Just Say Julie

1. Buy a house. - Done. Contract signed in January. House completed in August. We have been loving it ever since. 2. Finish my JLA Provisional year in May. - Done. I was so happy to end that year. It was a lot of hard work. Rewarding but hard. 3. Start my community placement in the fall. - Done. Although I haven't been very happy with my placement so far. I have a lot of work ahead of me between now and May. 4. Get Jackson involved in some sort of activity. - Done. Two Seasons of T-Ball with Chris coaching one of them 5. Get the boys back into swim lessons. - Done. Although Jackson still isn't too comfortable in the water. Sean was able to take lessons during his summer camp at the Y. Two birds. One stone. 6. Take a vacation. - Disney for Thanksgiving! Done. So much fun. I'm ready to go back. 7. Celebrate our 5th anniversary in June. - Done. We spent the weekend at Sea World in San Antonio although we spent our actual anniversary at the emergency vet sinc

1. What did you do in 2015 that you'd never done before? Had a house built. 2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I didn't really do resolutions but I did do much better on my to do list than I thought I did. 3. Did anyone close to you give birth? My coworker, Sarah, and my Sister-in-Law, Jenny 4. Did anyone close to you die? My Aunt Carol 5. What countries did you visit? None and this answer probably won't change anytime soon. 6. What would you like to have in 2016 that you didn't have in 2015? More free time. More money. 7. What dates from 2015 will be etched upon your memory, and why? February 13th and August 5th 8. What was your biggest achievement of this year? Getting our finances in order so we could buy a house 9. What was your biggest failure? My weight as usual. Allowing our credit cards to build back up after we closed on the house. 10. Did you suffer illn

One year ago this morning, I woke up to a text that said, "I'm OK. It's not me." A couple of years earlier after a local officer was shot and I couldn't reach Chris, he agreed to text me if there were any incidents over night to let me know he was OK.  I didn't know what had happened when I woke up on September 18th last year but I knew it wasn't good if I was getting that text. I immediately started scanning Twitter for any news of what might be going on. And then I found it: a car had been swept away in the flood waters overnight and the driver was missing. Based on the location of the incident, I knew his shift had been involved in the search. I just wasn't sure how they were being effected by this. I finally got Chris on the phone about an hour later and what I heard wasn't good. He couldn't tell me what was going on but he was upset. All I was able to get out of him was someone he knew was not OK. The news finally broke on my way to work

Carol was my mom's only sister, younger by two years, and as different from my mom as she could possibly be.  The two drove each other crazy but they would do anything for each other. I was named after her and planned to use my middle name for a little girl if I ever had one.  We lost Carol early Friday morning.  When I was home last April, we knew something was wrong. We were visiting the college my mom, Carol, and I all attended and she was just out of sorts. By June, we had an answer: ALS. This was devastating news to hear especially since my family had dealt with Alzheimer's in my grandmother for nearly 20 years until she died in 2008. We had no idea how long she would survive or what obstacles we would face. My mom and my uncle stepped to start caring for Carol. They were by her side when she passed.  My aunt spent most of her career as a school teacher.  She also graduated from seminary and worked as a children's pastor for several years. She was married for a short p

On his way out the door tonight, Chris apologized for having to work all weekend since that meant we couldn't do anything special for Valentine's Day. I'll admit I'm actually a little bummed about it this year. I'm not really sure why since we aren't normally ones to do anything big for Valentine's Day. I think Chris has had to work every Valentine's Day since we got together so we usually recognize the day but celebrate later. Besides I always hate how hard it is to go to a nice dinner that night because you either need a reservation or have to wait two hours. Our fancy Valentine's dinner is always the Heart Baker pizza from Papa Murphy's (I'm a sucker for a heart shaped pizza). So I don't understand my melancholy this year. I guess the holiday being on Saturday and knowing we could have taken the boys to the Y for Kids' Night makes me sad that we can't actually do anything. Instead we have a play date with a daycare friend and h

One thing I don't normally do on this blog is prompt myself or goods that I am trying to sell or anything like.  However, the time has come for a little shameless self promotion of sorts. I would like you to meet Clay.  Clay is my big brother (the younger of the two big brothers) and he is participating in the HEB Slimdown Showdown this year.  For those of you who are Texans, HEB is a Texas grocery store chain that is based out of San Antonio. Each year they host the Slimdown Showdown as a way to prompt healthy living in the new year.  The contestants are put through a Fit Camp at the start of the program and given tools to help them be more physically active and eat healthier. They are asked to blog about their experience through the contest and talk about how their habits are changing and how the program is helping them. That is where you come in. Clay needs people to check out his blog. To comment. To share it on social media. To do all those fun things people ask

