Brown Out

So I experienced my first West Texas "brown out" on Sunday while driving back to Lubbock from Dallas. I must say it was one of the most bizarre while at the same disgusting things I have ever been a part of! These pictures are the best I could do while driving down the highway at 70mph because I wasn't going to dare get out in 50-60mph winds with dirt flying everywhere to take a picture!!

If you look closely, well you still won't see it, but there is an 18 wheeler less then 10 feet in front of the white truck in the right lane. That's how much nasty dirt was flying through the air! A-W-F-U-L

If you've never experienced one of these consider yourself lucky! It is not something I want to experience again but I feel certain that I will see many more of these in the next 3 years!!!

Stay clean!!

CMG

Birthdays

It was a BIG birthday weekend in the Garrett house this weekend. Rhett's 3rd birthday was Saturday (26th), Blake's 30th birthday was Sunday (27th) and my 27th birthday is today (28th).

Unfortunately, we had to leave the birthday boy on his 3rd birthday.....but hopefully he won't remember!!! Our neighbors/landlords were gracious enough to watch Rhett and George and did not let Rhett's birthday go uncelebrated. They brought their puppy, Waffles, over for a little birthday party!

We spent the day before Blake's birthday with a bunch of his closest friends in Dallas for a wedding of a good friend. It was so great to see so many of the guys that were in our wedding. It's hard to believe it's been almost 9 months!!! I think being able to hangout with his friends for the weekend made the 6 hour drive back to Lubbock on his actual birthday a little less painful!

I have the absolute BEST husband around but you all already knew that. He went above and beyond (and surprisingly completely surprised me) with this year's birthday present. He has a memory like an elephant and remembers EVERYTHING I say, even in passing (told you he was the best!!) When we were in Jackson Hole I found some skis I liked and he remembered the brand, size, etc and called and ordered them for me! I was so puzzled when he gave me a long, narrow box to open but was SO excited when I got the paper off and saw the return address label on the box!!!

Thanks to everyone for the sweet comments and well wishes for our birthdays! We (all 3 of us) had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed every minute we spent with each other and our friends!

CMG

Kitchen Valance

A car from Shreveport arrived today with a box from Milly which included my kitchen valance!!

It ties the chairs/room together and I am SO excited to have it!!

Yay for the little things in life!

CMG

I remembered!!

Here is the picture I promised....

our cute little house!

Happy Tuesday!

CMG

FPU

Blake and I decided when we moved to Lubbock that we wanted to take Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University course so that we DO NOT find ourselves in debt while Blake is in school. We have really enjoyed the class thus far and are anxious to see what the next 10 weeks have in store for us.

We had our first, of many, budget meetings last night and didn't kill each other, woo hoo!!! It is VERY, and I repeat VERY, difficult to make a budget and it terrifies me that it is probably even harder to live by it, ha! Well, only time will tell. We will begin on the "cash only/envelopes" way of life March 1.

Say a prayer for us!!!

CMG

3107

Many people have been asking for pictures of our new place but I just couldn't get it together enough to get all the "crap" put away!! But I finally did!! (or at least enough to where it is not completely embarrassing) so here they are.....

Oh and p.s. I keep forgetting to take a picture of the front of the house but I promise (if I remember) I will post it tomorrow =)

OUR BEDROOM BEFORE:

OUR BEDROOM AFTER:

HALLWAY:

*I need to paint RHETT's dog bowls holder*

KITCHEN BEFORE:

AFTER KITCHEN:

*need to paint microwave shelf BEG made for me

(house didn't come with a microwave)*

*kitchen valance coming from Shreveport to replace the red thing*

PLEASE excuse the stacked up boxes; they go to the storage shed!

OFFICE/STORAGE/WORKOUT/CRAFT ROOM:

OFFICE/STORAGE/WORKOUT/CRAFT ROOM:

*a lot happening in such a little space, I know*

*this is my favorite little invention that I found on a fellow bloggers post.

It is so creative and such a space saver*

LAUNDRY ROOM BEFORE:

LAUNDRY ROOM AFTER:

Woo Hoo, we got our washer and dryer to fit sans the pedestals

(they're in the storage shed!)

BATHROOM BEFORE:

BATHROOM AFTER:

*Since we are short on space in the TINY bathroom,

BEG made me this neat shelf this weekend for our towels

(I need to paint this as well)*

GUEST BEDROOM/BEG'S CLOSET BEFORE:

GUEST BEDROOM AFTER:

*please excuse the mess*

LIVING ROOM BEFORE:

LIVING ROOM AFTER:

*no, the tie dyed door cover is not staying,

just haven't gotten that far*

Well folks, if you did't pick up on the fact that our storage shed in the backyard is busting at the seams, I'll go ahead and tell you that it is (with empty boxes!) But thankfully everything we brought fit, YAY!

So, this is home for the next 3.5 years so come and see us if you ever find yourself out this way; we would LOVE to have you!!

Hope everyone enjoyed their day off (if you had the day off!)

CMG

Weekend Project

So here is the before picture of our kitchen:

I am not a big fan of "dark wood" so I asked our landlord if I could paint the wall. I was given the go ahead so I spent all day Sunday painting.

Finally finished about 6 hours later!

Complete kitchen picture to come.....

CMG