Much Better!

I just got back from my visit with the Chiropractor and I feel much better. He was able to adjust my back a lot! I can't remember the last time my body popped that much!!! lol. but it feels sooo much better and I can move around more freely and in less pain.

Thank you for your prayers. Last weekend was not as painful as I thought it would be without being adjusted on Friday. I survived it. :)

Now if I could just figure out how to afford 3 visits a week at $50/visit... :( Don't think that'll happen for a while.

Not feeling too well

So, I guess when I got hurt on the 4th of July, it was a little more than I thought.

I thought I was getting a little better, but the last couple of days I've been hurting a little more and have a little tingling/numbness in my arms, and some swelling in my wrists... :(

It was getting a little too uncomfortable, so I found a chiropractor, made an apt. and went in this morning. Unfortunately, all he was able to do today was take the routine xrays, and wait for them to come back.

I have a follow up apt. on Monday. I'll let everyone know how it goes.

I appreciate your prayers.
Thanks.

Pretty flowers

My hubby's so sweet!!! ;) He got me flowers!!

No occasion, I didn't ask for them AND they're my favorite color - Orange. :D

Thank you baby. :D I love you!





Notice the wall - This would be our living room. It's a faux finish - like 75% of the paint jobs in the house (which is why they're taking so long). It's a dark green with a lighter green color wash. ... funny enough, the paint we bought was neither of those colors... we decided against the original color and with the help of some leftover black paint we found in the garage, we darkened the base color, then added some light beige to lighten the top color.

It's still not quite the right shade, so we're going to try a second, lighter coat on top and see how it turns out.

I'll keep you updated.

If you're wondering, mom, dad and Shadwa are doing fine in Egypt. They're very hot, mom's very busy, and I miss them a lot, otherwise, doing well.

This guy is C.R.A.Z.Y

This is an audition for the show So You Think You Can Dance...

Thousands of people audition every year from many states... Robert Muraine impressed the Judges so much, that they asked him to skip the next step and go straight to Las Vegas where he would join a group of about 200 dancers fighting for the chance to be one of the final 20 contestants to go on the reality show... Unfortunately, when in Vegas, Robert opted to voluntarily go home. I think he knew he was not prepared to preform the other types and styles of dance that were required in order to move forward...

Enjoy.





This is the audition in Vegas when he decided to go home.



During the show, they invited him to preform on stage as a guest.

Fireworks but no BBQ

On Thursday, the 3rd (Ragi's birthday!) we went to pick up a sleeper sofa from a really cool warehouse that I'll tell you more about another time...

The sofa fit in the Element just fine with the help of a couple of well practiced and equipped guys at the warehouse and a piano dolly. Now when we got home, we realized we hadn't really thought it all through as to how we were going to get the monster up to the 2nd floor! (sleeper sofas are like 1000 times heavier than normal sofas - at least that's what it felt like.) (tip: take out the mattress inside the sofa before you move it! it'll make life a little easier)

We, Scott and I, were able to get it off the element (losing a shattered wooden foot making it a 3 legged sofa - hope HD has a replacement.) and up the 5 steps to the porch and to the foyer. Then we attempted to take it upstairs. After about 6 minutes of arguing who meant what and which left? we finally got an idea of how we'd do it and started the process one step at a time.

Let me just say that I knew I shouldn't have done this and that I wasn't thinking, and that Scott offered several times to be the one on the bottom pushing the sofa, but I didn't think I would be able to help if I was at the top. But I'm ok, I don't think there's any serious damage, just pain.

So, we're pushing it up the large part of the stairs, with the help of the cardboard underneath it's sliding slowly upwards. In order to turn the corner at the top, we had to shimmy it forward while standing the sofa up vertically. I'm at the bottom pushing the sofa and it's quite a bit heavy, but mostly manageable. While we were shimmying and pushing, somehow, in a split second, I (very dumbly) used my head to help push the sofa up... and right away, I felt something shift sharply in my neck and pain searing down my right side... not good. We were able to get the sofa up and into the room fine after that, but man... I was in so much pain! I must have pulled something or squished some nerves or something... it really really hurt. I laid there on the floor afterwards doing stretches and trying to massage it.. I was seriously wondering if I needed to go to an emergency Chiropractor.

