Going Dark

I haven't always been a light sleeper.  I've always been a sleeper, but not always a light one.  I used to sleep through anything.  One day, I realized that it wasn't very safe being a "deep" sleeper, so I started practicing sleeping lightly.  And I haven't been able to stop. 


I hear everything.  Every drip of water, ever toilet flush, every strong gust of wind.  And I suppose that's a woman's job.  I'm looking out for my family.  Don't get me wrong, I used to wake up my husband every time I heard a noise.  Then he was more exhausted than I was because he would get woken up more than he cared for.  


"Honey," he started.  "If you hear a noise that makes you think someone is breaking into the house, or if the house is on fire, or we are in some other danger, wake me up.  But if you hear the creaks of the house, the fridge making ice, or the furnace turning off, please let me sleep."


Done.


I didn't wake him up.  Everything was dandy.  He was getting the sleep he needed, and I got enough sleep as well.  At least enough to function, so that's all that mattered really.


Last night was like any other.  We ate dinner together.  Specifically, orange-honey chicken, rice, and carrots.  Then, we cleaned up our dishes and wiped down the counters and got ready to get cozy for the night.  The three of us lounged on the couches and watched a movie.  I typically request a non-scary movie before bed, so we watched Apollo 13.  Something all three of us enjoyed. 


In the middle of the night, in my sleep, I heard a noise.  My brain was having trouble sorting out what the noise was, but I thought someone had a car crash near our house.  It was loud.  I don't remember situating myself to sit up, but I managed to sit straight up and pick up Belle in one fail swoop.  She was curled up next to me five minutes before, yet when I picked her up, her ears were already standing.  She had heard it too.  I wasn't dreaming.


"Carl," I grabbed his leg.  "Something's wrong."  


He jumped up, just barely awake enough to realize that he, too, had heard something.  He managed to sleep through it somehow.  "Grab your phone," he told me as he ran downstairs.  


I was trying to figure out what on earth I had heard, but I clearly remembered hearing three sounds.  A loud bang like a tree falling, glass shattering, and a swooshing noise.  I wasn't prepared for what I heard next.  "The front door is open!"


I dialed 911 and answered their million and one questions they were asking me, all while breathing heavily.


"What color shirt is your husband wearing?  What color are his pants?  What is your husband's name?  Who else is in the house?  Is there an intruder in your house?  Where are you located inside of the house?  Is anyone downstairs in the house?....."  The questions continued.  I was getting annoyed with the officer for not telling me someone was already on the way.


Carl walked back into our bedroom while the officers continued to question me on the phone.  Carl asked me if I was okay.  He saw that I was struggling to breathe and apparently making incoherent sentences.  I passed him the phone and stood up, only to see my reflection with absolutely no color, and I fell back into the bed.  Carl stood at the top of the stairs and I carried Belle with me to Austin's room.


Opening his door, I hit a stack of toys that fell over.  I looked over to his bed, and saw no movement.  Walking further in, I tripped and made more ruckus.  Still, no movement.  Finally I was close enough to the bed to see Austin, so I gave Carl a thumbs up.  Just for safe measure, I ran my fingers through his hair.  He was safe and sound, without a care or any knowledge that someone had just intruded into our home and violated our safe little world.


The police finally arrived so we made our way down the stairs.  It was then that Belle decided to start barking.  Apparently she thought she was off duty of her guarding the house during the nighttime hours. We'll have a little talk about that later...


Anyway, the police looked at our front door which we discovered had been forced open, flew back so hard that it hit the wall and then almost swung shut.  The door frame was destroyed, laying on the floor.  Upon further inspection in the light of day, we saw marks all over the door that could've been a crow bar.  


The three noises that I heard in my sleep were as follows.  And I believe they were close to simultaneous.
Tree falling: Someone hitting the door really hard.
Glass shattering:  This took me a while to understand, until Carl nudged a piece of hardware from the door.  I was brought back to the sound like a movie playing in slow motion.  I had heard the metal hardware from the door hitting the tile in our foyer.  My brain thought it was glass in my sleepy state.
Swooshing noise: The door flying open, hitting the wall (also tree falling noise) and then swinging back *almost* shut.


