2011-2012

It's only fair that I jump on the bandwagon! So many things have happened this year and I feel like I've left so much out. I've been so busy this year and for that reason I set my "goal" for 2012 to be the year of Simplicity!

Let's do a quick recap, shall we?
January- the hubs was offered a job in AR.
February- the hubs moved to AR.
March- we celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary and I moved back to my parents. HAAAA! I just realized how terrible funny that sounds.
April- the hubs turned 30! I had about 7 inches of hair cut off!
May- I turned 27 another year older too!
June- Brad was working about 100 hours a week and we rarely saw each other.
July- pretty much the same as June! We celebrated Independence Day at his boss' house with several people.
August- Chloe started Kindergarten, Jenessa got married, and we got our first offer on our house!!! Woot woot!
September-We closed on the Hinkle House and I said farewell. I broke my tailbone and Brad and I went to a huge airshow in TN. Chloe turned six!
October- We had a family picnic at Tishomingo State Park. We left on Halloween for Fort Pierce, FL AND we found out that Brad had won 2nd place for a scholarship!
November- We spent 10 days in FL while Brad was in school. It was awkward actually "living" with each other again, but so nice! We found out that Brad would stay in AR through the winter rather than coming back to MS like we had planned.
December- We were in Las Vegas for 6 days for the NAAA Convention for Brad to receive his award {and check}. We did a few touristy things, but decided Vegas isn't really our style. Chloe had her first school program and she was the cutest Sugarplum Fairy! She also said her long part without messing up or getting all nervous and freaking out! :) We had six Christmas gatherings {Brad made 4}.

How did we end 2011? We ate at a pizza place, then went to a friends house where the guys watched football and the girls watched a movie. We were home before 1130 and Brad and Amos were both snoring at 12. I told myself "Happy New Year" and did a little fist pump. Yeah, at this rate, I'm not sure how boring we will be in another few years!

What's planned for 2012? Not sure! Ha! Brad will be in AR and I'll be in MS and we'll probably be this way for most of the year.

My goals for 2012? I will not have goals this year. I have a to-do list, though!
To-do for 2012:
1. Save more, spend less
2. Get rid of baggage {clothes, shoes, house things, etc}
3. Do something fun more often {I hardly had time for fun things in 2011 so I want to change that!}
4. Save for a new-to-me car
5. Simplify my life in general
6. Get organized again

I plan on keeping this blog up to date as well. I might not have much to talk about, but I still want to remember the small things :)

Friday 15

I have absolutely no idea where to start with a catch up post. Things have been bananas lately! I'm going to post the first 15 thoughts that pop into my head. Bare with me... :)

