entered the floor area since they had a large back drop up for both the opener and the Raconteurs. Afterwards, when they were taking the set down, I got a nice look at them. They were so tall. I wonder if they keep them clean... anyway, so first we walked down into the basement, which is smoking only, so we promptly left and went to the ground floor. We were there at 8 PM and the opener, Dr. Dog, went on. Jules and I stood for about two songs and I wasn't too impressed. Neither was she. They were just OK. No recommendations whatsoever. So we started touring the place. They hadn't done much as far as changing the layout of the former church, but they sure did add a whole lot of paint. The ceilings, stairs, air ducts... everything was covered in flowers and stars and other assorted designs. Very cool atmosphere. Plenty of bars. I was very surprised that the place didn't smell more like booze than it did. It was a lot cleaner than I thought, but I did refrain from drinking anything so that I didn't have to inspect the restrooms, where ever they were. You go up stairs to get to the basement level from the street, then again to get to the floor level, and then there are two more levels, but we only went up one more. That was where the BIG bar was. Jules didn't get any alcoholic beverages all night, but of course, if you were craving a beer, it was only Bud and it was $6, which was just as much as a mixed drink. Though she didn't drink anything except Coke, we were poised to do a lot more damage than that. First, while the other band finished and the tech's tuned up for the Raconteurs, we sat and chatted on the long pew on the second floor, right next to the bar. It was in the same room as a whole bunch of nice looking couches. They looked GREAT considering all the drunks that passed thru there all night long. Shortly before the Raconteurs went on, Jules and I went ahead and bought our proof that we went to the show. Both of us got the brown t-shirt and I got Mehsha the black one (neither of which could I find a piccy of). We debated about getting the special venue only poster that was totally cool, but we didn't and when we went back after the show, they were sold out. Oh well. But so, we hung around til the other sister showed up. We secretly passed her her ticket and she got in. We positioned ourselves perfectly. There was just enough room in front of the bar on the right hand side of the ground floor to fit two rows of people. That was the perfect spot to stand. We had about 3 feet of fire lane walking space in front of us, so there weren't people pressing on us, nor was it impossible to see. I got some pretty good pics with my cellie. MUCH better than the ones I got at the Weezer/Foo Fighters show last October. For good reason too. Not only were we right on the level (hehe...my baby's on the level) with the guys, I had 3 feet with no heads in front of me and we were only about 15 or 20 feet from the stage. GOOD position. We had people that were trying to edge us out, but there were three of us, and two were seasoned show go-ers and I went to Music Midtown last year. I KNOW how to stand my ground. Boo-Yah. Plus, the group of four beside us were about Jules' age and were pretty good about not getting edged out. One of the women though, was totally hammered before they even took the stage and maybe four songs into the show, her husband had to take her home. It was a shame. She was real entertaining. When the other sister got there, she realized that the brother that was supposed to be with us wasn't there. Turns out, he was too sick to come, so she called another sister in her congregation who left from the meeting to come to about half the Raconteur's show. The other sister left at the song after she was a householder for a talk. It was all quite hilarious, and I still find it funny. So at about 9:15 or 9:30, the boys took the stage. Oh did they work the crowd. They worked so well together. And the tour ends two months from now and started back in March. They mesh really well. Jack threw guitar pics out the whole concert. Partick threws his drum sticks out after the show. After we tried to get the set list and I was vying for either of the Jacks' water bottles, and the other twosisters that were with us got their proof and I got a 7" live single of "Hands" only because it looks totally awesome and was only $10. The t-shirts were only $20. The prices at this show were so reasonable. Afterwards, we celebrated with the usual Krispy Kreme dozen assorted, half glazed and half choclate glazed. I also got a hot chocolate. Race Trac's hot chocolate is good, but Krispy Kreme's is the best. It was so good, and it was already getting chilly. We arrived home at 12 AM. All in all, it was the best show I've ever been to. Small venue, great band, awesome atompshere. So more than satisfied.

The Raconteurs

THE SHOW WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bought cool stuff that wasn't as overpriced as I thought it would be. The guys played great together. Jack and Brendan were hot (and I hope they haven't lost their looks two hours later). Will post about details tomor... later today, when I can hear and speak again. Gosh, it was a great concert!

Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme

Some day this week, I said I was going to post about piano. Before I have to do school, well, I should be doing school, but let's do this first. It's more fun.

In my books for the past two lessons (counting today's as one), we have been working with the key of D Minor. Turns out, most folk songs are "written" in that key. Everyone knows about folk songs. They aren't really written down. Same way with folk stories and oral traditions. Yada, yada, yada...so, today we did one that my book just calls "Introduction and Dance," but in 1968 (I looked up the specific date) Mary Hopkins released "Those Were the Days." (Not the theme song from "All in the Family.") It's the exact same song, and she didn't have to pay copyright overlords because it's a folk song.

For last week, in the key of D minor, I was assigned to practice "Scarborough Fair." What immediately comes to your mind when you hear that song? After you think of the city in England (or hamsters [?]), don't you think of Simon & Garfunkle's version of "Scarborough Fair?" Personally, I'm not an Paul & Art fan, and it had been years since I had heard the song. Also, I'm not one to have this desire to learn to play popular songs from 1940 to about 1979. (Don't touch the 80's. That's my favorite decade.) Don't get me wrong. I'd love love love to learn how to play a lot of the songs off "Good Bye Yellow Brick Road," and maybe even a little Elvis Presley or Rolling Stones ("Dandelion")Thing is, I fell in love with playing that song! No joke, I sat down Monday morning at 9:30 AM and didn't get up from the piano til I heard my tummy rumble at 11:30 AM to go eat. The whole time I played that song. It's beautiful. There's something about it that makes me want to play it. Typically, I'm not one to get up in the morning either and immediately sit down at the piano. For the past two days before I left for service (after dad left. I couldn't possibly think of concentrating with him belting out the lyrics.), I was sitting down and playing that song. Monday afternoon, I got a little curious about what Simon & Garfunkel's version sounded like, since it had been years since I pulled "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme" out and put it on the good 'ol turn table. (Which I'm going to get fixed when we move in. The Best Buy out here repairs turn tables.) My favorite clip of the song is linked above, but I also found this website that explains the whole history behind the song. After all, doesn't every folk song have a past? That webbie has an explanation of the lyrics, the full song lyrics (it's actually a lot longer than Simon & Garfunkle's version), and why the herbs parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. The explanation is interesting to me about his lover's sudden disappearance and I learned what a "Scarborough warning" was. I would go into all of this if I though you would be interested, but really it's three small paragraphs on that webpage for those of you that feast on useless information like I do. What I would like to go into is the use of those particular four herbs. To some extent, I knew that herbs symbolized virtues, similar to the way flowers commonly do today (i.e.- roses and love). Each herb is explained on that website. Parsley is still used to soothe "bitterness" or trouble with digestion. Sage signifies strength. Rosemary signifies faithfulness and love, while thyme represents courage. All in all, This makes it clear what the disappointed lover means to say by mentioning these herbs. He wishes his true love mildness to soothe the bitterness which is between them, strength to stand firm in the time of their being apart from each other, faithfulness to stay with him during this period of loneliness and paradoxically courage to fulfill her impossible tasks and to come back to him by the time she can. (I took that straight from the webbie.) Still don't know why I love to play the song so much though. It's still intrigues me.

Otherwise, I've been traipsing all over the Internet today and I found this German (full) version of "99 Red Balloons." (Or "99 Luft Balloons" in this case.) I love it in the one of the verses where Captain Kirk is mentioned and it's surrounded by all this German. How come German pop music kicks butt and always has?

There's this really neat place called Race Trac...

OK, so...where is everyone? Have I been that boring lately? That's pretty depressing that I'm so busy I'm boring. Does that mean I have to be lazy to come up with things? Honestly, I was thinking when I was out in service today that I need to start carrying around a little notebook with me NOT for return visits, but for doodles, sonnets, letters, notes, and novelettes. Just to write down the crazy things that happen because these first few weeks have been quite the experience and I'm still in love with service. Friday we're doing VFW and Farmington. There's a place I want to stop in Farmington and a notebook without lines would be a welcome addition to my service bag.
We were at one door long enough for me to write a full blown novel, but it was OK since it was POURING out here, like I assume it was in Atlanta. I was all the way in the back of the van, ya know, the place that I pay rent on. The seat in the back right on the third row. The rain was coming down and the householder had a semi-garden. There were still black-eyed susans growing in the patch right outside my window. Really, they were more taking over the once was veggie patch. With the rain coming down on the flowers, and the drops on the window and I would focus back and forth on the plant and then on the window and the conversation seemed so distant. For about five minutes, I could have probably written down a few verses before the feeling left. That's why I want a notebook.

