Gas Situation Stinks!

Ok, I have to rant here for a moment. I'm allowed, right?!

I have friends who live across the US and it seems we are the only place right now that are having this issue. Gas is insanely high, if you can find it. Yes, I said if you can find it?



It was bad enough this summer with the jump to $4 a gallon. In the month of July we paid just over $600 in gas!!!! Did you read that??? $600 in gas! Granted Andy drives a truck, he drives over an hour both ways to work and I drive a SUV as well. Still, should we really have to spend that much money in gas?? Add to that the fact that groceries go up with gas and WOWIE ZOWIE folks, it's insane!!

But now, we can't even FIND gas!! A few weeks ago I prayed and God answered in allowing me to literally roll to the pump at my FOURTH try at finding a station with gas!!! I drove around until I was literally on fumes and I prayed God would take care of me, he did! My Beastie died, literally at the pump!

I know that Hurricane Ike caused severe damage in Texas and I totally understand that power was shut down for quite awhile, days on end. I feel terrible for those families who suffered loss, hoping and praying for a speedy recovery for them. I think everyone can be patient through a crisis like that and sympathize.

I just can't figure out why the craziness has continued here in the Metro Atlanta area and mainly ONLY here! Gas is $3.99-$4.19 when you can find it. The thing is, Cobb & Paulding counties for sure are out! I mean OUT! There is no gas within about 20-30 miles of our house, at least! Nowhere, no small town gas stations, no large corporate owned ones. Most of our local counties drive huge distances to work and it's causing major problems.

Places that have gas are putting on limits. You can only buy $20 to $40 worth of gas. For the thousands who drive trucks and SUVs, that doesn't get you very far for $4 a gallon!! Then you have to drive 30 miles to find gas again. It's a vicious cycle. People are waiting in line an hour (my Mom & Aunt did this weekend) only to get close to your turn and they run out. You've just wasted gas sitting in line.

We just spent the weekend in the mountains, we were very nervous about the gas situation as we headed North. Strangely enough though, around Dalton & Calhoun is when the gas craziness ends. By the time we got close to Chattanooga and in to Tennesee, there was plenty of gas. Not only was there plenty, but it was CHEAP!! Even in the local tourist traps of Pigeon Forge & Gatlinburg, it was $3.49!! We haven't seen those prices here in forever!

I'm just sayin'... what is the deal? What needs to change? Is it our behavior, are people freaking out and making it worse? Is there a logical reason for this? What can we do about it?

(Rant over, blog on our trip to come soon)

September happenings:

Let's update on random things at the house of Tanner.

Parent's House:
My parents house is moving along quickly. They put walls up and a roof on in no time. I love the multi color roof, it looks great. Now inside everything makes sense and you can see it all coming together. Pluming has been ran, as well as electricity. The septic tank has been put in and the sheet rock was delivered today, they're waiting on insulation to go in first tomorrow I think. The tubs are put in, the showers are going to be tiled & stoned, so they're coming later. They spent almost 3 hours with the cabinet man one day this week, everything is being custom made. The deposit has been made on the pool and the plans are beautiful, there's a waterfall!!

Sept. 14th (I think)


This is the end facing the house they live in. That roomish thing to the right with a window is the 3 car garage. The porch area to the left is the open area where the pool will go. It's all coverd for hanging out, all the way around the corner. The total left side towards the back is going to be a vaulted ceiling with beams, it's going to be pretty. There will be ceiling fans and a swing. Our kiddos room @ Grammy & Grandpa's is right there with a windown over looking the pool area. Great stuff!! This is my favorite part. We kept saying "good thing yall wanted a smaller house, HA!" Mom wanted to cut down on cleaning, have less to take care of, we just keep laughing!!


This is the front



Sept. 20th
The roof on~




Sept. 20th
My Mom's CLOSET!!! She has her own, yes! Almost as big as our nursery & spare bedroom.