1. We sold the house! I'm still sad and happy that I've only stalked it once.
2. We moved everything into a storage unit. I spent lots and lots of time researching and organizing. I can honestly say I know where 95% of things are. Plus they're packed away with dryer sheets {to keep bugs away}, wooden pallets {to keep things off the floor}, drop cloths {to keep the wood furniture protected}, plastic, mouse poison, moisture catcher thingys and lots of bug spray. I feel much better now.
3. I still haven't finished unpacking and organizing the apartment though. There are about 3 more tubs I need to work on. It doesn't help that Brad has moved in some of his hunting crap things already. 
4. I would have liked to finish the unpacking part, but I've been busy lately. Plus I can't sit in the floor to sort through things or sit on the couch and bend over digging in plastic tubs. 
5. My broken tail bone seems to be healing nicely. I'm very impatient though and want it to be done with... NOW. Combine that with the fact that I forget it's broken and then bad things happen. Long drives (over 30 minutes) are still not fun; neither is sitting at my desk at work. 
6. Brad and I went to an air show in Millington, TN a few weeks ago (pics to come soon) and had a good time. This was before I knew my tail bone was broken. I couldn't figure out why I was hurting SO badly. I was sitting in one of those folding chairs that you carry in a bag and I could barely move at the end of the show (almost 3 hour drive, 6 hour show and 3 hour drive home). I normally have a good tolerance for pain, but that was driving me crazy!!
7. The next week Brad went to another one in Halls, TN or somewhere around there. He took a ride in a cool plane (pics to come). I stayed home :)
8. Last weekend I drove to AR and met Brad at his workplace. We hopped in a plane and flew south to Inverness, MS for "Duster Doings". Basically this older ag pilot lets all of his ag pilot friends fly in and spend the day swapping stories and eating. It was an hour flight down and then a little more than an hour back {strong wind!} and so flippin' bumpy. It was my first flight in a 4 seater plane and my first flight to ride in the backseat {I don't even ride in the backseat of a car!!}. I didn't throw up, but I did come close on the flight back!
9. Brad is registered for a week long ag course in Ft. Pierce, Florida! Guess who will be taking a week vacation and going with him? Me! The room is booked and the rental car is booked and we're ready to go! Just a few more weeks... I'm going to miss Amos though!! I've never been away from him for this long before. Amos is a special needs dog so I'm worried about him, but I know my mom and dad will take good care of him!
10. Courtney {my sis} turned 29 and Chloe turned 6 last week. We partied Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday! I was party pooped out!
11. I have no idea what this weekend holds and that's ok... I have a few things in mind.
12. Monday is Columbus Day!! That means no work for me Monday!! Woot woot! I'm thrilled about this. Over the moon excited. I'm so ready for a day off.
13. My mom, sister, niece and I plan on shopping Monday. Lord help us! Chloe hates shopping, I'm crippled, mom's crippled and Courtney has a heart condition. Fun times! Ha! Court and Clo are going on a cruise soon so they're looking for cruise clothes. Chloe needs fall clothes. Mom is just going {although we might convince her to buy a thing or two}. I'm in desperate need of fall clothes. I have sweaters, plenty of sweaters, but nothing to wear in fallish weather.
14. Amos threw up four times this week. I have no idea why. He's such a sickly dog. He started chewing on his toy last night so I think he's finally feeling better.
15. I plan on posting pictures very soon! I have so many I need to upload and edit and hopefully I'll have time to do that soon.

Happy Friday!!!

Friday Confessional

I confess...

• that I had a Mt. Dew today... and it was wonderful.
• that I've watched {possibly} too much tv this week.
• that I'm going to spend tonight and/or tomorrow cleaning.

I confess...

• that I freaked out about Amos this week.
• that is he finally feeling a little better.
• that I feel responsible for him being sickly.

I confess...

• that I haven't bought my mom & dad's birthday gifts yet. Mom's is tomorrow and dad's is Sunday.
• that I have no idea what I'm getting them.

I confess...

• that I haven't "gone off" on anyone today {either in front of them or behind their back while I'm alone in my office}
• that I have been in a good mood most of the day {Mt. Dew high, perhaps?}
• that I have discovered pinterest.com
• that I have been doing some major "pinning" since then.

I confess...

• that I have no idea what I'm doing this weekend.
• that I've been invited to a ummm some sort of house party thingy. What was it???
• that I have a friend's wedding reception tomorrow afternoon.
• that I might skip it all and head to Arkansas.

I confess...

• that I'm flipping thrilled it's Friday!! Woot Woot!! :)

Happy Friday!!!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Don't forget to link up today!

This weekend I was forced lucky enough to visit the great Natural State again. If you're keeping count, that is 3 out of 4 weekends in June. Brad didn't have to work Sunday so we drove to West Memphis and ate Cracker Barrel! Yum yum!

 The entire drive there I was telling Brad how I just could.not.wait for my pecan pancakes {even though I was upset at myself for eating so badly the previous week}, BUT they have a new menu with multi grain pancakes so I ordered those instead! I'm loving them! :) This isn't my picture {Brad would have died if I would have whipped out my camera right there in the restaurant}, but that's almost exactly what my plates looked like. I didnt eat it all... don't worry :)

Loving the multi-grain!

  I'm loving my crazy family too. Yes, we all have men in our lives, but they weren't invited :) I'm not sure what we'll do when John Aaron gets older. Ha! :)

 I'm loving this man {and he loves me; he just doesn't show it on camera}and those gosh awful gold aviators with the forehead piece. I promise he doesn't wear those in public. And yes, that's my zebra CD holder... I got it as a gift when I was in high school!

