Just for Fun...An Interview with Jill

Here is your chance to read a personal interview with none other than ME of course! Thanks Mae for the questions and enjoy!

1. Who was your favorite literary character when you were a kid? Why?
I have so many literary characters I love in general being an elementary teacher. There are a few from my childhood that I particularly remember. One of the characters I remember most from a very young age was Eric Carle's, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I used to LOVE to look at his illustrations. I loved the pages where it shows everything he ate. I of course loved the last page as well where he turns into a beautiful butterfly. It is just one of those books I remember from a very young age. I also loved and read all of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. The differences between her life and ours always facinated me. I also loved the fact that she was a real person.

2. What is your favorite food?
All food! It is true, I rarely meet a food I don't like. I love eating (I usually joke that this is the reason I run). I love cooking. Food is a passion of mine. I love making meals for people and watching them enjoy it. I also enjoy eating out! Joe and I often joke that eating out is our hobby because it is just about the main thing we spend our recreational money on. I have so many favorites. If I had to pick an ethnic category I would have to say Italian. In general I love good home food such as potato soup and macaroni and cheese. I can also go for a yummy curry dish from an Indian restaurant. I could really go on and on! (Is that sad?)

3. Where do you want to retire?
Hmmm. This is a tricky one. I would want to be by family of course. I am really not sure I have thought about this at all before. Now I am stressing out because I need to plan for my retirement! I might have to get back to you on this one later.

4. Who do you admire?
I have many people who have touched my life in so many ways. I have awesome and inspiring parents, grandparents and friends. I have the most amazing husband. I don't know how he can be so patient with me and love me so much. I am truly blessed with an amazing marriage. (I don't know if I really answered that question!)

5. If you were invisible, where would you go?
I think being invisible wouldn't be all that fun. I am a very social person and need human contact. I do think there could be benefits though. It would be kind of fun to spy on people and listen to their conversations. Most of all if I were invisible I would go wherever I wanted!

"Hail and Farewell"

Here it is... the newest picture of our house.

Are you tired of the updates yet? I know it doesn't look much different than the one I posted for last week, but you can see it much better now without all the scaffolds and piles of brick. We went by to look on Saturday and it was very cold and rainy. The wind was blowing pretty hard too. The brick is pretty much finished on the front of the house and the parts that aren't bricked will be sided. The brick was already chosen before we bought the house and we weren't sure if we would love it or not. We have decided that it looks pretty good. On the inside things pretty much looked the same except they started on the duct work , outlets and wiring. They have also installed some plumbing as well as the tubs and showers. It was fun to see things already in place and Joe and I walked through the house planning and discussing things for quite a while. We finally succumbed to the cold and couldn't stand it anymore. We are so ready to get settled into our new place and make it home-y.

Not much else has gone on this weekend. Friday night I accompanied Joe to a "Hail and Farewell" at one of the local restaurants. For those of you who are wondering... this is where new officers are welcomed into their unit and those who are leaving are recognized for their service. As you can guess Joe was being "hailed". I didn't really want to go because we really don't know anyone. Joe didn't really want to go either, but was obligated to attend this formality. Originally I was going to be gone, but since I was in town I got to go. He told me it would be over pretty fast and they were to serve dinner. It ended up taking a lot longer than we thought. It was yet another fun introduction to the real Army (it is still hard to believe sometimes!). It was kind of awkward, but I did meet one wife that was super nice and Joe already knew her husband. We of course also visited with Ed- the PA Joe is replacing (he was being "farewelled"). He is a super funny guy who is not afraid to tell you what he thinks. That makes conversation interesting let me tell you! The actual "hailing and farewelling" was quite comical. Their commander made up some funny stuff about the guys when he was introducing them. When Joe and I went up (yep, i had to go up in front of 70 people I didn't know also) he said he would be nice because Joe was a married guy. They gave me a unit pin and a beautiful rose. The pin is super Hooah...complete with the unit insignia and heart shaped. Here is what the insignia looks like...Joe's unit is called "Widowmakers"- nice huh? Just imagine it all heart shaped and pinned on my collar. I think the winged skull is a nice touch. I need to find something great to put my pin on don't you think? It was one of those experiences very unique to the Army and I am sure we will remember it always.

Well that is all pretty much the excitement that has been our weekend. Also making it a great weekend was of course another Mizzou win, but I am most thankful for some good quality time with my awesome husband. I hope you all had a great weekend too!

It has been a long week!

