Saturday, November 17, 2012

The Adventures of Emmi



I am a cat lover.  I always have been, always will be.  I even have a cat named Emmi.  I am writing this post because Nugget steals all of Emmi's attention!











A few years ago, Clay and I headed to the Cabarrus Pet Society just to "look."  I wanted a black, short-haired boy cat because that's what I grew up with.  While driving there, I noticed something in the median of the road...a kitten.  Of course I yelled for Clay to stop the car, jumped out, and grabbed this tiny, emaciated kitten.  We immediately became friends as Emmi hissed and bit me out of fear.  Clay ripped off his shirt to wrap her up and then we put her in a bag :)  Upon inspection at the Pet Society, Emmi was infested with fleas and malnourished.  Now she is clean as a whistle and plump from a life of love and ease.  I always say that she is nothing I wanted but everything God knew I needed!

Despite what some may say, Emmi is a sweetie.  You just have to understand cats and their body language to get her.  Her favorite activities include snuggling with me, looking out the living room window while perched on the couch, and eating.  Her favorite toy is any craft I am working on at the moment.  She has trained me to open doors for her and pet her on demand, but I have trained her to "come" and "sit."  We are best friends :)



Investigating a new object in her territory

Loves open windows!

Chillin like a villin on her "Kitty City" perch...not spoiled at all

Helping Clay with the guitar

Playing :)

Checking cabinet inventory

Hogging the whole couch

Spa time!

Emmi loves doing laundry with me!!!

Baby it's cold outside!

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

My Birthday Man!

Yesterday, Clay turned 32!  I had to work but from what I gathered, he spent the day doing whatever he wanted and ate at Five Guys, his favorite greasy joint :)  Once I got home, the party started!  I treated Clay to dinner at Red Lobster.  He got crab legs and shrimp and I ate my new favie, lobster bisque.  Later, I surprised him with the book Killing Kennedy, by Bill O'Reilly, and a meat injector.  Finally, I was able to smuggle in a slice of pumpkin cheesecake and flourless chocolate from the Chocolatier in downtown Concord.  There is one more Birthday surprise to come on Friday, hopefully :)

When asked how it feels to be 32, Clay responded, "Old, tired, uninspiring, unexciting, grey, and painful.  Other than that, pretty good."  So there you have it, the Old Man is even older!!!!   Sorry, this picture is the only one I managed to remember to take of the night.

On another note, I am proud of my very, very old husband.  He saved a 31 year old husband, father of two, and previous classmate of his.  He was called out to a "CPR in progress" and, to make a long story short, helped to saved his life.  He has heard updates about his buddy and it sounds like he is doing well.  My husband, as a paramedic, is so often taken for granted and taken advantage of by his patients.  What an encouraging experience to lift my hunni's spirits!  I LOVE YOU CLAY!!!

Thursday, November 8, 2012

WCU and Cataloochee Valley


Clay and I spent this last weekend in Cullowhee and the Great Smokey Mt. National Park!  We drove up on Saturday for a mini-tailgate:  Hot dogs all the way (my favie).  Then we endured another Catamount loss, but recovered at Speedy's with a yummy, yummy pizza.
 The WCU band...world famous?
 Beautiful scenery...
  
The drive to the park entrance was a 8-mile winding, steep dirt road with no signs to tell you that you were headed in the right direction.
 Beautiful view from a lookout on the way

 Wild turkeys!  Too bad we couldn't bring one home for Thanksgiving.


 Palmer Chapel.  It didn't face the road...it faced a little river...I thought that was neat.
 Nugget being schooled :)  This was the only school in the valley when people actually lived there.

 These little bridges were all over the place.  How cute.
 Speaking of cute...
 Awww!

 We got APPLES!!!  As I write this, there is a home-made apple pie in the oven :)  Be jealous, very jealous!!!
 I saw ELK for the FIRST time in the wild.  It was so cool!  A bunch of them.
 These two clinked antlers...the big one ran the other one off into the woods. 
 We found Papa Elk all by himself. 

