Lovely Gift

Since my grandma is in town this week, my family has been doing lots of fun things (and still plan to do lots as well). Yesterday my mom and grandma went to one of the Amish farms to their Auction they have. I was a tad disappointed when I found out because I have this strange fascination with the Amish, but I'm glad my grandma and mom got to enjoy it so much! I am definitely checking it out for myself soon!

Anyway, my mom posted a photo on Facebook of all their loot and included were so many sunflowers! Apparently they bought the "lot" for $1 a bundle. They got 6 bundles. And because my mom and grandma love me and know how much I love sunflowers, they brought me two bundles yesterday evening! I am so happy! They are beautiful!! I can't wait to go to the Amish Auction and buy a lot of sunflowers for $1 a bunch and give them away to people myself! =)

I hope you have a lovely Tuesday! We've got more beautiful weather here today! I'm so happy that so far the weather has been very nice and cooperative for Gramma Bonnie's visit!

Cindy

5 Fact Friday

I couldn't be any happier that it is Friday! I am so, so excited for this weekend. My grandma gets into town in about four hours! =D I haven't seen her since October and I'm really looking forward to her visit this year. Plus, my mom's side of the family is having their family reunion this weekend, Collin and I have 4 performance of Hairspray this weekend, and it's the last of the performances, too. It's going to be a BUSY weekend but next weekend will make up for it (mostly) since I'm taking Thursday off to spend the day with Gramma Bonnie and it gives me a 4-day weekend since next Friday is CWS! Woo! I love when things like that work out. =) Now onto my five facts for today! I love joining Nancy in this link up. It's fun learning new facts about some of your blogger friends!

1. This week was a "dark" week for the play. It was also Vacation Bible School at our church. However, I purposefully didn't volunteer this year since last week and weekend were so crazy with Summerstock rehearsals and then performances. I felt a little guilty saying no to VBS but it was the best decision. This week of having no plans during the evenings has been just the break I needed before the performances again this weekend.

2. I am really excited about the prospect of jet skiing sometime within the next week and a half. I haven't been on a jet ski since Summer 2011 and I miss it!

3. Last Saturday I wanted to take some pictures of flowers around our apartment. I got so frustrated with my camera that I ended up finding the manual and reading how to use the different settings on it. I should have done that much sooner.

4. I had that pretty hydrangea blossom sitting in our living room for a while and it brought me so much joy. I want to add some greenery (maybe a succulent or two) into our regular decor.

5. The temperature the past two days has been marvelous. Yesterday it only got up to 79 and today it's going to be about the same. We turned the AC off and had the screen door open and we even took a walk yesterday evening. It was phenomenal.

I hope you, my dear lovelies, have a wonderful weekend! May it be relaxing, fun, and just the perfect "pick me up" that you need!

Cindy

(Semi) Wordless Wednesday

We've actually had some pretty nice weather here the past few days. It was HOT last week and throughout the weekend, but thankfully the temperatures have left the 90's and it's not *quite* as humid. We've had a little bit of rain too, which is always nice. I got to see THREE rainbows on Monday evening! One was a single rainbow and the other was a double! And the clouds that evening were phenomenal! I was sad I was driving so I couldn't get any pictures. I did get a picture of the double rainbow though!

The sky one morning last week.

The double rainbow!

The BIG fluffy clouds yesterday afternoon outside work. I was sad that I have all these power lines outside my building to obstruct my view!

I hope the skies have been just as gorgeous where you reside! It sure does make for some pretty pictures and a nice reminder from God that He creates everything perfectly. I think it's also a great reminded that He REALLY loves us. Think about it, if He is so great that He creates the skies AND He loves and cares about us, we must be really special! =)

Cindy

(Semi) Wordless Wednesday

I just want to start off by thanking you all for the condolences on this post. We really appreciate all the thoughts, prayers and hugs. It hasn't been easy but it gets better each day. We definitely still miss our Stanky boy though. But in other good news, we've still got our silly Seabass to keep us company and to keep us entertained. Man he's so much fun!

Cindy

A Sad Goodbye

Friday was a very, very hard day for us. We had to say goodbye to our first "kid", Stank. About a month ago we noticed Stank started losing some weight. Then after a little while he started eating less and less. We took the first appointment we could get with the vet and they did lots of tests. All they could find was that he was anemic. They told us that likely he had cancer but the only way to tell was by doing expensive tests and x-rays. And they also told us that even with treatment his likelihood of survival was very slim and the treatments would make him very sick themselves. We tried our hardest to get him to eat but he just refused. We even tried appetite stimulants which didn't have any affect on him. The poor cat was miserable. He was hiding under our desks and when we'd lay with him he would let us love on him for a little bit but then he'd move away as if to say "just let me be, I don't feel good." It was so hard to see our buddy so miserable. We knew what we needed to do, but boy was it the hardest decision we've made. But at least our Stanky isn't suffering anymore.

Stank, you were such an awesome cat. You had so much love to give, you were so, so sweet and such a beautiful cat. Your daddy and I love you so, so much and we miss you like crazy. Your little brother misses you, too. I will always love you, Stank, and will always remember and think of you fondly. Life just won't be the same without you sitting on my lap, without you trying to swat at my necklaces, without you eating the bugs for me (Seabass just doesn't have it in him like you did), and of course without your snuggles and love.

