A Better Way to Keep Folks in the Loop...

I always figured I'd start a blog when we had something really interesting to talk about like morning sickness, nursery colors and baby names. That seems to be the trend...get pregnant, start a blog. But no such luck for you baby-pushing people out there...I'm just here b/c I'm now a stay-at-home wife (for the time being) and thought it would be easier to keep everybody in the loop this way.

So, we made the move to Lubbock on Friday, May 1. With the help of my cousin Erin, her hubby Damon and cousin Andi, we got the entire 26-ft. truck unloaded that afternoon. (THANKS, GUYS!) Let me tell you, 26 feet translates into "Summer and Isaiah have waaaay too much stuff." I think half of it is still in the garage and we're living comfortably. Erin says we all need to have a garage sale this summer, and I heartily agree.

Isaiah started work the very next Monday at Cargill, so I was left to start finding things and unpacking. Part of what was so frustrating was that Isaiah packed the majority of our stuff while I worked another week so I had no idea where anything was. We finally found the pots, pans and dishes on Wednesday night, but didn't locate our silverware until the following weekend so we used plasticware for a whole week. I'm happy to report, however, that my kitchen is all set up now. It's been so nice to have the whole day to plan and prep for dinner, as opposed to my former routine of calling Isaiah on the way home to get him to defrost some meat/chicken so I could get dinner made before 10 p.m.

My Dad came up that first weekend to help us get settled and make the never-ending trips to Lowe's, Wal-Mart and United for necessary items like bathroom caulk, light switches and chocolate milk. He was lots of help and we weren't ready for him to go yet, but he headed out after a few days...I think he missed lil' Cricket too much. ;) Isaiah's grandparents, Gene and Lola, and Uncle Darrell and Aunt Joanie stopped in for one night on their way through as well. They're on a several week road-trip all over the southern part of the U.S. so we were glad they got to pop in and see us.

Isaiah's new job has been going well -- today is the start of his third week. He spent the first week in orientation and then all last week starting to work with folks from all over the operation to figure out what they do and all the proper procedures. I still won't let him tell me too much about what they do, for fear I'll become a vegetarian. I'm a gal who loves me a good steak, so NOT knowing about how the poor cows go from a living, breathing thing to something on my plate is a good thing. I've also threatened to make Isaiah buy his own washing machine because he's come home with blood and poo all over his jeans on some days. Gross. Again, I don't want to know why it's there or what happened. Some fun lil' facts about the Cargill plant -- there are 2,000 employees; they process between 4,500 and 4,800 cows per day; what they produce in one day can feed around 280,000 people; and they use the entire cow for something. Even the by-products are used to create power for the plant. Neat, eh?

The house we're renting is nice -- it has three bedrooms, two baths, a two-car garage (which we couldn't even think about parking a car in right now) and a good-sized backyard with a storage shed for the lawn mower and tools and such. And despite what Clay thinks, we have several trees that provide lots of nice shade -- nine in the backyard alone, along with some crazy rose vines. The weather has been perfect so I just turn off the A/C and leave the sliding glass door in the living room open almost all day long.

Murphy and Tug have enjoyed getting to come and go as they please. They are both actually sitting out in the sun as we speak. They also love getting to chase all the birds that live in the neighborhood, especially the fat lil' doves that seem to have an affinity for our yard. There's also a nice, big park down our street, probably a 10-min. walk. We took the dogs on Saturday morning so they could run around and Tug could swim in the pond. I kept having a panic attack he was going to go after the baby ducks, but thankfully he behaved like a good boy. They've enjoyed all the extra attention since I'm home all day. We even took them to the drive-in with us on Friday night -- we laid down the middle seat and all four snuggled into the back of our Jeep...with Tuggy in the middle. Needless to say, I'm the only one that stayed awake for both movies.

Well, I'd better get off the computer and haul out the vacuum. I'm a housewife now, remember!?!