I'm loving my first vanilla malt from Sonic. I've always wanted to try it, but I am SO NOT GOOD at trying new things. I even looked up the difference between a milkshake and a malt {side note: what would I do without Google??}. Someone commented on a thread that it tasted like a Whopper. You got my vote!

Look at the awesome cup it came in :)

 Chloe's recital was Saturday. I left right after it was over and headed west. She did SO well during her songs and her solo. I was so proud of her!! I'm loving that my little Clo-Monster has really grown out of her shell since she started dance.

She thinks she's big stuff! :)

What are you loving? Tell me!

Weekend Recap

**Edited** After re-reading this, I realized I sound like a total heifer. I have edited it just a tad to make me sound less heiferish :)

Friday night was wonderful. Mom & I had Jimmy John's after work; then I relaxed all night and slept til 8 Saturday morning! I got up in time to do a little cleaning and get ready for lunch with the ladies. It was nice seeing everyone and we got to catch up. After lunch Well, Whitney and I skipped out a few minutes early and headed to watch Bridesmaids. It was pretty funny, but it had a few "uh, really?" moments. I plan to investigate the cute cop some when I have time.

We were walking out from the movie and I got a text. Brad found out he had to work Sunday so he asked me to come over so I filled up with gas and went home to start packing! I actually met Brad, his parents and his sister in Memphis to eat. We ate at Carrabba's and it was so tasty! I was proud of myself and skipped the bread! :) Then I followed Brad back to Arkansas. Normally I'd let him follow me {he drives slow}, but it was raining so hard I could barely see the white lines. I had to follow his tail lights for over ten miles doing about 35 mph!


Sunday, we hit up the laundry mat again. We almost know what we are doing now. Their instructions are not clear and it's nothing like using a regular washer/dryer. We bought some groceries then headed back to FEMA Lema. Brad napped and I read a bit of The Help. So far I am really liking it! After he finally woke up we drove to West Memphis to eat at Applebee's and finally used our gift card from Christmas :) The next thing was the rush to Petsmart! The store closes at 6 and I got there at 6:06. A guy was so very sweet and kind and let me in anyway. I told him Amos said "thanks"! I finally got home about 7:30 and did two loads of laundry. Then I sat down and watched a little TV. I ended up watching Twilight. I have the DVD, but for some reason I felt the need to watch it last night. I was up until after 11 so as you can imagine I am dragging today.

I'll leave you with pictures of my oh so exciting weekend :) Ok, so these were the only pictures I took...



I'm pretty impressed with the Purex complete sheets. Have you tried them?



The view from my chair :)

30 minute wash cycle and 35 minute dry cycle...

I'm off work tomorrow and headed southeast on Wednesday. Hope you have a wonderful week! :)

Monday Ramblings

Not too much has happened since Wednesday, so I haven't felt the need to bore anyone to tears due to my super boring posts! I will go ahead and shout from the rooftop that:

WE SOLD SNOOPY!!

For those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about... Snoopy is our little two seater Cessna airplane. About 18 months ago, we made the decision to go ahead and buy an airplane rather than renting one from a nearby airport- and by "nearby" I mean, 45 minutes and $$$. I'll never forget that September day when my  husband told me he had found one on eBay. We drove to a town outside of Nashville and brought her home! {No, it wasn't that easy, but you remember my tear comment?}. Anywho, now that Brad has finished his private, instrument rating and commercial pilot tests we no longer need Snoopy. I submitted an ad on Trade A Plane {the lady laughed and asked if my husband knew I was advertising it! :)} and wooohooo someone found Snoopy! It's been a long, drawnout process because the man buying it is from somewhere in Texas and he runs a business in Argentina {Buenos Aires!} so you can imagine the hooplah. Anywho, we recived the money last week and "Rudy" is sending a CFI {certified flight instructor} to come Tuesday and pick up the plane and fly her off into the sunset {litterally, since Texas will be going toward the sunset :):)} {and yes, I know Snoopy isn't really a "he", but all material things are normally "she", right?} Whatevs... the plane is sold!

