Just Getting Started...

Well, Travis and I have been busy. This weekend we were able to spend all day Saturday together. We went to Home Depot and got the materials to build a dog house. That is right...we built a dog house! It is a pretty good looking one too! :) We have pictures, but Nikki decided to break my camera after I took a really cute picture of her in her new home! Ugh. I am going to take it in to get it looked at though. (It should be under warranty still.) Anyway, I have started painting the dog house and it just needs one more coat of paint and it is ready for her to live in! Yay!!

Sunday, we had friends over for hamburgers and to play some Hand and Foot (a really fun card game for those of you who didn't know). It was so much fun! It is amazing how one calm and relaxing weekend recharges you.

We had the people from Home Depot come out and measure the square footage of the bedrooms today, for new carpet. We should have new carpet within the next two weeks. After that...tile and wood floors!! Oh I love fixing up this house!

I am teaching again this week. We had a new class start at work yesterday. These are three week classes so I will be in the training classroom for 5 weeks straight (I went to camp for one week of the last class). I really do enjoy my work. It is fun to see the light bulbs go off in their heads sometimes! :)

Well, that is about all I have for now. I will posts pictures as soon as I get my camera fixed!

House Projects

So, now that we know I am allergic to dogs, our house projects have quickly become first priority. To improve my allergies, we first moved Nikki out of the bedroom (where we kept her kennel). She now sleeps out in the living room. Travis is actually planning to build her a dog house so that she will be more of an outside dog than inside. In the next week or so we are getting new carpet in all of the bedrooms (to get rid of the dog odors and such from when there were 3 big dogs livng here with the lady who we bought it from). In the next month (or so) we are going to tile the kitchen, guest bath and laundry room (to upgrade the house from the stained concrete floors that seem to never be rid of dog hair) and we are going to get hardwood floors for the rest of the living space. We are so excited about our projects and I am so excited to actuall be able to breathe! (I will be sure to update with pictures as we get these projects underway!)

I have a consultation with my Allergist on Friday afternoon to see what else we can do to avoid the allergens. The other things I am allergic to are mold, dust and cats. So, we are going to get new allergen filters for the vents and see if that helps some. I don't really want to go through any allergy treatments where I have to go in twice a week, just to get injected with the thing I'm allergic to. Scheduling would be so hard with the work that I do and it just doesn't seem pleasant at all! So, we are going to see what happens by just making some adjustments and taking some medicine. I am taking Singulair and I haven't seen a drastic difference yet, but it takes a couple of weeks to really kick in and I haven't been the best at taking it every night. We will see. I am just so tired of waking up, unable to breathe or open my eyes because they are stuck together! You think I'm exaggerating...just ask my husband! It is really bad...

Travis is out of town this week so my main project this week will be to clean this house from top to bottom as much as possible. I am not a very good duster...just because I never think to dust the blinds and on top of things (like fans). I always dust the tables, bookshelves and anything in view. I need to get better about dusting all the time and dusting everything!!

Alright, now that I have completely bored you with my allergies and the house plans...I am going to bed.

Allergies :(

Camp was awesome! My mind is completely fried so I will have to write more about camp later, but I do have some news.

I went to the Allergist today for my skin test. I am allergic to several things: mold, dust, cats and dogs. That is right...dogs!!!! I'm so mad!! Travis and I are having to consider some changes (NO...we are not getting rid of Nikki). We are going to build her a dog house and see how she does as a "mostly" outside dog and some major carpet cleaning (or replacing) to get rid of the hair already imbedded in our floors. Ugh! Oh well. I am willing to make some drastic changes in order to keep the dog and stay healthy.

I hope everyone had a great week! Have a wonderful weekend!

Update...

Travis and I went down to The Woodlands to celebrate Pop's (his dad) birthday this past weekend. It was so much fun! We got to spend time with Mark and Jenny (Travis' brother and his wife) and their son Tristan. He is 17 months old now and Jenny is expecting again! Yay!! :) We are all so excited to have a new addition!

This week has been a good one. My work is going well. God is sooo good! My boss called me in her office on Thursday (Travis' birthday) and told me that I got a raise!! It was so out of the blue. It couldn't have come at a better time for Travis and me. God is good!

