Sadie Kay Bramlett

My corgi baby is here! Her official name is Sadie Kay Bramlett but we call her Sadie. Sadie for Sexy Sadie a song by The Beatles, Kay for Duck Dynasty, and Bramlett because that's Allen's last name and my future name.

I am sleeping on the couch until she is better potty trained and can trust her on the carpet. So far she's been pretty good. She snuggled up to me around bed time and just passed out. I got up and took her out multiple times throughout the night so I'm tired. Whenever I felt her start moving more than just rolling over in her sleep I took her out or put her in her pen lined with puppy pads. She whined in the pen unless I laid next it where she could lay next time. After she went or starting falling back asleep I'd take her back to the couch so I could sleep too.

Nicky doesn't seem too sure about her, Buster likes her, and we still need to introduce her to Ringo and Mumford. Poor Nicky was so excited to see me until he saw her. He doesn't dislike her but is wary of her for now. I think the pen helps because she can't run around the house freely like he can. I've been making sure I still love on him just as much or more than the puppy. I read that doing so shows his dominance and lets alpha dog know he's not being replaced.

I'll be happy when she's potty trained and I can sleep in my comfy bed again but for now it's not too bad. Her cuteness helps make up for my lack of comfort.

Marry and Bury

This weekend we went back to Allen's hometown. We were there for two reasons.

One. We had to discuss wedding plans with his side of the family. His dad still needs to find a way to come here and meet my parents. Then we talked about what the groom's side is responsible for and what the bride's side has. News to us was Allen's dad is supposed to pay for my bouquet. We just thought he covered the rehearsal dinner. And the Parkers plan on helping us with the honeymoon. So I'm giving up my dreams of Hawaii for now and agreeing to go on a cruise. Allen immediately started looking up cruises and they're booking up fast so we need to get a move on in that area.

Two. Allen got licensed! Not got his license like he can drive now but licensed by the church. Now he can perform wedding ceremonies and funerals. The pastor left out until last minute that when he called Allen up to present the license he was going to call me up too since we're getting married. The look on my face was that of shock and fear because I hate going up in front of people. I'm more of a behind the scenes person. Allen's home church is huge too. I'm used to 30-100 people max. His church has on average 600 people there! I was terrified but I was there for him.

Money Doesn't Grow On Trees

Money problems. Everyone seems to have them. I used to be free of them for the most part. I still don't have as many bills as most since I live at home and I'm thankful for that. But lately I've been struggling and it sucks.

I had this nice big amount saved up from when all I had to pay for was my car insurance and my gas. Then I took summer classes and had to pay for those, there went a chunk but it was still ok. I still had my safety net. Then I got a new car and that pretty much wiped me out and added to the list of monthly bills now I have a car payment. I tithe.

I'm about to get a corgi so I have to pay for that. I need to pay my parents back. I dropped a summer class and after I paid for the classes my dad paid me back for them. Well that money went to the car and to the huge deductible for upgrading to full coverage insurance. Now I owe dad for a class I dropped. I owe mom for using her card to buy Allen's wedding ring.

I have to get my wisdom teeth pulled and have to pay for half of it myself because my mom can't afford the whole thing and her part of wedding expenses. She keeps hoping Dad will offer her help with it but so far no go and we don't want to ask for it so unless he offers I plan on paying her back for half. She doesn't expect me to but I want to because she is struggling without child support. My little brother hasn't gotten a job yet so she still has to pay for his gas and insurance as well.

Allen struggles too and I help him when I can. Unfortunately, my safety net is gone so I can't help him right now. It is all so frustrating but we'll make it through. I'll just have to keep praying and budgeting.

Things I Wish I'd Known Before We Got Married (book)

I just finished the book Things I Wish I'd Known Before We Got Married by Gary Chapman. It was helpful and insightful. He brought up things I hadn't thought about.

Before I say anything else about it my only complaints are that sometimes he gets a little pushy about reading his other books like The Five Love Languages and he puts down his early years of marriage a lot. I intend to read his other books because this one was actually helpful but I don't need a plug in every other chapter about how I should get read the others. And he makes his marriage sound terrible throughout the whole book. As if he and his wife just hated each other after marriage.

Other than that it was good. I think my favorite chapter was I Wish I Had Know That Toilets Aren't Self Cleaning. This chapter discussed how couples need to talk about who does what around the house. His example was in his house he never saw who cleaned the toilet he just knew it was cleaned. In her house her dad always cleaned it so she expected him to do that once they were married and he had no clue. This led to a fight after a few weeks of no one cleaning the toilet. His idea is to have each person make a list of things they know need to be done like cooking, cleaning, mowing, etc. Then put the lists together and make a master list and make 2 copies. Then you each take a copy and put the initials of who you think should be in charge of each thing. Then when you're both done compare your lists and where you differ you discuss it until you come to an agreement on who does it or if you will share the responsibility.

There were other chapters like personality, love languages, and how you marry into a family not just one person. Yes you marry that person but their family becomes your family and there is no escaping that.