As you can see in my title this has been a long week for me. I have felt lousy all week and Joe has worked late every night. That makes for a not fun week! I am feeling much better today so hopefully we can have a good weekend.

We traveled to Springfield last weekend to meet our precious new niece Hannah, and of course visit with Emma, Kevin & Mandy. Emma has really stolen her Uncle Joe's heart and she is the best big sister ever! He really enjoyed playing with her! She is such a cutie. Hannah is just so sweet! She is such a quiet baby and of course beautiful. We can't wait to watch her grow too. We love all of our nieces! We really enjoyed our visit and always enjoy spending time with our family.

We got back late Sunday night and Monday we went out for a bit to see the progress on the house. To our surprise they were bricking the front and all the windows and outside doors are in. Very exciting, but those brick layers were in the way and I couldn't get a great picture. Hopefully this weekend we can get a closer look without all the scaffolds being in the way. We are hoping to take another trip through the inside as well. Unfortunately it looks further along than it is. Pretty soon the outside will be complete with much still left to do on the inside. I am trying to be very patient. I guess that is about it for now- just a little update. I'll have more to post this weekend (an interview with Jill and of course more house pics!) now that I am feeling better. I hope you all have had a great week and a great Valentine's Day!

Excitement

I can't believe how beautiful the weather has been! I am so sad that it probably won't last much longer, but I am determined to enjoy it while it lasts!

It has been a good week so far. I have not been called to sub so far this week, which actually makes me happy. I feel like I am actually caught up on things and that is a great feeling.


Not much else has gone on this week. Our biggest excitement came on Saturday when we drove by the house. It was great to see that the roof was on and we could see the stairs were in place...it was exciting. We climbed on in where the front door will be and even went up stairs. If I hadn't seen the other house I wouldn't have known what everything was, but somehow we could identify each room/area. We even found some changes that the builder was making- like a built in for the TV in the bonus room, and another linen closet upstairs.

Here is a look at the front.

Here is a look from where our entryway will be.

Here is Joe in our bonus room.

Needless to say, this was an exciting venture for us to actually be able to walk through the house, go up the stairs and know that it is ours. Hopefully we'll have even more progress to show next week! I'll try to write some other posts not containing house pics. I feel like that is all I write about lately, and it is, but that is the most interesting thing we have going on at the moment! Bear with us, we are first time home buyers and very excited!

The Verdict is in!

We have been in touch with the owner of the house we rent over the past couple of weeks due to their pending foreclosure. She told us they were waiting on a judge to hear their case and hopefully he would rule in their favor and they could keep the house. We found out on Friday the judge ruled in favor of the owners and they will get to keep their house. This is good and bad for us. We are relieved because we will not have to move until our house is ready, but it kind of stinks because if our rental property was foreclosed on then the Army would move us. Now we still have to move ourselves, but I am glad that the owners did not lose their house. Either way it worked out well for us.

Not much else has gone on around here. We actually had some snow and ice last week, but nothing compared to those just North of us. It was so beautiful outside. The ice did do some damage here and many trees fell prey to it. Joe took some great pictures in our backyard. We had a great weekend too. For some reason the Army was off on Monday so Joe had another long weekend. He gets another one in a couple of weeks, and we are super excited to be traveling to Springfield, MO to meet our new niece Hannah! We can't wait to see Kevin, Mandy & Emma too.

Some of you may already know, but my latest news is that I will be heading back to the classroom this spring. I have been given the most awesome opportunity to take over a maternity leave position at a private school here in Clarksville. I will be teaching 7th & 8th grade Science! I am very nervous about it, but I know just a day back in the classroom and I'll be fine. I have missed teaching and being in the school atmosphere. I am reminded of how I felt when I first began my job at Pilot Grove. I feel excited yet nervous. The maternity leave does not begin until March, but I will be subbing starting this week as needed around the school. After not teaching for a couple of years I am curious to see if I want to actually go back to the classroom. This opportunity will definitely help me decide if I want to pursue a job for the Fall. We shall see :) The job will go through the end of the school year, and Tracy (my principal friend from church) says there is a D.C. trip with the kids in May. Sounds fun to me! I will keep you posted on how things pan out.

Here is our latest pic of the house! We were pleasantly surprised to see how much they got done despite the yucky weather. We are trying hard to only go over to see the progress once a week. It is so hard! I am anxious to get in it and get everything settled in. It is nice to know we won't have to move again for a while. Pretty soon you will be able to see what the outside will look like. Exciting stuff! I guess that is it for now. We hope you all are having a great week!