Basement Update - Lots of Photos!

Wow, all of the drywall is complete! But what a mess. Now to fill in all the seams and screws, then to primer and paint. The end is in sight...maybe?

Dusty?? Very. This is the door to the storage room

Storage Room. Jimmy knocked this out before I could take photos of the insulation!

Inside of Storage Room looking out

Hallway and Door to Alan's Office

More ghosts, I mean dust, inside Alan's office. I can't wait to get those recessed lights installed!

Door from Alan's office to the Music Studio

Inside of the Music Studio, looking at the Door to Alan's Office

Soundproof wall of the Music Studio bordering Alan's Office

Future home of the Miller's Irish Pub, complete with a bar on the back wall

Future home of a home theater or game room, we haven't decided. Current home of an absolute mess.

We added lights along this wall for sconces that will look awesome in our Irish pub style bar area. I can't wait to get those up and working!

Back side of the basement, future home of a pooltable? I hope so. All in good time.

Woofstock 2008

Yesterday we took Syd for a treat - Woofstock 2008 at Beaver Trail Complex in Glasgow! He had a GREAT time and was so tired the rest of the day. He behaved so well around the mass of other people and dogs - we're so proud of him. We came away with some Buddy Biscuits, 2 new frisbees and a nice purple Woofstock 2008 t-shirt, all for a good cause in raising money for the local shelter and a Dog Park for lil' ol' Glasgow! I know we'd enjoy it!!

Awww...so tired from sniffing all those butts!

Sittin' in the COOL breeze after a busy day of playing, meet-and-greeting and making new friends!

A Cute Dog Named Syd

I didn't realize just HOW much Syd has grown until I was looking through all his photos. I took these this morning while I was TRYING to get ready for work and Syd was too busy getting in to things to care about other people being on time!

Wow, he has no shame or manners. He fits right in to our household.

This is HIS chair - there's no denying it or telling him otherwise. We tried that for 4 months.

That's my sometimes-angel! Thank GOODNESS for the Kong. What a great invention!

Apples & Peaches & Board Games...Oh My!!

Jackson's Orchard is wonderful family owned and operated resource in South Central Kentucky. Everyone in our area has been dying to buy their produce since the Fall of 2006, since last year we had a terrible late Spring freeze that killed nearly 100% of their crops. Jackson's has, hands down, THE greatest peaches and apples I have ever eaten and it is well worth the 45 minute drive from our house! As well, their pumpkins are GIGANTIC and that is the best place around to buy awesome pumpkins for Fall and Halloween. I can hardly wait!

Some of the apple trees on the drive up to the Main Building

Yummm!!! And these are just the ones lining the parking lot!

Overlooking the lake in front of the Jackson's home.

This is the main building where you can buy all their fresh produce when it is in season. We were just at the end of the peach season and the apples are now getting started. They also have a greenhouse where you can buy beautiful houseplants and seasonal plants, like fall mums. AND, the pumpkins are almost ready!! We'll definitely be back in a few weeks for those.

After the orchard, we went home to play some board games!! Finally! After months of just accumulating games, we finally had the chance to PLAY some. I guess that's what happens when you move and...6 months later...you're still not unpacked - other less important things just get put aside. Oops!

Alan cooking our favorite homemade Chinese dishes behind our beloved board games and superduper Jackson's Apples. This is a very appropriate game for the time!!

Our boardgame collection. Do ya think we need any more? OBVIOUSLY.

The find of the day during our trip to Nashville. However, there are so many pieces and such a ginormous rule book that my excitement has now turned to fear.

Our other Nashville find, which has turned out to be a WONDERFUL game, especially for 2 players. Aren't there any other losers out there that will come visit and play games with us? I'm tired of kicking Alan's ass every time.

Where Did We Go??

Oh hello. You may remember us from such blogs as...the one you're reading. I kind of had a feeling this would happen. I get so side tracked with work, the house, the dog and anything and everything else going on that I forget to update about what we've been sidetracked with! Since our last photos, I've managed to take over 150 new ones with the intention of sharing a bit of our lives with everyone. I promise I won't put all 150 pictures on here - just the best ones.

WAY back in August we decided to go to the Kentucky State Fair in Louisville, KY. It is very different than other fairs that I have been to as it is highly focused on the agricultural aspects this state has to offer. What exactly does that mean? LOTS OF LIVESTOCK!

He wanted to come home with us, or just eat my shirt. That always seems to happen around goats.

This one was playing King of the Castle, and fiercly hurt anyone that tried to overthrow him.

We had Fugee withdrawl but after about 500 rabbits, enough was enough!

