TGIF

YAY! I can breathe a sigh of relief- T.J. has presented at school and so that means a whole lot less stress around here! T.J. had to present to about 40 "important" people about his project, what he'll be doing, etc. He spent a lot of time on the presentation and he said it went very well! It was about 20 minutes long with a Q and A segment after. We are just going to RELAX tonight- maybe go to Chilis to celebrate.. we will see ;) This is what T.J. did to our mirror while he was presenting. He said that he didn't like seeing himself present so he had to put a blanket over the mirror ;) Also I had to turn the TV on for awhile b/c he wanted to practice (w/o me hearing) a couple times before he presented to me. HE DID GREAT! :) PHEWF!

This was my first week watching the twins! They are so cute! They are almost 11 months old and very active. The boy is Donny and the girl is Emmi- here is a picture of them passed out... this is the best time ;) I LOVE the mom- she is SO SWEET. God blessed me with this job! Even though I had to change a couple "#3" diapers today I still love them! That was NOT fun- trying to breathe through your mouth as your face is right by this DISGUSTING diaper... and the baby is squirming and the mom is looking at you... ugh- that will take some getting used to!!!

Well I have decided since I babysit MWF 8-12 now, and then 2-5 M-F then I am going to volunteer at church on every other Tuesday for "MOPS" I can't remember exactly what it stands for but something like.. Mothers day out type of thing. It's only for about 2 1/2 hours and I think it will be great. When the lady called me today to tell me they would love my help she said I was "an answer to prayer" THANK YOU LORD! :) I'm so happy God gave me the schedule to be able to help these moms who just NEED a few hours to go grocery shopping or some rest! Another thing I decided to do is go on a women's retreat our church is having this next weekend. I literally don't think I know one woman that is going! It is DEFINITELY out of my comfort zone but I think it will be so great- and a great way to make some friendships as well.

Should I start the countdown? ;) Less then a month until Mike, Debbie and Troy will be here!!! We are BEYOND excited- having family and friends come out here IS THE BEST feeling.

Okay I better go- I can hear the kids SCREAMING outside. They love playing with the dogs but sometimes it just gets a little too rough!!!

Love you all!

Not Me Monday!

It's that time again... NOT ME MONDAY! :)

It wasn't me that played Nintendo Wii for 10 minutes and had a sore arm the next day! Nope! I work out way too much to get sore from something as silly as virtual tennis!

It's not me that chews my gum for 15 seconds and then spits it out. That would be such of a waste right? I wouldn't waste a stick of gum just to have a better taste in my mouth!

But it definitely wouldn't be my husband that plops my "old" peice of gum in his mouth when I get "sick to my stomach" from the gum after 15 seconds. That would be way too unsanitary!!

I would never bring up the subject of my cat deheading mice during a nice dinner with a new couple we just met. That would be weeeeeeird!!!! Thank goodness I have better manners than that!

My husband definitely doesn't randomely shout "WHAT" or "YEAH" to me a couple times a week b/c he hears things. He definitely wasn't shooting guns without earplugs that gave him a hearing problem- he is way too safe than to forget earplugs!

That's it for Not Me Monday! :) What is your Not Me Monday moment???

Duck season is officially open!

Has T.J. quit smiling all day? No he hasn't! He is SO EXCITED b/c today was the first day of duck hunting. He limited out and was SO HAPPY. Now we have duck to eat... but I don't like it! He will have to eat it all by himself! T.J. takes great pride in bringing home our meat for the year! I have to admit I'm ready for him to get a deer or 2 so we will have meat all year and I can stop buying beef at the grocery store. This way is a lot CHEAPER and SO MUCH healthier. We had fresh bacon this morning and it was SO GOOD. (Tony brought a freezer full of pork to us) OH! I almost forgot! :) T.J. took Troop (pictured below with me) as his hunting partner today (and his friend Brian) Troop retrieved the ducks! He is so smart! Troop was SO HAPPY! :)

Here is T.J. in his glory-

Last night we had over 2 couples. Brian and Claire and Jim and Suzy. Claire is in T.J.'s department at school and so we have hung out with them a couple times and we met Jim and Suzy at church. We invited Brian and Claire to come to church with us and they have gone the past 2 weeks so hopefully they'll keep coming! We had a great time eating dinner (mexican pizza) and then watched Wicker Park. We had a great time just hanging out!

