Company Girl Coffee 5.29.09

Hi Company Girls!

I know this was a short week with Memorial Day, but wow it flew by! I can't believe it's Friday already again (although I'm grateful).

Does anyone have big plans for the weekend?

Dave's frisbee team that he travels with has tryouts for the next two weekends. The tryouts usually last most of the day. So I think I'll be spending some quality time at the pool with a book or my Bible.

Yesterday we had our preconstruction meeting with the builder of our home. The guy's name was Brad, and he was very nice. I'm so thankful that all the people involved in the building of our house are kind and easy to talk to. It makes the process so much easier!! Brad told us that he plans to have our house complete and ready to move into by the end of August, regardless of what may happen with the weather. (That was very reassuring to hear!) So 3 months, and we're in!!

Dave and I stopped by the house afterwards to see if there were any updates. I'm not quite sure what they did other than pile a bunch of gravel at the front of the lot and send an earthquake through the sidewalk. But I will assume they know what they're doing. :)



Other events of the week would be that Monday was our friend Emily's 28th birthday, so I went out to eat with her and a few of our girlfriends at Biaggi's. I got chicken marsala with mashed potatoes and asparagus. It was pretty yummy. Then Tuesday or Wednesday Maggie appeared to eat or attempt to eat a slug, which was one of the grossest things I've had to deal with in regards to my dogs. She had slug gook stuck all over her mouth and in her teeth. It was like rubber cement. As I sat there using a kleenex trying to get all the slime off, Dave stood there saying, "Wow, Maggie, your mom really loves you." Clearly. If scraping slug goo off her snout and out of her teeth doesn't show love, I don't know what does.

So how about the weekly Bible trivia?

Last week's:
Which of the following were the Israelites not allowed to eat?
a) storks
b) chameleons
c) bats
d) all of the above

Answer: d. They weren't allowed to eat any of them, along with a whole slew of other animals. Check it all out in Leviticus 11.

And now for some new trivia:

True or False: People weren't given permission to eat meat until after the flood.

God bless!
Kara

Blessed is the man

Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on His law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

Psalm 1

Pipes

Last week I stopped by the house, and the pink flags had been replaced by wood framing, showing the outline of our future (hopefully near-future!) foundation.



Then Dave's friend at work suggested that we check out the house after they put the pipes in, before they pour the slab. He said it'd be good to have knowledge of where everything is located in case we encounter any issues that require us to mess with the pipes down the road. (Although I pray to God that that will NOT be an issue!!) So yesterday I stopped by, and sure enough, the pipes were in. I went home and got Dave, then the two of us went back and took some pictures. Because I know you all are DYING to see lots of pictures of our pipes, here is a grand selection for you:

When I recently took pictures of the pink flags, I chose a spot where I decided I would stand each time I took a picture of the house. That way I could watch it grow over time.

Yesterday I excitedly walked to the spot, and turned around to take an updated picture, now with pipes.
Here's what I got:

Wow, awesome.
I know the construction crew needs to be able to relieve themselves, but really...is such a front-and-center location necessary??
Needless to say, I had to pick a new spot. :(

Memorial Day Weekend

Did everyone have a great Memorial Day weekend? We spent nearly the whole weekend outdoors. Dave played in a recreational coed ultimate frisbee tournament with a bunch of our friends. I stood on the sidelines and cheered him on with the other non-frisbee significant others. (Sports just aren't my thing. :) ) His team did great...in fact, they won the tournament!! (Go team Joey!!!)

Dave and Brian were accidental twins.


Necessities for the dogs: an umbrella, water, and rawhides.

Ashley is going to be a crazy camera mom.


Maggie found her shade.

Corrie Moore...Tara and Mike's new baby girl. Sooo adorable.

me and Kristin

Rogan tried to sneak to the Tostitos through Kristin's legs.

One of the great thing about frisbee tournaments is letting the dogs off
the leash between and after games. They love running free. And then
they come back to you with random things like rotting apples. Rogan
was very proud of her apple.


Every time I looked over, Ashley was taking pictures.


Watching from the sidelines.


Team Joey, the end of day one.


Day two begins. Me, Ashley, and Lael, with sno cones to help
beat the crazy heat.


me and my hunny


Look at the crazy amount of stuff people drag to the fields.


Planning their winning moves.


Dave did some exciting things during the games.
These pictures are not it.

Kudzu 2009 Champions!!!!

Company Girl Coffee 5.22.09

'Morning Company Girls. :)

I hope everyone has had a good week.

First off, is everyone aware that Rachel Anne is having a photo contest? Send in your pictures that represent the beauty of friendship to you. Check it out here: http://companygirl.com/. (And yes, I realized I haven't sent any in yet, Rachel Anne. I need to get on that. :) )

As for my life...

