Decorating Tips...

We sold our couches this afternoon thanks to Craigslist....yes there are some positive things that can come of that site. A couple from 45 miles south of Louisville came up this evening and bought my old couches. One woman's trash is another woman's treasure. I have to admit I nearly shed a tear as they pulled away. Those couches had been with me since I moved out of my parents' house in 2000 and they belonged to my parents for years before that. I called Kristen as soon as the people left and she asked me if I cried. (She does know me well.) It did feel like it was losing one more little piece of "home." I was surprised that I felt that way because I have been talking about how hideous I think they are for years. Emotions are funny with their timing.

So...onto the new couches. I pretty much know what I want but I thought I would throw out the opportunity to get some advice. below is a picture of my living room with the old couches and then with the empty holes left. I'm thinking beige/neutral with red accent pillows to bring out the red accents all around our living room and kitchen, but what do you think???????

Weekend

Friday: Jonathon and I made a date out of seeing the new Terminator movie followed by dinner at Dairy Queen. I always have a blast hanging out with Jonathon. He's quiet most of the time when he's around but you would never guess how funny he is. He's so witty and he makes me giggle non-stop. :)

Saturday: Jonathon and I CLEANED. All my laundry is caught up, the kitchen is scrubbed down, and I organized some important papers. We had a bird camping out in the grill again this spring so Jonathon evicted them. I'm not sure how he did it. I didn't want to know. :( We have to get a grill cover to keep the birds out next year.

We also celebrated our friend Michelle's 30th birthday. Tons of fun! We went to Rocky's for dinner then spent some time on 4th Street. We decided to take pics on the river.

Jonathon and I... (I am in serious need of a haircut!)

Heather and Craig... Lookin' cool...

Michelle and Russell...Her dress was super cute!

The ladies....

I don't know why I didn't get a shot of Lindsey and Tim???? Or Jeremy????


Sunday: We were poised and ready for church but then we got the call from my sister that our friend Sarah needed help moving. She's pregnant and has lost two babies already and Kristen was worried if she didn't have enough help she would overdo it. We took the truck over and helped get them moved. Their new house is beautiful!! I wish I had taken my camera. Jonathon and I added a few of their design aspects to our "wish list" of a house.

We got home in time for Jonathon to start packing up for his ride back to London, Ky for the week. Our friend Travis stopped by for a visit and invited us to a Riverbats game. Jonathon couldn't go but I went on and had a great time. It was fun to get a chance to hang out with his wife Megan. I haven't known her very long but I really like her. :)

Today was supposed to be the Annual Karen Hooser Golf Classic but is was raining so we postponed it. There's still going to be a cookout this afternoon with some indoor game playing but we'll have to wait to find out who the 2009 winner is this year.

What a full weekend!

To-do List....

The "to-do list" is the answer to may prayers. I made a huge one today and I've marked everything except two things off of it already. It's only 4:15!!! I can start working on tomorrow's list of things to do now. This makes me think it's all possible......Thank you God for organization skills!!!

Three Weeks

There are three weeks left of school and three weeks until I leave for my big trip. The stress of everything is hitting me tonight. There are bazillion things that I need to get accomplished in the next 21 days. Will I be able to get it all done?????

Slow down...take deep breaths....and take one day at a time. If you see me on the edge over the next three weeks, remind me of those three steps!!

AAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!

The To-Do List:
-Organize the Relay for Life team for JJ and get everything ready to go for the big event that will take place a week after I leave. This includes holding two fund raising events in the next two weeks and getting all of our donated funds turned in....oh and pick up the team t-shirts.
-Finish up the final assignments with the kiddos then get through or organize: Field Day, 5th Grade Summer Olympics, a Talent Show, and a Graduation Ceremony.
-Make a video for our 5th graders
-Clean and organize my classroom.
-Clean and organize my house.
-Purchase all my travel items.
-Pack for Africa....keeping everything I need to donate/use for 6 weeks within two 50lb. suit cases. It's not easy.
-Get around to some friends and family before I leave.
-Watch Chris and Kristen get remarried and take them to dinner.
-Celebrate my friend Michelle's 30th!
-Got to Lexington with Jonathon for a little reunion.
-Ummm....I think that's it.....I'm sure there's one or five things I'm forgetting about it.

My head is spinning......I heading to bed so I can start EVERYTHING tomorrow....

Happy Mother's Day

I've decided that as long as I'm a blogger I will share one of my favorite memories about my mom on Mother's Day.....

Mom LOVED to entertain with food. She was an excellent cook and I so wish I had paid more attention to her culinary skills when I was younger. She had a side business of catering weddings and anniversary parties. It was a family thing and we all loved it. She would give Kristen and I a cut of the profits from each wedding and it paid pretty well. It was always her dream to have a full-time catering business. We were looking into grants for women business owners for a while but as her health failed it was put on the back burner. I loved those times in the kitchen with her. We all had our departments to take care of. I was the sandwich maker....how can you mess up sandwiches, right?!