This is the eat in kitchen. The side with the window has vaulted ceilings too. The kitchen is huge, has an island. Which is funny since my Mom NEVER cooks anymore! We're standing in the living room area and this isn't all of the kitchen, just one direction.



Dad's office looking out the front. That oval ish window to the right is actually in the laundry room, no walls yet so you can see through of course.



The basement that is going to have one finished bathroom and is big enough for a living room/kitchen and 4 bedrooms down there. Cracks us up how big it is.



Chex Mix Fiasco:

I had a chex mix fiasco this week. I had a 100 calorie pack of chex cereal one day and opened it in the car, it exploded and cereal went everywhere! It was in my hair, in my clothes and all over the car!! There are times this would make me grrrrrrr in frustration, thankfully all I could do was laugh and laugh and laugh some more. It was a mess and what can you do? I took pictures to show Andy, figured he'd shake his head at me. Then immediately clean the Beastie out end to end! (That man is obsessed with a clean vehicle, you family members know that first hand!)





Early Birthday Celebrations:

Today my kiddos and Ms. Dawn helped me celebrate my birthday at school. The kids surprised me when Ms. Dawn pulled out a super stash of birthday cards they'd made at home, I was very impressed with their sneakiness! Each one is adorable, I'll share a few. They sang Happy Birthday and (like all 4 year olds would) they blew the candles on the "fake cake" out for me!! (I only had 5 candles like they get, that's encouraging!) Our fake cake (made by my room mom & friend last year) is adorable and perfecting for celebrating all birthdays!! It has swirly crazy candles, not in this picture though.



A few cards, I couldn't scan and post 'em all. Too cute though!



This little guy drew "Ms. Tanner & Winnie the Pooh" on the left. I think it's awesome that he remembered me saying that during Bear week or the first week when I talked about how I love Pooh. Funny!!


Can you tell that this little one wrote my name across the card? "Tanner" So sweet! And yes, that would be me that he drew!


Tonight Andy brought home an ice cream cake, it's my favorite kind of cake these days! It is a cutie football, just needs a big "G" on it!! We ate ice cream cake tonight after supper!


The Fair:

At school we always go to the fair the last Thursday that it's here. It is my favorite field trip of the year. I love fall and it's the first time everyone is together, we get to spend some time chatting with the parents after spending some time with the kids. They kids are so excited because it's the first trip and it's just a super fun day. All of the four year old classes & Kindergarten go, plus all parents!! It's 120 kids!! We're going tomorrow!!!

Last year was the first time in about 11 years that I didn't go to the fair on my birthday. My Dad always said I was a "cheap date" on my birthday. Take me to the fair, buy me a corndog and cotton candy and I'm good to go. It became a tradition with Andy and my parents to go. Last year we went on the Disney Cruise & spent a week at Disney, so we skipped the fair. This year since we'll be in the mountains, we're going to the fair tomorrow night! Fun, fun, fun!!! Fried food, pretty lights, farm animals to pet, homemade goods to observe and carnival workers... what more entertainment can a girl need?

The Mountains:

And, to further celebrate my birthday (I firmly believe in celebrating all week long!) We are headed to Gatlinburg this weekend. We usually go once or twice a year. Due to "the year of Disney" last year, we never made it up there. So we're both very excited about a fall mountain trip!! We aren't taking the camper, with gas prices it's not feasible to pull it up there. Andy took Friday off and we leave that morning and we'll return Sunday evening, I'm so excited!!

Needing a Disney, Cruise or better yet Disney Cruise
fix at our house.

Tonight I found this and it made us laugh over and over. Ahhh, the joys of cruising. Hope this makes ya laugh, turn your volume up for sure!!! Farm friends, you'll love this!

Click on link below:
Horn Battle in Dock

Springville Sprint 5K

Andy has been running the Powder Springs annual "Springville Sprint 5K" for much longer than I've known him. This year was no different, he'd been looking forward to it for quite awhile. Typically it's the same day as Powder Springs Day with a parade & arts/crafts. This year the festival has been put off until October. Our church sponsors the event, it's where the race starts and ends. They have a competition between local elementary schools to see who can get the most kids to show up for the 1mile fun run. Then there is a free pancake breakfast afterwards and award ceremony. Great times in a small town!!