 One of several houses we saw built around 1900.  The funny thing is...if you refer to my blog "Little Yellow Farmhouse," you will see the built-around-1900-house I used to live in.  Obviously this was more primitive than my house.  In my opinion, it is a miracle that they were able to build any houses this sophisticated way out here in the first place.  The Cataloochee Valley started off as Indian trading trails and then people began to settle here.  The road to get there was long, curvy, and on the edge of a mountain the whole way.  Of course it wasn't difficult, being in a car and having tractors that have leveled the area.  I can't imagine what it was like around 1900.  Probably a long, dangerous trip!!!  How did they even find the area in the first place?  I always wonder things like that.
 This weekend was great.  I got to spend some QT with my QT.  The mountains, although having lost most leaves, were still gorgeous and refreshing.  Cataloochee Valley is a must-see!  I wish we had more time to hike the miles and miles of trails and camp...in a tent!  We will just have plan on going back soon!  Darn :)


Sunday, November 4, 2012

We're Debt FREEEEE!!!

Yes, you read that right!  Clay and I are debt free!  No loans, no credit cards, no car payments, no debt!  We started this journey 12 months ago and finally sent our last payment to Clay's student loan on October 30, 2012.

Let's start from the beginning.  Clay and I were urged by close friends, Julie and Josh, to take Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University (FPU) class long ago.  I had a significant student loan to pay off and  Clay had a student loan, car loan, and one credit card.  Although Clay and I had similar conservative ideas about money, soon after marriage we found out that we were on different pages.  I finally convinced Clay to take FPU and he was hooked after the first class.  I thought it was Clay that needed it more, but I soon found out that I should have taken the class long, long ago and benefited from it immensely.

Dave Ramsey's motto is "If you will live like no one else, later you can live like no one else."  He means if you save and live under your means now, you can live comfortably later once you have financial peace.  Dave teaches: The borrower is slave to the lender Proverbs 22:7.  He has 7 steps that you follow to reach financial peace, step 2 being getting out of debt.  I urge you to check out his website:  http://www.daveramsey.com/home/.  His plan is so simple and logical, I wonder why we didn't think of it before!!!

So, Clay and I set a budget...that was the most painful part.  We still allowed ourselves money for eating out, traveling, clothes etc. but limited it to a reasonable amount.  Any extra money we had went towards paying off our debt.  We started off with apx. $38,800 between the two of us!  NEARLY FORTY THOUSAND DOLLARS!  We still have a long way to go before we reach financial peace, but we are one step closer.  I will say that not only has it improved our financial situation (obviously) but it has improved our relationship.  Once we agreed upon the budget (which Dave recognizes as the hard part and explains how to go about it strategically), the money situation was on auto pilot.  I don't complain about what Clay buys, because we both have allotted spending money each month, and he doesn't complain about my Hobby Lobby addiction.  I don't have to feel guilty about eating out or going to the movies because the money has already been set aside for that.

What does a couple do once they pay off their debt?  They celebrate!  THANK YOU to Roger and Belinda who graciously treated us to dinner in honor of our debt free-ness!  We decided to try a new place, Good Food on Montford in downtown Charlotte.  It is a tapas-style restaurant that is dated on the outside, but delightfully modern and cozy on the inside.  The food and service were great.  Enjoy a few pictures of our lovely night.


 Porkslap beer???  Clay said it was pretty good and he even drank it out of the can.  Classy.
 Cheese plate
 Quail lettuce wraps
Anchorsteam Beer
A little red wine :)
 Pork belly sandwich on a steamed bun
 Seared scallops with grits
 Fried oysters
We ate dessert as well:  a malted cheesecake but I forgot to take a pic until there was only one bite left and the picture came out super blurry.  None of the pics came out so well because it was dark and I didn't want to be rude and use the flash ever 5 minutes :)  As you can see, we tried a little bit of a lot and it was yummy!
The happy, debt free couple!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Thursday Night

Here is a day in the life of Clay and Megan...just a regular Thursday night, enjoying life :)

 Clay raked up all the leaves, all by himself, while I was at work!  This is only from one tree!  I should have taken a "before" picture because the air conditioner was almost covered in leaves.
 Me and my genius idea to rake the leaves onto a tarp, then drag it to the road.  How did I get so smart???
 Nugget helped.
 It is hard to tell, but this huge pile of leaves spans our entire front curb!  It is pretty high too!  What color should I paint our front door by the way???
 Me finishing off our celebratory-debt-free bottle of wine from Wednesday...no need to dirty another glass.
Nugget is tired from raking leaves and wants to be cuddled.  Poor little Nugget has had such a rough day!!!