A Look Into 2009...

As 2008 came to a close and we all looked towards a new year each of us made a choice to resolve things which needed a change in our lives. Perhaps it is to save money, to lose weight, to find that special someone, or so on...what we all are saying is basically this, "I am not 100% happy with the current coarse of my life and must do something to re-direct the path I am headed down and thereby making me a better/stronger person."

In the spirit of "bettering oneself" I have "resolved" to better my pocket-book, my career, and my body. This month I have been focusing on the new budget and trying to live on basically 200% less than we have been and thereby lessening the stress on the pocket-book. Now that I am a little more comfortable with the money aspect of my life I am going to focus on bettering my career and what every woman in America is striving to do...lose weight.

To better my "career" I have begun my own private voice studio...Lessons By Ledford Music Studio. I have interviewed with a company that contracts voice teachers for nights and weekends. I am happy to say they want to hire my, but I have to complete a 10 week vocal ped class online and then I can start taking on students. The only catch is...right now the class is only available Wednesday mornings at 10 am. Since I work 8-5 that won't work. However, they are hoping to have it availalbe 24-7 in a few months. Since they would like me to teach for them the head lady said she will contact me when that occurs so I can begin the coarse and after a few lessons they may begin giving me students.

For my private studio I have contacted all the public schools in the surrounding areas and will be sending packets to all the choir teachers about Lessons By Ledford Music Studio. I am also sending packets to the churches in the area and am hopeful to have the studio up and running soon. Since I have never formally taught voice before I have "signed on" a free student. A lady from our church choir who can't read music very well and as expressed interested in taking lessons to better her singing and reading abilities. We begin lessons the first week in February...this allows me to study-up on somethings and make sure I have all that I need in stock.

Now for the scary portion of this blog...the betterment of my body. I have started working out little by little and it is amazing how things that use to be so simple are the hardest thing to do. Who knew that lifting your leg and holding it waste high could send you into convulsions. Along with working out, eating right is always a good idea. Weight Watchers is a great program and I have begun doing this at home...thankfully my sister in Wisconsin is doing the same thing. We have started our own "online meeting" via email. It helps knowing someone else is out there, going through the same battles you are, and striving to better themselves as well.

May we all find the courage and strength to make our resolutions become reality, and find the perseverance to press on even when it seems futile.

Until later...

Ice, Ice, Baby...

The past few days AR has been hit with some freezing rain….which has made the trees a beautiful white color and thankfully the roads haven’t frozen over (yet). I received a call from Aaron yesterday saying some of the limbs in the back yard had broken off because the leaves had iced over and where to heavy for the trees to hold on to them any longer. Which sounded ok to me…you expect something like that to happen. I arrived home like usual and was greeted by Aaron who told me a story about these iced, tree limbs. Here is his story:

During his day off he let the dog out like normal, and noticed that an iced, tree limb was resting on our roof. He didn’t like the idea of a tree limb sitting on our roof, so he did the most logical thing…grabbed the broom and pushed it off the roof. Well, that poor “little” limb couldn’t hold the weight of the ice and promptly broke off, tumbling to the ground and didn’t cause any damage to the house (thankfully).

After hearing his “heroic” story of rescuing our house from the limb, I went out back to look at the “little” limb…



Thank goodness that thing didn’t break off and hit our roof! Well until later….

The Holiday's...

It is hard to believe the Holiday season has come and gone already! Where does time fly too? We had a great Christmas and New Year's Eve.

Christmas was in Vidalia, LA this year. It was a lot of fun. We took Lucy with us...can you say FUN! She travels really well...no accidents of any kind! Aaron’s niece’s really loved having a big dog to play with…they are use to little “Winnie” dogs and we all know Lucy is NOT little! It was so nice to see his family and spend time with them all. We had lots of time to visit and when the time came to go back home we wanted a few more days (but isn’t that how vacations always end?). We went and saw “Marley & Me” on Christmas day and loved it. Highly recommend seeing it, but if you do bring tissues!

For New Year’s Eve we had a semi-impromptu party at our house. It all came about when a few friends called aaron about the same time and asked, “Are we coming to your house for New Year’s Eve?” From then a party plan was hatched! We played games, eat good food, and watched the ball drop. I was shocked I lasted that long since I am normally asleep before 9:30 rolls around! My sister, Heidi, the one in Australia sent Aaron and I a board game for Christmas called “Partini”. It is sort of like cranium but a little different. In fact I am almost sure we all liked it better than cranium. There are 6 categories instead of 4 and it moves at a more rapid pace.

I know I have promised the second half of my “after pictures” but it has been difficult since we still don’t have internet at home…so I have to try to remember to do all my internet stuff at church (or at work if I have time…which is NEVER!). Have no fear I WILL have those pictures up before the end of 2009! I hope…..

We have some exciting, upcoming events….all of which I will have to blog about at another date! Until then…

Part One of "The After"

Okay.... I know what some of you are thinking, and yes I am JUST NOW posting some pictures of the new house post move-in day. I have to thank Rachel Logan...if she hadn't been here visiting this week I don't think I would have been able to take any pictures until Christmas. She was kind enough to take these few pictures yesterday. Okay so here are the descriptions of the pictures below:

Picture #1: The view when you open the front door...notice the difference in curtains! Much better! You might also notice the speakers which tower on top of the entertainment center...that is Aaron's master piece! We get great sound while watching TV...almost like we are inside the movie!

