Friday, October 9, 2009

The Joy of a Garage Sale

Jacob and I had a garage sale a couple of weekends ago.  Man, I forgot how much work those are!  Not only did we have to go through and gather the things we wanted to get rid of, but I had boxes upon boxes of stuff in the garage to go through (I hadn't since we got married and I moved in).  Needless to say, it was quite a tiring ordeal.  Through being tired and stressed, God showed up.  He always does!


On the first morning of the garage sale I got to help Jacob open before I went to work.  It was dark when we woke up.  It was chilly.  There were threatening clouds.  But even with all of that it was one of the better mornings I've shared with my husband.  No one was waiting to dive into our "treasures" so Jac and I got to spend some really sweet moments - together - outside on our chair for sale as the sun was rising.  It was my favorite part of the day.  After people started showing up and the morning was underway, I had to head to work.  Jacob did a great job on Friday with some help from our good friend Vivian and his mom Nancy. 


Another way I saw God that morning before I went to work was through a customer at our garage sale.  He walked up, asked if we had something specific, and then proceeded to talk to us.  He shared with us that his live-in girlfriend, with whom he'd just bought a house, had just lost her battle with cancer.  She left behind two boys that were transported to live with their dad.  He had no one.  He came to our garage sale to find a friend - an ear to hear.  It reminded me so much that no matter what we're dealing with, Jesus is our friend.  He's always there to lend a listening ear even if no one else does.  He'll hold you up when you're hurting. 

One of the best gifts you can give someone is to listen.  I hope that wasn't the only gift that man got at our garage sale.  I hope that he found Jesus through his sharing and our listening. 

We should've taken pictures of our first garage sale as a married couple, but we only got one.  And who could ever pass up a garage sale if this were in the driveway!!! 


Israel & Zachary marketing for our garage sale


And how could I post a blog without an updated picture of our puppy, Roscoe.  He already loves football!  We're getting Jacob to as well!


Roscoe - 5 months

Thursday, July 2, 2009

More than one sentence

Baseball, softball, sunshine, dippin dots, setting records, walk-off grand slams, Jay Leno retiring from the Tonight Show, a road race, lots of water, celebrity deaths, trip to the zoo, an amazing cruise in a Bentley, doctor's appointments, trip to Branson, and a new puppy all in one summer. And, we're back!
That sentence alone is enough to make this blog complete! But you know I can't say it all in one sentence...

One of the biggest changes that Jacob and I have made in our life together happened about two months ago... we decided to get a puppy! Introducing Roscoe Muckelrath II. He goes by Roscoe.

Roscoe 4 weeks old

He just turned 16 weeks old on Tuesday, but we already know the things he loves and the things he doesn't love.



We'll start with his loves:

1. Jacob and I













2. Playing with/chewing on/licking our feet

3. Pouncing on his new friend - the broom


4. "Playing" with the cat (He's not yet aware that Mac doesn't like him very much)


5. Digging for "treasures" in the litter box


6. "The Wiz" w/ Michael Jackson and Diana Ross













7. His puppy food

8. Crawling under the bed (he's not yet aware that he will grow into a 2 ft. 60 lb. dog)


9. Dandelions (they are like built in toys in our yard)

10. Sleeping like this...

11. The new neighbor Lilly, a golden retriever who is 2 weeks younger than him.















Things he doesn't like:

1. Hearing the word "no"











Yeah, that's pretty much it.



We are having so much fun with him, even though he is ornery! I like to think he gets that from his "daddy.

He has done a great job with house breaking... although he still sometimes doesn't know how to tell us he needs to go! He is also doing a great job with "sit" and he's working on shaking. The next task will be not jumping on people... especially our most adorable nephew.

Our nephew trying to keep the dog from jumping on him

That's a nugget --B

Friday, May 8, 2009

Thank God I'm a country girl...

Gosh I feel like so much has happened since our first date night... arts festival, date nights, YoungLife cookouts, road trips, friends from CO, and Laura and Tyler's WEDDING!

Last weekend, Jacob got to spend the weekend in my hometown, Mooreland, Oklahoma! (Go read his blog about this "small town" weekend. He's funny.) We also got to share the weekend with our good friend Jim from Colorado. I tell you, these boys are NOT small town guys, so that made for some fun.

Our first stop along the way was in Richmond, OK. There's some urban legend about a haunted place... I thought it was the church, then I thought it was the school. Well we took a detour to the church anyway. I think the attendance there is 11. It wasn't scary.




