To Do Lists

I'm in the car somewhere between Memphis and Jackson and I've been working on my to-do list for the rest of the week. I've been living my life based off of to-do lists lately. I make them at school on a yellow notepad and have a really hard time remembering to take my little yellow notepad home with me. I recently downloaded a free app for my phone that helps me keep up with all the items on my to-do list. Before Christmas the list consisted of shopping, making out finals, grading projects, packing for Texas, etc. Now it's made up of looking over my curriculum for this semester, putting away Christmas decorations, organizing wrapping paper/closets, etc. Here is a screen shot of my current to-do list...



Maybe I should make a "to-do list" for all my New Years Resolutions that I'm NOT going to give up on this year. More on that later. :)

No more radiation and...

My dad is completely finished with his radiation treatments. PRAISE THE LORD!! He has been such a trooper. He has blisters inside his mouth and on his neck, face and ears. Everything he eats tastes like metal and he barely weighs more than me... But he's only going to get better from this point on. It's been hard to see my dad not acting like himself. I know it's been hard on the rest of my family for the past two months, too. Everyone is exhausted. My Granddad was released from the hospital Saturday night and taken to a rehab facility. Hopefully he will continue to get stronger so he can go home in the next couple of weeks.

Christmas is almost here and I'm ready for Blake to be here, too. I've been busy but I'm really ready for him and Maverick to be here. Please keep my dad (and rest of the family) in your prayers. Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas

Thanksgiving Day and a Much Needed Break

Day two started out semi-early. We left the hotel at 7:30 to grab a spot to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We wandered around for a bit and found a great spot... probably one of the last ones. :-) The weather was great, kind of chilly but not wet at all. Great for taking pictures! The parade was excellent! So much better than seeing the balloons blown up under nets in the rain the night before. After the parade, Jim, Emily, Grant, Megan, Blake and I went to Bryant Park to sit and eat a snack. I don't have any pictures from Bryant Park in the collage. We ate Thanksgiving dinner at Metrazur in Grand Central Station. It was a beautiful place to eat and the food was d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s. I didn't even eat turkey and dressing on Thanksgiving but the Prime Rib was amazing. After dinner we got on the subway and headed to Queens to hang out at Emily's apartment for the night. (We ate dinner at 3:30.) Sharon and I were the only ones who had seen Emily's apartment before so it was fun for everyone to see where Em spends her time away from the library. We played Wii and Rockband for several hours. Thanksgiving day was great.

I give my first final exam tomorrow morning and another on Thursday morning. This semester has taken a toll on me. I'm exhausted. Hopefully I'll be a better teacher next semester. Not that I was a bad teacher, I just think with one semester under my belt I'll be more prepared, know better how the kids will act, what they are capable of, etc. Needless to say, I'm ready for a two week break. I'm leaving for Texas on Thursday after school. I'm heading to Texas to spend a week with my family before Christmas. I'm flying and Blake will drive in with Mavy on Christmas Eve. Please pray for my dad over the next couple of days. He has his last chemo treatment tomorrow and the first one was really rough on him. If you could pray for his peace and healing it would be much appreciated! Thank you!

I'm thankful for...

The four wonderful days I got to spend in New York City with the Farmer family. This is a little taste of Day One...



We got in to NYC about 10:15 local time. Jemily (Jim and Emily) met us at the airport and escorted us to our hotel in Chelsea. Richard and Sharon went to bed as soon as we got to the hotel and Gregan (Grant and Megan) and Blake and I went to get a bite to eat. We got sandwiches and pizza at midnight in some random deli. Very New York. We slept in a little the next morning and walked to Grenwich Village and then had lunch at the World Famous Katz deli. It was quite delicious. We had a one of those waiters who told you what you wanted like, "You come all the way to NY and order chicken salad? You don't want chicken salad you want the pastrami. You're having pastrami." It was really funny. Probably only because he didn't tell me what to have. After lunch we walked through China Town (I didn't buy anything) and then headed back to the hotel to rest before dinner and the show. We had dinner at Rosie O'Grady's. The food was good but our server was terrible. I don't remember if he got a tip or not but he definitely shouldn't have. He was that bad. We then headed over to Jersey Boys and it was wonderful! I knew every single song and had to try really hard not to sing along. It wasn't "Wicked" but it was still great! After the show we had dessert at Roxy and then took pictures in Time Square. It was an exhausting first day but SUPER fun! I'll post pictures of our Thanksgiving Day activities later this week. I'm sure you're on pins and needles!!

