dear diary

ok, time for some more random thoughts..trying to keep it light.

finished the basement guest room. my mom (and later dad when he made a surprise appearance) has slept there and did not complain about any water, icky basement smells, or bugs (ok, so there was a cricket right outside the window, but i don't know what to do about that..) the concrete floor is one shade of gray above black, 2 of the walls are pale yellow, the paint is dry and it looks good. (pics to be posted soon.) next up are the textiles, which will require me saving up for. but the third wall (the 4th faces the stairs and will remain open) will be covered in black and white print fabric, something like this. i want black and white bedding, something like this. we have a few things to get rid of (small entertainment center and an old upholstered arm chair) and then our basement will be DONE! organized and painted and lovely!! i can't believe it..that's a huge thing on our big picture to-do list finished!

next up will be the office. a tiny 3rd "bedroom" upstairs. we have our color scheme decided, it just needs to be organized and we need to buy and install some shelving for extra space.

this afternoon we're driving down to west georgia to spend the night with my brother and sis-in-law and their daughter. the next morning their best friend is going to take alena's 2 yr pics. now, this comes with a bit of guilt b/c my next door neighbor, mary, is an amazing photographer who could use the business, but the simple fact is that it's going to be cheaper for us to make the drive, visit with my brother and have tracey do the pics than for mary to do them. we'll do our best to employ mary for the 3rd year. however, tracey is a great photographer of still life and is looking to get into doing kid/family shots as well. she picked out this great park location. hopefully the flooding has receded and it won't rain on us tomorrow.

next tuesday our college chorus (in which jared and i both sang, met and fell in love, etc. etc) will be singing for a Herald of Truth fundraiser dinner. are you ready for the best part? it's at the schermerhorn!! SO. EXCITING! we will rehearse several hours on sun, mon and all day tues with the gig on tues night. i'm really pumped about this.

(oh, short footnote, oct. 3rd is our neighborhood's Harvest Festival. this is the first year doing this, as it's in support of our community garden, in which i've had a pretty successful little plot.)

then comes alena's 2 yr doc's visit on the 12th. is it strange to be excited about this? at one time we were seeing dr. kalb weekly, or at least monthly. we haven't seen him in 6 months!

after that....is the CRUISE!!!! we're going with lauren and tony to key west and cozumel via carnival. more to come on that later.

despite my frustrations (at our church situation) and coming across as negative or depressed, life is good, God is providing just enough for our needs to be met and i'm extremely content and happy with our little life right now. :)

(hey, and i used the hyperlinks! thanks, sunshine!)