Swimsuit shopping for Chloe was a somewhat success. Kayla and I ended up finding two for her that were super cute, just not the two I had picked out. We also hit up Chili's while we were there and I was proud for ordering the soup/salad and water... even though Kayla had the sliders, potato skins and spinach and artichoke dip! It looked SO good, but I had planned on having my Sweet Saturday so I controlled myself. {Yay, go me!}-------- Sweet Saturday ended up coming Friday at lunch; I skipped lunch and had my first snowcone of the season! :)

I went to another zumba class last week. I think I've finally convinced the ole body that I'm going to keep going. We've been fighting about it, but I think I've won! It does make it somewhat easier since I'm so competitive and I'm the youngest in the class. Those older women are showing off and barely breaking a sweat? Yours truly? Standing next to my water jug threatening to pass out!

We thought Snoopy was going to fly off into Sunday's sunset so I packed up and went to Arkansas this weekend. We found out Sunday morning as we were leaving to go to the aiport {at 6:30 am, mind you} that it will actually be Tuesday's sunset. Bummer! This weekend wasn't a total waste though; Brad and I had our first real experience in a laundry mat. Two weeks ago we had to use a dryer there, but never a washer/dryer at the same time. Let's just say, they do NOT make the directions clear. After all of the shenanigans, Brad came out with clean clothes and that's all that matters, I guess... We also ate at Cajun Express. Shall I set the scene? It's an extra large metal storage building {still on wheels} in the middle of Nowhere, AR that serves crawdads, steaks, fish and chicken. Brad has been before {he duck hunts in AR} but it was my first. I told Brad he should buy me a shirt for being brave enough to survive... but he didn't! We also drove around Marion and checked things out and tried out a new grocery store.

I have something to do everyday this week {on top of work}:
Monday- zumba, grocery shopping, tanning
Tuesday- eye doctor appointment {yay for new glasses!}, new season for summer shows start! {White Collar/ Covert affairs}
Wednesday- tanning, hair appointment {just a trim, don't worry!}
Thursday- zumba
Friday- ?? I hope to be very lazy Friday after work, but I'm sure something will come up!
Saturday- lunch with the girls {a bunch of us girls from high school get together every now and then}

Oh, and we're making homemade ice cream one day this week {YUM! Helloooo summertime!} Hopefully, Brad will get to come in this next weekend! If not, I'll be driving there Saturday and back Sunday then to Florida on Wednesday!

Just another Manic Monday!

I is for I spy...

Saturday, May 14 I headed west to Arkansas! I noticed after I drove over the TN/AR bridge that water was still very high, but I didn't have my camera out so I couldn't snap any pictures. Later on that afternoon Brad and I headed even farther west to McCrory, to Pug's house. Along the way we saw this... more flooded fields! Notice that hay bell in the bottom corner?

This was an entire field, completely under water!

See the tops of the fence posts?

This is the southern part of Crowley's Ridge in AR. From what I've heard, this area became famous in 1937 after the MS river flooded. When the river did flood, it came as far out as Crowley's Ridge which is over 40 miles from the river!

On our way to Pug's, he talked with Brad and told him that my car would not make it down his road. There had been more flooding and we would need Brad's truck to make it. We turned around and got Brad's truck {and me a pair of boots}. When we got close to his road, we saw this... Apparently, a catfish farmer decided to take matters into his own hands. He used dynamite to blow a levee to save his fish ponds, but in turn, it flooded a very large area! That man is now in jail :) It's probably safer for him there anyway...

The area between the grass and dirt is Pug's road!

Yeah, my car would have never made it!

Pug's driveway {or where it normally is} and his house

Me sportin' Brad's boots!

I put away the camera until Sunday when I was headed back over the bridge. This is the Mississippi, er, the overflow from the Mississippi!

See the sign?

Power poles!

Definitely something I've never seen before and hope I never see again. I just wish the pictures would do it justice. It was actually a lot worse, but this is what I could get... the other time I was in charge of driving :) I don't think the other cars really cared for me passing them while snapping pictures out the window, but oh well!

Life Lately

So many odd things have been happening lately and I haven't really documented them. I'm not quite sure why. I know I've been busy with random things lately, but so much has happened in our area and in our lives.