Also we went to this neat place today. It sells ALL sorts of things! They have cookies and ice cream and hot dogs and chips and...almost anything you could ever want. It's called Race Trac. It's not like I've never been in a convenience store before, but usually just to go to the restroom and then I promptly exit the premises. Today was chilly and wet, so I wanted something warm. Nobody let out a peep about the new Starbucks or Jittery Joes...not even Panera. We (7 of us) all went in and there was this wall of soft drinks, slushies, and coffee varieties. I don't know if the others were actually coffee, but I wanted some hot chocolate. There wasn't a barista to place my order with and the place to pay wasn't any where near the coffee wall. It was odd. Andy Clasky had to basically walk me through the whole process. First, you get a cup from below the coffee wall. Then you put the cup under which ever coffee or hot drink variety you think you might want. This was kinda familiar. I've been to the World of Coke and they have a self-serve type room. After that, I was completely lost. I found the hot chocolate button. You have to press this button and the hot chocolate comes out of a soda fountain type machine! And it tasted really GOOD! Then I had to find my own lid and all that. The cashier did give me 2 cents extra for change. He told me to keep it. It was very different, but cheap! I only paid $1.15 for a 16 oz. hot coca. Eliza said that pioneers can't do Starbucks four days out of the week and that I'll learn truly what it's like when I start paying for myself. I guess I will. Andy said there's this place in the O.C. that cooks their own breakfast, like biscuits and sausage and eggs and grits. That sounded really good. He said we'd have to make it out there one Friday. I hope soon. I didn't know gas station stores could be so much fun!

America Foils Again

My aunt Jules sent this to me and I realized that everyone that I would want to send this to that would understand why I think it's so funny, reads my blog. Instead of just clicking 'forward,' I clicked copy, paste and here's the joke:

New terrorist organisation

A public school teacher was arrested today at John F.Kennedy International Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square, a slide rule and a calculator.

At a morning press conference, Attorney General John Ashcroft said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-gebra movement.He did not identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of maths instruction. "Al-gebra is a problem for us," Ashcroft said. "They desire solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in a search of absolute value. They use secret code names like 'x' and 'y' and refer to themselves as 'unknowns', but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, 'There are 3 sides to every triangle'."

When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said, "If God had wanted us to have better weapons of Maths instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes."

White House aides told reporters they could not recall a more intelligent or profound statement by the President.

Some visits from the homeland

Wow, the eighth visit to my blog today was from Israel. I would check and see how they found my blog, but my compy is on the fritz. It probably has to do with looking for a shmear distributor, or looking for relatives. Who knows? It could get a little scary though. Scary in a cool "hey I have had 5 site visits from Israel" kinda way. Will blog about pianos later. You see some cool ones in serivce. You can also find out that a good friend of yours has a Yamaha grand and has invited you to come play it. Sweet.

8. 12 September 14:24 Bezeq International, Israel

Naming Names + Housing update

I totally stole this from P. June's yahoo blog, but I haven't done this sort of thing in SO long and this one was one that I liked way back when.

My 10 Names

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet and current street name): Jock Hill Creek (uh, if we had stopped at "hill" it might have had some potential)

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on your mom's side, your favorite candy): Thyra Truffles (I had to leave this one because not only do we have the same grandmother, evidently, we have the same favorite candy.)

3. YOUR "FLY GIRL/GUY" NAME: (first initial of first name, first two or three letters of your middle name): Mcar (that's not fly at all)

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal): Purple Panda (Oh, that one cracks me up)

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born): Caroline Decatur (Gosh, we were born in he same city too! We could appear in a sitcom later like Hope and Faith.)

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 2 letters of mom's maiden name and first 3 letters of the town you grew up in.): Gremehysne (OK, is that even pronounceable?)

7. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favorite color, favorite drink): The Purple Mojito (This one cracks me up too.)

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first name of both your grandfathers): Charles Leroy (Really, this doesn't work if you're stealing it from someone you're related to...)