Thankfully, the intruder took off, rather than entering our home.  But it scares us.  I sat up since 2:40 in the morning until 9am and just cried on and off.  Carl and I both stayed in the living room keeping an eye on things, trying our best not to jump at every small noise we heard.  By the time the sun started coming up, I had never appreciated daylight more.  Everything is always better in the daylight.  


This week on our to-do list (other than get our door repaired) is to get a home alarm system.  The house is equipped with one already, so we just need to activate it.  I thank God that everyone was okay, and the intruder didn't take anything.  


Matthew 6:20 tells us "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal."  As difficult as it may be to start over, I could live with that.  I could not live with losing a family member or pet from an intruder, though.  Laptop?  Sure.  Jewelry?  Sad, but sure.  Family?  .............Did I mention we're purchasing a gun this week??


Anyway, this brings me to my news.  I've decided I'm going to make this blog private.  I'm more than happy to share this with you if I've met you in real life and I trust you.  Facebook friends, that means you... I don't accept friend requests from people untrustworthy or whom I do not know.  Family, of course you will be allowed in.  Fellow bloggers, email me.  If I know you well enough through your blog, I'll allow you to read it, too.  (In fact, if you've allowed me access to your private blog, I consider myself to know you and will allow you to read along.)  (loveissomethingthatwedo@gmail.com)  Or, click here: Email me!


Thank you all for your understanding.  This was a really scary situation, and I hope and pray that the intruder does not come back.  

Pink Truck

At the end of Monday's blog, I asked you a question. 

Jeopardy style.

And the answer is, "What type of car would you like when you turn 16?"

"Hot pink Ford truck."  That was my response for YEARS.  

I guess I never really pictured what it would look like.  But now, I think it would look something like this.... except it would've been a Ford instead of a Dodge.

For those of you that don't know, that was NOT my first car.

My first car was a 1987 Mazda 626.

I loved that car.

Even if, sometimes, I was really tempted to put a sign in my back window saying, "I may need a push."

So then, as that car slowly decided it was getting too old to take me everywhere on a moment's notice, I gathered up my money and got this instead.

A 2005 Hyundai Tucson.

And she's been my baby.

As I got married, I realized I would never ever own a pink truck.

And that's okay. 

I'll buy a fluffy dog and buy her everything pink instead.

So, Belle needed an "Airline Approved" bag to travel in when we fly to Florida in a few months.

We went to Petco and found the perfect bag for her.

And I call it her pink truck.  With a sunroof.

It's even on wheels.  

See?

Cute, isn't it?

It's on wheels so I can pull her through the airport instead of carrying her. 

And, there's a strap inside for me to clip her harness or collar to.  Which is great because she'll be able to poke her head out while I'm wheeling her around.

Each side also has a window that can be open or closed, depending on how she feels.

I'll most likely just leave them open so she can see out at all times.

Anyway, that's how I our family ended up getting a pink truck.

You like?

Countdown!

Five Things I Am Thankful For:

• New friends! :)
• Girl time
• Sweat clothes.  I don't care how unattractive they are, they are COMFY!  And WARM!
• Speaking of warmth....  I <3 my bath tub.  It keeps me warm.
• Facebook.  That's weird, isn't it?  It just makes staying in touch 1000 times easier than it used to be.

Four Things I Can't Stop Thinking About:

• How did no one tell me I completely missed this section last week?
• We purchased Belle's new travel bag yesterday- a post on that will come later.
• Camping this upcoming weekend in Yosemite with a great group of people.
• Bringing Belle camping for the first time ever, and it might snow!  

Three Things I Want To Accomplish This Week:

• Have all laundry done and house cleaned by Friday.  (You know, all that fun weekly stuff.)
• Buy ink.
• Buy Belle boots.  (Sorry I talk about her so much, I happen to love her in case you can't tell.)

Two Things I Am Working To Be Positive About:

• Once again.... I can't think of anything.  Everything is very matter of fact in my life I guess.

One Random Thing:

• Who knows the question for the answer, "Hot pink Ford truck."

