Weekend Visits

Yesterday Scott and I visited with my friend Jennifer who I worked with at T&U. Jennifer just had Haylee on August 1. So, her 2 month birthday is tomorrow! It is amazing how time flies! Jennifer's husband Lamar was out of town, so we missed him. It was great visiting with Jennifer and Haylee. Haylee is such a sweet baby. While we were eating lunch, she would look over at Jennifer and bat her eyes and then start smiling. She has all kinds of sweet facial expressions. Here are a few of the cuter pictures we took (well, Haylee is cute in them; my eyes are half closed in one).













The last one is how Haylee was when we left. Jennifer put her in her swing and she was out in minutes!

Flying Saucers

No, I am not about to write about Unidentified Flying Objects. Flying Saucers is a take off on tacos that Scott's family has been making for years. They got the idea from a family friend. They are really good. Basically, you cook ground beef and make taco meat with the taco seasoning packet. You also need to heat up about 1/4 inch of oil (vegetable oil is fine) and fry up flour tortillas for everyone. You want to make sure they are crispy enough or they won't cut really well. Then, you just load up the crispy tortilla with your favorite taco toppings. We use the following, usually in the following order: taco meat, refried beans, shredded cheese (the 4 cheese mexican blend is the best), tomatoes, salsa or taco sauce (or both), lettuce, black olives, and sour cream (I usually put more cheese in there somewhere, too).

It is a really good, really quick meal and it has a cool name!



Enjoy! Let me know if you try it and like it!

Wish List

Scott and I have created wish lists at wishlist.com. This is a really cool site where you can put stuff from any store, or just add it and add your own picture if you want. If you want to buy us something and we can't give you a straight answer, hopefully we have been updating our wish lists and you can find us something off of here. Doesn't it always seem like when you ask someone what they want, they can't tell you anything, but when you aren't asking them, they have tons of stuff they want? Anyway, our links are over to the left. Happy shopping!

Update: Life

Well, here I am. It is 7:02pm on Thursday and I am sitting in our office looking at my work laptop since I meant to work on it tonight and I can't get the "VPN" connection to work. Hmmm...strange since I brought it home on my first day of work and it was fine. But regardless...tomorrow promises to be a long day. Normally, I would ask my husband, who is my personal "IT guy" what to do, but he is in class. Scott is taking 2 classes this semester, one in the classroom on Thursday nights and one online. Usually he only takes one class at a time, but these two classes are required to be taken at the same time I think. Anyway, these are Scott's last two classes for his "Information Security" certificate from Gwinnett Tech. Also, he will get to also get his "Network Administrator" certificate that he was working on when we started dating. He took all of his classes then realized that he was short a class. At this point, the school has decided that class is no longer necessary for that certificate, so yay! Scott gets to get his certificate without that stupid class. Anyway, I digress.

Work is going okay. I can't say that I am just looking forward to going to work every day, but I can't say I am dreading going to work every day. I am still learning and it seems that a lot of change has taken place at Pike recently and things are still changing. So, we shall see. I do desperately miss my T&U friends/coworkers. I email them and talk to them, but, it's different not seeing them every day. I am making new friends at Pike, but I can already tell that I will never be as close to these people as I am to my T&U friends. Also, it was comfortable there and I mostly knew what I was doing. People came to me with questions and I almost always answered them. I gave other people work to do and they did it. I had job security. Now, I am asking questions, I am being given work, and I have no idea what these people think about me.

So, our house is officially on the market now. We have a sign and everything. We had someone come look at the house on Sunday afternoon. Our agent followed up with their agent and they said that they wanted a bigger back yard. Good luck if you want a house as new as ours and in Gwinnett. Anyway...I am hoping for a larger yard when we move too. Hopefully it won't take forever to sell because I really miss our recliner and my cookbook table.

My 10 year high school reunion is coming up in less than a month. TEN YEARS! Wow! It doesn't feel like it has been ten years. But, at the same time, when I think back to all the time between now and then, it amazes me what has happened. My mother died, I have gotten a college diploma, I have been saved, I have met the love of my life and married him, I have taken the CPA Exam and (finally) passed, my grandfather died, my dad has been remarried, I have lived in countless apartments and purchased a house. And, after all of this, I can still remember how it felt to be in high school. I've been thinking, if ten years goes by this fast for us, how fast does time go by for God, who has been around forever, since before "In the beginning..." in Genesis 1:1?

The last time I saw Meme she wasn't doing so well. There was a definite change in her. About 2 weeks or so later the nursing home called my sister and said that they were going to run some tests. She is having mini strokes. Her brain is detiorating. She has had a lot of back pain ever since she got so sick in April. It is just sad to see her like that and think about her going down so quickly. Please pray for Meme.

Well, that is enough for now. I know I have already said too much. I am sure you are all bored by now, if anyone is reading this at all. I looked at our webstat today and 1 person had read the blog today.

Well...have a GREAT weekend! I am looking forward to it and I hope you are too!

Memories Remembered

Up until pretty recently, we were sometimes taking pictures with Scott's old digital camera and sometimes with my 35mm camera that I had had forever (really, almost everywhere I went, someone would see my camera and say, "Hey, I used to have that camera.")