Andy finished 8th overall and 1st in his age group, it's the 4th year in a row that he's been first in his age group. (Maybe more than that, but those are the trophies I can count on the shelf right now) He finished 3rd overall a few years ago :) Steve finished first in his age group as well and was 5th overall. Good job guys!! Yep, big brother beat little brother!! :)


And I have to mention Patty McFarland Wilder who also won in her age group, because I've never seen anyone so excited over their tropy. Patty is the "baby" sister to my best friend from childhood, Amy. So Patty, "that is awesome!!" Love ya girl, it was fun to spend time with you!!!



While we were waiting and watching awards, Uncle Andy seems to have put Tanner right to sleep. That boy was making all sorts of crazy noises bouncing around, he became quiet and this is what we saw. Funny baby!! I told Andy he is the "baby whisperer"!

My parents house!!

This is MONDAY!!

It's the only Monday picture because it was SO MUDDY from the rain!! Dad got the golf cart stuck and they had to push him out. I went over there in FLIP FLOPS, not smart!! I sunk down to my ankles!! It was a nightmare. I thought I was going to have to scream to be rescued myself.


These area all THURSDAY!!

By today, FRIDAY though, it looks nothing like this. All the walls are up and the roof is mostly up and on. Looks 100% different already!! Crazy fast!!!! I didn't have my camera tonight when we did a walk through. I'll take some soon though. It was so neat to walk around in it and see the rooms and where everything is going. Just a few weeks ago it was still a field, wow!!!



This is the very end side, my favorite side b/c it's where the pool will be!! :) The pool guy had pictures of it made on his computer and it's so cool. It'll be free form, have a dark blue bottom, rock around the side and a big ole waterfall. I'm so excited!!! They are too, it's so funny! This concrete area is all going to be open. It'll have a roof, the leftish side will have a cathedral ceiling roof with open beams. They'll have ceiling fans, chairs and stuff out there. I requested a swing be hung out there tonight matter of fact. The room that is on that end will be our little ones room @ Grammy and Grandpa's, it'll have a window to look at the pool. How cool is that???!!!!
Here is the front right side and Dad :)

This is the front. To the left there is the 3 car garage.

This is in the basement, from the drive in door. They have a garage up top with a 3 stall garage. But Dad insists that they need a drive in basement too. It's huge down there. There is enough area to have a 3 bedroom apartment, with living room & kitchen, plus bath. They are finishing it or at least part of it now, plus the bathroom down there.




This is the view from the back side.
We were all convinced it looked so small when they started, suddenly this week.... it's huge. My Dad says "it swelled up!" They were suppose to be down sizing their house, not sure if that's the case my friends. Crazy people! They worked hard, they deserve it!!

Consignment Sale Anonymous

Yes yall', I need a support group! I absolutely live for these things. The one at the church where I teach preschool is my favorite, they get good stuff! They have it in the spring & fall, double the fun each year. On Saturday they put everything that's left on sale, so I fear that I'll run back tomorrow. We'll see.

Yesterday afternoon was a ton of fun. My Mom was a crazy woman, she showed restraint in buying more than I thought she would. Despite the fact she ran from item to item yelling "Look!" and "We need this!". She didn't buy it all. It was a hoot because I had friends saying "look at this, you're gonna need it." and "you should get this", while others were shouting "stop, put it down" and "what are we gonna buy you if you keep shopping?" It was fun to be there with everyone too though!!

I did fight the urge to buy Halloween outfits just for dress up fun, it was so hard! There was a Pooh straight from Disney outfit that was $6!! :O Those things are $40 at the Disney store, it was in perfect condition. Minnie outfits, dance/cheerleader/ballet stuff, Buzz Lightyear and on and on. So much fun for dress up play for a few dollars each. *sigh* Next time........

