SQUIRRELS!!

Some of you might have already seen this on facebook, but Brian and I have been unknowing and unwillingly the hosts to baby squirrels. Well the pest control guy, Chad, said that they were too young to have found their way into the house on their own, and that they were probably born in the house - awesome. I actually really like squirrels, and I thought their little pitter patters were cute when I first heard them (months ago), but Brian was not amused from the start.

Well so this all started when a week ago Saturday we heard one of the squirrels again, but this time it was in our wall between the kitchen and the mud room! It sounded like it had fallen in the wall and was trying to climb out, but couldn't and it would slide back down the wall. So we found a pest control company that would come out on a Saturday and they called and said they were too busy to come Saturday, but they could come out Sunday. Sunday, after church, Chad with Atlanta Wildlife Solutions came out and go our squirrel out of the wall after cutting a small hole and putting the cage up to the hole for the squirrel to go into.

Then about 5-10 minutes after Chad leaves with the squirrel we hear another squirrel in the wall!!! He was definitely not in the wall when Chad was here, so he must have fallen down the wall looking for his brother or sister. Brian called Chad back and he comes all the way back from Cumming, GA to get our second squirrel. By the time he gets back, there are actually two squirrels in the wall that have worked their way out into the bucket that Brian put at the hole in the wall, so they wouldn't be loose in our house.

Chad got the bucket away from the wall with both squirrels and then tried to force the squirrels into cages. One went in the cage and other jumped from the bucket and ran away. Later, Chad was looking the in hole in the wall to see if there was a squirrel's nest or damage in the wall and he definitely found a dead kind of mummified squirrel in the same part of the wall!! Thankfully it had been dead for years and we never had to deal with the smell. But after all that Brian found a bird's nest with baby birds in it in one of the bushes in our front yard!

Well after that, Chad left us a cage to prop up at the hole in the wall, just in case there were any more squirrels.

Sure enough Monday morning, we come downstairs to a squirrel in the cage! I think it was the 3rd squirrel that got away Sunday, but we don't really know.

Now we are squirrel-free and we decided to "squirrel-proof" our house to avoid having any more squirrels in the wall. So we'll see!

I'll try and come back and post pictures on here too. :)

2 is a good number.

There are lots of reasons to like the number 2. But more important than a dunk being worth 2 points, or wanting 2 scoops of ice cream, is that 2 equates to the number of years I have been married to my wonderful wife. On this day, April 12th 2008, I was married to Lindsey and we set off on this amazing adventure together. I wouldn't pick anyone else to experience it with. These first two years have been amazing. And a lot has changed. It is fun to take the time today to both celebrate our anniversary and to look back on what we have been through thus far.

Just a few of our adventures included becoming homeowners, family vacations on both sides, serving together at church, a new position at work, several friends being married, several more having babies, sporting events, homecoming, parties, quiet nights at home by the fire and so many more. All of it was that much better because my wife was there.

So blessed that I got to marry my best friend. Thankful each day that I get to see that smile and be shown through her an example of Christ's love for me. Really there isn't much more to say other than I am blown away by how blessed I am to be going through life with Lindsey. I look forward to many many more years together.

We're back! and more info about the furniture

Hi!!

First, we're back from vacation and had an AWESOME TIME!!! Brian said he could tell a definite difference in me even the Saturday before we left - I guess in my attitude and my laugh. He said I already sounded less stressed and more carefree. I definitely feel refreshed and rejuvenated. I'm not stoked to be back at work, but it's not as stressful right now. :) We went on a 7 day Caribbean cruise with Shaun and Amber Wooten (via Royal Caribbean). It was sooooo much fun! We'll try and get some pictures downloaded off the camera and up here soon and blog about it more.

I wanted to post more about our furniture purchase, because I was impressed by La-z-boy. We first went to the store and I didn't think I'd find anything I liked there, because i didn't want old-looking sofas and recliners. I was pleasantly surprised by their selection though. Then we were able to pick the fabrics we wanted for the furniture, which was great that we could customize it like that. Then they told us that they do free "in-home" design consultation with their in house interior designer. So after we had picked some fabric options and the furniture we liked, the designer and our sales person brought all the fabrics to our house, so we could see them in our living room and in our light and she took measurements of our entire room. We were able to quickly rule out some of the fabrics, because they looked totally different in our room. These are obviously the fabrics we went with - and my vase that I like and Brian who I like. :)

Then we went back the next day to the store and she had this whole display made with accessories for the room. So this is the display board she made, with pictures of what the sofas and chairs will look like and the fabrics, and she had some bookcases and other items picked out too.

You can also see pictures of lamps (they we didn't like) and the coffee table she picked out. She also showed us a storage ottoman as an option too.

These are the accessories she picked out for our room: a fireplace screen, plants, the lamp I love, a bowl and other decor things. The cylinder was to go on the fireplace, but we found an urn that matched the vase I like on sale and have those on the fireplace instead. Anyway, it was really fun and great to get ideas at least. It was almost twice the cost to get all the "extra" things she picked out for us, so we mostly took the ideas and tried to find stuff on our own. And if I do say so myself, I think we're doing a great job!

We found a guy to make the bookcase we wanted and Brian and I are currently staining it ourselves. I've never stained before, but I think we're doing a good job. :) Now my new favorite store is TJ Maxx HomeGoods, searching for lamps and other decorative items. It's been fun decorating the first room in our house. :)

Anyway, that's our living room furniture/decorating adventure. It's still underway, but super fun to have a project!