Dust and Dog Hair

You know, I've never been a big fan of cleaning. Mother, stop laughing... There just always seemed to be not even better things to do, but more important things to do. When it comes down to it, there's just got to be more important things in life than vacuuming! But I have recently (meaning tonight) have a new found respect for the act of cleaning.

I've been pretty stressed lately. I love my husband, I love the industry he is in - it's what brought us together! I love my job. They've been amazing to me, allowing me to keep my job and work from home all the way up here in Louisville. But things have been just a little hectic lately. It seems like I'm never done with my work day until at least 6:30 - and that's normally a good day. My hours, my travels, and Matt's 17 hour work days at the stadium just haven't really been jiving lately. (Is jiving a word?) I will admit however, it's just bringing us closer and allowing us to truly, truly appreciate and take advantage of every minute we do have together. Anyway - totally sidetracked there... point is... I'm stressed!!


Yesterday was Sunday. I worked all day to hopefully get caught up and prepared for a big trip I have this week. And today, well, it's a good thing I worked on Sunday, because I ended up giving myself a goal of being done with work by 8pm. And I did... 7:56! I know, what a goal... there's not much joy in completing that one. Especially since I still have to pack and oh my gosh, the dog walker is coming tomorrow and if my Mama ever drilled anything into my head it was that the house must look good, no matter who's coming. (I used to try to pull the ol - but their house isn't clean, why should ours be spotless?! But it never did any good.) So of course, the last thing I wanted to do after a stressful day of work was clean a house that I was about to LEAVE for three days!


But I got to work - I folded the towels I washed about 4 days ago. I cleaned off our kitchen table (the table that had to be just the right one that Matt and I searched and searched for that's now our "whatever's in your hands when you walk in the door" dumping station), straightened up our coffee table (that serves as our kitchen table/magazine rack), put the dishes in the dishwasher, and even vacuumed (I swear there was more dog hair in the vacuum than currently on Dixie) for crying out loud. I was focused. I was on a roll! And the next thing I know, I'm enjoying myself! What? I'm not thinking about work, I'm thinking about taking care of what God's blessed us with... and all the sudden... the stress is gone. What happens this week with work happens. At the end of the week, I am coming home to my husband... and a clean, welcoming, relaxing home.


So, I have made a pact with myself (that I'm hoping lasts longer than just tonight) that the next time I feel like I can't take the stress anymore, that I'm just gonna get to cleaning.... And thank Jesus for the dust and dog hair that will always be here... in the home I share with my husband.

Eye didn't do it...

Remember all those games Matt and Elisa played and all those toys they won? Somehow Fish only has one eye now...

Family Fun for the Fourth

We had more visitors the weekend after Daddy and Marie! Matt's family - Paula, Maria and Elisa all came down for the weekend of the 4th. We had lots of fun activities planned.... and some that were not so planned! I'm just gonna go ahead and say - thanks, Maria, for some of these pics. I bootlegged them off of your myspace page! ha!

As everyone always does before company, Matt and I were running around trying to get everything ready for the family to come into town. Matt had been having games, so I had gotten the house ready for the most part and just asked him to vacuum real quick while I ran a couple last minute errands before they got here. Well, Uncle Matt always has something up his sleeve as a little surprise. I walk in the door with groceries and just start dying laughing... Matt took his chore and turned it into a Welcome Sign for his niece Elisa.... this, my friends, is why I love this man. Here's a picture of Elisa "inside" her welcome.We just hung around the apartment a little while everyone relaxed from the long car ride they had - Boston's kinda far from Louisville.... I love this picture. You can definitely see how happy Elisa is to see her Uncle Matt. This visit was definitely due. These two can't go too long without hanging out and having fun together... and of course. Dixie has to be right in the middle of it all!

And in case you're wondering, Dixie and Elisa got along beautifully! They are cousins you know, says Elisa. Dixie was pretty worn out at the end of the visit, but let Elisa carry her around like a doll, change her clothes and even put her in timeout! As a matter of fact, Elisa had so much fun changing Dixie's clothes (since she has so many!) that she even decided they were about the same size so she needed to try on one of her shirts. I mean after all, it is Elisa's favorite color too!

We headed out to the a Fourth of July festival later that night to watch fireworks... but it doesn't get dark til so later here - 9:30 - that we just couldn't quite make it until 10:30 for the fireworks show... so we did our own sparklers when we got home!

