Bumper Cars

Well, us, along with almost every other church in Nashville, have called off services for today. The roads are just way too icy. I learned that first hand this morning. It was quite an eventful morning all before 9 am.

Dad left last Thursday to go do a seminar in California and he flew back in to TN this morning at about 8 am. Since we called off services I went ahead and picked him from the airport. Now, being from the North I do have experience driving on icy roads but what TN has that IL does not have and that is hills and lots of them. That does make it harder even for the experience icy road driver. But I knew that I did know how to handle the car in case I had trouble. So at 8 am I climbed into dad's car and slowly made my way to the airport. I was so excited and proud of myself because I had no trouble whatsoever.

Now I'm putting in a little side note to TDOT here. When snow has fallen or is in the process of falling. Salt and brine are not going to keep the roads clear. You have to actually plow them. But you would think common sense would tell them that. Murfreesboro road was nothing but one huge ice rink and had not been plowed once since the snow fall we got on Friday. This is Sunday!! Plow the roads people! Maybe that's why Nashville has had at least 300 car accidents. You have got to plow the roads in addition to laying salt and whatever to the roads. Since Nashville is obviously capable of getting about 6 inches of snow and ice at one time you would think they would get enough equipment to handle this. But it's Tennessee and they just don't have the common sense it seems. Its frustrating.

Anyway, I pick dad up from the airport and we head back home with me driving. Again, I'm having no trouble at all and then we turn onto the road that my parents road is on. We make it up the first hill and then as we approach a road turnoff we see up ahead a car stuck in the middle of the road. So we decided to turn at the first street and go that way to our house. No problem. We start up the hill and realize that its a sheet of ice with no snow for traction. Dads car is a front wheel drive so I was pretty confident but when there is no snow for traction you pretty much can't do anything. so we start to slide a bit. I automatically stop the car and put in park and dad comes around to get in the driver's seat so I don't have to slam into someone else's car (which probably would happen as soon as we put the car in gear.) So dad gets in and put the car in reverse hoping that we can just slowly creep back down the hill so we can get back to the main road. Well, we start sliding backwards and fast. Dad had lost complete control of the car and now this is where it gets funny. I was laughing during the incident and laughing hysterically afterwards. :) We were headed for a house with lots of cars in the driveway and I knew we would hit a few of them. So dad opens his door (while pumping the brakes) and stick his other foot out the door to try and stop the car Fred Flintstones style. This was hilarious to me at the time and I still chuckle when I think about it now just two hours later. Well, obviously that wasn't working and miraculously the car spins a 180 so now we can see ourselves hurling towards cars and mailboxes. Dad somehow manages to swerve the car away from the other cars and we end up someones front yard. Of course, I was praying the entire time that the Lord would keep us safe and not to hit anything so the first thing I said after we stopped was "Thank You, Jesus!" Which dad thought was funny and started laughing. We both were shaking and laughing and amazed that we didn't hit anything at all and no one got hurt. So we get back out on the main road and decide to go up that hill because there was more traction and we just drove around the cars stuck in the middle of the road. There were people there helping them so we didn't need to stop and help. We finally made it home safe and sound and thankful my mother wasn't with us or she would have been freaking out!

Now I'm back at my parent's house, in my pj's watching the movie "Breakdown", where I plan to stay the rest of the night.

Happy Sunday!

And Nashville has come to a Stand Still

Well the week long predicted snowstorm has finally arrived in Nashville. I first saw it snow around the 9 o'clock hour. Our building powers that be decided quickly that we should close the building and head home before the snow started to stick and the roads got too bad. That was fine by me. I always enjoy the occasional day at home of doing nothing but watching TV and reading a good book.

So now it's almost 1 pm and I've just had lunch and I'm sitting on the sofa watching "Yes, Dear" on TBS and watching the snow fall. It seems to be a perfect day so far. The only thing better than that is to have my boyfriend here to see but alas, the snow and ice have forced him to stay down in Alabama. But since he's not going to be here I've decided to make some homemade salsa that I saw on The Pioneer Woman's website. I've become obsessed with her and her recipes. I can't wait to try them all.