Nashville '09

I was beyond happy to host my college friends for our Annual Girls Weekend... Nashville '09. I was so happy that they all wanted to and were able to make it for a long weekend. They came up Thursday night and left Sunday afternoon. Katie was gracious enough to let us borrow her Honda Pilot with the 3rd row of seats so we could all ride around town together. This is what our weekend consisted of... Rocking out to Miley Cyrus, staying up late, Grey's Anatomy, The Office, Sleeping late, breakfast casserole & biscuits, early morning Sonic runs, left overs for lunch, walking at Radnor, meeting a semi-creepy old man while walking at Radnor, going to the DLHS pep rally, seeing the Lipscomb Campus, Green Hills mall, the Hill Center in Green Hills, Tex Mex lasagna, sopapilla cheesecake, 3 hour dance party, walk around Caldwell Hall, seeing east Nashville, Bicentennial Mall, the Farmer's Market, t-shirt shopping downtown, Southern Bred for dinner, going to Otter Creek for Church, Five Guys Burgers and Fries...

We had a great weekend! I can't wait for Vegas '010. Yes, I know that looks weird, that's just what we've been calling it. Happy Thanksgiving! The WHOLE Farmer fam is leaving for NYC today at 6pm!! I'm so excited!!

Way Overdue...

It has bee WAY too long since I've blogged and I've neglected all the fun things we've done recently. Well, this post isn't recent at all but I've yet to blog about it.

Mom, Dad, Dwayne and Glenda came to Nashville the last weekend in September and we had a blast! We picked them up at the airport around 9 am Saturday morning and headed straight out to Loveless Cafe... it was delicious. It never seems to disappoint. We drove around Belle Meade, saw my classroom at Lipscomb, got half price drinks at Sonic, visited the Parthenon, ate Texas Caviar, went to the Wild Horse Saloon for dinner and {some} dancing, went to church, ate lunch at Southern Bred, shopped a little, and had a delicious dinner at Blake's parents' house. It was a wonderful weekend and I can't wait until they are able to visit again. It probably won't be very soon though. Both my parents and Dwayne and Glenda are expecting their first grandchild in February. Bevin and John are expecting a girl and Craig and Deidre are expecting a boy... Just two weeks apart. These two couples are best friends and I think their children might already be betrothed. :-) Hopefully I will manage to catch up on my blogging this week.

- For those of you who have asked about my dad, he's doing okay. He started chemotherapy and radiation today. He's doing three rounds of chemo and seven weeks (5 days a week) of radiation. I would appreciate prayers for Dad and Mom throughout the next several months. I did just get a text from my mom saying that Dad is doing okay today. Hopefully he won't be too sick throughout this whole process. Thank you for keeping him in your prayers.

Prayers

I've got a favor to ask. No... I don't ever blog during the school day, much less during chapel, but I've got a favor to ask. My dad is having surgery today at 2:30pm to remove a mass from his jaw. They will do a biopsy after it is removed. I'm humbly asking for your prayers. Please pray for a successful surgery, a speedy recovery and no bad news from the biopsy. Also, I try to be a big girl about these things buts it's bothering me that I can't be there with him and the rest of my family. Thank you for your prayers in advance.


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Once again...

I'm at play practice again with Maverick. For those of you who don't know, Maverick is "starring" as Sandy in David Lipscomb Middle School's production of Annie. He is only in two sceens (which is a good thing). Hopefully he will figure out what he is supposed to do by Friday (his first real performance). I'm mostly just excited that I will finally have a real, legitimate reason to take Mavy to school with me. Friday the cast is performing for the 4th and 5th graders and the show is at 1pm... Which means that Mavy will spend all day at school with me. I'm pretty pumped. The kids in the play love him and I'm sure the kids I have in class will be no different. I probably won't plan anything for Friday... We'll probably just have a play day with Maverick... Just kidding!!