The night before I graduated from IU I had a dream about her. She had passed away the summer before my last year there but in my dream it was the day of my graduation party and my mom was there. We were all in the kitchen doing our catering duties and preparing for the guests to arrive. In my dream I knew my mom was not alive anymore but didn't understand why nobody else was freaking out about it. My dream ended with us sitting on the couch, watching TV before our guests arrived. On the TV was a commercial for funeral caskets. My thoughts were "Oh, that's not as pretty as the casket we had for Mom." I instantly looked at her and she said, "Karen, don't think about sad things. Just enjoy our time together." It was like God gave me the gift of that dream. Everything about the graduation party in my dream went like it would have if she had been there. I got to experience it anyway.

I miss those times in the kitchen with her and I will cherish those memories forever. Everytime I entertain for showers or small get togethers at my house I try to arrange little plates of food and I always think, "My momma taught me how to throw a party!"

Busy Saturday

Jonathon and I slept in this morning. It was so very nice! He didn't get home until late last night so we decided to have "date afternoon" by going to see the new X-Men movie at noon today. He spent the rest of the afternoon and evening fixing a few small things with our "new to us" car. He wanted to check a bunch of little things so he felt comfortable having me drive it around. He offered for me to take his truck and he would drive the older car, but I like smaller vehicles. I would be so nervous driving that truck around.

Jonathon stayed home to take care of some business and I went on to our Music for Malawi concert. We had a low turnout but honestly, it was so much fun hearing the worship music that it doesn't matter. I think we will break even on the event so I'm just glad the thirty or so people who came out had a great time. I also got to do some brainstorming with a few people about some opportunities to think about. Hmmm.....

Overall it was a great Saturday. Now it's time to put the pjs on and relax....

If you don't have plans...

think about coming to our Malawi mission fund worship concert. The info is listed above. We will have pizza/nachos/popcorn on sale for dinner/snacking.. The concert is free and the concessions/love offerings will go to benefit the mission trip I'm going on to Africa this summer.

I know it's a busy time but if you find yourself in Charlestown tonight....come by. For those who are worried about not being able to give....I mostly want this to be a fun night for worship and wholesome fun. Just stop by to hear a couple songs if you like. :)

The band covers a lot of music like Third Day and Casting Crowns...

It's nice to feel loved....

I had to take a half-day this morning to go to a follow-up doctor appointment. I usually tell my students that I'll be out but I forgot to mention it yesterday. When I walked in the door at 11:30 this morning, their faces lit up and I was greeted with a group hug. They are usually pretty happy to see me but in a "look up, see me, smile, look back down" kind of way. They were nearly jumping for joy this morning.

They hadn't had a bad morning. My sub said everything was wonderful and so did the kids. They just missed me. Aw....That made me feel so loved. :) I've had such a great year this year. I'm going to miss my class!

Live Like You Were Dying...

I'm in tears this morning watching the story of the woman who had the face transplant. She seems so thankful and positive. It's a good reminder of how we should be thankful for the small things in life as well as not take for granted the big things. She said her favorite song is Tim McGraw's "Live Like You Were Dying." This was a great reminder to me this morning to live life to the fullest. I'm so blessed and I don't take enough time to enjoy it and praise God for it.

You can see more about her at this site...

Dave Ramsey would be so proud...

I found out on Monday that the Honda has been considered totaled and I had until Friday to get out of the rental. All of the paperwork stuff started stressing me out so I took today off to deal with everything and start looking for another car. Anticipating a total loss, I began searching over the weekend for "new to me" cars in a price range that would maybe give me an upgrade, yet only be $1000-2000 out of pocket once we combined the insurance money. Jonathon and I both decided we did not want to buy anything new and finance right now. We've been on the pay off debt kick and we get giddy each month when we update our debt spreadsheet to see how much closer we are to our goal.

Last night Jonathon called me with a great idea....He said we should look for a car a couple years older than my Honda and then pocket some of the insurance cash to put toward our debt goal. I was so proud of him and us for deciding to do this.

I began searching the Internet last night for good deals and I found a steal at a lot outside of Lexington. After I did the paperwork thing this morning I drove all the way out there to test drive the car. I called early this morning to see if it was still there. At the time I called I didn't think I would be able to drive there today and thought it would be sometime over the weekend. I told the guy we would see him in a couple days so he was surprised to see me come just a few hours after I spoke to him.

When I got to the lot, it was already being test-driven...oh no!! I thought it was over. The guy liked it a lot but had another car down the road he wanted to look at as well. I was in luck. I test drove it and weighed the pros and cons. I went to McDonalds to sit and think about it and to call Jonathon to get his blessing/input. I drove to the library in town to run a carfax report and then went back to the lot. I bought it!! We now have a reliable 2000 Honda Civic AND about $3000 to put toward our debt. I feel so good about our decision and I can't wait to write that check to pay or debt down...

Here's our replacement car....

I will admit there was one down side....the car smells like cat. It will have to have a detailing job. The same woman owned it from the start so I'm guessing she took her cats on occasional joy rides. :)

Vests for Valor

Last night I went to the Vests for Valor fund raiser at Silver Creek High School. It was organized to raise money for better bullet-proof vests for the area SWAT team. My friend Tim is on the SWAT team so I went to show my support. It was a lot of fun watching the policeman play basketball against formber high school basetball players.