Picture #2: The view when you are standing in the bedroom hall way. Behind you would be all the bedrooms and gust bath with our bedroom off to the right. Again...notice the curtains in the living room and dining room... Me likey! As you can see the "wall of cabinets" is still in place. We aren't going to remove them until we own the house.

Picture #3: Our great fireplace. It is electric…no messy firewood needed! This living room is laid out in such a way that I can fit more furniture than the Wylie house...even though it is much smaller than the Wylie house. If you can see the candle holder on the coffee table (in the bottom right corner) my mom brought that back from Maine for my new house and I love it! It has wonderful Pumpkin Spice candles that you burn in it and makes the whole house smell fabulous!!

Picture #4: Our entry way...this is the first time we have ever had an entry way and it is lots of fun. It is so nice to have a "little room" where your guest can take off their coats and shoes without being on top of the people in the living room.

Picture #5: The dining room...it is a little dark but you can get an idea of how the room feels. Directly behind you would be our china hutch and to the left is the kitchen.

Those are all the pictures I have for right now... I will try to get Rachel to help me get pictures of the bedrooms so you all can see my new bed-spread and the other rooms.

If you would like our new address shoot me an email.

Until later....

The Pictures...

Our new home…

Well I am sure many of you are wondering how the move went and how the new house is treating us. Sorry it has taken so long for me to blog this! Life is crazy right now. I am in the busy season for work and going away on business a lot. Not to mention we don’t have internet at home so when I forget to get on during the day I can’t at night when I remember. It’s a”vicious” cycle.

Have no fear...pictures of the "after" house will be posted soon, but for now here are the highlights of the move:

1. We started on time (8:00 am…although Aaron and I started around 5:00 am because we couldn’t sleep)

2. Moved quickly (the men worked fast and furious. By the end it took 1 huge moving truck, 2 pick-up trucks, 2 cars and 1 SUV to get us all moved)

3. Ended on time (I had said I would have liked to be finished around 3:00 and that is precisely the time all the moving crew left for their homes)

4. It took the “unpacking” crew (Aaron’s parents and grandma, plus us) a few days to make headway…it looked like a war zone in the house. We couldn’t locate the hinges for the refrigerator doors (which were removed last December in Wylie)…we were unpacking boxes and not putting things away trying to find the hinges. Aaron ended up having to special order them and they just came in last week. That’s right 3½ in my new home with no fridge. Oh the stories we are going to be able to tell our children one day about when we moved to AR.

5. Day 2 in the house we discovered the A/C wasn’t working and the dishwasher was leaking! If you are wondering we still don’t have A/C or a dishwasher…it is taking some time to get them fixed. Like I said…oh the stories we have to tell

Good news…the dishwasher should be fixed this weekend and the A/C should be fixed in the next 2 weeks! Yahoo! We love the new house…I can already feel myself more settled here. During the unpacking days I would get a little sad because I kept thinking, “Now that we are in a house again we can have the Tully’s over tonight!” Then I would remember they don’t live in our neighborhood any more. Then I would think about my friends in Texas who couldn’t come over for dinner one night…I had to tell myself you all can come over it will just take some planning! So don’t be surprised if you get an invite in the mail to a free weekend get-away at La Chateau Ledford conveniently located in Bryant, AR.

Oh, and if you were wondering that picture is one of my 5 rose bushes! I have always wanted a rose bush and now I have 5! Yeah! Well, that’s all I have time for right now…Until later.

The “before” of the new house…

Well for those of you who have been after me begging for pictures of the new house. Here you go….keep in mind the curtains are not ours! After you read this blog scroll down to see the pictures…

The front of the house…the front yard is huge like the back yard, plus we have the humongous flower bed that stretches the full length of the fence. Everything you see in the pictures is part of our property!

The inside of the house…the first one is the view from the front door when you first walk in (curtains not ours); the second is the dining room/kitchen. After we close on the house we are going to remove the cupboards that are creating that “wall” between the two…it will open it up a bunch! The third, hard to see picture is my sink… I have a window right above it!!! Hooray! Remember…curtain not mine.

Finally the huge backyard…Lucy’s new haven!! Last Saturday while we were doing the pre-clean I went into the back yard and there was the biggest rabbit! Aaron said Lucy is going to have fun catching that one! Okay…that’s all for now. After we get settled in I will take more pictures!

Here is the plan for after we close on the house:
1. Install a storm door… I need more light! I have been living in a dark room for 9 months. Me want light!
2. Install a vent-a-hood/microwave, matching stove & dishwasher
3. Knock down the cupboards creating the wall in the kitchen/dining room. Re-hang them else where…TBD
4. Paint, paint, paint
5. Install a mantle above the fireplace…I am thinking one of the little shelf-like mantles
6. Install new blinds…the wood kind. Right now they are the aluminum kind.
7. Update the light fixtures and door knobs

Now keep in mind all of those things won’t be done at once…we are going to have to pace ourselves! Okay. I must work now…I can’t believe the big day is tomorrow!!

Until later….