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Finally...

YAY!!! I'm officially finished with Grad School.
(I've been unofficially finished since July 31)

First time for everything

For a time, I had a fantasy that Moriah and I would enjoy all sorts of outdoor activities together once we were married. Looking back now, I'm not sure what I was smoking.

I thought Moriah might want to go mountain biking, so I gave her one. Now I think how made she would be with me if I dragged her out to the trails. Then I thought, maybe a tandem bike. I could do most of the work and she could just go along for the ride. My pitch never seemed to get much traction. I could write an entire essay on my struggle to get Moriah interested in running. I purchased cute running gear, new shoes, iPods. Nothing worked.

I gave up a couple of years ago, and we're both the happier for it.

But this weekend, there was a first - a 20-hour overnight outing in the woods. I mentioned the idea of going camping over the weekend and was shocked to get a yes. Before she could back out, I locked in the deal. We drove up to Savage Gulf Friday night. We pitched the tent at the Savage Falls ranger station and started a fire for some S'mores. There's really no way to get Moriah near a campfire without involving chocolate. Saturday morning, we rose early and hit the trail for a five mile day hike to Savage Falls. Moriah is pictured here carefully stepping from rock to rock below the falls.

We were done by about 10:15, so we headed home.

Moriah was very concerned about bug bites before leaving. I told her to stop being a baby. In a twist of fate, I must have disturbed some friendly chiggers on my hunt for firewood. I have some crazy bites going on. I'm actually going to stop so I can spend some time scratching my ankles off.

-Blake

It's been two weeks...

Since I posted last. I've been working, working, working. I keep stressing myself out but it will be okay. I know it will. It has to be, right? :-) I'm posting this during a break at "Meet the Teacher Night." I have two high school classes, one during first period and one during seventh period (the rest are middle school classes). This MtTN is only for high school. So that means I'm sitting around (actually I'm planning and wanted a break) for an hour and fifteen minutes until my next group of parents comes along. I thought I'd share with you how I've been introducing myself to the kids. A little video about Mrs. Farmer. By the way, I know I'm a nerd and I embrace it!

HELP!!!!!

We need your help!!! Our 5th anniversary is coming up in May and we are going to go on a fabulous trip somewhere... we just don't know where yet. That's why I'd really like your help. I know there aren't a ton of people who read this blog but I do know there are enough to help us find a great vacation spot. If you have a place you've been that you really love please share it with us.

For our honeymoon we went to Cabo. We had several people tell us that they loved their vacations there but we didn't really. We never asked what part of the beach is best, which hotel did you stay at, etc. Needless to say our experience with Cabo wasn't the best so we want to try something different. We (well, just me, really) want to go someplace warm/hot. We plan on going in the first part of June so we need to start looking at places to go. Any help you blog-loving people can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Lake Trip 2009

We're obviously back from the lake... a week ago. I've been crazy busy so I'm just now getting around to posting our pictures and writing about our adventures. Here's what our trip consisted of:



Beating my parents to the lake because they had a ton of tire trouble, not getting in the water for a few days because it was a little chilly, playing in a Wii bowling tournament organized by Uncle Kenneth (I was terrible and am usually a really good Wii bowler), eating a large fluffy homemade biscuit for breakfast every morning that I secretly hoped were frozen so I could eat them at home, hanging out with Holly and TJ for a couple of days and the Lipscombs for the rest of the week, sleeping on the floor with Maybel and Maverick (it wasn't nearly as bad as you might think), the boys taking the pups to the beach, eating yummy food cooked by other people in our group, introducing my family to sopapilla cheesecake, seeing Bevin and Deidre pregnant (even though they did not look it), eating too many peanut butter and Hershey's Kiss cookies, reading Twilight in less than 24 hours, riding in the boat, swimming in the lake, skiing and wake boarding (for some... not me!), laying out at the pool, floating in the lake on floats and most importantly... just relaxing. It was a great vacation.