But anyway, the snow is beautiful and looks like we already have around an inch or two. They are predicting 4-6 inches by the time this is all over with tomorrow. That's actually a lot for Nashville. They showed the interstates on TV and the are a jumbled mess. I'm so glad I only live 5 minutes from work. But it looks like I'll be home bound for a day or two. I'm okay with that. I plan on spending the entire day in my pj's tomorrow. I haven't done that in a while.

Have a great weekend!

Snow...I love you, but please don't come this weekend!

The weather people here are forecasting a winter storm this weekend. I have mixed emotions which lean more towards the sad and angry emotion. They are predicting that starting tonight or early tomorrow we are supposed to get freezing rain (ice) and then in the Nashville area about 2-4 inches of snow dumped on top of it.

I've stated on here that I love snow. I love the way it looks as it falls to the ground. I especially love watching it fall at night with the street lights shining on them. It's so gorgeous, peaceful and romantic. I love to make snowman and snow angels. I love to get involved in a pretty good snowball fight. I love the way it smells and how the entire city turns into a magical looking winter wonderland.

But good grief, did it have to pick this weekend or a weekend at all to make things messy?! Because of this blessed storm coming my ever so kind and handsome sweetheart won't be making is trip up to see me this weekend. We both feel that it's just too risky since there will be ice involved. I'm sad and angry and relieved. I'm sad because I won't get to see him and angry that the stinking storm had to come on a weekend instead of a weekday. I'm relieved because I've done nothing but worry that he would just be a macho man and try to come up and then something happen.

Of course this is all depending on if it actually does anything. Our weather people are not the most reliable weather people. They like to build people's expectations up just to see it come crashing down when not one flake will fall. We shall see.

Four-Wheelin'

This past weekend I went to Alabama to visit my sweetheart and to spend some time with my family as well. Saturday we went over to Alan's parents house to spend some time with them, which they couldn't be any sweeter of people. They are so nice and easy to be with and I really enjoy my time with them. His parents live in a very small town outside of Northport and even though their neighbors are very close they basically live out in the country. They have a huge field behind their house and so Alan and I decided to go riding on his four-wheeler.


The only time I had every ridden one was in Hawaii and it was an automatic and we didn't go very fast. But Alan's ATV is a manual and I don't do manual so I had to learn. So we hopped on the four-wheeler and took off past the horses (which were gorgeous) and headed to the back pasture and woods. We had a blast. It was a lot of fun until he made me drive. It took forever to learn how to shift gears on that thing and when I did the first time I popped a wheelie and about dumped my man right off the back. He managed to hang on so I spared him from any broken bones.


It had just rained buckets down there the day before so it was completely wet and muddy back in the woods but we still drove through them on the trails and down to the creek. Then we decided to go to this small clearing and that's when we got stuck. I mean we got stuck in the mud pretty good. So he jumped down and told me to hold down the throttle and he pulled us out of the mud....my strong manly man. *swoon*. We went a little further and got stuck again! So we took advantage of the situation. (wink, wink) :) So Alan jumped down again and got behind the ATV and told me to press down on the throttle and he would push us out. We finally got the thing free and he told me to just keep going until I hit dry ground. So I did and just left him there. I felt bad because he had to walk through all the mud and water. But I had to keep going or else I would have gotten stuck again. After he caught up to me he jumped on the four-wheeler and we took off again making sure we stay out of the mud. It was so much fun and I can't wait to go again.

Here we are right after being stuck in the mud.

That's not a great picture of us so here is a better one we took the last time he came to Nashville.

Dizzy

Not much to blog about today. Went and saw Avatar in 3D at the IMax last night and now I'm one of those poor chaps who got a migraine from it. I'm also trying to not to be dizzy this morning. But seeing that movie in 3D is well worth having a headache and a dizzy spell. Awesome!

Have a great weekend!

Can You Put a Yellow Bow On It?

This week has been so busy in every aspect of my life...work, church, etc. It seems like I have something to do every night this week and work has just been a constant stream off nonstop work, which is great. Of course in the evenings, the busy nights are just places that I don't have to go to but I've been doing some fun things. I went to a hockey game Monday (remember Dierks Bentley, *swoon*) but tonight I'm especially excited. I'm going to see Avatar again.