I went to a baby shower for my friend Casey last Sunday, which was a good time. :) In regards to work, things have been stressful (as usual). Just way too much to do. I even had to close the door to my office one day to take a breather, because I was afraid if one more person asked something of me I might burst into tears. I've been somewhat grateful that we don't have internet in our apartment. It's prevented me from stressing over work at home, because I couldn't work on anything if I wanted to.

We have our preconstruction meeting for our house next Thursday, which means the foundation should be poured by then and the walls should go up immediately after. So exciting. :) I just can't wait to see it being built. It's been two months now since we signed the contract. The wait has been long enough. (And twice as long as they said it would be.) You can check out all the latest house updates here: Our New House.

So how about some trivia?

Last week's:
True or False: In the book of Esther, God is mentioned zero times.
Answer: TRUE (Isn't that so weird??)

And for this week:
Which of the following were the Israelites not allowed to eat?
a) storks
b) chameleons
c) bats
d) all of the above

And for any of my readers who would like to find out about Company Girls or join, just click on the Company Girls button at the top of this post. You can go see all the wonderful things Rachel Anne is doing over at Home Sanctuary. :)

God bless!
Kara

Do you see what I see??

Since Dave and I moved to the apartment, we are now super duper close to my friend Kristin, who I work with. Although we work different hours (I'm typically 8-4, she's 9:30-5:30), on Wednesdays we do a Bible study together in the morning at Starbucks. This means that on Wednesdays I tend to work her hours, instead, giving us the opportunity to drive together and save on gas (every 10 days = 10%!).

So yesterday we drove together, and I asked her if we could stop by the site of our new house on the way home. She, of course, said yes.

At first when we pulled up, nothing looked different. But then I looked closer, and...sure enough....I saw something.

PINK FLAGS!!!

(I drew arrows to a few of them to help you out.)

Isn't that so exciting?? I know it's not much...but it means that the building is finally in progress. Our new house has finally begun. :)

Surprise shower

On Sunday there was a surprise baby shower for my good friend Casey, whose little girl is due in August. It was a fun time, despite the fact that I only knew a couple of the girls...and the fact that I showed up after Casey did. (So embarrassing.) Luckily she was blindfolded, so her husband Jason motioned me to run past and beat her to the room where the party was being held.

(And, just to justify myself a bit here...the evite said the shower was at 2pm. So I showed up at 2pm. I didn't know that meant we were surprising her at 2. After the fact, I realized that everyone else at the shower had been conversing with one another during the prior weeks of planning. So I would assume they all discussed when they were going to show up. I was the only oddball who didn't know anyone well enough to talk to them before the actual party. So note to any of you party-planners...be sure to give explicit directions in your invites/evites...especially when it's a surprise party!)

Anyway, here are a few pics from the event:

Julie caught me off-guard in the first pic.
Isn't Casey so cute with her baby belly?!? :)
(Oh, and excuse the clothespins we have hooked to us. They were for a game.)

Second, I just wanted to share a couple pics of my pups. (I know I share pictures of them a lot, but they're my babies... :) )

Dissolve Your Cares

I just read the poem "Daily Prayers Dissolve Your Cares" by Helen Steiner Rice. I really loved it, so I wanted to share a snippet. It's such a good reminder of Who I should be leaning on in this daily thing called life.

I meet God in the morning
And go with Him through the day,
Then in the stillness of the night
Before sleep comes I pray
That God will just take over
All the problems I couldn't solve
And in the peacefulness of sleep
My cares will all dissolve,
So when I open up my eyes
To greet another day
I'll find myself renewed in strength
And there'll open up a way
To meet what seemed impossi ble
For me to solve alone
And once again I'll be assured
I am never on my own...

Fencing

Dave and I are so excited that we're going to have a yard for our pups to run in. Of course, before the yard will be of any use, it will have to be fenced in. (I'm not planning on standing in the yard with them every time they want to go outside like I had to do in the townhome.)

The neighborhood currently mandates that we have wrought-iron-looking fencing. This may change in the future, but I'm honestly pretty excited about the rule because I love that kind of fencing.

The negative aspect is (of course) the price. We're going to have to save up a chunk of money to pay for it. Even though they've come out with fake wrought iron fencing, it's still not the cheapest stuff ever.

Dave found the following, which we may look into:

It's from Duraforce Aluminum Fencing, and it's supposedly available either in stock or through special order from Lowe's. You can also get the following versions:


In order from left: Ireland, Gage, Hudson, Brooklyn. (Top picture is Isley.)

If we did get this, my main concern is whether or not the pups could get through the pickets. I think tonight Dave and I are going to do our best to hold a door open 3 & 16/18 inches and see if the dogs can squeeze through for a treat. (Thanks for the idea, Kristin. :) ) If they can get through, we're going to have to pay more for a fence with puppy-size holes. Yay.

What do you think? Which fence do you like best? I think I'm digging the Hudson.
Or do you know of any other places where we could get good pricing??