Out with the old, in with the BRAND NEW...

BATHROOM!!!

Boy do I love Troy Shafer (our amazing contractor). We left for a week at the lake with my family last Saturday the 18th and when we got home on Saturday the 25th Troy was hanging the mirror and doing a few last minute things. I found Troy on Craigslist and he did not disappoint. All we did was pick out the tile and fixtures, clean out the cabinets and Troy did the rest. We didn't do any demo, painting... nothing at all. I don't know if we'll be able to do future renovations like this but it would sure be nice! We left town with a green bathroom (3 different shades of green, mind you) and came home to a brand new bathroom... a faucet that had never been turned on, a tub that had never been bathed in and a toilet that had never been flushed! I loved it! Can you tell?

Ski school

Blake writing again: If you don't hear from the Farmer's for the next week, we're just frolicking on the water in the foot hills of the Ozarks. The Steward family's annual Lake Ouachita extravaganza commences Saturday. There will be water skiing. There will be wakeboarding. There will be wet dogs. There will be chicken foot dominoes. There will be golf. There will be naps. There will be chicken salad. And there will definitely be sun burns.


I'm going to be working on the wakeboard as I have not been able to keep pace with brother-in-law John (pictured to the right). There was a wake-to-wake jump last year that left those left in the boat feeling a little less-than manly. That said, I could be returning with all sorts of torn ligaments. Dr. Elrod, I may be returning for your services.

And perhaps best of all, we've got a little episode of "While You Were Out" going on at our house Drive. We've got a contractor named Troy Shaffer who will transform our sea foam green bathroom into something a little more updated. You will not see this color again, though I have grown to like it.

Stirring the pot: women in the workplace

No, Moriah didn't get a job refinishing furniture. The picture, however, is me lady sanding down a Craigslist-find that now sits in our guest bedroom.

Many of you know Moriah has had some exciting news. She's going to be a teacher this fall! She will take over as middle and high school computer instructor at David Lipscomb. She will do so well. The kids already know and love her. Plus, she's up with the times. No more learning about how to draw a picture of Bart Simpson in MSDOS. C:/ - boy do I miss that.

Moriah and I get into job conversations more than most. Perhaps its that my better half puts up with my gentle prodding for her to work harder. She's even picked up a second job doing design work for Otter Creek. A husband couldn't be more proud.

I'm of the line of thinking that women should be entitled to all the rights of men in the workplace - that includes equal pay for equal work. This is said with complete sincerity. And it seems workplace equality between the sexes has become a widely held virtue in the 21st century, though I know there's plenty of discrimination out there. Moriah hated being called a secretary at church. However, I still often get the impression many women feel its their right to not work as hard as their husbands. Why is that? Is it biologically programmed? Is this notion a relic of the 1950's American dream? Is it that women, even those without children, want to spend time to preparing the nest?

Before you go grabbing a caldrin to tar and feather my behind, travel down this road with me. And of the married couples you know where the woman works longer hours than her husband, don't you hear something in the back of you mind saying, 'now that's messed up.' Maybe we're not as sold on equality as we tell ourselves.

- Blake

Who? Me?

I've never been one to procrastinate, but I can't STOP procrastinating today. Really, I'm just avoiding doing school work. I only have three weeks left and I'm so ready to be done. So in the spirit of procrastinating...

I like to cook. I like to bake. I'd never made a cobbler before Saturday. We had some people over for the 4th of July (brisket, ribs, sweet tea, etc.) and we needed a dessert to go with everything else. I decided to make something that Blake really wanted which was a blackberry cobbler. To me dessert isn't a dessert without chocolate so making the cobbler was a little bit of a stretch for me. Allrecipes.com was down when I was looking for a recipe so I went out on a limb and used one from another site without any reviews. It was supposed to be Southern Living's recipe so I thought it had to be good. Blake said it was really yummy. I wouldn't know, I didn't eat any.