For Travis' birthday I planned a surprise dinner for him at Macaroni Grill. He thought it was just a date for the two of us. When we got there we had several friends waiting for us. He was surprise! He told me that no one had ever done any "surprise" anything for his birthday before. It was great!

We are in Arlington tonight and head down to Whitney, TX for camp tomorrow. We will be there until Thursday night. This is the last weekend of travel for awhile. We can't wait to get a weekend at home! It seems we haven't stopped traveling since we got engaged!! ugh! But we are so excited for camp and can't wait for the campers to show up and start the week!

Please send up a prayer or two this week for all of the young hearts that will be there at camp for us to show God's love to.

MY HUBBY IS HOME!!!

So, Travis is back! I went to get him from the airport last night around 8:00 pm. We got home and went straight to bed. He was so tired. The poor guy! Anyway, we have been spending the day together since he came in on Sunday and we wanted to get some catch up time together.

He got me a present...and it is perfect! He got two plaques, one with each of our clan tartan and motto. It is official...the two clans have joined!!! Here they are...the first is the Gunn Clan (his), the second is the Scott Clan (mine).

A Little Pampering...

Yesterday after work, I was able to meet up with Amy O'Malley. We had a light dinner at a local restaurant. I haven't seen her in awhile and I needed a little girl time. It was fun. We just talked about life, caught up a little. For the last thirty minutes or so her boyfriend Don came by and joined us. It was good to catch up with her.

Today has been great! I slept in this morning until about 9:00 am and then I got up and started laundry. I did a couple of loads and then went to meet some other girls to get pedicures. That took about 2 hours and then I came back, got into my swimsuit and laid out on our deck. It was nice. I got some good sun and some good reading time! Nikki didn't quite know what to do about me hanging out in her "territory", but we had fun. Now I'm about to hop in the shower and run to the grocery store. I need to pick up some stuff for the house, but I am also going to Poker Night tonight. I am going to pick up some shrimp for the bar-b-q! :) Yummm. It is going to be a fun night.

TRAVIS COMES HOME TOMORROW!!! Oh...I'm so excited! I'm so ready for him to be home. I miss my hubby! He has had such a great time over there. Unfortunately, he never made it out dancing with the Nigerians...he missed his chance. That makes me a little sad, but that is okay. He had fun anyway.

I have to go wash the stink off of me now and go to the store! Have a great weekend!!!!

I Feel Great!

Okay...not exactly great, but sooo much better than yesterday. I really think this cold junk is going away! Woo hoo!! :)

Today was a good day. I was very productive and I just felt so much better. It is amazing how much of my personality goes away when I'm sick. I felt so hyper today. It must have been all the energy I've been saving by laying on my back in bed for a week!

Travis didn't go out with Nigerians tonight. He just went to play pool with a couple of the guys from the class, but he did say that he has tomorrow and Friday to go out dancing. I really hope he does! I mean come on...dancing with Nigerians in Scotland...that just SOUNDS funny! Unfortunately, he didn't take our camera. I'm hoping that his co-worker, Stephen, takes his! That would just be priceless.

Well, now that I'm feeling better, I'm going to take Nikki on a walk!

Girls' Night Out...

That is right...it is GNO (Girls' Night Out) and where am I? At home. I worked my first full day today since I got sick and I am miserable. My head is pounding, I feel extremely weak and my tummy is doing flips! I really hope this stuff goes away SOON!

Travis called me tonight. He had a good day today and evening. He was able to help out with the class some (they were covering material he already knew) and then tonight they had a reception for the class at the university. They had drinks and refreshments so he had some good conversation time with some potential clients. He was also able to start forming a rather good business relationship with the man who is teaching the class. He told Travis that he appreciated his help in class today and that he is a really good leader. This guy basically does what Travis wants to do eventually (He will have to explain it...I'm not so good at it). So, needless to say, Travis has now gotten his foot in the door and is doing very well with the people over there.

He is going to have an adventure tomorrow night though. Several of the people in the class are Nigeria. Imagine Nigerias who learned English in Scotland...I can't help but laugh! Anyway, they want to take Travis out dancing. That is right...dancing in Scotland with Nigerians. I love it!

