"Going to the Chapel..."

Headed home to Allen tonight to practice walking down the aisle in Lynley and Shawn's wedding!  I'm so excited for the two of you.  Thank you so much for letting me share this day with you.  I can't wait to update the blog with pictures of the occasion!  And...it will officially be Christmas break when we hit the road.  2 weeks off couldn't be more needed.  Merry Christmas, Congratulations, Best Wishes, Happy New Year, and Hip Hip Hooray for this time of year!  Can't wait to see everyone...t-minus 9 hours and 6 minutes until it's rehearsal time!

Everyone...Meet Blitzen

Last week, Tyler and I had to say goodbye to our old friend Big Red.  I was torn with emotions that day: sad over the loss of a friend, and excited to welcome in a new member to the family.  Tyler and I had been looking for a new car for a while.  On a whim, we went to Little Rock to test drive some cars we were looking at, and without meaning to, we bought a new car!  We got an incredible deal on our new 2010 Jetta, and we love, love, love it!  Here I am saying goodbye to Big Red (p.s. hugging a car is a difficult thing to do...in case you were wondering, that is what I'm doing in this picture).

Another unexpected thing was that we traded in Big Red for a great deal as well!  The poor thing was pretty much worthless, but Tyler and I worked together, and our teamwork payed off!  It's not everyday that the dealer you are buying a car from offers you a job because you bargain so well.  Here she is...even though blitzen is kind of a boy name...BLITZEN!!!

*Note: I wanted to name her Betty the Jetty...Tyler told me he wouldn't drive a car named Betty...too bad, it had a nice ring to it!

"Just Keep Clipping"

This is my shoutout to the maintenance crew at Ouachita.  Thanks for saving the day yesterday, and for your words of wisdom...storytime!

Yesterday, I was sitting on the couch in our living room. I was flipping through channels on the TV when all of a sudden I heard this "glub, glub, glub" sound coming from the sink in the kitchen. This was not a new sound for me, sometimes our sink just swallows some air and makes weird noises. However, I decided to check it out. When I got to the sinks (both kitchen and bathroom), they were filling with this aweful, black, stinky water. That's right, filling, and filling, and there was nothing I could do!

I ran to call our maintenance director so she could send help, and SHE DIDN'T ANSWER (both times). I finally ran to the cabinet to get a cup so that I could scoop water from the sink and dump it into the bathtub. With each scoop, I gagged and gagged...not pretty. When maintenance finally arrived, they sprang to action and stopped both sinks from filling with the nasty water. Everything was going to be okay...until one of the maintenance workers asked if I had gotten any of the water on my fingers. I told him that I had gotten just a little bit, but that I washed my hands quickly after. His warning was that there is a chemical in the water that could turn my nails brown.

I decided I was okay since I had washed them quickly and there acutally hadn't been a whole lot on them in the first place. Then he told me that if my nails started to curl up and start growing straight up, that I just needed to keep clipping them until they grew straight again. WHAT?!?! Yeah, he was not kidding. This chemical was going to make my nails turn brown and curly...and all he could say was "just keep clipping." This reminded me of Dori singing "just keep swimming" in Finding Nemo, however, maintenance's advice did not have the same joyful sing song feeling as Dori's advice to Marlin.

However, no brown curly nails here...looks like I washed them just in time. But thanks maintenance...for coming to the rescue, saving our sinks, and for the advice on my chemically stained nails! Merry Christmas!

And now, my version of the story in Christmas poem form:

'Twas the night before Tuesday when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even my spouse. 

The stockings were hung by the window with care,

I had nothing to do, so there was time to spare. 

My feet were all netsled and snug in their socks,

while a present was wrapped on the floor in a box. 

And Tyler in his classroom, and I on a mission,

to find something to watch on our television. 

When then in the kitchen there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the couch to see what was the matter. 

Away to the sinks I followed the sound,

Thinking there would be nothing in there to be found.