A New 'Do

Oh my goodness!  I missed my weekly countdown!

The time change has really thrown me off.  I can't seem to catch up on sleep all of the sudden!

It didn't help that Saturday, the three of us made our way to Yosemite and wore ourselves out.  More on that later!

So yesterday... since I missed my countdown, I'll tell you what I was busy doing.  Canceling services, getting Belle to the park before the week of rain we're supposed to have, vacuuming out the car (can I also just say how I love the vacuum system in our house?!  We have a long hose we can hook up to little port in any of our rooms, flip the button and we've got a vacuum!  It's fantastic!  And the suction is super strong, so every grain of sand from Yosemite was sucked out of my car yesterday.  Yeah!)  Anyway.... the other thing I did that took up a good long portion of my time (aside from laundry, as usual) was I cut Austin's hair.

He never likes to have his hair cut, but yesterday when I offered him a spikey do, he was all in.  I just didn't tell him I've never given a boy a spikey do.  A shave?  No problem.  Reminds me of the time I brought a boy home insisting I knew how to cut hair as a teenager.  I swore up and down that I knew how to cut hair, and I'd done it plenty of times.  I wasn't lying... I was just omitting the fact that it was my dog who had been my previous client.  I remember setting him up on the back porch and every couple of minutes running inside to "get a different pair of scissors" and quietly ask my dad what to do next.  

Anywho, back to Austin.

I took a before picture when I had his hair all combed out, so it looks tame in this shot.  But, truth be told, kiddo has a ton of hair and it will stand on end at any given moment.  These aren't the best pictures, so I apologize in advance.  Also, this was in our garage.  That red thing on the wall is our vacuum system.  The previous tenants were the ones that filled it with bumper stickers, not us.  (I feel the need to explain that since there is a lot of mention of beer, and we're not beer drinkers..)  Also, you see carpet in the picture.  That's only by our door.  No, our whole garage isn't carpeted.  Crazy, isn't it.

Also, since I'm not 100% sure I'm doing it right, I will tell you that the reason it's parted on one side is because the top was going to be slightly longer than the sides.  Looks like I'll be consulting my daddio pretty soon.  

So, that was the before picture.  The after picture really hard to even tell what the heck is going on with the hair.  

Once again, my apologies.  It was spikey (believe it or not) but this photo does not show that at all.  In fact, when editing this post, I realized that it looks like I left some parts long and shaved other parts.  I beg to differ.

This morning when we tried to do his hair (5 minutes before running out the door), I realized kiddo's cowlick was taking over and the spikes just were not happening today.  Here is his hair today right before he got out of the car for school.

So.... any tips for yours truly on getting it to be spikey?  Once again, you can't tell in this picture (I'm starting to think it's the photographer instead of the camera, haha) but his hair is combed to the side.  And yes, it has gel in it.  When we put it in this morning, we realized there was no way it was going to stand up in the few minutes we had.  Better luck next time, eh?

I married a billy goat.

I live with two billy goats.


Carl came to me the other day and with a concerned look, he asked, "What's wrong with my head?!"


Upon examination, I determined it was a bruise.  Right smack dab in the top middle of his forhead.


See, Saturday, he helped some friends move.  "Did you hit your head?" I asked.


A sheepish grin overtook his face and he nodded.  I was thinking an explanation of some dresser drawer that slid out and bonked him in the head was to come.  Instead, this was the mental image I was presented with.

Carl had head-butted Austin.

I asked him why on earth he would headbutt anybody, and he said it's what his dad used to do to him.  I told him I was concerned that he was playing a bit too rough if he could leave a mark, and declared our home head-butting free.  I don't want any concussions in this house, ya hear?  

I'm sure there will still be playful head-butting going on BETWEEN THE BOYS, but if it leaves a mark, it's too hard.  Agree?

I didn't mean to be a creep.

