My future career as a window washer

A couple of weekends ago I decided it was time to wash the windows. After all, we’ve lived in this house for almost four years and now that we’re selling I thought it was about time. My mom gave me a killer recipe for a homemade washing solution (vinegar, dish soap, water) as well as tips on how to do the job well. I spent all day removing screens, washing screens, scrubbing windows, squeegying windows, replacing screens, etc. I must say that they look pretty darn good and I think I might have a future in the window washing business if this whole speech-pathology thing doesn’t work out.

Now, to 3 days after the window washing extravaganza… David was opening all the blinds in the morning (part of our morning routine now that the house is being shown quite a bit) and found something most peculiar. Outside of our guest bedroom widow, which looks out to the side of our house where there is a very narrow stretch of DG, was a dove, beak down in the DG and totally dead. It looked like it had been sitting on our fence and then just keeled over. “That’s weird,” David and I thought. He did the manly thing and disposed of the dove corpse to save his pregnant wife from dry heaving for the 10th time that morning.

Now to the next morning…Due to the surprise of finding the dead dove on the ground the previous day, the blinds never made it all the way up. The next day, however, David pulled the blinds completely up and suddenly I heard uncontrollable laughter coming from the guest room. “Jenny, you’ve gotta come see this. I figured out how the dove died!” I hurried into the room only to see this:

Taken from the inside of our guest room.

What I couldn't capture in the photos were the little feathers that were stuck to the outside of the window. Use your imaginations:)

So I guess mama Costley’s window washing solution is a good one…just not for the birds!

Another blossom...

Once upon a time a beautiful Christmas cactus grew in the home of my great-great-grandmother. She gave a start from her cactus to my great-grandmother, who in turn gave a start to my grandma Costley. Grandma Costley gave a start to my mom when she married my dad and now each girl in my family receives a start from the cactus as she is creating her own home.

David and I have grown quite fond of our cactus (the only plant I haven’t killed since we’ve been married) and affectionately call her Hermione because her unkempt appearance resembles Hermione Granger’s hair. Not only is this cactus a link to ancestors and present family members, but it has established a reputation for being somewhat…how do I say this?...psychic! Our cactus traditionally blooms in the winter. During the rest of the year, it’s just green with no flowers. However, on certain occasions this cactus has been reported to bloom at unusual times, seemingly in connection with important life events. Suffice it to say that the week before we received the news about David matching to an ENT residency, we discovered a solitary blossom.

Well, last week we found one more blossom. “What could it mean?” we wondered. The results from blood work done this week confirmed what we hoped…we’re finally pregnant!!! Whether or not the cactus is as intuitive as we believe it to be, we are overwhelmingly excited about this news. It’s still really early, but we’ve waited for years to be able to make this announcement and we can’t hold back. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. It looks like 2008 has all kinds of changes in store for us. Below, find a photo of Hermione. The big blossom is from Match Day, the smaller on the far right side is for baby Ludlow.

Two blossoms in the Spring...see the small bud on the right?

A close-up of "baby bud!"

Close up of "Match Day bud."

Match Day

“Create a family blog” has been on my to-do list for about a year now. It’s going to feel great to finally check that off! For our inaugural post, I thought it would be fitting to give a recap of the most exciting day we've had in the last several months: the much anticipated March 20, 2008…Residency Match Day! It was a huge deal at the medical school and the fourth year medical students invited spouses, parents, and friends to witness the ado. The theme was an “election year” and each med student had a campaign poster with their residency program (in our case Otolaryngology ’08). After a speech from the dean (to prolong the anticipation), the fourth years charged the envelope table searching for their names (as a side note, the envelopes were NOT arranged alphabetically…an ingenious endeavor to further increase the anxiety level, no doubt). We took a deep breath, David opened his envelope and our home for the next 5 years was revealed. After numerous cross-country interview trips, thousands of dollars, countless prayers, and many sleepless nights, we found out that David matched at an Ear, Nose and Throat residency program at LSU Shreveport. Louisiana, here we come! We're thrilled for this new chapter in our lives. We've had enough life experiences to know that prayers aren't always answered just the way we hope. But we're thrilled that this was an exception! Sneaking a kiss from the most handsome ENT resident known to man!
David pinning his name to a US map. Bible belt, here we come!
The "ballot results" in our envelope.