So... the other night Blake and I took Maverick on a walk and about 1 mile from home something blew into my eye. I immediately doubled over and started crying. I could feel it in my eye. I tried to get it out but couldn't. We stood under a street light (for what seemed like forever) and Blake tried to get the bug out of my eye. I was crying, trying to hold my eye open and of course, I recently started wearing non-waterproof mascara, so it was everywhere. We decided it was not coming out so we turned around and headed home. Blake managed to get the bug (it turned out to not be a bug, but some sort of seed) when we got home. My eye didn't stop hurting until this morning... this incident happened Sunday night. This is what my eye looked like for about 48 hours. Notice my red eye has no makeup left on it. As Blake would say, "The veil has been lifted."

This is a really boring post. Sorry about that. You can tell I really don't want to do school work, huh?

150 pounds and other Random Ramblings...

No, I'm not about to confess to you that I weigh 150 pounds. First off, I don't weight that much and if I did I would NEVER EVER speak of it to another living soul. :-)

We had 150 pounds of dog at our house this weekend. Justin and Katie went to Chicago for Katie's brother's wedding and we kept Maybel-girl for them. Maybe has a litte bit, okay a lot, of Houdini in her. We have chain link fences that separate our yards (I forgot, Justin and KT now live next door) and pretty much nothing can stop Maybel from getting to her boyfriend in our yard. Actually, nothing can stop her from getting out of our yard either. Because of Maybel's excellent escape artist skills she had to stay inside the Lipscomb's house while Blake and I were at work. Maybel and Maverick are great together. They play in crazy mode while outside and then are completely chill when they are in the house. In order to work out some of the craziness Blake took Maybel and Maverick hiking on Saturday morning. He left early, about 8am, but it was still super hot. Blake and Maverick normally run the pink trail (white & red trails) at Percy Warner on Saturdays but since it was so hot, Blake just speed walked the trails. When they got home the dogs were super hot and super exhausted. Blake took them to the Lipscombs and sprayed them down with the hose and let them rest in the shade of their covered porch.

Other random things...

• Blake and I decided to re-do our bathroom. It's three different colors of lime green tile and what's left of the white grout on the floor is so dirty I can't even begin to keep it clean. We'd like to gut it and completely redo everything, but we're thinking its going to be way more than we want to spend. Anyone in in Nashville know of a good/reasonable contractor that you trust? We're also thinking of having a company come in and glaze the tile... that is obviously my second choice. We had one contractor come by this morning (from Home Depot), one will be here in about an hour and one is coming tomorrow. Hopefully we'll get a reasonable quote.
• I'm on the home stretch for grad school. I'm so ready to be done with it. I'm always thinking about what I should be doing for school, even if I've already finished that week's work. I've worked ahead for most of this year and I'm ready to think abou other things. I just finished my electronic portfolio class, which was in place of a Master's Thesis or comps, which is nice but I still have one other class to think about... and I really don't like it. Okay, it's not that I don't like the class but I feel that it is SUPER unorganized. We don't really know when assignments are due, the syllabus and the course documents say different things about the assignments and everything is super vague. I know these are graduate level courses but come on, I can't read the professor's mind. I need to know exactly what is expected of me and this class is just not that way. It probably doens't help that it's my last class either. I'm ready to move on.
• The new Brad Paisley album, American Saturday Night, came out today. I've been listening to it on repeat since 7:15 this morning.
• I feel like this is the first summer in my WHOLE life that I actually need a vacation. I've been working at Lipscomb, part time at Otter Creek, doing a lot of design work on the side plus grad school. I need some time away. Luckily that is only a couple of weeks away.
• Blake and I saw Legally Blonde: the Musical on Friday night. My parents gave us tickets for our anniversary (on the 7th row) and it was wonderful! Laura Bell Bundy (the original Elle Woods on Broadway) played Elle while the show was in Nashville and she is fabulous.
• I saved the best news for last... I'm going to be an AUNT!! Bevin and John are pregnant! I can't wait until February! Well, I really can't wait until September when they find out what they are having. I'm going to go on record and say I think that it's going to be a boy!!

That's all for now. Maybe we'll do something super fun for the 4th and I'll have tons to share after the weekend. I just realized this post is really long. Sorry about that.

Happy Birthday, Dad!