I highly recommend reading it even if you're single, dating, engaged, or married.

Coming Home Soon!

I am finally about to achieve my dream! I have wanted one for so long and now it is almost mine! I am getting a corgi! I have to wait for her to turn 6 weeks old and she is 4 weeks now. The wait seems to be taking forever even though I know the time will just fly by.

Nesting has begun as well. Last night I bought a collar. I have been making a list of things I need to get for her to feel welcome upon her arrival. I am so excited!!! Corgis are so cute with their little stubby legs!

My only concern is my shih-tzu, Nicky. He has been king of the house for about 3 years now. We got him when he was a puppy, as a birthday present to me from my brother, Steven. Unfortunately for me, he quickly became my mom's dog. I would go to school or work and she would spend all day at home with him. He grew to love her more than anyone in the house which is fine. After my parents divorced I believe Nicky was a great comfort to her so I'm ok with him choosing her over me.

However, Nicky does not like sharing his space. He can handle our big dog, Buster, occasionally coming in (until Mom starts loving on him more than Nicky). But Buster is normally outside so Nicky doesn't worry about him. Allen likes to bring Ringo over sometimes because they live in a small apartment and Ringo has a lot of energy. So we will let him come over and run around the backyard, plus Buster loves to play with him and he doesn't do that much now that he's older. When Ringo comes inside Nicky will tolerate it but he doesn't particularly like it. Again, he's fine until Ringo gets attention from Mom or plays with Nicky's toys.

Hopefully it goes well with my corgi. Only time will tell.

He's So Fluffy!

Allen had told me he found a kitten in the parking lot of his apartment days ago. He tried to catch it but it ran away. He didn't want to keep it but he did want to get it away from all the cars. Since he didn't catch and I never saw it I started to forget about this mystery kitten.

Then as we were walking into his apartment after taking Ringo, the dog, out to use the bathroom I heard a faint yet familiar noise. (I used to have a lot of cats, like 20.) I turned on instinct and saw a gray fluffy, dirty, little kitten hiding under a parked car. Meowing constantly for attention, I felt so bad for the poor thing. Allen said I wouldn't be able to catch her because she would just run away. But I tried anyway, I knelt down and meowed back to it and stuck my hand out for her to come to. At first she hesitated but then she ran right to me and I scooped her up.

As I walked in with her in my arms I asked if she was thirsty in a baby voice. Allen was feeding Ringo and hadn't looked up yet so he responded with "I just gave him water." Then he looked at me and was like "no, we cannot keep it. I already have a cat and a dog." He had a point but I couldn't leave her in the Texas heat in a parking lot. So we gave her food and water and I put her in the sink to give her a bath. Turned out the gray kitten was actually gray and white, she was that dirty.

After playing with her for a couple hours I went on the hunt to find her a home. She stayed with Allen for 2 days until the day of our engagement. Then my friend, Leah, was able to take her home to her kittens that were about the same age. She fits in great and it turns out she is actually a he!

Colossal Coaster World - VBS 2013

This year's VBS theme was Colossal Coaster World. Making a church look like a theme park is surprisingly easier than expected. It helps when you can use another church's decorations once they are done with them. I helped with crafts, its my favorite area.

Day 1: There were way more kids than we expected to show up but it was great. The kids were excited and well behaved (excluding a few pains). Our craft for the day was fireworks. We cut out circles and let the kids pick paint colors and then they dripped paint in a pattern of their choosing. For the younger kids they picked the color but we did the dripping. Once they were satisfied with the pattern we would come around with salad spinners and place the paper in it. If they were big enough they were allowed to spin it themselves but if they were little and not quite strong enough we would spin it. The result was a cool firework pattern. The only problem was glitter got everywhere because we let them put glitter once they'd spun it and a lot of them wrote their names in yellow on the back.

Day 2: For the rest of the week we had less kids than day one but still quite a few showed up. Our craft that day was making a basket out of paper and yarn. Turns out kids are not so great at following instructions when it comes to origami. Nathan and I had practiced the craft earlier that week so we knew how to do it and were able to help the ones who were struggling. The other helpers needed help too during the first round of kids because they hadn't practiced. We went a little over on time that day.

Day 3: We made optical illusions! They put a picture of Paul and Silus on side of a folded piece of paper and on the other side we taped coffee stirrers to look like prison bars. In the middle of the folded paper was a pencil. When they spun the pencil in their hands the people looked like they were in and out of prison.

Day 4: Picture frames! Everyone knows them, they're pretty easy for everyone. Most parents don't use them though. to encourage the parents actually putting it somewhere around the house we took pictures of the kids throughout the week so they'd have a picture to put in it before they took it home.

Day 5: We made bookmarks out of paperclips. This and the fireworks seemed to be everyone's favorite craft. They picked the color paperclip, color of yarn for hair, and another color for the bow to tie the hair with. Once they were done with the hair we came around with tape and added googly eyes. The kids loved them and treated them more like new toys rather than a bookmark.