The spoon by the sink from our dinner ago,

Was nowhere to be found in the abyss below.

When, what to my terrified eye should appear,

But a rising black water, that was stinky and queer.

My eyes, how they watered! My feet, how they scurried!

To call up the maintenance crew in a hurry.

As I drew in my breath and was dialing the phone,

There wasn't an answer, and I was alone!

The lip of a cup I held tight in my grip,

Scooping water from the sink and trying not to drip.

As it continued to rise, I was losing all patience,

When all of the sudden, I finally heard maintenance!

They spoke very few words and went straight to their work;

Unclogging the sinks and then turned with a jerk.

He asked if I'd touched any water in the cup,

Because my nails would turn brown and start to curl up!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old help,

And when he told me that news, I wanted to yelp.

The black, smelly, water no longer was dripping;

And his words of advice for my nails was "keep clipping!"

He sprang to his truck, to his team gave a wave,

And away they all drove, and the day they did save.

And they heard me exclaim, as they drove out of sight:

"You can bet I'll be cleaning my apartment tonight!"

Have Stink

In the Carpenter houshold there is a Thanksgiving decoration that we look forward to each year. We have a set of block letters that spell "Give Thanks" and it has become a tradition to switch the letters and spell out weird phrases.  Thus..."Have Stink!"  Some of the best ones we've come up with are:

SKIN VET

SKATING

THIN GAS

GET VANS

SAG VENT

SHAG NET

HAG KINS

HANG VEST

All this to say, we've gotten pretty creative over the years...oh...and

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Our Thanksgiving this year was great.  You have already heard about our 6 hour drive home...boo, but here is the update about the break after our arrival:

Since both of our families live in Allen, we get to celebrate each holiday twice.  This year we celebrated at my parents' house on Thursday and at Tyler's parents' house on Friday.  We started our break with dinner at Mi Cocina with the friends (Megan, Jordan, Danielle, Tate, Kelsey, Kayla...missed you Lynley, Shawn, Lindsey, Lee, Nikki, Brad, and Aaron).  So much fun, so much catching up, and so much good food!

Thursday was pretty quiet for us.  It was just the immediate family (sisters, parents, husband) and it was pretty low key.  This year, everyone made a dish to share at our Thanksgiving.  We are all so talented in our cooking skills (ladies and gentlemen, we are cooks), and very stylish...check out our sweet aprons:

Kelsey made some delicious baked feta with marinara on crustinis...yum...Kayla made some delicious cranberry salsa...uh yeah...and I made deviled eggs.  Mom and dad made everything else.  Our Thanksgiving menu included:

Mashed Potatoes

Corn Casserole

Stuffing (with and without sausage)

Rolls

Roasted Turkey

Smoked Turkey Breast

Cranberry Sauce

Gravy

Chocolate Cream Pie

Apple Crisp

Pumpkin Pie

Egg Nog Pie

Remember - there were only 6 of us, but it was so yummy.

Fancy napkin fold for the table...thank you food network magazine!

We also managed to have time to decorate the Christmas tree.  As always, it was a headache for some, and a joyous time for others.  I still don't know why our parents invite us back to do this each year...we just end up annoying the heck out of them.  Favorite joke of the year was having the jumping jack nutcrackers ride the birdsnest!  Good job Kayla!  Ta-Da...the finished product (plus Kayla dancing in the tree skirt...never a dull moment at the Carpenter house):

Friday's Thanksgiving was very different than Thursday's.  Our first Thanksgiving attendance included 6...Friday's attendance included 20!!!

We ate TONS of food, watched TONS of football, and gave TONS of hugs.  All in all, Thanksgiving was a huge success.  Now, we are on the last stretch until Christmas Break...otherwise known as wedding season for us this year.  Lynley and Shawn tie the knot on Saturday the 18th of December, and my good friend Hayley ties the knot with Mason on the 1st of January.  My friend Audreyanna is also getting married...her and Jack tie the knot on the 18th also.  I'm sad I won't be there to celebrate with them, but I'll see them soon after at Hayley's wedding. 