I know that I have seen Avatar already with my sweetheart but we didn't see it in 3D. But tonight, I'm going to see it in 3D at the IMax. I'm so stinking excited about this. I bought my ticket off Fandango yesterday just to be sure I had a ticket. I've read online that people have gotten sick from watching it in 3D so I may have to take some Dramamine before I go. I don't want to get one of my dizzy spells which I'm prone to get from time to time.

I'm heading to Alabama this weekend to see my sweetheart and my family. I was talking to my almost four year old niece yesterday on the phone. I told her I was coming to see her this Friday and she was so excited. My heart just melted right there. Of course, the first thing she asked me was if I was bringing her a prize. Let me put a little side note in here. Ever since that child was born I, along with my mother, have made the mistake of bringing her and my nephew something every time we go down to visit them and we always have a little something for them when they visit Nashville. It's become an expensive little habit and one that she has realized. She knows that I always have something for her every time I see her. At Christmas my brother and his family spent Christmas in Nashville and the day after Christmas we headed over to my house because my sister-in-law had not seen my house since I had moved in. Now remember that this was the day after Christmas and my niece had just opened like ten gifts and had a houseful of new toys. As soon as my niece walked in the door she asked me in her sweet angelic little voice, "Janice? Do you have a prize for me?" I told her, "No, baby, I gave you all my prizes at Mimi's and Papaw's." Then her little shoulders slumped in disappointment. My heart broke because she was so sad. How dare I not think to have a prize waiting for her and her brother when they came to visit my house. I guarantee you that I will not be making that mistake again. I've spoiled that child so badly...but I love her.

But I'm her Aunt....her favorite Aunt...and of course I'm bringing her a little something. It is just a few heart shaped bracelets I found for a couple of dollars. She's such a girlie girl. But back to the story. I told her that yes, I had a prize for her and she asked me if I can put a bow on it. Since this beautiful angel has me wrapped around her little finger I said that I would put a bow on it. Then she asked me if I could put a yellow bow on it. I didn't question her so I told her I would put a yellow bow on it. I am wondering why yellow and I should have asked her about it because purple is her favorite color...then pink...then blue...then green. She schooled me on her favorite colors once before. It's very detailed. She cracks me up. She is the funniest little girl I have ever met and has my whole heart. So yes, I'll be putting a yellow bow on it.

My Dad is Officially Old :)

I ran into my dad today. Not literally but I saw him this morning on my way to work. I was a running a little behind today because I had to stop at Kroger to get one of my bosses his stash of Diet Mt. Dew. He (my boss) is coming in today from out of town and if there isn't a cold supply of this drink in the fridge he always sends me out right then to stock up and grab a cold one at the same time. I don't have time today to make a run to Kroger in the middle of the day so I thought I would make the stop before work.

Anyway, as I was at the four way stop outside my building I saw a car that looked just like my dad's car. Then I realized that it was my dad and of course the phone was up to ear where it is 99% of the time. (What did he ever do before cell phones?!) I then realized that he was trying to call me on my phone but I didn't hear it. I was too busy jamming to music and had the volume up so loudly that I didn't hear the phone ring or hear that my handsome boyfriend had sent me his daily "Good morning, baby" text. Isn't that sweet? My boyfriend calls me baby...makes me warm and tingly inside. Anyway, I called my dad back as I parked my car in my work's parking lot facing the mall where I could see my dad parked. He had decided to go walking at the mall this morning. Which made me instantly think..."My dad is officially old." He has become a mall walker! LOL! Only old gray-haired wrinkling people walk at the mall at 7:30 in the morning! Just kidding, dad. (Remember, he discovered my blog a few months ago so I have to behave in what I say now.)

Anyway, dad is also a member of a gym just down the road and he so lovingly decided to put me on his family plan. Which is great because I don't have to pay for a membership to the gym. But as I'm talking to my dad his first question is when do you want to go work out. I don't actually remember saying that I would go work out...ever...but I'll give it a go. Seriously though, I do want to work out. I enjoy the thoughts of working out and feeling better about myself. I love the elliptical machines so I would take full advantage of it. The only thing is I just have no time to go to the gym. I'm doing something almost every night of the week and before you all say, "Get up and go work out before work" let me just say that I am not a morning person. It's (in my opinion) a sin to get up before the crack of dawn to do anything, especially to sweat first thing in the morning. It's just not right. I love my sleep and therefore I will get as much sleep as I possibly can so getting up earlier is out of question.