Tonight we just ordered a pizza and we're going to hang out. T.J. is at Cornell right now so I'm just waiting for him to get home!

Hope everyone's having a great weekend!

October is flying by!

Are ya'll in disbelief that it's October 21st?! October is FLYING by for me! To think in a little over a month the in-laws will be here IS CRAZY! I'M SO EXCITED. I had a dream they got here a week early and I was BAWLING I was so happy.. but then I started freaking out b/c I hadn't swept the floors and cleaned everything up. :) I have the weirdest dreams. T.J. woke up to me saying "UUUUGGGGGHHHH..... AHHHH... UGGGHHHH" in the middle of the night... what?! I don't remember why I was doing that but I do remember making awful noises really loud.. that's embarrassing!!

HOLLLLAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!! I kid you not JUUUUST NOOOOW I got a very exciting phone call!!!! :) This is LIVE people! :) Okay so here is my "job status"- I started watching Darren and Mackenzie (our landlords kids) this week. I pick them up at 2 and watch them till about 5... but it's been more like 6-8 right now with Tony hunting in the evenings! I help them with their homework, read with them and make dinner of course. It's going great so far and I'm really happy to be doing it. SO! Even though this is all great I am looking for another job in the mornings to make more money and this way T.J. and I really won't have to worry about finances and all that stuff... wellll JUST NOW I got a call from a SWEET mom named Marissa. I met with Marissa yesterday about possibly watching her 2 10 month old twins (boy and a girl) 2-3 morning a week. Well she just called and would love for me to hop on board! So I am! This really is SUCH a blessing THANK YOU LORD JESUS! T.J. will be so happy I'm sure! Oh course it's not going to be easy watching 2 10 month olds 8 hours a week but I'm down for it! Marissa is from Puerto Rico and we learned a lot about each other while we met yesterday- I think it's a good match! She actually called Christian Werner (the father of the family I nannied for in NC a couple summers ago) THANKS CHRISTIAN! :) I am bound and determined to see the Werner family soon- I MISS THEM SOOOOOOOO STINKING MUCH.

Okay okay... I obviously wasn't planning on talking about that but I just got the call and had to share!

Thank you all for your comments about my Uggs :) I think I decided to wait to get them until after Christmas- even though I REALLY WANT THEM NOW I think it's smarter to get warmer clothes and get the shoes later ;) I still haven't decided between dark tan and black.. but dark tan is pulling me pretty hard!

Okay and just one big prayer request today. T.J. has a huge presentation next Friday the 30th. He has to have it prepared and ready by next Wednesday to present it to his advisor... this is a huge task and he is putting in over 12 hour days right now. Please pray for strength, drive, motivation, and anything else you can think of for T.J. Big deal!

I hope you guys are having a great Wednesday!!!! Miss you all! I'm off to paint my fingernails for the first time in seriously probably 2 years!

Survey

I love my friend Kandie- she makes me laugh. I got this survery from her blog.

1. What is your favorite thing to snack on while you're blogging?
Nothing! :( I usually am not eating! BUT if I am then it's probably a mini Twix (whoops!) :)

2. What is one thing you wouldn't want to live without?
T.J.

3. Beach, Mountains or Farm? Where would you live if you had a choice?
Um I think I'm supposed to say farm.... but sorry T.J. the beach would be THE BEST

4. What's your least favorite chore/household duty?
bathroom

5. Who do people say you remind them of?
I am too unique ;) hahaha just kidding! UMMMM I don't know!

6. Prefer parties and socializing or staying at home with the fam?
staying at home with the fam!

7. What's your all time favorite movie?
I have a lot of favorites- right now my favorite is Dan in Real Life, so sweet

8. Do you sleep in your make up or remove it like a good girl every night?
uh oh.....

9. Do you have a hidden talent or a deep desire to learn something that you've never had a chance to learn? What is it?
no hidden talent unfortunately.... I would love to start playing the piano again and be GOOD at it