That is it for now. I'm going to read up on Harry Potter! :)

Mother's Day Weekend

This weekend was full of travel for me. Saturday I went to San Antonio to spend time with Mom and Dad and yesterday I went to Bryan to spend Mother's Day with Judy and Bill and the rest of the gang there. It was good to see everyone. It killed me not to be able to hold the twins (because of my cold), but it was a great visit. Muna and I cleaned up the dessert table! She was so precious, making sure that I had enough to eat. Everyone took very good care of me and kept asking how I was doing without my hubby.

Travis was able to call me yesterday on my drive down to Bryan. We talked for about 20 minutes ($10 phone call). It was good to hear his voice. The first couple of days were okay without him, but it is time for him to come home. He flies in on Sunday, so I don't have too long to wait. He is having a good time though.

San Antonio

I just got back from San Antonio. Mom and Dad were down there for a convention that Dad goes to every year for his continuing education credits. It was good to see them. It was the first time I had seen Mom since she went to Germany. We compared stories of our trips over there and it was fun. We walked, ate and shopped...a lot! It was a great time.

Now, I'm back at the house and just hanging out with my puppy. Travis is in Scotland and enjoying himself. They just checked into a hotel there in Inverness. He is having a hard time because he rented a car and they drive on the left side of the road (he paid extra to get an automatic instead of a manual). He had a flat tire because he hasn't gotten use to driving on the left side yet. He comes back next Sunday...I can't wait!

I am going to try and get some stuff done around here before the week starts. If you have been reading my blog, you know that I have been sick. Unfortunately, going to San Antonio didn't seem to help anything. I still feel pretty cruddy, but I am hoping that a little activity helps it go away by Monday. We will see.

Sick at Home: Day #2

You know the illnesses that just don't want to leave? Yea...they are a pain in the buttocks!

This is day 2 of being home in bed. Thank goodness for wireless internet, eh?! Playing spades all day and loving on my doggie!

Travis is in Houston today, just for the day. He left at 5:00 this morning to catch a flight. He is going to fly back tonight, pack some more, and fly out to Scotland tomorrow afternoon. He will be there in Dundee until Sunday the 20th. This will be the longest we have been apart since we got married...which hasn't been very long.

Mom and Dad are in San Antonio for Dad's annual Dental Convention. I am going to try and have dinner with them tomorrow night (if I can get out of bed). I am excited to see them! Mom has been back from Germany for a few days, so it will be good to see her finally.

I don't have much else to say, but hopefully I will get out of this bed tomorrow!

Sick At Home...

Well, the past couple of days have been hard. I woke up Monday morning feeling pretty woozie. My stomach felt really tight and uncomfortable. So, I tried to eat some peanut butter and cheese crackers to help calm it down. That usually works really well...not this time. Nothing! So, at noon I went home to rest and hopefully I would be able to get to work the next day. Tuesday morning I woke up and felt awful! My nose was all stuffy, I couldn't breathe, my head hurt from all the coughing and I had a meeting with two people from New York and Tennessee. That is right, a meeting that I could NOT miss. So, I drugged myself with Tylenol Cold medicine and went in. It was a pretty informal meeting, but I kept sniffing and coughing and leaving the room to blow my nose. So at about 3:00pm they finally told me to just go home and we would conclude with a conference call when I felt better. So, I went home, took more medicine and slept. I felt worse when I woke up. Travis finally came home and played Zelda for me (I like watching him play video games. He often says, "I feel sorry for all the gamers.") Then I started to crave Taco Cabana's tortillas and queso and I needed stronger meds. So, we went out and got more medicine (house brand from Walgreens...always works better than the brandname stuff) and food from Taco Cabana. We got home and Travis got the front door unlocked just in enough time for me to run to the bathroom and get sick. Yay! I hate being sick!!! It is the most helpless and miserable feeling ever! Anyway, I am staying home sick today and I am really hoping that I can get back to work tomorrow. I have to teach a class on Monday and I have so much to get done before that. I'm sure you all enjoy reading about how sick and miserable I am, but that is about all that is going on in my world...sorry...

The Weekend is Over...