But I will make it to the gym eventually but until then I will enjoy my breakfast of champions today: Cracker Jacks and a Mt. Dew...the real kind chock full of sugar and 290 calories.

Welcome to Smashville!

Last night a friend and I went to the Nashville Predator's hockey game. She got tickets through the company she works for so we were able to park for free, eat for free (in their box suite) and watch the game for free...not too shabby for Janice. It was definitely an interesting night, especially since I know nothing about hockey. Well, I know nothing except from what I've seen on the Mighty Ducks and Miracle (which is an awesome movie, by the way.)

Let me start by saying that was the quickest and easiest time I have ever had getting to my seat at the Sommet Center. We were able to park in a church parking lot right across the street and enter through a special side door which was on the same level as where we were sitting so no stairs or elevators for us. Then when we got to the suite it was filled with food. We had chicken strips, barb-b-que, nachos, chips, popcorn, nuts, raw veggies and the biggest carrot cake I had ever seen. Tammy and I split a piece of cake it was so huge! We had gotten there an hour before the game started so that gave us plenty of time to eat and try to stay warm because it was freezing in there. A man and his wife in the suite with us went on a tour of the arena before the game and they were telling us that they were keeping the arena extra cold in there because the Canadian players complain that our ice is too soft. We played the Toronto Maple Leafs. The game started off well. No one was scoring for awhile then within the first period Toronto scored three goals. I was amazed at how many Toronto fans there were last night. I would say almost half were fans. But anyway, the game itself was boring. Only two fights (which is why I go to the games in the first place) broke out. The Preds lost by one point. It was disappointing. But while there we saw on the Jumbo Tron or the Big Screen that there were several Titans players there and Charles Kelley from Lady Antebellum was there. Interesting note about Charles Kelley that I found out just this morning: Charles is the brother to Josh Kelley who is married to Katherine Heigl of Grey's Anatomy and 27 Dresses. I thought that was kind of cool.

Right after the second period was over (which I did not know that they have a 17 min. intermission between each period) a man in our suite kept saying, "Dierks Bentley is right over there." I turned to look where he was gesturing and sure enough, Dierks Bentley was sitting with his wife about two suites over from where we were sitting. I was so close but so far away! I was too far to get a picture of him but close enough to make out his facial features. But I will say that he is so dreamy...a very handsome man. My boyfriend is okay with this. He's not jealous of Dierks. He knows that he truly has my heart...unless Dierks asks for it then he might need to worry. Just kidding....maybe. :)

But anyway it was so neat to see him. I rarely see any celebrities without seeing them in concert, etc. that it was cool to see them outside of their profession. So after the game we high tailed it out of there because we didn't want to be stuck in the massive traffic jam that always happens after an event at the arena. It took us a mere 3 mins to get back to the car and we were able to get out of the parking lot and back to the Bible College (where I had parked my car) before the people in the nosebleed section made it down to street level at the arena. Ha Ha! Hee Hee!

So the moral of this whole story is this: go to the Preds game because if it's boring as all get out (unless they score then it's exciting for a minute) you can gawk and drool over Dierks Bentley and any other celebrity who might be there. The game suddenly gets interesting. :)

The Kindle

Last week a friend of mind had a birthday. Her family went in together and got her the Kindle for her present. I've heard about the Kindle for a couple of years now and had seen it on amazon. My friend was so excited and she brought it to church yesterday for everyone to see. In case you don't know what a Kindle may be, it is a device sort of like an iPod but a much bigger version. It comes with a USB cord and you can link it up to your computer and then download hundreds of books. My friend so far had downloaded The Bible, The Twilight Saga books and some others I didn't recognize. She said she will be using this as her Bible now since she was able to download her favorite version on it. It really is a pretty cool invention. But of course, I have my reservations about it.

For one, if you bring it to church what's stopping you from reading the other books during the sermon instead of trying to listen to what the Lord might want you to hear that morning. I don't know. It would be too much a distraction for me during the services.