10. What's one strange thing you're really good at?
UGH I don't have strange talents people!!!! I'm good at facebooking ;) HA!!! That is what T.J. would tell you

11. What first attracted you to your spouse?
LOOKS and sweet heart

12. What is something you love to smell?
T.J... SORRY IT'S TRUE!

13. Tell something about you that you know irritates people.
I can be a loud/fast talker ;)

14. When you have extra money (HA!) what's the first thing you think to do with it?
pay off school debt!

15. Are you a silent laugher or a loud laugher?
BOTH mostly loud though... although between the loud outbursts there is silent laughter

16. Where is your favorite place to shop?
target!

17. What's one thing you'd do more often if you had more time?
work out

18. Are you a big spender or frugal?
frugal

19. Who is your favorite character of all time (from a movie or book)? (Can't be real)
ummmm EASY- bella and edward in twilight :) and jacob from the movie ;)

20. Would you want to be famous?
I don't think so- I don't think I could enjoy life as much!

NOT ME MONDAY!

One reason I love Mondays (okay wait let me rephrase this...)

One reason I don't hate Mondays so much is b/c I get to read every one's "Not me Monday" moments :) I LOVE THEM

Unfortunately for you my moments are SO embarrassing I can't even post them. :) Haha this weekend I was talking to T.J. about politics and I started saying something and then I just said, "Okay I really have no idea what that really means and I'm just going to admit that right now".... silence... "Okay Kelly I don't know what it means either!" :) We laughed for a long time and then got back to the subject of "unkept" and "unkempt" Let me teach you something in case you didn't know... if you have unruly or messed up hair you would say, "My hair is unkempt" I said this to T.J. one day as he was telling me he wanted a crazy nasty beard (SICK) and he laughed SO HARD at me, like DEEP LAUGHING that I would think it was "unkempt" and not "unkept" guess who was right?! :) ME- yes I know- it was a great time in my life!!! My mom backed me up there and T.J. had to go look it up online... ANNNNNYYYWAAAAYSSS!!! My point is that there are too many "Not me Monday" moments I'm too embarrassed to put on my blog!!! :)

BUUUUT

It was not me who went crazy when we got DVR and started recording every show I could possibly EVER want to watch. Then it DEFINITELY wasn't me who tried to watch them all! :)

It wasn't my husband that was just going to go hunting Saturday morning but went all day instead.... AND Sunday too! ;) (It's okay T.J.!)

There is no way it was me that started a work out video and after 5 minutes turned it off b/c it was too hard. I am way too hard core for that! ;)


WISH I COULD SHARE MORE! ;)

Give me your "Not me Monday" moment!

Like if you were my sister Heather you would say, "It wasn't my daughter that threw up on my face, in my hair, and in my mouth... nope not Brynn!!!! She would aim for my shirt at least!" ;) hahaha!!!

If you were my little sister Julia you would say, "It wasn't me who spent 5 hrs in the library at OU working hard on a paper... it DEFINITELY wasn't me who saved the paper on the school's computer thinking it would be waiting for me the next day to print out...." oh whooooops (LOVE YOU JULIA! LESSSON LEARNED)

If you were my husband you would say, "It definitely isn't me who is regretting going to Cornell... nope not me!" :*(

LOVE YOU ALL!

I'm so torn!

Okay this is a dumb post but seriously I'm torn!!! T.J. has promised me I can get a pair of Uggs for this 6 month long winter here in NY! BUUUUT what color do I get?! :) I want the black ones or dark tan... what do you think? This is for sure the style I want. Also do I WAIT and get them until after Christmas and spend my birthday money on more warm clothes or do I go ahead and indulge now!? HELP!!! :)

Ace in the Peanuts!

You can't deny how cute he is. :)

Snowing!

We woke up to our yard covered in a beautiful white surprise! :) Unfortunately it's starting to melt now but it was snowing hard for awhile!! Can you believe it? October 15th and we started getting snow!