The next day, the Bats had a ball game and Matt had to work, so everyone went! As you can tell, Elisa was excited to see Uncle Matt every time he came up for a quick visit between running around the clubhouse and getting everything ready for the team..

Oh - and Elisa loved the blue sno cone.... for some reason she kept dropping her spoon. I don't know why...

Day Three was good times too! We went to Six Flags... they have a Water Park there. And who doesn't love a water park?! Before we made it to the water, Uncle Matt and Elisa stopped and played a few games to try to win some of those awesome stuffed animals that are a MUST have... :-)

This was Elisa's prize from the duck game. She pulled the duck out of the water that had "Large Prize" on the bottom! She really wanted Bam Bam! So Uncle Matt decided that he would play too and maybe he could get her Pebbles... buuuuut he ended up with a small prize. So he got Dixie the pillow that describes her best. And yes, she knew it was hers as soon as we got home....

By far the most exciting event of the day was the wave pool! I think Elisa could have stayed in there all day. She even learned how to jump waves! And was not too happy when the lifeguards kept making everyone get out of the pool while they changed shifts. Seriously?

Fun times were had by all... even when I was totally stressed when Matt and Maria decided to get on a roller coaster. I know, I'm a party pooper, but I'm sorry, people get killed on those things... Needless to say, they made it out alive! Whew! Don't you want to come visit? We do cool things!

I saw the future...

Sitting at the Bats game, I saw this little old lady behind me keeping score and realized... This is me in 50 years. I can't wait!

Horses and Mint Juleps

Ok... so maybe I didn't have a mint julep, but we did see lots of horses!

We've had several visitors since living here in horse country, USA - Louisville, KY. And the one place everyone has to go of course (other than Louisville Slugger Field) is Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby. It's crazy... Matt got me into horse racing while we were still dating when my heart was stolen and then broken by my love, Barbaro. I'm sure you've heard of him, if not, we need to talk...

Anyway, so Daddy and Marie came for a little visit back at the end of June - yeah, yeah, I'm behind in my blogging - and we had a blast watching the horses and placing our well educated bets!

Daddy and Matt were all kinds of serious placing their bets. The looked and number of wins, history on dirt tracks, history on turf, jockey wins and losses, etc. Marie and I? Wow... that one sure is pretty! I would like $2 on him, please...


And, let me just sidetrack here a minute and say, doesn't my husband look handsome in his "Churchill Downs" outfit? Matt was very proud of himself for putting this together. And I was proud of him as well... he was coordinated from the white scally (hat) I bought him in Savannah, to the plaid shorts, to the Ralph Lauren shoes! Niiice... :-)


Anyway, I can definitely see how this can become an addition to people! It's so much fun - especially when you win! We went in agreeing to place $2 bets only. But I can tell you, we did see a few people who were pretty darn upset over some loses. I think they probably put more then $2 down on their bets. We heard some pretty interesting words...






Anywho... like I mentioned before, I picked the pretty horses.... and sometimes it actually worked out for me! Here is a picture of my first win ever at Churchill Downs.... and then getting my $4.80 win money! Too bad she didn't have change and I had to pay her 20 cents so she could give me a 5?!


So we definitely had a fun, hot day at the race track. Next step is to actually learn what the odds mean!!


Oh - and here's a fun little pic from our first visit to Churchill Down a couple months ago... just thought you might find it interesting. We took a little tour of Churchill Downs when Matt's family came down. When we were down by the track, I was on the lookout to let Matt know when the tour guide's back was turned... I emptied out an Aleve bottle I had in my purse and Matt took just a small little sample of dirt from the track. So we have Derby Dirt! Kinda cool now that there's talk of changing to synthetic since Eight Belles had to be put down after the Derby this year... but let's not talk about that... too emotional.

So if you're interested in a fun day at the track, give me and Matt a shout... we'll go with you!

The Secret's In the Sauce

So, on the way home from Savannah, Mama, Brooke and I decided we should just take a little detour and go all out making this a tour of the South. Brooke did a little reasearch and found out the place where they filmed the movie Fried Green Tomatoes was just a few hours away from Savannah in Juliette, Ga. It was really cute.... not to mention some really good Fried Green Tomatoes!

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