Anyway, here's the loot. The only thing I didn't take a picture of was the bassinet my Mom bought for HER HOUSE. It's really cute though, looks BRAND NEW and was $40. I'm talking looks like it hasn't been touched, ever! Here's a picture I found online and it looks like this.



These are my favorite buys of the day!! The golf set is a major find, I can't wait to show Andy! (Who has been out of town) It is a little beat up, but it was $2.00!! It has 3 clubs and these little cups on the back you take off and hit balls into. Perfect for outside fun!!

The rocking caterpillar plays music, how cute is that?! I LOVE the colors, so fun! It was $10. The space rocket is so cute. It has all sorts of sounds when you scoot it around or you push buttons. The seat comes up for storing treasures. It was $5!!! As Amber says "SCORE!"

These are the 2 outfits I bought our great nephew Trey, they were $4 and $5.
(Trisha, are you reading this? Surprise! I want to come by one afternoon this week!)



Here are the girl clothes we picked out. Mom liked the dress with the doggies and I liked the one with the Christmas gingerbread stuff. A couple of PJ onesies that were a few dollars, the smocked dress that was $4 and looks alot like the bigger size I bought last week. (Still has tags on it) And one just cotton comfy outfit.


The boy outfits. The one with tags on the top left is too cute! It has a bear on the onesie shirt & plaid shirt and the corduroy pants. I love it! The out fit on the right has a bicycle on the pants, shirt & socks! I think one outfit was $6 (tags) and the other was $5. The Georgia outfit was $6, shirt was $1 and cotton comfy outfit was $2 or $3.

It was so much fun! I am still feeling good about it since we'll continue to have great nieces and nephews. If we don't get to have BOTH a son & daughter at some point, I'll pass it on to them!!! It really is fun to see what deals you can get!!




These are not consignment, they are all Target clearance. The 1 pieces were $3 each, as was the boy's swim trunks. They are all size 4. The bikini was just $2.50, I couldn't pass it up!! I can't think of what size it is. Again, what we don't get to use, we'll share!! :)

Consignment Sales

Consignment sales for sure will be the death of me, at least my check book!! I showed a picture of our little one's closet in the last post, scroll down for a picture. That however, was not a recent one. The problem is that since we don't know if we'll have a son or daughter, I continue to buy BOTH girl and boy clothes! One of our nieces & nephews to come is going to seriously rack up in the future!! Thankfully I can say that everything in there is either a gift (Mom & Misty have both bought things too!) or bought on clearance and/or at a consignment sale! When you start telling me those cutie dresses are just $3, the gowns are $1 and 3 piece boys outfits are only $5.... I'm a serious sucker! I am going to share JUST SOME of my great buys, there are not photos from each sale.

And... for those of you who live in the area, McEachern Methodist has their consignment sale this weekend. It is usually HUGE and my favorite!! Thankfully since I'm staff we get to shop early on Thursday afternoon. Yipee~

((Lindsey, are you reading this?! Remember to come Thursday @ 1:00 with your Mom!!))

This was from March consingment sales at McEachern Methodist & Kennesaw FBC.

Girls Stuff




Boys Stuff





This is from this weekend @ Echo Mill Consignment Sale

Boys (Tags are still on outfit on the right, too cute $5)



Girls (sweater- Gymboree $1, 2 gowns for $1, smocked dress $3, velvet dress$3)





The closet now:
(Yes, packed full!! Top/bottom, left/right.) I've also scored 3 girl bathing suits for $2 or $3 each on clearance, various sizes and 2 boy bathing suits for the same.




Top of the closet stacked with things for future Christmas or Birthday presents. You'll see there's even a Disney castle & add on pieces. Those are from the first version they had out, about 7 years ago. There's a NEW version now and you can be ASSURED our little one will have both versions of the Disney Castle play sets!! (We want them to get the monorail too!! :) The far right, bottom. That is a stack of Disney Wooden Puzzles. I've had them about 8 years now! I was afraid they wouldn't sell them anymore, so I bought one of each!! All kinds~ HE HE HE..... In the bottom picture you'll also see the water stains on the ceiling. They were there when we bought this house and even though we've had the whole house painted, we didn't paint in there. OOps!! Yes, the purple box up there is full of stuff too. :)

My parents new house!