Another thing is I love books. Plain and simple. I love the way they feel and the way they smell. You just can't beat the smell of books...especially old books. I guess I like the way the smell takes me back to my childhood. I just get very nostalgic when holding a book in my hands. It's a comfort. I can't explain why it's so comforting. So please let's save our childhood memories (or actually the things that trigger our childhood memories) and not resort to another techie gadget.

A third thing is....why do we need another technological gadget? Why does everything have to be computerized and, in their terms, made simpler? I don't need everything done for me. I'm a lazy person but I'm not too lazy to turn a page. Not everything on God's beautiful Earth needs to be transferred to the tech world. Now I love technology. I love my TV, my computer, my iPod, my indoor plumbing but when it comes to books, I want to feel the pages between my fingers. I love knowing that I am controlling the story with my speed of turning the pages. Besides, what would happen to the bookmark world if everyone went to the Kindle? I love bookmarks. That would be a tragedy if the world didn't have bookmarks anymore.

I know that using the Kindle instead of purchasing an actual book will save trees and blah blah blah, but I love the challenge I feel when I hold a book, a big fat book, and it dares me to try and finish it within a short amount of time.

I know the Kindle has it's advantage which are very very good, I might add. You can take it with it's hundreds of downloaded books with you on vacation or a road trip. It's perfect to take on a plane or to the beach and not have to worry about lugging 10-50 big fat heavy books around everywhere you go. That is a huge plus and that right there is why I would purchase a Kindle.

Lasagna and Avatar

This weekend was one of the best weekends I've had in awhile. It snow flurried the entire weekend and it was beautiful watching it come down. It didn't mess up the road too much which was a good thing. But whoa it was freezing outside! I mean it was cold. As much as I love weather that reminds me of back home...I'm so ready for the temperature to move back up to at least the 30's and 40's. lol!

I attempted to make dinner for my boyfriend on Friday night. I shouldn't say attempted because I did make dinner and I thought it was pretty tasty. It was my first time to cook for him and the actual meal was really good but you would have thought I was burning the house down the way my oven and smoke detectors were acting. I made lasagna (and no it was not a frozen Stouffer's lasagna). But I have a brand new oven and I have only used one other time since I moved in so it still had that weird copper new smell to it and when the oven was actually turned on it the aroma was pretty powerful. I guess I also made the lasagna layers a little too thick because after being in the oven for awhile everything starting bubbling pretty good and it was bubbling over and so it was burning on the bottom of the oven. The lasagna itself didn't burn and it was quite good. I just need to not make the layers so thick so it won't bubble over. Then every time I opened the oven door the smoke detector would go off but there the thing is there was no smoke. So I don't know what all that was about. But to recap...the lasagna did not burn, it tasted very good and my boyfriend is convinced (I think) that I can cook. :)

Saturday we were going to go downtown to walk around and then eat at the Spaghetti Factory but since it was so cold out we decided not to go. But then we heard there were a couple of water main breaks downtown so I don't we could have gotten down there anyway so it worked out. Instead we went go see Avatar. Now I did not want to go see this movie. In the previews it looked so weird and not my type of movie. I'm not usually into sci-fi movies but Alan really wanted to see it so not trying to be a demanding and whiny girlfriend I agreed to go see it. (I wanted to see It's Complicated.) I'm glad that I did because it was a very good movie. We didn't go see in it in 3-D but now I wish we had. I think it would have been a little better but seeing in non 3-D was excellent. I have a friend who wants to see it so we will go see in at the IMax in 3-D next week or so. Now the movie does have spirits and stuff like that in it and some Christians have given some backlash on this movie but I'm grounded enough in my own faith to realize that this movie is in a fantasy world in the year 21something so I didn't give that a second thought. It was an excellent movie with beautiful colors and some really cool effects. I think it's worth seeing but I've got to warn you that it is a three hour movie. It didn't feel like it though. It just flew by its so captivating. So if you've got three hours to kill and need something to do go see Avatar...in 3-D.

Happy Monday!

Football, Movies, and Beds...Oh My!