Well, Scott massaged it a little and we put ice on it most of that night and it got better. It still hurts now, but more like a pulled muscle. I can't turn my head all the way, but since we're unemployed and uninsured, I don't really have the choice to go visit a Chiro right now. :( hopefully it'll go away in a few more days, if not, I'll have to do something about finding a Chiro.

On to nicer news....
On the 4th we went downtown to watch the fireworks. I believe Nashville's fireworks are rated as the 3rd or 4th top fireworks display in ... I don't know exactly, but it's up there. They were really good too. They were bright, colorful, loud, went on for about 15 - 20 min and were interesting. That's not much of a description lol, but they were good.

The highlight of the week was that I was able to connect with my friend Julia and her husband Brandon from YWAM. Julia and I worked at the Nashville YWAM base together in the summer and fall of 2002. Even though we only spent 6 months together, she was my closest friend and someone I cherish very deeply. I have a hard time making and keeping friends, but she's been close to my heart ever since I left the base six years ago, even though we didn't always keep in touch. Her friendship, genuineness, straight forward honesty, keeping it real attitude, 100% faith and trust in God has raised the bar pretty high, making her a tough act to follow! ... maybe that's the reason I don't have as many friends! ;)

Anyway, it was really wonderful to see her again and to meet her husband, and we got to chat for a short time before she had to return to the base, but since she's less than an hour away, we plan to see each other often. :D

We also got to connect with Cobi, a friend of Scott's friend Aaron, and Cobi's friend. Cobi is really really nice and very friendly. He's a musician and had I not hurt my neck the night before, we would've had the chance to see his band play. When Aaron told Cobi that we were moving to town, Cobi offered to help us move and unload the truck - without even knowing us!! How nice is that?? You def don't see that too often. Due to change of plans, he wasn't able to help us that day, but everything worked out well and we finally got to meet him and a friend of his on Friday. We had a good time talking to them, hearing about Nashville and a lot of good insider info on where to go to hear good music and what to do... We're looking forward to hanging out with them again sometime, hopefully where we don't have to yell over the fireworks to hear each other! :D

After fireworks and battling the crowds and traffic, we were hankerin' for some BBQ, so we went searching for anywhere that would be open on the 4th past 11... there were slim pickings and we settled for Sonic... not exactly my idea of BBQ, but they had a decent Chicken sandwich.

More photos and updates soon...
Thanks for stopping by. :D
B.

GROSS

It's been a couple of days since I blogged, there's so much going on.





It's a snake's skin!! and we found it (and it's owner) in our garage!!! oh, so gross!
We found him about 2 weeks ago slithering behind some wood in the garage and were so unprepared and didn't know what to do... we're city folks! give me a concrete jungle over a real one with bugs, spiders and snakes please!

About 4 days ago, we went out to check on him to see if he's still there, and lo-and-behold, there's TWO of them!! ((shudders)) We'd been trying to get the landlord to have someone come out to get him, but it was taking forever... when we saw the second one, we got worried that there might be a nest or god only knows what else... We didn't know how to deal with it and didn't want to touch them in case we piss them off and have more trouble than we started with!

Finally, the next day the landlord had someone come out and both snakes were in the garage, he just casually picks one up with a towel and walks him outside... but when he came back for the second one, it had already run back to it's dark safe hole. :( So we kept an eye on him for a few min, but he wasn't going anywhere... The exterminator (I think that's what he's titled) sprayed some stuff around the whole house that's supposed to keep the snakes away, he said they hate the smell and it drives them crazy. He also put some of it right up in the hole where the second snake was hiding, as well as some super sticky pads to catch him if he comes out. (It was funny when the exterminator asked: Where did you move from?... I bet he was thinking, where do these people come from that they're scared of this tiny snake and don't know what to do!)

So far, we saw him the first day trying to peak out of his hole, but otherwise, haven't seen any evidence of him... which could mean that he's either gone (we're hoping) or he's still up in his hiding hole.

As much as I want that nasty thing out of here, I am now a little less worried about his existence knowing that he's harmless. He's a small snake - less than 2 feet - but when you know nothing about snakes, you can't tell if they're venomous or dirty or diseased... He's supposed to be feeding on bugs and insects, which there is plenty supply courtesy of the small creek that runs right under our driveway and the 'foresty' area behind our house.

So we're going to assume that he's gone for now and do some more very heavy cleaning!

how....fun.... :(