Toadfrogs and Elephants

Wade and I can never seem to stay in one place for very long. We got up early this morning, loaded the car and hooked up the trailer. Our only stop was in Atlanta where I went into work for an hour – still no new work. While I was working, Wade and the dogs took a nap in the car. Then we were on the road again for Memphis. The weather was misty and rainy, but we made good time (an 8 hour drive). I finally have my new computer back. I did a little work and watched a movie or two. We arrived in Memphis in time for dinner and time to set up both computers (one for Wade’s mom and one for his dad) and begin the computer lessons.

Today was a hectic day. I spent the morning in Atlanta at work, ran an errand, drove to Anderson, cooked dinner for the Millers, picked Wade up at the airport, delivered dinner to the Millers, and then finally spent some time at home.

The funny story of the day occurs during my errand in Atlanta. I had gotten a new pair of pants at Christmas that needed to be hemmed. I also needed a new pocket in my peacoat. I haven’t found a person to do alterations in Anderson and I love the little Chinese woman I have in Atlanta. I decided to take the things to her and then pick them up when I could. As I was dropping off the items I realized Wade and I would be driving back through Atlanta on Monday. I asked the lady if I could pick them up then and she replied, “What about Tuesday?” I told her I had recently moved to South Carolina and didn’t come to Atlanta very often but I would just wait and pick them up the next time I was in town. She gets this surprised look on her face and says in her heavy accent, “You moved to South Carolina and still bring your clothes to me? They will be ready on Monday”. Isn’t she cute?

My old laptop must have known its time was short. It decided to die last night. That’s not entirely accurate. It decided to stop charging, which essentially means I only have what juice is currently left in the battery (about five minutes). I called Wade and tried to get him to fly home from Las Vegas early, but he didn’t think that was a good idea. In the mean time, I am being a good daughter-in-law and testing out the computer Wade was fixing for his mother.

We are normally at least a three or four computer house – my laptop, Wade’s computer, Wade’s Mac, etc. Somehow we are down to none that are currently working. Wade gave his old computer to his parents, is selling is Mac Mini, my old Sony laptop has died, and my new laptop is on the road with Wade. Thank goodness he comes home tomorrow.

Wade gave me a shadow box last year for Christmas. I knew we were moving so I carefully packed it up and never put anything in it. Somehow with the move, I forgot about the box. I found it last week and decided to actually use it. Most people but wedding or baby stuff in shadow boxes, but I have lots of wedding pictures up and I don’t have a baby. Then I thought of Halloween. We have lots of great pictures and props from our Halloween costumes. I fixed the box, but I don’t have it hanging on the wall quite yet.

I was too excited to wait for it to actually arrive. I had to begin the post this morning. Wade found a red laptop and my dad gave it to me for Christmas. Evidently what Wade found was a company that paints laptops. This requires some extra processing time so I am only now getting my Christmas present. I am sure it is going to be worth the wait. I have wanted a red laptop since last Christmas. FedEx tracking says it should arrive at 4:30 pm. We’ll see how accurate they are. Then I’ll provide a picture!

Update: It’s here! It arrived at 12:30 – go FedEx. Now I have to part with it for a few days. Wade is going to take it to Las Vegas with him. When he comes home, my red laptop will have windows and be all set up for me!

Wade and I were excited that our church decided to change early service from 9 am to 9:30 am. That means we can now get up at 6:45 to be there at 7:45 (we have to drive 30 minutes) for set up. We didn’t go to bed till 2:30 am so I don’t think it is surprising that we didn’t hear the alarm until 7:15 am. Oh well, we did make it in time to help a little. Wade and I worked both services and then began our busy day.

We picked up one of Wade’s interns at the airport (he flew in for the big presentation tomorrow) and then drove to Aunt Louise and Uncle John’s. We are driving to Memphis on Friday to pick up some furniture and needed to borrow Uncle John’s trailer. While we were there, Aunt Louise loaded us up! We got a fireplace screen, fireplace tools, a singing Christmas frog, gift cards, etc. When we got home, Wade and the intern went into work. I gave the dogs a bath, went to the grocery, cleaned house, finished my book, cooked dinner, and delivered it to the guys at work. Now I am going to build a fire and watch a movie while it storms outside – perfect!

Wade spent the morning at work (yes, I know it’s a Saturday) and I spent the morning being a bum. I did get motivated to start back to running. I was consistently running three miles, five days a week and then it got cold. Part of my motivation might have been the 70 degree weather we are having.

GaTech played Clemson today in basketball and we saw it in person. The Floyds’ (Patty, Kenny, and their daughter Mandy) are all big Clemson fans so we decided who better to go to the game with, plus they have connections for getting tickets. The five us found our seats (nice padded, purple seats with orange paw prints on them) and watched an amazing game. The final score was 75-74 with Clemson winning in the last two seconds. I hate that we lost, but WOW what a game! There was a Mellow Mushroom (one of my favorite pizza places) located on the edge of campus so we all had pizza and planned an upcoming trip to Atlanta for the next game between Tech and Clemson.

I held out a long time, but I have finally found two reality TV shows that I enjoy. I don’t go out of my way to watch them, but with TiVo it’s easy to catch reruns.

I have been watching episodes of Little People, Big World for a couple of months now. The show focuses on two little people (dwarfs) and their four children. Only one of their children (one of a set of twins) is a little person. They live on a farm in Oregon and madness seems to ensue. The dad is always tackling some huge project and the mom is normally annoyed, but somehow they just come across as a real family.

VH1 has been showing back to back episodes of America’s Next Top Model. I never thought a show like that would be interesting, but I happened to catch the first episode of a season and was fascinated. I love seeing the girls in everyday life and then the touched up photos from a photo shoot. It’s amazing at the difference. I’m always surprised at what the judges decide is a good photo and who they think is stunning. I almost never agree with them, but they are the ones making the big bucks.