First up is the devastating tornadoes that hit on April 27 {it's also Whitney's birthday!}. We didn't have much damage in our area, but other places like Huntsville & Tuscaloosa, AL and Smithville, MS were dramatically changed. Smithville, a small town with a population of less than 1,000 was hit the hardest in our area. Basically the entire town was wiped off the map. Just about every single business and home in the area was completely destroyed. Tuscaloosa had major damage as well. Hunstville didn't have as much damage {as in human lives/deaths}, but the main power line feeding Hunstville and most of North Alabama from TVA were wiped out by the tornadoes. It's amazing to see people jump into action... people that know no one from that area or have any connections are loading up to make the two hour drive to volunteer. Plenty of food and clothing has been donated and they're updating the "needs" list daily.

Secondly is the major flooding that's happening with the Mississippi River. It finally crested today. The highest it's been since the early 1940's. Tunica, MS is almost completely under water and all of the casinos have shut down; they were smart and prepared and closed before the water got there so most of the gaming machines were moved and money was already transported out. Not that I'm too upset about the casinos flooding, but that means additional 1000s of people are now unemployed. This is not the time to be unemployed. Luckily, the levee didn't break so thousands of other homes/businesses/land were saved. We heard today that the water will begin receeding today and constantly go down over the next couple of weeks.

I took major interest in the flooding since Brad and I are separated by the Mississippi River! There were talks of shutting down the east bound lanes of I-55 and parts of I-40 were already shut down. This would have prevented Brad from getting back home and Fema Lema might have been floating in a wheat field somewhere?!

Sunday we celebrated Mother's Day! I went to church with mom, Mama Lynn, Aunt Shelly and John Aaron. Afterwards, we had lunch at Chapman's. Brad came in on Saturday and he spent most of his time in MS bush-hogging our land in Hinkle. It's hard getting and keeping things in order over there since Brad is only here for about a day a week. I really wish the house would hurry up and sell! I'm ready to be done with that chapter and move on!

Speaking of... our house is for sale and now our airplane is too! Talk about paying for advertising?! Ha! I know that now is not a good time to be selling anything, but we're going to try anyway. What else can we do? We need to get rid of both things ASAP {I plan on using what ever money we make on the house as a down payment on a car!}. Now you know why I'm in such a hurry {other than paying a mortgage payment on a house we're not living in, along with power/water and the airplane payment on a plane we aren't really using}! :)

I finally come to a good stopping point on reading for now. I'm going to start using what free time I have to attempt to sew?! Yep, after 5 months of my NICE machine sitting and collecting dust, I'm about to start using her! I've already got my instructions, fabric and accessories lined up. Hopefully today I can start. I'll be sure to post pictures of anything decent I might come up with.

Oh, and I almost forgot! A good friend of mine, Mathieu {Matt} and his girlfriend are in from Wyoming. I haven't seen Matt in a very long time, other than 10 minutes at Christmas, so we met up for lunch yesterday at Borroum's. It wad great catching up and finally getting to meet Kelsey. They've been together a little over a year now and we've only "talked" on facebook and email and one phone call. They're headed to Baton Rouge then to Denver for his next job. He probably won't be in again until Christmas 2011 unless he happens to find a house for sale here. We're both watching the internet and listings hoping to find him something. IF that happens then they'll fly in and check it out one weekend. I keep telling him he should buy the Hinkle House and just build in front of the house. Too bad he won't listen?! HA!

It's Tuesday and I hope to have an easy going week, but so far it's already busy! :(

Because Pics are Important

The hangar in North Earle {aka Brad's new home}

To the left of the hangar is where FEMA Lema is now

C is for Cassie

If you made it through Brad's post then you deserve a medal! :) Mine won't be nearly as long hopefully, but I can not make any promises.

Pretty much everything is the same for me as it was on Brad's post {with only a few changes}. For one, I've been to AR two times other than the day we moved him over. The first time was for our anniversary weekend and the second was last weekend.