Well, the cold streak is continuing. It is freezing outside. It's just 18 degrees but it feels colder with the wind chill factor. It's been flurrying most of the day here and it's just been beautiful. I love winter scenes...not that Nashville has a winter scene going on outside but I do love to watch the snow fall. It's so beautiful and romantic. My boyfriend is coming into town tonight so we might just curl up on the couch and watch movies all night. It's just too cold to try and go out and do something. It'll be a miserable night. :) Just kidding.

Speaking of my boyfriend. I have chosen to date someone from Alabama so therefore he is an Alabama fan. As the whole world probably knew that the big game between Texas and Alabama was last night. I really don't care about football. I mean, I'll watch it if I have to but I don't watch it much and I don't even really know what's going on. I'm not opposed to football in the least. I just don't watch it much so I didn't watch it last night. I watched My Sister's Keeper instead. Oh, it's so sad and I cried all the way through it but its such a good movie. Great acting in it by Cameron Diaz and Abigail Breslin. But anyway, every time Bama scored I got a text message from Alan telling me they made a touchdown like it was the biggest news of the century. He was so excited. I didn't have the heart to tell him I could care less so I just texted back, "Great!" "Yay!" "That's so exciting!" "They're gonna win the game". See, I'm being a good supportive girlfriend. I'm just waiting until I have to actually sit through an entire game. Oh heaven help me when that day comes. :)

I'm so excited because a co-worker of mine asked me today if I could use a queen size mattress and box springs. I told her that of course I could! They have only had it for three years but it's just been too uncomfortable for them so they are going out and buying a new one this weekend! I'm so excited! All I have is a standard size bed. I may just put it in my guest room though. I don't have a headboard or a frame yet so it may just stay in my guestroom for now, which I'm totally okay with. I'm just happy because now I can actually turn that room into something. It's been a storage room since I've moved in and I'm ready for it to be turned into something cute and usable. My house is slowly turning into a comfortable place to live. I've decided that I want to paint. I met my neighbor the other night. She's a very nice young lady named Mia. I think she's still in college because when I commented on her wall color she said her sorority sisters painted her walls. It's a beautiful color. It's almost a orange-red color. It's beautiful, warm and cozy. That's what I want for my house. Maybe not orange or red on my walls but something that is warm and cozy. I've been looking at furniture lately online. I've been thinking of getting a new living room set. The set I have is from my parents that they had used since I was a little girl. It's still in great condition but it's just old and really not that comfortable anymore. I want a sofa that you can just sink into with a lot of cushions and pillows. I really like the neutral colors so I'll probably go with a brown color and then paint my walls a light brown or khaki color. To me those are very warm and cozy colors and then I can accent with brighter colors. I'm so excited. I can't wait to start everything. It'll be so much fun. Anyone want to help paint? :)

Have a great weekend!

Brrr...Snow!

Oh my! What a whirlwind of a month December was! I was lucky enough to be off of work for two weeks for Christmas and New Year's. The downside of that was I got sick my second day off with a severe case of bronchitis that lasted the entire time I was off of work! I have never coughed and hacked as much as I did those two weeks. (That's a lovely image isn't it?) I'm still not quite over it yet either. I can still have a pretty good coughing spell at times but thankfully I am on the mend. I've been back at work for three days now and it's like I never left except for the thousand faith promise cards I have to key in and the 100's of orders I need to fill hopefully tomorrow. So if you have ordered something from Home Missions in the last few weeks...it's still sitting on my desk. I've been off of work clinging to life from a cough that I think has evaporated one of my lungs.

But anyway, for the past week our weather forecasters have been warning us that we will get a major snowstorm for today. They have been saying that we will get 2-4 inches of snow and that the roads will be terrible. School was called off and grocery stores were emptied of bread and milk (side note: why is it always bread and milk?). I wake up this morning and nothing. It hadn't snowed a single flake. Now it's "snowing" which in my definition is flurrying. The good news is that there is at least a dusting on the ground. So maybe we will get at least an inch. I hope so. I miss the snow. But man is it freezing outside! It's been so cold all week and I honestly forgot how much it hurts to be that cold. Since I've lived in the south for over 10 years I've gotten used to the mild winters. So since this cold Arctic air has hit Nashville my bones are aching I've been so cold. Don't tell my brother that I've become such a pansy, he would never let me live it down.

Happy Thursday!