Speaking of weddings...Saturday of the break was packed full of wedding festivities.  Lynley had a shower and her bachelorette party.  Here are some pics from the shower:

All the mothers and daughters...CRAZY!

And here are a couple shots from the bachelorette party:

Coming soon...bye-bye Big Red...HELLO BLITZEN (our new Jetta)!!!

In Memory of Margaret Carpenter

On Wednesday, December 1, I got news that my grandmother passed away. "Grammie," as she's known amongst the grandchildren, had gone into the hospital about a month ago. She suffered a terrible case of shingles, and for a while we thought she wouldn't pull through. Three weeks later, at our Thanksgiving dinner table, I mentioned how I wasn't the least bit surprised that she was still fighting to come back. She had always been one to push through and overcome whatever she faced. However, God took her for himself on Wednesday morning, and rightly so. She no longer struggles, is no longer frustrated by her inability to talk, and no longer is separated from her creator. She is currently in the presence of her Lord, singing His praises, with an even bigger body of believers, including her husband.

Grammie was one of a kind. She had this incredible ability to fall asleep anywhere no matter what was on the TV. or how loud it was. It was only a matter of minutes before her head was back and mouth was open. I remember one time when she was staying at our house, in my room, and in the middle of the night there was a huge BANG! My dad ran upstairs to see what was wrong. Well, the bed had a small quirk in it. The slats under the bed would shift, and if shifted just the right way, they would fall out from under the bed, causing the mattress to collapse as well. Dad fixed the bed, but before he could get back downstairs...BANG! Needless to say, it was a great "control, alt, delete" moment for us!

Grammie would always treat us to dinner when she came in town. One thing that we loved about her was that when we would dine out, she would always wait for my dad to order, and then she would get the exact same thing. It never failed...until one time, while we were ordering, my dad placed his order (and Grammie's for that matter) and when Grammie concurred, my dad changed his order at the last minute! I don't think Grammie ordered the same thing after that day, but you bet we always watched for her to repeat dad's order.

I don't really remember there ever being cookies at Grammie's house, but I'm sure there was never a time that we visited when her candy jar wasn't full of something: the usual suspects being Reese's Pieces, Hershey's Kisses, or M&Ms. It didn't matter how old we were, that was one of the first things we would do when we got to Grammie's house...check the candy jar. Something else we would always do at Grammie's was look through her picture holder that you would turn with a knob. With every dial, more and more pictures would fall down through the pile. Of course, they were always the same pictures from 10-15 years ago: in matching green and navy plaid dresses, in that way too big peach satin dress (which we had to tie on with a blue and white belt) and white sequin hat, in our swimsuits and "swimming pool" in the backyard. And whenever we were done, we always made sure that the picture on display was one of us...that way, anyone who stopped by could admire her most beautiful grandchildren!

Besides checking the candy jar, and fanning through all of the same pictures, another thing on our to-do list at Grammie's was to pull out the slot machine. I have no idea where they got this thing, but they had a slot machine and a bowl full of quarters. Every time we visited, we made sure we got the chance to pull the handle and see if we won. We would play quarter after quarter after quarter on that thing, and when we had finally given up, we would stick our finger under the jackpot tray and push the magical button which would ding in congratulations and release all of the quarters. I wonder if Grandpa taught us how to do that because he was so annoyed with the "pull, click, roll....tick...tick...tick" over and over again.

Thanks to Grammie, Tyler's and my Christmas tree is full of ornaments. Grammie was always faithful to give each grandchild an ornament each year. When I asked my dad about ornaments this year, he said he asked Grammie while she was in the hospital, and to no one's surprise, she has already gotten them. "They are at home on the table," she said to him. Among the collection of Grammie ornaments, I've got a carousel horse bell (family, you know all about these), 2 golden angels, a Santa balancing presents (sorry yours is missing a hand Kayla), and I can't wait to find out what ornament I'll add to the tree to complete the collection.