The weekend before our 3rd anniversary (our anniversary is March 1st), I made my first solo drive to Arkansas. Brad was off work by the time I got there. He was ready to get back on the road to go eat. Year after year Brad and his hunting buddies drive from McCrory to Wynne to eat at Kelley's. They have a crab leg buffet and a big salad bar along with fish, hush puppies, sides and dessert. Of course, the guys only go for the crab legs! If a salad bar is available, I always start there and this time so did Brad. Next up was crab legs. Y'all, in my 20 some odd years I have never ever ordered them. Normally, I get fish/chicken and Brad sweetly gives me a few pieces of his. I really like them, but frankly it's just too much work for such a tiny piece of food. Plus, who likes to smell like that after they finish eating? SO.... back to my original train of thought. Brad and I pile our plates full of legs and head back to our table. Not only am I sitting there with a pile of legs that I wasn't sure exactly how/what to do, but there was also a little demon boy at the table behind me having multiple meltdown tantrums while his very young mother was too busy to pay him any attention and to correct him. Brad was kind enough to get me started, but let's just skip to the end... I'm 95% sure that I wasted more food than I ate. I was like a small baby feeding itself with a utensil for the first time. Pitiful. I would have starved had it not been for my husband still "tossing me a bone" throughout the meal. He even made a trip to get me warm ones after mine had turned cold from my lack of ability. I finally got some sort of rhythm {could be compared to a white boy trying to dance...}. I was ready to move on to dessert at this point. They had ice cream and different types of toppings. Ice cream is the way to my heart. :) So, to end this giant, boring rant... that was the first time in my life I left a buffet still hungry!

Now, if someone would have told me three years ago OR even last year that I would be spending my third wedding anniversary in a FEMA trailer in Nowhereville, Arkansas I would have laughed at them. Hard. Deep down belly ache laughter. Words can't possibly describe the shock I've been in since January 30th. Even when Brad said "I'm going Arkansas Sunday to talk to a man about a job", I thought "hmmm, ok, whatever." Yeah, denial anyone? I have plenty of it to share!

I went back over last weekend. I dropped Amos off at my parents' house and headed west. I am beginning to think Amos likes it there better. Maybe it's because he goes into my parents' bedroom and lays down; then the big baby is covered in a blanket for his nap time. So, I'm driving through Memphis and decided to run into Target. Brad calls and tells me they're going to be working a couple of more hours and for me to take my time. Well, not exactly what I had planned, but I go with it. I mosey around Tarjay for a very long time, going through every section until I get bored. Next up was Gordman's, Petsmart and Michael's. I only spent money on Amos... nothing for me. Finally, I head to AR and stop at the Dollar General. You see, Earle only has three places to shop: Dollar General, Family Dollar and The Mad Butcher {grocery store}. I decide to pick up a magazine or two and some nail polish. Well, there isn't much to choose from, but I did get a house-plan book and some purple "Flirty" nail polish. I have no idea why I settled on the house plans book. I really wanted a word search, but they only had crossword. Who likes crossword? :( I get to Lema and the first thing I do was to clean. Bless him, that's all I'm going to say. Once I get it cleaned I plop down and almost four hours later he gets in. Four hours people. I felt like the walls were closing in and I was locked in solitary at a prison. Shew! He flew in, changed and off to Marion to eat {Mi Pubelo}. He had to work Sunday too, but only until lunch so I hung around. We headed to McCrory {about an hour; the town Brad's hunting shack is in and where Pug lives} to eat at a buffet and to use Pug's washer and dryer. Two loads of clean clothes later we headed back to Wynne to grocery shop {hello, Wal-Mart} and then back to Earle. By this time it was after 6 so I headed back to MS. I was glad to see Amos and get in my bed {the one without airplanes constantly buzzing overhead}.

In the mean time, I have been attempting to clean out more from the house, pack up what I want to move to our new place, and just enjoy my last week in our Hinkle House. Yesterday {Friday} I sent my first load to mom and dad's. It was only clothes, but it was still something. I also started boxing up my kitchen. It's amazing what all I'm leaving here; only taking a pot, pan and few utensils. I don't plan on cooking that much so I don't need casserole dishes or measuring cups or anything like that. Brad was supposed to work until lunch and then come in, but we were getting rain and scattered storms so he came in about 930-10 Saturday morning. We ran an errand, ate slugburgers then visited his parents. Now, we have church, grandparent visiting, grocery shopping, moving AND downtime to mark off our list! :) Since it's already 7pm on Saturday night, it's looking like tomorrow is going to be incredibly busy... BUT, that seems to be my life these days :)

So to recap these random thoughts... this weekend, we will be packing up and heading west to Walnut. I'm sure living 10 feet from my parents is going to be interesting to say the least, but it should be fun {and a lot cheaper!!! :)}.