Tonight is dinner and a movie with T.J. and we're really excited! I'm about to go take T.J. lunch at Cornell (I usually do every day) and it gives him a little break in the day.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

P.S. :) I'm getting these terrible headaches almost every day... I think they are "tension headaches" (at least after doing some research it was the only thing I came up with) but anyways they are getting worse and are starting to REALLY bother me. I would REALLY appreciate your prayers.

Love to you all!

Pretty Fall...

I know I already blogged once today but I just wanted to post some pictures I've taken recently!! The trees aren't at their "peak" yet. The said this fall has been different then usual b/c of the "wind storms" (HA!) taking off the leaves on the trees before they have changed. :(


Ace looking at T.J.

There are old cemetaries EVERYWHERE like this one.

A storm is coming! :)

An area T.J. is excited about duck hunting!! :)

Okay this video is of Ace and a mouse!! Ace is an avid hunter now! He actually LEAVES mice outside our sweet "neighbor" Pam's door as a "gift" to her!!! AHHHHH.....

Birthday Blog!!

Well today is my birthday! :) I am officially 24 years young! I decided not to freak out too much b/c 25 is really the "oh my goodness I'm not really a kid anymore" moment!

Today has been great so far! T.J. and I ate muffins this morning and I took him to school. He likes it when I take him to school b/c he gets to sleep in about an hour longer. I've been running errands and da da da DAAAAAA picked up our "DVR" box from our cable company!!!! WE ARE SO EXCITED! We aren't paying any more money for it (for at least 12 months) ;) and we are SO PUMPED. Just call me Telly Kelly b/c I definitely got it all hooked up and running all by myself :) just one smashed finger that hurt REALLY bad but I'm okay!!

T.J. and I are "celebrating" tomorrow with dinner and a movie but tonight we'll get to open Mike and Debbie's present via Skype ;) I'm excited. I got to open my family's gifts when they were here so that was nice! Everyone has been so sweet with texts, calls and facebook messages! Thank you everyone!!!

SOOOOO big news....IT'S SNOWING HERE TODAY!!!!!!!!!! BIRTHDAY SNOW! :) Ithaca, NY is welcoming us with a pretty light snow on my birthday. DEFINITELY a first for me to see snow on my birthday! So far it isn't sticking though. They call this "snow showers" and we're supposed to have them all weekend. So as you can see- IT IS COLD HERE. I have my rice baby and a scarf on me almost all the time! :)

Okay so what else is new? Next week (99.9% sure) I will be starting to watch the Rich kids from 1-5 every day alone with some household duties! This is good but I also would LIKE to find a little part time job for the mornings- that would be PERFECT! T.J. and I are doing good! We obviously miss home and sometimes are sitting down eating dinner and one of us will be like, "now why did we do this again?!" :) but it's definitely an adventure and I think one day we'll look back on this and realize why God placed us here.

Prayer requests-

*That T.J. will be extra productive (not that he already isn't!) these next 2 weeks to be ready for a presentation and some meetings with important people. T.J. has a LOT of things going on and I wish SO BAD I was able to help him out- so I need your prayers covering him!

*That I could possibly find a part time job in the mornings

*My friend Sara's cousin and husband, they lost their house and ALL earthly possessions in the fire (but are okay thank the Lord)

*For me and T.J. to make a difference in lives here in NY!

Thank you for your prayers!! They mean so much to us! Let me know if there is something WE can be praying for YOU!!!

Here is a picture of Ace hiding in Darren's backpack ;)

10/5/09

October 5th, 2009 was not a good day for Kelly Ross.

It all started with my mom and step dad leaving to go back to OKC.