Some people have hobbies. They collect coins, play golf, have dinner parties or paint. My parents, they build new houses. This will be the 5th house they've lived in since I've been born, all within a 7 mile radius. (I clocked it) Three of those they've built. While they were building two of those, they've still been able to live in that 7 mile radius. Once they rented a tiny apartment in a man's garage, just the 3 of us and it was still too close for comfort! This time, there is already a house on the property. (That is where we'll eventually move we're pretty sure. That's another story for another blog though)

They have been looking for property in the area (OK, they didn't really think they'd find any THAT close) for a couple of years now. Just this past winter they found this land just 1.2 miles from where they were living. (13 miles from us) It's beautiful. It has open pasture land, where they are building. It is wooded at the back, with a creek coming up to the edge of the property. There is all sorts of wildlife out there. There are about 50 turkeys that come through the area each late afternoon, it's quite a hoot! There are several small groups of deer as well. My parents are so enjoying living over there and watching all the animals each evening. They bought a golf cart for getting around and they have been all over the place, down the road, to the neighbors and on and on. They've completely befriended everyone around them. The guy behind them has become a great friend to Dad, the neighbors across the street are stopping by all the time, the wonderful little lady next door is a hoot. (She owns the Owl Tree book store if you guys from Powder Springs go in there, Ms. Melburn.) My "childhood through college" best friend's parents live just through the woods. We thought we were already living close, now it's just around the corner. (literally) Her parents walk/run by now all the time. Anyway, Mom & Dad sold their house in May, after just a handful of months on the market, a miracle right now for sure. They moved into the existing house and started the paperwork permit process.

It took 3, VERY LONG, months to get the permits to build. It was an entire nightmare and the hoops they had to jump through were insane. It reminded me of our journey to be approved for adoption. Finally though, in August, they got the OK. I was there and it was hilarious because literally an hour later, Dad's contractor & his friend who does grading all showed up to get to work. They had a dug out basement by dark!!!!


May





August 14
(the word supervisor is over my Dad. He is over there all day, every day. He sits in that golf cart and watches every move they make. Bless their hearts is all I can say!)


August 15

August 22

September 5th

Antique Mommy is one of my favorite "blogger friends" to read. One of those "I wish I knew her" kinda people. Today's post is a must read.....It's titled


(Click to link)
"On Fertility"

Baby's Room

Those of you who know me well, know we have been waiting on our own Baby Tanner (not our nephew mind you, Aimee really threw confusion into the mix when she named Tanner, Tanner. :) for about 8 & 1/2 years. My Mom & I have been shopping for him or her, pretty much since Andy & I got married! (9 years ago!) When we made our official decision to adopt in October, it was a relief and tons of excitement to begin bringing those boxes of things upstairs knowing that it was no longer "if" we were going to be parents, but rather "when"!!

There were 9 boxes of things to unpack! Andy & I sat in the baby's room every night opening boxes of fun things, it was like Christmas! There were clothes, nursery decorations, toys, bottles, plates, cups, puzzles, diaper bags and on and on and on! There was so much that it had to be cleaned out on many occasions. I sold things on Ebay, donated things to different charities, sold some at a consignment store and have given some away. We've got it cleared out now to the point where our son or daughter will actually fit in there amongst "the stuff". For awhile, there would have been no room for baby! We still have a closet full of things that are going to make great birthday or Christmas gifts for our little one for years to come!

There is some discussion on a forum that I visit about working on the babies room, while waiting on adoption. Some of my new "waiting" friends say that they just can't work on the room yet, they don't want to buy things and see it all "sit" while they are waiting. It makes the waiting worse for them and they feel uncomfortable about the notion of even buying baby things. We are not amongst that group, obviously. There is another group of people, which is where we fit in, who are excited as we get a room ready in our homes for our little one. It's a great comfort to know there's a place all ready and waiting, it's our sign of hope and faith that we are going to be blessed with our son or daughter. We both like to go in there, just sit and think of the blessings to come.