On Saturday Travis and I drove up to Arlington for the ISCC meeting for the counselors. It was great to see everyone again. The only sister missing from the scene was Dava Lynn. We missed her! This is Travis' first year at this camp so it is going to be so much fun. He is getting excited too! It will be very different having my hubby there with me the whole week.

After the meeting we headed down to The Woodlands to see Travis' parents. They were having a guest speaker Nick Vujicic, from Australia, at church. This man is amazing! He is a man with no limbs. That is right, born with no limbs, whatsoever! He is 24 years old! Please go check out this website...www.lifewithoutlimbs.org. This man truly is an awesome inspiration to all.

Some of Travis' family came up from College Station to hear him also. Meridon and Danny Warden, Aunt Sandie, Tara Jo and her friend Kirby, Cousin Debie and Muna (Travis' 92 year old grandmother, also amazing) all came. We went to lunch at Willie's and had a blast. Here are a couple of photos.



To see more pictures you can go to picasaweb.google.com/janakay.mcham. I will update this site often! :)

Busy Busy Busy..

Travis comes home tonight! Yay!! He has been in Houston and the next several weeks will be filled with travel for him. It isn't bad when his trips are spread out, but when they are all packed into several weeks in a row, it gets lonely. I'm am happy that he is coming back though! :)

Today was a stressful day. Not a lot happened, but it was just full of information and more planning at work (meetings, phone calls, emails, etc). My head hurts!

Christina and Dax come back from Costa Rica on Saturday. We have been watching Christina's dogs Sarah and Guinness. The big one is Guinness, the white one is Sarah and the other one is ours (Nikki)...

I am going to tidy up a bit before Travis gets home. Have a great end to your week!

The House...

So, I have had a couple of requests for more pictures of the house. Here they are. The first two are of the guest bedroom,
then two of the office/guest bedroom,

the guest bathroom,
the hall,
and a couple of the kitchen (Please forgive the cluttered counter, we have a tendency to just put stuff down thinking, "I'll come back and get that...").

I don't have pictures of the rest of the house because it is still dirty! We need to do a little more cleaning before I display the house. Anyway, Travis bought this house in July of 2006, so almost a year ago. I have been able to make it my own and it helps that I was with him, helping him shop for houses, so I had a little say in the house! :) We haven't done a lot to fix up the house other than paint the master bedroom and tile the master bathroom. It has been fun dressing the place up with all the gifts we received for the wedding. I will update with the rest of the tour after I get the other areas of the house clean!

Catching Up On Life...

We found the camera cord! Yay! So, here are the pictures along with the stories that I have wanted to tell, but haven't because I didn't have the pictures.

1) We got a new light fixture for the dining area. We actually got this the weekend we got back from the honeymoon. Mark, Judy and Bill came to our house and helped us get settled in our new home. It was a nice gift...

2) We got our china hutch. We got this the same weekend as the light fixture above, but it wasn't delivered until about a week and a half later. I was so excited! Travis surprised me with it one night when I got back from work. They called him at work to tell him it was ready to be picked up, so he got a friend (Dax) to help him pick it up and they showed up with it that night. He is such a great husband!


3) Our camping trip the weekend of April 13th through the 15th, was a blast. Here are a few pictures of the trip. We went hiking on Enchanted Rock and Nikki was awesome. She has no fear. She was up and over those rocks long before we were. She was so cute!

I think that about sums it up. I'm sure I will think of more or find more pictures I wanted to share, but I will spare you all and just put them online for all to see. I hope everyone is having a great week!

Travis Needs...

Here is what Travis needs:

1) another beer
2) a two month
3) to find out something about the the local underworld and their methods
4) to Get a Customized Wii
5) serious help
6) more practice with his spelling
7) a very special home
8) to be with your family!!!
9) diamonds to finish the project
10) a double lung transplant
11) to spend a little quiet time for uncivil behavior.
12) someone to nurture the three young orphans
13) a sanity check
14) to grow up and stop with his whinning and move on
15) a family with a lot of love and time to give

The Weekend...

This week ended up a very productive and good week. Travis was out of town for the week (for work) and so I got a little done around the house. I mostly spent time with Nikki though. I think we were both needing our Travis back.

