Tilly's Best Bud:

let me just say, we have the nicest neighbors...and though i'm not always ecstatic about the renovations we have to do in "this old house", it was definitely the best place we could have picked to live. last night we had a little northwood drive gathering at the cute little coffee shop in our neighborhood, geekers. they also have ice cream, which made my hubby very happy as he munched on some butterfinger swirl :) it's such a cute place right there next to our little grocery store...the kind of place where the owner recognizes you when you come in. just a couple of our neighbors were there, mostly ones we knew from our end of the street, so it was really nice to get to see them, chat a bit, and let the kids and dogs go crazy. we took our tillster with us because she's always up for a party and *bonus* her frisbee throwing friends - the little boys that live near us - would be there to lavish attention on her. tilly was having a great time, and then to top it all off...oh my gosh...can she handle the excitement....her best bud milo the labradoodle showed up with his parents chris and katie! milo is the bestest bud tilly could ask for and she was just beside herself to see him there! milo and tilly are especially cute when they give each other kisses...tilly loves milo because he's a gentleman and lets her win at frisbee tug-of-war...

Construction or Destruction:

so, i came home the other night to a terrible pounding sound in the back of the house only to discover this...

Ahhhh! thanks to a little leaky pipe, our bathroom remodeling schedule has been moved up to start right now :) chris is a little more excited about this project than i am...but i have faith in the hubba-hubby thanks to the sweet job he did on the pear-wallpaper-ectomy performed on the kitchen, along with the shiny white paint job on the cabinets and wicked rad silver sage walls. i'll post pics of the kitchen renovation if our helper monkey ever gets around to cleaning the kitchen!

i have to say though, even with the naked walls...the bathroom looks much better than it did with that stinky flowered wallpaper. and it will probably be easier to put up new walls than it is to remove wallpaper! grrrr....wallpaper........

well, at least i'll be able to use my thesis work as a good excuse to leave the renovations to chris!!

Working girl:

yup, and on a saturday too! i'm taking a short break from my thesis work to add a post to my bloggarooni. i'm spending today as i do many a saturday lately, working away on my thesis research and paper so i can actually get my master's degree in biomedical engineering some time before i go gray :) it's been a real struggle for me to do this, i'd much rather be chillin' with the schmoopy and the poopy, but i know God planned for me to get this degree and so i'm going to do it and he's teaching me a few things along the way (other than LPS binding to ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene and the macrophage osteolytic response to wear debris). this passage is one we talked a lot about in class at church and it has really gotten me through this time:

"Consider it PURE JOY, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perserverance. Perserverance must finish its task so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

wow! pure joy in my trials! crazy...but it's God's plan that i develop perserverance through this so that i'm not lacking anything. the passage continues:

"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord, he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does." James 1:2-7

it's not for me to doubt God when He says He will give me wisdom, because He certainly will! He has given me the wisdom and strength that has gotten me through life so far and there is no reason He'd stop now!

thanks to all of you who have been praying for me in this journey. i hate to keep asking for prayer on the same thing, but i certainly need them when it comes to finishing this project.

so, remember to keep this girl in your prayers!

Elvis has left the building...maybe:

for those of you who are not in memphis, you may not be aware of the significance of august 16, 1977...and for those of you who are in memphis, you'd have to be blind and deaf not to know! today marks the 29th anniversary of elvis aaron presley's death which is practically a holiday here in memphis as people from around the world remember the king of rock and roll with the events of "death week"...ya, i know the name is a little creepy, but it sure is the perfect time for elvis sightings around town!

all this hub-ub is really for nothing though, because i'm pretty sure he's still alive and kicking. i just saw him pass us in a gold pathfinder on our way home from work yesterday...it'd looked like he was wearing a shirt from his movie blue hawaii :)

Tilly's Alter-Ego:

well, i just can't let this bloggo go on any longer without a picture of our labradoodle-doo, tilly. she's just about the sweetest, silliest, most uncoordinated 56lb sack of black fluffy fur i've ever known, and chris and i are completely smitten with her. here she is actually sitting still long enough for me to take her picture... what a cutie stylin' in her bandana. not everyone is aware, however, that our sweet little girl has an alter-ego, fluffy-face! this is no ordinary, mild-mannered labradoodle...she's here to strike fear in the heart of...well, no one actually...fluffy-face strikes again!!