B is for Brad

Are you sitting down? I'll give you a second to pull up a chair, sit down, and get ready...

Back yet? Ok, let's start. This is going to be long and boring and redundant, but here goes!

February 2011, Brad is talking to his CFI {certified flight instructor}, Thomas. Brad met Thomas in April, 2008 and they've been working together ever since. Thomas mentions that Brad should call up one of his old students. Brad gets the name and we find the guy {the internet is such a great thing for stalkers...}. Brad calls him up and the guy {Andy, maybe?} and is told he should come to Arkansas to meet him. Brad goes to Arkansas on January 30 and meets the guy. They hit it off so Andy calls around and takes him around to meet a few men "in the business" {the crop dusting business}. This turns into a job offer for Stokes Flying Service in Earle, Arkansas... in THREE weeks.

We immediately went into overdrive trying to figure out exactly how this is going to work {sidenote: what is this, exactly?}. In fact, we're one month into this "journey" and we'll still trying to figure things out. The major topics are: work, housing {current, AR, and future}, living in general??

Our first order of business was to clean out the Hinkle House. Yes, if Brad is going to be moving to Arkansas to work then I'm not staying in Hinkle by myself {with Amos, of course}. So, on Monday, January 31, Brad and I start cleaning out the house. This might not sound bad to some, but my loving husband is a pack rat. Yes, a pack rat. He had Christmas cards from his high school days along with a dozen or so pens/old baseball cards/pencils/notebooks/crap stuffed in every single drawer. This should have been taken care of sooner, but you see... Brad moved the junk straight from his parents's house to his rental house and straight from there to the Hinkle House. He thought he'd eventually go through it all, but eventually never made it here! So, we start with the living room and work our way completely around the house {living, master, bathroom, guest room aka Brad's junk room, and kitchen}. We either throw things away or put them together to load up in tubs and store.

This took all week plus he started cleaning out our shed/storage building. Basically, our idea was to clean out {donate, trash, give to family/friends} as much as we could. We'll basically only move necessities to our new place {more on that in a minute- who am I kidding? That will be another post!} and leave our house "staged". One reason is that I dont like empty houses. I have to see furniture in them if to get an idea of the layout and size. An empty room does me no good! Secondly, have you checked prices for storage lately? Wowzer! We're not sure how long it will take the house to sell so why not have free storage and help out potential homebuyers?

Let the calendar days begin:

February 5, Brad and I drove over to Earle, Arkansas to meet his new boss and to drive around the town. Our original plan was to buy a camper/trailer and move it to a nearby campsite. There were two to chose from. The first looked like it came from a scary killer movie and the second was almost as much as our monthly mortgage payment. This didn't start out well, but... we go meet Mr. Stokes {Denny} and he drives us around to show us the "town". We drive and drive and drive and get history lessons on pretty much every field and town we passed. I lost count of where all we went! We finally drove around his hangars. This man is very wealthy and has been in the business for a while. He told Brad that he could put his trailer next to one of their hangars... for free! Yep, no rent, no power bill, no water bill. The only "catch" was that Brad would have to keep an eye on the place since there are thieves around. Brad can handle that so we marked that off our list {our very long list}! Next we drove to Wynne {hello, fastfood and Wal-Mart!} and ate lunch at Mazzio's Pizza. Then he took us back to our truck. Brad and I did a little more driving around just to get a feel for the place and then it was back to MS {and hills and curves}!

February 7th, we rented a storage building and filled it about half full with storage tubs {seasonal decorations, hunting gear, etc} from the shed.

Yes, people, things do happen fast for us! :) We just move on along. No sense in taking our time with anything. Of course, we also had a 9 week engagement!