I don't really know if the thing on the other side WAS indeed a rabbit, but this little one was braver than I was. YIKES!!!

A Day with the Governor

For roughly a year now, I have been in charge of evidence and grants at the Police Department where I work. I love my job and I love doing what I can to find grants to help my fellow coworkers be safer in THEIR jobs.

About 3 months ago, I applied for a grant through the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security for Mobile Data Terminals (in-car computers) on behalf of our agency and approximately 8 others. The way things are going, grant awardees are given precidence if it is shown there is a multi-jurisdictional agreement in place and that several law enforcement agencies are working together for a common goal: regional and community safety. I'm sure most of you don't hear much of Kentucky politics while living up North, but the Commonwealth has a very limited operating budget this year. With that being said, we had very little hope of getting a grant award of anywhere near what we applied for, which was nearly half a million dollars! However, we did well, and received about 30% of our original application - $152,000.

Today was the GIANT check presentation from Governor Steve Beshear and it was a wonderful opportunity to meet him face to face. He was a great speaker and had very kind words for the men and women in our community. As well, it was refreshing to hear a politician say that cutting funds from law enforcement is not an option, regardless of how small an operating budget the state has. It's nice to know that someone is thinking of our officers. This money will help make their jobs MUCH easier.

Here are some photos from the presentation.

Grant Awardees from Surrounding Counties

Governor Beshear and I, with the $152,000 check!

As well, I did a newspaper and radio statement today. How exciting! What a day I had...and now the fun (work) begins!

Rennovations Updates - Drywall Layer 1

So to get the studio adequately soundproofed for a home setting, we're using this compound called Green Glue that will soundproof sheetrock for much cheaper than the more traditional methods out there. It just requires 2 layers of drywall! Here is the first:

The scary drywall lift - oooh sooo sturdy!

Completely covered

Drywall over the air duct

Drywall with mudded seams

Labor Day Weekend, Part 2

Well, what an interesting day we had yesterday!! The GPS sure gave us some wonderful new places to revisit and led us to some surprising locations that we never expected to be in!

We had an interesting drive down to the big city. Every horrible driver from every surrounding state seemed to be traveling I-65 yesterday, getting in their last vacations before the start of school. Alan was none too pleased with their lack of driving skills, which just made me laugh because there was NO WAY anything was going to ruin my "birthday weekend"!

Even though the mini-trip was for relaxation, we did have some business to attend to. Syd, that devilish little critter, has managed to destroy all of his toys with the advent of his adult teeth. Even at just 6 months, he has become a destructive little boy. So we stopped at PetSmart and picked out some GREAT new toys for him, Halloween themed ones at that! Also a new collar because he's outgrown his current one, a sturdier leash, and some Glucosamine and Chondroitin treats for his little hips and joints, which he can eat now that he's 6 months old (all the packages say that?!). ANYWAY, this morning 90% of the toys have been destroyed. What a lovely child. Looks like we're just going to have to get him an old tire to gnaw on!!

We then decided to get some lunch, Greek to be precise. It's great - you can search by type of cuisine on the points of interest preloaded on the GPS, so the handy old machine pointed us in the direction of a Greek/Italian/Mediterranean resteraunt about 5 miles away from PetSmart. Well...it was shut down, dilapitated to be more precise, and in the worst possible side of Nashville that one could fine himself in. I've never felt as out of place on a street before as I did yesterday! There was even a socks-stand on one corner, right down the street from "Gun City USA". Weird!


So we moved on to a different area of town and found The Greek Islands/The Breeze, a great Greek and Mediterranean restaurant in downtown Nashville on Music Row. We had a wonderful Greek lunch surrounded by the historic recording studios of the country music industry. The food was fantastic! I should have taken a picture, but we ate it too quickly! We had turkish cigars with apple chutney as an appetizer, and I had one of the greatest gyros I ever ate, while Alan ate Chicken Shish Kabobs. It all was wonderful and we'll definitely be back.

After lunch we had a beer at Dan McGuinness, the Irish pub up the street. It was such a great atmosphere in which to relax, digest all that GREAT food and enjoy some fabulous company with my husband! They were also playing some great music. If you're ever in Nashville, it's a great place to hang out.

We then wanted to find a book store in the area, so the GPS led us over to Church Street to OutLoud Books, which just so happened to be a specialty store for the gay and lesbian community. We didn't discover this until we were inside and realized that a lot of the books had naked same sex couples hugging each other and in other scantily clad positions! Nonetheless, it was a very cool store filled with lots of counter culture items and a very friendly staff. That situation would have gone MUCH worse had it been any other misguided couple from the "south" that are not nearly as accepting of others as we are! It's refreshing to see a store like this as well. You've got my support!!