Other things that bring memories of Grammie are: Giblet gravy, wide brimmed hats, the Grammie "Camry," Swedish Meatballs, Mardi Gras beads, old costume jewelry, that weird crystal thing on her side table (the one we would hold up to our eyes and pretend we were walking on a curved floor), the pop-up monster book in the drawer of the "recliner chair" room, those electronic blackjack games, our Christmas stockings (especially Kayla's with the demonic gingerbread man), those lap table things with the beanbag stuffing underneath, trips to the creek to skip rocks, that weird skylight room with the treadmills, the 50th wedding anniversary of her and Grandpa where they opened 50 gifts wrapped in gold paper, and so much more.

My sister shared this verse with my dad, I thought it was perfect:

Philippians 3:20-21

20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. 

Ever since I got the news of Grammie's passing, I haven't been able to get a song out of my head. The song is "Come to Jesus" by Chris Rice. The part I keep singing over and over is the last verse:

And with your final heartbeat, kiss the world goodbye. Then go in peace, and laugh on Glory's side, and fly to Jesus, fly to Jesus, fly to Jesus and live!

I know it's really sad, and every time I sing it in my head, I tear up, but it also fills me with joy to know that she has gone in peace and is in a better place than any of us are capable of imagining. So I blow a kiss to you Grammie, and pray that those of us left here in sadness would find Christ's comfort, peace, and joy to know that you are happier than any of the happiest memories we have of you. We love you!

2 Corinthians 5: 1-8

1 For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. 2 We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. 3 For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. 4 While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. 5 God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.

6 So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. 7 For we live by believing and not by seeing. 8 Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.

On...and Off...the Road Again

Last week, Tyler and I packed up the Corolla to head home for the holidays.  Seatbelts on, and ready to go, we started her up...and...nothing.  She tried, she really did, but this little engine could not.  So, after trying to jump her with big red (my Explorer), and failing, we transfered our luggage to big red and decided to travel home in her instead.  So, we hit the road...all was well until we were about an hour and twenty minutes away from Arkadelphia.  We were driving down the highway, when all of a sudden we ran over a mysterious object.  Tyler thought it came from the car, but I said "surely not...just keep driving."  His response: "Erin, the check engine light is on...so is the fuel light...and I'm pretty sure I just lost power steering."  Yikes, bikes! 

So, we pulled off the highway, opened the hood, looked under the car, and saw a belt swinging below.  I was so frustrated.  All I wanted was to get home.  However, we were stuck on the side of the road too far from anyone we knew to come and get us.  All I could think about was $ towing the Explorer; $ taking it to a shop; $ possibly having to rent a car; how much was all that going to cost?  *Insert lightbulb here* We weren't too far from Texarkana, so we called our good friend Keven (his parents live in Texarkana...they are very handy).  He contacted his dad, who called us, and he said that they would be there in twenty minutes to take a look at the car.  After waiting for about 30 minutes, they came, they saw, they conquered!  They knew exactly what was wrong, so they ran to the auto store, got the part, and fixed the car.  I couldn't believe it...it was a Thanksgiving miracle! 

Our regularly three hours and forty-five minute drive home only took us six hours.  Who cares?!  We got home and had plenty of time to have two Thanksgivings, decorate a Christmas tree, and attend a shower and bachelorette party!  It was a pretty crazy weekend, but well worth the trouble it took to get home.  And, just so I don't dissappoint blog readers by not posting a picture, here is a shot of our newest friend Gatsby (he came to our rescue when we pulled off the road...also, I named him Gatsby...doesn't he make a Great Gatsby?!)

Look how huge he is standing next to that goat!

And look how cute he is...period.

*All I want for Christmas...?*