After our detour we got to Mooreland about 5:00pm, which was an hour before the wedding rehearsal. I had a great idea... Tour Mooreland for an hour! The whole tour probably only takes 10 minutes, but we made it last about 45. One of our stops was at the football and baseball fields, places I spent lots of time at in high school.


Then I pretended that my husband and I were high school sweethearts and we made out in the dugout. Kidding, we just took a picture.

Next stop was the "Home of the Bearcats." We went to my high school and looked in the windows for a while. Jim then tried to open the doors which were, of course, unlocked. The boys were surprised; I wasn't. I said that if we saw anyone, it would be okay, and I was right. The custodian of 20 years was cleaning away! And she didn't mind us walking around. They were also surprised that from 8th grade until I graduated, I spent all of my schooling in one hallway.

So enough with the small town stuff and on to the AMAZING wedding of Laura and Tyler. The wedding was planned to be an outdoor wedding at the Arney Ranch, but because the forecast showed 52 degrees and rainy for wedding day, we decided (at 10:00pm no less) that it would be better to move the festivities inside. That meant that myself and a dear friend from Boulder went to the Wal-Mart to put together centerpieces. This involved "breaking into" the garden center for flowers, digging through lots of bolts of fabric, and leaving at 1:15am! But it was worth it and the tables were beautiful! Couldn't have done it without each other... Here's to you Lisa!
Even though the wedding was inside, it was beautiful, Laura was beautiful, and at the end of the day Tyler and Laura were husband and wife! Tyler you looked very handsome too. Here are a few pictures of the weekend...
Their last night as Miss and Mr.
Me. Miss Arney. Krista.
From the first date to "old married couples"
Me and one of my very best.
JIMBO!
We're still newlyweds... 5 months and counting!

The fact that so many things had to change during the weekend (at the last minute nonetheless) didn't really matter in the big picture, because at the end of the day Laura and Tyler got to fulfill the plan of God and become husband and wife. Everything about the weekend reminded me of some verses that have taken over my life the last few weeks. Philippians 4:4-8... It begins by saying "Rejoice in the Lord always. I say it again, rejoice!" The rest goes on to say (paraphrase of course) don't be anxious but trust in the Lord and He will bring you peace. Even though there were many times during the weekend that were overwhelming and unpredictable, there was ALWAYS a reason to rejoice. One small reminder was the beauty of the covenant of marriage. Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS!

Congrats Tyler and Laura Winstone!

That's a nugget. --B

Friday, April 17, 2009

Date Night!

So Jacob and I decided, with urging from a very dear friend of mine, to have a date night every week. With my job, the coffee shop, YoungLife and church, it won't be easiest thing to accomplish BUT we have made a point for this to happen every week. After only one week of "date night", it's evident that this will be a huge blessing for my husband and I.


We started out our date deciding where we would go eat. He wanted Zio's and I thought Charleston's sounded better, and after my suggestion, he did too! We proceeded to order our meals- Chicken Fried Steak, mashed taters w/ AMAZING chipotle gravy and broccoli (for Jac) and Steak, broccoli and salad for me. Mmm, mmm. We proceed to partake in our delicious meal and the manager comes to talk to us because he is a customer at The Underground and knows Jacob. It was nice to meet him. So, we're done eating, waiting on our check and the waiter comes and tells us that John (the manager) took care of our meal. What a great surprise blessing!


After eating, we had planned to visit one of two local coffee shops on the south side to get dessert and watch The Office online... both were closed. However, one of them was extremely close to an Asian Supermarket. Now, Jacob and I don't go to the Asian Supermarket everyday, but when we do go, we always get something new to try. This time = "pudding." I haven't tried it yet, but Jacob said it's more like jello and it has these gel cube thingys in it.


We also found a few other interesting snacks....



This is the pudding... notice under product it says "Pudding (Delicious Snack)" to make sure we know it's delicious.





This snack came with a warning! A whole box of warnings! "Do not eat while performing any physical activity" is my favorite.





This snack reminds me of a granola bar only instead of granola, it's dried fish floss.




The package says it all...




We thought it was interesting that Santa was the year-round giver of Cotton Cup Sweet.




Last, but not least, if the sweets and crackers weren't enough, you could fill up on some homemade vegetarian meat. Looks like something that the cat coughed up...


Date Night Week 1 was a fun success!


And that's a nugget. -B

Thursday, April 16, 2009

My first blog!



Okay, first things first. I've got to say a big thank you to my husband - Jacob - for helping me name my blog,

to David Forester for introducing me to the world of blogging (I might be addicted to reading blogs now),


Lastly, to Megan McGuire for NOT giving me her opinion.




These are just a few of the fun people I get to hang out with everyday!
That's a nugget. --B