9. FUTURISTIC NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne and the name of your favorite shoes): Ralph Nine West (Again, really can't take this from someone you're a lot alike either...and that doesn't even sound futuristic!)

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother/father's middle name and the next name you hear on the tv/radio/talk): Laurie Mehsha (I actually heard her real name, but we can't put that here can we? It does sound like a pretty cool name though.)

Housing Update! Let's all gather round. We close on the new house on September 22nd. Yeah, 2 weeks away. That just means that by October, we can be getting settled in and having people out and over. I'm getting excited! We did calls back in that neighborhood this afternoon and Eliza was in our car group and asked which house it was. So we drove back there and back the totally cool drive way to the awesome house. So there are about six people that know where we will be living already. Don't tell mom and dad. Where we will be living is supposed to be on the down low. It's a very nice neighborhood (good grief, it has a golf course) and dad doesn't want people to start thinking things. Anyway, so mom went out there to set up closet options and then to pick out door knobs and door handles for drawers and such. There is a wood swatch on the floor in the kitchen here, and I suppose that's for me. My room is the only part of the house that needs to be hard wood before we move it, but it will probably end up being done shortly after we move in, but mom says it needs to be done ASAP. The carpet is a shag type stuff and would give me bad allergy problems. But otherwise, the rest of the house, besides the four bedrooms upstairs, is already hard woods and mom was really sold on that. We have to get a frige, but everything else is already there, and is stainless steel. The old washer and dryer are coming and will be what I will still be using for the time being. All I told mom was that they still (kinda) work, and there's no sense in getting new ones yet. I'll keep you all updated, but that's about all I can think of right now.

Country Club Chic

Well, hasn't it just been the busy past four days? Maybe not for y'all, but for me it has been. So lets do a brief recap:

Friday: Service. After all, it was my first day of CONTINUOUS AUXILIARY PIONEERING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited!!!!! Can you tell? I'm already behind though, but not by but an hour or so. I couldn't have stood any more of Friday morning service though. There was a odd number out, but a lot of people showed up at O.C. field service, so I'm not going to complain about the odd number. What I am going to gripe about here for a minute is being sandwiched in the third row of the van. The worst part was I was back there with the love birds. Feather was up from West Palm for the weekend. Don't get me wrong. I love love love Feather. What I don't like is being in the back seat with Feather and Jammies. From Deborah Clasky's I was supposed to jet off to the library to take the rest of my French exam. At 12:30, mom called and said that my proctor said that the tape still hasn't come. My French teacher needs to get her act together. The exam and final grade for the course was supposed to be turned in by this Thursday. So much for that. It's not my fault either. I was ready to take the exam a whole month before this date and things could have been turned in on time if I had not been sent the tape for year 2 of French. I took the new found hour to nap before chasing Contessa around the neighborhood. I talked to her dad about it this time because she left the garage without asking and then I gained another girl from across the street. She was not part of the deal, but their neighborhood is SO the epitome of suburban. All the kids get home from school by 3:30 and they all play at each other's houses until about 6:00. Then it's time for dinner. It's weird. The moms don't give a flying flip where their kids are because they know that they will end up at home sometime before dinner.

Saturday: UGA GAME!!!! More excitement, but once again, in the car with Jammies and Feather. I'm skipping the majority of the details here because they all concern Andy Clasky and I talking about...stuff. We won. Of course. Screamed my lungs out. I had to pick them up off the peanut and whiskey covered stands. Almost had an allergic reaction. I did pretty good. It was against Western Kentucky University. They have the funniest looking mascot. Then we had Ricky Bobby and his son calling them the warts. Caleb Bobby was cute though. His dad kept saying that he was going to play for UGA one day. You keep thinking that Ricky. The only way Caleb is going to play is if he's really smart and can get in or he's super good at football and gets in. It's getting harder to get into my farming college out here. We ate dinner with Jammies and Feather. It made me a little heart sick. That night, I half way rooted for Tech. It looked like they might beat Notre Dame there for a minute. Oh well.

Sunday: GREAT talk that morning. Too tired to get my required weekend 2 hrs. That's why I'm behind. Chilled at home. Pay-per-viewed She's the Man. I laughed SO hard. Cat napped all day.