We found a Borders Books nearby, but it was on the Vanderbilt University campus, and it was PACKED, but we came across a little gem across the street called Cumberland Transit. It's an outdoor clothing and equipment store full of wonderful things! Tents, backpacks, clothes, shoes, bikes, climbing gear and a large area dedicated to fly fishing and the art of making a beautiful fly. I found a great "Good Karma" t-shirt by "Life is Good" that is made of 100% Organic material. What a great store!!


Our last "must-do" stop in Nashville is always The Game Keep, that old traditional geeky board game and miniatures store that smells musty, is falling apart and is just pure bliss. It is here that we found the catch of the day! A copy of Agricola, the hottest game of the year that is becoming harder and harder to find as it's in high demand and on back order from nearly every online game store out there. That's why it's so important to support your friendly local game store (FLGS in geek speak), they just may have it in stock! Over the years, we have amassed over 100 board games ranging from the Eurogames to the typical Ameritrash and even a few of the old standards available at Wal-Mart. We LOVE board gaming. I think that's what we'll be doing today; playing our favourite games and enjoying some new ones, relaxing a little more and spending some quality time at our lovely home with each other and with our favourite little pooch!!

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Labor Day Weekend, Part 1

As some of you may know, we have been working on finishing our basement for about the past 2 months. We are very close to being finished and to celebrate the fruits of our labor (well, mostly the labor of our family friend Jimmy), we are taking the weekend OFF!

Alan and I are heading to Nashville today. That is one of our favourite cities to visit, other than Lousiville, KY. My birthday was on the 27th and Alan's is coming up on the 4th, and we bought a very nice GPS unit to help us on our weekend adventures. It's the Magellan Maestro 4250:

Magellan Maestro 4250 Review

We love it so far. With over 6 million points of interest, we'll never be out of ideas for things to do and cool places to eat!

And we're off and running....

Our Kentucky Cousins

What an amazingly talented and promising family I married in to! Here is a little blurb about Alan's young, up and coming cousins that will definitely make a mark in whichever field they chose to give their talents to!

Young Whitney is a sophomore in college and is as smart as can be. She is majoring in Mathematics at Western Kentucky University and looks to have a very promising future ahead of her as a teacher (it runs in this family!). Mathematics...I'm jealous!

Bob Miller is one of the most talented photographers I have ever seen. He is finishing up his last year at Samford University in Alabama and has an incredible gift for the Arts (as does his sister Sarah...but I'm getting ahead of myself).

Bob, courtesy of Bob Miller

In late 2007, Bob traveled to Kenya and the Sudan and was witness the intense violence that followed the Kenyan presidential election. His photos capture emotions that we here can only imagine. On a far lighter note, Bob is a phenomenal wedding photographer! On 6/7/08, our cousin and his sister Sarah married family friend Michael Bradley and Bob had the wonderful job of being their wedding photographer. Please check out his website and explore his fantastic photos here:

http://www.everythingisinbalance.com/sarahandmichael/wedding/

courtesy of Bob Miller

Sarah, the beautiful young lady in the photo above, just finished a Master's Degree at University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. She studied Art History (Medieval) and previously, she attended Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, studying Art. She and Michael Bradley were married on 6/7/8 in Glasgow, Kentucky and they currently reside in Tennessee. Sarah was recently hired as an adjunct faculty member at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) where she is teaching several Art History courses.

The SYD

So this spring, we got a dog. Not just any dog, a crazy pound puppy. Behold:



Ok, so I lied. I suppose he didn't START OFF crazy; they can't do that or else they wouldn't have much luck getting adopted. No no, this one's smarter than that.

After renting a house for nearly 4 years and abiding by a strict "no dogs allowed" rule, I finally had enough of the canine-less life. We moved into our beautiful new home on March 20th, 2008 and after getting settled, I convinced Alan the next month that it was necessary for the greater good that we get a dog. I've always grown up around animals and they bring such love, warmth and character to your family. It's lonely without that companion curled up at your feet while you're relaxing after work, or protecting you from the strange noises of a new home.

Needless to say, on April 21st, we adopted Syd (originally named Angus) from the Barren River Animal Welfare Association in Glasgow, Kentucky. He has quickly grown over the past 6 months and he is a loving, but crazy, addition to our family. I guess he fits right in!

He's such a handsome little guy, even when he's in trouble.

He is entirely too happy and always has a smile on his face...

...even when he's sleeping!