Okay so I didn't really mention to anyone on October 2nd (a Friday) that I accepted a position at a construction company. The construction company needed an administrative manager. They needed someone to basically RUN all the bookkeeping side of the business plus SO MUCH MORE. I felt overwhelmed before I even started but after talking to T.J. we thought this would be a GREAT opportunity to learn so much and gain some awesome experience. Plus if T.J. was struggling every day I can learn to struggle too. :)

Alright.. day 1. I motivate myself and head over to the boonies (the office is in his basement... is this a bad sign already?!) I pass the house b/c of wait it's in the woods and nowhere to be found. Alright so let me clarify something really fast. The guy was REALLY nice and I felt comfortable with his family and the company or I NEVER would've "signed up" for this. (I know lots of serial killers are probably "nice") ;) T.J. knew the address where I was ;) So after getting a tour of the house I was led into a cold unfinished basement- my OFFICE :) Okay I don't need to bore you with the details but lets just say throughout the day I realized this WAS NOT the job for me... dirty old basement.. tiny old laptop... STUFF EVERYWHERE from the past 3 years that I was supposed to go through.... the list goes on and on. Needless to say I started feeling very uncomfortable. So I talked to my friend Tamara on the computer and she convinced me to QUIT!!!!!!! :) LOL- SO I left for the evening and the guy I was working for proceeded to give me a "high 5!" and tell me how much I rock and how he's SO EXCITED with everything I'm doing and we're going to do awesome... So I say "OKAY COOL! SEE YOU TOMORROW!" with a smile on my face... 15 seconds later out of the driveway that smile turns into a frown as I start bawling :) LOL I was so pathetic.

SO! Anyways- yes I started a job and quit in the same day. WOW. That was a first. So having that conversation with A.J. was NOT a fun one... especially when he didn't get my email the first night and called to see where I was the next day ;) We talked- we're cool, but he was "very disappointed" but me?! I was jumping up and down I was outta there!!! SO the plan now is to babysit our landlords kiddos M-F from 2-5. How easy is that?! I'll still cook, maybe do some laundry, etc. I'll actually be getting paid MORE for this then the other job anyways! God is good! It took that HORRIBLE experience for me to realize what I really do want to do right now.

Let's see... right now Ace is sleeping on my laptop as I type ;) T.J. is at school and I'm going to pick him up early today :) Yay! We are having a couple over (Titus, Amy and their son Tor) tonight for enchiladas- it should be fun! Tomorrow T.J. is taking Jade out to hunt and he's SO EXCITED about that. We also might go with the Rich's (landlords) to the Cornell football game (we play Harvard).

We're doing good up here :) We had so much fun with my mom and James up here and are now looking forward to Mike, Debbie and Troy coming up here!

Also mark your calendars!! We officially have tickets to OKC this winter! (Dec. 18-27th)

Here is a video of when we were at Ithaca Falls ;)

Time with my mom and James!

There aren't words to type on how awesome this past weekend was! It was BEYOND amazing to see my mom and James! It's funny how you think you miss someone and then when they're HERE and they leave... you realize HOW homesick you really are!!! I literally cried myself to sleep Sunday night knowing they were leaving at 6am the next day!!!!! BUT we had lots and lots of fun while they were here!!

Friday my mom and James got here about 4 or 5 pm and so we showed them the house and then headed off to eat dinner at a local restaurant we heard was really good right off the lake. It was yummy! Fish fry heaven! Then it was off to get some yummy icecream :)

Saturday we took my mom and James to see the Cornell campus, to a waterfall (Ithaca falls), Wegmans :) and a couple other places. James was a trooper b/c he was sick this WHOLE time but he stuck it out with us the whole weekend :)

The trees are about a "5 out of 10" in how pretty they are getting so they get to enjoy the gorgeous views. We rented a couple movies, they took some walks and mostly we just HUNG OUT. Sunday we went to the Farmer's Market which we love and experienced different foods, vendors, and people. :) Haha it was funny to see my mom and James as confused as T.J. and I were about recycling when we moved here! There are about 4 different trashcans you have to figure out where to dump your "trash". I still look at the pictures above each trashcan b/c I haven't mastered it yet! This is where my mom screamed at James b/c she realized he was about to put his coffee cup in the dog waste trashcan :) hahaha so funny!

The weather was chilly one day and really really nice another. I am SO GLAD they were able to see where we live and experience our every day life! :) We miss them so much!! I'm still "debbie downer" right now.