Monday: So I had plans with Biscuit, Andy, and Sweet as Sugar. There's no other way to describe Andy's girlfriend. She's been through so much and still manages to see nothing but the absolute best in the crummiest person. Andy and Biscuit didn't get back from dove hunting until noon and by that time, mom had already said that I was coming with she and Mehsha to the mall. I didn't want to shop for what I was being made to shop for. I'd rather just not wear one at all. So then I missed Sugar's visit. She called me today and said she was disappointed. We were all supposed to go to the Elder covered bridge and swim in the swimming hole. They got to. I was at the mall and for once, I didn't want to be there. SHOCKER! No really. It is. Mehsha wants to start running, so I took her to the park and while she jogged, I walked behind exploring the contents of my MP3 player, looking for something upbeat. She jogged around for 45 minutes. It was about 2 miles. I don't mind taking her. Dad wants me to start walking again anyway, especially since I didn't get to swim this summer and already have quite the sinus infection. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, it's my responsibility to get Mehsha to the park. Crashed Lappy. I did it, well, actually, my creative zen did it. I got the scariest blue screen yet. It was one that I had never seen before on any computer. It told me that it was dumping the memory. I just about screamed. Mom did. So Lappy is going for a check up tomorrow. We booted it back up and NOTHING was there. It wanted us to load on all the software, which belongs to my mom's work, so we don't have it. Mom and I are pretty sure that it was the Creative Zen software that messed up the laptop's system. This old Dell gives us the blue screen all the time. It's it's "I give up" screen. Honestly, this poor Dell doesn't have the components that it takes to run some of the stuff that we make it run. It was formatted to be part of a network and it isn't any more. Me crashing the laptop for the second time in a year sent mom the message that Mehsha and I probably need our own computer to run all of our stuff on instead of the one that her work provides. I may help pay for it, since I would like for it to be mine. With all my online classes, it only seems logical for me to have my own compy, as well as the music that I started keeping on the lappy now that I have my MP3 player. Dang...I didn't get to put my videos on it...and those are gone. Oh well.

Today was my first FULL day of service. Squished in the third row again, but we did a lot of musical chairs and then Andy let me get in the front seat for the afternoon since the group of 15 suddenly shrunk to 4 including one that had to go to a study and I always take the House to House records. So it was three of us out for most of the time. It was almost just Andy and me, but that's not right. Came home, napped, played piano and got some good news as far as problem #2- or the housing one, which ever number it got. So half of the problem is solved, we're putting a contract on a house bigger than our last one in THE AWESOMEST neighborhood I've ever lived in. Y'all are the first to know, so keep it on the down low for a bit. A week or so ago, we decided that no matter what, we were going to be in Lane Creek Plantation. Holy cow y'all. We put an offer on this house on a beautiful lot. The house is "eh," but it's FAR bigger and better than the one we are in. Mehsha and I have already decided where we are setting up the air hockey table so that I can kick her butt at it all over again. It hasn't been played since January. Andy and Biscuit have already asked when they can come over and play it. That's probably the thing that has me the most excited, besides that I get my own bathroom. FINALLY! I had one at the Tucker house, but it didn't matter then. I didn't have to share anything then. The best thing about this neighborhood is that although we are probably going into debt to get this house, it will go up in value. Most likely significantly too. IT'S GOT A GOLF COURSE!!!! If you click on the link, it tells you when it reopens. Dad knows the pro that has redone the course, and dad says that there is no way that this course isn't going to be great to play. Best of all, it's in our neighborhood. How much more convenient can you get?! When we first started looking out there, the course looked awful. It looks better every time we drive by now. Mom says it's going to be the country club of the O.C. People at school already think that Mehsha is "rich." When she tells them that she lives in Lane Creek, she'll never hear the end of it. A lot of really nice $550,000 and up homes are being built back there and there are others like the one that we have a contract on that fit our budget better. Although the parents have said it's not our problem to worry about, us kids are well aware of the changes that will have to be made for us to comfortably afford this house. Dad doesn't seem worried, but mom is a little anxious, as always though. So, who's coming to visit? Now, we have five bedrooms and a basement so we could stuff people everywhere! I can finally have that big group out for service that I have been wanting to have for eight months now. We'll have a designated office separate from the guest room and all that jazz. Tentative closing date I think is September 29th and we have to be out of the rental by the 30th. Believe me. We will.