February 11th, Kenny, Brad and I drove around looking for FEMA trailers. We figured that would be better/bigger than a regular camper and we were right. Those things are nice {ugly on the outside though} and is all he needs. The bedroom has room for a queen, although I'm not sure a queen would really fit. It also has a built in night stand and tiny closet. The couch makes a bed and then he has a booth with a kitchen table, full size sink and microwave plus a 3 burner gas stove AND a pantry/closet, room for 2 twin size bunks and then the bathroom. The bathroom is tiny and it realllly makes me feel for the people that lived in them after Hurricane Katrina. The shower is tiny! Think about the thousands of families that lived in them! Sorry, off track... so we find one in Booneville and buy it! So, Fema Lema gets moved to Hinkle and before long I'm inside and sanitizing and cleaning and freshening up.

February 12th, Brad introduces me to what is known as "the dump". SHOOOEEE that place was a sight to see. I had no idea, no idea at all. Everyone should go at least once. We had several things to haul off. {I'm sure people think we had a junky house with a junky shed and junky porch, but that's not the case, I promise!} One friend met us on the road and called to say how much we resemble The Clampetts. Wasn't that nice? :)

Thursday, February 17th was Brad's last day with Taylor Heating & Air. He had worked there full time over 10 years and this summer would have been his 21st summer. Yes, he was 9 years old working in the summer carrying tools and supplies. {Maybe this next generation should take a hint! It's not child labor, it's work ethic!}.

February 18th... well, that's the day Brad drove the big white Dodge pulling Sweet Fema Lema and I drove Brad's red truck to Arkansas. We hauled her over and set her up. We made two trips to the hardware store {yes, a small, dark, dusty and musty hardware store} and two trips to the next biggest town, Marion. We stayed the night in Lema and I drove home Saturday. Brad had to WORK! Afterall, that's why we moved him over there! They let him off Saturday afternoon and he came home. We did a few last minute things around the house and he left out again Sunday.

February 26th, I drove over and we celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary in Wynne, eating at a crab-leg buffet, Kelley's. More on this later. I'll do an actual post about our anniversary! Brad came in with me the next day so he could fly Snoopy {our plane} to AR. Mr. Stokes is going to let him keep it there for free and use it as a ferry between his hangars and his plane dealership in Hayti, MO. Yes, the man is partner's in his own plane dealership.

February 28th, we celebrated our anniversary again at McDonald's. Actually, in the drive thru. I had the best Big Mac {happy anniversary to me!}. I'm sure Brad was thankful when he asked "what do you want to eat for our anniversary tonight" as he picked me up that I said "a BIG MAC". :) I'm a cheap date.

He's been in twice since then and we've just done random things and tried to get our to-do list finished up. On March 15th, he came in and met with Thomas for the last time for a while. They had one last lesson, then on March 16th, Brad took his Commerical Pilot License Exam and passed!!!! Whew! So let's see... Private Pilot {check}, Instrument Rated {check}, Commercial Pilot {check}. Next up is the Spray Certification. That is next week, I think. Basically they sit in class all day and then take a test.

I'm sorry, would you like to know what Brad is doing working in Earle, Arkansas? I guess I should have put this at the beginning, but my mind isn't working right these days. I have no idea why?! :):) Brad is on the ground crew. Think of it like a pit crew for NASCAR. The plane come flying in and Brad does what needs to be done then the plane flies off. This happens about 100 times a day. They have four planes going right now. Sometimes they all work the same hangar and sometimes they are in different places such as Earle, North Earle {this is Brad's hangar}, Crawfordsville and Parkin. You can't start out flying so you basically start out at the bottom and build up. Right now he's learning the ins and outs of auger trucks, mixing chemicals, plane mechanics, etc... Since this is a seasonal job, he will work there from February to November. We'll know then what his next step will be. So, don't ask until then! HA! You wouldn't believe how many times we get asked and the truth is we just do not know yet. He may or may not get hired on as a pilot with Stokes. He might get a job in MS or another town in AR, who knows?! I sure don't. I'm just playing it by ear... of course, I would tell you more, BUT... that would be under "C is for Cassie", now wouldn't it? :)

I've been typing this on and off for a couple of days now. I refuse to proofread it as a whole so look over the ramblings and misspellings {since spell check isn't working} and please know that I only capitalize and use an apostrophe when I want and not when I need too...

Happy Thursday!! I never thought this day would get here!