ugh....

so I tackled the back yard today, getting up all the poison oak I could find, and those thorny plants that attack my dog.

I didn't think I was allergic to poison oak, I know I never was to poison ivy.....

I had dinner with Heather and Mikey, and it was lots of fun

came home, did dishes, cleaned up a bit.....

then laying in bed realized how itchy *cough* upper thigh was....

just call me.... poison oak butt.....

ugh......

ran over a snake

and the dog just sighed and it sounded like a snake hissing.... freaked me out....

Yea, so Ken, my dear coveralls shoe-free neighbor, said that he had seen about five snakes in the fifteen years he's been living here..... with a creek in his back yard and everything.

Well.... I've seen two, in the whole week (and a half!!!) I've been here.

A small tree snake in my front lawn, and then what I think was a black snake on the road.... and under my tire.....

I didn't mean to hit it, and it was still moving after the fact, but I didn't stop to ask him if he was ok, nor did I enquirer his intentions of road play. He was BIG though. MUCH bigger than little Mr. Tree snake. If I saw this dude in my lawn while mowing, I don't know if I would have run him over with the mower, or ran screaming like a little girl..... maybe a little bit of both.

Just keeping y'all updated on the wild land down under.... it's crazy.

repainted the dinning room yesterday, two coats, and I do say, it looks MUCH better. The table looks like it at least somewhat belongs in there now. I've been going to the Y (didn't today) and running the mile and then swimming some. The one in Winder has a dry sauna thing, which is cool, but also has a LOT of kids there.

Craig said he might stop by Thursday and help me with a wax ring on the toilet which would be super cool, because he said it's not really a one person job (although I'd be tempted to try, and probably will if he ends up not coming.... it doesn't *sound* too hard).

Sprayed the house again because I was seeing a couple bugs.... a pincher bug, really small ones in the tub, and a red spider.

JD got into something with thorns so I spent a lot of time inspecting him for more, only found two. I took him in for shots today so I can board him and he was a PUNK. I felt bad about him being a pin cushion though.

Updates when the next crazy thing happens.

normalcy

so, I met my across the street neighbors, and they seem MUCH more normal than Ken (or shall we say, Mr. Coveralls). They're a very cute little family, and said if I ever need anything to give them a holler.

Went to the YMCA this morning and was really impressed with the high tech equipment, TV's on treadmills, but every time you start a new set of time or distance, it takes you back to the preaching channel----welcome to GA!!!

On the way home I took a dirt road.... So glad I have a blazer.

At a meeting the other day one of the guys had an accent soooo thick I couldn't understand a word he said and the only way I knew it was my time to read the traditions is that another man motioned me along....

and a lady there honestly said, "I usedta couldn't do that," which sounds like something I would say when I was 13 and awkward (I'm still awkward, just now I'm older, still got the youthful acne) and Amy would correct me. Thank sweet baby Jesus for older sisters.

After talking to Dorothy today I got really homesick.

Naturally, this led to home improvement.

I put epoxy on the toilet where the cracks were, and I think Justin will be seeing a lot more of the stupid cat because by the way she's working at it, she's going to be permanently fixed to his favorite seat in the house.

I pet the stray cat today (I washed my hands after, mom) and I'm pretty sure she's pregnant.... which means MORE stray cats.... which means MORE cats that will just sit in my driveway, less than moving targets. I'm going to run over one some day and feel terrible, but really.... whose cat is this!?!?!?!

I got paint for the dinning room. I don't think I'm supposed to paint without written permission, but it's so much easier asking for forgiveness than permission. I think anything I do to this place will make it worth more to the guy anyway.

The pictures of the new place are up on photobucket and facebook.... tried to put them on here, it's not working out for me.... neither of my degrees are in blogspot photo operation.

Took Tommy to school this morning and remembered how glad I am to never have to go back to high school.... getting dropped off and not being able to drive.... dissecting stuff.... I was glad to have a reason to get up early though so I could in fact get to fore-mentioned Y.

I'm enjoying it so far down here. Heather and her boys have been great, and the weather is beautiful. Even when it rains it's gorgeous.

first snake and first neighbor

Saw the first snake today, it wasn't as big as I imagined them all to be. Not so terrifying, I was mowing (once I took the mower to Ace because it wasn't running for more than about five seconds.... yea, turns out I had the fuel stopper thing on---that's the technical name) and since he was just a little thing I thought he might eat scorpions.... so I spared him.

Met my neighbor a couple houses up the road... he was walking his dog on a rope.... in coveralls.... and no shoes. Chest hair out and everything, older guy. I think he said his name was Ken, he was very nice, and a talker.

I think you just had to be there to understand how speechless I am.

The land down under

Mom's cousin Kim suggested I do a blog about this.

So here's what's been going on for all of you who have ever wondered.....

• The initial move went well, nothing was broken, dad and I loaded the truck and then mom, dad and I drove down to West Chester where Saturday we had a family get together, Pj bought a cake that said something to the effect of "congradu-jobificationnewhomegrad".... I really hope someone got a picture of it, it was funny. And very tastey
• the drive down was so beautiful, I loved the storms and rain and on a particular stretch in Tennessee you could see the storm to the left, and Schwartz would have been proud to have gotten in my head when I was wondering what kind of clouds those were....
• When we got here we did a quick once over of the house, and I thought "holy crap... what a lot of work..." but even before we had the truck open, Heather, her husband Charlie, and their two boys Tommy and Mikey showed up and were ready to help! It was so sweet, and with them (I would say "their help" but they were SO much more than help!!! They carried the show!) the unloading went SO fast. Heather vacuumed out everything and then helped me at home depot knowing what I needed for fire ants, snakes, and bugs in general--- all of which have worked fantastically.
• The house was not lived in for some period of time before I moved in, so there were TONS of bugs, and yes my Ohioan friends.... there were scorpions.... quite a few in the master bathroom. Worry not, the vacuum and some ortho home defense took care of them. There were more in the patch of .... not really garden so much as patch of clay which would be a great spot for a garden.... and a mound of fire ants near the garage, fire ant killer works!!! There was a toad in the garage (as anyone on facebook knows) and it met me at the door when I was throwing boxes in the garage. I'm SO glad it wasn't a snake. I ushered him outside with a broom and a box, and all has been good since. (For those who don't know, toads can make dogs very sick if they eat them, and dogs can die if they eat them, this is the only way they scare me, I'm not THAT much of a girl.... although I really didn't want to touch it)
• Becky and Charles came down for the Reds game and took me along :) it was awesome even if we lost by just a little, it was still so much fun.

The weather here is beautiful, the land lord is nice. I'm so glad that Heather is down here. I am going to mow the lawn tomorrow and hope I don't meet any snakes or any more fire ants. Justin should be here in July and I start work in mid June.

I'm really enjoying it here so far, and now that I have the house all clean and there are no more dead bugs (biggest roach I've EVER seen was dead under the stove.... tasty huh?) it's finally starting to feel like I live here.

Anywho, that's what's up here. I'll let everyone know if any other adventures take place, and I'll let you guys know how work goes once I start.

I'll post pictures when my camera feels less lazy....