What a Weekend!

sorry i haven't posted in a few days...i had a very busy week at work last week and spent most evenings working in the yard and on the house getting ready for our visitors. mama jeannie, nana and granddad came to visit us this weekend and we had a FANTASTIC time!

first on the list when nana and granddad arrived on friday was some yummy central bbq! mmm...no trip to memphis is complete without bbq! then, of course we had to give the vip tour of smith&nephew. they got to see where chris spends his days over in his building and then the grand vip tour of the research area where i work (i'm sure this was the highlight of their visit!)...i really do have a very interesting job testing new technologies to be used in knee and hip implants and i work with absolutely the nicest people around. there are no dilberts here in my engineering world!

saturday morning we woke up and made our way over to the memphis zoo, which tops our must-see list when family comes for a visit. first on our list was the sea lion show and the polar bears which have a beautiful new home in the northwest passage exhibit. one of the best things about this trip to the zoo (probably my 6th time there since moving here!) were the zoo volunteers found everywhere to share their bits of knowledge about all the animals. we learned the names of the polar bears, how to tell them apart, and that haley likes to give kisses through the glass. we also learned that two of the female giraffes are pregnant with one due in january and one in april...so we will definitely have to go back to see those long-legged babies!

here we are having a great time watching the polar bears swimming at the northwest passage and then posing for a photo op!

of course no visit to memphis is complete without a trip to pay homage to the world-famous Peabody ducks. i always have to laugh when we are there to see them march to the elevator, ending their day of swimming in the fountain. you wouldn't believe the numbers of people filling the lobby and balcony to watch the ducks pose on the red carpet for the waiting papparazzi! this is as close as we could get the celebrities...
next, we hopped onto the trolley to take a loop around downtown and get a good view of the mississippi...don't jeannie and nana look like they're having a great time!

then something awesome happened...while riding the trolley around we happened upon a movie set! at first they were upset we were interrupting their filming, and then they thought we would actually make a great back drop rolling by as the actress (i think it was nora jones!) ran across the street into the Arcade (an old diner downtown). no kidding!! we would totally be in the movie if one lady in the front of our trolley hadn't waved out of the window at the camera crew! argh! well, you can still look for us in the movie "my blueberry nights" starring nora jones, with appearances by kevin spacy, jude law, rachel weisz, and ed harris :) i expect screen credit in my movie debut! here's a link to a bit about the movie http://www.empiremovies.com/index.php?id=10989 and a picture of the film set so you will believe me!

this next part i'm not making up either...we made our way over to our box seats at the redbirds baseball stadium (thanks to uncle smith & his nephew!) and while i was out loading up my bbq nachos with jalepenos an employee of the stadium walked up to me and asked if i was in movies because he was just sure i was...and i said "why yes i am! i just came from a filiming down the street at the arcade!" hee hee.... then i told him the whole story :)

we had a great time with family and we were so sad to see them leave at the end of the weekend...but i believe everyone went home utterly exhausted. mission accomplished!

Superior Quality Grillz:

okay...so i actually saw this sign a week or two ago, but it is totally worthy revisiting :) this "we do grillz" sign is located in the beautifully renovated main street in downtown memphis among several fru-fru restaurants. only in memphis, i tell you what!

crazy, isn't it! chris sent me this next picture hoping i could pick out the perfect one for him... hee hee!!

memphis is a funny place sometimes...if you haven't yet had the chance to experience where rednecks, gangstas, hippies, and conservatives collide you should definitely come visit! there's all sorts of fun stuff to see. but there's no room at the inn this weekend because mama jeannie, nana and granddad are coming to visit. woohoo! my poor MOH, katy, has to work and can't be here to join in the fun...gotta pay that house note, girl!

Good day and welcome to day one:

inspired by my more tech-savy friends, i decided it might be fun to try my hand at this bloggo thingy. dedicated, of course, to all the things in my life that make me laugh. number one on that list: my hubby-hubby, chris, aka schmoopy, schmoop, schmoopmeister, schmoopaloompadingdong, etc. and number two my labradoodle-doo, tilly, aka the tillster, stinky-pants, fluffy-face, etc. i hope you'll enjoy reading about the goofy things that crack me up about my life with schmoopaluffagus and fuzzy-butt and whatever else i feel like...because it's my blog (bwah ha ha) :)

speaking of...for those of you who have not have the pleasure of watching 'america's funniest home videos' with chris, my GOODNESS! it is the funniest thing...he laughs sooo hard i worry he can't breathe and soon i start laughing so hard i can't breathe either and tilly gets so excited she just grabs the closest toy and starts running around growling "a-roo-roo-rooooo" we'll have to have a viewing party so everyone can experience this joy. by the way, the more little kids swinging baseball bats and accidentally hitting people...the better!