So, I got pretty lazy about developing my film when I decided I really wanted a new digital camera. I have had film laying around for about 2 years. So, I finally took it all to Sam's and had it developed and put on CDs. Here are some of my favorite pictures that were on the film:

This is one of Scott's parents taken in TN at his Aunt Rita's 60th birthday party over a year ago. It's a good picture of them. That trip was a lot of fun.

These are of Maxwell. He was still pretty young. I believe this is right around the time he started teaching himself to drink from the faucet in the tub without getting in the tub. So cute and smart!

This is a picture of Sampson, still pretty young (not full grown), in a basket that now has magazines in it. I don't know why he is making that face, but it is hilarious. The funniest thing is that as big as he is now (14.2 lb), the other day I emptied out that basket, and he squeezed himself down into it. I couldn't believe he could fit himself in it!

For Christmas of 2005, Scott decided that he wanted to put lights all over the front of our house. Here he is leaning over for a picture. Incidentally, Scott is afraid of heights and neither of us can figure out why he wanted to do this, and he has never done it since.

In November of 2005, Scott and I went on a trip to Las Vegas (Scott was going for work and I tagged along). Inside the Flamingo Hotel, there is a huge casino, but also a zoo of sorts. I took pictures of these penguins for Scott because that is his favorite animal. We went back together later, after he got off work, but this time I was alone and following this particular trip to the hotel, I walked around inside the hotel for at least 30 minutes before I found a map to show me how to get out. I kept finding the casino, however, but was not interested in gambling.

This is a picture of the replica of the Statue of Liberty that is in front of the New York, New York hotel. It looks very real (although I have never seen the real Statue of Liberty in real life), and I thought it was amusing that there were palm trees out in front of the Statue of Liberty.

Here is a picture of the Paris hotel in Las Vegas, with the replica of the Eifel Tower next to it. Paris was probably one of my favorite hotels in Las Vegas. I would walk over there almost every day when Scott was working and get a danish or something in the morning for breakfast.

While we were in Las Vegas, we rented a car and drove to the Hoover Dam. Here we are at the dam. That was a very interesting trip and tour.

We went to the MGM hotel multiple times to watch the lions. There is a tunnel you can walk through to the gift shop and the lions sometimes would walk over them. Here is one laying on top of the tunnel eating a bone. Isn't that funny?

This picture I took for my Daddy. He is a vending machine man, and I was impressed that a Coke machine this old was still working. It was on our floor in our hotel, which was the Boardwalk hotel. The year after we were there, they tore down that hotel. I wonder if this Coke machine had been installed when the place was built. Anyway, here it is. Daddy, I hope you read this and I hope you are impressed with this old machine. (hahaha)

Look at how teensy our boys used to be! Karen, I hope you see this. Karen made the cat bed our cats currently have and they can barely squeeze into it together and it is huge. This was when we had had them for several months already and they were growing so fast. They were so cute! (Wait, they are still cute, but still.)

Here is a picture of Wendy (my sister) and I at my Aunt Nina's old house (which sat close to the intersection of Powder Springs Rd. and the East West Connector, where a Wal-Mart is now). I think this is New Year's Eve 2004. Anyway, Wendy looks cute in this picture, doesn't she?



This picture was taken at the Norcross Station Cafe when we went there for lunch in celebration of Cheryl and Robin's birthdays, which are both in September (I think that this was in 2004, I am almost positive). From Left to Right: Dan, Natalie, Jennifer, Cheryl, Grace, Robin, Phil, and me. Of these people, it is quicker to list the people who still work at T&U than those that have left. (Natalie, Jennifer, Cheryl). Where was Teri that day? Maybe she was at a client...

So, I know what you are thinking...Marcy is long-winded. But, just think, I had six rolls of film developed. I think that I did a pretty good job of just choosing a few pictures to share! :)

Once again, I have no idea how to get the pictures to look right. No matter how many times I go to "edit" and change things, they end up looking jumbled and out of place. Oh well...hopefully it will not be too distracting. Have a great weekend!

The Twins Have Arrived

Our friends Jeff and Adriene had their twins! Erin and Grace were born on September 2nd. They have cute pictures of them on their blog. We are so happy for Jeff and Adriene. We are praying that God continues to pour blessings on them. I know that they need our prayers as they learn how to take care of twins. However, I have heard from Jeff that Adriene is doing a great job being a mom.

Baby Shower for Kari and Eric

Some of our friends that Scott went to college with, Kari and Eric Moore (well, he went to college with Eric, Kari came along later :)), had a baby shower thrown for them last Sunday (Sept. 9). It was a lot of fun to see everyone and to watch Kari and Eric open all their gifts. There were some interesting games played and the pictures turned out quite funny. There was one game where a baby blanket had all kinds of baby stuff pinned to it and you got to look at it for a minute and then you had to write down everything on the blanket. Then, you had to throw "dirty" diapers into a basket from a certain distance. Some people (Rob) came up with inventive ways of cheating. Then, the guys played the game where you have to drink beer out of a bottle and the first to finish wins. It seems like a lot of work to drink from a bottle and I think it was even harder to try to suck beer out of the bottle. Anyway, that game always brings about fun pictures. I have a slide show of them below. Some of my favorites are of Rob cheating at the diaper game (even though there were no rules against leaning over until you are basically dropping the diapers in the basket), Eric looking at his bottle cross-eyed during the bottle contest, and of course I love the side shot I got of Kari. She is such a cute pregnant person.

