Matty Comes Home Tomorrow! Ya-Hooey!

I am a wee bit excited about this...and that could have probably gone without saying! Ha! UGHGHGH! I can't wait for him to get here!! This past week and a half has been so lonesome without him. It was so hard to watch him leave...I can't wait to see him pull in the driveway tomorrow!! This whole thing has given me such a huge appreciation for what our servicemen and their wives go through!! I feel like such a dope when I think about those women saying goodbye to their husbands for months and years at a time, and here I am upset about 1 week and a half. It has helped me to commit more to pray for them and support them with cards, calls, emails, etc. A friend of ours, Kyle, left a few weeks ago to go back to Iraq for the 4th time...I think it was the 4th. He and his wife, Nicole, had only been married a few months when he had to leave and go over there. They were married a few weeks after we got married (3 years ago in Dec), and he has been back and forth ever since. So sad.

Well, I'm trying to get the house straightened up. It's actually really clean! I cleaned it on Saturday, so there hasn't been much time to mess it up! Ha! I made dinner for tomorrow night...baked ziti and salad. Annnnd, I baked a cake (lemon...Matt's favorite!)! My first! Well, it was just a mix...is that considered really baking?? Probably not...but I used a bundt pan...so that is really baking, right? Ha! It's cooling now, so I can put the icing on...yuuummm!

I woke up with a stupid cold Friday morning and it is still lingering...I'm feeling pretty crappy. But I feel much better than yesterday, so hopefully it's going away. My voice is about an octave lower than normal. Kaylee asked me yesterday, "Aunt Carla, why are you talking like a dragon??" Wow, thanks shorty! What a booster you are, dear! Haha!

Oh, I forgot to mention one tiny piece of good news! Matt made a 92% on his test!! Heck yes!! For those of you who are thinking, "What? I thought that child graduated?!" Well, he did...but it's funny how a bachelor's degree doesn't help you much in the chicken business! Ha! Actually it does...because you can't get into Chick-fil-A Univeristy without one...but you gotta get trained in chicken! Ha! So that's where he's been this past week...at Chick-fil-A University! You didn't know that existed, did you?? Well, it does...and if you ever want to own a Chick-fil-A, then you must attend, pass all the classes and eat 769 Chick-fil-A sandwiches...umm, okay, maybe not that last part, but the rest is true!

Well, I need to get busy...I'm supposed to be designing a web banner for a church's website. I really need to get on that...I get a bit side-tracked when I sit down to work and there's email, internet, and ichat to tend to! Haha!

Happy Trails!

Shrinky Dinks!

Holy moly! That's right! We did Shrinky Dinks tonight! Remember those??! Heck, I used to love those things! I got some Pee-Wee Herman ones for Christmas one year when I was like 10 or something...believe it or not, I still have them...they're proudly displayed on my monitor at work! Ha! (I'll have to take a picture tomorrow so you'll believe me! Ha!)



So yeah, I'm still bacheloretting it this week (only 5 more days until Matt comes home! Whoohoo!!), so Amy + Russ came by and we went out to eat and then went to Spill the Beans downtown (http://stbespresso.com/spillthebeans.html). It's like the best freakin' ice cream on earth! Amy was loaded with gift cards, so they treated me to my supper and ice cream! How nice! Thanks, guys!! We cruised around in the Element for a bit, and then came back to the house...that's when the fun began with the Shrinky Dinks! Ha!

Amy + Russ...I think Russ was shopping on Ebay at this point...he didn't get in on the Shrinky Dink fun! Haha!



Silly girls!



Amy concentrating on getting that cut just right...



Before....after! It's magic!!


I can not WAIT to wear this to work tomorrow!


> One little side note here...I believe I forgot to mention that we bought an Element 2 weeks ago. So yeah, we got an Element. Super sweet! Neither one of us have ever had a new car, so this is quite a big deal for us! A new car smell that doesn't come in the can! It's the original scent! Rockin'! So it's been quite fun! We had been looking at them for about a year now. Matt's truck was beginning to be quite the money pit with repairs and a bazillion miles on it, so we knew we needed to do something soon. Ralph and Regina were oh so kind to hook us up with a nice gift for our down payment...you guys rock!! Thanks a ton!!

Ours is orange like this one...minus the surfboards. We're getting a roof rack + basket eventually, to throw bikes up there or whatever else we can think of.



This is the coolest part...the seats let down into a double bed! Pretty dope! Kinda like the VW vanagon of today! Well, okay...not nearly as timeless, but it's oh, so functional...and pretty!

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry...

Okay, well, not really...but I am sad. My Matty is away for a week and a half! Boo hoooo! He's in Atlanta at Chick-fil-A University...that's right! There IS such a thing! Haha! He left on Sunday (today is Tuesday...well, it's actually Wed...at 12:28am), so only a week to go! YAY!

He's doing really well though, and really learning a lot and soaking it all in. He's in "Interim Manager Training". When we know more about what that really means, we'll let you know...haha! It's really exciting! He has done SO well there...I'm so proud of him. He is such a people person and such a servant that all of the customers love him...can't blame them much! Haha! We're really excited to see where the Lord is going to take us with this whole thing. He has done nothing but bless us far beyond what we deserve. No one could have ever told us a year ago that Matt would be involved in Chick-fil-A, and that we would still be in SC and not in Nashville. It's so encouraging to look back and see how and where the Lord was leading us when at the time, we didn't have a clue! Wow!

I'm sitting here in bed watching the election returns...DeMint took SC! YES! Flippin' sweet!!! I'm not really seeing the need to stay up and see who wins the White House...we'll probably find that out next week. Although, George W just took Florida, so with that out of the way, maybe we'll know a little sooner! Haha!

Well, it's almost 1:00am, and I am about to pass out...6:15am will be here way toooo soon!

Nite, nite!