Here's a picture of Tim with his little Lilly....

Weekend...

Jonathon was working the Derby this weekend. He had parked his truck in Frankfort and flew a helicopter to Louisville so both nights I drove to Bowman field to pick him up and drove him back the next morning. He basically came home to sleep and that was all the time we had this weekend. :(

On Saturday, I went to Kristen's for dinner and hung out with the kids. They are so much fun!

On Sunday, I had to take Jonathon to back to the airport and missed church because of the timing. I kissed him goodbye for the week. He has a trip to PA and won't be home until Friday. The poor thing was sick as a dog last night. He caught some kind of stomach bug.

I went by a furniture store on the way home and found out the couches I have been keeping my eye on until I saved the money to get them have been discontinued. Rats! They are doing a search for them because they are on clearance. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that they find them somewhere.

We had a mission meeting tonight and I'm getting more and more excited about my upcoming trip. We separated some school supplies and other donated items to put in our suitcases for the kids. We also polished up the plans for our worship concert this weekend. Even if you can't afford to give a love offering, you should think about attending our worship concert just for the praise music!

Accident update: Many people have commented, called, or emailed concerns about the accident. Jami and I both are feeling pretty good. I will admit that I had some tightness in my neck and eye yesterday that came with a headache. Today I woke up feeling 100% but throughout the afternoon I started getting tight again....then a headache. I decided to get checked out to be safe. I'm 99% sure everything is fine but I want to be sure. So thanks to those who have worried...I'm going to get checked out. :)

Okay, here's to the start of a good week...

Another memory about yesterday...

One of the funny moments was when we got back to Jami's house and we were starving...I ran across to my house to grab stuff to make sandwiches. While we ate our sandwiches, Jami said, "Is it bad that right after we got hit I was hoping we'd still be able to make it to eat?" LOL! I had the same thought. Until I saw how bad it was, the thought crossed my mind that we would do the paperwork thing then go and enjoy our queso. I knew we were friends for a reason. We both love food! :)

My Daddy Saved Our Lives...

Today started out very fun. I had the day off because of the Kentucky holiday of "Oaks Day" celebrated here in Southern Indiana as well. I planned to take my friend Jami out to lunch for her birthday. She turns 30 this weekend!

We met at 9:00 and went to get our fingers and toes pampered with manicures and pedicures. We shopped a little bit around Walmart as well. It was so nice not to rush around. We left Walmart and headed to El Nopal for lunch. We both LOVE Mexican food and couldn't wait to get some queso.

I pulled up to the entrance and turned on my signal. We sat patiently waiting for the oncoming traffic to clear so I could turn. All of the sudden, BAM. We were hit from behind. I was in shock for a good couple of minutes. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw the trunk lid was up and knew it was a bad hit because of the loud crash. I just sat there for a minute, kind of in disbelief. A couple people drove by to see if we were okay. Jami called 911 but before she could complete the request there was an officer on the scene. He asked us if we were okay and wanted to know if we wanted an ambulance. We said we felt fine, but he asked, "Are you sure?"

I was really shaky and kind of in shock for a few minutes. I kept looking through my pile of papers in the glove box saying, "Registration. I'm looking for my registration. Where's my insurance card? Registration." I think I sort of sounded like Rain Man for a couple minutes. Jami got out of the car and then got back in. She said, "It's bad."

The policeman had us pull over into a nearby parking lot and I finally got out of my car to take a look. I can't tell you how impressed I am with the safety of the Honda. The trunk is caved in and the back windshield completely shattered but if we had been driving with a baby in the back, everything would have been just fine because everything caved in so the back seat wasn't harmed.

Apparently the guy didn't even apply his breaks and just plowed right into the back of my car. There was a very nice witness who pulled over with us. He was determined to give the police a statement supporting that I was sitting still with my signal on. He was almost in disbelief as well.

The policeman brought Jami and I back to her house and I began the insurance nightmare. I ended up getting a rental car for the weekend until they can get things figured out on Monday. Everyone who has looked at the car seems to think it's going to be totalled but I've also heard that body shops can do amazing things with the repairs. I only snapped one picture, but I don't think it shows the worst part. I should have taken it from the side so you could see how mangled the side and trunk are. Under the hanging bumer there is a whole piece of the main frame that got stripped off. That seems to be the part that could "total" it. My trunk was full of track hurdles from JJ in case you are wondering...

Okay, so now to the part about how my daddy saved our lives... On the way back to Jami's house the police officer complimented me on not having my steering wheel turned and ready for the left hand turn. He said most people do that anticipating the turn so they can react quicker when the traffic breaks. If I had been in position for the turn already when the guy hit us we would have been sent into the oncoming traffic instead of being pushed straight ahead like we did. He said, "I don't know who taught you to turn left like that but it probably saved your friend's life." (Jami would have been in the receiving end of the on-coming traffic.) I proudly said, "My daddy taught me that." I think it was part adrenaline but I almost got emotional. Dad always passed on his "professional driving" tips because he saw so many things as a truck driver. It was a good reminder that my parents are still with me.

Praise God for watching over us today! I can't forget Him either.