Since Travis and I started taking a walk every morning together with Nikki, she has been nosing her leash almost constantly, begging to go out for a walk. I think she likes it out there! She had a hard time staying in her kennel last night across the room, by herself, so I moved her bed over beside me on the floor. She was able to sleep there all night and didn't move from her bed. I, however, tossed and turned all night long! Oh well...motherhood! :)

Dax and Christina (friends of ours) are going to Costa Rica for the week. They are leaving tomorrow morning and Travis and I are taking them to the airport. Their flight leaves at 7:00 am so we will have to pick them up no later than 5:00 am.

Then we are headed to Arlington for the Pleasant Ridge Homecoming. I am excited about seeing people from the youth group that I haven't seen in years. Travis is excited to see some old friends from Sooner Youth Camp too.

After the Homecoming, we are headed back to Austin and we will be dog-sitting for Christina. She has two dogs. One is a big black lab (Guinness) and one is a small mix of some kind (Sarah). I was told at one time what kind of mix Sarah is, but I can't remember. She is so cute and cuddly! I love her!

It will be interesting to see how Travis and I cope with having more than one dog around here. We have put the idea of getting a second dog out there, but I don't think it is the best idea right now. We realized that adding another dog to the picture made traveling a lot more difficult, and expensive. I don't know...maybe I can convince him to just start having kids instead! :) Just kidding!!! I want time with my husband first.

I have several pictures that I have wanted to put on here for awhile now, but somehow we have lost the cord to the camera. Okay...I say "somehow" because my wonderful, handsome, brilliant, kind (and much more) husband is not so good with cords. He loses them. He can't help it. He just does. He goes on business trips and without fail forgets his power cord for his laptop or phone. So, he goes and buys another one. We have five billion cords just laying around this house. It is hilarious! So, as soon as we come back into contact with technology (after the honeymoon)...he loses the first cord he lays his hands on. The camera cord is gone. I love my husband!

Jana Needs:

1) Your help.
2) psychotropic medications (I'm sure there are many who would agree...)
3) to get her butt in here! (Can I bring the rest of me too? ...)
4) an agent
5) to be locked away for a long, long time. (Do you see a trend here?)
6) shoes badly
7) them by Monday, August 27.
8) to post some stuff on here
9) 150 x 12 = 1800
10) help with some questions
11) to get the stick out of her @$$, and visit.
12) ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT
13) to find that peace and soften her anger towards her Father (WHAT?! Are you kidding me?)
14) to get over it, and either come up with something original to write about or quit writing. ...
15) to reveal why she is so wierd

This was soo fun...just google "your name needs". Thanks Juli!

No. We have not found out the name of the weird fish we found on the honeymoon. If anyone has any clue...please let us know!! :)

This week has been full of family! Slade (Dava Lynn's husband) was down here in Austin for the day on Thursday for some meetings. So, he stopped by my office on his way back to Abilene. It was great to see him! It is always fun to be able to spend time with my brothers-in-law away from their families and away from Mom and Dad's house. They are usually taking care of kids or the sisters are catching and I don't really get a lot of opportunity to just hang out with my brothers. So, it is nice whenever I get the chance.

The on Friday, Kari Ann (sister #1) and her oldest, Bailey came into town. Bailey is a member of the Future Problem Solvers of America and her team won first place in their local division. They were here in Austin for the awards ceremony and to find out who would be going to Fort Collins, CO for the international competition. Bailey was so cute up there getting her medal. Today, Travis and I met them (and the rest of the team) to go to the Bob Bullock Museum, the Spirit of Texas theatre and the IMAX where we watched a show on Mummies. It was very interesting. It was great to spend time with them too, as I rarely get any of my sisters on their own except Juli Beth.

I love that I get to spend so much time with Juli Beth when I go into Arlington, but it never quite seems enough. When you live with someone for years, growing up, you take for granted that your best friend lives right there with you and is always around. I miss getting to do everything with my sister, but I appreciate the time that we do have so much more now.

Life now is good. I am enjoying married life oh so much! It has been so fun to set up house and get little projects done around the house. In fact, Travis is at Home Depot right now getting more supplies to clean up the garage! Woohoo!! :)

On that note, I should go. I have some house cleaning to do and if I don't get started...I may never get it done!

Love, JK