This video is from Saturday afternoon I think :) I came out from being on the computer to find my family comotose!

I am going to upload more pics to facebook just FYI :)

So are you jealous?! Do you want to come take an awesome vacation to NY?!?! Come to the Ross house free of charge! ;) Mike and Debbie and Troy are coming in November (we'll be home Dec. 18-27) and then Heather and Brock will come in March. We can take a bus to NYC- drive to Niagra Falls :) SO FUN! You should think about it! ;)

NOT ME MONDAY

Oh the not me Monday.... I'll try to actually post this on a Monday next time ;)

Well... it definitely wasn't me that started a job and quit the same day!!!!!!! Who would do THAT?! I mean that is ridiculous. (and a whole different blog) :)

It wasn't me that bawled like a baby when her mom left to go back to Oklahoma!! Nope!

My husband definitely didn't have to stop me from cooking b/c I was sobbing about my job day/mom leaving day- there was no way I was literally sobbing/cracking up at myself!

It wasn't my husband that made SO MUCH FUN of me for saying "unkempt" to the extent I thought I was wrong when really "unkept" is not a word :) hehehe (sorry T.J.!!!!)

It wasn't my mom that screamed in public at James for putting a coffee cup in the wrong recycling can. HAHAHA (oh mom I loved it)


Alright that is it for now! :) I would love to hear your "not me monday" comments!!!!

So excited!!!!!

TOMORROW MY MOM AND JAMES WILL BE HERE!!!! :) I am BEYOND excited!! Today I am doing lots of laundry, cleaning and food prepartion! I also learned a valuable lesson- don't wash towels that your husband wiped oil up with :) The towels are now in the THIRD cycle after I realized our house started reeking of oil and the washing machine was black inside :) awesome!!

SO! I'm going to head to the grocery store. I haven't told ya'll about Wegmans. Wegmans is the coolest grocery store EVER! It is HUGE and "green" (I think) and just AWESOME :) as in a super walmart of just groceries!!! (I ALMOST walked right back out the first time I went in due to feeling COMPLETELY overwhelmed.) Actually it was in the "best 10 places to work".. hmm maybe I should look into that... ;)

So the other day we got an awesome surprise in the mail! Mike and Debbie took a business trip to Argentina (rough huh) ;) (KIDDING MIKE!) So Debbie sent us some things from Argentina- look at my AWESOME scarves she sent me- I LOVE WEARING SCARVES!!!! (one good thing with the weather here- I can already wear them!!)

Oh and some cute warm jammies ;)
So last night was the first night I had to be alone (overnight) while T.J. was working- it was not fun!!

Seriously I was SO BORED and so I decided to go to the city to get a movie... HOW I ended up back home WITHOUT a movie I DON'T KNOW :( So I brought the doggies in and we hung out and had fun- EXCEEEEPT they are NOOOOT allowed on the couch unless we CALL them up there to snuggle with us... well I'm looking EVERYWHERE for the dogs last night, under the bed- other rooms, bathrooms and so I finally walk in the pitch black living room and they had snuck onto the couches... sneaky dogs!!! I literally had to DRAG Jade off the couch- oh and they did it twice :) Literally I don't know why they are being so prissy b/c we have 2 mattress toppers they sleep on on our floor- other dogs would be so jealous! Here is the picture of them sneaking onto the couch.

So now we are all anxiously waiting for T.J. to get home today and then tomorrow and this weekend will be SO GREAT with my mom and James here!!! I hope they are ready for chilly weather and pretty changing leaves!! :)

Okay here is one more video- it is of Jade and my rice baby. I realize some people don't realize what a rice baby is so I'll tell you. :) A rice baby is a sock (usually a dress sock instead of cotton I've decided) that is filled with rice and you tie a knot at the end of the sock- heat it up in the microwave for 2 minutes and you have a warm cuddly friend!!! I always have mine nearby, and I've had it for 6 years! :) Okay well Jade has a weird thing for my rice baby!! I wish this would've captured what she did BEFORE I started filming! :)