In 2009, right after Carl and I got married, I took a class that I had wanted to take for as long as I could remember.  Sign language.  I had wanted to learn sign language forever, but it was just never in the cards for me to take it.  Year after year in college, I tried and tried to get into a class, but it just never happened.  Classes filled up, schedules were too tight, you name it.  So, in 2009 I was finally able to take this class that I had dreamt of.  And I soaked it in.  Every minute of it.  I adored it.  The language is absolutely beautiful.

Every single following semester, I did my best to be accepted in to ASL level 2.  However, the professor at UF is nationally known (Dr. Sign... I think I've mentioned him here before...) and it was IMPOSSIBLE to get in his class if he didn't know you personally!  I was really bummed out, but I figured I'd just finish my degree and work on sign language after I graduated.

Well, after I graduated, I up and moved across the country.  I've been trying to find signing classes that I could enroll in, but I couldn't find any that weren't on a specific degree tract.  Then, I looked into community ed.  No luck there, either.

Hmm... where could I go to learn sign language??  A deaf person!  But wait, I don't know any deaf people.  Dangit.  Where else could I go?  A sign language group!  I investigated, and once again I hit a dead end.  There were no sign language groups within 200 miles of Turlock (that I could find, at least.)

I had one last option.  Find a church that had a service for deaf individuals to worship, and study with a person there, IF he or she was willing.  After even more googling, I found an entire deaf church in Modesto (the next town over.)  I looked up that church's website and couldn't find it!  Dang it!! Yet another dead end!  I did, however, find a woman's myspace page where she mentioned that she attended that church because she loves sign language even though she was not deaf.  I quickly tried to send her a message on myspace but it required me to log in, and I couldn't figure out my old info.

Overly determined, I looked at her name and I copy and pasted it into the facebook search.  Creepy?  Yes, I know.  I tried not to be.  I even apologize profusely in my message I wound up sending her for appearing creepy.  So, she wrote me back and said she would try to get me some phone numbers.  I am beyond excited!!!!  I might finally be able to learn sign language.  Oh what a joy it would be for me!!!!!  I am just dying to get past level one and be able to really communicate.

I'm so excited.  I really hope this comes through and everything works out.
In my countdown post yesterday, I mentioned being thankful for Melanie not being creeped out.
This was what I meant.

I am beyond excited and I hope and pray this will come through!  Wish me luck!

Countdown

Five Things I Am Thankful For:

• Our new camera.  I purchased the exact same one that I had (that just died) and I'm happy we have a way to capture our memories again.
• Melanie not being creeped out.  (A post will come regarding this issue later...)

• USPS (I know, sounds silly... but I love getting cards and letters in the mail!)
• Emily!  (Hi Emily, if you happen to be reading this!) I'm thankful that there is someone in Turlock that I can trust to watch my little Belle while we go to the mountains next weekend.  Belle will even have two friends to play with (Jasmine and Buster) and I'm thankful they all get along.
• Websites that work.  I'm beyond frustrated with trying to pay bills online when company websites do not properly work.  It's like they don't even want our money.

Three Things I Want To Accomplish This Week:

• Pictures of our home.  People have been asking, and I just haven't gotten around to it yet!
• Learn to take pictures in manual mode on my camera.
• File my whopping stack of papers that came in the mail a few days ago.

Two Things I Am Working To Be Positive About:

• Jeeze, I can't even think of one.  Is that good or bad?  I feel positive and upbeat about everything goin on in my life. I guess that's a good thing.

One Random Thing:

• This week is gonna drag by... we have great plans this weekend!  Mountain trip with friends, dinner with friends, and church as usual.  Life is GOOD!

A little rusty...

Hey friends!  Happy Friday!

My friend Mia sent me a video earlier today and it made me miss signing.  So, I searched through the house for my old notes, popped out the camera, and recorded a story for you.  This is a story of my engagement.  Most of you have heard it before, I'm sure, but I'll share it again.  I told this story when I was in an ASL class and the girls in the class all cried.  I'm a little rusty because of lack of practice, and I don't claim this to be perfect.... but here, take a look if you're interested.

And on another note, while I was trying to upload this, this is an honest to goodness error message I got from youtube.

Don't worry, I didn't do that.

I gotta go pick up the kiddo from school, but happy Friday!  Have a great weekend!