All my love sweet boy.
Your Mommy

5 Fact Friday

Happy Friday, my friends! It's another rainy one out there today. It finally cleared up yesterday afternoon/evening and then in the middle of the night a thunderstorm came through and it's been raining ever since. Not sure that it's supposed to stop until much later today, either. =( I hope it's clear for the two weddings we're going to tomorrow though! Though it rained off and on during our wedding day and it was still a fantastic day!

1. Last night we went to Taco Bell for dinner and it was delicious. I hadn't eaten at Taco Bell in months. Actually, I haven't really had fast food much lately at all. It's kind of a feat for us since we used to eat fast food at least once a week.

2. Earlier this week I contemplated writing a blog post rant about people asking us when we're going to have kids. I'm just so tired of getting asked. Sure we've been married for 3 years already and I know that people are just excited for us, but it really upsets me to get asked because I don't know that we will even be able to have kids.

3. The past two nights have been horrible, sleeping-wise. I normally don't have trouble sleeping. Some nights I'll wake up to use the bathroom, but the past two nights were both interrupted by thunderstorms and various other things. It was quite annoying. And I'm quite tired!

4. Cats can have the funniest positions. I walked in the door from work one afternoon and found Seabass relaxing on the couch...

5. Since Big Bang Theory isn't available to watch anywhere online and since Collin and I don't have TV service, we'd never really seen the show. However, we've been borrowing the DVDs from people we know with them and we love it! It's such a funny show!

I hope you guys have a great weekend. I am sure that we will enjoy our wedding-filled one! I even got a cute new dress on clearance at Ross for the occasion! I can't wait to wear it and share some love with our good friends tomorrow! I just love love!

Cindy

Storm Relief

During the month of June and so far in July we've had SO MUCH RAIN. It rained almost every day last week, and in June it rained at least a little bit practically every day it seemed! Kinda crazy, huh? It's currently pouring buckets outside. The field across from my window is flooded. In June we even had some pretty terrible storms. One actually produced a tornado (it was only an EF-0) that caused some damage in a nearby neighborhood. It also produced a water spout over the Patuxent River that I saw broadcast live on a TV station based in DC which is about an hour and a half away. This storm was bad, people. But despite all this rain, we have had some pretty sky scenes to make up for it!

I hope that the weather has been more fair to you than it has to us! I'm ready for a break from the rain. It's been really good for the crops though. The corn is so tall already this year! It's going to be great for corn mazes in the autumn!

Cindy

Back on the Grid

Hello blog world!! It's been over a month since I last posted! Whoa. That is so not like me. Sure, at times I would go days, maybe a week without posting, but a month!? Goodness! I suppose I've been sort of in a blog "slump". I just haven't felt compelled to write anything. And then after some time went by without posting I found it got harder to post because I felt bad that it had been so long. But a couple days ago Lynn left me an Instagram comment asking what happened to me. It made me think and realize, ya know what, it's not that hard to get back into blogging. I just gotta do it! So here I am!

Not a *whole* lot has happened in the past month. It's been pretty fun, and a bit busy, but nothing too terribly noteworthy has happened. We're in the pit for our local summer youth musical (cast is ages 10-21, the crew/pit can be any age) and that's taken up a chunk of our time. We have rehearsal for that twice a week and starting next week we have rehearsals Monday-Thursday and then 4 performances Friday-Sunday. Then we have the week days off and then 4 performances that next weekend. It's crazy busy! And to top off the end of those crazy two weeks, my mom's side of the family is having a family reunion on Friday and Saturday which we'll try to stop by in between performances on Saturday. AND my grandma is coming in from Chicago to spend 10 days with us that same Friday! Lots to look forward to.

Besides Summerstock, we have 4 weddings this summer and 1 in the autumn. Two have already happened, and two are THIS Saturday. Two weddings in one day. Good thing they're slightly spaced apart and sorta close together. =) The weddings we've already been to were great! The first one Collin and I did the music for the ceremony, and the second Collin was the DJ. It was so fun seeing my talented hubby at work!

Oh! A fun little thing we discovered... we have a bird feeder up on our porch filled with sunflower seeds. The birds LOVE it. A few weeks ago we noticed little sunflower sprouts popping up in the mulch off our porch. We got curious since we had the feeder at our old apartment, too. We walked over there and it was like a sunflower field! So many flowers, and tall too since they've been in the ground longer! We went back about a week later and they were actually flowered! We loved it! We can't wait for the ones outside our current apartment to flower!

Seabass has been keeping us thoroughly entertained lately. He's so crazy. He runs around like a maniac. Then he just flops over and falls asleep. He's so much fun though. I just love watching him with all his energy and his little personality. Stank is sick though and that's been really hard on us. We aren't sure what's wrong with him but he hasn't been eating. We've taken him to the vet and done a few different tests and the doctor said he's ruled out everything he thought it could be and it looks likely that it's cancer. =( We'd appreciate some prayers for us because this is really hard.

Stank before he started acting sick.

Seabass bird watching. I have so many pictures of this cutie to share!

So yeah... that's basically what's been going on. I mean, there have been little things here and there but that's the majority of how our June was. Hopefully I'll be back to blogging regularly! Not necessarily every day, but more often than once a month. =)

Cindy