Tell us a *memory* of  watching a specific tv show/movie during your childhood. My favorite TV memory from my childhood was watching the movies they made a television event. You know back before VCRs and DVDs when Mary Poppins and Wizard of Oz came one once per year.  It was a special occasion. My mom would get TV dinners (that had to be cooked in the oven because we didn't have a microwave then) and we got to eat in the family room in front of the TV. This was a rare treat since I grew up in a house where family dinners were a nightly thing. We all sat at the table and ate together. The one that stands out the most was the year they showed (or I should say tried to show) King Kong in 3D. They sent the 3D glasses out in the local newspaper so everyone would have them for the movie. However, the 3D didn't really work so we ended up ditching the glasses and just watching movie without. But it was so much fun to have nights with my family in front of the TV all watching the s

The number 1 thing on my 2015 to do list was buy a new house. We have been in a rental since we sold our house in 2013. While there is nothing wrong with our current living situation, this house always felt temporary. The house met our needs when we had three weeks to move but now more than a year and a half later, I can see the faults in it.  Chris finally agreed with me around Christmas after looking at a picture I took of the Christmas tree where he declared, "This is not our house."  Since then, he has been a man on a mission to find "our house."  We started the house hunt at the beginning of January. For three weeks, we spent hours touring houses and attending open houses.  We found houses we liked only to have them go under contract before we could see them or put in an offer ourselves. I was printing novels from the MLS and making notes like crazy. Our preapproval was in process. Everything was heading down the path to home ownership.  We just had to find the

What’s something about you today that would totally shock 10 year old you? Why the change?      At career day in 5th grade, ten year old me dressed up in a hot pink unitard and stated that I wanted to be a dance teacher and open my own dance studio. Ten year old me would be shocked that I don't dance anymore.  Mom put me in dance at age 5 because I need an activity to get my energy out. For the next 12 years, Gale's Studio of Dance was my second home. I would do dance camp in the summers. I would do my homework in the dressing room between classes. It was my life until high school. In high school, I started to branch out and get involved in school activities.  I was in band, a cheerleader, on dance team, and in clubs.  I also started to realize that I wasn't as good of a dancer as others around me and the idea of making dance my life wasn't realistic.  I quit dance half way through my junior year in high school. I was recovering from the chicken pox and I had just fo

So I'm late to the game but I think 2014 is a year that definitely needed to be reviewed. So much happened, both good and bad, that I want to remember it. Plus I wasn't very good at documenting the events of the year. 1. What did you do in 2014 that you'd never done before? Rode in an ambulance and a police car. Had an organ removed. 2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I didn't really do resolutions but I did do much better on my to do list than I thought I did. 3. Did anyone close to you give birth? I don't think so but I don't really remember. 4. Did anyone close to you die? Both Chris's grandmother and uncle passed away within less than a month of each other. Then Chris's shift mate died in the line of duty when her patrol car was swept away in flood waters. 5. What countries did you visit? None and this answer probably won't change anytime soon. 6. What woul

You would think it would be easy to come up with things you want to accomplish during a year but I'm struggling this year.  My focus is on buying a house and moving right now so everything else seems secondary and feels like it will change as soon as that happens. But after reading through a few other 2015 to do lists, I have finally come up with a decent list for myself for this year.   1. Buy a house. 2. Finish my JLA Provisional year in May. 3. Start my community placement in the fall. 4. Get Jackson involved in some sort of activity. 5. Get the boys back into swim lessons.  6. Take a vacation.  7. Celebrate our 5th anniversary in June.  8. Welcome my newest nephew in April. 9. See Alabama play in the Cowboys Classic in September.  10. Work on a Budget and stick to it. 11. Do something about my weight. 12. Celebrate Jackson's 4th birthday in July. 13. Volunteer at VBS. 14. Make time to read. 15. Buy a new bed for Jackson to replace the toddler bed. 16. Spend a long weekend i

Take a trip that doesn't include visiting my parents or any other family. - Done: Chris and I took Jackson to Sea World for our anniversary in June. It was a fun little get away. Pay off a couple of credit cards and keep them paid off. - Done: We were able to utilize some extra money to make this happen.  Go on at least 1 date a month with Chris. - Not Exactly: We did go out quite a bit thanks to our Y membership and the cheap childcare they offer on the weekends but then things got busy and we didn't have time to go out. Take the boys to Disney World. - Ha! Nope. Read 24 books that are being turned into movies. - Not even close. I think I read 11 books and it has been months since I read anything. Spend an entire weekend kid free. - Two if you count my trips to Alabama for my Judson board meetings. See Alabama play in Bryant-Denny Stadium. - A girl can dream, can't she? Participate in NaBloPoMo. - Haha this didn't even cross my mind. Complete the 52 Week Money Challeng