I know that Kari and Eric are really excited about Evan's arrival. He is due on October 15. I am sure that they could use all of our prayers as they prepare to be parents.

Work, Home, and Everything In Between

Well, this week was my first week at Pike Family Nurseries as the Senior Accountant. I have learned a few things about my position this week. I think that everyone is very nice so far. I am reserving my opinion on whether or not I will like this job until I have been through an entire month "process". I have learned how to do one of the daily and one of the weekly tasks I will be doing and starting tomorrow I will learn what is involved in the "close" each month. So far, so good. I feel like they have a lot of expectations for me because I am a CPA, so I hope that I live up to those expectations. But, I am going to give it the best I've got, and hopefully that will be good enough.


Besides that, Scott and I have selected a real estate agent, Beth David-Erwin with Century 21. She is going to help us sell our current home in Loganville and also to find a home up in the Norcross/Duluth area close to our lives. Beth came over on Friday and gave us suggestions for things we can do to make our house look roomier. We are packing up both of the bookshelves that we have and putting their contents and one of the bookshelves in storage, as well as a table I have in the kitchen that holds my cookbooks and our recliner. Also, we are getting rid of an old bookshelf that I have nightmares will fall over or fall apart every time we move it. We also need to do a good bit of de-cluttering. We are going to do the best we can. I spent a couple of hours cleaning up our gardens on Saturday, too. I really hope that it doesn't take as long to sell our house as a lot of people's have, because I am going to miss my stuff if we have to do this for the long-term. But, I know that everything happens in God's time and we need to just listen to Him.



Yesterday after church we followed Josh and Shana up to Dean and Judy's and spent the night and the first half of the day up at their new house. It is so beautiful up there and it was really great to see Dean and Judy. They both looked great and we had good food. Last night Shana and I chatted with Judy and scrapbooked and then today we went to the Commerce Outlet Mall. Josh and Scott did some chatting with Dean and they played Scott's Wii a good bit last night and some today. It was fun, but just not long enough. I am hoping we get invited back very soon! :)


Bogey and Zoe were up there too and they were really cute! Here is a picture of them playing tug-of-war that Scott took while Shana and I were out shopping.






Well, it has been a great long weekend. Football season is kicking off. I still do not get all that worked up over football. But, I do enjoy the social opportunities it creates. Scott and I went to our friends Eric and Kari's house on Saturday to watch the Tech game. They really beat up on Notre Dame. Luckily, I didn't have to watch the game, I chatted with the ladies and ate good food. There were just a few of us there, so it was a really good time to chat. Kari is expecting and she is due in 6 weeks, so we had fun looking at baby stuff and talking about other girly things.

Scott and I have tickets for the Tech game this coming Saturday against Samford. I am looking forward to tailgating. I know of a few other of our friends who will be there as well. If you are going to be there, comment and let us know!

What's Goin' On...

Well, Friday was my last day at Tarpley & Underwood. It was sad to go, but exciting to think that I am starting a new job tomorrow. It still hasn't become reality to me yet. I hope that I catch on quickly at my new job.

Yesterday Scott and I went to visit Meme, my grandmother, at the nursing home. She seems to be declining somewhat. She isn't still on oxygen all the time, but she doesn't seem to be all there mentally. Her speech was a little slurred and she looked like she'd lost some weight. I know her vision is steadily decreasing, which is sad. She has macular degeneration, so we knew it would, but that doesn't make it any easier. They are giving her occupational therapy to help her eat her meals. I did get some pictures with Meme yesterday.

Ironically, as we were driving out to Dallas to see Meme, my dad called me because he and Stephanie were looking to buy a new computer and had no idea what to buy. So, we went to their house after we visited with Meme and Scott helped Stephanie shop for a new computer while Daddy and I fixed dinner. It was a nice visit. They have this white cat named Olivia who is aggressively affectionate and will rub you so hard you'd think she's trying to knock you over. She is pretty funny. I got a cute picture of her.

Well, wish me luck for tomorrow. I am looking forward to doing accounting instead of auditing. I hope that this job is what I expect! I'll let you know soon!

Career Change Coming Up

Today I put in my two-week notice at work. I am starting at Pike Nurseries in two weeks as the Senior Accountant. I am looking forward to not having busy season and working closer to home! I am very sad at the thought of leaving Tarpley & Underwood. I have enjoyed working there for the past 6 years and I have built many friendships that feel more like family than friends or coworkers. But, I have come to the realization that I don't really like the work I do very much and I just don't think I can do another busy season. So, I am going to try my hand in the real world in corporate accounting. Please be praying for me in my transition.

As a more fun note...I will be getting a discount at all Pike stores, so my gardening will be cheaper now...I have to feed my addictions, you know!