So here it is so far, the transformation of our son or daughter's room!
(I wish I had a picture of it while it was my scrapbook, craft, office room.)

December - after cleaning everything out and getting new carpet!

December - brought home the rocking chair from my Mom's house that was mine when I was a baby.

January - when we started to open boxes of fun stuff!

February - when my Dad painted the blue on the top of the walls for us! He wasn't thrilled we'd chosen blue, "What if we get a girl?" He asked. I assured him we would make it work for our son or daughter!

Notice the edge of the furniture box in the floor, we'd bought the furniture in December. It had been waiting in the basement for a few months!

February - when Dad & Andy put the furniture together

March - when I got totally carried away at a few spring consignment sales, after all the stuff I'd already bought. Now it's packed even more as I continue to buy one in pink and one in blue of everything! The other day I counted 49 boy outfits, 37 girl outfits (though at one point there were more girl than boy, now it's gone the other way) and 25 outfits that can be for either!! I have a shopping obsession!!!! I am buying all sorts of sizes, thankfully only things that are on clearance!

March - when there was still so much in the floor that there wasn't room for a baby. I did another big clean out after this!

June - I had talked my friend Shelley into painting my trees on the walls, she's awesome. Then I decided that I wanted to do it myself and what kind of mess could I really make? I think they turned out pretty cute, not perfect, but all done by me. (Mommy to be!)

Here's the idea, thank you photo shop! If we have a daughter I'll add pink flowers to my trees and if we have a son, I'll add blue birds. Right now, there just trees! (which Amber says she likes better anyway) This is just to give you the idea!

July - Mom & I went to pick out fabric for curtains. I am going to make them! They are going to be patchwork, like a quilt. They will be tied to a simple rod by different kinds of ribbon. I look forward to working on them!

Here are the fabrics so far for a daughter.

Here are the fabrics so far for a son!

August - a peek inside the crib. Yes, I know. We'll take the "stuff" out when it's time for our little one to lay in there. It sure looks sweet for now though!!

Here are some of the Pooh plate collection I had. I sold 6 of the plates on Ebay and kept these, my favorite 4. I also sold a collection of 8 Honey Pot shaped plates, there just wasn't room for them. I think I am moving the two middle ones though and putting a little wooden shelf I have up there to put stuff on in the middle. Then moving those 2 plates to the outside edges up there.

August - our baby's name will go over the crib in letters. The curtain rod will be replaced to a silver one I'm thinking. The book shelf has some of my favorite children's books up there, a book on baby sign language (thank you Shelley & Sam) and some fun infant toys!!

August - I added the cloud to this wall just the other day. Thank you Holly for helping me figure out how to make clouds that looked right with my retro ish trees. This tree will have a few pink flowers or blue birds as well. This piece of furniture will make our changing table for awhile and then a dresser in years to come. It has some Winnie the Pooh books, stuffy friends, a picture frame about our miracle from God, baskets for all those diaper changing goodies and some fantastic books that I've bought on adoption, forever families & our adopted baby. The Pooh figures sitting on the bottom will go on the shelf I'm going to hang above the closet. There's a cross there with a bedtime prayer to be hung and a little "our angel" thingy ma bob that Misty bought when we made our decision to adopt too!! Just have to find the perfect places for those as time goes on. The lion stuffy friend in the chair is one that my Grand Daddy gave me a few years ago for Christmas, I couldn't resist wanting to have it be in there as well!!

So, there ya go. There's still things to be done. I love going in there and working on a few things at a time. I love to sit in the rocking chair and talk to God about OUR baby, pray for the birthmom who is going to help make our dreams to be parents come true!! I've been crocheting a blanket in pink & brown, when I'm done I'm going to do one in green, blue and brown too. It sure is fun to watch as step by step, our little one's room is coming together.